WOTY week 4: First High Day recap.

Here you will find my account of my first solitary High Day rite,  well my first ADF rite at all.

I just want to start with saying that this  did not turn out as expected.

Structurally the rite well smoothly, I daresay that’s due to the work Sarah Hnatiak put into creating the ritual I used. The rite flowed well, covered all the necessary items and did so with beautifully created writing. The aspects of the rite that went badly fall squarely on my shoulders, I clearly had not read the rite through enough times and I should have made notes on my print copy of it to remind me of what to offer when. The problems will sort themselves out with practice though so I’m not overly concerned.
The patron of the rite was Veles, god of the harvest and of animal husbandry clearly fitting for a harvest cross quarter day, in this case Serpen. The gatekeepers were the Zori, they are sister guardian goddess’ that represent dawn, dusk and darkest night and keep the doomsday wolf chained to the star Ursa Minor(see below for reference).
initially in the rite I had trouble pronouncing some words(they were I believe in polish, if not a related Slavic language) and I got tongue-tied a few times, this is where it gets interesting though. At a section with multiple Slavic words, I realized I’d started speaking with a polish accent(not surprisingly, most of my family speaks with a polish accent) I found that I was no longer stumbling over words and so I continued the entire rite speaking with an accent. I found it really effective because I was more immersive, possibly aided in creation of a sacred space since it wasn’t my everyday speaking voice. I’m not saying this is something that will happen all the time, but likely when I’m doing solitary Slavic based rites.

I think I prepared the required tools and offerings fairly well, I only had one false start where I realized I’d forgotten a glass of water. Any related mishaps can be smoothed out with practice and closer reading of the rite beforehand.

The rite functioned well and went smoothly particularly after I altered my speech. It no longer felt stilted of forced, it became second nature, it just felt right. I was apprehensive before the ritual and at the beginning of it because I felt sheepish, as though I was performing, as I got into it this all fell away and you get the idea.

I felt I successfully invoked the various aspects of the rite and that there was a presence there, I think that feeling also aided in my confidence. I think the draw of my omens was also successful, though I used a different method to draw them, pisanki symbolism, and these are the meanings from what I drew;
I asked if my offering was accepted, I drew the circle. In this case I feel it likely meant completeness or unity, in short that my offering was accepted.

I asked what blessings are offered in return, I drew the stag. In this case I feel it likely means leadership and joy, particularly joy with my newly accepted hearth culture, leadership because I have this feeling I’m going to try to gather sources on slavic paganism for those interested(this relates to the next omen)

Finally I asked what further need do the kindred have of me, I drew the Embattled line. This likely refers to something hidden or contained. Something I have always found when looking into Slavic folk-lore and religion is that it’s hard to find, much of it was destroyed or hidden or twisted into something else. I believe that omen is telling me that I need to find what sources I can, read what I can and make the information easier to find for others. It’s going to be a long project.

In short I felt that the whole rite was successful and I feel far more confident of my ability to complete the next one, and with more preparation and practice the next should be smoother as well.

Ritual used: Serpen (August Harvest High Day) Solitary Ritual, by Sarah Hnatiak

For more information on Pisanki divination, see this web page, that’s where I got the information from. In future I intend to research into it further and develop it more.

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