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Dancing the Sun back home
Last minute rehearsal of holiday chants and songs at the piano. I love that in cold weather, Temple of Ara holds its rituals in a cosy and well-appointed dance studio. The founding High Priestess teased me that the ritual cakes were 'so L.A.' I suppose the were. Humble disks of butter cookie, brushed with orange marmalade and gilded in 23 ct. gold leaf. Jannie's love of creating rich and exotic pastry lives on in me.
ToA has a very loose framework for rituals, and you never quite know how they are going to unfold, except that reverent mirth is a big part of the tradition.
As I sit writing this, a beautiful raven is perched in the Aerie's maple tree. He has come to absorb the last bit of solstice darkness and hold it in his gleaming black feathers until we need it again at midsummer.
The tiny altar was beautiful, encircled by a HUGE evergreen wreath and then by a ring of white candles. Unlit. Waiting.
( read on for the memory of a beautiful Yule celebration... )
Be Blessed this Yule!
Dancing the Sun back home
Last minute rehearsal of holiday chants and songs at the piano. I love that in cold weather, Temple of Ara holds its rituals in a cosy and well-appointed dance studio. The founding High Priestess teased me that the ritual cakes were 'so L.A.' I suppose the were. Humble disks of butter cookie, brushed with orange marmalade and gilded in 23 ct. gold leaf. Jannie's love of creating rich and exotic pastry lives on in me.
ToA has a very loose framework for rituals, and you never quite know how they are going to unfold, except that reverent mirth is a big part of the tradition.
As I sit writing this, a beautiful raven is perched in the Aerie's maple tree. He has come to absorb the last bit of solstice darkness and hold it in his gleaming black feathers until we need it again at midsummer.
The tiny altar was beautiful, encircled by a HUGE evergreen wreath and then by a ring of white candles. Unlit. Waiting.
( read on for the memory of a beautiful Yule celebration... )
Be Blessed this Yule!