The rest of life.

[kiya]

Did ritual last night. It's fascinating to me how the ritual purification works to slough off a lot of the grime of whatever's bothering me; I have a clean psyche for at least a little while. Somewhere in here there will be a thought about breathing (as in Feri practice) and the processing of scent in the Kemetic sense as the presence of Netjer. I wonder if I've got the beginning of a notion for a kala ritual in here somewhere.

I know part of what I need to do for the orixa offering I need to make; I need to get a white carnation and let it sit in water I've tinted with blue food colouring for a bit, and give that to Yemaya. I still have no idea what I need to offer Olokun, but the flower thing feels right. Need to figure this out at latest by when erispope visits. And get food colouring.

I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to deal with this upcoming weekend. I'm sure I'll dredge up the strength from somewhere; I generally do. I don't want to put too much into faking it; gods know that'll unwind me. (*hugs keshwyn*) I'm better today than I've been in a while, but I'm still feeling the world is a bit too much for me to face.

I think I want to make popcorn and watch a movie. I haven't done that in a while.

Also, with some relief as it's been a very long time: 4451371 words today.

Comments

[pinkpolarity.livejournal.com]

What is a kala ritual?

And about making offerings to the Orishas-- is it like making Kemetic offerings, in that you're supposed to eat the food or use the item afterward; or more like Druid offerings where the best parts are set aside for the Gods and burned or buried and the practitioner(s) does not get to eat the offering meal?

I'll put in a word for you with Mom, pray that you find a way to deal with the demands of the surroundings, the people, and the class, and come out calm, balanced, and enriched. :) (BTW, are you allowed to share what you learn in the class?)

[ardaniel]

http://www.lilithslantern.com/kala.htm

The kala ritual is a specific practice of Feri Tradition, in the context it's being used in here; it's a ritual purification with the intent of clearing away blocks and obstacles to progress. Feri uses the kala rite to align the Three Souls, which, if you've read anything by Starhawk, you know better as Talking Self, Younger Self, and Deep Self. Working towards spiritual purity and balance is considered an important part of Feri training and ongoing work towards self-knowledge and well-being; to vaguely paraphrase yezida, it's an aid towards knowing oneself in all one's parts.

Feri is initiatory, but, as far as I recall from reading up on yezida's course, the material in the class is not oathbound, because the course itself does not lead to Feri initiation. You can go to the site I linked to above and read a lot of non-oathbound material from the Vicia line of the tradition, and there are certainly other Feri resources out there and on LJ.

(NB: Not Feri. Have done a lot of what reading I can get my hands on outside the tradition. yezida and elfwreck, etc., will certainly correct me if I'm wrong. ;)

[pinkpolarity.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *adds bookmarks for further reading* My circle has been reading Evolutionary Witchcraft and we plan to do all of the exercises in the book, but illness and other RL foo has gotten in the way. I would take yezida's class in a second if it were offered in DC.

[kiya]

Ard's answered a bunch of your questions probably better than I would, for I am not so hot with the coherence at the moment.

A few other tidbits: the impression I get is that "kala" is a word that almost means "ritually pure"; the translations I get for it when I look it up have to do with whiteness, brightness, and similar things. The idea is that if our personal energies are tangled and blocked, our actions will be muddled and warped.

One of the things that yezida said when we were learning a kala rite at her weekend class in November was that Victor Anderson would always ask before helping someone with a kala ritual, "Do you want to be healed of this?" (or something like; the exact phrasing has eluded me), because sometimes knots in the soul are things we're not prepared to lose just yet, because they're familiar in a way we need just now, or because they still have lessons we need to learn, or for some other reason.

The impression I have from my reading -- and nexos would know more than I would just now -- is that at least some rituals for the Orisha and Lwa are more like Druidic practice. In Divine Horsemen, there's a description of an offering for Agwé, where a huge feast is prepared, the celebrants load it onto a boat and go out into the ocean, and when they reach the spot divined to be over His palace, they sink it. My offerings for Yemaya and Olokun I plan to walk down to the beach and give to the ocean.

And I will double-check and see if you're on my Feri class filter. The class I'm taking is basically the extremely fleshed-out version of the material in Evolutionary Witchcraft, at least as I understand it.

[ardaniel]

My offerings for Yemaya and Olokun I plan to walk down to the beach and give to the ocean.

I advise that you go down to the water itself, and do not do what my screenwriting prof did with *his* on one of his first times giving offerings to Yemaya. He backed up about ten feet from the incoming waves and put 'em up there, figuring that either it'd work and the water would come up, or it wouldn't and his analytical mind would reign victorious, secure in the knowledge that this was all bullshit.

*SCHLORP* up came the wave, *SCHLORP* out went the coconuts and whatnot, and he got the no-uncertain-terms "get off my beach and don't try THAT little science-fair project again" boot in the ass. ;)

[kiya]

*snicker*

I was planning on either going out onto the headland where the water washes around the rocks or building a sandcastle altar right at the waterline (probably checking for low tide for that and starting a little before it turns).

[ardaniel]

Knowing the area, I figure either of those will work.

Manannan has an ungodly "affection" for wedgex's cellphone, and will frequently attempt to examine it in ways that would be detrimental to its continued functioning. ;)

[keshwyn]

Wouldn't that be a godly affection?

*runs*

[ardaniel]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pbbbt. You're lucky I saw this after you went to bed for the night. ;)

[kiya]

Name correction: nex0s.

[keshwyn]

Good with the not-unwinding-ness. :} Thank you for being careful.

Let me know if you want me to try channeling strength at you? Gods know I spent enough downtime this weekend to build up some reserves. It's monday morning, and it's raining, and I'm -still- wired. (It's a pleasant feeling, but I'm not sure I should stay this high. Or maybe it's the coffee.)

And hurrah this wordcount!