{"id":898,"date":"2017-09-07T12:03:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T16:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/betzking.com\/blog\/?p=898"},"modified":"2024-11-29T17:07:27","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T22:07:27","slug":"rainstorm-ritual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/betzking.com\/blog\/rainstorm-ritual\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainstorm Ritual"},"content":{"rendered":"

I took 2 weeks off from everything at the end of August and broke my foot 2 days into my vacation. My long imagined adventures and accomplishments came to a grinding halt as I came to a hobbling halt. In what seemed like no time at all, and yet took forever, my vacation came to an end with the Labor Day weekend.\u00a0 It held no fun, just chores, food and naps, over and over. \u00a0My return to the classroom loomed just ahead.\u00a0 Hours before bedtime, I tackled long postponed work items; billing, bills, banking, a to-do list for the week ahead.\u00a0 The sky darkened and it began to rain.\u00a0 Then it rained harder, and harder, until I could not stop myself from taking a seat on the deck, overlooking the forest and river.\u00a0 The wind through the trees was audible, a loud white noise.\u00a0 Thunder growled from the West.\u00a0 The rain beat its rhythm on the earth, slow at first, then faster and faster, harder and harder, until the world was wet.\u00a0 Wet air, wet ground, wet trees, wet beings\u2026. And the wet was good, it was warm, it did not sting, it was benevolent and kind. \u00a0“Wait a minute,”\u00a0<\/em>I thought to myself…\u00a0“when water is benevolent and kind, it is not a rainstorm, it is a ritual, \u00a0a consecration, come to make holy all that has forgotten holiness, \u00a0and just in time for the beginning of the academic year, and the end of the Pagan year<\/em>!”<\/p>\n

\"rain\"<\/a>I smiled to myself, and gave words to all that I wished to surrender: cynicism, doubt,\u00a0 judgement, generalized fear, procrastination, broken bones, dog drama and head-spaces that are not mindful\u2026 Then I sent the cleansing waters to others in my life, like if a shower and a telegram had a baby.\u00a0 I had no doubt that it worked.<\/p>\n

When my cast became soggy, it was time to say goodbye to the magnificent rain forest in my own backyard. \u00a0It smelled of clean wet air with a base note of mud.\u00a0 Hands to heart, I thanked the Elemental ruler of Water, Nixa, and her subjects the Undines.\u00a0 I thanked them like sisters thank each other after tackling a difficult task.\u00a0 We sort of high-fived. I returned to my dwelling, grateful and thrilled for the sudden \u2018drive-by\u2019 consecration, compliments of a rain storm and a bit of intentionality.\u00a0 A clean slate to begin the school year, and a clean slate to enter the season of darkness in the Pagan year, as the days grow ever shorter, and the Light more precious.\u00a0 Alpha and Omega, cleansed and returned to center, to balance, to receptive presence.<\/p>\n

I could not have created this intentionally, for obvious weather-related reasons.\u00a0 This ritual required me to realize it in the moment that it showed up, not as a rainstorm, but as a consecration. Thankfully, I recognized the difference, because I’ve been working hard to remember the language of the land.\u00a0 The elements don\u2019t just talk to people who have special abilities to hear them, they talk just the same as birds or bugs or people.\u00a0 With time, their expressions are as easy to guesstimate as any other foreign language. \u00a0We can practice anytime we experience earth, water, fire or air in a glorious setting; just by sitting still, breathing deep and listening. \u00a0We can simply use our intentionality to allow the fire \u00a0to burn away, the wind to blow away, the water to wash away and the sweet earth to ground all that no longer serves us. \u00a0 \u00a0We can trust ourselves and our\u00a0imaginations. We can release forgetfulness and remember our holiness. \u00a0It’s all available in our own backyards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took 2 weeks off from everything at the end of August and broke my foot 2 days into my vacation. My long imagined adventures and accomplishments came to a grinding halt as I came to a hobbling halt. 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