You know, this is interesting ... sharing the experiences I've had over the last couple of years with you is a great way for me to see things in a different light. I'm a tad nervous about doing this because some of these experiences are very personal and not a little bit weird. But this is what Betwixt is about ... sharing insight and experience in our personal evolution.
I was talking about ritual space recently with a friend and the story of one of my first stints as Summoner came up ... it's amusing a year after the fact but at the time it was just a bit unsettling.
Circles, inside & out ... pt 1
In a nutshell ... the WCC Summoner is a surety of sacred space and its boundries. We stand on the outside of the circle monitoring the participants and for those sensitive enough to do so, the energy involved when a circle of people start operating on the same page. The Summoner also keeps stuff from interfering with the circle from the outside - no trespassers allowed ... guard and guardian alike. Its an interesting experience standing outside watching a coven create a circle hand to hand, while the priest cuts & casts its parameter with a sword, then seeing the priestess nail it down from the inside - you are effectively locked out of that collective pysche. Which allows you a distance to observe everything else.
ANYways ... I had been Summoner for less then 3 months and was getting comfortable in the position. We were in our winter quarters which meant I could lock the door and not worry about the same kind of intrusions one gets out in the park. I could settle down outside the circle and simply watch the ritual unfold, while monitoring everyone - depending on which priest/priestess pair were running the circle, its usually an uneventful thing.
On this night the priest & priestess were a couple who are excellent at what they do, their own intimacy simply adds to the connection they provide for the circle. They had chosen to call the fey ... an introduction to the sidhe, with a libation and blessing given to those fey that might be in their lives. I watched with curiousity as the circle closed and the priest began casting the circle with an iron blade and an assortment of herbs ... when the priestess consecrated the circle I distinctly felt like they had disappeared inside a bubble. Something which was a first for me and made me stand up and take notice ... how the heck was that possible? I opened myself a little more to the coven trying to get a 'feel' for the circle, but what happened instead was like a warm buzz or hum in my head. I pulled back to full awareness in the room and listened to the ritual looking for a clue as to what had just happened.
The language and movement was pretty standard for the Odyssean tradition but the results were extra-ordinary since whatever had been called to attend the circle (sidhe invitation apparently) was actually moving around the room with me. The first time something touched me I almost yelped, it was so unexpected. I was standing alone in the dark with just me and my staff watching the circle and something brushed across my back, almost as if something was pushing past me. I could hear a heavy heartbeat in the dark and footsteps pacing the edge of the circle in front of me. I actually looked at the floor expecting to see at least 'something' that made the noises. The coven seemed totally unaware of the outside ... I on the other hand felt like I didn't know where to move for fear of something touching me in more then a light brush. If anyone had looked at me they probably would have seen a wide-eyed look on my face, lol. I spent the next hour listening to strange noises - breathing, a heart beat and footsteps of various kinds. At one point something stood behind me looking over my shoulder and I was to unnerved to turn my head and look!
When the priest cut a door in the circle and but the fey offering out on a window-sill there was a stillness in the room, followed by a rushing sensation when he re-entered the circle, closing it behind him. After the offering was laid out the priestess spoke for a bit of the nature of titheing the sidhe and general gifting practices in the old countries. Wasn't much longer before they wrapped things up and made their farewells to the gathered fey. The silence after the offering was somewhat reassuring to me, but I still felt it was worth mentioning to the priest ... just in case anything might still be hanging about.
He nodded apparently pleased with his handiwork and asked me if I was Irish. I said I was Irish, English & Scottish ... to which he laughed and jokingly warned me to watch out for bogerts (thanks - wish he'd said something at the beginning of the night!) and walked off laughing to hook up with his lady.
The lesson in that one for me is that a circle IS a deliniation of sacred space, it does create its own boundries and it does have an inside & outside - its not just poetic thinking or figurative speech, done right, it IS a place outside of time & space.
Blessed Be.
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