First…

I just had the Lancaster Women’s Circle round for magical purposes, it was my first Imbolc ritual of this year. (I’ll be blogging about Imbolc later on this week for the Blog Project.) Now I’m waiting for the Jellicle to get back and complain about the soy beans all over the house…

I was quite chuffed with how laid back I am about introducing my versions of rituals and magical practice to people when I know that they’re a bit odd. I was nervous about what might seem like cultural tourism to people as I do take a lot of Japanese practice into my version of Imbolc and I was nervous about explaining Japanese practice when I’m not Japanese and I only lived there for two years. However, nerves aside I think I managed pretty well and it was fun to work with a group of people I don’t usually work with, and a diverse group in terms of our practice as well.

I’m very laid back and casual when it comes to group-work, I don’t worry about it or freak out about doing stuff in front of others, most of my concern goes into making sure people feel relaxed and comfortable and I do pretty well. One thing I’ve noticed though about leading a ritual is that I share in a very specific way, I share what I set out to but not the flavour of my personal practice as the others were doing, I kept a lot of my participation in the ritual very neutral whereas the information I pass on is what I’m sharing.

I’m looking forward to not leading the next one so that I can share my personal ‘flavour’ rather than the information.

I’m also looking forward to my actual Imbolc celebration later on this week where I don’t have to explain so much and can just focus on throwing soy beans with everyone who’s done it before and knows what and where and when and how.