Evening!
Yesterday, I had suggested that I take the girls and their friends (our second set of daughters) back to Blackpool for their free return trip. Apparently if you booked tickets on a peak day in August, you can claim the same number for a free return trip in September….so rather foolishly, I offered to take them all back again and we could catch the Blackpool Illuminations while we were there.
Ha…..well that turned out to be a truly bonkers idea, turns out that the World , his mother, their entire extended family and the family dogs had all had the same idea, the place was heaving with people!
As we were a group of 9, we used the big minibus I use for work, but because it is a taller vehicle I couldn’t fit in most car parks as they have height bars to stop people setting up camp in them. We drove about for a while but in the end I dropped the kids and my friend off to let them go in to the Pleasure Beach while I set off to try and find a coach park. Managed to find 2 of them but they were also full, parking was at such a premium they were even 70 seater coaches still looking for places…chaos!
In the end I had to drive all the way back out of Blackpool to find somewhere I could park for a couple of hours, told the others that I wouldn’t be able to meet them and decide to find something to eat. After some cake and some sparkling juice I decided to take a walk down to the beach.
Oh, that was such a good idea, there was hardly a soul about, the sun was out and there was a healthy onshore breeze…bliss!
I am currently working on my own practice as a witch and this month I have been looking at casting a circle. When I first started walking my pagan path, I really wasnt into any kind of ritual…it all seemed far to ritualistic (no pun intended), that isn’t what I thought I wanted, nope not for me!
This far along my path I have come to realise that there is room for some forms of ritual. Depending on what path a person has chosen, their level of ritual can go from the very basic to very very ritualistic….it is a very personal choice and there is no right or wrong way.
Anyway, I have been working on casting a circle and calling in the elements and spirits, but in quite a basic/simple form, some castings are a bit wordy for my liking.
As I was still a bit stressed from the driving/parking silliness I thought now would be a good time to call a circle to spend some time in a simple meditation.
I called my circle and stood there, letting the strong breeze blow through me and carry my stress away. The view I had during my meditation was just fabulous and serene…I must have been in my circle for about 10-15 minutes but it felt so wonderful and calm in there, I was standing there with a silly smile on my face and felt totally at peace. When it felt right, I unwound the circle and thanked the elements/spirits that had joined me.
There was a definite marked difference from inside the circle to outside once undone (which is part of what I was supposed to be able to identify as a study excercise). By way of saying thank you to the spirits of place, I collected all plastic I could see on my way off the beach.
Then it was just a matter of time before I got a call to say they were going on their last ride so I could drive back to meet them at a designated spot. All arrived safe and sound it was off to find a chippy for our evening, after all it is seaside law and then we could drive along the waterfront so the kids could see the Illuminations…..nearly 2 hours that took, to the point my youngest got bored and covered her head up (so that made it all worth it, ha!!)
But….once home, everyone was pleased with their day, although they were extremely tired (it was 10.45pm), they were glad they had seen the lights and I have promised myself never to do that again!
But it did give me an opportunity to experience something that up to now I hadnt felt the magic of…and that was imesaurable.
walking my pagan path 