This weekend just past saw a ritual and picnic on the northern beaches of Norfolk in a place called Heacham. A wonderful day spent with my friends (and grove family) enjoying the wonderful beach and (when we arrived, very very distant) sea. We visited for a ritual on the sands with papers and props at the ready but as England does......the heavens opened and we were doused in a perpetual drizzle. So as you do we just....................sat there!! We sat in the rain and had a very enjoyable picnic. I must admit it was probably one of the best ones that we have ever managed to fumble together. There was everything you could think of and it was marvellous.
When we arrived we strode out on to a beach that seemed to go on for days, the sea was at low tide and was miles out. It took us a good half an hour to walk out and meet it but in good grovie fashion we decided that we would continue to walk for another 20 minutes. As the sea stretched out further and further it never reached higher than any of our knees and it was silent and still, almost eerie in its own way. There was a sense that no matter how confident we felt about our safety, we were in a place that we didn't truly belong. This was a realm with a power that we weren't accustomed to and that power sank in to every pore.
However it wasn't long before we realised we had gone out maybe too far and headed back, quickly re-joining our party on the drizzly beach. I must have eaten my weight in junk food sat there laughing and joking. Making innuendo after innuendo and waiting for the sea to meet us a bit further up the beach.
It took a while but surely enough the water was lapping closer and closer to the dry (well dryish) sand. We took our items, our offerings, and our papers and drew a circle in the sand to mark out the boundary. The quarters were called and the herald declared our purpose, then it was time for the Priest and Priestess to commune with the water of the sea and ask for the blessings of the Lord and Lady.
Me and my companion strode in to the water and offered up a posy of flowers to the sea..........Quickly they were strewn from the glass vase and swallowed by the water, the priestess dipped her large shell in to the sea and prayed for blessings before we turned to beckon forth our comrades to the water.
I was pleasantly surprised (not in a bad way mind you)..........you just get a sense sometimes that we treat the gods and the world like a supernatural vending machine. It's easy to get trapped in this mind set of only asking for things from your gods and never sharing it.......but on this occasion. I am so glad this wasn't the case. These wonderful people who travelled all the way to the beach, packed food and drink to share, simply held out their hands to receive the waters blessing, a blessing that by all intent and purpose had been paid for and all of them had others on their mind.
They decided to share this moment across the ether to the people they love, to transfer this blessing, paid for with offerings and effort to people that they deemed worthy of the seas power. This is the blessing that I received.....I was blessed by being humbled, I stood waiting (with no expectation other than an acknowledged trend) and was greeted by people who wanted better.........better for others in their lives. Better for family, for friends, for a shared happiness in those that they cared for.
In the end our tummy's were full, the waters were warm and the blessings were received. But when all was done we left without a trace. Nothing but the flowers of our offering bobbing in the water as a sign that the gods had come to the sea and given their gifts to those that sang their song of praise.
I hope that the blessings we asked for are paid to those who deserve them in full. That we continue to look at our craft and magick as a way of improving this world we live in. I know I need to look at how I perceive those around me, kindness and generosity they say is its own reward and that's where I was blessed.
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