We had scarcely finished our Walk together, when we were approached by a Lady I had been friends with back in high school to teach her. Having just finished our Element Walk and Spring just around the corner again, we decided it was a very good place for her to start, so we got her going on her own Element Walk through study. Basically researching, reading, meditating, focusing on the very base energies and most literal manifestations of each Element. We kept in touch through email & discussed her revelations as they came and suggested activities & exercises to help her connect with each Element in turn. We had her watching the Sun rise, planting seeds, meditating in the shower, and collecting feathers. And it was a whole new way for me to, again, understand and really dig for the Lessons that each brings to our Lives. It is one thing to do it yourself, it’s an entirely new thing to guide someone else through it.
When Spring came around again, we decided to go through it again, I mean why the hell not? It’s a wonderful practice that we are enjoying & learning more from every time we go through it.
Morgana (my friend from high school) had never had any experience in Circle outside of the few she had done on her own, so we decided to go through the Walk again with her, this time through Ritual. And we invited one of our closest friends, Ice, to work with us.
It has been interesting for us to work out what traditional element of Ritual we want to use and what we have completely made up as we go.
We did 4 Rituals for Air.
The Etch-A-Sketch Ritual – focused on the cleansing aspects of the Element and we worked on a “Spring Cleaning” of obstacles in our Lives.
The Smelling Ritual – focused on Air as a carrier. We used the isolation of the sense of smell to emphasize the point of how the intangible impacts, inspires and moves us.
The Pinwheel Ritual – focused on Air in motion. How the unseen can impact the physical world even in its most gentle form.
Transition Ritual – moving from Air to Fire – focused on how Air fuels Fire, both in a literal way and on a metaphysical/energy way; and how the magickal Lesson of Air (to Know) feeds the Lesson of Fire (to Dare).
Air is the gentle breeze that carries the smell of honeysuckle to us from the vines on the hill. It is the force that drives the thunderstorm. It is the tornado that lays waste to a town & forces us to rebuild. It stirs the wind chimes & carries their song to our ears. It carries the smell of baking bread to us so that we know when it is done. We harness it with machines to clean our homes & our yards. We breathe it so that we may live.
It the birthplace of magick; it is the thought-form. It carries to us ideas & inspiration. We can use it to clear out the “cobwebs” in our minds & to remove emotional clutter from our hearts that could inhibit growth & forward movement.
This is just the beginning, kids. Stay tuned for more thoughts on this & the other Elements.
Feel free to chime in. We’d love to hear about your experiences & your ideas.
~Cootie
One Response to “Air – recap of Element Walk 2011”
morgana268
July 13th, 2011 at 8:06 am | edit
You know, reading through this, and having been a part of it, it really helps to see the other side.. “I was but the learner, now I am the Master” XD That time has not yet come, but from the Padawan’s point of view, it puts things into such a perspective, that yes, its true a year is a long time, especially when you’re trying new things, changing your outlook on a lot of things etc. But also it really shows me just how short of a trip its already been, how much further still there is to go.
For me personally, after going through the first Walk, it was a literal joy to return to Air again, to explore it more in depth.. We’ve talked before about how I have always felt more drawn to Fire, and I still am drawn to it, but it is not where I “live”. Libra is an air sign, and I never fully appreciated that fact until we began this journey. To me, Air is what makes all things possible… as you said, the thought-form.. the birthplace, where we start. I’ve come to understand that even in an everyday, practical setting, all it takes is a simple idea, just an urge to do something… to set in motion a whole slew of things. Just an expression of my own thoughts, can affect the thoughts and opinions of others (That does fall more into the Air into Fire realm, but it began with Air.. the thought in my head). Sure, I was aware that happens before we started our studies, but from an elemental perspective, I never considered it related.
As we were finishing up with Air this time around, you guys wanted to know what I thought of it, what new perspectives I’d gained on it etc. Well, there it is.. We can study Fire, Water, Earth, and anything in between, but Air is always where I come back to. When I’m stressed, sad, can’t think straight, have a need for inspiration in something I’m doing, or need protection, Air is what I turn to. Its “home”. =)