Passages in Summer

"Everything changes but change itself. Everything flows and nothing remains the same... You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters and yet others go flowing ever on."
~ Heraclitus

The Summer turns. Moving forward from the Solstice, I have seen changes occurring in my life. The most wondrous has come to pass, and subtler revelations have become known. With the latter, one was after I attended a Pagan festival in July. Though it was enjoyable, it occurred to me that there has been no real evolution within the Pagan community over the past, I don't know, decade. Having been "out of the loop" for a number of years, I felt getting back to that area of my roots would be a positive experience, and it was, albeit strictly in a nostalgic sense. I found myself comparing present to past experiences a little too much, but I think that was because I was basically in the same scenarios. For example, partying around a bonfire can only lend expansion to one's self only so much. Anyways, I feel I have gone full circle with the Pagan fest scene (as it is) in Ontario.

I still walk the Wheel everyday, and I celebrated a quaint Lughnasadh ritual in amongst the cedar, pine and birch trees down in the Nemeton. I adorned the stone shrine with large turkey feathers I had found and, as the main part of the ritual, I made a corn dolly from the freshly-cut hay and wild flowers. Offerings were also made, and I was quite pleased that I managed to cut an apple in half perfectly to reveal the star inside. The sacred space was beautiful and, in hindsight, I wished I had had a camera. But the ritual was not for me so the image will have to live in my memory.