Small rituals
I can’t believe how quickly September has gone. September is one of my favourite months for planning, setting goals and trying to come up with new ideas. But for some reason this year I haven’t carved out time and got out my large drawing block and cut out pictures from magazines and written notes beside them. I’m trying to think what I have done…it’s been a merging of days and wanting to eat chocolate, bread and macaroni cheese. And then last week I suddenly had the calling to ritual. (Can ritual be a verb?! ) A soul feeling of needing to connect with nature. I woke up, the cats led me downstairs and I flung open the backdoor. Furrio sniffed the air, as I put on my sliders and headed down to the end of the garden.
The garden is on a slight incline, the wall by the back lane is the highest point. A few years ago, we dug up the tufts of grass, it would be too generous to call it a lawn, in its place I made a picked flower bed and a small terrace that has been filled with pebbles that have shells in them. On this terrace I have made a stone circle and in the centre is what I call the dinosaur egg stone. And it is here that I placed the cornflowers and cosmos I had just picked from my now semi-dying picked flower bed. I placed them on top of my egg stone and put a broken white shell over the stems to keep them in place. Furrio came over to inspect what I was doing, he adopted us about 5 months ago and was clearly curious to see what ritual I was performing today. Beside the stone circle is a large stone, that I use as I seat. I sat on it, I didn’t say anything out loud, but I thought of Simba and told him I missed him and loved him. A simple small ritual.
My rituals are usually always simple, nothing elaborate or complicated, no set piece to them. They are a marker in my day. A moment of remembrance, gratitude, setting a hope or a wish. They bring me a shot of comfort. A quiet stillness often infuses me, my body is calmer. I wonder if it’s the small moment of taking control and recognising something that matters to me. Pausing to make space for those feelings that otherwise get overlooked in the busyness of my days and other peoples emotions.