I have one of those personalities that when she decides to do something she is all in. Which is the blessing and curse of being a fire sign. Having that initial motivation is wonderful but when there is SO MUCH you are motivated to do it is easy to get overwhelmed and not know where to start or how to capture it quickly enough to remember it all. So I would love to say everything will be captured here but obviously that is not the case. I am attempting for a slow smoldering coals kind of fire but I know I burnt blue hot sometimes so this will always be an exercise in self care.

I did want to share the experience I had when I did a small rededication the other day. As you may know I am trying to relearn and embrace a spiritual practice of some sort. What you may not know is I am still trying to figure out what that will look like. The only thing I am certain about is that I want MeiMei (my kiddo) to be involved. What better way to get started but along side my tiny?

I started by just teaching her the directions as laid out on our new alter, a round table that I found on FB marketplace that just made me so happy when I saw it I had to brave the dreaded back and forth of FB messenger to solidify its new ownership. (Note to self: That might be another story to tell at some point) . She was into it! I had places a small wooden bowl at each of the cardinal directions (which happily coincide with the windows in our little attic dwelling) and she would go back to each bowl and try to remember which direction was which (sun rises which way? I would ask). I thought ok, lets build on that and I taught her the Elements that go along with the directions. That got her very excited, probably because I had told her earlier she was 5 now and ready to learn about magic and this was the start of those lessons… we will see if her interest holds up as well when she realizes that it’s not exactly like it is in the movie Encanto. My thought is, we can still believe in something that drives us to thrive. The excitement can start early in life, it’s just hanging onto it through adulthood that is a challenge.

The next step was to go outside and explore the neighborhood and look for things that we could decorate the alter with. I had pulled out and started unpacking some of my old witchy things, but I wanted her to be a part of reassembling our new alter. So we looked for interesting things, leaves and fallen branches and pinecones etc., just that attracted our attention. During our adventure I was leading her to things that might represent one of the 4 elements well, but we grabbed anything that delighted and of course it all fit! I had also been saying from the beginning of this new magic-class of sorts (it’s definitely not organized in any way so don’t picture a classroom setting, picture chats here and there as it suits us) that all magic comes from Nature. In my little pool of beliefs that is the truest thing anyone might teach a new swimmer. So yes it ALL mad it onto the alter, except the lump of moist dirt with moss on it…. that stayed outside.

All in all this collection became very exciting to her because I had up until this point sort of been teaching her that nature can stay in nature every time she was dragging in a pile of sticks or a fistful of rocks the landlord had chosen for the landscaping. But this wasn’t just a pile of random, this all had meaning and she was delighted to learn all about it all. Once we sat down with our nature treasures we talked about the different elements and which things might be best suited in which quadrant of the circle.*

*On a side note: I have had many a shape of alter through out the years ranging from just a little spot on a shelf or windowsill to full blown table set up that was only created once in a while when the mood suited or a random Sabbat inspired me to. Of all the shapes and sizes I have always been drawn to the idea of a small round table you could walk around with each quadrant set aside for the elements equally. It seems an odd thing to just always have set up if you are not actively having full-blown rituals around them daily but if I can integrate a sacred space in the middle of a room that we can pass through any time of day I will!

This was all an exercise to get her started on learning about her first Sabbat since turning 5: Mabon. I sort of went a little nuts and ordered as many Kids Sabbat books I could find which may or may not all get used right away or at alll. I was just so excited. Like I said “all in”… (remind me to tell you about the tarot spread that day. It was very…. accurate)

In ANY event…. tangent returned to sender… we decorated the alter and I sat with it for several days adding things I thought were important (my mothers tigers eye ring, a little peridot ring she still needs to grow into, my labradorite ring, a couple small sculptures I had collected over the years, etc.). When it was finally complete and I was comfortable with it I sat down for a little meditation and sort of inner rededication to my own spirituality. Along the way Maevowyn was still trying to understand how this worked. Like how sacred space is not to be disturbed or how the leaves might fall apart if she handles them too much and as fascinating as that might have been for her it was not the goal….. so when I sat down to do this I let her know I needed quiet time with the alter. She perk, to my dismay, because I knew that meant this would be anything but quiet time. She said several times that she just needed to check on me and she ever so much wanted to use the candle snuffer when it was time. It was actually very sweet and I wonder if she thought I would be turning myself into a cat or something. She understands that meditation time is SUPPOSE to be quiet time because we have been listening nightly to a guided meditation together as we settle in for bed since I can remember. That of course doesn’t mean that there still aren’t a million interruptions. She’s 5, its the nature of the beast.

So despite her interruptions I did get a good ten to fifteen minutes of grounding with my cup of tea and just sort of thinking about how this feels right and is where I want to be. Nothing so grandiose of a dedication ceremony but maybe something more elaborate can be accomplished in a year and a day 😉