B is for Brigid and Beginnings – Pagan Blog Project 2014

So, come next Sunday, my lovely wife and I will be heading over to a neighbourhood friend’s place to try out a group ritual with a couple of other gals whom our friend knows.
It’s, supposedly, the beginning of a year of ritually circling together every six weeks or so (yes, following the Wiccan Year Wheel), and we’ll just see how that goes.
Eugh.
This is the trick with me. I dread the Unknown. (What the hell am I doing here again??) And, right about now, my control-freak nature is starting to rear its ugly head. Will my wife think that Reclaiming-type rituals are Capital-S Stupid? (Unlikley). Will working on-the-fly result in poorly held-together rituals that lack flow and arc and feel scattered? (Er… in my experience of group rituatls? Yeah. :-\) Will I feel weird and nervous about things that could come up (like womb-centrism) due to not knowing some of the other group-participants? (Yes – already feeling weird and nervous about that. Although our friend is not stupid, and I think she would aim to avoid such a thing, so I’m probably worried about nothing).
 
This… collection of minor anxieties is one of the main reasons, when taken together, that I tend to aim towards solitary practice. HOWEVER I have been missing group ritual, and so I’m fairly eager to try this group where everyone involved is crafty and creative and a queer-femme-chick and fairly lefty.
As such, I’m trying to quell my fears and build up my bravery a little. (It’s possible that, rather than building up my bravery, I should really just build up my Mellow and Gregarious, which will probably help a lot more. Something to think about).
 
I’ve sent a note to the other participants, hoping to get us all thinking about (and sharing ideas about) the impending ritual and, with any luck, we’ll get a bit of an egregore going – or at least be thinking vaguely in the same directions – by the time we actually get together.
 
I expect it to takea little while for us to gel, and I’m hesitant to bind myself to a couple of gals I’ve never met before. At the same time, Imbolg has ties to sheep and new beginnings, and a ritual centered around group cohesion – possibly through a gentle and very specific (maybe even symbolic?) binding using scraps of yarn that we all brought and tied together (and then maybe(?) knitted into an altar-place-mat for future use?) might be an appropriate thing to do.
I dunno.
 
This is a fairly speculative post, I realize, and we’ll have to wait and see where this little group goes, but… Here’s hoping? 🙂