Great Saturday Retreat

Today is Great Saturday or Holy Saturday, the day between Jesus' death and his resurrection. In the Church, it's celebrated with watchful expectation and funeral hymns. 

I'm celebrating it with a morning retreat, for reading, writing, and working in the garden!

Agenda Today: 

1. Read "Root and Ritual"

2. Make a talisman

3. Planting

 

1. Read "Root and Ritual":

Today I'm reading again from "Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self," by Becca Piastrelli (2021).  in January I started reading from Part 4: Self: "As much work as we do to nourish our roots with the natural world, with those who came before us, and with the community that surrounds us, if we do not take a thorough and lasting look at our relationship with our own self, we will rarely feel connected anywhere else in our life." 

Chapter 12 is Activating the Wild Within. She talks about how hard it is to slow down and live in tune with the cycles of the moon and the earth. "Even in this modern technological era when we have real deadlines and busy schedules, intentionally slowing down and opting out of a culture of urgency is the key to feeling at home within ourselves."

2. Make a talisman:

One of the practices Becca Piastrelli describes for "belonging to self" is to make a talisman, a handmade object infused with intention. A talisman can be anything at all, that you can carry with you.

Today I will make myself a talisman to boost my strength and ability to witness for the earth. 

Supplies: Fabric, needle, thread, stone, soft cord.

1. Decide on the intention, and the form of the talisman: Because I chose witness for the earth, I decided to make a small earth-shaped talisman, and I decided I needed something I could wear around my neck and keep on through the night, for simplicity's sake, so I chose cloth and a stone.

2. Craft your talisman: I cut and sewed a circle, inserted a round stone, and sewed it closed - took me 30-minutes.

3. Charge the talisman with energy: Becca says to "close your eyes and center yourself with deep breaths ... feel your energy well up inside you, and then allow it to flow through your hands into your talisman" until you feel it is full.

3. Planting:

It's a beautiful, sunny spring day and I will get outside to plant!