Celebration - creating a new world
We ate the very first young greens from my new vegetable bed this lunchtime. Our plan is to become a lot more self-sufficient over time, so a first harvest, however small, is important.
It's a bit of a milestone. It turned our meal into a tiny celebration. The food was shared, the occasion acknowledged.
I've learned a lot about soil, recently. How important that dirt in the garden really is. And how to look after it.
Imagine a forest floor. Plants grow there in great abundance, yet nobody ploughs or fertilises it.
All those colourful flowers thrive in the organic matter from previous years' growth. In that broken down humus, millions of little creatures are working away to turn old leaves into nutrients for plants.
In my vegetable bed, I've tried to emulate the wisdom of the forest. Without doing any digging, I've fed my soil compost and manure. I've covered it with grass clippings to hold in the moisture and keep the weeds down.
And now the larger seedlings are protecting the smaller ones by shading them from the sun. After just three weeks, the bed is looking lush.
I am giving gifts of organic matter to the soil, and it is giving me fresh young salad vegetables in return. This is a magical connection that contributes to our health, the health of the garden, and the health of the world.
As a Druid, I like to think about what Nature teaches me, and how I can apply that to my life and my world. Knowing how important soil is for life to thrive, I asked my guiding spirits how I can help build the soil of a flourishing world.
The spirits told me something I didn't expect. They told me that the soil our world needs to become healthy and abundant is celebration.
The dictionary definition mentions three basic elements to celebration: people coming together, solemn words being spoken, and food shared.
You can do this on any scale. You can get all of your friends and neighbours together for a potluck picnic in the park. Say a few words about your reason to celebrate – a birthday, a major festival, simply being alive.
The act of bringing people together and strengthening relationships may well be one important way to save the world we know from disaster.
Celebration can also be a simple daily practice you can do any time. The gathering doesn't have to be exclusively human. Any being you meet in the course of your day can be a partner in celebration.
Celebrate the warm sun on your face. A tree freshly coming into leaf. A plant cracking trough the pavement.
Stop for a moment and feel the presence of this other being. Speak to it – silently in your heart or out loud – of the gifts of beauty it gives you. Your words and attention will be a gift in return.
If you wish, leave an offering. The simplest one is a libation of water. Have a sip yourself.
Imagine how your connections with other people and the natural world would change if you did this consistently. They would become magical.
Vibrant connections are the very soil of a flourishing world. Tend them well.
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