Tonight's dscussion is about a magickal experience I had early this morning. A girlfriend of mine told me how she had gone blueberry picking just yesterday and I thought . . . perfect!! Just perfect! What a great way to celebrate Lughnasa (see yesterday's discussion August 1, 2011) and the first harvest! Picking blueberries. So that's what I decided to do this morning.
A committed witch, once I set my mind on something, I set the alarm at an alarmingly early time for me, 6:30 am. I'm usually wide awake at midnight, so 6:30 is understandably early. . . . Hey! . . . It is! Anyway, I awoke, gathered my work materials for the day and left a couple of hours earlier than usual. I found myself enjoying the early morning air still wet with the rain from last night and took the country route, rather than the highway, to the berry farm.
I'll tell you a story about when I was a little girl and my one and only experience with picking blueberries in a blueberry field before today. I had two aunts that showed up one day to visit. They were in their late 50's and I was a little girl of maybe seven years old. They had come to take me blueberry picking! Yea! Yeah? Well, off I went with my aunts and experienced a couple of hours of misery, that truly seemed like days! I remember an achingly long, sweltering day in a hot, dry, dusty field, being allowed to (although it seemed like I had to) pick blueberries and put those tiny berries into a huge five gallon bucket. "I have to fill that! Oh my goodness! I would never be able to fill that thing!! Is there a bathroom? I'm hot! Sweaty! I'm thirsty! Can we go now? I don't think I like this! Can I get some water?" There was no water, my aunt's hadn't thought to bring any and I thought for sure I would die from thirst! I can laugh now, and I recall that my aunts never again invited me to the berry fields! Understandably, I was too young to appreciate such an adventure for what it is, or could have been. And I have never gone berry picking since . . . well . . . until today.
I most likely have avoided, or just haven't given any consideration to something that at first taste was so distasteful. Yet listening to my friend describe the plumpness of the berries, how much nicer they are than those available at the market, the great price at only a couple of dollars a pound!, and I never need an excuse to be outdoors and surrounded by nature and so I found myself this morning at the crack of eight a.m., riding on the back of a tractor up a hill to a blueberry field.
I wore my work apron as I had decided in my plans to go blueberry picking, that I needed pockets. As I seldom . . . well, actually never, wear jeans or pants (I'm a dressy witch) I seldom have pockets and pockets were needed for my car keys and my cell phone. Yep! I was bringing my cell phone. They didn't have cell phones in the 1960's. Just lets see me get abandoned and left for dead in a blueberry field now! Nope, I had a large coffee with me, as a hedge against thirsting to death and a brave spirit as I held on to the rails while the truck was climbing (isn't this a little steep? Don't we need seat belts?) the hill of blueberries.
At the top, the hill leveled out and I saw there were a half a dozen other people 'pickin' berries.' I was given a nice, white plastic pail and ushered by a young man with all the appropriate airs of importance to my blueberry bushes. That's right. Mine. Each person was 'given' the right or permission to pick from the bushes they indicated, keeping an orderly flow to the harvesting of the rows. I soon found myself in an amazing place. I felt like I was in a church. Then I realized I was. My church has always been in nature.
The other pickers were hushed and quietly, almost reverently picking berries and if anyone spoke it was with hushed tones. No one knew each other, except for those couples that came together, but everyone was cordial, friendly and focused on getting the best berries. As I picked, listening to the 'clunk, clunk, plunk, plunk; sound of the first berries bouncing off the bottom of the plastic buckets, I felt the wetness of the leaves of the bushes from the rain the night before and it felt clean and smelled fresh on the air. There was a cool, gentle breeze fanning my skin and the sun was bright and brilliant and just starting to warm up. I was very happy I had set the alarm early, and was very happy I had decided on this adventure. I was just thinking of my comparison of this place I found myself in and a church and then I heard the choir. I became aware of several birds singing and making their morning calls across this enormous field, high on a hill, first thing in the morning. Unseen, yet heard above the plunking of the berries, the softly spoken words of the pickers and even above the tractor's purr at it crawled up and down the hill transporting pickers. The birds were not separate from us, but actually seemed to be a part of us, part of the congregation, the choir in my church.
There's also a sense of accomplishment, a sense of pride of gathering foodstuffs to later feed our loved ones. For me there was an understanding as my fingers grasped at the berries, firmly enough to tug off the plant, yet gently enough to not bruise the tender berries that our ancestors have done this for thousands of years before us today. I tried to touch into that ancestral energy, which I personally feel surrounds us all. I felt a beautiful sense of unity with the divine. Seriously and without making fun, today I went to church and had an incredible spiritual experience.
Bringing home 10lbs of plump, ripe berries made a rewarding, enriching, magickal experience even better as I will freeze the berries and throughout winter when I make a pie, muffins or blueberry pancakes I'll enjoy a tasty treat and remember an incredible start to a pretty good summer day!
There's magick around you every day . . . can you sense it? Do you know it's there?
Peace and Happiness
© 2010-2011 Enchantments, LLC Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website.
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