The next day, the kids descended on us. Lisa and Sean, the couple they live with, Shannon and Tim, and their two and a half year old child Ashleigh, my Goddessdaughter. Naturally this meant total chaos, noise, and activity. I love it. As usual, I paired up with Ash. The young women took to the kitchen to cook and the garden to harvest herbs. The guys wandered around, getting underfoot, playing on the computer, and talking about future plans to move to Oregon.

Ash and I set up the area outside for the drum circle, filling my cauldron with dried herbs and putting out the chairs. The kids are very independent when it comes to religion. They hate organized rituals, rules of just about any kind, and doing what I want them to do. It took a lot of guilt-tripping, playing on their fears and calling in my emotional markers to get them to cooperate. Finally, I got everyone outside at the same time, with their drums, in one place, long enough to call the quarters and cut a circle. (I really needed to be quick about it -- they are a slippery bunch.)

Once this was accomplished and the drumming started, everyone began to have a good time. When they were lulled into a false sense of security, I sprang the MA chant on them. I kind of slipped it in before they realized what I was doing. Once started though, as usual, it took on a life of its own, and we raised quite a respectable cone of energy. They were even a little impressed. I knew that I had to work quickly before anyone got restless. We sent the energy outward toward Oregon, (the direction in which we wanted to move), and inward to heal ourselves in any way needed. I closed the circle in the nick of time, (the natives were getting very restless), and took a breath of relief.