Cold Spell: Ward and Thanks

Let us start with a brief note on Unintended Consequences. Sometimes, you go into a spell knowing what you'd like to have happen. You craft your craft, and say your words and make the offerings, and then all of a sudden Something Else Happens. It was not what you meant, but what you Needed. That was what happened last year on December 25th, when I warded someone right out of my life. Oops. Hooray!

This past year, from that 25th to this, has been one of the best, overall. I will not say trouble-free, because there were crises. But there was not the extra burden of someone who should not have been there, and who, on reflection, had not been there. The warding broke the illusion and showed them the door. So all that happened - the good and the not so hot - was my responsibility to make happen or to take care of.

And I did.

So this year I did a Warding and Thanks ritual to the French Quarter. My home, my heart, my city, my love. The map below shows the basic outline of the walk, though I did not walk through walls, so some allowance has to be made for geography and architecture.

I started and ended at the "Moon Walk" - there are stairs that led to the river on which people sit or otherwise hang around. They're in a line with the Cathedral, and mark a landing spot. From there I headed up to the top-left corner, which is Rampart and Canal - and which is still a place of mourning from the Hardrock collapse of October 2019.

From there I walked a diagonal - with a stop off to offer wine to a living person of good heart in the middle-lands- to the US Mint, which is also a jazz museum. From there back to canal, along Decatur Street, then up to Esplanade and Rampart. Then back to the starting point.

At each point I poured a glass of beautiful wine. This was a sacrifice - I love this wine and will never have another bottle of it. It was a beautiful thing, and I was glad to give it, though the tug at my heartstrings emphasized the sacrifice element of it. It meant something, I gave it to the gods and spirits. I found the soil and let it sink in at each point.

There was a couple sitting on the rocks at the end of it - and I said, "Excuse me, do you drink wine?" The young man said yes, but they didn't have any. "I do." and I poured them the almost-last glass.

"This is really good wine," and the light in his eyes matched mine from when I'd first tasted it. Yes, it is. "Merry Christmas." And also to you.

The details of what I asked for in the way of protection and said in the way of thanks are private, even in these days of tell-it-all. There are some things that are sacred and private. You are allowed to have secret sacred and private interactions with your spirits and gods. That doesn't make them less real.

Offer your best. Offer what you love to share.