The Home Shrine
The Home Shrine
A brief description, with photos if possible, of the Dedicant's home shrine and plans for future improvements. (150 words min.)
When I was house-hunting I visited the yard of my current home. I had no appointment and no realtor with me, but no one lived in the house so I wasn't exactly trespassing. Along the fence line in the backyard was a small hill. I was impressed with it. I knew I wanted this house, at least, I wanted the yard. In my pocket I found three pennies and half a granola bar and decided they would have to be enough. I knelt in the February snow and laid my three pennies and half a granola bar on the mound as I asked the land wights to accept the offering. I promised that if they favored me and helped me buy the house, I would honor them. I got the house.
Today a 12 gallon cast-iron cauldron sits on top of the Mound and a pot-bellied clay chimney pot stands next to it to hold a fire. A mulberry tree flourishes in the hedge directly behind the Mound. A large, flat chunk of quartz is positioned as an altar of sorts hold offerings or candles.
The hill has become the center of most of my home devotionals. In early spring tulips and jonquils bloom around the cauldron and English ivy crawls over everything that doesn't run away. A robust poppy crop has established itself on the mound and blackberries come up every other year even though I've never planted a thing.
Since a majority of Grove rituals are held at our home we adjusted our Grove liturgy so that we honor the Earth Mother at the mound as we pass during the processional to the Nemeton which is farther down the yard. This practice has spread to other grove members homes as well and several yards now have some sort of Mother Mound.
. This area is constantly changing and evolving. Obviously Mother Nature has plans and ideas about what should be growing there. I add and subtract elements often; statuary, torches, etc. Concrete plans are harder to define, particulary since I'm working a natural feature. However, there is landscape-type that will be done, including, at the moment, a fig tree that keeps indicating it wants to live there.
A brief description, with photos if possible, of the Dedicant's home shrine and plans for future improvements. (150 words min.)
When I was house-hunting I visited the yard of my current home. I had no appointment and no realtor with me, but no one lived in the house so I wasn't exactly trespassing. Along the fence line in the backyard was a small hill. I was impressed with it. I knew I wanted this house, at least, I wanted the yard. In my pocket I found three pennies and half a granola bar and decided they would have to be enough. I knelt in the February snow and laid my three pennies and half a granola bar on the mound as I asked the land wights to accept the offering. I promised that if they favored me and helped me buy the house, I would honor them. I got the house.
Today a 12 gallon cast-iron cauldron sits on top of the Mound and a pot-bellied clay chimney pot stands next to it to hold a fire. A mulberry tree flourishes in the hedge directly behind the Mound. A large, flat chunk of quartz is positioned as an altar of sorts hold offerings or candles.
The hill has become the center of most of my home devotionals. In early spring tulips and jonquils bloom around the cauldron and English ivy crawls over everything that doesn't run away. A robust poppy crop has established itself on the mound and blackberries come up every other year even though I've never planted a thing.
Since a majority of Grove rituals are held at our home we adjusted our Grove liturgy so that we honor the Earth Mother at the mound as we pass during the processional to the Nemeton which is farther down the yard. This practice has spread to other grove members homes as well and several yards now have some sort of Mother Mound.
. This area is constantly changing and evolving. Obviously Mother Nature has plans and ideas about what should be growing there. I add and subtract elements often; statuary, torches, etc. Concrete plans are harder to define, particulary since I'm working a natural feature. However, there is landscape-type that will be done, including, at the moment, a fig tree that keeps indicating it wants to live there.