The night is warm, and the clear Carolina sky abounds with stars who offer companionship to the round moon in Her solitary orbit. Red Deer, arriving home from work, shucks his clothes by the Blazer and runs to greet the home tree in their front yard. After a long and somewhat itchy hug, Deer steps back to gaze through the great oak's leaves skyward - the only motion between him and the firmament that of leaves swaying in a gentle breeze and the occasional bat winging across the face of night. "No preparation tonight, Grandfather, and no formal circle. We shall remain open to friends who may or may not join me - without the need for entrances and introductions and sealings."

Deer hunkers down amid the splayed roots, taking the place and position long familiar, and waits as the darkness begins to sing to all his senses. "Five senses... five elements... five directions..." he muses, then shivers a bit at finding - over and over - the sacred names in the wind, in the earth, in every fiber of his being. "Thoir eisd fhein, Mathair Aobhair agus Athair Allaidh - Grant me hearing, All-Mother and Wild-Father." Deer feels a warm furry brush against his leg as she to whom he is familiar - an old Tabby-Point Siamese - joins him in celebrating the moon. "Here I am, rejoicing in the life You have given me birth to. I am here, experiencing the divine world in which You have given me to live it, the web that has no weaver. Here am I, recognizing that here is everywhere, that all is alive, that life is connectedness." Gwynna purrs, and Deer's hand automatically goes out to scratch that special place between her ears. "Watch over my family, those near and those far, and keep them safe. And welcome any who may appear to join in Your revels this eve. So mote it be."

Deer then settles back into the aged tree's bole, Gwynna perched upon his lap, and awaits whatever wonders the luminous night may bring...

…It has been a very long cycle of the Moon for Ramoth this time. Things from outside have constantly conspired to keep her from worshipping as her heart has demanded. For some reason Ramoth feels drawn down a road she has not been on before. The night has called her to come to this place and she has followed that call. Ahead is something special, she can feel the presence of the Mother and Father with her as she walks down the path toward the beautiful tree that she sees silhouetted against the night sky.

Slowly, Ramoth realizes that she is not alone. Up ahead she hears the rhythmic purring that can only mean there is a content feline about. There... at the base of the tree... she sees them. As she approaches, she knows that this is where she has been drawn. The pair looks up and sees her slowly walking toward them. Ramoth can feel their welcome as she draws near. So, this is what the Lord and Lady have led her to this night. As she makes her way ever closer a hand is extended. Ramoth takes the hand and slowly sinks to the ground next to the one who has extended this gesture of friendship and acceptance.

Ramoth smiles at both the human and the feline, knowing that she has found those this night that will help her make her way back to where she needs to be. The air is static with excitement as they begin to enjoy the company of each other and speak of what has brought them to this Magickal place this night while waiting to see what other surprises await...

…Cindi comes wandering into the circle, bringing homemade strawberry shortcake and fresh may wine made from the freshest of the eastern Carolina strawberries, and sets a bit of each on the ground outside the circle... "Lady... Lord... accept these two small offerings of my thankfulness to you, and please come join us here on this wonderful Full Moon"

Seeing Deer, she holds out the picnic basket and says, "Homemade cakes and ale for later," with a sly wicked grin, waiting to watch what happens when people gulp may wine instead of sipping it like good little pagans…

…QuietWaters slowly approaches the oak tree and the others sitting around it, reminded of another oak and another feline companion from another time. She's been spending a lot of time looking backwards lately, perhaps looking for the key to unlock the current turmoil in her life. Not the major kind of turmoil which sweeps in and turns everything upside down, but the smaller, mundane variety... (to borrow from Maya Angelou) the kind that makes you feel like you're being pecked to death by ducks, tiny piece by tiny piece, and you can't seem to move away from them.

As she reaches the tree, QuietWaters looks up at the fullness of the moon, silently asking a question. She takes a seat beside the others and realizes what has been missing... and once again senses, with all of her senses, the magick in life that sometimes get buried among the everyday routine and mundane activities. Thanking RedDeer and Ramoth, and of course Gwynna, QuietWaters smiles, enjoying the company, and awaits...

Between the tall pines, Owl watches the Moon as she rises full blown into the night sky. Star shine fades as she approaches, the stars themselves seem to fall away as the Queen of the Night draws near. In the glow of her light, the pines merge in shadow, forming a hallway to the infinity. And in that tunnel of shadow… owl sees a glimmer of light… and she walks calmly to the path up the Mountain. Standing quite still, she reaches out with her essence… and finds a familiar thought patter... "Why hello my friend!" And suddenly, she is in a warm Carolina night… stepping closer to the Man who has become so "dear" to her over the years, she slips quietly into his thoughts and plants a soft kiss on the back of his neck. "Blessed Be my friend… and thanks for the invite! Now… where's that strawberry shortcake???"

…"Here you go, Owl" Cindi offers, handing her some homemade strawberry shortcake, with fresh whipped cream...

…And Owl settles herself 'neath Red Deer's tree and waits for others to gather...

…Earthchild sees the fool moon... reaches out in spirit... She feels the caress of the wind as it flows... the soft grass whispering under her feet... Feeling the people whom she has started to know... she draws near... She sees the great tree under which they rest and reaches out... "May I join you?" I feel a sense of communion... Smiling, she sits, and waits...

…and Cindi answers, "Please, EarthChild, join us... make yourself at home with us. Would you care for some home strawberry shortcake and fresh may wine? It's really quite delicious, just ask Owl…"

…Norda feels long blades of unfamiliar Carolina grass tickling her bare feet in this exuberantly bloom-bursting spring night, quite a change from her own Northern haunts which have just now flowered into fullness. She grins as she sees the company gathered 'round and 'neath the great tree, especially at the sight of the legendary Gwynna, knowing full well by the end of this Full Moon Ritual there will be yet MORE cat hair added to her crinkly brown gown.

Norda flops down on the grass next to Owl and Red Deer, offers them grapes to go with the shortcake, and settles in to await...

...and Red Deer, as if awakening from a daze, looks about himself with some small surprise. "Forgive my lapse, friends," he states, but I was momentarily drawn to the wedding of my eldest brother's son, which I could not resist. A beautiful ritual it was, and no one seemed to notice 'So mote it be' mixed several times with amens at the end of prayers and blessings."

"Welcome! To each of you who have accepted my impromptu invitation, whether you have yet shown yourself or not, welcome!" Noticing his lap suddenly cooler and lighter, Deer looks about to find that during his momentary absence, Gwynna has assumed the role of helping each and every spirit gathered to settle into the environs of Grandfather Oak - and, having paused for a few extra passes against the hem of Norda's gown, is nuzzling Owl's ankle and eyeing the bowl of fresh whipped cream. Deer rises from his spot and moves to greet friends old and new.

"Cindi, thank you... and please allow me the latitude of being other than a good little Pagan when you share your wine," he says impishly.

"Ramoth, may your burdens grow lighter and your path easier to find."

"Quietwaters," Deer becomes unaccustomedly solemn. "You may write me down in history, with your bitter, twisted lies, you may trod me in the very dirt but still, like dust, I'll rise. Just like moons and like suns, with the certainty of tides, just like hopes springing high, still I'll rise." Then, with a wry grin, he lunges forward to take her hand, "She's one of my very favorite poets."

The Owlie he hugs ferociously, whispering only "Blessed Be, sister" for, at moments such as this, few other words are required between them.

"Welcome, Earthchild. May you find that which you seek."

Then, "Dear Norda, whom chance and life have thus far conspired against my meeting in the flesh, welcome among my grandfather's roots!

And finally, "To you as yet unseen, Welcome!" Our Mother approaches her Zenith, and I feel it time to Dance. May each of us keep within our hearts Cindi's daughter, and build energy for her healing."

Pausing, listening as though to the tree and the night, Deer moves closer to the Gwinge. "Find for us the rhythm of the evening, Sister," he requests. The striped Siamese cocks her head to the left as Deer gently strokes beneath her chin and then, in a voice ever mounting till it is plain for all to hear, gives rise to a rich percussive chant. Soon, all ears are attuned to the many rhythms of her purring - the basic Prana of in and out, in and out, in and out with her breath - then the more subtle frequencies of each cycle of breath, as the number of beats wax and wane.

"Behold," Red Deer states, then moves wholly through the Bindu of feline sound into the night's Dance. Beckoning the others to follow, he begins to move round and about the bole of the aged Oak... at times tracing the path of roots clearly visible to the others, at times the path of shadows cast by the moon from boughs above, and at others following paths more subtle. Never-the-less, after several weavings about the space beneath Grandfather's canopy, all participating in the dance may begin to see a slight glow upon the surface of soil, leaf-mold and grass - wherever their many feet have trodden. He senses many feet more than the six pair which he greeted, but remains too caught in the moment, in the rhythm and the dance, to distinguish individual participants. Deer continues, his feet weaving many twists and turns which now begin to feel familiar to those joining in, and upon completion of their second circuit the pattern of an intricate celtic knot begins to emerge. Sure-footed now, in their familiarity with this place and their enhanced visibility of Mother Earth beneath them, the group completes a third weaving - again mirroring roots both upon and below the ground as well as boughs above - and their ritual space for the moon is clearly determined.

Passing through the point of completion, Deer heads towards Grandfather's bole and, as the last of them pass the point of completion, assumes his usual seat between two roots which rise into sizable buttresses upon the southern limn of that itchy trunk. He leans back against the tree, stretching his arms far behind himself, and becomes so one with the oak as to seem momentarily invisible. Then, solidly present in our Mother's light, he invites, "Come friends, find your own place here whether among roots, against trunk or upon boughs. Open all of your being - far more than your senses - to one who never moves yet is everywhere, everywhen. And in your time, offer to the night your desires and dreams, your requests and wishes, your needs and gratitude."

Deer throws back his head - long blonde hair entangled in plates of white bark and golden-green eyes ablaze with the full moon's light - and lifts his voice to the night. "Thoir eisd fhein, Mathair Aobhair agus Athair Allaidh. Hear now thanks and petitions from we children of the ancient ones; we who know the leafed and needled, the flowered and coned, the deciduous and evergreen as our own forebears. And answer each as is Your will. So mote it be." Deer looks about invitingly to all gathered, waiting for the first to speak...

…Owl grins impishly at the flickering Deer blended with the tree he so loves and spreading wide her cloak of moss, and grasping a low slung branch she provides the illusion of rising into the tree effortlessly… and she finds a comfortable seat at the fork of the limb. Taking her Bodhran from the case strapped round her neck, she begins a simple beat... repeating the tempo of the dance... and then... picks up the beat... and adds the triplets... so that the drum is now singing with the tree, and the heart races. This then is her petition...

"Let our hearts beat together,
let our feet find the dance,
let our love be forever,
be it fate or by chance."

And the drum mutes to a whisper as we wait...

…Ahhhh… Ramoth can fell the friendship emanating from those with whom she has just danced the dance. Her heart has been freed from these past days of strangeness. "Boy, what a moon wobble this has been!" she thinks to herself. From her spot beneath the great tree she hears the drum above her head and feels it's rhythm in her blood. She raises her arms to the night sky and gives thanks...

Mother, I thank You for all that You have provided for us this night. Whenever my heart is heavy You show me that there are those around me that will help to lighten the load. Bless them on this glorious night and always with Your love.

Ramoth leans back against the trunk of the ageless oak and feels it's mysteries merge and become one with her own being. A moment is spent in deep solitude and then, looking up into the branches, she rises and smiles at Owl and begins to dance in time to the beat. Ramoth has not felt this free in quite a while .

"Now, could someone please pass that wine???"

...petitions concluded, Red Deer rises from his place among the old oak's roots. He slowly retraces the celtic knot (followed only by the Gwinge) outlined by the feet of so many friends - both seen and not - this evening. This time, however, he moves opposing the original weaving. And doing so, he recites a gaelic verse - written for the rocks, but to him as much for trees:

"For their patience
For their reach
For their silence
For their song
For their presence
For their promise
For their softness
For their strength
For their elevation
For their accuracy
For their imperceptible mutability
For their utter lack of opinion...
Listen and watch."

With the last words, Deer ends his steps about the now fading knot. He raises his arms skyward, and chants, "Ceud failte, Mathair Aobhair agus Athair Allaidh. Thank You, All-Mother and Wild-Father. Thank You for your loving support, your lessons, your gifts. Take to Your hearts all brought by those present for this rite, and do with each as You will. We invite you now join our feasting and revelry here among our primeval forebears."

Then, with the usual impish grin, he shouts "Party!!!" and makes a mad dash for the strawberry shortcakes and wine.