My birthday was this week, and a rather momentous one,
so I celebrated it with a special ritual, shared here.
I came across this "reverse birthday"
through pure synchronicity. A month ago, I participated in a book swap online.
Send a book to the name you are given, put your name at the top of the list and
share it on Facebook. One of those chain friends' things that never work—except
this time it did. I was pleasantly deluged with books, including one from a
woman named Juliette A. She shared one of her favorites, Grandmother Time,
written by Z. Budapest. It was even autographed for Juliette by the author in
1993!
Thank you so much Juliette. I am sharing Ms.
Budapest's A Birthday Celebration,
because, as she so eloquently says in her preface, "A life without
celebration is only half lived."
A
Birthday Celebration
Invite the friends you really want to be with. Old
friends, good friends and family.
Get everything together as usual—decorations, cake and
candles—but don't follow the usual procedure, because in wishcraft, blowing out
the candles on your cake is blowing away your good luck!
Instead, arrange as many candles as you have lived
years in this life, but put them on a tray separate from your cake. Take the
time to make candle holders of aluminum foil for each candle.
Then sit your
guests down, sing "Happy Birthday," and serve the cake. But when you
would ordinarily blow out the candles, light them instead.
As you light the first one, give thanks to your mom,
who gave you the opportunity to come through the veil between life and death
and become you. She is the origin of your universe. The second candle, and all
the rest, you light one by one in honor of yourself. Tell a little story of
your life, and let your guests react, laugh and cheer for you. Reveal about
three good stories this party—save some for next time.
When you recall an event worthy of special attention,
stop and offer a toast. In other words, celebrate during your story telling.
After you've finished lighting all the candles, let
them burn down naturally. In the glow of your candle light, may you be awed by
your own endurance and beauty!
Happy Birthday to all of my readers and friends. I
hope you will treat yourself to this ritual on your own birthday. Thank you
Juliette for the gift book. I will treasure it. And thank you Z. Budapest for
sharing your life in writing it.
____________________
Sandy Wright
loves to take ordinary characters and thrust them into extraordinary
situations.
In her debut
novel, Song of the Ancients, a
Midwestern woman moves west for a fresh start. Instead, she becomes the prey in
an ancient war to open an underworld portal buried in Sedona, Arizona's magical
red rocks.
Readers
interested in the dark side of our supernatural world will enjoy of this paranormal
suspense series, written by a real-life Wiccan high priestess.
6 comments:
Happy Birthday, Sandy, and thanks for sharing this awesome way to celebrate. I'm at the age where celebrating a birthday means celebrating that I haven't kicked the bucket yet. LOL I love the idea of story telling about one's life. What a terrific book you received.
That's a fabulous birthday idea - love it. And happy birthday to you, Sandy (I hope you got lots of cake)!
What a wonderful ritual, celebrating the years that pass so slowly in youth and quickly in adulthood! I'm afraid I'd burn down the house with so many candles. Congrats on your special day!
Happy Birthday! I love the birthday idea! Besides a wonderful way to celebrate the years in your live, no extra germs on your cake from blowing out the candles ;)
...Ok, that last part might be a personal peeve of mine, lol, but it does sometimes keep me from eating too much cake :)
I love this ritual. Thanks for sharing and happy reverse birthday, youngster!
Super amazing post on Magical Birthday Celebration. I really liked reading this. At one of best Chicago venues I would also host a DIY party for my twins’ first birthday. I have shortlisted some themes and would surely pick up best one.
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