Topsail Island Sand and Prayers

A little more than seven years ago my new lover and I took a trip to the coast of North Carolina; for different reasons we both wanted to touch the waters of the Great Mother. We arrived sometime after 4 a.m. and went straight to Herself. I walked across the moonlit sand feeling a mixture of joy and reverence in the duality of Her presence there, slipping my shoes off as I went, already talking softly to Her, eager to get my feet in the water.

My lover, a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, ran past me. Two seconds after I said "Hello, Goddess," I heard him shout "Hello you bitch, I'm back!" Then he laughed like a maniac as he strode into the water to meet Her. I learned over time that their relationship was often a tempestuous and challenging one, but he loves Her, unfailingly, in Her form as Ocean. I married him a few years later - best decision I ever made. 

On that trip I gathered shells and sand and ocean water from the various beaches we visited. I'm a Witch; that's how we do. I've kept them all in carefully labeled mason jars for all this time, just like I keep herbs and flowers and horsehair. One never knows what one is going to need to make a correspondence or connection.

I've been doing the musing side of working on a ritual for the safety of someone I love very much. Like many others he is in danger because of the dire lack of statesmanship and intelligence that exists in this world.  I've been trying to piece together the hows of sending energy around the world. Things like this can be so very simple, and so very complicated. 

Then tonight I was reading a passionately beautiful and righteously angry post by Corky Edwards of Australia, who while writing in response to how some folks are trying to help with the fires devouring that country reminded us that "Every grain of sand and dirt and stone touches that which is next to it, from one grain to the next, covering the entire globe. You can send your energy everywhere and anywhere if you focus."

The little light bulb in the closet in my mind went off, and I made my way to the closet in the study where I keep my Craft supplies. I searched through dozens of mason jars until I found the one I was looking for. Then I found just the right candle and some other supplies, set my altar for a specific purpose, and essentially asked my Topsail Island sand to convey the message to that sandy land so very far away.

I am tired,and a little sick, and a little sick and tired, so I'm going to acknowledge that I don't have the energy to write this to completion tonight. I'm not always as good as I want to be.

Goddess, please bless all the people caught up in this unholy storm. Shelter those who can be sheltered, protect those who can be protected, heal those who will need healing, and be gentle with those beyond such need. 

Safely home, kid; you and all your brothers and sisters. Safe in body, and as safe in mind and spirit as you can possibly be.