July 31, 2005 - Tripping around Ohio, and oghiois

Today was the Lughnassadh rite, and I'm writing this at my desk. I made some hefty sacrifices, and they were well received (once I got them all off).

Today I also drove back from Toledo, stopping at two key places on the way: Ghost Town and the National Srhine of Our Lady.

Ghost town was amazingly quaint, and a lot of fun. I decided to visit it because the name intrigued me, as did its out of the way location on the map. I'd seen it on the map before, and had gotten curious, but it was a good two hours away. It was convenient to stop by today, as it was just south of Findlay, OH.

I paid my $5 admission fee, and wandered about for a while. The owner gave me a bit of a personal tour, and it was a pleasure to chat with him. He was very much into archeology.

I got on my way about an hour later, and wandered down the road to the National Shrine of Our Lady in Carey, OH, where I thought I would pick up some holy water.

Never know when you might need that.

I wandered into the gift shop first, picking up two saint medals, one of St. Barbara, and one of St. Michael. I also picked out a rosary of very pretty, darkly stained wood and three bottles for holy water.

Following this, new rosary in hand, I went to the original Shrine Church on a tip from the gentleman who ran Ghost Town. Opening the door to the silent, small church was amazing.

The door was heavy, yet it swung easily, and the building was silent. The air held a scent of frankincense, as if a service was going on around me and I simply couldn't see it. I stepped into the central aisle and stopped, listening.

Then I felt it.

The Church was full of energy, the kind we "raise" in ritual ourselves. Everything was right, everything was powerful. The world was a magical place, and miracles happened here.

I had my first experience with oghiois in that church. The energy there was beyond paradigm. Had I stood there with a Christian, or a Jew, or a Native American shaman, or a Hindu yogi, we would have all felt exactly the same energy. We may have interpreted it differently, but as I stood there, I realized that each of us would feel the exact same thing, and our paradigm would translate the feeling into experience.

I stood as I often do in ritual, my feet apart, my head tilted back, my hands out, palms up.

"Wow," I said, "It's here."

My mind has never really defined "it," but it knows what "it" is. "It" is the same in every religion, that deep, numinous, ineffable sense of absolute <i>right</i>.

And "it" was definitely there.

Following this, I viewed the rest of the building, walked over to the new basilica, viewed the evidence of healing, got my water, checked out the grounds, and left for my Grove rite.

It was the most relaxing day ever.

I wanted to play hooky from that ritual sooooo damn bad.

But, I got over it, and I had a lot of fun at the rite. Of course, I don't think anyone thought I was having fun. I think a lot of my Grove members sometimes forget how hard I work on these things. I don't blame them: I certainly never realized how hard it was to run these things when I was a member of 6th Night.

Tomorrow is my last day with this journal. Thanks for reading!

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