Disting/ Valentine’s Day

A few days ago, on the eve of Candlemas, after snow had fallen for days thick and white on the ice bound land, I went out with my old pots to do the snowgathering. Heaps of snow on the altar that were blessed at Evening Prayer and melted through the night. The next day they were gathered in small bottles on Imbolc for the rituals and blessings of the full moon. It was so cold and black at Imbolc when the first candle was lit, and Kore began her month and a half long pilgrimage from the heart of the world of the dead to return to the world and bring spring.

Last night the sun didn’t set until well after six o’clock. After the office of Compline, when I rang the last bell, gold limned the February sky and the air was a cobalt blue. Later the sky was clear for the first time in a long time and I saw stars again. Wished that it was warm enough to stay out a very long time. The days are growing longer, the approach of Kore is closer. Springtime is at hand. Blood runs high.

People sleeping alone wistfully wonder what it would be like to wake up with someone. Now and again those attached wonder what it would be like to be attached to someone else. Half the Cleansing Tide is past and now comes the time when the heart turns to love and dedication. This was the day the community I am part of was established. Much has been gained and a lot lost, but love kept us together.

I wonder about strange things. Dean and his boyfriend, so in love. What do they do on this day? I will see him tomorrow looking like he always does: a boy, alone, nothing but a church sacristan who hands out programs. And I will be thinking about the young man I saw, sitting on the lap of, holding the hand of, making house with the one he had come to care for.

Love is love, and it rises where it will. Who can tell Venus where she is allowed to flourish? How could anyone condemn love where love arises?