Vinalia Rustica 2013

(Not my photo. Looked like this, though!)

The wildflowers waved sunnily at us from their shaded paths as we carefully picked our way into the woods.

Vinalia Rustica has been one of my favorite of all the Aphrodite festivals for the last several years -- made spacial in large part because I had a shrine that I helped tend on a special piece of land. I've shared those photos (and my love for that place) here over the course of those years. Politics and pain have collided, though, in such a way that I doubt I'll ever that land again in the waking world, and I have left Aphrodite's Shrine there in her own care -- trusting that others will step forward to tend Her.

I had honestly forgotten that today was Vinalia Rustica. I don't have a shrine or a temple to tend for her right now, and it's a sore spot for me. I'm remedying that absence as soon as I am able, and I have plans for a glorious temple in her honor.

So, I wasn't thinking about that when I went with my coven sisters to a place that is about to become special to us. It is a wild place, a free place. It is a place where Indiana limestone and brown-eyed Susans speak clearly. A place where Artemis runs and Pan dances. It is a place where Aphrodite laughs, and her voice echoes off the cliffside!Sirens sing there, along the banks of the cool, deep stream.

There is no temple but the cliff. No shrine but the rocks and groves of walnut and sycamore trees. No offerings but the wildflowers.

And it is PERFECT!

It was the perfect place to honor Aphrodite, and it was the perfect way (in wildness and freedom and celebration with my sisters).

Vinalia Rustica 2011

Yesterday's shrine-tending was odd and incomplete. It was good, don't get me wrong. My partners (Glaux and Iron Dragon) and I were joined by another member of Our Haven to work on Aphrodite's shrine and maintain the Great Rite Spiral in which the shrine sits. We did as much as we could possibly do with the materials and folks who were there, but we were missing two people (one of whom had agreed to bring the statue and a weed-eater) and arbor-building materials from a third.

So, the very bright up-side is that we weeded the entire area, laid gardening fabric in the most needed areas, and placed a truckload of mulch on top of the cloth. We had to take apart the stones of the shrine to accomplish it, but all of the area surrounding Aphrodite's shrine is beautiful. The roses are doing quite well, although they are in dire need of the arbor. They are climbers, after all. We cleaned all the offerings on the alter, and I'm properly disposing of the ones that nature has worn down to decay. We mended the little fiberglass statue that a friend had given me years before. I have thought of her as Peitho since Aphrodisia 2010, but it's still right that she's holding the space until the Aphrodite icon returns.

Sadly, the broken Aphrodite icon could not be repaired. We tried. Glaux sat with her for an hour, I think, trying to mend her. Poor headless statue. We've brought her home, where I will dispose of this concrete shell with proper rites. It's very funerary and sad for me.

I have to admit to suffering some disappointment yesterday due to the my friends not being available. I understand two of them -- they were both out of the state, and simply couldn't make it. The third (with the statue and weed-trimmer), though, leaves me not knowing what to think. She's vanished from my contacts, disconnected her blog, isn't answering the phone. I don't know whether I should be worried or hurt. When I talked to her three days ago, all was well.

Ah, me. I don't know. *Laurelei repeats her mantra: "I can only control myself."*

All in all, the Vinalia Rustica work has been successful, but I am not done yet. The remainder of the shrine's spiral needs to be mulched, the stones need to be laid for the spiral, a statue now probably needs to be purchased and installed, and the arbor needs to be built. Iron Dragon and I are going back out on Saturday, August 27th to lay more gardening fabric and mulch. If we have time (and the cypress posts are available) we might also put up the arbor. The stones will have to wait for more time, and the statue will have to wait for more money. Oh, the world's precious commodities!

I want to thank everyone who has donated labor, materials and/or money to the shrine. Your names sit on Aphrodite's shrine within my home, and I pray for her to bless you with her many and abundant gifts!!

Gearing up for Vinalia Rustica 2011

In my post on July 3, I discussed the needed renovations at the Aphrodite Shrine I help maintain at Our Haven Nature Sanctuary.

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed donations of money and materials to the renovation efforts. I'll keep your names confidential here, but know that they sit on my personal Aphrodite shrine at home as a prayer and a thanks for your generosity, grace, and love toward Aphrodite and this land that honors Her.

Secondly, I'd like to thank the folks who live locally to me and have already come out to help care for the shrine.

Arcadia (our cabin) in April 2010)

Finally, there is a small group of us that are planning on gathering to for a "work weekend" for the weekend when I was going to celebrate the Vinalia Rustica and restore the shrine. That weekend will be Friday, August 19th through Sunday, August 21. Currently, there are four women: Glaux (my sweetie), two of our good friends (Lily Savage and Daun), and me. We're going to have a mini-retreat at the cabin, and we would LOVE for you to join us if you feel moved to do so!




Our projects are going to include:
1.  Weeding and mowing the entire Great Rite Spiral
2. Raising a solid arbor above the shrine
3. Erecting a new statue (if it is available -- which is a possibility)
4. Laying ground cover -- either mulch or something like the fabulous spiral below

Lily's Idea (which we all LOVE)

If you would like to help in anyway (money, materials, plantings for the shrine or labor), please let me know. You can make monetary donations to the cause via PayPal:

Vinalia Rustica Renovations

Poor 'Dite. Her shrine at Our Haven Nature Sanctuary has been terribly battered this past spring.

The Shrine at Beltaine, in the midst of the storms.

Indiana, here in the Midwestern portion of the United States, got abused by rains and winds starting in March that lasted until ... well, they haven't quite stopped yet, to be honest. The arbor that had once beautifully arched over the shrine was uprooted in one of the nastier storms, breaking both the arbor AND the Aphrodite icon. (Yes, her head is missing. It's shameful. I hate it.)

My plan is to rebuild the arbor from sturdier materials that are rooted deeper into the ground. The statue wouldn't have fallen if the arbor hadn't hit it. The arbor, of course, is necessary for the climbing roses that were purchased by an Aphrodite devotee last year. (The roses are doing fine, by the way. They just need something to climb on again.)

I'm not the only person who cares for the shrine, but I am among very few. Those few of us have also discussed laying gardening plastic with mulch atop it in the circle where the shrine sits. The circle is called the Great Rite Spiral, and it is too small a space to mow effectively, which is why our lovely Aphrodite Shrine is always getting overgrown. (The rain this year was a contributing factor for these pictures, as well. The circle sits in a slightly wet piece of land, which is great for the Chinese Hedgerows that will eventually form the spiral labyrinth. But it can get boggy in a lot of rain, and overgrown if the mower can't get in.)

So ... on behalf of the Aphrodite Shrine and the Great Rite Spiral at Our Haven, I am collecting donations of the following materials (or money, via PayPal):

The Shrine before the storms (last July).

Aphrodite Statue
Four 4x4x8 wooden posts
Quik-crete
Wire
Gardening Plastic
Mulch (cypress)

Monetary donations may be made to PayPal at:

Work will begin on this project at Vinalia Rustica on Thursday, the 18th of August, 2011. Donations may be made at any time, before or after.

Vinalia Rustica

Today is the day on which I celebrate the Vinalia Rustica, a holiday celebrated in Rome as the establishment of the first temple of Venus. Elle Hull, on the Aphrodite's Flowers blog, provides a lovely discussion of the significance of this day.

Having just spent a significant amount of time tending to a very garden-state shrine in honor of our lady, I rather agree with her conclusions that Aphrodite has deep and abiding connections to the land. Gardens in particular. In fact, Ginette Paris discusses this aspect of Aphrodite at some length in her book Pagan Meditations in a section in which she discusses the many guises of Aphrodite of the Gardens. This is an Aphrodite of cultivated beauty that springs from the green growing wildness of the land.

As such, I can see the connection inherent between Bacchus and Venus, Dionysos and Aphrodite. Elle talks about the name Vinalia Rustica. Why a celebration venerating the vine and Aphrodite? A good question! And one I don't have a solid answer for, but only gut reactions. These two are mates in several ways, as Aphrodite is mated with other lovers. And the wine of Dionysos offers an ecstasy and pleasure that is related, I think, to the beauty and pleasure and love of Aphrodite.

I'm the kind of person that often likes having more questions than answers, and I'm glad to have these questions today as I celebrate my lady.

May her blessings be upon all of us.