Grandmothers at Christmas

Had an interesting realization today as I was puttering about the kitchen making cookie dough -- while Halloween is about ancestors generally and those who have crossed over, Christmas is about my grandmothers in amongst the other shuffle of topics. And not so much veneration as honoring those very personal relationships and history. Like they'd both be sort of meh about the whole Halloween thing, but they almost can't resist looking in from wherever they're at because *Christmas*, y'know?

Considerations

I can't believe the calendar year is almost over.  It was approximately this time last year when J pinged me and said, 'hey, CAYA is doing an online thing, and based on some of our recent discussions, you might enjoy that.'  2013 Fall/early Winter was dreadful and I desperately needed something positive so on that like mayo on a polyester suit.  It has been such an incredible blessing all year long.  I have enjoyed it tremendously.

Yeshe Rabbit has asked us to consider some things, it may be early yet, but I wanted to start putting some thought into the questions she's asked back in October:

• Dedication ceremony (how might we do this thing together, online, probably late Jan/early Feb, which makes sense),
• What dedication means to us, what do we do now, where do we want to see this go
• Would we consider joining in facilitating next year's aspirants as well.

The easy one is the last one, I'd be happy to join in facilitating next year's aspirants.

The second bullet is obviously actually two things to consider.

• What does dedication mean to me?
  Dedication means not only that I've passed the first round of understanding how this group operates but that I agree to continue to abide by this approach.  It further means, I hope, that further and deeper exploration of approach opens as a possibility.  So many things with so much potential to explore [with room here to expand further on the concept of what it means to be dedicated into this tradition].  Which leads to...
• What do we do from here/where do we want to see this go?
  This is sort of tricky -- I guess something I'd like to know is, what happens next for the corporeally gathering dedicants after dedication?  What framework/s do/could next year look like?  I will need to consider & ponder & ask some questions.  I know I want to do more Explore All The Things!  MOAR PLZ, KTHANKS, but I'm not sure I have clarity beyond that...

Which leaves the actual dedication ceremony, the first is last, oroborous eating its tail... We may be starting this discussion, having taken the second part of the second question to the google hangout group...  Will continue later...

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