OK, yet again, then . . . as much as Wicca is about responsibility, it is also about balance. Our universe dances in cycles, in spirals, always changing, always rearranging and redistributing. Within our dynamic lives, we can maintain balance, or we can let things get unbalanced-but in my experience, "balanced" equals "healthy," and "unbalanced" does not.
Before eating, my children often bless our food, calling on the simple God/dess names with which they are most familiar:
"Mother Earth and Father Sky, thank you for nourishing the plants and animals that give of themselves to nourish us. In return, we give of ourselves to nourish our world."
It's one big cycle, and please do notice that we give the plants and animals on our dinner plates direct credit for their sacrifice-a very different concept than thanking "God" for giving us food.
But that's only one kind of balance. My children and I sing about others, too:
"East the Air and South the Fire, West the Water and from the North call the Earth; Spirit in the Center and swirling all together-Elements in union give birth!"
and also,
"We wear our long wing feathers when we fly!
We wear our long wing feathers when we fly!
We circle around; we circle around
The boundaries of the Earth,
The boundless Universe!
"We sparkle sunshine with our firefly glow!
We sparkle sunshine with our firefly glow!
We circle around; we circle around
The boundaries of the Earth,
The boundless Universe!
"We wear our dolphin fins and swim the sea!
We wear our dolphin fins and swim the sea!
We circle around; we circle around
The boundaries of the Earth,
The boundless Universe!
"We're wriggling earthworms deep inside the earth!
We're wriggling earthworms deep inside the earth!
We circle around; we circle around
The boundaries of the Earth,
The boundless Universe!
"We are the Spirit at the center of All!
We are the Spirit at the center of All!
We circle around; we circle around
The boundaries of the Earth,
The boundless Universe!"
And so I pay attention to the elemental balances in my life, in my home. I am aware of every breath I take, because as the air flows through my body I share in a living exchange with all our ecosystem. I try to balance my time and energy so that I stay healthy-mental-airy things (like taking notes or teaching computer lit classes), passionate-fiery things (like sex or any of my varied collection of soapboxes), emotional-intuitive-watery things (like divination or cuddling or singing or feeling), tangible-physical-earthy things (like running in the park with my children or calculating our budget), and spiritual things (like participating in rituals or meditating or working with a friend).
I could write more on this, but maybe I'm only restating something you already know. So I'll stop here, and let you ask for more if you want it.