Rhodophoria recap

We had a wonderful time on Sunday – it exceeded my every expectation and then some! A big part of what made it so special was knowing that so many of you around the globe were doing your own rituals to honor the Golden One on that day too. As you can see, close to a dozen folks chimed in here with their plans and I got equally that many who wrote to me privately. In fact there were so many last minute offerings that we had to make a special trip into Dver’s work the morning of the festival to print them all off – but it was well worth it to see the altar full of so much beauty and love for Aphrodite.

We had a very pleasant stroll from Dver’s work to the river, giving me a chance to show off my neighborhood and Dver to point out all the different varieties of blooming flowers and fruit trees which she somehow knew the names of. We picked a bouquet of many-colored wild roses (some were actually growing in people’s yards, but they aren’t going to notice) and found a nice little grotto on the river bank to set up our makeshift shrine. We ended up having to move about twenty feet down from our original location because there were some noisy vagrants having their own Rhodophoria celebration, but that worked out for the best because the place we eventually settled on was absolutely perfect. There were all these concrete blocks that looked like primitive altars including one that was moss covered and nestled under the exposed branches of a tree. Beside it was a pair of stately birches which was especially appropriate considering the associations the birch tends to have with fertility and femininity. We set our shrine up there with Aphrodite’s statue placed on a ledge the offerings beneath that and our candle and incense even lower down. Before we set everything up I bathed the goddess in the waters of the Willamette and then Dver anointed her with jasmine-scented oil. We then presented her with our offerings and the prayers, hymns and beautiful artwork that you guys contributed. Then Dver recited the hymn I composed in Aphrodite’s honor with her strong, musical voice which was so lovely that it attracted a boy and girl duck who climbed out of the water and sat on the beach behind us, joining in the festivity! We then poured out most of a bottle of jasmine-flavored mead that Dver had made and watched the foam settle and the fragrant kyphi and frankincense blend we burnt for her rise up to the heavens. Amusingly that led us to notice that the piece of cloth hanging from the birch tree right above the statue of Aphrodite was actually a torn pair of panties! Had the ritual been for anyone else I would have been utterly mortified and begging forgiveness for the miasmic transgression but somehow it just seemed appropriate. I got a warm, happy feeling off of Aphrodite, as if she genuinely appreciated all that you her community had done for her. We stood there for a short while basking in her presence, and would have remained longer but a bunch of people with children in tow decided to use the steep hill near where we’d set up to get down to the river’s edge, so we decided to pack it up early. (Amusingly – and inexplicably – a gentleman was carrying a pristine rose as he walked past us even though he didn’t seem the type who’d normally be appreciative of fauna.)

Once we had everything packed away Dver carried the statue of Aphrodite in her arms and we began our procession through the abundant Owen’s memorial rose garden. There are dozens of different varieties of roses alone – as well as foxgloves, bleeding hearts, irises and countless more flowers I can’t recall. All of them were in bloom and wowing us with their beauty. Dver had Aphrodite wrapped in a silken crimson sheet with her head peaking out so that she could glimpse the flowers, but able to be covered up when we encountered noisy, offensive and profane people. Thankfully we didn’t run into many of those – in fact, most of the people there were deeply appreciative of the flowers, one frat-boy crouching down so he could snap pictures with his phone’s camera, a grizzled old biker couple talking at length about the exotic breeds on display, some kids eagerly leading grandma around by the hand trying to stump her even though she knew all of the varieties by heart and so on. We also, appropriately enough, ran into a band playing music at the end of the labyrinth and people setting up for a wedding reception a little further on. I’m sure that the happy couple will be blessed with an abundance of love, fertility and luck seeing as they auspiciously chose a festival of Aphrodite for their nuptial day! Granted, I had originally planned to celebrate this festival on the 5th of the lunar month, nearly a week previously – but still! Maybe that’s why I felt compelled to move it back so that it’d coincide with their plans!

Anyway, it was a marvelous festival and we spent the remainder of the day in pleasant leisure, my partner finishing up some of her gorgeous jewelry which seemed most appropriate. Also, we had really good weather for it, especially since it decided to pour about an hour after we got back and didn’t really let up until late in the evening. So thank you Aphrodite for smiling upon us – and thank you to everyone else who contributed to making this festival so special.

Here are some of the wonderful things that people have shared.

* P. Sufenas Lupus‘ delightful poem honoring a very contemporary form of Aphrodite.
Valiel‘s striking hymn to Aphrodite.
* redshoes‘ gorgeous colored sketch of Aphrodite, as well as some other lovely images and a prayer.
* Melia‘s statue of Aphrodite Rhodophoros and what she’s done to care for it.
* Erik‘s poem The Ocean (which technically wasn’t written for this festival but fits perfectly, and he shared the link in a comment, so I’m counting it!)
* harmonyfb‘s celebration of the Rhodophoria at the beach.
* Nykti shares an account of her celebration, with many lovely photos.

And, I think that’s all that’s available online. Feel free to post a link in the comments if you’ve got something up, or just tell us what you did as I’m sure we’d all love to hear it.