Winifred Hodge Rose
Warmest congratulations and great honor to you! If you and your souls have worked all the way through this soul lore study course, you have accomplished a mighty deed, worthy of a song! And your accomplishment deserves to be marked by a worthy celebration. I suggest holding a soul-sumble, described below, as the ceremony, and follow it with some wonderful, celebratory activity.
First, the Soul-Sumble / Symbel
Hold a sumble for yourself and have each of your souls give a brief speech or boast about what they have learned and what they want to do now. Hail each speech and toast it with a favorite drink or tidbit. Record the boasts in your e-journal, or write them in your Daybook. If you are part of a study group, then do this sumble together.
While you are in the sacred space of sumble, assemble all the parts of your soul-tokens together, if you are making a soul-token with multiple parts like strands for a braid or beads for a tally-string. Then hail and boast your soul-token in sumble.
Then, a Celebration
Here are some ideas you could use to design your celebration. You may want to do more than one of these things, too! Some of them combine well together.
– If you are a crafty or artistic person, a poet or song-maker, you could create a celebration of your souls: a plaque or trophy, a collage or montage, a story, a poem or song with a verse about / from each of your souls, digital artwork, or anything else you like—perhaps design a dance or pantomime, or a play or drama featuring your souls. Your souls should actively participate in this. Present yourself with your creation, or perform it, during a ceremony or sumble, either alone or with other Heathens.
– If you like to garden you could make a knot-garden with one or several plants for each soul, laid out in a circle of eight divisions or ‘airts’ with a ninth in the center. Or lay out a rock garden with a larger rock or patterns of smaller rocks representing each soul. If you like this idea but don’t have a garden, you could create a sand-pattern on a tray with colored sand, a terrarium, or an arrangement of houseplants. Then you can use this garden or indoor creation as a place for meditation, where your souls can continue to come forward into your awareness and interact with each other.
– Create a soul-altar / harrow / wih-stead, indoor or outdoor, for the same purpose as described above with the gardens.
– Create a feast for yourself (and kindred or friends if you like), where each soul chooses something they especially like: food, decoration, drinks, favors, background music, special lighting, whatever. This could be combined with a sumble, or a separate event.
– If this is possible for you, take a vacation, or just a weekend or a day off for yourself, even a few hours, and engage in some special activity that you love. Enjoy the deepened sense of self that you’ve achieved by all the hard work you’ve done, learning about your souls, and ensure that all your souls participate in your enjoyment.
These are just a few ideas. Bring your souls forth and let them all create something together to celebrate your achievements!