Order of Our Lady of Salt

April is traditionally a time for foolishness. While the origins of April Fools Day aren’t totally clear, some believe it evolved from the inception of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, when New Year’s Day was moved to January 1. Previously it had been celebrated around the Spring Equinox, between the dates of March 25 and April 1. Those who refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate on April 1 were considered backwards and labeled “fools” by the general public. They were subject to ridicule and made the butt of practical jokes. This harassment evolved over time into the modern tradition of prank-playing on the first day of April.

Even without April Fool’s Day to remind us, there’s plenty of foolishness in the air with the advent of Spring. Imagine yourself with a wiggly, squirmy, excited litter of puppies on your lap—all that youthful energy and enthusiasm is like a breath of fresh air after a long winter. Think of all the love and trust that they’re displaying. They know you’re going to treat them well, pet them, and love them, because they don’t have any experience that tells them otherwise.

Now naturally, in the lives of most people, we encounter events that aren’t so easy to get over. Sometimes these things cause us to lose trust in the Universe. Sometimes we, perhaps without will or intention, surround ourselves with a wall of bitterness, or sadness, or even rationality that serves to protect us from injury, physical or emotional.

However, that very wall that protects us, also keeps us from experiencing the pure joy of life from the perspective of someone who is new and fresh and shiny—and just dying to get out into the world to experience it.

Our ritual to the Sacred Fool tries to illustrate some ways of getting back into the fool’s perspective, to see the things that we’ve allowed to slip by because they were simple or too obvious. Our perspective is focused on ourselves and how we can find, acknowledge, and become our own Sacred Fools.

The OOLS will be celebrating The Sacred Fool on Monday, April 12, 2010. For more information on Goddess Service, click the Service Info tab above.