A Ritual for the Feminist Studies of Liturgy Seminar[i]
All are invited to take a seat in the circle. The basket of stars and candle are in the center. The convener will greet everyone by inviting them to say, “I am (name) and I am here.” After a silence, the Disney Song “When You Wish Upon a Star” is played. The group is then invited to select whatever word or words in the song that resonated with them and say them aloud several times.
[ii]When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you
If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do
Fate is kind
She brings to those to love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true.[iii]
The basket of stars is uncovered and each person takes a star. When all have received, the Ritualizer invites the gathering to lift up their stars and recite the following in unison:
Star Light, Star Bright.
First star I see tonight
I Wish I may
I Wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.[iv]
Ritualizer:
The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is “What does a woman want?” Freud [v]
What do you want to share? What would you wish to say? You are invited to respond to Freud’s question by lifting your star and sharing a wish/want. After several minutes, the first Reader begins:
Reader One:
Star Light, Star Bright [vi]
Star, that gives a gracious dole,
What am I to choose?
Oh, will it be a shriven soul,
Or little buckled shoes?
Shall I wish a wedding-ring
Bright and thin and round,
Or plead you send me covering-
A newly spaded mound?
Gentle beam, shall I implore
Gold, or sailing ships,
Or beg I hate forevermore
A pair of lying lips?
Swing you low or high away
Burn you hot or dim:
My only wish I dare not say-
Lest you grant me him.
Dorothy Parker
Reader Two:
When you wish upon a star,
Science knows they’re very far.
Even at the speed of light,
Your wish will not arrive tonight.
When you wish upon a star,
Hope will get it just so far.
The years it takes to draw it nigh
Are doubled for a quick reply.[vii]
William Elkins
Reader Three:
Why is this the Lone Star state?
The history of the Texas Lone Star is a story of manifest destiny and the American dream.
(It is also a narrative of invasion and colonization.)
It has become a symbol of struggle for independence and resistance.
(See the Siege of Bexar 1835, the battle for the Alamo in 1836, and the Mexican American War in 1846.)
There is more than one side, more than one history, and certainly more than one story,
but there’s only one star, golden five-pointed on a field of azure blue.
Gov. Rick Perry reminded his hearers of the history on the unveiling of the Texas stamped quarter in 2004, “Its continued presence today reminds people that Texans are a different breed, set apart by their unyielding desire for freedom.”[viii]
An Epiphany of Stars
Where are we now?
Did we miss a turn or tarry?
Fate proves unkind.
We search for sanctuary.
We’ve lost our way
in a star-crossed state of mind.
Every road leads back to Rome
and white as bone
white as bone the star
on the Lone Gunman throne.
Perhaps the fault lies not in stars.
but in our rusty creeds,
our alien hearts.
It makes a difference, who you are.
We are a breed apart,
star-marred illegals,
immigrants who bear
rare mystery in dusty hands.
Any request is too extreme.
from far too foreign lands.
Our dream was just a dream.
It makes no difference who you are.
Which side are you on
in this war of shooting stars?
Don’t call the law,
Draw a blue line in the sand.
Thin-skinned men of tin
openly carry death in both hands.
Chose well. Be wise.
In this Empire of Stars
it makes a difference whose you are.
What oath to swear?
Which law to break?
The 6th or the 2nd?
You can’t plead the 5th.
It takes true grit
to bare
sins and not arms,
for Christ’s sake.
But if you insist
on dancing with stars
your secret longing will unlock
the somewhere of all rainbows,
an endless inner fire,
.
Like bolts of azure blue
10,000 points of light,
Unfurl a milky way within
an ecstasy of night.
Without a rhyme or reason
you burn with holy fire.
under the sheen
over the seasons
unyielding
so yielding
all yielding
desire.
Take a risk. Make a wish.
No silver bullets,
Just open-carry stars.
Heather Murray Elkins ©2016
Ritualizer:
Behold, a lone star. (A cross made of barbed wire, bearing a star is revealed.)
And one answer to the question of what wo/men want is this song.[ix]
We who believe in Freedom can not rest until it comes.
[i] I composed this annual Epiphany ritual as an act of voiced resistance to meeting in a state that approved open carry guns in schools and worship spaces and a city that defeated an Equal Rights law for LGBTQ citizens.
[ii] The song, “When you wish upon a star,” was written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington and first sung by Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio, by Walt Disney, 1940. It is considered the signature song of Disney’s corporation.
[iii] This has become a Christmas/Epiphany song in Sweden, Norway and Denmark referring to the Star of Bethlehem.
[iv] This is an American rhyme, documented in the late 19th century. Its Roud Folk Song Index is 16339.
[v] Sigmund Freud: Life and Work, Ernest Jones, 1953.
[vi] “Star Light, Star Bright” by Dorothy Parker,(www.Poem Hunter.com)
[vii] This rhyme was composed by my partner, William Wesley, who believes that science is essential to the work of prayer.
[viii] Adapted from the History of the Texas Lone Star by Phyllis Mckenzie (www.utexas.edu)
[ix] Ella’s Song, Lyrics and music by Bernice Johnson Reagon, sung by Sweet Honey in the Rock