The Circle in the Smokies used a talking stick for a focus. The stick is passed around the Circle clockwise. When you posses the stick, it is your time. Each circle is given a focus, one of which was traditions and rituals in our lives. As each took the stick, they had the opportunity to share what traditions and rituals they use in their lives, to aid in focus of their spirituality.
Some circles are light and fun.
Others reduce the participants to tears. With each pass of the stick, each circle, we began to grow. We began to learn, both about ourselves and each other. We began to trust, trust those in the circle to respect our divergent views, trust ourselves, and perhaps trust that the love growing within the circle could and would support us when we needed it. Sometime, I will never know when, we became a community, a community in the true sense.