RCG-I Seasonal Salon Fall Equinox 2005

Hestia and Hospitality

I walk outside and take a deep breath of air. I smell the coming fall. The leaves sigh in response to the change of the sun. I am nestled in my community being held, nurtured and encouraged. Community calls to my heart. I am a swirl of people who are family, who are becoming family, who need family. Autumn is the call of family and community to nest and take care of one another.

I was born into a family who always had room for one more at the table. Going to my Auntie Rose’s was like being home…and two or 10 extra people at the table were a normal experience. Coffee was always freshly brewed and laughter rang true at that table. Love shown through poverty, hardship and life was a joyous and communal experience. Hestia lived at Aunt Rose’s.

Hestia hospitality is part of our spirituality. It requires time and emotional strength. It involves an open heart whose only reward is someone else’s pleasure and comfort. Hospitality is sometimes confused with entertaining. Although both are mutually conducive, hospitality is the gift of welcoming people into your house without getting out the good dishes. Hospitality is a gift, the giving of one’s self and resources. It is not self serving but does give pleasure to those who offer it. It is not Martha Stewart concerned with polished silver and color coordination, it is the gift of generosity.

Generous service to others is the spirituality of hospitality. To provide the space for others to be themselves, to relax from the stress of everyday lives, a hospitable community welcomes its guest with joy. It is a reflection of our love and respect for all Goddess’s creations. In a spiritual context, hospitality is a response to a communities needs. Who needs a pillow and an open ear? Who needs a good meal and a bit of laughter? Our spirituality calls us to be generous and to serve. Hospitality necessitates that we encourage conversation and communication. It is the action of a generous heart.

Generosity welcomes all guests to the table, sharing the fruits of the harvest. It means clean sheets on the bed; clean towels and that coffee will be ready in the morning. Hospitality is comfort beyond the thoughtful gesture. Hospitality is offering your home or hearth to those who are walking the path of their lives with authenticity. It is the healing fire of a warm home, the breath of fresh air, the calmness of an autumn lake and the fruitfulness of the earth’s bounty.

To be hospitable is being open and receptive to the ideas, beliefs and customs of others. We not only invite the body for comfort but the cosmology of each person. Conversations flow between silliness and deeply held beliefs. Hospitality is about promoting self esteem and reflecting Hestia in mind and spirit.

Hospitality is the active part of a mystic’s heart. It opens and grounds mystical experience in the wonder that is food upon a table and a mattress for your back. We have learned that to be balanced is to be aware of our own needs and the needs of others. Our needs are met by welcoming others within our ability and we have no problems saying no when we need to meet our own needs or desires. Hospitality is freely giving of your energy, home, time or generosity.

Opening our house to all different kinds of people has been a wonderful and amazing experience of both delight and horror. Do people take advantage of our openness to new people and our hospitality? Yes, sometimes. This does not stop us. We have set several boundaries: we do not house guests for more than a set amount of time, we take breaks between guests, we are not entertainment directors or transportation central, and we offer what we can without being taken advantage of by others.

Hospitality is basking in the moment with guest. It is the chicken over Hestia fire. It is an open ear and an open heart. Hospitality is letting people feel that “I like me best when I am with you.” Hospitality is the open hearth, the grateful sharing of the harvest and the sweetness of community. Like Aunt Rose, we continue the legacy of welcoming.

For us living in generosity of spirit is living within the heart of Hester’s hearth. We try to live the following cosmology in keeping a hospitable heart:

• Be Positive. Instead of criticizing people, compliment their strengths. We all make mistakes and are told about them often!
• Be Optimistic. Bad things happen but somehow we always make it through them. Realistic optimism, acknowledges setbacks but focuses on the positive outcome, heals hearts and sends hope.
• Be Silly or Funny. Laugh. A lot. It heals.
• Give it Away. A card. A note. A $20.00 donation. Give from the heart with trust in the will of the Goddess. Give food, give flowers, give whatever and three fold you will get back. It works.
• Be Firm. Let others know your boundaries and stick to them!
• Be Hopeful. Respect the past, live in the moment and don’t worry about the future. This does not mean do not plan for the future, it means live worry free about tomorrow. Hestia provides. Op dances.
• Be Loving. Show it to the world, to the one you love, to the ones who are skeptics. You may be disappointed and hurt, but you will find happiness and people who will love you deeply back. Love is always worth it.