~June 15
A time will come when war will end.
Vesta and her companion Fides—
the sacred goddess of community
and her friend, faith-shall rule.
The war-god will relinquish his command,
the gates of his dreadful temple clanging shut.
His companion, Fury, shall be bound,
his hands held fast with brazen nails;
he’ll stand screaming on a pile of weapons,
howls coming from his blood-stained mouth.
—Roman poet Virgil, The Aeneid
Today, in ancient Rome, a ritual of renewal was celebrated. The Vestalia, which had started a few days previously, was declared at an end. All garbage had to be thrown away; houses were cleaned thoroughly; refuse was removed from the city. At the festival’s end, all was new and fresh.
We all need moments of renewal in our lives, but they entail giving up things we have been clinging to. Whether it’s a bunch of tattered old photographs or a habit long since outgrown, we must occasionally clean house in order to move forward into our new life. We no longer have spring-cleaning rituals in which we cleanse our physical home of the detritus of living; thus we have no rituals to remind us to perform this needed function for our souls. Clinging to what is past is not simply a waste of energy, it is a cause of both inner and interpersonal conflict as well. As the season of Vesta ends, let us bring harmony to our lives through the sacrifice of what we no longer truly need.
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