Materials Needed:

Rainbow colored post-its
very large cardboard box for fridge
white posterboard for fridge front
burn box
piece of paper on burn box marked "BURN"
sharpies
pencils
scotch tape

Participants:

HPS - Linda
Old Man Fridge -
Usher -
Cleansing -
Mime - Rodney

(As they come into ritual, give "old stuff" post-it notes to Old Man Fridge, who will stick the notes to gridded sections of fridge (for easy finding). They will have to hand these to him upon entering circle or before hand, but will hang onto the "new stuff" notes for later.)

(Do some sort of cleansing for everyone as they come into circle - not necessarily smudging.)

HPS:
"You're probably wondering why we have a refrigerator here. Well, everyone has a fridge, and most everyone puts artwork, magnets, photos, drawings and so forth on that fridge. You may have photos of your friends and family on your fridge, that you look at whenever you get the milk out or go for another beer.... but do you really think about the people in those photos, and the changes that they may have gone through lately? And there's probably pictures of you on someone else's fridge. What do they see?"

"Each of you have just placed a note representing who you used to be on our fridge - something that may not really be true of you any longer, but that your friends and family see you as still."

"People grow and change, but a lot of times our friends still see us as we were a couple years ago. They have a photo of us from back then on their mental refrigerator, and sometimes that earlier image just sticks in their minds. Maybe you used to be a crazy party animal, but now you're working a steady job and being responsible. It's not a good feeling when your friends and family don't acknowledge your hard work and achievements and don't take you seriously, because they can't, or won't, see that you've moved on."

"We all want to know our true selves, to be true to ourselves, and to put in place positive changes in our lives. And we need our circle of friends to support us in our growth, and to confront us about any negative changes we're going through, but to do that they, and we, have to be able to see and acknowledge those changes. What pictures of your friends do you have on your fridge? Are those people still exactly the same as they were back when that photo was taken?"

"Change can come in many different forms, both good and bad."

(Rodney mimes each change)

"Change can mean a break-up...
Change can mean going back to school..
Change can be a new hairstyle...
Change can mean a new relationship...
Change can be a new wardrobe...
Change can be a new spiritual path..."

"What does change mean to you? How have you changed? How do you want to be seen and acknowledged? Are you ready to take the old picture off the fridge and put a new one on there?"

(Linda goes in wearing long ritual robes, says:
"Hi, my name is Linda"
(Crowd): "Hi, Linda!"
Linda:
"People see me as a compulsive organizer and high priestess."
(Take old note off fridge)
"But I'm *also* ..." (pull off robe to show different outfit). (Put new note on fridge)

(Have two more people do something similar)

(Tell people to step up and announce their own changes, or not, but tell them to take old note off and put new note on.)

(After they swap out the notes, they should old notes in cardboard box, which we will afterwards take to drum circle to burn.)

"After we close the ritual, take your new picture off the fridge and take it home with you, and put it on your own fridge. Or - you can give it to someone who needs to see or acknowledge or accept the changes you've gone through. This doesn't have to be someone at this ritual or even at this festival - it could be parent or a friend or someone else you may not see very often anymore."

(Have everyone join hands and chant:)
"The change in me
Let others see."

(Do chant three or four times, then raise hands and say:)
"So Mote it Be!"