The Ritual
Purification
Purification is the act of ritual bathing, either in water or in some sacred substance which removes the “stain” of the profane world from the ritualist, and places the physical body in the correct state to commune with the divine presence.
Sage has been used by Native Americans for many thousands of years to establish sacred space; we will do the same tonight.
Grounding
Deep Breathing
Chanting: Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo
Infinite Creative Consciousness I call on You
Divine wisdom within I call on You
Once, in a day, or was it an hour,
or was it a thousand years…
A chord was struck and out chaos,
and out of the infinite nothingness
something arose.
A collection of chemicals once stood upon the shores of a void.
In resonance with the original vibration from which all creativity flows-
a standing wave, a concrescence, a drawing together
pushed the envelope wide, crossed the threshold to life.
From chaos the vibration flows
in waves through time and space.
So, here we stand; complex organizations of living cells,
on the edge of a void, on a wave of concresence,
pushing the envelope wide and,
hand in hand dancing and singing our way through.
We cross the threshold to a new way of being,
another beginning, another resonance,
another song with the same theme.
The Wheel of Time
Samhain is the Celtic festival of the Dead, celebrating the end of the year, the harvest, and the death of the sun. These are combined into one ritual which represents both end and continuation.
We are celebrating the complete turn of the wheel by remembering the thirteen lunar cycles or lunations which make up the year. Each time the High Priestess rings the sacred bells, it represents another of the moons which have passed in the last year, and another tick of the wheel of time.
Casting the Circle
Earth, Fire, Water, Air,
With the Wand draw I here,
A mark, that though can not be seen,
Separates this from what has been.
Begone now any evil foes;
Banishing, Banishing, Banishing, GO!
Make this circle clean and clear,
For all the work that we do here.
Welcome Maiden, Mother, Crone,
To the North that is your throne,
For we have set your altar there –
Come to circle: Now be here.
The circle is cast; we stand between the worlds.
Blessed be.
Invocation of the Elementals
Invocation of the Earth
Great Gaia, Mother of us all,
Harken as I give thee call,
Your nurturing spirit gives us breath,
From the womb through until death.
Nourish our roots with ground of love,
Drinking deep; from below as above.
In this hallowed ground we place,
Our Mother’s formless, timeless grace.
The dying plant releases seed,
Rising again to meet our need.
The Mother feeds us from her breast;
By this we know we are thrice blessed,
Fractal songs: your deep embrace,
Vibrate here throughout this space.
Hail and welcome!
Blessed be.
Invocation of Fire
From the South burns Red Fire
Burning, Burning
Higher, Higher
Opening the Blazing Spire.
Bring forth Will!
Bring forth Power!
Feel Lust begin to Flower.
Sitting on a Throne of Flame,
Dare to walk without Blame.
Who holds the flaming sword?
Whose will is it? Who speaks the Word?
Michael! Agni! Apollo! Ra!
Come forth as Guardians.
Be here as Watchers.
Witness the birth in this generation.
Witness your own progenation.
Horus in a new realm of space,
Hiding behind a virtual face.
Whose will is it? Who speaks the Word?
Michael! Agni! Apollo! Ra!
From the South burns Red Fire
Burning, Burning
Higher, Higher
Hail and Welcome!
Blessed Be!
Invocation of Water
Zi Dinger Ani Kia Kanpa BenBadur Kanpa
Spirits of Earth and Sky
Ocean and Storm
remember this act of our creation!
Known only to the most Ancient of civilizations
“All is our relation”
For we are one tribe,
And one nation.
In this hour
From the space between the stars
We unite the power
of Sky and Sea.
Fill our eyes with vision and allow our heart to see.
The river of life in its flow
between these two worlds
to and fro.
For only the heart can give the mind’s eye meaning
for any act of true seeing
upon this Web
of the patterns we are weaving.
Be it known through such spheres
as Mercury, Mars and Saturn,
That this Net/Web,
is linked to another pattern;
Forever like a wife
it is to the Tapestry of Life.
By our wills be done,
we are the center,
So key the sign,
and then press “Enter”.
Hail and Welcome!
Blessed be.
Invocation of Air
Great breath of life
The primal world stirs with your motion.
The steaming void awaits you with anticipation.
Your being is both
elusive and essential
to the spark of knowledge.
Whether noble or outcast
Amidst splendour or squalor,
Drawn near or cast far.
Let your precious secret serve
as coin for our world.
O Thou victorious warrior of the light,
speechlessly seeking.
Your expanse sustains us without prejudice.
Reason is the cudgel of the fool,
and the sceptre of the wise.
We come before you to praise and adore your being.
Fill our hearts and minds with the dawning of consciousness.
Hail and Welcome!
Blessed be.
Invocation of the Goddess
Thou Hecate, grey-haired crone,
We welcome you; we are your own!
From this cauldron, set ablaze,
Reveal your presence and your ways.
Keeper of the mysteries!
Of death and spells and of the bees!
Interred in your black womb we reach
The final lesson that you teach.
The end of light each person fears,
But Summer Lands bring no more tears,
Sophia burns the veil of Maya,
With no reguard for aether or wire.
Hail and Welcome!
Blessed be.
Invocation of the God: Hermes Kyberon
Thou Governor, giving let to AL,
Now moving, shifting with each call,
Listen forever to thyself;
Perfect change speaks perfect health.
Death, great Lord, you must now face,
Within the Crone’s knowing embrace.
Enter now unmanifest form;
Let the Fool become the norm.
The steersman’s hand to rudder firm
Will not force the barque to turn.
For in this realm, law reigns as it must;
Do as thou wilt: Perfect Love, Perfect Trust.
Hail and Welcome!
Blessed be.
Within the Sacred Space
It is customary for ritualists to celebrate in this period of the ritual, drinking with each other, to the toast, “May you never thirst!”, and feeding each other with the words, “May you never hunger!”
Eating is a sacred act; here in sacred space even the most commonplace food can seem extraordinary.
Contributions from the Web
Linas Vepstas:
The wheel of the year is turning now. The season of darkness stretches before us like a great and sunless sea. Listen: the stag bells, the summer has gone. Winter winds blow wet and cold, the sun is low, short its course, the sea running high. Deep red the bracken, its shape lost; the little wren finds no shelter for her nest; the wild goose has raises its familiar cry.
With the clamor of harsh Winter a storm of waves is roused along the world’s edge. It spreads on every side, tearing at beaches and rocks, and rushes back to the sea, mountainous and raging. The fishes are roving as wave after wave covers the shore.
Far beyond those waves, there is an island, around which glisten the horses of the sea, a fair course upon which the white wave surges. We will voyage tonight to Emain Ablach, leaving for a time this mortal land. Come, children of the Celts, and witness that land which awaits beyond this life, as islands in a sea. Here before us await two vehicles to carry us on this journey: to Mannanon, the intervening sea is a plain strewn with flowers, he has sent his two-wheeled chariot drawn by a stallion with red mane and green legs to carry some of us and sweet Aini has sent her silver boat with a sail of gold trimmed with pearls, to carry others. Step now into the chariot, into the boat, feel the freshening wind, feel the strength of the red-maned stallion, as we begin our voyage.
Coracle may race against chariot on the plains of this sea, those in the chariot seem to be racing through a meadow upon which many blossoms fall, red tipped flowers without blemish. The coracle breasts the purple troughs and white crests of the waves, Aini’s tresses they are called, we move over a host of waves breaking on the clear sea. We smell the mingled scent of plain and sea, the honey scent of blossom and fruit, the tang of the salt wave, together we come to the Blessed Isle. We stretch our legs and move swiftly onto the island before us.
On Emain Ablach the teeming Summer holds life in its arms, strewing flowers on the face of every hill. Here it is always like May, the month of strawberries, of fair weather, of wild garlic, of delicate roses, of prosperity. A wondrous land is the land I tell of, youth does not give way to age there, in the many-coloured land of surpassing beauty. Sweet warm streams flow through the land, the choice of mead and of wine. Purple the surface of every plain, a mossy cloak upon its crags, gold and silver shine the leaves of the trees, a marvel of beauty shines this lovely land,
We enter into a great hall with pillars of bronze shining through aeons of beauty, where splendid people without blemish dance together and the light glints on white teeth and dark brows and every cheek there is the color of the foxglove. Here, there is neither “mine” nor “thine”; unknown is wailing or treachery, no sound here is rough or harsh, only sweet music striking on the ear. We know that they dance as we dance before the feast, dance now until you feel that Emain Ablach is aligned with our circle between the worlds. When you can hold both places within you, when the Fair Folk sit to feast, sit you also with your coveners here.
Jim Lovette:
great mother earth, great dying horned one
many are crowding onto the shore of Tir na Nog, awaiting the boatman
he traverses the dark greatness of the womb of the great mother as the doors are opened
and
the veils between the worlds are lifted,
once again.
we remember their names – their many sacred.names………they made me who i am now.
andy.jim1.ron.hank.roger.marc.larry2.jim2.larry1.ryan.bobby.eleanor.grandpa andy.lucy.raul.tiki.
david.great grandma james.fred.bob.patrick.dusty.the-names-icannot/willnot recall-or-remember.
all remembered, in one or in many ways, one way or another.
we greet the dead, we embrace those from the Otherworld. we are reminded of who we are by those
who came before and who have gone to another place.
lives of hope
pain
joy
tragedy
comedy
pleasure
greatness
failure
the stuff of human-kind and of
other family.
welcome, blessed samhain!
we are darkness, lightness, and all in.over.around.through.under.by.of.for.
all-that-is.
we greet the dead:
singing songs in ancient tongues
dancing mystic dances with feet a-fire
beating great drums
we embrace earth, each other, ourselves.
ancestors of-many-kinds, visiting in-many-ways.
a Samhain blessing of wholeness and water and heart –
Thanking the God
In Summer Lands does Hermes rest,
Reborn at Yule to Mother’s breast,
In his end we see our start;
Now bid farewell, and merry part.
Go if you must; stay if you will.
Hail and Farewell!
Closing the Ritual
This ritual over,
The circle remains.
Merry we part,
Merry meet again!
Blessed be!