2005 BELTANE/SAMHUINN RITUAL-PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS ENTRIES

[Crow]

Notice: Please post your rituals, prayers and philosophical works for the current Eisteddfod here:

[Prairie_Kestrel]

Grant, Oh Gods, thy Protection.
Help us to find Courage,
Compassion, and Inspiration.
Lead us to our True Selves
So that we may find our Integrity,
And in our Integrity learn to love
Ourselves, all that is around us, and the Gods.
By Earth, Sky, and Sea,
So let it be.


-- Erin {Kestrel}

I guess I can't really take credit for writing this. I consider it to be more of my own personal translation of the Universal Druid Prayer. But I thought I would offer it up for consideration. Comments are welcome. Here is sort of a key to what I did:

Courage = Strength
Compassion = Understanding
Inspiration = Knowledge
Integrity = Justice

[DaRC]

An opening ritual
===========
Peace to the East
and the element of Air.
May the Magpie of the dawning sun
bring me Inspiration.

Peace to the West
and the element of Water.
May the White Horses of the lunar wave
bring me Healing.

Peace to the South
and the element of Fire.
May the Dragons of the midday heat
bring me Energy.

Peace to the North
and the element of Earth.
May the Great Bear of the Polaris
bring me Strength.

Peace to the World
and the elemental Spirit.
May the Salmon of the Hand of Draoicht
bring me Wisdom.
=================
As Erin says I have made this is a tapestry woven from a mix of OBOD and other elements.
All the creatures are my own totems found through meditation.

I tend to work this opening my grove by doing Yoga Mountain Stance outwards at each of the four quarters and walking the circle to where the world is facing inwards.

Cheers, Dave.

[Beith]

Dave - that's beautiful - and calming. If you don't mind I will keep a copy to look at when I'm feeling a tad stressed! (like now. Deadline looming.work not finished!) I just logged in for 5 mins to check a mail and saw this and couldn't resist reading it! It's really lovely.

Thank you so much for posting it
Beith

[Cailleach]

That is beautiful. Thank you for sharing it. I would also like to hang on to a copy if you don't mind of course.

[Azrienoch]

By Friend and Fort

I used to spend a week or two every summer at my grandparents' farm, located in Northern-central Kansas just outside of a town called Mankato. It was about five miles away from the continental center of the United States. This farm was a stereotypical setting for stories like "Little House on the Prairie." In fact, on several occasions, my grandpa (Pa-pa, as I used to call him then) would take us out to a gravel pit for which one of the walls was near to being the highest point on the land, and he would show us the wagon tracks that had persevered ever since the settlers left them in pioneering to Oregon.
Trees were sparsely placed outside of a few small groves or forests of cedar and cottonwood trees. I say small because they were no Ozarks, but then, they were certainly big enough for a boy to feel he could spend a lifetime exploring them.

A cousin of mine, Jeremy, who was two years older than me and always has been since, usually accompanied me for my visit. We both grew up in a Rambo-meets-the Karate Kid sort era, and that was the usual template for our play.
We would dive onto the ground and roll as we fired rounds from our 9 mm sticks at the enemy. Bullets whizzed by, missing us by narrow inches, fired from the enemy's trenches. It was our duty to single-handedly and heroically defeat an entire army with our oral sound effects and imaginations.
Our massive sabres would cross, high in the rigging of a pirate ship. The damsel in distress below cried for my help as Jeremy's ship mates were prodding her with their swords to walk the plank and fall to her doom, provided with certainty by a school of frenzied sharks below.

Our adventures were many. If we found it to be a necessity to our games, and sometimes even if it wasn't, we would build a fort to house the setting of our next mission. I loved doing that. I began to desire the stay at the farm with the majority of my anxiousness stemming from anticipation of building that next fort.
When I think of my childhood, building forts is my most prominent series of memories.

But the time of the child does eventually end. It came for my cousin first. I don't remember what age I was, but I do remember the event so vividly.
Jeremy and I had been talking about taking over the farm when Grandma and Pa-pa died (kids do speak of the damnedest things), and I remember exclaiming "We'd be able to make forts forever!" That is, if we inherited it.
The saddest words I had heard to date came out of my dear cousin's mouth: "I won't be makin' forts forever."
Ever had such high hopes for your life and had it come crashing down in an instant? For some boys, that moment came when they found out that they probably wouldn't make it to major league baseball. For others, it is simply when they realize that they are going to turn out like their fathers. For me, it was that line.
"Why not?"
"Gotta grow up sometime."

The words cut my heart open. Grow up? Yes, of course I knew we'd have to, but I suppose that I hadn't thought that a new set of preferences to past-time activities would come with it. I hadn't figured that as I was out digging up dinosaur bones that I wouldn't want to also play with toys.
"When do you think yer gonna stop?"
"Oh, I'll bet I've got another year or two."
Jeremy was right. Over the next few years, his visits to the farm became progressively infrequent. I certainly kept myself busy, but I was just as assuredly lonesome.
I continued to make forts and make-believe, but as time passed on, I found myself changing too. I rarely saw my cousin soon after the change began, though we lived a mere few miles from each other.

My family ended up moving to Minnesota when I was ten, and the last time I really saw my cousin was as we were about to leave, standing in the driveway and embracing as I cried on his shoulder.
Yes, I've seen Jeremy many times after that, but the scene in my driveway was the last time the child that I was, saw the little friend that he was. Whenever I saw him, he seemed to have abandoned his youth entirely, and me along with it.
I suppose that when we encourage the coming of a new age, we must also be readily forgetful of the old one.

The last fort we made together was the last either of us made. It was more grand of any of its predecessors; four small rooms connected by a very large room in the center. Made by placing boards for a roof across the tops of hay bales, and covering the boards with hay.
We hadn't made this fort to enrich some imaginary adventure. We were past imagination by then. We did it for the sake of making a fort. I suppose we both just knew that this we be our last, and we wanted to exit our childhood by embracing the greatest symbol of our youth.

[Mey]

Beautifull story Azrienoch. So Peter Pan does exist

[Unikorn]

My heart aches for that little boy - the inner child in us all. I let mine stay alive and well - we were talking about this in the chatroom and I am going to open a thread about it elsewhere - sorry to intrude. Az - a beautiful and poignant piece!

[Potia]

Celtic Style Ritual

The Elder will cast the circle not to cut us off from the World about us but to make a safer place within it for our rite.

Elder: Let us begin with peace for without peace no work can be done.

Earth: Let there by peace in our lives

Sea: Let there peace in the lives of those we know

Sky: Let there be peace in the lives of all in the world

All: So may it be.

Elder: Let us call to Earth, Sea and Sky and strengthen our connections to them

Earth: I call on the Earth, my body. I call on the dark rich Earth beneath us. Help us to feel our connections to you. Help us to know the strength and solidity that are part of you and of us. So may it be.

All: So may it be.

Sea: I call on the Seas, my blood. I call on the Waters of Life flowing through us and through the Land. Help us to feel our connections to one another. Help us to know the flexibility and fluidity that are part of you and of us. So may it be.

All: So may it be.

Sky: I call on the Skies, my soul. I call on the sparkling heavens above us. Help us to feel our connections to the Universe. Help us to know the wonders and openness that are part of you and of us. So may it be.

All: So may it be.

Elder: Let those among our ancestors who would wish us no harm be called to join us if they will.

Call to Ancestors of the Place (use own words)

Call to Ancestors of our Blood (use own words)

Call to Ancestors of our Spiritual Path (use own words)

Elder: Let us call upon our Gods and Goddesses and ask for their Presence in this rite.

Call to Goddess/es of the day (use own words)

Call to God/s of the day (use own words)

Call to God or Goddess of the Tribe (use own words)


Central part of Ritual


Elder: Let our Gods and Goddess be thanks for their Presence with us today.

Thanks to God or goddess of the Tribe (use own words)

Thanks to God/s of the day (use own words)

Thanks to Goddess/es of the day (use own words)

Elder: Let our ancestors be thanks for their Presence among us.


Thanks to Ancestors of our Spiritual Path (use own words)

Thanks to Ancestors of our Blood (use own words)

Thanks to Ancestors of the Place (use own words)

Elder: Let us give thanks to Earth, Sky and Sea and for our connections with them.

Sky: We give thanks to the Skies for helping us feel the wonder and openness of the Universe. May we carry with us the knowledge we have gained today. So may it be.

All: So may it be.

Sea: We give thanks to the Seas for helping us feel the flexibility and fluidity within our lives. May we carry with us the knowledge we have gained today. So may it be.

All: So may it be.

Earth: We give thanks to the Earth for helping us feel your strength and solidity as part of us. May we carry with us the knowledge we have gained today. So may it be.

All: So may it be.

Elder: In Peace we began so let us end in Peace and carry our Peace into the World.

Elder will open the circle.

[Potia]

I'm enoying reading all the entries, some great stuff here

Blessings
Potia.

[DaRC]

Beith and Cailleach you're welcome to keep a copy.

Azrienoch that was excellent. At 21 the age of childhood seems to be past and yet there is still that remembered joy that can help the parent in you. That is one of the joys of parenthood, my boys are over the road, at the park at this moment, making their own camps

It's been a journey for me to enable them to be able to have this moment.
It's a brief period of childhood in the scheme of things, but so important none the less.
It's like the changing year for me: one year all we knew were clean jokes, the next summer we all knew only dirty ones.

Cheers, Dave.

[MaiaElan]

You are all that is needed for this ritual. Leave the tools at home, just take yourself to where you need to be and call out into the womb of Gaia…

“Here, in this time of ice and fire
I live this life
My body is the earth of which the guardians are born
My spirit is the fire from which the guardians are forged
My blood is the water in which the guardians are immersed, reformed, anointed
My breath is the wind on which the guardians soar”

Leave an offering of prayer upon the wind
Silent or spoken
Spirit hears

Take a moment to reflect on your commitment
Your freedom

Then ask

“I ask for blessings
Richness of earth
Freedom of sky
Sensuality of water
Passion of fire”

Take a moment to receive
Remember you are loved
By the essence of yourself

Declare your intent

“May my life honour spirit”

Leave an offering of thanks in any way you wish
Movement or Stillness of the body
Expression of creativity in song or chant
Leave an offering of time
An offering of yourself
For that is the most valuable thing you possess
A moment of your time, the focus of your being
Centred on the universal One
Smile

Go home and be with peace xx

[wolfsong]

::NOTE: The photos are not my entry, they are merely visual aids.::

This is my personal traditional Ostara / Spring Equinox ritual-thing.
It's not very formal, hence, there is no big calling of spirits / elements / etc. However, it's wornderful.

So, it's starts out with a trip to the local grocery store to buy eggs and a package of Easter Egg dye ... I prefer the simple kind with dye, a crayon, that copper-colored bendy dipper thing, no stickers or tie-dyes or sparkles, or any of that crap.

Hard-boil the eggs.

Now, sit and think. What do you want to be rid of, and more importantly, what do you want to grow in its place? That's very important, and I think sometimes it gets missed when you're at the fire, burning away things you don't want. When you get rid of something, there is a void, and you must fill it with something you want, else something will fill it for you, and it may not be what you want.

Anyway, my three things this year (there were more than three, but I lumped them into three eggs, cuz I really didn't want to eat 1/2 a dozen in one sitting!) were:
1) motivation, organization and focus
2) intuition, foresight, divinatory / prophetic dream help
3) wisdom

Decorate them, being sure to make the decoration process an energy / ritual process on its own, not only coloring the shells to fit what you want in your life, but adding that energy to the eggs themselves. Very important.

A picture of my eggs follows:



The red-orange one is #1 (has a bull's-eye for focus, etc), the middle one (looks greenish in the picture, but really it was blue) is #2, and the last one (looks blue, but was purple) is #3.

Now that we have the eggs, let's find a place. The first year I did this, I was living in a small town in the mountains and my speacial place was literally my backyard:



(My dorms were at my back while taking this picture)
However, I've moved, and the mountains do not grace my backyard anymore (although I can still see them from my front yard).
So, I had to find a new place, similar to what an ex-boyfriend called a "thinkspot", but it's more than just thinking to me.

I found a place last year, but the exact spot (there was a little concrete slab perfect for sitting on, or setting things on) has somehow disappeared over the winter. I'll have to explore more once school lets out (and I have more time), but until then, here are some pictures of the general area:











Anyway, the rest of the ritual is:
One egg at a time, hold the egg, and concentrate first on what you want to bring into your life, then, when you're done with that, what you want to get rid of. But don't put the energy of that into the egg itself, just into the shell.

So, for example, with the motivation egg, I said something to the effect of:
The shell represents that which holds me back from realizing my ideal. As I crack and peel the egg (*and I crack the shell on a nearby handy tree*), I am removing from my life laziness, my scatterbrained tendencies, and my lack of organizational skills.
*I held onto the shell until it was all off, or tried to, but by the end was scattering shell as soon as it came off, because it was too hard to hold the egg and the shell and peel all at the same time.*
I now scatter to the winds / waters (it was the winds at my old place, here it's water) to cleanse from my life laziness etc.
As I eat the goodness of the egg, I bring into myself the goodness of motivation, organization and focus.

Something like that. For vegans or those who are allergic to eggs, burying them is an option. In that case, peeling it is optional.

Basically, then you sit there (or stand there, or lay there, or ... you get the picture) and contemplate. This part's up to you and how you commune with nature / the gods best ... listening to nature, meditate, etc.

I recommend bringing food with you, as my personal favorite way to ground, if you need it. Like I said, the most energy-work is done at home, in your kitchen. There's a little renewing of that outside, but it shouldn't be a full-blown ritual.
And if it's something that works with your environment (fruit, etc, something that can be eaten by you and by the animals or tossed out and grow into something new, or at least decay and enrich things), then you can double grounding food and ritual offerings to the deities / spirits of place.

Blessed Be!

[MaiaElan]

i love that one Wolfsong!

[MaiaElan]

Some time ago, I found an internet site that provided a free course in pagan interests. I noticed the icon which said "donations here" and later on, was astounded to find a rant by the author, in which he stated that he was angry that no one had given him any money and that because of this, he thought that all visitors were unworthy of the knowledge he was providing and that he would terminate the project entirely. The fact that some of his correspondences were questionable and the 'course' information wasn't expertly compiled made me smile a little. I mean, no-one FORCED him to do it, what did he expect? When I was discussing this on another forum, someone said that they could understand why he got miffed coz most pagan teachers want hefty payment anyway. I thought this was a bit of a silly reason to justify such behaviour and so I quickly wrote this little story to illustrate what I meant...



There are 3 men and one boy.

The men have food and the boy is starving, the boy is eager to work but is too ill and another day working in the mines without food will kill him. All the money he has earned so far had to pay for his parents' funeral and the rent on his shack. The men have more food than they need, they often leave it lying untouched on the table, only to be wasted.

The boy asks each one in turn for help.

The first man says "You may share my bread with me, but it will cost you 3 days work in the mine"

Knowing that he would die before having earned enough, the boy moved on to the next man.

The second man said "I will give you my bread and a little milk, but it will cost you two days work in the mine, I am not greedy like the first man, but I have to cover my costs"

Knowing that this, too, would kill him, the boy moved on to the last man.

The third man said "I have bread, come and eat a little, it will cost you nothing" The boy thanked the man and ate a little. The bread was stale and the milk a little sour but you don't notice these things when you're starving.

When the boy had eaten half of what was on his plate, the man turned on him. He banged his fist on the table like a petulant child and shouted "I GAVE YOU FOOD AND ASKED FOR NOTHING IN RETURN BUT I STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THAT BREAD! I THOUGHT YOU WOULD HAVE OFFERED SOMETHING BUT YOU HAVN'T, SO MAYBE I SHOULD TAKE THIS PLATE AWAY UNTIL YOU ARE WORTHY TO EAT IT!"

The boy felt bad, as the man knew he would (he'd hoped that gratitude and guilt would bring him some return). The boy left the house and the food still on the table got left to become even more stale and the milk more sour, for there was no-one else hungry enough to eat it and the man himself had already eaten and was full.

The sour milk turned in the boy's stomach and caused pain and infection. His malnutritioned body had not enough strength to fight it. He died within a few days.

Do the actions of the first two men justify the actions of the last?

[MaiaElan]

I may as well get the three entries over and done with


TIMES OF REFLECTION

I remember standing in a friend's garden, I must have been about ten I suppose. The wind lashed through a tree by the path and swept past me, raising the soft hairs at the back of my neck. I reached out my arms as though I had a connection with this element and as I raised them, I felt the wind swoosh and swish and dance with me. I felt that I was a part of this, not subjected to it, but a heartbeat of it's existence.

I am an expression of spirit, of which I cannot distinguish myself as a separate identity. My body being the form and my soul being the song, I am creation, as are you and all that we experience. Nature and I are one, how can it be any other way?

“Now we see but a dim image in the mirror but then we shall see face to face” 1Corinth13

Yes, but who said when? A million years from now? On passing through death?

Who said that it isn’t now? In quiet moments of reflection, in those intense flashes of memory, in every breath, every heartbeat. Every time we get that feeling of euphoria, of clarity, could it be that this is when we turn to face our creator? In the dawning of the sun? In the darkness of the moon? When Spirit calls us home? Could it be, that every time we connect with nature, we are turning from the mirror?

It is indeed time to wonder