Tag: Book of Hours

Calendar of the Moon for November 19th

Calendar of the Moon

19 Ngetal/Maimakterion

Scathach’s Day

Colors: Black and Red
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of black and red place three red candles, wooden practice swords, quarterstaves, and a cup of animal’s blood.
Offering: Mentor someone in something difficult that they fear, and do not be gentle with them.
Daily Meal: Meat.

Invocation to Scathach

Hail teacher of warriors!
Hail Lady who hones the edges
Of young hotbloods sharp and keen,
Who cools their seething heads,
Who makes them think of strategy and logic,
Who quickens their reflexes,
Who tempers their dross iron
Into serviceable steel.
Hail Lady of the sword and shield,
Lady of the spear and staff,
Lady many-weaponed, who knows the secrets
Of each killing blow,
Hail Lady of the Isle of Skye,
The crashing waves, the bridge of knives,
The salmon’s leap across the unknown.
You test our strength,
Giving us the cold reality
Of what we can and cannot do.
You push our boundaries,
Encouraging us to do more
That we thought possible.
You take no excuses,
And for that we must be grateful.
Hail teacher of warriors;
May we all learn beneath your implacable blows.

(The cup of blood is poured out as a libation. Each person steps up to the altar and names something that is difficult for them, where they need to be honed. They indicate one of the practice weapons, and one who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual strikes them three times with it. The first strike should be light, and the second and third strikes harder only if they ask for it to be so. Thus Scathach gives her blessing.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Advertisement

Calendar of the Sun for November 19th

Calendar of the Sun

 

Feralia: Day of Purification

Color: White
Element: Air
Altar: On a white cloth put a lit candle, incense, a cup of water, and a bowl of salt.
Offering: Although this day is not a day of total silence, it is a solemn day and talking should be done only when necessary and in quiet tones. Bodies should be thoroughly cleaned during the bathing hour, and then the altar area should be cleaned and purified with all four elements. Each person, upon entering the altar space at the beginning of Sponde should remove their clothing and be naked, and each body should be purified with the four elements and marked with water and salt, at which point they may enrobe again. Chores of the day should concentrate on cleaning and repair.
Daily Meal: Vegan and extremely simple and plain.

Feralia Invocation

Breathe the air into your body
And breathe out again,
And as you breathe out,
Let all grime and corruption
Depart on that breath
(All breathe together for twelve breaths.)
Feel the blood coursing through your body
And imagine it clean
Of anything but what should be there.
Feel the energy coursing through your body
And wash it clean
Of anything that does not belong.
Feel the Earth beneath you,
Remember that She can absorb all
Remember that all rot is her provenance
Draw her energy up into you
And give it back again.

(After this grounding, all breathe together again in a yogic breathing pattern for the next half an hour, after which all will go with water and salt and incense and fire to all rooms in the house and cleanse them. Great care should be taken for the rest of the day not to disturb the energy of the freshly cleaned house.)

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Moon for November 18th

Calendar of the Moon

Reed Month

Color: Blue-green
Element: Water
Altar: Upon cloth of blue-green place a vase of reeds, a single blue-green candle, a great bowl of water floating with wetlands plant leaves, and a knife.
Offering: Recycle something useless into something useful.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian soup and sandwiches. Only water or herbal tea to drink.

Ngetal Invocation

Call: Now is the time of the bleak cold.
Response: Now the reeds whisper in the swamp.
Call: Now is the time when we see the growing dark.
Response: Now is the time when we begin to shiver.
Call: Now is the time of bare trees.
Response: Now is the time of rain and wind.
Call: Now the rain fills the wetlands to overflowing.
Response: Now the swamp overflows into our lives.
Call: We feel our feet dragged down into the cold waters.
Response: Yet the wetland is the source of greatest life!
Call: We feel ourselves pulled into the unfamiliar.
Response: Unfamiliar to us, but no less of value.
Call: The damp cold begins to reach our bones.
Response: We must welcome its touch.
Call: We must keep it far away with fire’s warmth!
Response: We must welcome its touch.
Call: Why should we not ban it from our lives?
Response: For this, too, is a Mystery of water.
Call: Not the deep mystery of the Ocean…
Response: Not the running flow of the river…
Call: Not the crystal of snow and ice…
Response: But the secrets of the still waters.
Call: From the still waters springs the greatest number of lives!
Response: And it is this that we must honor.
Call: Welcome into ourselves the song of the whispering reeds!
Response: Welcome into ourselves the oncoming winter.

Chant: Cold as stone
Marshes heart
We will own
What is apart

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for November 18th

Calendar of the Sun

18 Blutmonath

Angrboda’s Blot

Color: Black
Element: Fire
Altar: On a black cloth set a vase of bare oak branches with the dried leaves attached if possible, three lit red candles, a horn of mead, a wooden heart burned to ashes, and an iron knife.
Offerings: Ashes smeared on the face. A promise to see ugliness with new eyes.
Daily Meal: Coarse dark bread. Mushrooms.

Invocation to Angrboda

Hail, Hag of the Iron Wood!
From thy womb came
The Lady of Death,
Dark mistress of the shades;
The wolf of destruction,
The serpent all-encompassing.
Strong one who stands alone,
Who defends her children
No matter how ugly they might be,
Who defends her spouse
Even when all others revile him,
Who would die for her loved ones
Even when they are imperfect.
Your children exiled or imprisoned,
Yet the tide of death and destruction
Was not slowed an inch.
Hail, Lady whose heart
Was burned to ash by those
Who would not look upon ugliness
Lest they see in it a dark mirror
Of their own bright souls.

Chant: Angrboda Angrboda
Hag of the Iron Wood

(All step forth and take a handful of ashes from the burned heart and smear it on their faces. The horn of mead is passed around and the remainder poured out as a libation. The candles are put out, the iron knife is laid on the floor, and all step over it as they leave.)

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Moon for November 17th

Calendar of the Moon

Reed Month

Color: Blue-green
Element: Water
Altar: Upon cloth of blue-green place a vase of reeds, a single blue-green candle, a great bowl of water floating with wetlands plant leaves, and a knife.
Offering: Recycle something useless into something useful.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian soup and sandwiches. Only water or herbal tea to drink.

Ngetal Invocation

Call: Now is the time of the bleak cold.
Response: Now the reeds whisper in the swamp.
Call: Now is the time when we see the growing dark.
Response: Now is the time when we begin to shiver.
Call: Now is the time of bare trees.
Response: Now is the time of rain and wind.
Call: Now the rain fills the wetlands to overflowing.
Response: Now the swamp overflows into our lives.
Call: We feel our feet dragged down into the cold waters.
Response: Yet the wetland is the source of greatest life!
Call: We feel ourselves pulled into the unfamiliar.
Response: Unfamiliar to us, but no less of value.
Call: The damp cold begins to reach our bones.
Response: We must welcome its touch.
Call: We must keep it far away with fire’s warmth!
Response: We must welcome its touch.
Call: Why should we not ban it from our lives?
Response: For this, too, is a Mystery of water.
Call: Not the deep mystery of the Ocean…
Response: Not the running flow of the river…
Call: Not the crystal of snow and ice…
Response: But the secrets of the still waters.
Call: From the still waters springs the greatest number of lives!
Response: And it is this that we must honor.
Call: Welcome into ourselves the song of the whispering reeds!
Response: Welcome into ourselves the oncoming winter.

Chant:

Cold as stone
Marshes heart
We will own
What is apart

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for November 17th

Calendar of the Sun

17 Blutmonath

Holda’s Blot

Colors: Brown and white
Element: Earth
Altar: On cloth of white and brown lay a spindle full of spun wool, a basket of white goose-feathers, two white candles, a needle and thread, a horn of mead, and a dish of honey-cakes.
Lean a broom against the altar.
Offerings: Cakes buried under the earth. Organize and clean the house.
Daily Meal: Hearty stew with root vegetables. Wholegrain bread.

Invocation to Holda

Frau Holle, good Lady
Of the Land Under The Earth,
Who we reach through
The well into the deep places,
You who reward each
As to the temper of the work
They accomplish each day,
You who have eternal patience
And yet no patience at all
With lazy fools who will not
Lift their hands in another’s need.
Lady of the hearth, the loom,
The spindle and the wheel,
The needle and the cooking pot,
These things that so many
Take simply for granted,
They are your kingdom
And your warm domain,
And if they should be removed,
We would sorely miss them,
Much more than we could guess.

Chant:

Snow is coming
Feathers on the wind
Mother Holda
Winter will begin…

(All approach the altar, seize handfuls of the goose feathers, and fling them into the air so that they fall like snow. Each then takes a turn with the broom, sweeping them up. The mead is shared and then poured as a libation.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Moon for November 16th

Calendar of the Moon

Crescent Moon Night

Color: White
Element: Water
Altar: Upon a white cloth set a plate of round white cakes, a single thick white candle, a white bowl of water, and a pitcher of fresh milk from a local animal.
Offerings: Milk. Sugar. Nurturing another.
Daily Meal: White foods, such as rice, coconut, almonds. All dairy products.

Crescent Moon Night Invocation

In the dark of night
You are the source of light.
Our ancestors gathered at this time,
Protected by the silvery glow
That drove the demons from the dark fields.
Selene, Moon Mother of the white breast,
Milk-giver, fountain of life,
You speak to us of sustenance,
Of bringing to fruition, to climax.
Yemaya, reflection of the full moon
On the surface of the ocean,
You speak to us of inner tides,
Of feelings swelling like waves.
Thoth, writer and calculator
Who took pity on a mother’s plight,
You count the days, the moments,
You speak of trust in the universe
Proven by the lunar cycle,
Something we can always count on,
Something we will always see.
What is done under Crescent Moon Night
Is seen by the gods both of Darkness and Light.

(Let each come forward and be given milk to drink, and a moon-cake to eat. Then let all process in a slow spiral dance, chanting.)

Chant:
What is done under Crescent Moon Night
Is seen by the gods of both Darkness and Light.

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for November 16th

Calendar of the Sun

 

 

Media Autumnus

Color: Brown
Element: Earth
Altar: Set out a brown cloth, an earthenware jug of water, dried stalks of yarrow in a vase, and incense of many woods. In front of the altar set a great empty barrel, an earthen pot of soil, another of the day’s vegetation garbage, a smaller one of wood ashes, and a basket of gathered dried leaves.
Offerings: Bits of hair or fingernail parings.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian.

Media Autumnus Invocation

Let us invest in the Earth
Beneath our feet
And see our returns in millenniums.
Let us say that our main crop
Is the ancient forest
Which we did not plant
And will not live to harvest.
Let us say that the leaves
Are harvested when
They have rotted into the mold.
Let us call that our profit,
And prophesy such returns.
Let us put our faith in the two inches
Of humus that will build
Under the trees every thousand years.
Let us listen to carrion.
Let us put our ears close and hear
The faint chatterings
Of the songs that are yet to come.

Chant:

Clay receives you
Earth has chosen you
Worms prepare you
Earth encloses you

(During the chant, several who have been chosen to do the work of the ritual come forward and add the garbage, the ashes, the soil, the dried leaves, the yarrow, and finally the water to the compost barrel. It is removed again to the corner until Spring.)

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for November 15

Calendar of the Sun

 

15 Blutmonath

Nidhogg’s Blot

Color: Black
Element: Earth
Altar: On a black cloth set several bare tree branches in an earthenware vase, a horn of mead, and the figure of a dragon.
Offerings: Pieces of wood with the name of a missed duty scratched on them.
Daily Meal: Tree fruit such as apples or pears or cherries or peaches.

Invocation to Nidhogg

At the base of the great World Tree
Dwells a black dragon
Whose name is Nidhogg,
Whose sole task is gnawing
At the roots of Yggdrasil.
As quickly as it gnaws away,
New growth comes forth
In a never-ceasing spiral.
At the base of each soul
Dwells a black dragon
Whose name is Conscience,
Whose sole job is gnawing
On our blithe thoughtlessness.
As it gnaws and forces us
To do what should be done,
It clears away our disorder
And allows for new growth
In the tangle of our lives.
Teach us, gnawer at the roots,
How to listen and decide.

Chant:

Roots of the Tree,
Hidden, mysterious,
Reveal them to me,
Dragon of Earth.

(Each person shall snap a twig from the branches on the altar and take it with them, laying it under their pillow to remember Nidhogg and their own consciences. The mead is passed around and shared, and the remainder poured out as a libation to Nidhogg.)

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for November 24

Calendar of the Sun

14 Blutmonath

Day of Feronia

 

Colors: Purple and white
Element: Air
Altar: Set out a cloth of white overlaid by a cloth of purple, a white cloth cap with the word “Freedom” on it, several rough ropes, and a blade.
Offerings: Coins, to be donated to the appropriate cause, such as Amnesty International.
Daily Meal: Wine mixed with fruit juice, fresh fruits, sweetened breads and cakes.

Invocation to Feronia:

Hail, Lady of Freedom!
We are all bound by ropes and chains,
Some of them serving a purpose,
And some of them forced on us
By the selfishness of others,
Or by our own fears.
Give us the freedom
To choose our chains,
To bear only those bonds
That will uphold our spirits
And be free of those which harm them.
Let us not serve unworthiness
Out of illusion or fear,
But give us the strength to break free
Of the chains that hold us back
From following the path
The Gods have intended for us.

Chant:

Bene meriti servi sedeant, surgant liberi.
(Let the deserving sit down as slaves and arise as free people.)

(Let one who is chosen to do the work of the ritual come forth with the ropes, and bind the hands of all present. As s/he does so, s/he should ask, “What binds thee?” They may speak, or remain silent. If they speak, all present repeat it forth in unison. Then a second ritual worker comes forth with the blade, and to each s/he asks, “What frees thee?” If they speak forth, all present will repeat it forth in unison, and s/he will cut the ropes. If they cannot speak forth, they must remain bound until the end of Sponde, and must meditate before the altar of Feronia, and ask of her to show them the way out. At the beginning of Akte they may untie, but not cut, the rope, and they are to sleep with it knotted and hanging above their bed until such time as the answer comes to them, at which time it may be burned in an offering to Feronia.

[Pagan Book of Hours]