Tag: Hesperis

Calendar of the Sun for November 1

Calendar of the Sun

1 Blutmonath

Rite of Hela: All Souls’ Day

Colors: Black and White
Elements: Earth and Air
Altar: Upon black cloth to the right place four black candles, a skull, bones, a pot of earth, a pile of withered leaves, and a gravestone. Upon white cloth to the left place four white candles, incense, an ivory chalice of mead, a crystal sphere, and a plate of food. Veil the windows.
Offerings: Food, drink, and music given to the Dead.
Daily Meal: Today’s ritual starts at the beginning of Mousika, and continues through until the end of Sponde. Elete and Akte are spent in silent meditation before the altar. No food will be eaten nor work nor washing done until the Dead have their entertainment. Fasting until Dysis.

Invocation to Hela

Hail to Hel
Queen of Helheim
Wisest of Wights
Keeper of Secrets
Keeper of the hopes for tomorrow
Guardian of Souls
Implacable one of the frozen realm
Half the face of beauty
Half the face of Death
You who feed the dead
At your meager table
Where everyone gets their fair share,
Lady who takes away
Yet holds always promise,
Teach us to praise loss and death
And the passing of all things,
For from this flux
We know your blessings flow.

Song/Chant: Rite to Open the Door of Helheim

(Singing then commences, throughout the next several hours. Group singing and soloing alternate. It is acceptable to bring in guest performers from outside, so long as they understand that they are performing for the Dead and not the living, and that they must join the fasting. There will be no applause. Water may be provided. At the end of Sponde, the Dead are thanked and their food put to the side; Hesperis continues as usual, although there will be no food until afterwards.)

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

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Calendar of the Sun for Monday, June 4th

4 Lithemonath

Iris’s Day

Colors: All the spectrum of the rainbow.
Element: Air
Altar: Upon a cloth of rainbows set a vase of irises, several flags of rainbow colors, and colored pinwheels.
Offerings: Sing into the wind.
Daily Meal: Brightly colored vegetarian food.

Invocation to Iris

Hail the Many-Colored Messenger!
Hail the Maiden that follows the rain!
Hail the goddess on bright wings
Whose appearance is hope in the future.
All hail lightness of heart
And a smile flung into the oncoming wind.
Winged one,
Rainbow’s child,
Spreading your colors
Across the sky,
Bring us hope
Bring us joy
Carry our wishes
Far onto the winds.
Winged one,
Smile upon us
With your many-colored eyes.

(Each takes up a flag or a pinwheel, and a procession is formed to the outside of the house, in the yard or garden. As each hangs their flag or plants their pinwheel, they say to the sky, “Hear me, Iris; I sing my message to you. Take it where it needs to go.” Then they sing a series of notes, or a short song, which contains the message they would like to go to the Powers That Be. Then one member who has the skill should play a tune on pipes or flute, and all should join hands and dance in a circle to honor the Rainbow Maiden. For the rest of the day until Hesperis at least, all should dress in brightly colored clothing, if possible.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for Jan. 31

Calendar of the Sun
31 Wolfmonath

Imbolc Eve: Day of the Bean Sidhe

Color: Black
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of black place a cup of blood, kept from the last slaughtering. Before it lay bloodstained rags and a flute, and many small unlit votive candles. Block the windows and shut out all sunlight.
Offering: Give aid to a child who has lost their mother.
Daily Meal: Red meat and milk.

Imbolc Eve Invocation

Go, my children, to the riverbank,
In the dark of the night when the wind is howling,
And you shall hear the wails of one who mourns,
And you shall see her kneeling by the water,
Washing the bloody clothes of those
Who did not survive the giving forth of life.
She weeps for the mothers lost,
She weeps for the children lost,
She weeps for the life cut short,
What should have been a joyous day
Become a night of mourning.
She weeps above all for those
Who have no one else to weep for them.
So we shall light a candle, on this night
Before the morn of Candlemas,
For all those who have no one to weep for them,
And we shall shed the tears
And we shall be the voice,
And we shall do the work
Of the lonely Bean Sidhe.

(The cup of blood is poured as a libation. Each comes forward and lights a small votive candle, and then all wail in a great torrent of sound together, with one playing the flute wildly over the cacophony. Those who can shed tears should do so. This should go on until all are exhausted from wailing, and then all should go quietly to their other tasks in silence until Hesperis.

Calendar of the Moon for January 29th

Calendar of the Moon

Dark Moon Night

Color: Black
Element: Air
Altar: Upon a black cloth set a single black candle, incense, an iron sickle laid to mimic the direction of the waning moon, a cup of water, a lock of silver hair, and a white bone.
Offerings: Bones. Stones. Menstrual blood. Give something up.
Daily Meal: Soup of some sort, cooked in a cauldron, eaten in silence.

Dark Moon Invocation

At this time, in the dark of the moon,
When the Silver Lady ages
To an old woman in the dark,
Haunting crossroads, working magic,
Stirring her cauldron
Of poison that heals,
Grandmother Moon of sorcery
And wisdom, who sees all
And reveals little to our searching eyes.
Moon of Death, Moon of mystery,
Moon of silence who hides her face,
Let us learn silence from your averted gaze
Let us learn patience from your aging face
Let us feel for the dark places within us
And find our way down your path in the darkness
Which is utter and complete
But not impenetrable.
As darkness wraps us,
So silence heals us.
As darkness finds us,
So silence guides us.
As darkness speaks,
So silence falls.

(The candle is blown out, and all leave in silence. From the beginning of this rite at Hesperis until the dawn, silence will rule in the house. Talking must be done only in whispers, and between no more than two people, and only for that which is necessary. Long meditation is encouraged, and all work must be done quietly if possible. The evening meal should be eaten by candlelight, and only candles may light the house, except for the sake of certain important work.)

Calendar of the Sun for Jan. 12th

Calendar of the Sun
12 Wolfmonath

Niflheim Day

Colors: White and Grey
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of white and grey place a crystal goblet of melted snow, crystal ornaments that mimic ice, snowflakes, white fur, figures of white bears, and a large white bowl of snow.
Offerings: Help someone to keep warm in the winter, such as paying their fuel bill, bringing them wood to burn, or bringing them warmer clothing. There should be no heat in the House today from Auge to Hesperis, save what is necessary for the plumbing. All should bear with the cold, and think on their ancestors, for whom heat was vital.
Daily Meal: Cold meats and fish.

Niflheim Invocation

In the beginning, there was Ginnungagap,
The darkness ever-stretching in every direction.
Then came forth two worlds into the darkness,
And one was made of Ice over Stone.
Earth and Water, yet frozen and unmoving,
Waiting for the touch of Fire to wake them.
Yet when that Fire came and melted the Ice,
Forth was born Ymir the Giant,
Huge as a mountain chain, vast and blind
As the Earth from whence he came.
Ancestor of all the frost-giants,
The storm-giants, the creatures of wind and mist,
From from Ice and Stone came Breath,
Air that rushes and batters, great blizzards of the North.
Hail the Land of Ice, Winter’s glory,
Home of the Lords of Wind and Cold!
Hail to the Land of Water, lakes and islands,
Fjords that touch the icy water.
Hail to the Chieftains of Niflheim,
Great Kari the North Wind, son of Mistblindi,
Brother to Fire and Ocean,
Frosti, Snaer, Thorri, Fon, Drifa,
Mjol the wind-rider, the sorceress.
Hail to the Land of Mists, from whence the Giants came,
One of the Two from which all the Worlds began.

(One who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual carries around the goblet of melted snow, and all drink from it. The rest is poured out as libation.)