Brigid Ritual
freely adapted from various sources (thanx to Willow and Adam McLean)
(ALTAR
SETUP: in center, bowl of earth with one large white taper; white candles
for each person present lying nearby. Sage in mortar, matches and feather
nearby. Salt, water in bowl. Goddess and God images. White flowers if
possible.)
H.Ps.
(Light point candles. Purify with salt water. Purify with burning sage.
Cast circle.):
This is the night of Brigid, the Feast of the Waxing Light. Tonight the
Goddess makes her annual transformation from Crone to Maiden, from Winter
to Spring.
We celebrate the powers of Inspiration and Illumination, the growth of
our own individuation with the growth of the light. In olden times this
was the first celebration of Spring, the preparation for the germination
and regrowth to come later. This was pictured through the myth of Bride
and the Cailleach. The three months of winter from Samhain to Brigid were
under the power and government of the Cailleach, the Old Woman Goddess,
who embodies the forces of contraction and is the enemy of growth.
Each year, on the Eve of Bride, as the first glimmer of dawn appears,
the Cailleach drinks of the Well of Youth and is transformed into the
fair young Goddess Bride. At the celebration of Brigid we celebrate the
mystery of the germination of the seed after the cold contractive forces
of winter, the Cailleach, are withdrawn, and the youthful energies of
the Maiden aspect of the Goddess inspire and illuminate all life, physical
and spiritual.
Let us now invoke the Lady, by the names of Brigid, Bride, Brigidu, Brigantia
(CHANT)
(READ
THE CHARGE OF THE GODDESS)
H.Ps.: Now
let us invoke her Son, Brother and Lover, the God who was born again at
the Winter Solstice and who grows in strength and beauty every day.
All
CHANT: Seed
sower, grain reborn, Horned One, come!
(H.Ps. faces South from North position. Call-and-response
CHANT, with H.Ps. doing all the lines beginning with "Out of the..", and
everyone else doing the responses):
H.Ps.:
Out of the night
All: Before the beginning
Out of the dark
Before the light
Out of the cold
Before the warmth
Out of the womb
Before the birth
Out of the sleep
Before the waking
Out of the old
Before the new
Out of the silence
Before the sound
Out of the stillness
Before the shaking
Out of the illusion
Before the true
Out of the seed
Before the sprout
Out of the dawn
Before the day
Out of the echo
Before the shout
Out of the maze
Before the way
(H.Ps.
travels deosil to S. point candle and lights taper. Holds high to N. and
says):
H.Ps.: Fire
of the Heart
(All repeat antiphonally)
Fire of the Mind
Fire of the Hearth
Fire of the Wind
Fire of the Art
Fire beyond Time
(explain chant and procedure to follow: All chant
and dance if room):
"Wearing my longwing
feathers as I fly
I circle around
I circle around
The boundaries of the earth."
(Go
into free chanting, yelling, clapping, rattles, etc. Each person takes
a taper and lights it from central cauldron taper. Place in earth, saying
what they wish to grow in their life. Let cone of power peak when all
have done this, then drop and ground it in cauldron.)
H.Ps.: Now
let the power pass from me
To end where it was begun
Chant the spell and be it done
AS I DO WILL SO MOTE IT BE!
(Bless
and share cakes and wine. Show and tell--any and all works of poetry,
smithcraft, inspiration. Partying. Open circle. Group hug.)