"All
acts of love and passion are my rituals..."
Summer
Solstice Ritual
Contributed
by Kathleen Anderson
This
ritual is about coming into fullness. The
climax. The time on the wheel represents
maturity, the stage of the mother. Flowers
should be in full bloom. The element associated
here is fire, and passion and ecstasy are part
of the ritual.
Supplies:
red for the altar, a red candle for each person
present, red flowers, a basin filled with water
and fragrance (we used scented oil and flower
petals), Tools for calling the directions, a
cauldron filled almost to the top with sand (to
seat the candles), smudge for cleansing (pass it
around), incense, drums and instruments, and
light for fire.
Casting
the circle:
Air:
Turn to the East, arms raised, fingers spread.
"Breath of Goddess, Blow. Be wind in our sails.
Be divine mind in ours. Be here in this hour.
Blessed Be!"
Fire:
Turn to the South, arms raised, hands making
fists. "Energy of Goddess, Empower! Be hot
within us. Be passion in our hearts. Be here in
this hour. Blessed Be!"
Water:
Turn to the west, arms outstretched, hands
cupped. "Living Waters, blood of Goddess, Flow!
Your heartbeat pulses within us. Be dreams and
feelings flowing forth. Be here in this hour.
Blessed be!"
Earth:
Turn to the North, arms outstretched, palms
down. "Body of Goddess, Standing stones-dancing
bones! Be our strength. Be sacred ground firm
under our feet. Be here in this hour. Blessed
Be!"
Spirit:
Turn to the center, hand in hand, thumbs
pointing left:
"From
the ground, from the stone,
From the windswept sky,
From the flaming fire's cone,
From the flowing water's sigh,
Our spirits call, our voices sing
Of Elemental Power.
Come, Aid us in our circle
Be here in this hour.
"The
Circle is cast, we are between the worlds At the
Goddess' feet.
Where magic is real, All becomes 0ne
and beginnings and endings meet.
Blessed
Be!"
Anointing
with oil:
Stand
before the altar. Anoint foreheads and say,
"Open my mind and inner eyes to greater truths."
Anoint
hearts and say:
"Cleanse
my heart from all impurity."
Anoint
hands, and say:
"Let
our hands be lifted up in praise, and set to the
work of the Goddess."
Anoint
feet, and say:
"Guide
our feet on the paths of growth and
enlightenment. "
This
will not be a quiet circle. This is an exuberant
season and it's PARTY TIME! Invoke your wild
woman! We will have a power ritual, to remind us
that this season's emphasis is on fulfilment,
but we will also do a banishing as a first
reminder of the coming dark season. Think
carefully of what you will ask of the Mother
tonight; she is at her highest point of giving.
Invocation:
Charge
of the Goddess. Soft drumming accompanies.
This
is the fullness of summer, the reign of the
Mother Goddess. Tonight all wants are fulfilled,
all wishes come true, and love reaches full
passion. Women everywhere are gathered together
to invoke the Goddess. Our many voices embrace
her, to awaken her from the long sleep of
patriarchy. Listen to her words:
Solstice
Poem (with respect to Z. Budapest)
I
have slept for ten thousand years.
Now I stretch and waken.
They are calling, calling me, and my heart leaps
to greet them.
My forests my hair, the grasses my heavy
eyelashes. They call me, and I waken.
My body bedecked with a million flowers,
And these many breasts of mine, the mountains
joyfully rear their tips.
I long to suckle my young. They are calling.
They will know me!
I want to embrace all the sad and lost.
All the wrongs that have been done, to me and to
my children,
My hands shall doom them to death, and make them
right
I am the defender of every mother, as I am the
defender of my holy self.
Earth, Mother am I, the only one; life springs
from me. I carry the seed of creation.
And I awake!
Chant:
Gaia, Carry Us Home
We
are going to do a color and fullness meditation.
As soon as it ends I will take a hand near me
and we will do a spiral dance. As we unwind it
we'll gather in a circle.
Drumming:
This should start out as heartbeat and quicken
slightly with each change in the meditation. All
women not drumming should take a posture of the
five-pointed star. Keep eyes open and visualize
or close them.
BREATHE!
Feel
the movement and heartbeat of the earth at
Solstice, feel the rich black earth. Draw black
into your body, through your feet, legs, vagina,
abdomen, heart, chest, throat, and head. Feel it
enter through your feet, travel through your
body; feel its vastness and depth, let it exit
through the crown. Feel the richness of the
Mother Earth.
Feel
the color shift to red, see the pulsing of your
blood, the movements of energy and passionate
life. Feel your strength, the length of your
muscles, the marrow and hardness of your bones.
Now
let the color lighten to a bright warm orange.
Feel yourself bathed in energy and power. Feel
your body rise in passion, in yearning, in
ecstatic union with all that is.
Now
let the color brighten more to an active,
vibrant yellow. This is the color of knowledge
and power, of oomph, the bright understanding of
things happening, and making them happen. Know
yourself to be the cause, the agent of changes.
Wash in yellow!
Now
let your mind's eye cool a bit and let the green
grow and spread out from your heart. This is the
color of sympathy and emotion, of growing and
helping things to grow. Green is the color of
healing. Feel the fertile green, where love
takes root.
Green
shifts cooler now, to blue. Blue is the color of
the sky, the water. It is the color of will, and
peace, and the natural order. Let your will be
in harmony, let your throat be filled with
songs, and the words you need to say. Know that
yours is the power to make real that which you
imagine.
Feel
the color purple now, the color of psychic
knowing. Let the winds whisper, the fire burn
within, the waters of intuition flow, and the
secrets be known to you. Know what you know, and
be unafraid.
Let
all the colors swirl faster and faster about you
and through you until they make a swirling white
light, around you and in you. This is the color
of the Goddess, of the great Divine one. You are
part of Her, of all of it. Feel the patterns
moving, the wheel is turning, turning, see the
light of it, be en-light-en-ment.
Spiral
Dance
Chanting:
We are the music in everyone
We are the dance of the moon and the sun |
We are the power in everyone
And we are the hope that will not die
And we are the turning of the tide.
Air
I am, Fire I am, Water, Earth and Spirit I am.
(in counterpoint)
This
is a good time to raise a cone, if you are so
inclined, but use/ground the energy before going
on with the ritual or it will get very heavy,
and everyone will start sitting down and feeling
sluggish.
As
you move back into one big circle each person
should take a candle from the altar. Start by
lighting the first candle. State your wish.
Light candles from each other, going deosil
(clockwise), one at a time.
Now
go around again, widdershins
(counter-clockwise), and this time state a
banishing, and blow your candle out. When all
candles are out, go back and light candles at
the altar, saying, "On this night, the Goddess
grants all wishes. Blessed be!"
Place
candles in the cauldron sand and let them burn
until it is time to go.
FEAST,
DANCE, TALK, MAKE THINGS!
To
Open circle: Turn to each direction in reverse
order:
North:
Great Spirits of the North, Spirits of Earth, we
thank you for your presence. It is done. Go if
you wish, stay if you will. Blessed Be!
West:
Great Spirits of the West, Spirits of Water, we
thank you for your presence. It is done. Go if
you wish, stay if you will. Blessed Be!
South:
Great Spirits of the South, Spirits of Fire, we
thank you for your presence. It is done. Go if
you wish, stay if you will. Blessed Be!
East:
Great Spirits of the East, Spirits of Air, we
thank you for your presence. It is done. Go if
you wish, stay if you will. Blessed Be!
Turn
to the center, join hands:
By
the Earth that is Her body, the Air that is her
breath, by the Fire of Her bright spirit, and
the Waters of her living womb, The Circle is
open but unbroken. (Drop hands.) May the peace
of the Goddess go in our hearts, as we merry
meet, merry part, and merry meet again. Blessed
Be!
Kathleen
Anderson lives in rural South Carolina.
Married, with one son, she works as a teacher
and writer. She and other remarkable circle
sisters have been crafting rituals for 13
years.
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