Some of our Rituals

Dorsetgrove Imbolc Ritual 2013

All line up at the gate, Rita is the gate keeper.

Fiona smudges everyone when they come through the gate.

Rita challenges

Dennis replies.

All enter the gateway and then form a circle.

Fiona performs grounding.

Welcome by Wildfox.

 Taff

Jingle stick all the way around the outside of the circle

Alice

The circle is cast

 

Stewart 

Blesses the circle and calls in the ancestors

Druids Oath

3 Awens

 Grant O spirit thy Protection
And in Protection, Strength
And in Strength, Understanding
And in Understanding, Knowledge
And in Knowledge, Truth
And in Truth, Love 
And in Love, the Love of all Existence
And in that Love, the Love of Spirit and All Creation

Rita

Hail Spirits of this place!
Hail Spirits of this sacred place!
Hail Spirits of this place!
We come here in peace and with clear intent,
To celebrate the feast of Brighid of the Mantle,
And the Gateway of Spring.
Accept our presence, O Guardian Spirits,
Accept our presence.

 

East, Air, Spring

Close your eyes. You are walking along a Ridgeway, at dawn. The Ground beneath your feet is frosty and hard as rock. You are walking east, and before you the sky is driven with the colours of dawn – reds, oranges, yellows, delicate pinks. The whole sky seems ablaze with colour. You stand and feel the wind, its clear, cool touch. Your breath fogs in the icy air in front of you. Breathe in…

Cold wind blows,
Winter snows.
Ice girds
Wings of birds.

Hail spirits of Air!
Come to us,
Be with us,
this day.

 

South, Fire, Summer

Close your eyes. You are sitting at a hearth fire, in a shadowy building. The wind is high and it is cold outside. You warm your hands at the blaze. Look deep into the fire – what can you see? Beside you is a heap of dry brush and kindling. You heap wood on the fire and hear the rush of sparks and crackling flames as it catches. Feel its warmth on your face…

Blazing hearth
On winter earth;
Warmth of flame -
home again.

Hail Spirits of Fire!
Come to us,
Be with us,
This day

 

West, Water, Autumn
Close your eyes.
You are by a river in winter. It is surrounded by willow trees and you notice their buds are glowing orange with the sap rising in them. The river is churning with rain-water. It is washing the land clean. Three swans, the birds of Brighid, pass by you on the grey waters. You reach into the water and feel the bite of the cold.

Grey flood
Thickens mud.
River flowing,
Winter going.

Hail Spirits of Water!
Come to us,
Be with us,
this day.

 

North, earth, Winter
you are walking over the brown earth of a newly ploughed field, towards a copse of trees – hazel, elder, ash. Your boots are heavy with sticky mud, as you pass beyond the brambles into this sliver of woodland. It is filled with the voices of birds, starting up again after their winter silence. Then, half-hidden, you see it – a spread of snowdrops under the trees, glittering white in their purity. You kneel and touch the cold earth in wonder

First shoots,
Stirring roots.
A new birth,
From a new earth.

Hail Spirits of Earth!
Come to us,
Be with us,
This day.

 

The dark God and Goddess are called.

Dennis:

 I call upon Baphomet! Father of Wisdom, Mother of Truth and Lie,

Bringer of Day and Night! Gather and dissolve your Silent wisdom among us!

As we look inside we will know,

As within so Without,

As above, So below!

Rita:     I call Upon You, Oh Lilith so wise

One who rules the darkest skies.

Come and be our treasured Guest

And aid us in our ritual quest.

 

 

Amani

The circle is cast. The quarters have been invited

The Gods and Goddesses are with us

 We are between the worlds.

Ancestors and kindred many,

You whose breath we now breathe,

Whose blood is mingled with this most sacred soil?

We come before you today

With clean hands and pure hearts.

Blood-kin and Soul-kin

Guardians and guides,

We ask for your blessing and your presence.

 

The circle is blessed with fire and water

Amani Fire

Helen water

 

 

Invoking Brighid

 

Fiona

We are at the very beginning of Spring. Snowdrops are flowering, in bitter cold. The dawns are fiery in the molten sky. The first celandines turn their faces to mirror the young sun. Frost-scoured, the trees bend for winter’s absolution. The elms begin their purple flowering, hot stamens like gas-lights, warm purple-blue, blushing into orange. And the witch-hazel is in full, flagrant blaze. It is the time of Brighid, the Foster mother, the Fire-keeper... Speak to us out of the burning bush, O Brighid. Tell us that the icy world will catch and draw flame under this skin of bone. Work in us your alchemy of spring. Make fire burn on grey water, as the willows draw up the river and distil its grey into the malt of their glow, a scald of gold against the sky.

 

Stewart

Praising Brighid

Brighid of the Mantle,
Fire and flame
Holly holy
Is thy name

White-armed Woman,
Fire and flame
Holy, Holy
Is thy name

O Sun of Spring,
Fire and flame
Holy, Holy
Is thy name

O Lady of the Lambs,
Fire and flame
Holy, holy 
Is thy name

Mother of Mercy,
Fire and flame
Holy, holy
Is thy name

O Kind Mother
O Gracious Mother
O Beloved Mother -
We honour you tonight.

Dennis

Now everyone is aware of the energy of Brighid singing in their hearts, offerings are made to her. Dennis toasts Brighid with whiskey, pours some on the ground and drinks the rest

To the Lady of the blazing forge of Inspiration,
To the Lady of the sweet spirits of tenderness,
We offer gifts to you, in reverence and respect.

 

Rita

 The milk is poured upon the earth, with blessings :

To the Lady of the blazing forge of Inspiration,
To the Lady of the sweet milk of tenderness,
We offer gifts to you, in reverence and respect.

Rite of Cleansing

Rita

Upon the altar there are bunches of birch and rosemary twigs, one for every person present, bound with white wool. The birch is a tree of new beginnings and of cleansing. Rita takes the bunches and goes to the first person to her right, as widdershins is the direction of cleansing and banishing. The person extends their arms and the Rita gently brushes the twigs up and down over their body, front and back, to cleanse them of what is outworn. The idea is that one should be left tingling and smelling of rosemary rather than scratched. This goes on until everyone in the circle has been cleansed.

 

Dennis
And now, when we are cleansed of the outworn, we are like newborn infants. And so we remember our own tender spots, those places where we need healing and safety, to find our strength. For Brighid is also the Foster mother of the Young Sun, the Protector.

 

 

Feasting

Stewart

 Blesses the bread and warm wine, saying:

Bless this that we bring to you, O Brighid.
May we taste the sweetness of new life.

Wildfox

We now have the Oak and Holly queens fight

This is usually done at midwinter, but we couldn’t do it because of the bad weather, so we are going to do it now.

At Imbolc the fight is between Jack Frost and the Greenman, as this fight will represent both

Ali staff

Taken to the four corners for a blessing

Stories and poems

 

Ian

Energy for anyone sick

Remembering people who have passed over

Fiona

Mediation

clossing

the closing is done as with  the other rituals.

Closing the quarters

The quarters are uncalled by the simple technique of the person concerned kneeling at the quarter-point and touching their praying hands to their hearts, their foreheads, and then bowing their heads and raising their hands up and forward as a gesture of respect.

 The stillness and poise that this gesture requires means the spirits are respected, the four quarters are consistently uncalled, and an atmosphere of reverent stillness is preserved, making the closing of the circle less jarring.

Wildfox

 three Awens.

Dennis

We give thanks to the four quarter for gracing our circle with their presents and with them hale and farewell

Wildfox goes to each quarter helps them up and thanks and hugs them.

Stewart thanks the ancestor and bids them farewell 

Amani closes the circle

Jingle stick round the circle

Wildfox:

This has been a sacred time in a sacred place; although the rite is now closed the blessing of it will go with us into the days to come.

Group photo

 

The Dorset Grove Spring Equinox Ritual by Stewart 2013

 

All line up to the gate keeper.

Dennis is the gate keeper

Stewart is challenged

All are smudged as they go in.

Form a circle

Fiona leads us in a grounding exercise

Ian welcomes all to the ritual.
Dennis gives a brief explanation of what the equinox signifies.

Taff blesses the circle with the jingle stick

Taff  calls peace to the quarters.

Alice to cast the circle

Calling the quarters:

 Different members of the grove call upon each quarter.

 

East: Hail the Spirits and Guardians of East. We honour the breeze that carries the sweet scent of spring, bringing inspiration to our hearts. We honour the strong winds that clear the dead wood from the forest and the cobwebs from our minds. Hail and Welcome.

 

South: Hail the Spirits and Guardians of South. We honour the Sun whose growth renews vigour and vitality, throughout the land, and within ourselves. We honour the growing, sparkling light that shines to reveal all: from the beauty around us, to our deepest inner fears. Hail and Welcome.

 

West: Hail the Spirits and Guardians of West. We honour the glistening dew, the soft kiss upon the grass, the jewels upon the spiders web .We honour the torrent downpour of the spring rains that quench the land’s thirst as a lover quenches our passion. Hail and Welcome.

 

North: Hail the Spirits and Guardians of North. We honour the fertile earth, the beating pulse of the uncoiled spring, which signals the growing tide. We honour the dark, cold bedrock, the bones beneath the flesh, the foundations from which we grow. Hail and Welcome.

Druids Oath

3 Awens

Stewart

Taff in Welsh

Grant, gwirodydd oh, dy nawdd Ac yn nawdd, nerth, Ac yn, dealltwriaeth cryfder Ac yn, gwybodaeth a dealltwriaeth Ac yngwybod, gwybod y cyfiawn Ac yn y wybodaeth am ju

 

The circle is blessed with fire and water and salt

Stewart: Hail to the Ancient ones, Spirits and Guardians of this place. We honour the lives of those who dwelt here once. Lives differed from our own, lives that were sharply focused by the need for warmth and shelter. Lives that engaged in deep relationship with the natural world in order to survive. We honour the connection between those lives and our own. The joys of love and the wounds of hate; the miracle of life and the mortality of death. These are the ties that bind us closer than the history of our blood, the ever spinning spindle that links us through the millennia of change.

Amani: I call upon my lady of the stars and moon

To the Bringer of dreams and twilight

I call upon my lady of the loom

The Weaver of fates in the night

I call upon the Lady of the Lake

The Singer of the Evensong

I call upon the maiden mother and Crone

The Goddess alive and strong

 

Taff: I call upon the Lord of the Sun

The Rider in the sky

I call upon the Lord of the Winds

To the Eagle as he flies

I call upon the King Stag

To the son, lover and sacrifice

I call upon the Lord of the Wildwood

The God laughing, free and wise

Dennis:I call upon Baphomet! Father of Wisdom, Mother of Truth and Lie,

Bringer of Day and Night! Gather and dissolve your Silent wisdom among us!

As we look inside we will know,

As within so Without,

As above, So below!

Rita: I call Upon You, Oh Lilith so wise

One who rules the darkest skies.

Come and be our treasured Guest

And aid us in our ritual quest.

 

Ian: As the light and dark halves of the year become equal, we give thanks for the lessons and blessings of the dark and welcome the changing tide brought by the light. Feel the pulse of the land – is your heart beating in time? Smell the newness upon the air – do your spirits soar? Now is the time to find your balance as the energies about you shift.

 

Find a word that symbolises your experience of the closing dark half of the year and a word that encapsulates your hopes for the growing light half of the year. Pause to let people find there two words and then encourage them to share their two words with us.

 

Dennis’s play?


Bread, wine, and buns. Fiona blesses the bread and wine and choses two people to distribute them.

Apple wood is given out

Chocolate eggs given out

Posies are given out

Bardic contributions.

Glens shamanic offering

Leading In to Fiona’s

Meditation.

Healing

Remembering people who have passed on

 

Talking stick.

 

     The quarters are uncalled by the simple technique of the person concerned kneeling at the quarter-point and touching their praying hands to their hearts, their foreheads, and then bowing their heads and raising their hands up and forward as a gesture of respect.

 The stillness and poise that this gesture requires means the spirits are respected, the four quarters are consistently uncalled, and an atmosphere of reverent stillness is preserved, making the closing of the circle less jarring

Ian: Three Awens.

 

Dennis thanks and bids the quarter farewell

 

Stewart bids the ancestors farewell.

 

Rita uncasts the circle

Taff goes round with the jingle stick

 

Ian closes the ritual.

 

Samhain Ritual

Welcome and introduction by Dennis

IAN

It is the time of burning leaves,
The crispness of the air has awakened
Memories both dark and hidden,
Memories of past feasts partaken.

I sit comfortly in this silent room
Computer keyboard beneath my fingers
Yet...my mind is never frozen here
In times past it wants to linger.

I 'see' a bonfire raging on a hilltop
With my people all gathered around
Our prayers to the Gods I shout,
Yet, in my dreams I hear not a sound.

The drums beat, the people dance
Wildness fills the autumn night.

The Other Side is so very close--
The Veil just beyond the fire light.

I reach, I feel, I almost touch...
Spirit fingers entwine with mortal
Then dawn's first light appears
And seals again the fragile portal.

I turn away from the cold ashes
Let the wildness leave my aching soul.

Another year til another Samhain...
On that night again I'll be whole.

RITA

Be thou cast, circle.

So do you hold our power.

Set us apart from the world of man,

May this place be sacred and protected and may the gods bless and protect those within it.

The circle is then consecrated with fire and water.

Amani then calls peace to the quarters by going in turn to each quarter and calling:

May there be peace in the East!

May there be peace in the South!

May there be peace in the West!

May there be peace in the North!

The quarter callers then face their directions

East:

We call upon the spirits of Air

And welcome you to this circle

May the spirits of those past guide us

And may the Gods bless their hand over us

The gateway to the east is now open!

South:

We call upon the spirits of fire

And welcome you to this circle

May the love of those past guide us

And may the Gods bless their hand over us

The gateway to the south is now open!

 

West:

We call upon the spirits of water

And welcome you to this circle

May the wisdom of those past guide us

And may the Gods bless their hand over us

The gateway to the west is now open!

 

North:

We call upon the spirits of earth

And welcome you to this circle

May the knowledge of those past guide us

And may the Gods bless their hand over us

The gateway to the north is now open!

 

 

Dennis:

Spirits rise ye, onward, on
Into the void of flame
Where death is sweet and calls upon
 Baphomet, by name:

To call upon the ghost of love
And unto its shade sing,
Great prophecies shalt love's ghost prove
By this immortal thing!

Rita:

Lady Lilith we implore you

Be our honoured guest

Rule with your dark wisdom

Our actions in this quest

Rita then lights the Pelan Tan

Helen :

Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone;
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness - for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.

The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever.

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,
Now are visions ne'er to vanish;
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more, like dew-drop from the grass.

The breeze, the breath of Gods, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token.
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!

 

Stewart:

We call upon the spirits of those past

We ask that you show yourselves to this circle

We wait on your presence

May the Gods guide you to this place:

 

Trapped in the glorious years
within the memory of belief, lost of all grief.
Take the reasons,which once seemed clear,
but never mind, you have nothing to fear.
For you my friend will be, forever young,
Forever in the heart of memories.

Lost in the glory of all time,
the wisdom was there within that smile,
You see you could have told us,
there within lies the mystery.

So shed a smile, and grin a tear,
For you my friend, will be,
Forever in the heart and memory,
We see not through or misery.

Please come to us we mean no harm, just to reach and touch

Those that passed long before and to our hearts meant much

 

Rita then explains the Pelan tan:

If the spirits of those past are present the Pelan Tan will draw them near.I want everyone to close their eyes and picture a loved one that has passed. I want you to think of them, what they did, how they spoke, how they interacted with you and things they said to you. If they are here, let them come.... if they talk to you, please let everyone know what they are saying. If you have not experienced this before allow your minds to be open to it as if they sense you trying to block them they will leave.

 

 

When the Pelan Tan work is done Rita will extinguish the flame.

Amani:

The Pelan Tan extinguished

The spirits no longer drawn

They go away, we remain

To see the new day’s dawn

We thank them for their presence

And release them from this place

With love they go and hasten away

A word, a touch, a face.

 

The quarters are then closed:

East:

We call upon the spirits of the Air

We thank you for your presence

And bid you Hail and Farewell

The gateway to the east is now closed

South:

We call upon the spirits of fire

We thank you for your presence

And bid you Hail and farewell

The gateway to the south is now closed

West:

We call upon the spirits of water

We thank you for your presence

And bid you hail and farewell

The gateway to the west is now closed

North:

We call upon the spirits of earth

We thank you for your presence

And bid you hail and farewell

The gateway to the North is now closed

Rita closes the circle:

Be thou uncast, circle.

As we walk thy boundaries

So do you release our power.

Bring us back to the world of man,

And join us with the realm of spirit.

Release us to our world with your blessing.

 

Dennis:

All that have been summoned are now gone, the ritual is now ended.