SweetWood Temenos Spring Equinox 2009
“I call upon the Goddess and God
And the Divine community
The Beloved Wholeness who are the One,
The Oneness that is all,
Both Spirit and Nature
As above so also below
By Love’s creation
Whose children we are!
Blessed be!”
Iacchus
The week before the spring equinox winter has been fading away and about midweek the snow had disappeared from the SweetWood Temenos circle. By Friday the circle had dried and on this first day of spring I raked it to ready it for the ritual on Saturday.
In preparing for the ritual Friday night my spouse boiled 12 eggs for the ritual. Saturday arrived with Sunshine and warmer weather (the high temperature for the day was 62 degrees). Saturday morning I took the eggs and a wax crayon and went to our home altar. I light incense in the name of the Sun Goddess and took my pouch of Runes off the altar. I held the pouch in my left hand, an egg in my right hand, chanted “signs of renewal” and chose a rune. I then wrote the rune with the wax crayon on the egg, made some more decorations on it and set it in the spring basket. When I had repeated this process for all the eggs I thanked the Sun Goddess and All the Gods.
As part of this ritual I use local spring water. I went down to this spring, filled the water jugs, pour a libation to the Gods, drank from the spring and proceed to SweetWood Temenos. When I arrived at the circle the skies had cleared, birds were singing and there was even a butterfly sunning itself on the altar.
I went to the circle and set up the altar with beautiful weather, soft gentle wind and sunny blue skies. I invoked and sang to the Sun Goddess as I collected firewood and built a fire in her name. I brought the SweetWood Temenos Cauldron down to the circle, hung it up, filled it with the spring water and put on its lid. The circle was ready for the ritual and I looked around I found joy in my heart and the moment was a pleasure to my senses.
Two local folk Johanna and Raven and my spouse Delta showed up for this lovely spring ritual. As priest I am naked in ritual celebrations (as weather permits) and all who attend may also honor Divinity so. We begin the ritual by blessing one another with incense and rose oil! Then we held hands, grounded and centered with a three deep breaths and an OM. Then Delta and I cast the circle by honoring the four directions with incense and sound. In our rituals we use a water jar to draw water from the cauldron, to hold and charge the water with words, pour libations, then returned the water so charged to the cauldron to be drawn once more for each round of libations and water sharing.
The first round of libations began by speaking and pouring libations for the 7 elements and the Sun Goddess. The second round invoked the Sun Goddess and all spoke about renewal, peace and balance. In the third round I spoke about the lore of the Sun Goddess and her renewal from the winter Hag to spring Maiden. It was lore that love and union between the old and young achieved a new balance and renewal (The loathsome lady who is transformed by a kiss from the young hero into a beautiful princess pp 68 The Sun Goddess by Sheena McGarth). The restored vitality and renewal of spring is likened to rebirth. So with each rebirth comes a restored wholeness and dynamic balance that includes and values our gender and sexuality. One of the most common questions asked at the time of birth is “ is it a boy or girl?”
So we honored in this ritual of renewal and rebirth with a water libation to the multiple gender and sexual expressions of Divinity; to female, male and hermaphrodite, to homoerotic, heteroerotic, autoerotic and bisexuality, and to monogamy, polyamory, polyandry and polygyny. We honored the Goddess’s charge that all acts of love and pleasure are my rites in this season of new beginnings. With these words of wisdom and love the water jar was so charged and with a great shout, a libation was poured and the rest of the charged water returned to the cauldron.
A new draught was brought forth from the cauldron and the water-sharing goblet on the altar was filled with this draught. I poured a bit of charged water on an evergreen sprig and sprinkled and so blessed all in the circle with it. The sprig was cast into the fire with the wish for greater love in this season.
Then I brought forth the spring basket filled with eggs, passed them around twice and every one drew two. We gave thanks for these signs of spring and set the eggs aside. We then did a spring dance and chant around the fire, singing and shouting “Shedding of the grey of short days (3 times), the husk of winter falls away (3 times), we remember our goodness (3 times) and the green of spring returns (3 times), for we are the seed of Divine love (3 times)”. Our voices filled with joy and mirth echoed through the woods and valley below. We gave another great shout and gathered around the fire once more.
I then brought forth from the altar the water-sharing goblet filled with charged water. The goblet was passed around with these words “Water shared, is life shared, is love shared, May you never Thirst! Thou art God Thou art Goddess! After all had shared the Goblet was returned to the Altar and Delta and I took down the circle. Hugs were past around and the eggs were dyed to reveal the signs, the runes, of renewal. We all sat around the fire talking of the meanings of the runes and things to come. All left with full hearts and with feelings of renewal! What beautiful spring day it was!
Blessed Be and Never Thirst
Iacchus
“I call upon the Goddess and God
And the Divine community
The Beloved Wholeness who are the One,
The Oneness that is all,
Both Spirit and Nature
As above so also below
By Love’s creation
Whose children we are!
Blessed be!”
Iacchus
The week before the spring equinox winter has been fading away and about midweek the snow had disappeared from the SweetWood Temenos circle. By Friday the circle had dried and on this first day of spring I raked it to ready it for the ritual on Saturday.
In preparing for the ritual Friday night my spouse boiled 12 eggs for the ritual. Saturday arrived with Sunshine and warmer weather (the high temperature for the day was 62 degrees). Saturday morning I took the eggs and a wax crayon and went to our home altar. I light incense in the name of the Sun Goddess and took my pouch of Runes off the altar. I held the pouch in my left hand, an egg in my right hand, chanted “signs of renewal” and chose a rune. I then wrote the rune with the wax crayon on the egg, made some more decorations on it and set it in the spring basket. When I had repeated this process for all the eggs I thanked the Sun Goddess and All the Gods.
As part of this ritual I use local spring water. I went down to this spring, filled the water jugs, pour a libation to the Gods, drank from the spring and proceed to SweetWood Temenos. When I arrived at the circle the skies had cleared, birds were singing and there was even a butterfly sunning itself on the altar.
I went to the circle and set up the altar with beautiful weather, soft gentle wind and sunny blue skies. I invoked and sang to the Sun Goddess as I collected firewood and built a fire in her name. I brought the SweetWood Temenos Cauldron down to the circle, hung it up, filled it with the spring water and put on its lid. The circle was ready for the ritual and I looked around I found joy in my heart and the moment was a pleasure to my senses.
Two local folk Johanna and Raven and my spouse Delta showed up for this lovely spring ritual. As priest I am naked in ritual celebrations (as weather permits) and all who attend may also honor Divinity so. We begin the ritual by blessing one another with incense and rose oil! Then we held hands, grounded and centered with a three deep breaths and an OM. Then Delta and I cast the circle by honoring the four directions with incense and sound. In our rituals we use a water jar to draw water from the cauldron, to hold and charge the water with words, pour libations, then returned the water so charged to the cauldron to be drawn once more for each round of libations and water sharing.
The first round of libations began by speaking and pouring libations for the 7 elements and the Sun Goddess. The second round invoked the Sun Goddess and all spoke about renewal, peace and balance. In the third round I spoke about the lore of the Sun Goddess and her renewal from the winter Hag to spring Maiden. It was lore that love and union between the old and young achieved a new balance and renewal (The loathsome lady who is transformed by a kiss from the young hero into a beautiful princess pp 68 The Sun Goddess by Sheena McGarth). The restored vitality and renewal of spring is likened to rebirth. So with each rebirth comes a restored wholeness and dynamic balance that includes and values our gender and sexuality. One of the most common questions asked at the time of birth is “ is it a boy or girl?”
So we honored in this ritual of renewal and rebirth with a water libation to the multiple gender and sexual expressions of Divinity; to female, male and hermaphrodite, to homoerotic, heteroerotic, autoerotic and bisexuality, and to monogamy, polyamory, polyandry and polygyny. We honored the Goddess’s charge that all acts of love and pleasure are my rites in this season of new beginnings. With these words of wisdom and love the water jar was so charged and with a great shout, a libation was poured and the rest of the charged water returned to the cauldron.
A new draught was brought forth from the cauldron and the water-sharing goblet on the altar was filled with this draught. I poured a bit of charged water on an evergreen sprig and sprinkled and so blessed all in the circle with it. The sprig was cast into the fire with the wish for greater love in this season.
Then I brought forth the spring basket filled with eggs, passed them around twice and every one drew two. We gave thanks for these signs of spring and set the eggs aside. We then did a spring dance and chant around the fire, singing and shouting “Shedding of the grey of short days (3 times), the husk of winter falls away (3 times), we remember our goodness (3 times) and the green of spring returns (3 times), for we are the seed of Divine love (3 times)”. Our voices filled with joy and mirth echoed through the woods and valley below. We gave another great shout and gathered around the fire once more.
I then brought forth from the altar the water-sharing goblet filled with charged water. The goblet was passed around with these words “Water shared, is life shared, is love shared, May you never Thirst! Thou art God Thou art Goddess! After all had shared the Goblet was returned to the Altar and Delta and I took down the circle. Hugs were past around and the eggs were dyed to reveal the signs, the runes, of renewal. We all sat around the fire talking of the meanings of the runes and things to come. All left with full hearts and with feelings of renewal! What beautiful spring day it was!
Blessed Be and Never Thirst
Iacchus
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