SAMHAIN Rite Recap: Spiral Spirit Protogrove, 11/1/08 I hosted the Samhain ritual this year at my house; I spent two days preparing the house for company, but it was great motivation to get our dining room cleared out! I had four guests, Mary and Jen from the Protogrove; Fálki, a friend of mine who is an Anglo-Saxon heathen interested in ADF, and pg, another gentleman who's been to a few of our gatherings. The rite was based heavily on material from a little book I'd been given years ago by Ian Corrigan, which contained "the Great Cauldron Sacrifice." I had to rework a lot of it to fit the newer Core Order of Ritual but it worked well. Mary gave the outdwellers their offering in the back yard, and then we processed to the hearth singing "Come We Now as a People." I had set the hallows up in our fireplace, which has a bricked in recess but no actual chimney, and provides a nice place to center the hallows while including the symbolism of the Hearth as well. I invoked Ogmios for inspiration and asked Donn and the Morrigán, our Deities of the Rite, to forgive any errors or omissions. pg and Fálki performed the purification asperging and smudging, and Jen gave the Earth Mother offering. I'd discovered earlier in the day that I was out of cornmeal, so the Mother got oats and popcorn tonight! I figured it was a traditional American preparation, so would work just fine for the "new world" half of our offering. I gave the statement of purpose and then led a Two Powers meditation. After that we sang the "Portal Song" as Jen silvered the Well, I poured oil for the Fire, and Fálki sprinkled the Tree. I then offered incense to Cernunnos as Gatekeeper, and opened the gates. Fálki offered herbs and seeds to the nature spirits, Mary gave a libation of wine to the Ancestors, and Jen gave oil to the Gods. Mary then invited Donn, the Celts' god who leads the Dead to their new home, and Jen invited the Morrigán. I performed the loaf sacrifice, giving a third to the Underworld, a third to the Heavens, and keeping a third for the Middle Realm. I also poured oil for the Ancestors, and then we spoke the names of our Dead and remembered them with offerings of incense and other items. After this was done, I spoke the final prayer of sacrifice, and we sent our love and reverence through the Gates to the Kindreds. Jen then drew oghams for the Omen:
As Jen was drawing the stave for the Gods, an additional stave fell out of the bag onto the ground, which is why there are two oghams for the Gods. The Straif was a bit vexing although as Jen pointed out, we did invite the Morrigán in, and she noted that Idad meant that the strife was of the constructive sort rather than the destructive sort. I don't yet read Ogham and am not sure what symbolic system she uses to interpret them, but I trust her judgment. We then asked the Powers to confer their blessings on the Waters and we shared them around. I then performed my Dedicant Oath, as detailed elsewhere. After I was done Oathing, we adjourned to the dining room to eat our Dumb Supper. I decided to do this with the Gates still open, as part of the rite. I'm not sure if this worked particularly well or whether I'll do it that way again. While the Dumb Supper didn't go as smoothly as I'd have liked, we did give the Ancestors a portion of all the food and managed to eat silently ourselves, and after we finished we went back to the hearth to finish the rite. We thanked everyone in the reverse order we'd invited and offered to them in, and concluded the rite. The energy of the rite felt good, so I think it was a success. We talked and snacked for a long while after the rite, and I sent everyone home feeling like we'd accomplished something good. |
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Luis
Uir
Straif
Idad