Read A Pagan Ritual Prayer Book Online
Authors: Ceisiwr Serith
A Pagan Ritual Prayer Book (13 page)
Agni:
If your tongues will speak my words
I will feed you with butter;
you will grow strong and carry my prayers to the gods.
Do not hide from us, in water or reed,
fire of offering, High Priest Agni:
be strong on our altar raised to the gods,
you, first of them to receive offering.
Lap with your many tongues this butter poured into you,
this golden butter, clarified, pure,
into your flames, clear and pure.
Grow strong, grow high, fed by wood and butter,
increase in strength through our prayers today,
our words poured out like butter, like sweet butter,
in your praise.
The All-Gods:
Hear, All-Gods, these words of ours.
Come, all of you:
there is always room for you,
here and in our hearts.
My words drop into a bottomless well
and reach you,
All-Gods.
My words are nothing with so many given you in all time and space.
And so I say them,
speaking myself into that never-ending river:
All-Gods.
Amaterasu:
Come out of your cave, Amaterasu-kami,
and see the dance,
and dance yourself, before your mirror.
Ancestors:
From the first self-replicating molecule to we who stand here today
has been a long, precarious journey,
the bush of life branching and branching again,
with most twigs ending in brittle death, in brutal extinction.
Even with all its dead branches lying broken on the ground beneath it,
the bush still lives,
connecting our own small twig to all the rest.
We are related to all life, with many shared ancestors,
going back to that first self-replicating molecule,
each with their own wisdom to give us if we ask pleasantly.
That's why we are here on this occasion.
We have spoken sweet and kind respectful words to you,
the way you deserve.
Come together and join your family gathered here.
Ancient Ones, whose realm is the night:
We call to you, we call you here,
and when you come, may we face without fright,
the Dead, and death, from whose deep land,
we call to you, we call you here,
we call to you here, to come to us.
Cybele:
Come, Cybele, come.
Come, Cybele, come.
Come, Cybele; come Cybele,
Come, Cybele, Come.
Hear the tambourine.
Hear the sounding drum.
Hear us as we call you,
come, Cybele, come.
[repeat as desired]
Dawn:
Dawn in my heart,
Maiden who brings hope to those who despair;
light to those wrapped in darkness.
Dionysos:
Filled with ecstasy, with power, untamed, uncontrolled:
God of the Mad, entwined with ivy,
I open my mind to you.
Come roaring, with bellows of bulls,
come tearing apart, with blood-bearing hands,
Dionysos, come, with maenads in your train,
leopard-riding, come, with claws and teeth.
Earth Mother:
Broad pastured one,
who spreads beneath us,
on whom we walk,
in whom we plant,
from whom grows grass
that feeds our herds.
Mother Earth, to you we call,
to bless our rite with your holy presence.
You who give birth and receive the dead,
The beginning and the end of all.
The God:
We call upon the All-Father:
Come to us!
By the raging wind:
Come to us!
By the blaze of fire:
Come to us!
By the surging water:
Come to us!
By the cold, still earth:
Come to us!
By the Spirit of All:
Come to us!
Come to your people:
Come to us!
The God as Death:
Come, Stern Lord:
Come to us!
Out of the darkness:
Come to us!
By the tempest wind:
Come to us!
By the devouring fire:
Come to us!
By the overwhelming sea:
Come to us!
By the opening earth:
Come to us!
By the Spirit that waits:
Come to us!
Come to your people:
Come to us!
The Goddess:
We call on the Great Mother:
Come to us!
By the singing air:
Come to us!
By the dancing fire:
Come to us!
By the ocean water:
Come to us!
By the silent earth:
Come to us!
By the Spirit of All:
Come to us!
Come to your people:
Come to us!
When the Priestess stands in the circle,
filled with the divine Female Power,
she is not the symbol of the Goddess,
she is not wearing the Goddess:
she is the Goddess Herself,
here among us,
here, blessing us with what is only Hers to give.
That is why the Priestess is standing here in this circle.
It is why she stands in the center and waits for the Goddess to come.
Let us wait with her.
Let us sing for her.
Let us sing for the Goddess,
so that seeing us ready she might come.
[singing]
Come to us, Mother,
Oh come to us here;
Come to us, Goddess,
Oh come to us here.
[repeat as desired]
The Goddess as Death:
Come, Dark Mother,
Come to us!
Out of the night, on owl's wings:
Come to us!
By the screeching wind:
Come to us!
By the cleansing fire:
Come to us!
By the absorbing water:
Come to us!
By the resting earth:
Come to us!
By the Spirit that waits:
Come to us!
Come to your people:
Come to us!