A Pagan Ritual Prayer Book (18 page)

Sun:

• If I look too long with unshielded eyes,
  

  they, cut right through by your penetrating spears,
  

   
  

  will burn into blindness, will bring me to dark,
  

   
  

  a fate undesired by me, and by
  you
  .
  

   
  

  Your pride in your might deserves to be known,
  

   
  

  which never with unseeing eyes would it be.
  

   
  

  Even not looking, then, is worship of you.
  

   
  

  Know this, then: averting my eyes, I still praise;
  

   
  

  I honor with words, though perhaps not my gaze.
  

   
  

• Now in the sky is the highest flying of eagles
  

  He with the eye looks down on us.
  

   
  

  See, there he is,
  

   
  

  Giver of light.
  

   
  

  See, there he is,
  

   
  

  Giver of warmth.
  

   
  

  Who can hide from his bright spear?
  

   
  

  Who can hide from his sharp arrows?
  

   
  

  They find prey.
  

   
  

  They find predator.
  

   
  

  They find both eater and eaten.
  

   
  

  He sees the one who walks on the road;
  

   
  

  May it be his road we walk on.
  

   
  

• Bright One
  

  Blazing One
  

   
  

  Flaming One
  

   
  

  Shining One
  

   
  

  Burning One
  

   
  

  Hot One
  

   
  

  Revealer of Truth
  

   
  

  Shower of the Road
  

   
  

  Nothing is seen without your light
  

   
  

  but you cannot be seen.
  

   
  

  Truth burns our eyes.
  

   
  

  We are not strong enough to see it.
  

   
  

  We walk it instead.
  

   
  

  The straight road leads to you.
  

   
  

• The eagle of the Sun rises high
  

  with the burning ball in his claws.
  

   
  

  He can see us here.
  

   
  

  No one can hide.
  

   
  

  When the Sun is high
  

   
  

  dishonesty hides away.
  

   
  

  No evil can stand the great light.
  

   
  

  Secrets are done by the moon
  

   
  

  but the Sun makes everything clear.
  

   
  

• Shine your rays, your beams, your light,
  

  on all who need your light, your warmth, your presence.
  

   
  

  All that lives requires your brightness,
  

   
  

  and all that speaks owe you their praises:
  

   
  

  Sun, who looks on the world below, I honor you today.
  

   
  

• The earth turns its circles with you as its midpoint,
  

  you are at the center of our system of planets, moons, asteroids, comets;
  

   
  

  your well of gravity holds each in its moving place:
  

   
  

  you are the one who gives order to your dependents.
  

   
  

  You do all these things, for you are great, Earth's star.
  

   
  

  Whether god or nuclear furnace, you deserve these words of praise.
  

   
  

Thor:

• With ruddy beard and unwithstandable crashing hammer, you wage unceasing battle against giants and serpents,
  

  all of whom fall before you, Thor; even the greatest snake of all,
  

   
  

  the World-Encircling Serpent, your oldest enemy,
  

   
  

  will know your hammer bringing it to death in the end.
  

   
  

  Yet such immense and divine power,
  

   
  

  which someone like you could easily wield against anyone according to your whim,
  

   
  

  which streams in you as if it were blood, suffusing every cell of your divine body,
  

   
  

  urging you on to battle,
  

   
  

  that most, gods and men, giants and dwarves,
  

   
  

  would be unable to rein in;
  

   
  

  you can control it, Thunderer.
  

   
  

  You take the side of the common folk against everyone who tries to oppress them.
  

   
  

  How easy it would be for you to be an oppressor yourself, Thor!
  

   
  

  But your brusque facade hides a noble heart,
  

   
  

  and so you know
  true
  nobility when you see it,
  

   
  

  nobility, not of blood, but of deeds and honor.
  

   
  

  For fighting on the side of true order I praise Thor!
  

   
  

Vay
:

• The wind that blows whistles between branches,
  

  the wind that pours over plains,
  

   
  

  the wind that rips between city towers:
  

   
  

  this is Vay
  , who brings the words of the gods,
  

   
  

  bearing them on his back,
  

   
  

  truth's steed,
  ta's horse,
  

   
  

  who brings omens and knowledge,
  

   
  

  who brings sacred wisdom
  

   
  

  to those who stand in it and speak prayerful words
  

   
  

  for it to blow away.
  

   
  

Vi
u:

• With one step he measured out the earth:
  

  He is Vi
  u, great in creation.
  

   
  

  With one step he measured out the air:
  

   
  

  He is Vi
  u, great in creation.
  

   
  

  With one step he measured out the sky:
  

   
  

  He is Vi
  u, great in creation.
  

   
  

  With three steps he measured out the three worlds:
  

   
  

  He is Vi
  u, great in creation.