A Pagan Ritual Prayer Book (32 page)

• We have been hosts today, and know you will be ours in the future.
  

  It's been this way at least as long as there have been people,
  

   
  

  and will continue to be,
  

   
  

  even those who have forgotten you treating each other in the sacred way you and we do.
  

   
  

• When I speak, may it be divine words.
  

  When I think, may it be divine thoughts.
  

   
  

  When I act, may it be divine deeds.
  

   
  

  May what I do be divine.
  

   
  

  May what I am be divine.
  

   
  

  May I be divine, be divine.
  

   
  

• My divine self asks my divine self to remember itself.
  

• The first offering I make is the life of this wood.
  

  I offer to that offering with this offering,
  

   
  

  [oil/butter] to feed you.
  

   
  

• Giver[s] of Gifts,
  

  I give in return,
  

   
  

  with reverent heart,
  

   
  

  this [offering].
  

   
  

• With this gift, I maintain my relationship with the Gods.
  

  With this gift, I maintain my relationship with the Ancestors.
  

   
  

  With this gift, I maintain my relationship with the Land Spirits.
  

   
  

  With gift and with gift, relationships are established and maintained.
  

   
  

• Each of you has your gift,
  

  and each your preferred offerings.
  

   
  

  Since I can't give everything,
  

   
  

  I give you this,
  

   
  

  asking for gifts from those who are pleased by it.
  

   
  

• Refreshed by this drink, find power and reason to help [me, us, etc.] to [petition].
  

• I'm not trying to buy your affection with this, but to show you mine.
  

• I pour out words of praise to you with this drink.
  

  I remember you;
  

   
  

  remember me when I need you.
  

   
  

• With [these words/this offering/etc.], I pray to you
  

  today, [god's name].
  

   
  

  I have prayed to you in the past, and will praise you in the future.
  

   
  

• All the Holy Ones, be honored in our midst.
  

  We pour out our offering to you,
  

   
  

  like living water,
  

   
  

  like grain from a bag.
  

   
  

  Drink deeply of the gifts we give.
  

   
  

Aengus óg, for love:

• Aengus óg, young lad, young son,
  

  Though I am no longer young,
  

   
  

  may love grow in my old heart.
  

   
  

Agni:

• May Agni, priest of the gods,
  

  carry this offering to them.
  

   
  

• Each of your tongues speaks a word;
  

  a thousand tongues, a thousand words;
  

   
  

  a thousand words, a single prayer;
  

   
  

  a single prayer, through our offering,
  

   
  

  convey to the gods as you rise,
  

   
  

  Agni who prays to us,
  

   
  

  god of prayer, priest to the gods.
  

   
  

Agni, with an offering of butter:

• May this be to you as food, Agni;
  

  Agni, may this be to you as drink.
  

   
  

  Priest of the gods, go,
  

   
  

  strengthened by my offering, to them,
  

   
  

  carrying my prayers in your hands,
  

   
  

  speaking them with your mouth.
  

   
  

The All-Gods:

• It's not really so hard to see the gods, is it?
  

  You open your eyes and there they are.
  

   
  

  But I'm fooling myself if I think that seeing you is enough.
  

   
  

  My deepest of gazes won't go deep enough to see all of you.
  

   
  

  You are truly amazing, all of you.
  

   
  

  The least among you is incomprehensible.
  

   
  

  You are a different kind from me.
  

   
  

  But are we so different?
  

   
  

  We can meet as friends over the offering.
  

   
  

  Perhaps you will be the greater,
  

   
  

  but we will be friends nonetheless.
  

   
  

  Look what I have brought for you:
  

   
  

  here is food.
  

   
  

  Let's sit down and eat together like friends do.
  

   
  

  Someday I will sit at
  your
  table.
  

   
  

  Today, sit at
  mine
  .
  

   
  

• You set before us a banquet, All-Gods,
  

  and we ask for table-scraps.
  

   
  

  Today my prayer is “Open my eyes.”
  

   
  

Ancestors:

• Ancestors, listen to me—
  

  Remember how you prayed to
  your
  ancestors?
  

   
  

  Well, now I'm praying to
  you
  .
  

   
  

  Your prayers were respectful and so are mine.
  

   
  

  Your prayers were for favors and so are mine.
  

   
  

  I only expect what you expected
  

   
  

  and what others will expect of me when I join you.
  

   
  

  Family help family.
  

   
  

• Ancestors, whose death has brought you close to the gods,
  

  bring these prayers of mine, these offerings of mine, to them, without losing any along the path there,
  

   
  

  and in the same way, bring their gifts to me.
  

   
  

  Take some part of these offerings in payment for your services, and some part of the divine gifts as well.
  

   
  

Aphrodite, for love:

• Born of foam, where water and air meet,
  

  you bring together woman and man in loving embrace.
  

   
  

  Lovely Aphrodite of golden sandals,
  

   
  

  bring someone to love to me.
  

   
  

  My happiness will be as great as that which is right to mortals
  

   
  

  if you answer my prayer,
  

   
  

  that of me, who burns this incense in your honor:
  

   
  

  sweet smell for the sweetest one.
  

   
  

Brighid:

• Brighid, Brighid, fire.
  

  Brighid, Brighid, poet.
  

   
  

  Brighid, Brighid, healer.
  

   
  

  Brighid, Brighid, smith.
  

   
  

  Inspiring one, Brighid, Brighid.
  

   
  

  Loving one, Brighid, Brighid.
  

   
  

  Welcoming one, Brighid, Brighid.
  

   
  

  Protecting one, Brighid, Brighid.
  

   
  

  Brighid, who guards children, Brighid.
  

   
  

  Brighid, who warms the homeless, Brighid.
  

   
  

  Brighid, who watches over the helpless, Brighid.
  

   
  

  Brighid, who enwraps the bereft, Brighid.
  

   
  

  Brighid, Brighid, hear our prayers;
  

   
  

  our prayers hear, Brighid, Brighid.
  

   
  

  Your children call upon their mother,
  

   
  

  upon their mother, Brighid,
  

   
  

  upon you, Brighid, Brighid,
  

   
  

  upon you,
  

   
  

  upon you, Brighid.
  

   
  

Fire:

• The grass grows from the rotted death in the earth.
  

  The cow eats the grass and makes milk for her calves.
  

   
  

  The milk contains the cream, and the cream the butter,
  

   
  

  and the butter contains this fuel that shines with the sun's gold
  

   
  

  and with which we feed you,
  

   
  

  fire of transformation.
  

   
  

The God:

• If I should hesitate to approach your altar,
  

  there in the hiding shadow of threatening pines,
  

   
  

  the pillars of your cathedral:
  

   
  

  Know that I am more afraid of what might be lost
  

   
  

  than desiring of what might be gained.
  

   
  

  Lord of Light, here Lord of Shadow,
  

   
  

  show me the light in the shadow,
  

   
  

  teasing me from my ignorance,
  

   
  

  and from my fear.
  

   
  

• We sing in praise of the God of Help;
  

  we sing with words finely wrought,
  

   
  

  we sing with thanks for all His blessings,
  

   
  

  we sing to Him just as we ought,
  

   
  

  we sing for all His gifts freely given,
  

   
  

  we sing for His lessons well-taught.
  

   
  

The God, for a building under construction:

• With this flag-decked tree, I top this structure,
  

  its skeleton done,
  

   
  

  its flesh yet to be completed.
  

   
  

  Lord of heights,
  

   
  

  Lord of trees,
  

   
  

  Lord of all that stands erect:
  

   
  

  we pray for safety in our construction.
  

   
  

The God, for strength: