A Pagan Ritual Prayer Book (40 page)

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Authors: Ceisiwr Serith

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Venus, for giving love:

 
  • Show me, Venus, the way to show my love to those whom I love that they may know.

Winds:

 
  • May words be blown my way, carried on the winds by the gods of the winds,

    to issue forth again, woven into beautiful patterns,

     

    as hymns, as prayers, carried on the breath.

     

Woden, for guidance:

 
  • All who wander without direction:

    to these, Woden, be a guide.

     

    All who puzzle without solution:

     

    to these, Woden, be a guide.

     

    All who search without finding:

     

    to these, Woden, be a guide.

     

    All who inquire without answer:

     

    to these, Woden, be a guide.

     

    All who seek without obtaining:

     

    to these, Woden, be a guide.

     

    God who understands:

     

    to those to whom the journey is worth the cost,

     

    even not arriving,

     

    to these, Woden, be a guide.

     

Writing God, for inspired writing:

 
  • You whose fingers hold the pen,

    or stroke the keys,

     

    whose output of words flows continuously,

     

    and never ceases,

     

    and never ceases to amaze:

     

    God of Writing, inspire me as I begin to write,

     

    be my model.

     

Xáryomen, for clear thought:

 
  • Knit together the fragments of my tattered mind,

    that spread, Xáryomen, through my life,

     

    into one complete cloth,

     

    beautiful, whole,

     

    and ready to be shaped.

     

Zeus, for clear thought:

 
  • As clear as your cloudless sky,

    my mind, Zeus, my mind.

     
Divination
 
  • I [choose these runes/place these cards/cast these coins, etc.] to know what is, and, from that, what will be.

    May this small thing be a true reflection of the great thing,

     

    so that, by understanding this, I might understand that.

     

    God(s)/Goddess(es) of prophecy [or their names],

     

    may I read correctly what I am shown.

     

    I ask your help in seeing only what is true,

     

    not just what I want to see.

     
  • Spirits of these tools of divination, my question is this:

    [Question]

     

    Answer, and I will listen.

     
  • May the deity of this moment guide my reaching fingers toward the true divination tokens.

  • In the next words I hear,

    speak wisdom, speak truth,

     

    make clear the path that lies before me,

     

    that in the days to come I must walk.

     

    May the words of strangers not be idle talk,

     

    but words from the source.

     

The Goddess:

 
  • The World, which speaks,

    the Goddess, whose words they are,

     

    whose body is the world,

     

    is the Earth who gives our own bodies their birth,

     

    is speaking to us in words that seem mad:

     

    mad words of a mad priestess,

     

    as the cryptic utterances of the Python of Delphi,

     

    sitting on the tripod over the cleft,

     

    breathing the fumes, tasting the laurel she chewed.

     

    Mad words of uncertain meaning,

     

    difficult to interpret,

     

    dangerous to follow,

     

    but even more to ignore,

     

    and always true.

     

    These are the words, the type of words, the World speaks,

     

    the utterances of the Goddess;

     

    these are the words we must listen for,

     

    and listen to,

     

    though they come to us half-heard,

     

    hints from the edge of sound and sanity,

     

    blown to our ears on the fluttering wind.

     

    Though obscure, though the seeming ravings of a disordered mind,

     

    they are still Her words.

     

    I doubt them:

     

    in my doubt, may I listen.

     

    I lack faith in them:

     

    may they speak to my soul.

     

    I do not trust them:

     

    may I know them to be true.

     

    May she speak with sure words

     

    and may I listen with sure understanding,

     

    or if I do not understand them,

     

    with wonder, with amazement, with awe, with love,

     

    may I still listen to the words she speaks.

     

Odin:

 
  • Speak to me, Odin, through the casting of the runes,

    and I will listen.

     
  • Odin, who speaks in riddles and hints,

    speak clearly through the runes I draw.

     
    CHAPTER 17
 
HEALING, COMFORT, SAFETY, TRAVEL
 

Healing, comfort, safety, and protection for travelers were very common goals of prayer in ancient times. We have many offerings made for healing (and in gratitude for it), as well as entire temples dedicated to healing deities. There are also deities of travel to ask for easy passage and safe return, and there are prayers preserved to local beings— river spirits, for instance, who are asked for a safe crossing.

 

Comfort is a major function of religion. The deities tell us that there is more beyond our everyday lives and, as our friends, they want us to feel better. Parental deities want to act as parents would, and many others want to stand with us in our needs. That's what friends do, and the goal of many of the other prayers in this book is to make friends with the gods.

 
  • For every person,

    for each one, single,

     

    of unfathomed worth,

     

    who cries at night from hunger,

     

    from fear,

     

    from soul-eating loneliness;

     

    for each and for all who suffer amidst rejoicing,

     

    or starve amongst plenty,

     

    or stand alone while others live with families and friends about them:

     

    Today, I am praying for them.

     

    You Gods, each and several of every power and disposition,

     

    I place these people into your care.

     
Healing
 
  • Just as this strengthens you,

    strengthen my immune system against this disease.

     
  • Healing gods, guide the hands and minds and caring hearts

    of nurses and doctors upon whose healing skills I depend.

     

The All-Gods:

 
  • The All-Gods expel this illness from you,

    disease, and pain, and tiredness, and suffering,

     

    ill-health, and depression, and body aches.

     

    These seek to destroy the order of life.

     

    The All-Gods despise disorder and will defeat them.

     

    You can be sure of this:

     

    it is their way.

     

Airmed:

 
  • From her grave grew herbs of great power,

    Airmed, daughter of Diancecht.

     

    This herb is of great power,

     

    Airmed, daughter of Diancecht.

     

    May it heal me with part of your great power,

     

    Airmed, daughter of Diancecht.

     
  • Airmed, from whose broken body healing herbs grew,

    may this medicine be like them.

     

    May your future praise come from a healthy worshipper.

     

Apollo:

 
  • Flights of arrows descend from your everturning bow,

    onto those who look toward you from below.

     

    Flights of arrows that bring disease or healing

     

    onto those who look toward you from below.

     

    We who look toward you ask that they be causes of healing,

     

    that their killing power be directed toward illness.

     

    Do this and we will always have good reasons to praise you.

     

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