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This is the script and a commentary on for my solitary druidic ritual. There are videos of it in the playlist on Youtube at Solitary Druid Ritual. It will help if you watch them either before or after reading this.
This ritual was written to be one that roughly followed the Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF) Core Order of Ritual, was both simple and intricate, and was short enough to be performed regularly. Its primary functions are to put one in connection and accord with the Cosmos and the Kindreds (the deities, ancestors, and nature spirits), to empower one through the Waters of Life, and to receive advice from the Kindreds through an omen. It can be used to work on relationships with particular members or categories of the Kindreds, putting this after the invocations of the Kindreds, or for other workings (such as healings), putting them after the consumption of the Waters. Because it is stripped down to the basics, it is flexible enough to serve as the basis for just about any other ritual purpose.
To solve the paradox of a ritual that is both simple and intricate, I decided to have much of the meaning carried by the motions and positions of the tools. This would give me a simple ritual – after all, objects have to be somewhere and moved somehow – but those somewhere and somehow would have meanings, and the interweaving of those meanings with each other and with the prayers that accompanied them would give me something intricate.
I started by establishing a short list of rules that could be learned easily and then combined into a complex structure. These rules are: 1. up is more sacred than down, 2. right is more sacred than left, 3. inside is more sacred than outside, 4. east is more sacred than west, 5. vertical is more sacred than horizontal. These principles of space are ones that will probably be already familiar to anyone from an Indo-European culture. As you practice the ritual regularly the rules will come to seem natural to you, and to require as little translation as words in your native tongue.
There are further, non-spatial, principles: 6. contact creates connections, 7. fire is the means by which the sacred and the mundane cross over into each other. I further stipulated that the ritual would be seen as a sacrifice, with libations taking the place of a sacrificial victim. Reciprocity, the concept central to Indo-European ideology, would play a major part; the most important parts of the ritual is when gifts are exchanged, whether overtly, such as the libations and Waters to/from the Kindreds, or implicitly, in the offerings to Cernunnos and Manannán, which are then repaid by their opening and closing of the gates to the Otherworld. I intended for speech not to be seen as privileged, but that space, movement, and the physical would be seen as equally sacred. Further, by uniting these things in the ritual, I hope they would be more closely united in the ritualist, making the ritualist more whole in their everyday life.
Using the spatial principles I ended up with the following layout:
Altar:
(East)
I
A J
K
B C D
E F
G H
L
On the floor:
(to left of altar) (at center of altar) (on right of altar)
M
N O P (under overhang) Q
A: Libation bowl
B: Waters bowl
C: Oil lamp
D: Bowl of water (touching lamp stand)
E: Manannán bowl
F: Cernunnos bowl
G: House spirits bowl
H: Bell
I: Deities stone
J: Ancestors stone
K: Nature Spirits stone
L: Bowl or dish for ladle and match
M: Ladle
N: Pitcher of Waters
O: Pitcher of milk
P: Matches
Q: Runes
You can watch a video describing the layout in more detail at Solitary Druid Ritual, Space
The altar is arranged so that when you are sitting at it you are facing east. The ritualist sits outside the main sacred space (the table), but enters into it partially to perform the ritual acts. This creates a connection between the mundane and the sacred, and emphasizes that the ritualist, and, indeed, all humans, can never dwell completely within the sacred..
It was important to me that the ritual be aesthetically pleasing. In Indo-European thought, aesthetics and the sacred are not far apart. In fact, the Xártus, the principle which organizes the cosmos and which is continually being formed from the actions within it, is governed largely by aesthetics. I therefore wanted every part of the ritual to be beautiful. This affected the location of the objects, the way in which the objects were arranged, and the nature of the objects themselves. For aesthetic reasons, the objects had to be harmonious. I like the look of glass and silver together (and I already had a lot of it), so I decided to go with that. If you want to do the ritual, you can use whatever objects you find attractive and that fit with each other.
Aesthetics also affected the performance of the ritual. The intent was to do everything as gracefully as possible. Again I was trying to reflect and influence the cosmos, so I wanted to perform my acts as elegantly as the cosmos performs its. I was influenced in this by the Japanese Tea Ceremony. Although not Indo-European, the aesthetics of its movements are impeccable, as may be seen here
. My concern for aesthetic movement meant putting the objects in places that would create the minimal amount of interference, and organizing the transitions between actions to limit the number of necessary motions. It also meant rehearsing and performing the ritual many times, so that the actions became natural and so that one would follow the other without hesitation.
On the subject of rehearsing, I would like to emphasize the importance of memorization. This is necessary if you are to internalize the ritual and fully experience its effects. A ritual that is read is always outside.
The most basic division of space in the ritual is between the ground and the low table which serves as an altar. This needs to be a comfortable height for sitting or kneeling at. I use a cutting board which has been put on top of two stools. At its center is a stand for an oil lamp, forming the next division, which is both a vertical and a concentric one; i.e., it is more sacred than the rest of the altar, which is in turn more sacred than the floor. The oil lamp is therefore at the most sacred location, which is where the most intimate connection between the sacred and the mundane would be occur. It serves as the gate through which my offerings go to the sacred, and the sacred comes to me. To raise the lamp up, I use a clear plastic stand, the type stores use to display merchandise (I bought it at an antique store which sold supplies for dealers). It is important that the proportions between the heights of the altar and the stand be harmonious, with the stand shorter than the altar (just as it is smaller in area), but not significantly so.
The width of the stand creates a liminal strip between the relatively sacred right and the mundane left sides of the altar. The part of this strip right in front of the worshiper is the ritual zone, so called because most of the acts of the ritual take place in it, or in relation to it. It is liminal and therefore where contact between the ritualist and the divine takes place, but it is in the less sacred (western and closer) portion of the liminal zone, making it the best place to work in (just as the eastern and far zone would be appropriate for the Kindreds, and therefore where the offering to the house spirits is put). Throughout the ritual items will be moved into and out of it. The change in position is as important as the actions in the ritual zone.
The items in the mundane part of the altar are in a purely practical arrangement, in order of use, from those closest to the ritualist to those farthest away. Each will have been moved away before the next one is used, so that the ritualist doesn’t have to reach over any of them. This increases the grace of the ritual. Also, having them in a well-ordered arrangement increases the ordering effect of the ritual.
These items are mostly bowls, which will hold offerings. As recipients of them, the bowls are partly sacred, so they belong on the table, but they will acquire their full sacrality only by transferring the offerings to the Kindreds, so they start off on the less sacred left side of the table. The right side is mostly empty at the beginning of the ritual, but will hold various items at times during it, and many of the left hand items will be in it by the end of the ritual. At the start there are three tokens, one for each of the Kindreds. These can be anything you associate with the Kindreds. For instance, you could use a crystal for the deities, a stone from a cemetery for the ancestors, and a moss agate or fossil for the nature spirits. In keeping with the rest of my equipment, I use glass drops. These started off with symbols of each of the Kindreds painted on them in silver, but with use the paint wore off, and I’ve left them that way for simplicity. The Kindreds stones are in the eastern (upper)/central section (the most sacred portion). The bowl where the burnt match and the ladle will go is close to the edge at the lower section; it will contain things which are sacred but only by having been in contact with the sacred. The bowl of water, used to purify, is placed against the stand which holds the other pure thing in the ritual, the fire.
The two pitchers of offerings, the milk and what will become the Waters of Life, go on the floor to the left, the milk closest to the ritualist because it will be used first. They start out mundane; it is by being offered that they will become sacred. They are arranged horizontally, the mundane orientation. Above them is a ladle, which will be used to measure out the Kindreds’ share of the Waters. Because it is used in a mundane way, it goes on this side of the floor; it is placed above the pitchers because it won’t be used until after the pitchers have been moved out of the way. It is placed so it extends horizontally (theological reason) with its handle towards the ritualist for practical and therefore aesthetic reasons.
I place my bag of runes on the floor to the right of the board, under its edge so they can’t be seen at first. Since they will bring the message of the Kindreds, they are on the sacred side. They are on the floor for a practical reason – they won’t fit on the board – and under the edge for an aesthetic one – it allows for only the silver and glass items to be seen. You can use any form of divination you wish, provided whatever is involved will fit into the ritual zone. If, for instance, you want to use tarot cards, you will only be able to draw one, and it can’t be too big.
Because water is considered inherently pure, it is also in the sacred side. Because fire is pure, the water bowl touches the lamp stand. By touching, they are identified.
The matches are the only things, other than the oil lamp, not on one side or the other. They go in front of you, under the altar’s overhang. Here they line up with the oil lamp, and are ready for use, and their appearance doesn’t interfere with the aesthetics of the altar. You will want to have one already out of the box so you don’t have to fumble around.
As you have seen, the location of each object can have both practical, aesthetic, and theological reasons. You will see in the ritual that this is also true of their movements. For instance, the bowl containing the offering to the spirits of the home is moved to the east of the lamp. This 1. gets it out of the way (practical), 2. provides a strong central axis of body, ritual zone, fire, home spirits (aesthetic), and 3. places it directly between you and the sacred east but within the liminal space, which is what a house is (theological). As you read through the ritual you might want to keep this principle in mind, asking yourself what the reason for each action might be.
As a result of the interplay of the rule of space and motion, the words, and the aesthetics, the ritual is densely packed, with the minimum number of elements having the maximum number of meanings. So you could say that it’s both very simple and very complex.
The center point of the ritual is the consumption of the Waters of Life. They take the role of all the Indo-European sacred drinks – the ale of sovereignty, the mead of inspiration, the nektar that enlivens the Olympians, the hom that refreshes the Earth’s waters, the soma that increases the power of the gods and mankind. They are declared here to grant us inspiration, power, and life, and they are also a conduit for all the other gifts the Kindreds bestow.
Materially-speaking, the drink used for the Waters should have consciousness-changing qualities, and/or qualities associating them with a combination of fire and water. Alcohol, particularly mead, is most traditionally Indo-European, but distilled liquor, unless diluted, shouldn’t be used, as too much is drink during the ritual. If you want to use something alcoholic, I instead recommend beer, wine, or mead. If you want something non-alcoholic, cool tea works well. I suppose even an energy drink could be used.
Alternatively, a honey-water mix (about a tablespoon per cup) is nice. There is nothing specifically psychoactive about it (although there can be a bit of a sugar rush), but it can be seen as a pre-fermented mead. I myself don’t like consuming large amounts of sugar, so I use diet ginger beer; the burn of the ginger and the carbonation combine to create a flaming water effect.
At the risk of overkill, I’ll give an outline, the ritual script, and the ritual with a commentary.
Outline:
I. Establishing time and space
Ring the bell
Purify self
Offer to the house spirits
Light the fire
Sing the Cosmology song
II. Inviting the Kindreds
Invite Cernunnos
Invite Manannán
Open the gate
Invite the Kindreds in this order:
Nature Spirits
Ancestors
Deities
All the Kindreds
Welcome to all the Kindreds
III. Receiving the Gifts
Divination
Return some of the Waters to the Kindreds
Drink a share of the Waters
Meditation
Extend the blessing to the whole world
IV. Saying goodbye to the Kindreds
General thanks
Goodbyes in reverse order, i.e.:
Gods and Goddesses
Ancestors
Nature Spirits
Nature Spirits
All the Kindreds
Close the Gate
Thanks to Manannán
Thanks to Cernunnos
V. Ending the Ritual
Extinguish the flame
Declare the end
Drink the remainder of the Waters
Ring the bell
The space at the end:
The ritual with commentary:
I. Establishing Sacred Time and Space
Begin by kneeling at the table and taking three slow breaths. If there is another position you can sit in without slumping, and which you can maintain for the length of the ritual, it’s OK to use that instead.
Pick up the bell with your right hand and ring it three times, transfer it to your left hand and put it on the floor to the left of the altar, in front of the Waters pitcher.
Purify yourself by picking up the bowl of water in your left hand so you can use your right to anoint yourself with. Touch your forehead and say:
May I be pure that I might cross through the sacred.
I touch my lips and say:
May I cross through the sacred that I might attain the holy.
I touch my left hand and say:
May I attain the holy that I might be blessed in all ways.
After purifying yourself, put the bowl down on your right.
Move the house spirits bowl into the ritual zone, pick up the milk pitcher and pour the milk into the bowl, saying:
I offer milk to the spirits of my home
in return for their protection and blessings.
Put the empty pitcher down on the floor to your right, with its handle towards you.
Touch the bowl of milk to the lamp so that it makes an audible click. Then move it over the lamp and place it on the eastern side. This is still in the liminal zone, because the Spirits of the Home are closely related to our everyday life, but since they’re still divine, the offering goes in the east.
Light the oil lamp, putting the extinguished match in the ladle dish, and saying:
In the world's very center I light my fire, [light it]
here where the sacred and the mundane meet [shake the match to extinguish it and put it in its dish.]
Here I light a living flame, [cup your hands so the flame seems to be held in them.]
though which my offerings will be transformed
that they might be received by the Kindreds
and secure for me their blessings.
Sing:
The waters support and surround me
Make a semi-circle with both your hands, extending upwards from a point. Sing:
The land extends about me
Put your hands in the middle of the top of the semi-circle, palms downward, and bring them out to the ends of the semi-circle. Sing:
The sky stretches out above me
Make another semi-circle upwards from the edge of the other one, with your hands meeting at its top. Sing:
At the center burns a living flame.
Hold both your hands, joined together, out towards the fire, and then bring them in to touch your heart. Sing:
May all the Kindreds bless me.
Spread your arms, with the elbows at a 90 or 45 degree angle, with the hands open and either palm up or palm forward.
May my worship be true.
May my actions be just.
May my love be pure.
Blessings, and honor, and worship to the Holy Ones.
Try to do this so that you sing the three lines beginning with “May my” in one breath.
[A recording of this song is on Youtube
Sit as vertically as you can, extend your arms as horizontally as possible, and say:
I sit in the center of the Cosmos.
II. Invoking the Kindreds
Pick up the pitcher of the Waters and pour three times into the Cernunnos bowl, saying:
Come to me, Cernunnos,
Inspirer of speech,
Come to me, Cernunnos,
Inspirer of prayer,
Come to me, come to me, Lord Cernunnos.
Put the pitcher down on the floor in front of you, pick up the bowl, hold it over the flame, and say:
Come to me, Cernunnos,
God of the in-between,
Come to me, Cernunnos,
God of this and that,
Come to me, come to me, Lord Cernunnos.
Put the bowl in the ritual zone, touching the lamp stand, hold your right hand over it, and say:
Come to me, Cernunnos,
Who sits in the door,
Come to me, Cernunnos,
Who opens the gate,
Come to me, come to me, Lord Cernunnos,
Come to the one who worships you here.
With the last line, bring my hand up to touch your forehead.
Now invoke Manannán, performing the same actions, only this time putting his libation bowl on the right.
From tearing ocean into welcoming bay,
Come homeward, Sailor, on silver keel.
Cross beacon-guided the shattering shoal,
and gently come, and joyful stay.
From tearing ocean into welcoming bay,
past guardian jetty guide your boat,
and tie its rope to pillared pier,
and gently come, and joyful stay.
From tearing into welcoming bay,
set foot on land with blessing touch,
and enter home, and sit at hearth.
Come homeward, Sailor; come Son of Sea:
O gently come, O joyful stay.
Hold your hands over the bowls, crossed, with the right over the left and say:
Cernunnos, Manannán, open the way;
Manannán, Cernunnos, open the way:
Disperse the mists
Conjoin the disparate.
Through an open gate
may my words flow;
Through an open gate
may my blessings flow;
Through an open gate,
may the words,
may the blessings,
of the Kindreds freely flow.
Open the way, Manannán and Cernunnos.
Open the way, Cernunnos and Manannán,
Open the way, open the way, open the way.
The gate is open!
With the lines beginning “Open the way!”, spread your hands apart, ending with them in the orans position.
Bring your hands inwards to touch your chest, as if physically bringing the Kindreds to you while saying:
I invite the Kindreds to join me here today.
Now move what will be the Waters bowl into the ritual zone. Put it so that it touches the Cernunnos and Manannán bowls.
Move the Waters bowl into the ritual zone.
Pick up the pitcher of the Waters and pour some into the Waters bowl, saying:
Nature Spirits, with the pouring of this libation I invite you to join me here.
Put the pitcher down, pick up the Nature Spirits token, touch it to the lamp (as if they are coming to you through the fire), making an audible click, and then put it down at the front of the ritual zone, on the left, saying:
Watching Ones, may your blessings be with me today.
Pick up the pitcher of the Waters and pour some into the Waters bowl, saying:
Ancestors, with the pouring of this libation I invite you to join me here.
Put the pitcher down, pick up the Ancestors token, touch it to the lamp (as if they are coming to you through the fire), making an audible click, and then put it down at the front of the ritual zone, to the right of the Nature Spirits token, saying:
Mighty Ones, may your power be with me today.
Put the pitcher down, pick up the Deities token, touch it to the lamp, making an audible click, and then put it down at the front of the ritual zone, to the right of the Ancestors token, saying:
Gods and Goddesses, with the pouring of this libation I invite you to join me here.
Shining Ones, may your wisdom be with me today.
Pour the rest of the Waters in the pitcher into the bowl when you call the Deities. Put the pitcher back down.
Hold the Waters bowl over the flame, swirling it to mix the libations, and say:
Lovely Ones, with these libations, I invite you all to join me here today.
Move the bowl onto the sacred side of the altar; just like the other offerings, you put it down so it touches the lamp stand, so that the libations can be seen as being in the fire.
Now you put your arms in the orans position and sum things up:
Called to my presence with prayers and libations,
the Kindreds are here, with favors and friendship.
Welcome to the Kindreds, to the Kindreds all,
with blessings, with honor, with worship.
With the last two lines, spread your arms wider in welcome.
Move the Waters pitcher to your right side, on the floor, in line with the water bowl and milk pitcher. Put it down with the handle facing you.
III. Receiving the Gifts of the Kindreds
Touch your divination tools to the lamp and say:
Wisest Ones,
whose knowledge of the Xártus is true,
send me your teaching.
Divine by pulling a token and placing it in the center of the ritual zone, returning the rest of them to their place. After interpreting the token, move it to the left side of the table, where the house spirits bowl had been, saying:
I hear what the Kindreds have said
and am made wise by it.
Hold the Waters bowl about three inches over the flame a moment, saying:
Through the offerings I have made
I have established the bonds of hospitality with the Kindreds,
and in return they have given me this blazing water to drink,
this holy water,
this sacred water
Lift the bowl to eye level:
these Waters of Life.
Put the Waters bowl down between the Kindreds stones and the Gatekeepers bowls, not touching any of them or the fire.
Bring the libation bowl into the ritual zone, to the right of the Waters bowl, touching it so the two are identified. Now pick up the ladle in your right hand and dip it three times in the water in the purification bowl.
Then ladle some of the Waters into the libation bowl in three parts, one for each of the Kindreds, saying:
May the Kindreds always receive their due.
Hold the libation bowl over the flame a moment, and then move it to the right of the lamp, touching the lamp stand.
Lift the Waters bowl and say:
and may I receive inspiration.
May I receive power.
May I receive unending life.
Drink the Waters, once with each line, leaving about a third behind. Put the Waters bowl down in the same position it was in.
Now sit back and say:
Filled with the mystery of fire in water,
I rest in the presence of the Kindreds.
Meditate a while. When you are done, open your arms into a giving position and say:
With the Kindreds about me
and the power of their mystery within
I pray for the world and all in it.
May the blessings granted to me extend to them as well.
May they be happy and whole.
May they be loved and lively.
And may they dwell in peace,
wrapped in the arms of the Kindreds.
Gods and Goddesses,
Ancestors,
Nature Spirits,
I pray to you on their behalf.
When you say “May the blessings granted to me extend to them as well,” move the Waters bowl to the spot on the floor where the Waters pitcher originally was. Touch the appropriate stone when each Kindred is named.
IV. Saying Farewell to the Kindreds
Raise your hands into the orans position and say:
Blessed ones, may you always be with me.
I thank all the Kindreds for your many gifts.
Pick up the deity stone and touch it to the lamp, saying:
Thank you, gods and goddesses,
for joining me here today.
May there ever be peace between us in this world we share.
Put the deities stone down in its original place.
Pick up the Ancestor stone and touch it to the lamp:
Thank you, Ancestors,
for joining me here today.
May there ever be peace between us in this world we share.
Put the Ancestors stone down in its original place.
Pick up the Nature Spirit stone and touch it to lamp:
Thank you, Nature Spirits,
for joining me here today.
May there ever be peace between us in this world we share.
Put the Nature Spirit stone down in its original place.
Spread your hands into the orans position:
Thanks to the Kindreds, to the Kindreds all,
with blessings, with honor, with worship.
Hold out my hands, one over the Cernunnos bowl and one over the Manannán bowl, crossed as before:
Manannán, Cernunnos, you cleared the way
Cernunnos, Manannán, you opened the gate.
Close now the gate that I might end my rite.
May the Holy Ones be yet never far away
that they might come to me in my time of need.
With the line “May the Holy Ones …” spread your hands apart.
Close your hands together with a clap and say:
Let the gate be closed.
Open your hands again. Hold the right one over the Gate Keeper bowl, and say:
Manannán, I thank you for helping me today,
and ask that you continue to help me
by clearing the mists that divide me from the truth.
Hold the bowl over the flame a moment and then pour its contents into the libation bowl. The empty bowl goes to the right of and touching the libation bowl.
Hold your right hand over the Cernunnos bowl and say:
Cernunnos, I thank you for helping me today,
and ask that you continue to help me
by aiding me in seeing the patterns
and in communicating them to others.
Hold the bowl over the flame a moment and then pour its contents into the libation bowl. Put the bowl to the front of and touching the libation bowl.
V. Ending the Ritual
Put your right hand behind the flame and say:
Extinguished without,
Blow the flame out and bring your right hand to your chest, saying:
but burning within,
the living fire flames within me.
Then put your hands flat on your knees and say:
The rite is ended.
Ring the bell four times with your left hand, transfer it to your right hand, and put it in its original place on the table.
Now drink the remainder of the Waters.
After the ritual, put the two libation bowls in your home shrine for at least a day and then dispose of the offerings outside, saying, “To the spirits, the leavings.” (If the weather prevents this, I pour the libations down my drain as an offering to Cloacina, the Roman goddess of plumbing.)
Ritual with Commentary
I. Establishing Sacred Time and Space
Begin by kneeling at the table and taking three slow breaths. If there is another position you can sit in without slumping, and which you can maintain for the length of the ritual, it’s OK to use that instead.
[The three breaths are to calm yourself so you can concentrate more fully on the ritual. As you practice this ritual more and more, you will find yourself slipping into a sacred state simply through the breathing. There are three of them because to the Indo-Europeans three is seen as a number of completeness, so by breathing three times you haven’t left anything undone. Three is also the most sacred number for the Indo-Europeans, so this is putting your body into sacred time.]
Pick up the bell with your right hand and ring it three times, transfer it to your left hand and then put it on the floor to the left of the altar, in front of the Waters pitcher.
[The sound of the bell tells you that the ritual is beginning. It signals both to you and to the divine world that you are about to approach the sacred. It also establishes sacred time; there is the time before the bell, and the time after it. As you work with the ritual more and more, the sound of the bell will also become a signal that you will react to instantly.
[You ring the bell with the right, or sacred hand, as if the call to the ritual is coming from out of the sacred. You transfer it to your left hand and put it down in the mundane part of the floor because it has served as a way to connect the sacred and the mundane. At the end of the ritual it will be used to call you back to the mundane world. There is also a sense in which there has been an exchange, with the bell taking your place in the mundane realm while you go to the sacred. This also gets the bell out of the way, clearing part of the space for later use.
[Now you need to purify yourself. This is to remove anything not relevant to the ritual, anything which would interfere with its smooth functioning. Most important, the divine is pure, so in order to come fully into its presence you have to be pure yourself.
[You use water for this because in Indo-European thought, there are two pure things: fire and water. Notice how at the beginning of the ritual the bowl of water is touching the fire stand, linking them together.
[You can use any purification ritual you are comfortable with, provided it uses water. You can’t use one with incense because that involves fire and fire has a different function here. You also shouldn’t have any incense burning during the ritual because that would give you two fires, and you want only one, to serve as the center.]
For my purification rite, I pick up the bowl of water in my left hand so I can use my right to anoint myself with. Then I touch my forehead and say:
May I be pure that I might cross through the sacred.
I touch my lips and say:
May I cross through the sacred that I might attain the holy.
I touch my left hand and say:
May I attain the holy that I might be blessed in all things.
[There are two things going on here, one in the words and one in the actions. In the words there’s a distinction being made between the sacred and the holy, which are seen as different in Indo-European thought. The sacred is powerful but dangerous, and the holy is unreservedly beneficent. The sacred can be seen as the border, which protects the holy in the center and guards it from pollution Only the pure can cross it, then.
[The actions are to purify my thoughts, my words, and my deeds. These three things are found as a summary of actions in a number of traditions, most noticeably in Zoroastrianism, where a common prayer praises “Good Thoughts, Good Words, and “Good Deeds.”
[The right, sacred, hand is purifying the left, mundane, hand, which stands in for the entire body.]
After purifying yourself, put the bowl down on your right.
[By removing impurities, it has picked up some, so it can’t go back to its very pure location. Since it’s still water, though, so it can’t be made completely impure, so it is put in the sacred part of the mundane floor. This also clears its original position for other uses.
[Now that you are ritually pure, you can approach the divine beings. The first to deal with are those of your home. The most common are the hearth deity, who is usually a goddess, guardian and source of the holy, and the door guardian, the sacred power protecting the border. They may also include deities of possessions and places, such as the Roman lares and penates. Of these the hearth goddess is the most important; she is the power that gives birth to the home. A home is a hearth, and, if you own property, the guardian of the border. There may be other sacred beings who hang around your house. By offering to the House Spirits you will be taking the first step towards creating sacred space.
[This is the usual place in the ADF Core Order of Ritual for the Earth Mother. Because the ritual is meant to be performed indoors, however, an offering to the House Spirits makes more sense; this is the environment here. If you want to add an Earth Mother offering – and you certainly should not remove the House Spirits offering if you do – it would be placed after the House Spirits are honored, because it would be impolite to invite someone into their home before you did that.
Move the house spirits bowl into the ritual zone, pick up the milk pitcher and pour the milk into the bowl, saying:
I offer milk to the spirits of my home
in return for their protection and blessings.
[I offer milk to the Spirits of the Home because the cow is the most domestic of animals, and milk the most basic of foods. Milk is the first food of mammal children. It is strongly connected with the home, via the connection between women and the home. For me there’s added value because my hearth goddess is the Irish Brigid, or Bridget, who is closely connected with milk.]
Put the empty pitcher down on the floor to your right, with its handle towards you.
[Because the milk pitcher has been in contact with the divine, it now goes on the floor on the right side of the altar, below the bowl of water. Its handle is again facing towards you. You won’t be using it again, but 1. in this way it reflects the position it was in on the other side, and 2. it is easier and therefore more aesthetically pleasing to put it down that way.]
Touch the bowl of milk to the lamp and put it in the far (eastern) side of the central axis.
[It may seem odd that the offering to the hearth goddess is made before the lamp is lit. However, by touching the offering to the lamp at this point the lamp is identified as the hearth (before this point it’s just been an oil lamp), which can now be lit as sacred. The audible click is important as a non-verbal sign that this has been done.
[Note that a bowl has been moved into the ritual zone, something has been done with it, and then it’s been moved to a significant location. This will happen a lot during the ritual; in fact, moving bowls around is a major part of the ritual’s language. Every time a bowl is moved out of the ritual zone the moving also has the practical advantage of clearing it so something else can be done there.
[Next comes the fire. To Indo-Europeans, fire has many interrelated meanings. The ones most relevant here are that it is a token of the presence of the divine, that it is the means of offering, and that it is though fire that things move between our world and the sacred.]
Light the oil lamp, putting the extinguished match in the ladle dish, and saying:
In the world's very center I light my fire, [light it]
here where the sacred and the mundane meet [shake the match to extinguish it and put it in its dish.]
Here I light a living flame, [cup your hands so the flame seems to be held in them.]
though which my offerings will be transformed
that they might be received by the Kindreds
and secure for me their blessings.
[The first line is the introduction, describing what is being done in the most literal way – “I light my fire” – and in the religious sense – this fire is identified with the one in the center of the Indo-European cosmos. Everything which will be done here will be done at that sacred center, which is where the cosmos comes into being, so that it will be made real; it will be established just as the cosmos is established.
[“Here where the sacred and the mundane meet.” At the center of the cosmos is where the empowering sacred flows into the previously existing, mundane reality.
[It is a happy accident that the match is extinguished when it is. There isn’t any other point, practically speaking, when this could be done. It is extinguished by shaking because blowing on it would be to give it spirit, akin to prayer. That would be a problem because it would establish the fire in the match as a sacred flame, but it would be a sacred flame that immediately goes out, as if the ritual is being ended. It also can’t be so because the oil lamp is the real ritual fire; there would be a contradiction between the one, central, burning fire, and the other, peripheral, extinguished fire. The match must therefore be extinguished without making its fire sacred.
[The difference between the fire in the lamp and the fire in the match is established in two other ways. The lamp is specifically designated as being in the center, and the match is extinguished without acknowledging the act. The words of this line also define the difference. At this point the sacred – the central fire – and the mundane – the match – are both being acted upon; they meet at the center.
[When I hold my hands out to the fire I center the flame and cup my hands slightly. This serves to frame the flame, so that it is as if the flame is its own thing, not even attached to the lamp. It is pure fire.
[The next line establishes the fire as the sacrifice by assigning its function. The table is now truly an altar.
[This line and the two final ones describe the ritual as a whole: I will be making offerings through the fire and they will be received by the Kindreds, who will then, by the law of reciprocity, central to Indo-European thought, send me blessings in return.
[The extinguished match goes in the dish which is on the western, and thus less sacred, part of the sacred zone. By being used to create fire, it has acquired sacredness, but most of that is transferred to the lamp. It therefore goes in a place which recognizes both its sacredness and the loss of it.
[Having created the sacred center of the fire, you perform the final stage of establishing sacred space by identifying where you are with the Cosmos. This is done with the “Cosmology Song.”]
Sing:
The waters support and surround me
Make a semi-circle with both your hands, extending upwards from a point. Sing:
The land extends about me
Put your hands in the middle of the top of the semi-circle, palms downward, and bring them out to the ends of the semi-circle. Sing:
The sky stretches out above me
Make another semi-circle upwards from the edge of the other one, with your hands meeting at its top. Sing:
At the center burns a living flame.
Hold both your hands, joined together, out towards the fire, and then bring them in to touch your heart. Sing:
May all the Kindreds bless me.
Spread your arms, with the elbows at a 90 or 45 degree angle, with the hands open and either palm up or palm forward.
[This is called the orans position because “orans” means “praying,” and this is a very common position to pray in.]
May my worship be true.
May my actions be just.
May my love be pure.
Blessings, and honor, and worship to the Holy Ones.
Try to do this so that you sing the three lines beginning with “May my” in one breath.
[A recording of this song is here.
[There are three parts to the this rite – the words, the hand motions, and the tune – each of which conveys the same message. For instance, “the land extends about me” is paralleled by my hands going straight to the sides and the music having minimal ups and downs. This repetition of meaning with more than one symbol makes the rite more effective.
[The cosmos described is the Indo-European three-layered one: sea, earth, and sky, mediated in ritual by the flame.
[The ending of the song reflects a union between society and the singer. The French scholar Georges Dumézil proposed that Indo-European society and thought was divided into three categories, which he called “functions”: priestly, warrior, and producing. His theory’s been criticized by many, but as long as it’s not considered the end-all of Indo-European thought, it’s a useful tool. The prayer asks for true worship, which is a priestly thing; just action, which is a warrior’s concern; and pure love, which is connected with production. These lines therefore express the ideal of embodying all of society and all of the cosmos in oneself. This is then followed by the reciprocal giving of the same benefits to the Holy Ones, this time in reverse order; blessings being the producers, honor being the warriors, and worship being the priests. The prayer puts you in the center of the Cosmos, of society, and of the relationships with the Holy Ones, and identifies this combined center with the fire which will be used to link your actions throughout the rest of the ritual.]
Just to cap things off, you declare what you have done by saying:
I sit in the center of the Cosmos.
When you do this, you sit as vertically as you can, and extend your arms as horizontally as possible.
[This expresses the conjunction between the sacred vertical and the mundane horizontal, and identifies yourself as being in that spot.
[The space and you are now ready to call upon the Holy Ones.]
II. Invoking the Kindreds
[The first ones called upon are a gate keeper and a patron deity.
[In ADF rituals, we open a gate between our world and the divine one to make it easier for the sacred and the mundane to exchange blessings. To do this, we call upon a deity or other being to help us. One is chosen which is liminal in some way, or whose myth or ritual identify him as a go-between. Exactly what deity is asked to do this will vary with the ethnic tradition you generally work in. For instance, if you work with the Vedic tradition, Agni is the obvious choice, while Hellenic ADFers often use Hermes.
[It is also very common for Pagans to have one or two deities they are especially connected with, called Patron Deities. It makes sense that you would approach your Patron, or that your Patron would approach you, as the first of the Holy Ones after the gate is opened. So this part of the ritual goes calling the Gate Keeper, opening the gate, and calling your Patron Deity.
[At this point I found myself with a problem. I have two patrons, the Irish Manannán mac Lir and the Gaulish Cernunnos. They’re both Gate Keepers, so it would also make sense to call on them to perform that role. I could have chosen a different deity as a Gate Keeper, but that seemed to me to be insulting to them. It also seemed insulting and confusing to call on one of them as Gate Keeper, and then the other as a patron. I decided I wanted to call on both of them to open the gate, and then not call to a patron afterwards because that would be unnecessary, both of them already being here.
[This raised the problem of which of them to call first, the most honorable position. I solved this in two ways. First, I alternated the order throughout the ritual. That didn’t solve the problem of which one to call first the first time I called both of them though. What I did was play around with the primacy rules of time and place. First is the most honored time, and the right is the most honored place. So I put the offering to the one I call first on the left, and the offering to the one I call second on the right, making one the more honored in time, and the other more honored in space. Cernunnos was a patron of mine before Manannán, so he got the primacy of time.
[Remember, though, that if you don’t have this problem, you’ll be calling a Gate Keeper, then opening the gate, and then calling your Patron. If you don’t call a Patron (and there’s no rule that says a Pagan has to have one), then you can either leave the Patron part out or honor a deity that’s especially appropriate to the occasion. You’ll need to write or find a prayer inviting each of the deities, of course.]
I begin with a prayer to Cernunnos. I pick up the pitcher of the Waters and pour three times into the Cernunnos bowl, saying:
Come to me, Cernunnos,
Inspirer of speech,
Come to me, Cernunnos,
Inspirer of prayer,
Come to me, come to me, Lord Cernunnos.
I put the pitcher down on the floor in front of me, pick up the bowl, hold it over the flame, and say:
Come to me, Cernunnos,
God of the in-between,
Come to me, Cernunnos,
God of this and that,
Come to me, come to me, Lord Cernunnos.
I put the bowl in the ritual zone, touching the lamp stand, hold my right hand over it, and say:
Come to me, Cernunnos,
Who sits in the door,
Come to me, Cernunnos,
Who opens the gate,
Come to me, come to me, Lord Cernunnos,
Come to the one who worships you here.
With the last line, I bring my hand up to touch my forehead.
[The triple pattern of pouring, offering to the fire, and putting in place is one that is used for the Gate Keepers, the Patron deities, and the Kindreds. Making offerings is like giving a feast to those you have invited, so it calls them to you.]
Now I invoke Manannán, performing the same actions, only this time putting his libation bowl on the right.
From tearing ocean into welcoming bay,
Come homeward, Sailor, on silver keel.
Cross beacon-guided the shattering shoal,
and gently come, and joyful stay.
From tearing ocean into welcoming bay,
past guardian jetty guide your boat,
and tie its rope to pillared pier,
and gently come, and joyful stay.
From tearing into welcoming bay,
set foot on land with blessing touch,
and enter home, and sit at hearth.
Come homeward, Sailor; come Son of Sea:
O gently come, O joyful stay.
[When you put the pitcher down, it goes between you and the board. It is in the liminal zone in line between you and the fire because it is still ritually in play, and therefore can’t be put in its final position. It is also in a convenient place for future use.
[Notice that the offering bowls have been placed touching the fire stand . This is as if they’ve been offered into the fire.
[Now that the Gate Keeper or Gate Keepers have arrived, you can open the gate.]
At this point, if you called on a single Gate Keeper you’ll only have one bowl in the ritual zone. You hold your right hand over this bowl and say a prayer to open the gate. Since I have two bowls, I have to hold both hands. Since the right is the more sacred hand, I cross them so that the right hand goes over the left bowl and the left hand over it over the right bowl, once again evening things out. I pray:
Cernunnos, Manannán, open the way;
Manannán, Cernunnos, open the way:
Disperse the mists
Conjoin the disparate.
Through an open gate
may my words flow;
Through an open gate
may my blessings flow;
Through an open gate,
may the words,
may the blessings,
of the Kindreds freely flow.
Open the way, Manannán and Cernunnos.
Open the way, Cernunnos and Manannán,
Open the way, open the way, open the way.
The gate is open!
With the lines beginning “Open the way!”, spread your hands apart, ending with them in the orans position.
[Note first that I’ve started with the two deities being mentioned one after the other, and then in the next line list them in the other order. Then, at the end, to balance them out I’ve listed them in the opposite orders. The two lines, “Disperse the mists” and “Conjoin the disparate” are opening gate keeper functions specific to the two deities, the first being something that Manannán, as a sea god, would do, and the second what Cernunnos, as a god of bidirectionality, would do. If you use a different deity, you will need to say something different here, of course. For instance, ““Agni, priest to the gods, be the conveyor of offerings, to where the Holy Ones take up their homes.” The rest of the prayer can stay the same.
[When you bring your hands outward imagine that there’s an actual gate there that you are opening.
[Now that the gate is opened, it’s time to call the Kindreds. If you’re calling to a Patron Deity separately from the Gate Keeper, this is when you’ll pour their libation and put it into the ritual zone just like you did with the Gate Keeper’s.]
Your arms will be spread at this point. Bring your hands inwards to touch your chest, as if physically bringing the Kindreds to you while saying:
I invite the Kindreds to join me here today.
Now you move what will be the Waters bowl into the ritual zone. Put it so that it touches the Cernunnos and Manannán bowls, identifying it with the fire as well. You will be pouring the libations to the Kindreds into it to call them to you.
Pick up the pitcher of the Waters and pour some into the Waters bowl, saying:
Nature Spirits, with the pouring of this libation I invite you to join me here.
Put the pitcher down, pick up the Nature Spirits token, touch it to the lamp (as if they are coming to you through the fire), making an audible click, and then put it down at the front of the ritual zone, on the left, saying:
Watching Ones, may your blessings be with me today.
Pick up the pitcher of the Waters and pour some into the Waters bowl, saying:
Ancestors, with the pouring of this libation I invite you to join me here.
Put the pitcher down, pick up the Ancestors token, touch it to the lamp (as if they are coming to you through the fire), making an audible click, and then put it down at the front of the ritual zone, to the right of the Nature Spirits token, saying:
Mighty Ones, may your power be with me today.
Pour the rest of the Waters in the pitcher into the bowl saying:
Gods and Goddesses, with the pouring of this libation I invite you to join me here.
Put the pitcher down, pick up the Deities token, touch it to the lamp, making an audible click, and then put it down at the front of the ritual zone, to the right of the Ancestors token, saying:
Shining Ones, may your wisdom be with me today.
[What you have done by making the offerings is bring the Kindreds through the fire into the ritual zone. You show this by bringing their tokens through the fire. As you do so, you transform their order from the purely sacred vertical into the more mundane horizontal, thereby manifesting them in the liminal area. You could also use the order of Ancestors, Nature Spirits, and Deities, identifying them with the underworld, middle world, and the above. I’ll explain the reason for my choice of order later.
[With the liquid portion of the Waters in the bowl which touches the fire, the Waters are now both fire and water.]
Hold the Waters bowl over the flame, swirling it to mix the libations, and say:
Lovely Ones, with these libations, I invite you all to join me here today.
[Note how at both the beginning and the end the Kindreds are asked to come “here today,” but in the individual invocations the two are separated, with the pouring of the libation being “here” and the placing of it being “today,” thereby linking them.]
Move the bowl onto the sacred side of the altar; just like the other offerings, you put it down so it touches the lamp stand.
Now put your arms in the orans position and sum things up:
Called to my presence with prayers and libations,
the Kindreds are here, with with favors and friendship.
Welcome to the Kindreds, to the Kindreds all,
with blessings, with honor, with worship.
With the last two lines, you spread your arms wider in welcome.
[Presents create presence – the Kindreds are called by making offerings. They come to drink what has been offered. You might notice that I didn’t say this sort of thing when I offered the milk to the House Spirits; that offering wasn’t seen as a calling but as an honoring. That’s because the Home Spirits are always present in the home. The rest of the Kindreds, however, are not likely to be here, since they are not omnipresent, and there are many places they can be. They therefore have to be called.
[The combined libations are put through the fire as a sacrifice. The bowl is put so as to touch the lamp stand so it as if they have been poured into the fire. Putting it there also clears up the ritual zone for the divination.
[By the rule of reciprocity, now that you’ve given to the Kindreds, they will give to you. This will come first in the form of wisdom acquired through divination.]
Move the Waters pitcher to your right side, on the floor, in line with the water bowl and milk pitcher. Put it down with the handle facing you. Then pick up your divination tools and turn again to face the fire.
[By making offerings, the Waters pitcher, like the milk pitcher, has acquired sacredness, and is therefore moved to the sacred part of the floor. Since the two have changed from mundane to sacred they go from their previous horizontal relationship to a vertical one. They are also in the reverse order from their original one, with it being the Waters pitcher which is closest to you.
[You move it at this point because you are done with it, and to put it there after the last pouring would both interrupt the flow of actions, damaging the aesthetics, and make the pouring to the deities different from that to the other Kindreds. By doing it this way, you move to the right, put down the pitcher, pick up your divination tools, and then move back to the center, all in one smooth motion.]
III. Receiving the Gifts of the Kindreds
Touch your divination tools to the lamp and say:
Wisest Ones,
whose knowledge of the Xártus is true,
send me your teaching.
[You touch your divination tools to the lamp to signify the wisdom of the Kindreds coming to you, as if it has come through the fire. Again the Kindreds come to us through the fire, in this case via their teachings. “Xártus” is a Proto-Indo-European word that means the organizing principle behind the Cosmos. For those of you familiar with the Norse tradition, it is very much like the ørlog, and in the Vedic tradition it is the ṛta or rita. By knowing it, the Kindreds know the way things have gone, are going, and are likely to go.]
Divine by pulling a token and placing it in the center of the ritual zone, returning the rest of them to their place. After interpreting the token, move it to the left side of the table, where the house spirits bowl had been.
[I use runes in my usual divinations. If you use something else usually, then by all means use it here. You’ll need to use something that will fit nicely in the ritual zone, however; there’s no room there for a full-on tarot spread.
[I generally pull a single rune for this. Another way would be to pull one for each of the Kindreds, perhaps returning the pulled rune to the bag in between each.]
I hear what the Kindreds have said
and am made wise by it.
[By moving the token into the mundane part of the table, you are making its wisdom manifest in everyday life.
[It’s now time to receive the greatest gift of the ritual, the Waters of Life.]
Hold the Waters bowl about three inches over the flame a moment, saying:
Through the offerings I have made
I have established the bonds of hospitality with the Kindreds,
and in return they have given me this blazing water to drink,
this holy water,
this sacred water
Lift the bowl to eye level:
these Waters of Life.
Put the Waters bowl down between the Kindreds tokens and the Gatekeepers bowls, not touching any of them or the fire
[By not touching the Kindreds token or the fires,they aren’t identified as either belonging to the Kindreds or being an offering.
[The mention of the bonds of hospitality is an expression of reciprocity; it is through reciprocal giving that relationships are established and maintained, and the classic example of these kind of relationships is hospitality.
[The drink being blazing water is an expression of the fire-water mystery that is one of the central ritual and mythical mysteries of the Indo-European tradition. The drink is both fire and water at the same time: the lightning in the storm, the hot springs, and, of course, the fire-water that is alcohol. If you use a glass bowl, you can hold it in such a way that you can see the flame through it.
[It might seem a little bit like you’re taking back what you have offered to the Kindreds. But they’ve taken from the offering the spiritual part that they wanted, and now want to give something back to you to return the hospitality.]
Bring the libation bowl into the ritual zone, to the right of the Waters bowl, touching it so the two are identified. Now pick up the ladle in your right hand and dip it three times in the water in the purification bowl.
[This is because the ladle will be used with the extremely sacred Waters.]
Then ladle some of the Waters into the libation bowl in three parts, once for each of the Kindreds, saying:
May the Kindreds always receive their due.
[What’s happening here is that we’re continuing the exchange. We give to the Kindreds, the Kindreds give to us, we give to the Kindreds again. The exchange is left open for the Kindreds to give us more in the future.
[The libations are being treated as if they were a sacrifice. In Indo-European sacrifices, the entire animal was given over to the gods, but in most cases most of the animal was in fact eaten by the people at the ritual, with only a portion being actually burned.
[The ladle goes into the same dish as the match has gone in because it’s picked up sacredness by touching the sacred Waters; also, since it’s wet it has to go somewhere to protect the table.]
Hold the libation bowl over the flame a moment, and then move it to the right of the lamp, touching the lamp stand.
[As before, the libation is being identified as having been poured into the fire by its bowl touching the lamp stand.]
Lift the Waters bowl and say:
and may I receive inspiration.
May I receive power.
May I receive unending life.
Drink the Waters, once with each line, leaving about a third behind. Put the Waters bowl down in the same position it was in.
[We see the three functions here again. You leave some of the Waters behind because you’ll need it later in the ritual.]
Now sit back and say:
Filled with the mystery of fire in water,
I rest in the presence of the Kindreds.
Here you meditate a while.
[How long is up to you. Since the point of the ritual isn’t to promote meditation – although you could do it for that reason – I generally meditate for ten breaths. I meditate on being filled with the Waters within and having the Kindreds around me.
[The time you want to spend meditating and what form the meditation will take are the largest variables. The simplest and most natural in the context of the ritual is following your breaths. I count my breaths by tensing one finger on my right hand with each breath, starting with the thumb. Five breaths to the pinkie and five breaths back takes about a minute.
[If you want, though, you can use the ritual, putting yourself in a sacred state for it. Bear in mind, however, that the consumption of the Waters will not only intensify your meditation, but may drive its direction.
[Another goal might be to meditate on the meaning of the results of the divination. This can be passive, by imagining the divinatory symbol, concentrating on it, and seeing if something comes through. It could also be more active; if you use runes, for example, you could run through the appropriate rune poems in your head while considering your current situation, so as to get a deeper sense on how the rune applies to your life.
[You could use any other question for contemplation. The meditation doesn’t have to be the mind-stilling kind; this might be a good time for a petitionary prayer.]
When you are done meditating, open your arms into a giving position and say:
With the Kindreds about me
and the power of their mystery within
I pray for the world and all in it.
May the blessings granted to me extend to them as well.
May they be happy and whole.
May they be loved and lively.
And may they dwell in peace,
wrapped in the arms of the Kindreds.
Gods and Goddesses,
Ancestors,
Nature Spirits,
I pray to you on their behalf.
When you say “May the blessings granted to me extend to them as well,” move the Waters bowl to the left of the fire. Touch the appropriate stone when each Kindred is named.
[This prayer spreads the ritual’s blessings throughout the world. The remainder of the Waters is therefore returned to the mundane world, right where it started out, except now it brings the blessings of the sacred with it.]
IV. Saying Farewell to the Kindreds
[Now it’s time to wind the ritual down. You start by saying farewell to the Kindreds. You keep yourself in a polite relationship with the Kindreds by saying goodbye to them with thanks.]
Raise your hands into the orans position and say:
Blessed ones, may you always be with me.
I thank all of you, Kindreds, for your many gifts.
Pick up the deity stone and touch it to the lamp, saying:
Thank you, gods and goddesses,
for joining me here today.
May there ever be peace between us in this world we share.
Put the deities stone down in its original place.
Pick up the Ancestor stone and touch it to the lamp:
Thank you, Ancestors,
for joining me here today.
May there ever be peace between us in this world we share.
Put the Ancestors stone down in its original place.
Pick up the Nature Spirit stone and touch it to lamp:
Thank you, Nature Spirits,
for joining me here today.
May there ever be peace between us in this world we share.
Put the Nature Spirit stone down in its original place.
[The Kindreds tokens are now back where they started, just as the Kindreds have returned to their sacred realm. With each one, you yourself are descending out of the highest realms, one at a time. Now you see why I called to the Kindreds in the order I did. When I say goodbye it’s as if I am descending from the sacred into the mundane. If I were to call the Ancestors first, I would be thanking them last, and it would be as if I had ended up in the land of the dead. By doing it in the order I have, I end up where the Nature Spirits are, which is in the middle realm where I belong.
[Now you sum up your thanks.]
Spread your hands into the orans position:
Thanks to the Kindreds, to the Kindreds all,
with blessings, with honor, with worship.
[If you called a Patron deity before, this is the time to thank them and say goodbye, passing their offering bowl over the fire and pouring its contents into the libation bowl, as you’ll see later.
[It’s now time to close the gate. You will be calling on the same divine being(s) you did when you opened the gate.]
I hold out my hands, one over the Cernunnos bowl and one over the Manannán bowl, crossed as before:
Manannán, Cernunnos, you cleared the way
Cernunnos, Manannán, you opened the gate.
Close now the gate that I might end my rite.
May the Holy Ones be yet never far away
that they might come to me in my time of need.
With the line “May the Holy Ones …” spread your hands apart.
[Note that the order of Manannán and Cernunnos in the gate opening has been reversed this time, so as to balance them out. You open your hands when you do because you want to leave room for the Holy Ones to return to you, and because they have to be open if you are going to close them when you say the next line.]
Close your hands together with a clap and say:
Let the gate be closed.
Now the Gate Keeper has to be thanked. Open your hands again. Hold the right one over the Gate Keeper bowl, and pray to them. Since when I opened the gates I started with Cernunnos, when closing them I start with Manannán, by saying:
Manannán, I thank you for helping me today,
and ask that you continue to help me
by clearing away the mists that divide me from the truth.
I hold the bowl over the flame a moment and then pour its contents into the libation bowl. The empty bowl goes to the right of and touching the libation bowl. This is where the bowl from your Patron would go instead.
I, on the other hand, have to thank my other Gate Keeper, so I hold my right hand over the Cernunnos bowl and say:
Cernunnos, I thank you for helping me today,
and ask that you continue to help me
by aiding me in seeing the patterns
and in communicating them to others.
I hold the bowl over the flame a moment and then pour its contents into the libation bowl. Then I put the bowl touching both the main libation bowl and the one for Manannán to the front of and touching the libation bowl. This repeats what was done at the beginning, only in reverse. It completes the journey begun earlier; the offering has gone from the mundane to the liminal and it ends up in the sacred. The offering bowls are in contact with each other and with (in) the fire.
[Of course you’ll be adjusting these to your particular deities.]
V. Ending the Ritual
[Now you can end the ritual. First you have to extinguish the fire.]
Put your right hand behind the flame and say:
Extinguished without,
Blow the flame out and bring your right hand to your chest, saying:
but burning within,
the living fire flames within me.
[Here you internalize the sacred, further empowering yourself.]
Then you put your hands flat on your knees and say:
The rite is ended.
Ring the bell four times with your left hand, transfer it to your right hand, and put it in its original place on the table.
[This returns you to the mundane world. At the beginning of the ritual, the bell rang to you from out of the sacred, and now it calls from the mundane. It rings four times because four is the number of the mundane world, being the number of the directions. It is rung in the mundane hand, being in the mundane world, and then transfered to the right hand, to be put back into the sacred world. In this way it is as if the exchange of it and you is being done again.]
Now drink the remainder of the Waters. You are back in the mundane, so now you are the representative of those this part of the Waters were given to. By drinking it, you activate it in the world.
After the ritual, put the two libation bowls in your home shrine for at least a day and then dispose of the offerings outside, saying, “To the spirits, the leavings.” (If the weather prevents this, I pour the libations down my drain as an offering to Cloacina, the Roman goddess of plumbing.)
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