These are a series of rituals to make your connection and understanding of the Hallows stronger. I recommend that you work with each of the Hallows separately, staying with one until you feel you have accomplished that purpose, learning its unique qualities. Then move on to the next one.
Once you have done all three, combine them in pairs: work with the Tree and Well, then the Fire and the Tree, then the Fire and the Well. Explore the uniqueness of each combination. When you have done this, work with all three together. Explore the pattern of their interactions.
Once you are intimately familiar with all of them, separately and together, you may wish to stop the exercise. You may choose to continue with the rituals, making them a regular part of your practice. Or you may wish to do them when the need is clear. For instance, if you feel disconnected from the gods, a few days of the Fire ritual will go a long way towards fixing the problem. If you feel disorganized, try the Tree. If you feel uninspired, try the Well. Do not use them as quick fixes, though. What they are meant to do is put you in alignment with the Cosmos, to put you back on track. Once you are there, what you do is up to you.
The Fire
Set up a small fire. It is best if this is done outdoors so a real fire can be used, but if necessary the ritual can be performed indoors with a candle or an oil lamp. If you must use the candle or oil lamp, use incense sticks for offerings, sticking them into holders you have previously arranged around the candle or oil lamp. If you are performing this outside, use olive oil or clarified butter for the offerings.
Light the fire and sit to its west (so that you are facing east).
You who are the fire of sacrifice
I praise you, I honor you, I worship you with offerings.
You who are the fire of the hearth
I praise you, I honor you, I worship you with offerings.
You who convey our prayers to the gods
I praise you, I honor you, I worship you with offerings.
Do not be remiss in your duties
do not deny to me the blessing of the gods
but send quickly on their way our offerings
and open the gateway between the worlds.
Open the door to all things divine.
With each "I praise you, I honor you, I worship you with offerings," pour the offering into the fire.
Tree
Set up a symbol for your World Tree. I recommend a length of straight branch (oak is a traditional tree; Norse Pagans may want to use ash.) Use a flower pot filled with dirt to hold it up. I don’t recommend using a potted plant. Most of them wouldn’t survive where Americans and Europeans live, so they don’t reflect the local form of nature. Prepare a mixture of honey and water, about one tablespoon of honey to a cup of water. Boil the water before adding it, for the practical reason that it’s very difficult to dissolve honey in cool water, and for the ritual reason that by heating it you are combining water with fire, and the water/fire drink is one of the central mysteries of the Indo-European world. You can either let it cool or, if you are ready with everything else, drink it hot like tea.
Sit or stand (depending on its size) before the tree on the western side, facing east, with the mixture of honey and water in your right hand. Say:
Rise up, O straight one, in honor and glory,
Well-buried in the earth, reach up to the sky.
Anoint the base of the tree with the honey water. Say:
Be fed, O strong one, with the water of the Well,
returning your honey in great abundance.
Anoint the middle of the tree with the honey water. Say:
Grow well, o tall one, be green and growing,
never to fall, sustaining the worlds.
Anoint the top of the tree with it the honey water. Say:
About the axis the whole world spins
About this Tree my rite is spun.
Reach high to the gods, the celestial ones,
link me to them that my worship may be true.
Drink whatever honey water is left over, and sit in meditation for a while on the function of the tree.
The Well
For a well, use a deep bowl, preferably dark. Fill it with water, mead, apple juice, or the same kind of honey water as used in the Tree rite. Put it on the floor and sit on its east side, facing west. Say:
Deep from below, the well extends,
bringing to our world the excellence of water.
Deep to below, the well extends,
bringing to the depths our faithful offerings.
Dark and mysterious is the opening of the well,
Back and forth its blessings go
Pouring out to make the world fertile
Pouring back in to renew the dark place.
Receive our offering, then, well of wisdom.
Put an offering of silver in the Well. It can be an old silver dime, a length of chain, a ring, etc. Silver beads and findings are sold by craft stores.
Renew yourself, be pleased, be grateful,
that forever still your springs will come.
bringing to us your holy blessings.
Drink some of the liquid. (Be careful not to drink the silver.) Put the bowl down and sit in meditation for a while, feeling the liquid within you and identifying it with that still in the bowl. As you sit, look into the bowl. When you are done, take the bowl to a body of water and pour the liquid and silver out of it. Alternatively, pour it into a hole in the ground, filling the hole before you leave.
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