This is part two of a three-part series of rituals. In part one, I give a ritual with which to establish and increase your balance with the cosmos by increasing your connection and relationship with the four elements. I highly recommend becoming proficient with that ritual before attempting this one. It’s not that doing it the other way would be dangerous, simply that it would be less effective. You would be trying to learn something advanced before mastering the fundamentals. You’ll see from the other ritual that this one is very similar, however. That is so that you can build on the foundation the other ritual has built, rather than having to start over.
The goal of this ritual is to come before the God and Goddess as the balanced person you hopefully have become by mastering the first ritual, ready to receive their teaching, and to know what to do with it, ready to understand it, and to grow deeper through contact with it. This is done through prayers and the manipulation of tokens. It involves the creation of a sacred space inside you, allowing you to come into the presence of the Two as a balanced unity.
A video of part one is here. A video of this ritual is here.
The ritual uses wooden tokens with symbols painted on them, kept in a bag when not in use. There is a disk for each element, one for spirit, and one each for the God and Goddess. For the elements I’ve used the traditional symbols with the traditional colors in one system. This is so as to present them in their abstract identity, separate from anything in which they are manifested. For a further explanation of why, see the elemental balance version of the ritual.
For spirit I’ve used a circle with a dot in its center, for reasons which will become apparent. Another possibility would be a pentagram. For the Goddess I’ve used a silver yoni symbol and for the God a gold phallus one.
The tokens are wooden disks I bought at a craft store. I put some polyethylene over them to prevent the silver from tarnishing.
Using tokens like these has a lot of advantages. Because of their size and shape, you can put them in a bag and carry them around with you in a pocket, purse, or carry-on bag. Their continued presence, and your frequent awareness of their being with you and of the ritual you perform with them, will allow their influence to continually work within you.
I’ll give the ritual with a running commentary first, and then just the script. I’ll give only a minimal explanation of the opening and closing portions since I’ve done that with the other ritual.
Start by facing east.
Dump the tokens out of their bag, not putting them into order yet, so that when you do so you’ll be forming order out of disorder.
Starting with the air token, put them down in a line, going from left to right, and clicking them down to give an auditory symbol of the beginning of the ritual. With each one say:
By [element] I am made pure,
to perform the sacred.
Touch the spirit token and say:
Now purified, I may call on the pure.
Touch the air token and then pick it up and put it in place:
May air be here,
the warm and the wet,
pure and unmixed:
may I be in its presence
and under its influence.
May fire be here,
the warm and the dry,
pure and unmixed:
may I be in its presence
and under its influence.
May water be here,
the cold and the wet,
pure and unmixed:
may I be in its presence
and under its influence.
May earth be here,
the cold and the dry,
pure and unmixed:
may I be in its presence
and under its influence.
Spirit girds me about,
the protecting circle,
of air, and fire, and water, and earth.
Spirit dwells within me,
the eternal center,
of air, and fire, and water, and earth.
Enclosed and enclosing,
the perfect mixing of the unmixed four.
Still touching the spirit token, take a few slow breaths. As you do, envision in turn the characteristics of each of the elements. Try to hold them in balance, trying to understand how something can be both hot and cold, and wet and dry, forming and being formed by the spirit. After a few moments of this, pick up the Goddess token and say:
I ask the Goddess,
Maiden, Mother, Crone,
to come to join me here today
that I might know and worship you.
Note how this prayer starts out with the Goddess somewhat distant from you. She’s addressed as just “the Goddess,” as if she were far away and had to be called to. Then at the end the prayer you shift to calling her “you,” as if she’s arrived.
Now that she’s here, you can address here even more directly, so now you make your prayer of praise and request.
Move the Goddess token into its place, to the left of and touching the spirit token. Touch it with your finger, and say:
Silver Moon and Verdant Earth,
Bringer to birth of all that is:
here in the center, where you ever dwell,
my praise and love I offer to you:
dwell in me always with all of your blessings.
Next you do the same with the God.
Pick up the God token and say:
I ask the Horned God,
Slayer and Slain, Wild and Tame,
to come to join me here today
that I might know and worship you.
Move the God token into its place, to the right of and touching the spirit token. Touch it with your finger. Say:
Golden Sun and Shining Sky,
Engenderer of all that comes to be:
here in the center, where you ever dwell,
my praise and love I offer to you:
dwell in me always with all of your blessings.
Pause a moment for a short meditation, as before, but adding the Goddess and God into your awareness.
Then pick up the deity tokens in the reverse order from how you put them down (so you start with the God token), and put them back in the bag:
God and Goddess, my love and my praise
for your presence and power and love.
May you continue to bless me throughout this day
and all of my days
and all of my life.
In turn, touch each elemental token, pick it up and put it in the bag. You’re doing this in reverse order too, except for Spirit, thereby unwinding the ritual.
May the power of [earth, water, fire, air]
continue to work in me throughout this day
and all of my days
and all of my life.
You pick up the spirit token last, because it is that which you most want to continue to work in you.
May the power of spirit
enclose and infill me
throughout this day
and all of my days
and all of my life.
Hold the bag to your heart:
It is done, it is done, it is well done;
the work is well done in me
and will continue to work throughout this day
and all of my days
and all of my life.
You can end with a form of “So be it,” like the traditional Wiccan “So mote it be,” if you are used to doing that.
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