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Happy Father's Day to all you daddies out there.
Yesterday was gonna be the Pagan Dedication, but there was another death in the family of one of the potential Dedicants and so we've postponed it again. She initially said to have it without her, but after making sure she wanted to Dedicate (if it were me, and I was feeling extra-superstitious, I might start wondering if the universe was trying to tell me something- but she's smarter than that) I said we'd just celebrate Litha and schedule Dedication in the next couple of weeks.
So I had less than 24 hours to come up with a Litha ritual. The nice thing about having a group that's been around for almost seven years is that you tend to have a lot of material you can plunder for ideas. So I Frankensteined together a decent little ritual and everyone seemed to have a good time. I talked about Gawain and the Green Knight, and had a reading that I got from Cathy about the power of the Sun. I'll have to ask her where she got that from so I can credit it; I've always liked it. Hey, here it is:
"The energy that drives this world, eventually taking form as the very life force that animates us, is a gift of the Sun.
"Every tree, plant, and flower grows and flourishes by the grace and bounty of the Sun. And through the plant kingdom, he nourishes and gives life to the animal kingdom. He forms the muscle; he urges the blood; he builds the brain. His fleetness is in the lion's foot; he soars in the eagle; he glides in the snake.
"His is the power which raises the tree and which wields the ax. The grain sprouts and the scythe of the mower swings by the operation of the same force. He not only grows the cotton, but he spins the fibre and weaves the cloth. There is not a hammer raised, or a wheel turned, or a shuttle thrown that is not raised and turned and thrown by the Sun.
"His warmth keeps the sea liquid and the atmosphere a gas. He lifts the rivers up to the mountains; and so the waterfall falls with an energy derived from him. Thunder and lightning are his transmuted strength. Every fire that burns and every flame that glows dispenses light and heat, which originally belonged to the Sun.
"It is easy for some to brush off the notion of Sun worship saying, "We do not worship the Sun, but that spiritual power which the Sun represents."
"But I tell you that the Sun is our father in every literal sense as the Earth is also literally our mother. The Earth provides the womb, the matrix upon which the Sun's energy acts, giving birth to millions of forms. And each of those forms is a mold into which his strength is temporarily poured as it passes from its source and into infinity.
"No symbolism here.... but actual, literal, physical reality and truth."
Happy Summer Solstice, everyone. :)
Yesterday was gonna be the Pagan Dedication, but there was another death in the family of one of the potential Dedicants and so we've postponed it again. She initially said to have it without her, but after making sure she wanted to Dedicate (if it were me, and I was feeling extra-superstitious, I might start wondering if the universe was trying to tell me something- but she's smarter than that) I said we'd just celebrate Litha and schedule Dedication in the next couple of weeks.
So I had less than 24 hours to come up with a Litha ritual. The nice thing about having a group that's been around for almost seven years is that you tend to have a lot of material you can plunder for ideas. So I Frankensteined together a decent little ritual and everyone seemed to have a good time. I talked about Gawain and the Green Knight, and had a reading that I got from Cathy about the power of the Sun. I'll have to ask her where she got that from so I can credit it; I've always liked it. Hey, here it is:
"The energy that drives this world, eventually taking form as the very life force that animates us, is a gift of the Sun.
"Every tree, plant, and flower grows and flourishes by the grace and bounty of the Sun. And through the plant kingdom, he nourishes and gives life to the animal kingdom. He forms the muscle; he urges the blood; he builds the brain. His fleetness is in the lion's foot; he soars in the eagle; he glides in the snake.
"His is the power which raises the tree and which wields the ax. The grain sprouts and the scythe of the mower swings by the operation of the same force. He not only grows the cotton, but he spins the fibre and weaves the cloth. There is not a hammer raised, or a wheel turned, or a shuttle thrown that is not raised and turned and thrown by the Sun.
"His warmth keeps the sea liquid and the atmosphere a gas. He lifts the rivers up to the mountains; and so the waterfall falls with an energy derived from him. Thunder and lightning are his transmuted strength. Every fire that burns and every flame that glows dispenses light and heat, which originally belonged to the Sun.
"It is easy for some to brush off the notion of Sun worship saying, "We do not worship the Sun, but that spiritual power which the Sun represents."
"But I tell you that the Sun is our father in every literal sense as the Earth is also literally our mother. The Earth provides the womb, the matrix upon which the Sun's energy acts, giving birth to millions of forms. And each of those forms is a mold into which his strength is temporarily poured as it passes from its source and into infinity.
"No symbolism here.... but actual, literal, physical reality and truth."
Happy Summer Solstice, everyone. :)
