A Pagan Ritual Prayer Book (25 page)

The God and Goddess:

• The Maypole is His phallus descending from the Sky.
  

  The Maypole is Her grain rising from the Earth.
  

   
  

  The ribbons, multicolored, are Their joy, spreading out in all directions.
  

   
  

  The Dancers are all of us, weaving the Universe into existence.
  

   
  

• You share the joy of your marriage bed unashamed, Eternal Lovers, with the whole world.
  

  Each opening flower, each leaf unfolding,
  

   
  

  is your cry of ecstasy.
  

   
  

  Each bird or animal mating, each man and woman making love,
  

   
  

  is not a reflection, pale or otherwise, of your lovemaking,
  

   
  

  but your lovemaking itself.
  

   
  

  Each hug, each handshake, each smile,
  

   
  

  between lovers, or family, or friends, or strangers:
  

   
  

  children conceived today on this Beltane,
  

   
  

  on this happy Beltane.
  

   
  

Opposing Nature Spirits:

• All beings of the air who stand in opposition to us,
  

  eagle and hawk, who carry away our animals,
  

   
  

  starlings who eat our seeds,
  

   
  

  crows who eat our dead:
  

   
  

  here is your part of the offering;
  

   
  

  don't trouble us.
  

   
  

  All beings of the earth who stand in opposition to us,
  

   
  

  wolf and coyote who carry off our animals,
  

   
  

  rabbits and deer who eat our gardens,
  

   
  

  ants and termites who destroy our homes:
  

   
  

  here is your part of the offering;
  

   
  

  don't trouble us.
  

   
  

  All beings of the underworld and water
  

   
  

  who stand in opposition to us,
  

   
  

  bacteria and viruses that carry away our health,
  

   
  

  sharks and jellyfish that drive us from the ocean,
  

   
  

  grubs and beetles that feed on our food:
  

   
  

  here is your part of the offering;
  

   
  

  don't trouble us.
  

   
  

  All beings of air, earth, and water
  

   
  

  who stand in opposition to us:
  

   
  

  we have given you your part of the offering;
  

   
  

  don't trouble us.
  

   
  

• I write my desires for growth for my plants on this little board
  

  and push it into the earth,
  

   
  

  where it will be heard.
  

   
  

Earth:

• Open with eager joy to my planting my seeds in you.
  

• I put these seeds as offerings to Mother Earth, into Her body,
  

  and will receive thankfully the food she gives in return,
  

   
  

  will thank Her when I eat.
  

   
  

The Elements:

• In the East, where we honor Air,
  

  I erect this prayer stick with ribbons of blue.
  

   
  

  May my plants receive the gases they need to make their food from the air.
  

   
  

  With each flap of the ribbons my prayer is said.
  

   
  

  In the South, where we honor Fire,
  

   
  

  I erect this prayer stick with ribbons of red.
  

   
  

  May my plants receive the light they need to make their food from the fire.
  

   
  

  With each flap of the ribbons my prayer is said.
  

   
  

  In the West, where we honor Water,
  

   
  

  I erect this prayer stick with ribbons of green.
  

   
  

  May my plants receive the fluid they need to make their food from the water.
  

   
  

  With each flap of the ribbons my prayer is said.
  

   
  

  In the North, where we honor Earth,
  

   
  

  I erect this prayer stick with ribbons of yellow.
  

   
  

  May my plants receive the minerals they need to form their bodies from the earth.
  

   
  

  With each flap of the ribbons my prayer is said.
  

   
  

  In the Center, where we honor the mystery of the spirit of life,
  

   
  

  I erect this prayer stick with ribbons of purple.
  

   
  

  May my plants receive the spirit they need to form their lives from the nonliving;
  

   
  

  from Air, and Fire, and Water, and Earth;
  

   
  

  so they can give life to spirit,
  

   
  

  the gift spirit most desires.
  

   
  

  With each flap of the ribbons my prayer is said.
  

   
  

Garden Spirits:

• Whether these seeds that I press into the ground will grow,
  

  and how well,
  

   
  

  is in your hands, garden spirits.
  

   
  

  Others laugh,
  

   
  

  and say it's the sun, and rain, and the richness of the soil that will decide.
  

   
  

  But didn't I just say that?
  

   
  

• Here in my garden unseen spirits are dancing.
  

  In my moment of blindness of you
  

   
  

  may I hear your kind and crashing feet as they fall in seasonal rhythm
  

   
  

  in your slow but certain circles.
  

   
  

Rain Spirits:

• From mountain, from clouds, they have come.
  

  The Sacred Spirits, bringing rain, have come.
  

   
  

  They speak:
  

   
  

  From mountain, from clouds, we have come.
  

   
  

  We, Sacred Spirits, bringing rain, have come.
  

   
  

  To our children who pray to us, we have come.
  

   
  

  Plant your seeds now, the rain will come.
  

   
  

  Plant corn and beans now, the rain will come.
  

   
  

  Plant grain and vegetables now, the rain will come.
  

   
  

  Pray to us, children, and we will come.
  

   
  

  We speak:
  

   
  

  Sacred Spirits, we will pray and you will come.
  

   
  

Storm God:

• Strike with sure aim the waiting earth.
  

  Split with firm stroke the meadows wide.
  

   
  

  With blazing axe, with shining blade,
  

   
  

  With swift-descending shaft of fire,
  

   
  

  prepare and open the fields below
  

   
  

  and sow your seed that ours may grow.
  

   
  

The All-Gods:

• On this day of cold when it should be warm,
  

  at the beginning of summer,
  

   
  

  I ask not to doubt that the Gods know what they're doing,
  

   
  

  that the weather is as it should be.
  

   
  

  Even so, I pray for summer's warmth.
  

   
  

Father Gods:

• May all the fathers of the Gods bless all the fathers of men on this Father's Day.
  

• With the sun's fire at its highest point I immerse myself in water,
  

  at the beginning of the month of the crab.
  

   
  

The God:

• Long have you grown,
  

  strong, and hard, and true,
  

   
  

  reaching up from the dark Below until your branchfingers grasped the sun:
  

   
  

  You, reaching You,
  

   
  

  strength holding brightness,
  

   
  

  power, burning,
  

   
  

  standing in unsullied glory.
  

   
  

  Roots snake deep into the darkness.
  

   
  

  You spread these too, just as your branches;
  

   
  

  those seen, these hidden;
  

   
  

  those fed, and these feeding;
  

   
  

  You basing your body on the Below.
  

   
  

  Your branches reach up, pulling your body with them,
  

   
  

  the roots reach down, pulling on your body as well.
  

   
  

  It is time.
  

   
  

  Standing in Your glory, the branches and the sun,
  

   
  

  can you feel the pull downward?
  

   
  

  The Dark has its turn.
  

   
  

  You needed the darkness to feed your light, but nothing is free.
  

   
  

  It is time to pay, to fill the hungry darkness,
  

   
  

  that pulls you down into death.
  

   
  

  A true king does not go on the journey into darkness alone;
  

   
  

  he must be accompanied by an honor guard.
  

   
  

  This is yours, Oak King:
  

   
  

  You go with the Four,
  

   
  

  You go with the Five.
  

   
  

  I give them their marching orders:
  

   
  

  Air, when he is in the great emptiness, be his breath.
  

   
  

  Fire, when he is in the great cold, be his warmth.
  

   
  

  Water, when he is in the great dryness, be his moisture.
  

   
  

  Earth, when he is in the great stillness, be his sustenance.
  

   
  

  And you, Spirit, when he is in the great death, be his life.
  

   
  

  Stand around in protection, you Four,
  

   
  

  protecting the body of the Oak King until the expected time of growing.
  

   
  

  Dwell within, Spirit, protecting his life until the expected time of growing:
  

   
  

  in the time of fading away, do not let him forget.
  

   
  

  These are your orders, you Four, you Five.
  

   
  

  You may sink into the darkness,
  

   
  

  Oak with the Sun in Your Branches,
  

   
  

  with your honor guard about you.