A Pagan Ritual Prayer Book (33 page)

• Lord of strength, give me strength;
  

  to your faithful friend, strength.
  

   
  

The God and Goddess:

• With the love of the God,
  

  be blessed, be blessed.
  

   
  

  With the love of the Goddess,
  

   
  

  be blessed, be blessed.
  

   
  

  With the love of the God and of the Goddess,
  

   
  

  be blessed, be blessed.
  

   
  

  With Their love, may you be blessed,
  

   
  

  be blessed, be blessed.
  

   
  

The Goddess:

• With well-deserved reverence, I pour with open hands this honoring gift on your holy land,
  

  you who are our Lady, our Mother, our granter of happiness.
  

   
  

Green Man:

• From the tree leaves eyes are peering, smiling.
  

  But when I turn my back, it seems like they're looking with distrust.
  

   
  

  So I leave this for the Green Man to prove my good intentions.
  

   
  

Hermes, for advice:

• Trickster whose cleverness defeated Apollo, the wisest of gods,
  

  except for Zeus,
  

   
  

  and amused Zeus himself, father of men:
  

   
  

  show me the way out of this predicament,
  

   
  

  bring me a clever solution.
  

   
  

Hermes, during a negotiation:

• Herald of Zeus, you bring together one and another;
  

  as a small child, you gained through your cleverness the friendship of Apollo,
  

   
  

  with whom you were at enmity.
  

   
  

  So too, bring this conflict to a peaceful resolution
  

   
  

  by finding that thing each one desires and the other is willing to give,
  

   
  

  and conveying that knowledge to us,
  

   
  

  to we who are negotiating.
  

   
  

Herakles, for strength:

• Strength in my limbs, Heroic Herakles,
  

  give me for the task ahead,
  

   
  

  for successful labors.
  

   
  

Jupiter:

• Iupiter Optimus Maximus
  

  Jupiter, Best and Greatest
  

   
  

  From your seat above the sky
  

   
  

  Look down to me.
  

   
  

  Smell the sweet scent rising to you.
  

   
  

  Hear the holy words reaching to you.
  

   
  

  Answer my prayer, Most Holy One.
  

   
  

Land Spirits:

• I don't bring incense:
  

  you have incense already—leaves and needles underfoot.
  

   
  

  I don't bring libations:
  

   
  

  you have libations already—streams and springs in the depths.
  

   
  

  I don't bring sacrifices:
  

   
  

  you have sacrifices already—the deaths of plants and animals in your hidden places.
  

   
  

  I've brought instead something you don't already have:
  

   
  

  prayers spoken in human words,
  

   
  

  prayers are my gift.
  

   
  

• With the help of the Land Spirits,
  

  whom I will continue to honor,
  

   
  

  may this construction project run smoothly.
  

   
  

  May it be finished on time and within budget.
  

   
  

Life:

• My heart the fire of offering.
  

  My flesh and bones the offering.
  

   
  

  My blood the libation.
  

   
  

  But whom to offer to?
  

   
  

  To life this continual offering,
  

   
  

  on this day,
  

   
  

  on all days,
  

   
  

  in thanks and love.
  

   
  

Lugh, against opposition:

• A spear with flames streaming like waves of a brazen sea in ripples along its length
  

  appears before the eyes of my mind, my heart, my soul,
  

   
  

  held by a man whose face shines with the brilliance of a flowering sun,
  

   
  

  from whose fingertips and from each hair on whose head leap bold lightning strikes,
  

   
  

  jagged scythes through the Cosmos that strike down all who oppose him,
  

   
  

  each flash like the spear he holds, of stiff and flowing molten bronze,
  

   
  

  which he will direct with his sure arm to its true target.
  

   
  

  Lugh, you know the target I have in mind,
  

   
  

  the walls, and those who man them, who stand in my way,
  

   
  

  who press on me with many threats to my own true actions:
  

   
  

  as you are true, and your aim, so am I and my purpose.
  

   
  

  And that is why I dare ask you to loose your spear against my adversaries.
  

   
  

  Help one who will be properly grateful,
  

   
  

  speaking of the power you wield in gatherings of men.
  

   
  

Maat, for proper action:

• The justice that you rule, Maat,
  

  O Queen of the Feather,
  

   
  

  is not just that of the courtroom,
  

   
  

  is not, in fact,
  primarily
  that of the courtroom.
  

   
  

  It is, rather, the justice of the life well-lived.
  

   
  

  The slightest ill-wrought deed disturbs the balance.
  

   
  

  May my life be such that it matches your justice perfectly;
  

   
  

  may none of my actions be such that I would be ashamed for my heart to be placed in the pan of your scale,
  

   
  

  opposite your feather of the truly acted life,
  

   
  

  Maat whose judgment is true.
  

   
  

Manannán mac Lir, for consolation for a lost love:

• Your cloak, Manannán, mist of the sea,
  

  which separated Fand from Cú Chulaiin,
  

   
  

  removing them from the pains of a doomed love;
  

   
  

  place it between me and [name], my lately loved one,
  

   
  

  from whom I am now parted forever.
  

   
  

Marduk, for protection against enemies:

• This is a story of what happened before anything happened,
  

  when Tiamat rose against the gods,
  

   
  

  the great emptiness threatening to swallow them all.
  

   
  

  The gods, defeated, huddled fearfully in their shining halls.
  

   
  

  Desperate, they turned to the great champion,
  

   
  

  the caster of the thunderbolt,
  

   
  

  supreme in war:
  

   
  

  Marduk!
  

   
  

  They prayed to him for help.
  

   
  

  Can you imagine it, the gods praying?
  

   
  

  In fear the great ones came to him,
  

   
  

  asking him to save them from the Great Deep.
  

   
  

  The Roaring One, with lightning playing around his head,
  

   
  

  the Arrogant One,
  

   
  

  agreed with their prayer.
  

   
  

  He promised to save them,
  

   
  

  but asked something in return.
  

   
  

  (He deserved it, he who was to set his face against all-encompassing darkness.)
  

   
  

  This is what he asked:
  

   
  

  the kingship of all, gods and men.
  

   
  

  He did not, actually, ask this:
  

   
  

  he
  demanded
  it, as would only be fair for one who could stand up to the Abyss.
  

   
  

  And how could the gods refuse him?
  

   
  

  They of great might were cowering in fear,
  

   
  

  dreading the smothering sea,
  

   
  

  greatly fearing Tiamat;
  

   
  

  how could they say no?
  

   
  

  They gave it to him, then,
  

   
  

  the kingship,
  

   
  

  the lordship over gods and men.
  

   
  

  With relief they put it into his hands,
  

   
  

  singing in joy for the strength of Marduk.
  

   
  

  He took up his mace and set forth.
  

   
  

  Terrible was he to see.
  

   
  

  Humans could not have borne the sight,
  

   
  

  so strongly did the light of heaven shine from him.
  

   
  

  His mace was lightning, his feet shook heaven.
  

   
  

  With his quick-striking mace he lashed out.
  

   
  

  He killed Apsu, who foolishly sought to stand in his way,
  

   
  

  seeking to protect Tiamat.
  

   
  

  Cruelly she had sent him out to face the worldruling hero,
  

   
  

  and Marduk slew him, quickly and easily.
  

   
  

  It was no great work for the Great One;
  

   
  

  a little thing, like brushing aside an insect that sought to bite him.
  

   
  

  Then, with her hero gone (could he really be called a hero? Marduk showed what a hero really was.),
  

   
  

  Tiamat herself came against Marduk,
  

   
  

  putting herself at risk.
  

   
  

  Stretching wide her mouth, he killed her too.
  

   
  

  The one who had cast dark fear on the hearts of the gods
  

   
  

  died under the flashing power of Marduk.
  

   
  

  He made short work of her, the Great Champion.
  

   
  

  He split her wide open and formed from her earth and sky, and all between it.
  

   
  

  He formed land and water, and men to serve the gods.
  

   
  

  From emptiness, he formed presence,
  

   
  

  from Chaos, there rose Cosmos under his extended hand.
  

   
  

  The gods, seeing his complete victory over she whom they had feared,
  

   
  

  gladly put into his keeping the lordship over all,
  

   
  

  over gods and men.
  

   
  

  They made him willingly, with gratitude for the great deed he had done,
  

   
  

  the great king, to rule forever.
  

   
  

  Those who know this,
  

   
  

  those people, those lands,
  

   
  

  that recognize his power,
  

   
  

  are given his protection and blessings.
  

   
  

  His mace is withheld from them,
  

   
  

  and turned instead against their enemies.
  

   
  

  That is why we turn with confidence to Marduk.
  

   
  

  We have poured out beer to the Great Champion,
  

   
  

  dutifully worshipped him,
  

   
  

  and he will place his hand over us.
  

   
  

  Marduk! King! Champion! Warrior! Hero!
  

   
  

  If our words today have pleased you
  

   
  

  If the offered beer has enflamed your heart
  

   
  

  Remember us.
  

   
  

  May our names not pass from your mind.
  

   
  

  When you distribute blessings, hold us in your thoughts.
  

   
  

  When you seek to punish, though,
  

   
  

  when your mace urges you to cast it,
  

   
  

  then forget us.
  

   
  

  May we be hidden from your sight and from your memory.
  

   
  

  Or, if you remember us,
  

   
  

  may it be only to strike our enemies.
  

   
  

  Marduk,
  

   
  

  we have been loyal servants to you:
  

   
  

  Be a good king over us.
  

   
  

• I praise Marduk, mighty in battle,
  

  who slew menacing Chaos,
  

   
  

  yes, even Tiamat of the gaping jaws,
  

   
  

  and her lover Apsu, when they rose against the gods.
  

   
  

  Surely no disorder can withstand him,
  

   
  

  surely not the small ones of my day.
  

   
  

  A faithful servant to a well-disposed and powerful king,
  

   
  

  I ask for this deserved reward.