Autumn Equinox 2006

Items needed: an apple, a box of acorns, some honey, and a deck of tarot cards.

Ring bell three times

_____________ say:

“The waters support and surround us. The land extends about us. The sky stretches above us. At the center burns a living flame.”
(Light a candle.)

______________ say:

“Let us pray with a good fire. May all the kindred bless us. May our worship be true. May our actions be just. May our love be pure. Blessings and honor and worship to the holy ones.”

_______________ light a candle and say:

“I kindle the sacred fire in wisdom, love, and power. Sacred fire burn within us.”

_____________ pour the water into the Well and say:

“In the depths flow the waters of wisdom. Sacred waters flow within us.”

___________ sprinkle the water from the Well around the ritual area.

___________ asperge the tree with the well water and say:

“From the depths to the heights spans the world tree. Sacred Tree, grow within us.”

Say together:

“The fire, the well, the sacred tree,
Flame and flow and grow in me!
In land, sea, and sky
Below and on high,
Thus is the sacred grove claimed and hallowed!
By the cleansing of water and fire let all ill turn away from me and mine!
So mote it be!”

____________ pour some of the wine into the offering dish and say:

“We draw the strength of nature as we summon the nature spirits.
Spirits, devas, sidhe; hallow these waters,
Share with us your lore and blessings.
Genius locii, spirits of place, be with us here!”

____________ put some honey into the offering dish and say:

“Remember the wisdom of our past kin as we call them!
People of eld, honored dead, kindred; hallow these waters.
Share with us your lore and blessings.
Ancestors, across the ages we call you!”

____________ place some barley into the offering dish and say:

“Feel the protection of the gods as we call them!
Gods and Goddesses of old time and new; hallow these waters.
Share with us your power, lore, and blessings.
Deathless Gods, be with us here!”

____________ light the last candle and say:

“We now call upon the deity of the occasion:
Daughter of Zeus, almighty and divine,
Come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline:
Only-begotten, Hades’ honor'd wife,
O venerable Goddess, source of life:
'Tis thine in earth's profundities to dwell,
Fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell:
Zeus’ holy offspring, of a beauteous mien,
Fatal, with lovely locks, infernal queen:
Source of the furies, whose blest frame proceeds
From Zeus’ ineffable and secret seeds:
Mother of Bacchus, Sonorous, divine,
And many-form'd, the parent of the vine:
The dancing Hours attend thee, essence bright,
All-ruling virgin, bearing heav'nly light:
Illustrious, horned, of a bounteous mind,
Alone desir'd by those of mortal kind.
O, vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight,
Sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight:
Whose holy form in budding fruits we view,
Earth's vig'rous offspring of a various hue:
Espous'd in Autumn: life and death alone
To wretched mortals from thy power is known:
For thine the task according to thy will,
Life to produce, and all that lives to kill.
Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase
Of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace;
Send Health with gentle hand, and crown my life
With blest abundance, free from noisy
Last in extreme old age the prey of Death,
Dismiss we willing to the realms beneath,
To thy fair palace, and the blissful plains
Where happy spirits dwell, and Hades reigns.”
(From: Orphic Hymn XXVIII to Proserpine)

______________ say:

“As autumn returns to earth's northern hemisphere,
And day and night are briefly, but perfectly,
Balanced at the equinox,
May we remember anew how fragile life is --
Human life, surely,
But also the lives of all other creatures,
Trees and plants, waters and winds.
May we make wise choices in how and what we harvest,
May earth's weather turn kinder,
May there be enough food for all creatures,
May the diminishing light in our daytime skies
Be met by an increasing compassion and tolerance in our hearts.”

_____________ say:

“This is the time when Demeter mourns! She weeps, she storms, she raves with volcanic fury. In her grief, in her search for Persephone, Demeter withdraws her nurturing presence from the earth. Flowers wilt, fruits die on the vine, and the world becomes cold and barren. Persephone travels to the Underworld, to spend time with her husband; she is no longer the innocence of eternal spring. She is Queen of Hades; within herself she unites birth and death. During this time of harvest, Persephone warns us that winter is coming and sometimes winter appears to have no end.”

Take a moment to reflect on grief and how that ties in with this time of the year. Allow any old grief from the previous year to be acknowledged so that perhaps some of it will be lessened in the year to come.

____________ say:

“So, in the cycle of decline, the Autumn Equinox is at harvest time,
of those ideas that you first planted last Autumn at Samhain.
This is a time of balance, a time of reaping, a time of equality.
May the fruits of your labors of this cycle
serve you well as the light turns towards the dark half of the year,
and the death and rebirth of a new cycle at Samhain.”

_____________ cut the apple in half to show the pentagram inside and say:

“I honor Thee, Persephone, and Thy consort, Hades.
The Wheel has once more turned, and the change of season begins.
What will be is. What was will be.
The Equinox is upon us, and the time to reflect, at hand.
All time comes together, here and now in this sacred space.
We feel the changes as we pass
From one season to the next.
The Second Harvest has been reaped, and the time of rest is deserved.”
(Place half of the apple into the libation dish.)

Take a moment to attune yourself to the changes in the season, the slowing down of
life as everything prepares for winter.

_____________ say:

“During this changing of the year, the changing moon is her dark phase. As we make preparations for the shadow half of the year, the new moon darkly shines as a herald for the season. May the new moon’s hidden face take with it the fears, doubts, or darkness that may have plagued us last season. This way we may enter the New Year with a fresh start and what we have sown will grow to fruition for next year’s harvest.”

_____________ hold up the chest of acorns and say:

"With memories of the summer, so we will never forget warmth,
And aspirations for the colder months to come,
Lest we never stop striving,
We honor Thee, Persephone, with this symbol of Nature,
Keeping it and Thee in our home and hearts,
That we may see it and pause,
To reflect on the Ancient Mysteries,
Leading us to a better understanding of ourselves,
And of others, and all that is Life."

______________ hold the deck of tarot cards and say:

“Speak to us Persephone; only-begotten daughter! Tell us of dreams in the dawn, and the hope of spring in the fields!”

Now pull out three cards to help shed light on what will come in the following
months leading up to Samhain.

____________ say:

“As we leave this ritual, the season shall have changed,
And we will have changed with it.
May we use the short time of the harvest
To draw the strength and power from within.”

______________ hold up the wine and apple and say:

“Behold the gift of the God!
Behold the gift of the Goddess!
Eat and drink; and in the silent mirror of your souls
behold that thou art divine!
May we never hunger! May we never thirst!”

Everyone eat some apple and drink some wine.

______________ say:

“The gods have blessed us. With joy in our hearts, let us return to the realm of mortals to do both their will and ours. Every time we invoke them, they become stronger and more alert to the needs of the folk. Now comes the time when we must prepare to depart. So let us give thanks to those whom we have invited here.”

Say together:

“Persephone, Hades, Great Gods and Goddess;
We thank Thee.
Ancestors, honored dead, kindred;
We thank thee.
Spirits, devas, sidhe;
We thank thee.”

____________ say:

“By the keeper of the Gates and by our magic, we end what we began. Let the Fire be flame, let the Well be water, and may the ways between be shut. Let the gates be closed. As is has been done in the past, as we have done now, as will be done in the future; we have again forged a link in the chain of tradition and the Gods have answered. Let us go out into the world secure with the knowledge that our ritual has pleased the gods and we go forth with Their blessings. This ritual is at a close.”

Everyone say:

"The ritual has ended! So mote it be!"

Ring the bell three times.

Extinguish the candles; pour the contents of the offering dish out near a tree.

Phaedra's Notes:

This is the first ritual that I wrote when starting out in ADF. It doesn't follow the ADF Core Order of Ritual in that I didn't use a Gatekeeper, I didn't do the hallowing correctly, and I didn't silver the well. I did, however, keep the ending of the ritual more similar to an actualy ADF rite. That left me feeling kind of unfinished with the whole ritual and like there was more that I should be doing.

I was really glad to get to do a ritual that was basically for Persephone. She has been a powerful force for me for a very long time (since I started working with Cat's Moon) but I've never really had anything really manifest ritual wise. I've thought about it and even tried to incorporate her into a few rituals but nothing ever worked. I think heika had a hand in this because the first time he ever really manifested any witchy tendencies was to extinguish a candle that I had lit to do a self-purification with that called on Persephone and Demeter.

I'm feeling rather mellow and at peace right now. I didn't get any sudden jolts of energy like I have with other rituals but everything was smooth as silk. I think that perhaps what I was doing before was kind of 'super charging' the area, where as this just sort of blended into the natural energies of the place while allowing us to celebrate the change in season.

We will have to do a few more rituals similar to this one for me to see if I really like it or not. I was worried that I would really miss the more 'Wiccan' aspects of ritual, but I didn't. I did feel that the ending was a little rushed, but that was how it was presented in the ADF rituals that I looked at. I think I'm going to work on stretching it out a little more so that I have a better feeling of closure. Or maybe I'll just adapt to it and understand that the end of ritual is the end of ritual.