Outsider Offerings and Procession
The ritual begins outside, just before sunset. According to the stats that I just found, sunset in Ottawa on the 29th of October is at 4:25pm, so we'll say 4:00 for gathering time, and I'll be aiming to start the ritual at about 4:20 or so. Don't forget Daylight Savings Time ends on the 29th, so this is really 5:00 subjective time.
Talkative Druid: The year has cycled once again, and we have come once again to Samhain, the beginning and the end. For the ancient Celts, it was a three-day long festival between the end of one year and the beginning of the next, manifesting in many ways.
It was to some degree a time of celebration. The work of the harvest was over - and hopefully had gone well. It was to some degree a time of mourning. The summer was over, and while their winters weren't Ottawa winters, they didn't have central heating. And it was in many ways a time of uncertainty, for boundaries were dangerous places to the Celts, and the boundary of the year the most dangerous of them all. It was a time when the dead could come to speak - and it is this, far more than anything else, that survived in the folklore of the Celtic peoples long after most of the old ways had been forgotten, and that has survived to the modern day in the traditions of Hallowe'en. And so, as we try to walk in the ways that our ancestors once walked, we gather at this boundary - a time of risk and opportunity - to remember those who have gone before, and to seek their wisdom.
Druid With Big Stick: We do not forget the dangers of this time, however. We will withdraw inside, to safety, and bar the doors behind us to keep out any who would will us harm. And we acknowledge here and now those spirits abroad this night, who would not join with us peacefully, and who carry malice in their hearts. We leave you this - content yourselves with it, and bother us not tonight.
Druid With Big Stick throws grain as far away from the door as possible. The people process relatively quietly (so as not to totally freak people in my apartment building out) up to my apartment, locking the door behind. Get people into the apartment with relatively little chaos.
Cosmology - Fires and Well
Druid With Big Stick: The doors are locked, and the ways are barred to those who would enter without invitation. And to the south, the entry point to the outside, I light a fire for protection. May its light burn bright, to keep away all danger. Big Stick Druid lights big candle in the south.
Divining Druid: I bring this water, water brought from the river to the North, water which shall be returned to it. Let our words and offerings be carried by the water to the realm of the dead.
Talkative Druid: And in the centre of the people, I light new fire - a sacred fire, a fire for the Gods. May it carry our words to them, and may we feel their blessings in its flickering flame.
Grove Attunement
Meditative Druid says something meaningful here about breathing, the fire, and the well. I should write something out, probably, as a basis for it.
Opening of Gates
Gatekeeping Druid:
Mannanan mac Lir
Lord of the Misty Gates
Lord of the Isle of Apples
Lord of the Blessed Lands
I call to you
Mannanan mac Lir
Through the mists of the Otherworld
I search for you
I seek you out
A Mhannanan mac Lir, a tighearna na ngeatai, oscail na geatai duinn.
Mannanan mac Lir
Lord of the Gates I call to you
Stride through the mists
Your sword Answerer held high
Cut a path through the mists
Show us the way
Come to me, I call to you.
A Mhannanan mac Lir, a tighearna na ngeatai, oscail na geatai duinn.
Mannanan mac Lir
Lord of the Gates
Before you I stand
I ask for your permission
To open the Gates so that we may honour the Kindreds
I ask for your permission
To part the ways so we may walk the mists
A Mhannanan mac Lir, a tighearna na ngeatai, oscail na geatai duinn.
Mannanan mac Lir
Lord of the Gates
Son of the Ninth Wave
I call to thee
I offer you coins for safe passage
Silver for your wide-ranging sea
Accept this offering, oh my Lord
A Mhannanan mac Lir, a tighearna na ngeatai, oscail na geatai duinn.
Mannanan mac Lir
Lord of the Gates
Foster father of Lugh,
It is time
With your permission now given
Join your magic with mine
Let the fire shine as a gate
Let the well flow as a gate
By your will and mine, Mannanan mac Lir,
Let the Gates be opened!
A Mhannanan mac Lir, a tighearna na ngeatai, oscail na geatai duinn!
Kindred Offerings
Nature Druid walks to big balcony door, and opens it. Druid With Big Stick stands behind Nature Druid, right next to the protective Southern fire.
Nature Druid: Spirits of Nature, hear me now. I stand at the edge of our space, and I invite all of you who will respect and not hinder our work. We honour you. Without you, neither we nor our ancestors could have lived. We leave offering here - enter and join us if you will.
Nature Druid leaves bowl of milk inside the doorway, and goes back to the rest of the people. People chant "Fur And Feather" three times. (I'll have chant lyrics separately available.) Druid With Big Stick keeps watching the door intently. Talkative Druid goes to the central fire, and stands behind it, facing towards the open door.
Talkative Druid: Ancient Gods, hear me now. All of you who are still friendly to us, who bear us no ill will, and who will aid and not hinder our work tonight, I invite you into this space, and I make offerings to you. On this night of all nights, when the walls between the worlds are thin, enter and join with us. It is warm by the fire, and it is cold outside.
Talkative Druid burns herbs and resins in the central fire, and returns to his/her place. People chant "Hail to the Gods" three times. Diviner Druid goes and stands behind the well, facing the open door.
Diviner Druid: Ancestors, Spirits of the Dead, hear me now. I speak to those that we remember. I speak to those who are kin through ties of blood. I speak to those who are kin through ties of friendship. I speak to those who first lived in this land, and to those who came and made it their own. I speak to those who first followed the path that we now try to relearn. If you bear us no ill will, and if you come in peace, I invite you into this space. Come and share your wisdom and memory with us. We offer you these coins, tokens of esteem.
Diviner Druid puts coins in well. People chant "Mothers and Fathers of Old" three times. Druid With Big Stick waits a bit, and once again closes and locks the door.
Specific Offerings
Talkative Druid: If anyone has offerings to make, let them do so now.
Wait as necessary while people make offerings.
Taking of Omen
Talkative Druid: As we have made offerings, we ask for wisdom in return. Ancestors, we ask for the voice of your experience. We ask you for your knowledge of times about which we can only try to imagine. We ask you for the words which only those truly outside our world can dispassionately make. We ask you what we must focus on - where you feel we should place our energies - in order to better learn and practice the old ways we profess.
Diviner Druid performs reading, and then interprets it. We hope that it's not a "we're all doomed!" kind of reading, and if it is then we listen and take heed, and think an awful lot about it afterwards.
Sharing of the Cup
Talkative Druid: We have spoken to the Gods and to our Ancestors, and they have spoken with us. We stand in pride, honour, and friendship with the Kindreds. And to seal that friendship, we share this cup with them. Let us drink in wisdom. Let us drink in strength. Let us drink in inspiration.
Diviner Druid pours from the cup into the well, and passes it to Talkative Druid, who pours just a little onto the candle, and passes it to Nature Druid, who pours some into the milk bowl. Then the cup is passed around the gathered folk.
Talkative Druid: We have made offerings to the Kindreds, we have heard their words, and we have shared the cup of friendship with them. Every time that we offer to them, they become more aware of us, and more aware of our needs. And so, we thank them, and bid them farewell until we meet again.
Thanks to Ancestors and Kindreds
Diviner Druid: Ancestors, we thank you. Your paths have brought us to where we are today. As we remember your wisdom, let us also work to leave a legacy for those who will follow us. We thank you for your presence - stay if you will, go if you must.
Druid With Big Stick unlocks and opens the big window door again, during this section, and stands watching it.
Talkative Druid: Ancient Gods, we thank you for your inspiration and your example. Let us continue to learn about you, to better follow your ways. We thank you for your presence - stay if you will, go if you must.
Nature Druid: Spirits of Nature, who nourish us and clothe us, who are Danu's children, we pray that we may watch over you better in the future than we have in the past. We thank you for your presence - stay if you will, go if you must.
Druid With Big Stick waits a bit, and then closes and locks the door again.
Closing of Gates and Grounding
Gatekeeper Druid:
The mists begin to close
As we walk the path back home
Mannanan mac Lir, I take your hand
And I thank you for our journey
We must tarry no longer
So I ask you Mannanan
To once again join your magic with mine
And let us close the gates
Let the fire be only fire
Let the well be simple water
By your will and by mine,
Let the gates be closed.
Meditative Druid: Lead people out of mild trance that they hopefully might be in.
Talkative Druid: We have worshipped the Gods, and it is well. This ritual is ended.
Submitted by Ian Clysdale on Sun, 29/10/2000 - 7:30pm.