To Walk a Pagan Path: Practical Spirituality for Every Day (9 page)

These offerings should later be poured out onto the earth. In

an outdoor ritual the offerings are individually poured onto

the earth as libations.

Up to seven
gebedmenn
(prayer-leaders) can have active

roles in the ritual. If there are fewer than seven participants, individual gebedmenn may take more than one part. For that

matter, one person can perform this devotional ritual alone.

You will need:

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• A fire or (if indoors) a charcoal and a burner to hold it.

• Fennel seeds.

• A small quantity of natural pressed vegetable oil.

• A small quantity of honey.

• A small quantity of whole milk.

*

The
finol gebedmann
(fennel prayer-leader) sprinkles a pinch of fennel seeds into the fire (or onto the burning coal), saying:

Herthe, Divine Goddess, Mother Nature,

Who generates all things

And brings forth anew the Sun,

which you have given to the nations.

*

Now the
sceadu gebedmann
(shadow prayer-leader) says:

Guardian of sky and sea, of all Gods and powers;

Through your power all Nature falls silent,

and then sinks into sleep.

And again you bring back the light, and chase away the night,
And you cover us yet most securely with your shadows.

*

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The
storm gebedmann
(storm prayer-leader) comes forward and says:

You contain chaos infinite, yes, and wind and showers and storms.

You send them out when you will and cause the sea to roar;

You chase away the Sun and arouse the storm.

*

Following this, the
lif gebedmann
(life prayer-leader) says:
Again, when you will, you send forth the joyous day

And give the nourishment of Life with your eternal surety.

And when the soul departs, to you we return.

*

The
ele gebedmann
(oil prayer-leader) pours a libation of oil while saying:

You are duly called the Great Mother of the Gods;

You conquer by your divine name.

You are the source of strength of nations and of gods.

*

The
hunig gebedmann
(honey prayer-leader) steps forward and pours a libation of honey, saying:

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Without you nothing can be brought to perfection of be born;
You are great, Queen of the Gods.

*

The
meolc gebedmann
(milk prayer-leader) pours a libation of whole milk and says:

Goddess, I adore you as divine;

I call upon your name

And give thanks to you, with due faith.

*

At this time the finol gebedmann may invite any who wish

to do so to speak their own personal words of praise, or to

make oaths to honor or protect the earth in some way. This

is a good time to reaffirm a commitment to Hal Sidu by

oathing to make some specific change in your lifestyle that

will lead to a more holistic, positive existence.

Finally the meolc gebedmann concludes the ritual by

saying:

Hail to you Herthe, Mother of Men and Gods.

To which all participants respond with a hearty “Wassail!”

I am a Saxon Pagan, so my Earth Day ritual includes

Anglo-Saxon words and draws its inspiration from Old

English writings, but anyone, whatever the source of his or

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her spiritual inspiration, can devise a similar rite to honor the earth every year on April 22nd.

*

Ideally, when you have met the challenge of devising a sacral

calendar that is true to yourself, yours will not look exactly

like everyone else’s because our individual relationships with

the world around us are shaped by a variety of factors. Your

own sacral calendar should reflect your spiritual orientation,

your physical environment and the greater society in which

you participate.

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Having a sacral calendar that reflects your environment and

your spiritual focus is more meaningful than following a “one

size fits all” wheel of the year, but every day of the year—no

matter how ordinary—can be invested with your spirituali-

ty. The holistic Pagan lives fully in the moment. Rather than

waiting for a special calendar date to give praise to the gods

and ancestors, each day is embraced as a new opportunity for

spiritual expression.

Perhaps you already do this. How, if at all, have you

expressed your spirituality today? Is it something you do every day, or was it a special or sporadic activity? Like your sacral calendar, you should approach each day in a way that is appropri-

ate for your own spiritual focus and circumstances. Almost any

moment of your life can have a deeper spiritual meaning, but

those moments are unique to yourself. My day—influenced

by my household and my means of support—is different from

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yours, just as your day is at least slightly different from that of most of your friends.

Whether we dash off to an office, or to school, or enjoy

a leisurely cup of coffee, or take the dog for a walk, the one thing most of us do each morning is arise to face a new

day. Some people begin the day at an odd hour due to their

occupational schedule, but the majority of us awaken in

the morning. This event, so common and simple, is a great

opportunity to affirm your spirituality. Some Pagans like to

meditate in the morning, believing it better prepares them

for the coming day. It need not be a lengthy meditation; ten

minutes can be more than enough. If time is an issue, set

your alarm fifteen minutes earlier, meditate for ten minutes

and then enjoy the extra five minutes of free time that you

have given yourself.

A morning meditation is a great way to start the day—for

some people. It does not work for everyone. You may be one

of those people who are more likely to fall back asleep if you

attempt to meditate that early in the day. If so, you can still sacralize the first moments of your day by connecting with

Spirit with a short but sincere prayer.

I prefer to meditate later in the day, and instead greet the

morning with a prayer. And I readily confess that I am not

a “morning person”, so it is best, for myself, if the words

are prepared and ready to come from my lips. I am not very

good at extemporaneous speaking when I first wake up. For

this reason, I have a set prayer that I like to use in the morning. The prayer is to the goddess Sunne, sovereign spirit of

the sun. As I address her, I usually mark the
sigel
rune in the f 62 2

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air with my right hand.
Sigel
is the Anglo-Saxon rune that represents the sun.

S

The wording of the prayer is:

Hail to you, Sunne,

Jewel of the Heavens,

Rightly are you called the Glory of Elves!

Bright and fair,

Sailors’ prayer,

Love’s light woven through your hair.

Giver of life, to you I pray,

Guide my steps throughout this day.

My spiritual path is Saxon, and the words reflect this very

well. The phrase “sailors’ prayer” is inspired by the passage in the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem that tells us “the sun, for sailors,

is always hoped for when they depart over the fishes’ bath”

(
sigel sæmannum simble biþ on hihte, þonne híe hine fériaþ ofer
fisces bæþ
). The expressions “Glory of Elves” and “Jewel of the Heavens” are old Germanic kennings for the sun.

A morning prayer to Sunne is appropriate for me as a

Saxon Pagan, but the spirituality of a Hellenic (Greek) Pagan

would be better reflected in a prayer to Helios, the Greek god

of the sun, while a Kemetic (Egyptian) Pagan might direct

his or her morning prayer to Ra. The Irish Pagan could pray

to the goddess Éadaoin. The Slavic Pagan to Dazhbog. These

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are all, of course, sun deities within their respective cultures.

The form of the prayer and any gestures associated with it

should also be culturally appropriate. Obviously a Kemetic

Pagan is not going to mark the
sigel
rune while praying to Ra, since the Anglo-Saxon runes do not express Kemetic spirituality, but an
akhet
(the Egyptian symbol of the horizon where the sun rises) might be worn or held during the prayer.

While it is important that your morning prayer reflect

your spiritual path, the deity you pray to does not necessar-

ily need to be a solar or dawn deity. An Irish Pagan can offer

a morning prayer to Éadaoin, but the prayer can as easily be

directed to Brigid or the Dagda if that person has a strong

connection to either of the deities. A Kemetic devotee of Isis

might choose to direct a prayer to that goddess rather than to

the sun god Ra. Here again, the important thing is that your

prayer be true to your spiritual path. A solar deity from your

cultural pantheon is an obvious choice to address in a morn-

ing prayer, but you are essentially giving thanks for a new

day and all that it may bring, and that prayer can be directed

to whatever god or goddess you feel a connection with.

SINGING IN THE SHOWER

Early morning is just one of many moments throughout the

day that can be invested with meaning through prayer. If you

find that praying just after you wake up is little more than an exercise in somnambulism, if your morning prayer sounds

more like a discordant growl, it might be more effective for

you to greet the day a little later.

You may find it easier and more meaningful to pray after

you have had a cup of coffee and have rubbed the crusty bits

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of sleep from the corners of your eyes. If so, the morning

shower is another good time to greet the day. While show-

ering is a very physical, material act, on a spiritual level you are also washing away the previous day and preparing yourself for what awaits in your immediate future. If you invest

the act of showering with your spirituality, it becomes a sort

of ritual in itself. You might use a prayer to your ancestors, such as this:

Beloved ancestors,

Mothers who gave birth to my mothers,

fathers who sired my fathers,

Wash away all that would impede me;

diminish all that might pollute me.

As the life-giving water flows over me,

refresh and renew my spirit

That I might through my actions give you due honor

Throughout the coming day.

Or instead of a spoken prayer, you may be inspired to

greet the day with song. Do it! There is a reason why so

many people like to sing as they shower. The design of a

shower stall often gives an acoustic effect that enhances the

human voice. There are many Pagan songs written by var-

ious artists today. Your own song of praise could even be a

secular song like “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from Rod-

gers and Hammerstein’s
Oklahoma
. What matters is that the song expresses in some way your joy and gratitude for the

new day.

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If you have any talent for it at all, try creating your own

words and melody for a song of praise. People do it all the

time. That is where new Pagan songs come from.

Transforming your daily shower into a ritual shower can

enhance your personal Pagan practice, but this same con-

cept—spiritual cleansing—can be extended to small rites of

purification throughout the day. Wash your hands with a

short prayer just before beginning any project. This is espe-

cially appropriate for Pagans who follow a Hellenic path. Rit-

ual cleansing and changing into clean clothing is traditional

for Hellenic rituals of any kind (Burkert, page 55). Do you

need to write a term paper? Wash your hands in a rite of