{"collection":"bos","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bos/bos440.htm","path":"bos/bos440.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bos/bos440.htm","text":"Internet Book of Shadows, (Various Authors), [1999]\n \n \n \n \n WCC BELTANE RITUAL \n By Lynna Landstreet\n \n \n Personnel required:\n \n Several drummers and other musicians if possible. A priest and\n priestess who will represent the God & Goddess (and should be\n garbed\n appropriately), referred to herein as P & PS, plus a priest or\n priestess who will read the meditation and \"stage-manage\" the\n ritual\n (referred to herein as \"N\" for Narrator)\n \n Tools/Supplies required:\n \n Very few. Thereshould be afire in the centreof the circle,and \n a chalice of wine and a bowl of Nine Holy Herbs spray or other\n concentrated alcohol (we ended up using Jamaican overproof rum,\n which worked very well -- flared up about six feet high!).\n \n Bring in the people and have them sit. Have the musicians sit together\n in an inner semi-circle, behind the Narrator. One drummer should be\n playing a slow, hypnotic heartbeat during the first party of the\n ritual. The priest and priestess who will represent the God and\n Goddess should be hiding near the circle, and approach when the part\n about them drawing near begins.\n \n N: \"Beltane means many things. It is a celebration of spring coming\n into full flower, of the return of the Goddess from the underworld,\n the\n mating time of the animals, the return of the sun, and many other\n things. Above all, it is a celebration of life. But for us, here in\n this community, it is also the time when we leave the confines of our\n building and return to the temple of the forest.\n \"Wicca is a nature religion, but too often we worship in concrete\n cages, cut off from that nature, and from our own natures. And as we\n have now returned to nature in our choice of ritual site, I ask you\n tonight to return to nature in your hearts and minds as well, for the\n ways of the world within walls are not necessarily the same as the\n ways of the world outside.\n \"We meet in a small fragment of forest, within acity park. But\n now, I ask you to forget the city that surrounds us. In your mind's\n eye, let the city fade away and the forest extend on and on, covering\n the land that only moments ago was buried under concrete. For once\n this land was wild, and covered with trees, not buildings. Once the\n rivers and streams ran free, and the air was fresh and fragrant with\n the scent of cedar and sweet fern, not fouled by car exhaust and\n factory smoke. And it may be that one day, it will be so again, we\n have no way of knowing.\n \"But for now, picture the forest extending on and on,as far as\n you\n can imagine, in all directions. The great wild forest surrounds and\n embraces us, and we are the people of the forest.\n \"Herein the greatwild forest, we haveno need ofa sword to cast\n \n 1936\n \n \n \n the circle, for we have each other, our hands, our minds, our bodies.\n Join hands, and breathe in deeply, and breathe out, as one. Feel the\n circle being formed now by our touch, the energy leaping from hand to\n hand, deosil, around the circle. Feel it forming, a place set apart\n from the trials of daily life, a sacred, wild place...\n \"Here in the great wild forest, we have no need of a besom to\n cleanse our circle, for we meet in the wilderness, which is already\n clean and pure, and by its touch are we made clean and pure ourselves.\n Feel all fears, doubts and negativities ebbing away from you, as the\n forest absorbs them and transforms them to good...\n \"Here in the great wild forest, we have no need of incense to\n purify\n our circle, for we have the arching sky above our grove, and the\n rushing\n wind that ruffles our hair and caresses our skin. Breathe deeply, and\n take the wind and the sky into yourself. The spirits of the air are\n here\n always, it is we who have come to their place. Greet them, now,\n silently, in your own way...\n \"Here in the great wild forest, we have no need of a candle to\n purify our circle, for we have the balefire in the centre of our\n circle, and the stars above. See the leaping flames now, hear their\n crackle, and see them reflected in the tiny fires in the sky above us.\n Feel their warmth, and take them into yourself. The spirits of the\n fire are here always, it is we who have come to their place. Greet\n them, now, silently, in your own way...\n \"Here in the great wild forest, we have no need of a water bowl to\n purify our circle, for we have the rushing stream in the valley beside\n us, and the dew that moistens the grass. Hear the water's call, now,\n feel the rising dampness in the air, and take it into yourself. The\n spirits of the water are here always, it is we who have come to their\n place. Greet them, now, silently, in your own way...\n \"Herein the great wildforest, we have no needof salt to purify\n our circle, for we have the earth itself, beneath us, and the firmness\n of our own flesh and bones. Feel the solidity, the vastness, of the\n earth, and take it into yourself. The spirits of the earth are here\n always, it is we who have come to their place. Greet them, now,\n silently, in your own way...\n \"Open yourself, now, to the pulseof life all around you. It is\n there, if you can free your spirit enough to sense it. Feel the life\n straining to be born in every sprouting seed, the exhilaration of the\n blossoms bursting from their buds on the trees, the joy of the very\n grass itself, of every bush and shrub and piece of moss, greening\n again as the earth is warmed by the sun, as the life-giving rains fall\n from the sky, and all of nature is borne into the ecstatic dance of\n life's return. And feel, in the midst of it all, the presence of the\n Lord and Lady, who are the soul of all nature, the consciousness of\n the wild, the beauty of the green earth, the sun and moon and stars,\n and the mystery of the waters. Feel them approaching! Even now, they\n near our circle, drawn by our love and our joy in their creation. Feel\n their power, their nearness... they approach... they come... THEY ARE\n HERE!\"\n \n Narrator throws the Nine Holy Herbs into the fire. Asit flares\n up,\n the drummersbegin todrum, and thepriest and priestessrepresen \n ting the God and Goddess runinto the circle and beginto dance \n wildly around the fire. After a couple ofrounds, they each pull \n someone in from the circle to dancewith them a few rounds, then \n each of the four pull other people in, and so on, until the whole \n \n 1937\n \n \n \n circle is up and dancing (in high school they called this a snowball \n dance, remember?).\n \n As the dance reaches its peak, the priest and priestess take the\n chalice,and hold it up above theheads of the dancers to charge\n it\n (this ismade easier if yourcircle site is surroundedby park \n benches likeours is). If theenergy is really happening,a formal \n wineblessing shouldn't be necessary, butone may be performed \n anyway if desired. When the wine has beencharged, the narrator \n calls \"Down!\" and people fall to the ground.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 1938\n \n \n \n N \"Feel the energy swirling up and up above us, forming a fiery\n cone.\n See it explode in a shower of fireworks, the energy spiraling down to\n the earth like shooting stars, adding power to the transformation that\n is already underway, blending with the energy of every leaf and bud\n and\n blossom to aid in the greening of the earth. (Pause) Now rise, and\n join\n hands once again.\"\n \n Priest and priestess take chalice around circle, and kiss each\n person before giving it to them, while people sing:\n \n \"Powers of the Earth\n Powers taking form\n Rising to rebirth,\n Rising to be born.\"\n \n When chalice returns, pour libation into the fire.\n \n N \"We need not bid farewell to our Gods, nor to the spirits that\n surround us, the wind, the fire, the stream, or the earth, for they\n are\n always here. It is we who shall take our leave of them, later on, and\n when we do, each of us shall say our own farewell, in our own words.\n But for now -- LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!!!\"\n \n People feast, dance, make merry, etc.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 1939","title":"Internet Book of Shadows: Beltane Ritual (Lynna Landstree...","type":"page"}