For this year's Autumn Equinox, I did a solo ADF ritual based on the COoR as outlined in the Dedicant Program Handbook pg. 60. I chose to honour the Hellenic hearth.
0 - Preliminary Rites
A) Claiming and Hallowing the Sacred Space:
Lit the fire, poured fresh water into the well, censed the tree and the room with a smudge stick, cast barley onto the altar.
B) Preliminary Meditation:
Explained aloud my intentions for the ritual, to honour the Autumn Equinox and the harvest season, acknowledge the Elusinian Mysteries, and specifically Demeter, Persephone and Dionysus. Closed my eyes and worked through the Two Powers meditation from memory.
I - The Procession and Opening Prayers
A) Musical Signal and Call to the Grove:
Rang a bell three times and circumambulated the space.
A1) Optional: Purification of the Folk:
Dipped my fingers in the well and drew a triskel on my brow with the waters
B) Opening Prayer:
Sang "We approach the sacred grove”.
C) Earth Mother Offering:
Honoured Demeter as goddess of agriculture, fertility, grain crops, the earth, and maternal relationships. Sang "Earth Mother I sing to your body" song three times and "Mother I feel you" nine times. Offered oats.
II - Opening the Grove
A) The Grove Attunement:
Sang "Well of Memory" by Diane Emerald Vaughn
B) Described the season, that this is the time when the grains are sown for the coming year, and the crops continue to be harvested. This is also the time that wine grapes are heavy on the vine.
Described some of the traditions I've experienced as a neopagan, including decorating the altar with many different coloured fallen leaves, acorns and pinecones, harvesting rowan berries, cooking with pumpkin and squash, picking apples (while avoiding hungry/irate wasps), preserving herbs, fruits and veggies for the winter.
Described the Gods, Persephone as goddess of rebirth, maidens, youth, beauty, and the underworld, and Dionysus as god of rebirth, wine, intoxication, madness and ecstasy.
C) Honoring the Sacred Center:
Sang "Fire, Bright Fire" song three times while acknowledging the representations of fire, well and tree on the shrine. Silvered the well, dropped essential oil into the fire and decorated around the tree with a coloured leaf, acorn and pinecone.
D) Opening the Gates:
Called upon Cerberus, as the three-headed hound who guards the gates to the underworld, and the Horae as the goddesses time and the seasons, and gatekeepers of Olympus, to open the gates with "Gatekeeper Open the Portals" song. Lit an incense offering to the gatekeepers and visualized the portals opening for the kindred to emerge. Declared "The gates are open!"
III - Offering to the Powers:
A) Triad Offerings:
Lit an incense offering to the gods, ancestors and nature spirits with the song "Gods and dead and mighty sidhe". Called the names of my matrons, cherished ancestors and several nature spirits of land, sea and sky.
B) Key Offerings:
1) Descriptive Invocation and offerings to the Patron Powers of the rite:
Called upon Persephone, and recalled the story of how she was taken by Hades to become Queen of the Underworld for half the year.
Called upon Dionysus, and recalled his processions of maenads and satyrs, his thyrsus and fox skin, "whose wine, music and ecstatic dance frees his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subverts the oppressive restraints of the powerful"-wikipedia.org, "Dionysus"
2) Praise Offerings:
Offered poetry to Persephone (an excerpt from "Persephone, Goddess of Spring and the Underworld" by Tianie Bessent, http://paganandproudofit.com/Persephone-Goddess-of-Spring-and-the-Underworld.html )
"With Autumn’s call, you descend into the darkness.
You take up your torch and become Persephone, the light bearer, the way shower.
Bearing the fruit of life, you go down into the shadows
To bring comfort to the shades waiting there.
You plumb the depths and unearth riches beyond imagining.
You give healing to those who come to you, suffering.
You give us the crown of wisdom when our suffering is ended.
You are the light in the darkness, the guide along the way.
You give rest to the weary and succor to the suffering.
You are the voice in the dark depths of the Self."
Offered wine to Dionysus, thanking him for his gifts of grapes and wine, freedom, madness and ecstacy.
C) Prayer of Sacrifice:
Offered whole grain cookies and an apple to the kindreds, saying:
To Persephone, who rules from below, and has caused a beautiful spring and summer, which now come to an end. To Dionysus,who rules from within, and reminds us that there is light, warmth and life inside us when the world seems cold, dark, and barren. To all the kindred, I honour you as the wheel turns, and thank you for your continued blessings. Please accept my sacrifice!
D) Taking of omen:
Shuffled the oracle deck while focusing on the fire candle and asked for omens for the near future. Drew three cards. Recieved: The Sun in Pisces in the 5th house
From the Gods:
Blessing: The creation of / spirituality to ultimately experience / the power of love.
Message: Demonstrate / your dreams / with the trust of a child.
From the Ancestors:
Blessing: The gaining of respect for or from / trusting your psychic knowledge of / investment gambling and other games.
Message: Realize / your idealization of / fun, romance and making art.
From the Nature Spirits:
Blessing: Things brought to life or light / resulting from the indecision of or about / your creations.
Message: Act like a leader / be a part of something overwhelming and / do it dramatically.
IV: The Blessing
A) Meditation on the Omen:
Closed my eyes and asked for visions of the blessings.
B) Calling for the blessing:
“Ancient and Mighty ones, I have honoured you. Now I pray you honour me in turn, as a gift calls for a gift. I thirst for the waters of wisdom, bounty and rebirth, from the bosom of the Earth Mother, for the blessings of loving spirituality, respectable intuition, and the unveiling aspects of indecision. I open my heart to the blessings of the Great ones, and pray you hallow these waters.”
C) Hallowing the Waters:
Poured the waters into my chalice, held the chalice in the air and visualized the gods, ancestors and spirits charging the waters with their blessings. Sang “Pour the waters, raise the cup” chorus three times.
D) Receiving the Blessing:
Sang "Power of the spirits" song three times as I drank thrice from the cup. Visualized each of the blessings entering me and running through my body.
VI) Closing and Ending:
A) Affirmation of success:
Acknowledged the feelings of loving spirituality, respectable intuition, and the unveiling aspects of indecision in myself, blessings and magic harvested and preserved within me.
B) Thanking the powers:
Gave thanks to Persephone and Dionysus, Demeter, Cerberus, the Horae, the nature spirits, ancestors and gods for their presence and blessings. Said "Go if you must, stay if you will, I bid you farewell".
D) Closing the gates:
Asked Cerberus and the Horae as Gatekeepers to close the gates, clapped thrice to signify the closure.
E) Final Blessing and announcement of ending:
Said "Blessings be upon all who have attended this rite. The rite has ended. " And rang the bell three times. Extinguished the Fire.
Followed the ritual with music, wine and dancing.
Reflection:
I confused certain parts of the ritual for other parts, and had to repeat myself a few times, to do it in the order I wanted to / meant to. For example, I sang "fire bright fire" at the very beginning when I was establishing the cosmos, rather than saving it for later on when I was consecrating the hallows. So I sang it for both.
I really enjoyed working with the Hellenic hearth again, because the deities keep calling to me to honour them (as well as Egyptian deities, who are excluded from being the deities of the occasion in my ADF rites. I sometimes wonder if Neos Alexandria is a better place for me to put my spiritual energy, but ADF just really works for me. But I feel a little silly doing anything other than "Celtic stuff" as a druid and I have to get over that. But I digress.)
I called several gatekeepers this time, which I'm not sure if it's legit or not, but it seemed like the right thing to do. I called Cerberus, guardian of the Underworld, and the Horae, gatekeepers of Olympos. I didn't have a gatekeeper for the tree/otherworld portal so I called to Pan spontaneously (which I don't have written down on my script) and I'm not sure if he's a suitable gatekeeper deity because I haven't researched him at all, but I think he wanted to join the fun, and since he has a few references in the pagan revival, I don't mind.
My Earth mother, appropriately, was Demeter, who ushers in Winter when her beloved Persephone (one of my DotO) descends to sit as Hades' Queen. I felt it was appropriate to scatter barley on the altar (which I realized I didn't have, so I substituted oats) before I called her, so I added that to my preliminary rites. I believe that it was common to do this at a festival, but I'm not sure which one, and I can't even remember if it's a Hellenic thing, but it just felt right. I should really get my research under control, but spontaneity wins.
My deities of the occasion were Persephone, whose descent begets autumn and winter, and Dionysus, who keeps us warm and happy through the dark season. Both are deities of rebirth, so at this time of the waning sun, as I say goodbye to the fair weather, I gladly recall that summer will come again next year, and with it all the fruit and flowers I care to enjoy.
I had trouble with my meditation, since there was so much information packed into my oracle reading, it was a really dense and slightly confusing reading with many different perspectives. What I got out of it was that I should continue my journey toward my goals/dreams, I need to push myself to be more active in my destiny in a variety of ways and if I do, I will flourish.
