Staff arrives at 5pm and takes over the space.
Prepair the Ritual area, HP/HPS -Set up altar, Quarters- Set up quarter shrines, Graces- puts up signs.
HP/HPS bring Altar tools
Quarter people bring stuff to decorate shrines
Local Community leaders bring fliers for their organizations
Psychopomp bring mailing list print out and sign up sheets, Boxes for Donations and Suggestions.
Graces guard doors - 2 on the main entrance one on the handicap access. Side door locked.
Signs for all three doors. "Eostar Cerimony all welcome please use Corner entrance"
Sign for Parlor Door "Ritual in Progress do not enter"
Staff do one last run through.
5:55 Quarters, HP and HPS start purification.
6PM Psychopomp begins Pre Rit Rap
Goes over basic etiquette, special issues- chairs, lactose and wheat issues goes over ritual Chant Leader teaches chants, Drummer Drums
Staff in Ritual space set up 2 purifying gates (Air/Fire, Water/Earth) and greeting (HP/HPS)
signals PP when ritual space is ready.
PP: Finishes up pre Rit rap
Drummer -drums
Chant Leader leads chant -two verses, then knock on door.
Chant:
"Hoof and Horn, Hoof and Horn
All that dies shall be reborn
Corn and Grain, Corn and Grain
All that falls shall rise again"
Door opens - all process through Chant Leader and Drummer lead , PP last
Make sure people keep chanting in Circle.
Psychopomp: "Now we cast the circle"
Circle Caster " We cast this Circle thrice around
Once for the Holly King whose dark kingdom gives us rest in promise of renewal
Once for the Mother whose fertile soil is the cauldron of rebirth
Once for the Green Man whose rebirth is fulfilment of the of the Holly King's promise"
All say, in turn "I dream this Circle into Being"
CC: "The Circle is cast, We are between the worlds. Let all who enter enter in love. Let all who leave leave in peace."
PP: "Now we call the spirits of East/South/West/North"
Quarter Calls (repeat 4 times)
PP: "Now we call the Divine Feminine"
HPS: invoke Earth Mother
PP: "Now we call the Divine Masculine"
HP: invoke John Barleycorn
HP: "Sit, and listen as my story is sung..."
Drummer drums
Singer sings : "John Barleycorn must die"
There were three men came out of the westHP: "The grain grows in the fields."
Their fortunes for to try,
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die.
They've ploughed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head,
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn was dead.
They let him lie for a very long time
Till the rains from Heaven did fall,
And little Sir John sprung up his head
And so amazed them all.
They've let him stand till Midsummer's day,
Till he looked both pale and wan.
And little Sir John's grown a long, long beard
And so become a man.
They've hired men with the scythes so sharp,
To cut him off at the knee,
They've rolled him and tied him by the waist,
Serving him most barbarously.
They've hired men with the sharp pitchforks,
Who pricked him through the heart
And the loader, he has served him worse than that,
For he's bound him to the cart.
They've wheeled him around and around a field,
Till they came unto a barn,
And there they made a solemn oath
On poor John Barleycorn
They've hired men with the crab-tree sticks,
To cut him skin from bone,
And the miller, he has served him worse than that,
For he's ground him between two stones.
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl
And his brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl
Proved the strongest man at last
The huntsman, he can't hunt the fox
Nor so loudly to blow his horn,
And the tinker, he can't mend kettle nor pots
without a little barley corn
HP: "Though it dies each year with the harvest still it rises again each spring, to nurture and sustain us. What are your needs? what nurtures and sustains you? what is your "John Barleycorn"? Come up and plant some barleycorn so that as the seeds sprout and grow so to will that which sustains you sprout and grow. Now we can let every one approach and speak their peace"
Drummer does soft heartbeat
Everyone who wants to comes up and plants grain.
PP:"Has everyone who wanted to planted their seeds?"
PP: "let us all stand"
Drummer starts drumming for "Horned One"
Chant :
"Horned One, Lover, Son,
Leaper in the Corn
Deep in the Mother
Die and be reborn"
Energy Raising, chanting leading to ecstatic dancing
Chant: Horned One energy levels monitored and controlled by drums.
When energy peaks, drums abruptly stop.
PP: "Let the excess energy drain from your body into the earth, feeding the seeds that will soon rise."
PP: "Now we bless the cakes and wine"
HP/HPS, QRTS: Come forward (East and West make sure you know who is coming forward)
HP/HPS Great Rite variant will be Braided Wheel version (two chalices, two wands, both HP and HPS standing) Two chalices, cider and Grain beverage
1. HP/HPS perform the Great Rite, blessing the wine
HPS: "Be it known that no man is greater than a woman"
HP: "Nor is a woman greater than a man"
HPS: "For what one lacks…"
HP: "…the other can provide."
HPS:"As the Wand is to the male…"
HP:"…so the Chalise is to the female"
HP/HPS: "And when the two are joined they become one in truth
(lower wands into chalises)
for there is no greater magic in all the world than that of Love"
2. HP Offers wine to HPS "May you never thirst"
3. HPS offers wine to HP "May you never thirst"
4a. HP offers wine to E, and gives chalice to E "May you never thirst"
4b. HPS offers wine to W, and gives chalice to W "May you never thirst"
5a. E offers wine to S "May you never thirst"
5b. W offers wine to N "May you never thirst"
HP/HPS Bread Blessing complements the Great Rite. Two plates, two knives
6. HP/HPS Bless the cakes
HPS:"By the virtue of this knife"
HP:"Be filled with wisdom and with life"
HPS:"Grain that Mother Earth doth give"
HP: "Sown and reaped that we may live"
HPS: "And as the seed lies hid in earth"
HP: "In death is promise of rebirth"
HPS: "By earth and water, Wind and Flame"
HP: "Be blessed in the old ones names"
(plunge knives into cakes.)
7. HPS offers cakes to HP "May you never hunger"
8. HP offers cakes to HPS "May you never hunger"
9a. HP offers cakes to N, and gives plate to N "May you never hunger"
9b. HPS offers cakes to S, and gives plate to S "May you never hunger"
10a. N offers cakes to E "May you never hunger"
10b. S offers cakes to W "May you never hunger"
11. E, S, W, N return to their quarters
12. E, S, W, N walk the circle, offering wine or cakes to each participant in turn, for one full circle.
"May you never thirst"
"May you never hunger"
13. E, S, W, N return to center, and drop off wine and cakes.
PP: "Now we say farewell to the Divine Masculine"
HP: God Dismissal
PP: "Now we say farewell to the Divine Feminine "
HPS: Goddess Dismissal
PP: Now we say farewell to the spirits of the North
PP: Now we say farewell to the spirits of the West
PP: Now we say farewell to the spirits of the South
PP: Now we say farewell to the spirits of the East
Dragon: "This Circle was formed by dreams.
Let us carry our dreams into the World."
"The Circle is open, but unbroken;
may the love of the Goddess go in your hearts;
Merry meet, merry part, and Merry Meet Again!"
Pagan hugs all around
Move the altar out of the center bring out the food, tables chairs.