Scott Chisholm Lamont, RN.

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)O( Green Man

IMBOLC RITUAL

By Scott Chishom Mac Lamont
February 6, 1999.

Abreviations:

HP = High Priest
HPs = High Priestess
Mdn = Maiden
RP = Red Priest
Cov(s) = covener(s)

Preparation and meditation for coveners:
"Go outside and feel the earth rewarming, feel it preparing for birth and growth, meditate on the certainty of rebirth and continuance. Grab a handful of the sacred earth that calls to you and place it in the cauldron in the centre of the floor."

Preparation for Circle:
Clear and clean the area
Set Altar in East

On Altar (all elements previously consecrated and cleansed by HPs & HP):
Altar candles (lit prior to start of circle)
Lady symbols --- Goddess Statue --- silver candle
Lord symbols --- Antler rack --- gold candle
Earth --- Pentacle --- Salt
Water --- Cup --- Water
Fire --- Wand --- Lit charcoal
Air --- Athame --- Incense
Cup of Wine / Plate of cakes
Sword
Broom
Bell Without a Voice
Brideog and Phallic Loaf laying in basket on white cloth with an unlit red and white candle
Crown of Lights
twigs of greenery

Cauldron in centre of floor with earth from coveners, flowers, and greenery

Quarter altars for each Watch Tower set with corresponding colour cloths and candles, and all with flowers and a red and white candle each (to be lit prior to start of circle)
East --- Yellow --- Air
South --- Red --- Fire
West --- Blue --- Water
North --- Green --- Earth

Creating the Circle:

HP/HPs cleanse each other
Mdn, HP & HPs then clean Circle

Mdn: Sweep circle three times, 3 planes; with Magick Broom (We are currently sweeping from top to center to floor as dirt/etc falls and should be cleaned away as we go)

HPs and HP cleanse the circle with the elements by walking its perimeter 3 times stating:
"With {fire and air (HP)} {water and earth (HPs)}do we cleanse this circle."

HPs takes sword and extends to HP

HP makes first drawing of the circle, deosil; making a line of electric blue light stating:
"In the name of the Lord and of the Lady do I conjure thee, O Foundation of this Circle of Power, upon which we may build a meeting place of love and joy and truth; a rampart to contain and protect the energies we raise herein; a shield against all wickedness and evil intent; a boundary between the realms of man and the realms of the Mighty Ones. Thus do I conjure and consecrate this Foundation. So mote it be."

HP returns sword to HPs

HPs next casts the circle, deosil; with her athame making electric green abating elemental pentagram at each watch tower and linking with a wall of electric blue

Admittance of Coveners to circle:
Male brings in female and female brings in male.
HP/HPs: "How do you come to this Circle?"
Cov: "With perfect Love and perfect Trust."
HP/HPs: "How would you be known in this Circle?"
Cov: "As _________."
HP/HPs cleans Covener=s aura; annoints Covener with oil;
"In the name of our Lady Brighid, and her beloved consort Herne, we welcome you _______ into this sacred space."
Kiss of greeting, spin deosil to greet others.
RP seals portal and guards.

HP & HPs then charge the watchtowers:
"As above, so below;
As without, so within;
As the universe, so the soul;
With {fire and air (HP)} {water and earth (HPs)}do we charge the East."
--- reverse order --- South."
--- repeat initial order --- West."
--- reverse order --- North."

Calling Quarters:
Select quarter callers in advance, but no pre-scripted call offered. Each will use own call but direct the symbolism attached to the elements to be consistent with the purpose and time of year.

HPs rings "the bell without a voice" three times
"And who would speak for East?"
Response; "I will speak for East."

The Call "_________________________________________"
Invoking Air pentagram.
Light East candle.

HPs rings "the bell without a voice" three times
"And who would speak for South?"
Response; "I will speak for South."

The Call "_________________________________________"
Invoking Fire pentagram.
Light South candle.

HPs rings "the bell without a voice" three times
"And who would speak for West?"
Response; "I will speak for West."

The Call "_________________________________________"
Invoking Water pentagram.
Light West candle.

HPs rings "the bell without a voice" three times
"And who would speak for North?"
Response; "I will speak for North."

The Call "_________________________________________"
Invoking Earth pentagram.
Light North candle.

HPs next uses her Libras to release the Circle in all three dimensions. (Creating a space out of place and time, out of the here and now material plane and onto the astral, mental, spiritual planes.)

The work of the Circle - Purpose and Explanation:
HP: "We gather here for the Sabbat of Imbolc to mark the waxing of the solar year, and to celebrate the first stirrings of new life in the spring, stirrings as yet unseen, a quickening that marks the return of the Maiden. This time heralds the transformation of the new-born Year Child into the Child of Promise. It is a time of healing and renewal, possibility and hope, new inspiration and new beginnings. It is a time for us to make our commitment to growth, our own and that of others, and to launch new endeavours for the year. For this purpose, we shall raise power for our work and celebration."

Coven performs circling dance and sings to raise energy:
" She changes everything She touches, and
Everything She touches, changes.
She changes everything She touches, and
Everything She touches, changes.
She changes everything She touches, and
Everything She touches, changes.
Change is, Touch is; Touch is, Change is.
Change us! Touch us! Touch us! Change us!"

Covenors all seat themselves around the Circle facing in.

HP stands before the altar,
HPs stands facing him.

Invocation of God:
" Herne! Lord of the Greenwood!
Leader of the Wild Hunt!
Young God, vital, virile, vigorous!
Herne! I bid you to come with the Dawn of the Year!
I am glad the Sun has risen!
I get up,
stretch,
and with my breathing
hail
what stands
behind the Sun!
Herne, hear your priest's call!
Run like a stag in my blood this Imbolc night!
Come, Lord, come to the heart beat's drum!"
Light golden God candle from central altar candle.

Invocation of Goddess:
" Brighid!
Brighid, Bright Lady!
Fire of the Heart,
Fire of the Mind,
Fire of the Hearth,
Fire of the Wind,
Fire of the Art,
Fire out of Time!
You shine for all!
You burn in all!
Your Priestess calls you:
Burn in me!
Come, Brighid, Come!
Burn in your Priestess this Imbolc night!"
Kiss of welcome from HP/God, light silver Goddess candle from the gold God candle and place on altar.

Coveners chant three times: "Brighid is come, Brighid is welcome."

HP takes the bride's bed from the alter and passes deosil around circle, stating:
"Welcome and bless this sacred couple in their Bride's bed, they who will generate new life and new hope for the coming year. Welcome and bless Brighid and Herne in their timeless union."
Once passed around, Brideog and Phallic Loaf are returned to the altar by HPs. The candlesticks are placed at the head of the Bed and lit.

Working for Imbolc:
Mdn takes Crown from altar and presents it to the circle.
HP lights central incense candle and places by, to be passed deosil. He lights a candle on the Crown, then each covener will light a candle on the Crown as it passes by them, then passes the incense candle deosil.
HP states: "As we light this Crown of Light for our Lady Brighid, reflect on the journey of the year. While each of you contributes to the growing Light of the Year, I would like to read you a poem by John Soos:

To be of the Earth is to know
of restlessness of being a seed
the darkness of being planted
the struggle toward the light
the pain of growth into the light
the joy of bursting and bearing fruit
the love of being food for someone
the scattering of your seeds
the decay of the seasons
the mystery of death
and the miracle of birth."

Mdn passes crown to HP, who crowns HPs.
"My Lady, you are most welcome, bearing the light of the lengthening days to us."

Coven sits around cauldron

HPs: "Let us tell you, dear ones, a tale as old as time itself, and as new as a baby's first breath."

HP: "Each year is a child, nurtured and loved by our attention, and as we consciously transform it, we in turn, are transformed, growing into new potentials. We are the living embodiment of All Possibilities, which may well be the oldest of the Great Mother Goddess=s 10 billion names. For as the Gods do not live and grow and sing with out us, nor does each new born year. They exist, perhaps regardless of our presence and involvement, but existence is not the same as life: it is not magick. Our marking of the Wheel=s turning is a recognition of that sacred Child. Each Samhain, when the veil is thinest, the Year Child of possibility is conceived. At Yule this Child is born. Then Imbolc comes and the Child grows strong with the waxing light, the Child is transformed to the Child of Promise. We make our own promises at the cauldron, setting our challenges for the year. At Eostar, the Child grows to become Balance. Come Beltaine the Child is Rising Desire, culminating at Litha and becoming the One who Decends, who gives away, The Dreamer. We hold a wake for the dying Sun, and the dying Year at Lughnasad, as The Dreamer becomes aware of its own end. Then comes Mabon, the harvest brings joy, yet there is the sadness of leave taking as we follow the Dreamer into the dark. Samhain comes again, and the Year dies like the Sacred King, to be reborn again."

HPs lead meditation on earth in cauldron:
" Reach into the cauldron, feel the earth. Let you Speaking Mind be still, listen to your Younger Self. Stir the earth, placing there your commitments and new ideas for the year, mixing that fertile earth, feeling it, knowing it as you know yourself, as you know the God and Goddess. Let images form and flow, see the year as a pattern, not a linear path. Experience it, merge with it, fill the earth with your creativity. Be aware of your Deeper Self, connected to the Divine. See the whole, be the whole, experience the whole."

HP: "You are the Year Child, celebrating yourself and your own growth. Listen to the words of Rochelle Wallace, and know that this is you, Year, Person, Spirit:

As a newborn babe I crawl from my mother's womb
And stand on wobbly legs in the new world;
Wash the new body that has just been
So tenderly born from a lifetime labor,
And walk to stand before the fire.
I raise my face to your infinite sky
And feel your touch of grace:
Your gentle raindrops kissing my skin,
Your singing wind that moves the trees,
The hot breath of your dancing fire,
Your wet, rich earth beneath my feet.
O Spirit, I recognize you now:
My father, my mother, my unseen lover-
You've been here always in all things;
In all things has your spirit lived for me;
From all things has your spirit loved me.
Through all things has your spirit touched me.
And never was I left alone, nor could I be
In this truer world of holy people
And living stone."

When finished, HPs announces: "The earth is charged and transformed in the cauldron, ready for growth, and with it all things you have placed there shall grow."

Symbolic Great Rite:
HP and HPs kneel before altar, HP with cup of wine, HPs with athame.
HPs lowers athame point first into cup:
HPs "Athame to Cup,"
HP "Sword to Chalice,"
HPs "Lance to Grail,"
HP "Man to Woman,"
HPs "God to Goddess,"
HP/HPs "Conjoined, they bring blessedness to life."

HPs lays down athame, HP presents the cup to drink, stating:
"May you never thirst my Lady."
HPs sips and takes cup and presents to HP
"May you never thirst my Lord."
Cup is now passed around Circle with each person sipping from one before and giving the blessing of the wine to the one after.

HP & HPs take plate of cakes, HP & HPs take wands and pull energy into the cakes, (x3)
HP & HPs "May these cakes be blessed with all things needed for life."

HP & HPs lay down wands, HPs presents the cake to eat,
"May you never hunger my Lord."
HP eats and takes cakes and presents to HPs
"May you never hunger my Lady."
Plate is now passed around Circle with each person eating from one before and giving the blessing of the cake to the one after.

Party and discussion of the work.

Closing:
HP: "The Bright Lady, Brighid and her beloved consort, Herne will lie together in the bride's bed tonight, to bring renewed life and fertility to all the land."
HPs leads all: "May all beings and elementals attracted to this rite, go on their way in peace and harmony and harm none. May the Guardians of the Watchtowers go if they must, but stay if they will. This Circle of Imbolc is open but unbroken. Merry meet, Merry part, And Merry meet again. Ho!"

RP takes first fruits and offers to Lord & Lady.

Each covener takes a handful of sacred earth to distribute where they feel it will do the most good.

Imbolc ritual outline
February 6, 1999.

Purpose:
Celebrate the waxing solar year, the first stirring of new life in spring (as yet unseen), transformation of the Year Child to the Child of Promise, healing and growth, possibility to promise, commitment to growth and new endeavours during year, new inspiration

A side purpose will be to contribute to the creation of the new Maypole and the healing of the community feelings around the Maypole issue by having the Maypole stump present, to absorb the positive energies raised, and to pass on the commitment of the coven members to new growth and possibilities to the Maypole via its energetic link to the stump.

Items needed:
Straw for Brighid's cross (Brideog) with items to dress it, loaf of French Bread (Phallic Loaf), basket and white cloth for bride's bed, red and white candles, candle crown, stump from new Maypole, cauldron, flowers, greenery (such as Mistletoe or Pine boughs), small bags to carry earth.

Correspondences:
North and earth for direction/element, francincense and cedar for incenses, the Stag, Bear, Wolf, Eagle, Raven for guardian spirits, Spruce, Pine & Fir for trees, mistletoe for flower, red, white & black for colours

Work with:
Brighid: Goddess of the forge and fire, smith work, healing, poetry and inspiration, a triple aspect Goddess
Herne: the Young God, Lord of the Greenwood and the Leader of the Wild Hunt, represents the Oak King (the oak is his sacred tree)

Pull elements from Starhawk, theory from Wheel, poetry from Earth Prayers & Sierra Sacrament

Preparation and meditation for coveners:
Go outside and feel the earth rewarming, preparing for birth and growth, meditate on the certainty of rebirth and continuance. Grab a handful of the sacred earth that calls to you and place it in the cauldron in the centre of the floor.

Standard cast

Use people's own quarter calls but direct the symbolism attached to the elements to be consistent with the purpose and time of year - select people in advance

Individuals can then take home the earth from the working in the cauldron and place it where they feel it will bring the most benefit. The Brideog will be kept on the home altar until Imbolc next year, when a new one will be made, and the old burned the Imbolc eve (per old Gaelic tradition)