The Rites of Moonhaven

[Rite] Consecration of the Altar to Our Lady Amaranthine

2010-05-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

This rite accomplishes the consecration of the altar to Our Lady Amaranthine. The altar should be reconsecrated every year at Nemoralia (August 13th). This ritual is crafted as a continuation of the creation-story begun in the Consecration of the Cella. Where that rite saw the creation of Light and the filling of the Void with its illumination, this one sees the raising of the Earth from the Waters, and its purification as a place where Our Lady Amaranthine might place her foot to the ground.

Lustration of the Waters
In a silvered bowl, collect cleansed water. In this water, capture the reflection of the full moon. Bring it immediately into the Cella, then, bowing at the threshold. With an oak branch heavy with leaves, sprinkle the water upon the surface of the altar. As this is done, say:

When spun were the First Days from Primordial Night
The Silver of the Moon shown down from Her height
Her argent light touched a Sea black and vast
No motion stirred its waters, its calm unsurpassed.

Bring the Light of the Moon above the altar, so that its light is reflected on the surface of the altar:

But our Lady's gift
is motion and change,
stillness She can't abide
So there She kissed
the night-black waves,
which the Moon did then entide
They were pushed,
They were pulled,
churned with the motion of strife
So with kiss
and blessings rich,
the Sea quickened with life.

Birthing the Earth
The Light of the Moon is still held above the surface of the still-wet altar.

Our Lady Amaranthine looked on
the waters of the sea
She saw no place to rest
from calling Life to be
With right hand she reached into the heights
To capture heaven's fire
With left hand she took up the depths
Of the sea's ancient desire
She brought her hands together
To her heart where love was sworn
And with this joining, in fire and sea
the Earth was there then born.

Sprinkle drops of Diana oil upon the surface of the altar, mingling them with the droplets of water already there. Wipe down the surface with a cloth of white, never used before. This cloth shall be used to clean the altar regularly, until its next consecration.

Censing
The Light of the Moon remains above the altar. Cense the altar, saying:

Then she sang the song that called the winds
And the winds arrived, and did bow.
She bade them bless the new-born earth
And they did, in accord with their vow
From the East came brisk winds
To stir the lands with motion
From the South came hot winds
To warm lands born in the ocean
From the West came gentle winds
Bringing blessings and peace
From the North came chilling winds
With ice from winter's release.
With ancient blessings did the four winds blow
Bringing richest magic where they flew.
Their Mysteries crafting out the seasons four
A land teeming with life beside ocean blue.

The Light of the Moon
The Light of the Moon remains above the altar. Say:

Now with the earth newly born,
rich lands kissed by the winds
Our Lady danced in the sky above
In the dance that never ends.
And ere the setting of the Moon
Took the dance away from this place
She stretched down one lily-white foot
And set it on the new earth's face.
Her brilliance fell in radiant beams
Washing argent this newborn land
The Silver Lady did laugh in joy
And cast blessings by Her hand.

Place the Light of the Moon onto the altar. Add her statue, and candles as well.

Calling to Diana
Light the side candles from the Light of the Moon, using a taper. Say:

Descend, O Diana, upon this altar
As you did when the land was new
We welcome you into our home
With praise and honor true.
With upraised voice and gleaming eye,
We ask for your gifts three
Protection and blessings for the home
And let potent our magics be.
Welcome our Lady Amaranthine
To the halls in which we dwell.
Nurturer and silver hearth-goddess
Be our Light against shadows fell.

Arraying the Attendants
With Diana's altar properly consecrated, and Diana herself in attendance, array her attendants into their proper place, placing their candles on the altar beneath hers.

Hail to thee O [Lady Amaranthine]!
Custos [REDACTED] brings with him Love.
Let his service to you be proper and true.
Hail to thee O [Lady Amaranthine]!
Custos [REDACTED] brings with him Health.
Let his service to you be strong and ever-growing.
Hail to thee O [Lady Amaranthine]!
Custos [REDACTED] brings with him Joy.
Let his service to you be happy and filled with laughter.
Hail to thee O [Lady Amaranthine]!
Custos[REDACTED] brings with him Wisdom.
Let his service to you be thoughtful and contemplative.
Hail to thee O [Lady Amaranthine]!
Custos [REDACTED] brings with him Prosperity.
Let his service to you be rich and rewarding.
Bless these, your attendants, O Lady
That they might bless us in kind.

[Rite] Consecration of the Cella

2010-04-05T08:04:00.000-07:00

This ritual was written to consecrate the room that will serve as the temple-space to Our Lady Amaranthine. Though honored, this temple-space is not "set apart" in any capacity - in fact, the more use it sees as the axis of our household, the better we are revering it, for Our Lady Amaranthine has made clear that she is the goddess of our household, and uninterested in being "set apart."

In this ritual, there are several names used, but I have removed them from here. They are specific to our household goddess and her servant spirits. Thus, I have rendered them as a bracketed term where appropriate, usually replacing the goddess' name with [Our Lady Amaranthine] and simply replacing spirit names with [Redacted].

Consecration of the Cella

This rite governs the preparation of the room which will house the altar to [Our Lady Amaranthine] to act as the cella or inner temple space for that altar. The cella should be reconsecrated every year at Nemoralia (August 13th).

Light of the Moon
This rite requires a tool called the "Light of the Moon," which is simply a candle or other light source of open flame that is crafted with symbols appropriate to the moon, and has been lit outside under the light of the moon. As it is lit, the one doing so should hold it so that the flame dances in front of the moon, even melding into it, so that the light of the candle and the light of the moon are one.

The Rite
Let all passages into the room be sealed, by doors and hanging cloth over open doorways. There should be no lit source of light in the room, though there are unlit candles scattered through it. Additionally, a candle should be placed before each of the doorways.

The priest should say:

In ancient darkness sits the world, where no light can be found.
In these places dwell things profane, from dark sky to blackened ground.
With noise and smoke, and hue and cry, we give the ancient shout.
Henceforth let them be banished, and forevermore cast them out!

The room should be censed by an incense appropriate to [Our Lady Amaranthine], using a chant of "Hekas, Hekas Este Bebeloi!" If possible, this should be accompanied by a drum, rattle or other percussion.

Returning to the center of the room, where the altar will sit, say:

Spin and swirl, burn and smoke, by cry and fire burnt away!
Let a cleansing settle on this place, Oh Ancients do we pray.
Now cast the profane to Outer Dark, nevermore to haunt us here
By burning smoke and maenad's cry, we banish pain and fear.

Open the main door, and direct the smoke out of that door. Open all the other doors, and let an attendant enter, carrying the Light of the Moon. Say:

Come into this place, O Light of the Moon, Bless and cleanse this fane
Fill the void, O Light of the Moon, And out-cast ye Profane.

Process around the room, lighting all the corners with light. As unlit candles are arrived at, they should be lit from the Light of the Moon. Return to the center of the room, saying:

Behold.
The Light of the Moon, shining silver, enchanting, cold and pure.
Let its light shine with strength and power, here forever more.

Go then to the portal of Love, bearing the Light of the Moon. Knock once on the door-frame and light the candle there, saying:

Knock of One, the Call's Begun,
The light draws Love unto it.
A beacon shines, in darkened shrine,
let Love this Portal admit.
Adoration golden, as ages olden,
Of gods and spirits and men
Brought to this place, with Love's embrace
To bless and bless again.
I name thee [REDACTED]!

This door is opened.

Go then to the portal of Health, bearing the Light of the Moon. Knock twice on the door-frame and light the candle there, saying:

Knock of Two, the Call Renewed,
The light draws Health unto it.
A beacon shines, in darkened shrine,
let Health this Portal admit.
Ancient strength, in body and mind,
Of gods and spirits and men
Find here a home, never to roam
To bless and bless again.
I name thee [REDACTED]!

This door is opened.

Go then to the portal of Laughter, bearing the Light of the Moon. Knock thrice on the door-frame and light the candle there, saying:

Knock of Three, Call Joyously,
The light draws Laughter to it.
A beacon shines, in darkened shrine,
let Laughter this Portal admit.
Sadness destroy'd, by wine-sweet joy
Of gods and spirits and men
Bring laughter's grace, and friendship's face
To bless and bless again.
I name thee [REDACTED]!

This door is opened.

Go then to the portal of Wisdom, bearing the Light of the Moon. Knock four times on the door-frame and light the candle there, saying:

Knock of Four, Call'd Evermore,
The light draws Wisdom to it.
A beacon shines, in darkened shrine,
let Wisdom this Portal admit.
From ancient age, we seek the sage
Of gods and spirits and men
Discerning thoughts, and cleverness sought
To bless and bless again.
I name thee [REDACTED]!

This door is opened.

Go then to the portal of Prosperity, bearing the Light of the Moon. Knock five times on the door-frame and light the candle there, saying:

Knock of Five, the Call's Alive,
The light draws Prosperity to it.
A beacon shines, in darkened shrine,
let Prosperity this Portal admit.
Called up by witches, the ancient riches
Of gods and spirits and men
Prosperity's wealth, for all and self,
To bless and bless again.
I name thee [REDACTED]!

This door is opened.

Return to the center of the cella, bearing the Light of the Moon:

Behold! O Cella Lux - thou Silver Temple of Light.
With ancient Names we consecrate thee upon this night.
By witchery be thou a proper adytum for our Queen
By [Our Lady Amaranthine], Our Lady Amaranthine.

Place the five Attendant candles along the bottom row of the Altar:

Let the five spirits we have invoked to mingle here
See in Her their Queen
May they bow in Her honor
May they kiss Her silver brow
May they worship at Her altar
May they work forever Her Will.
May they guard her adytum
In all the seasons and all the days

Then, with a bow to all five open doorways, the priest sets the Light of the Moon in the place where the altar will be, and says:

The Temple is consecrated - So Mote It Be.
The Cella is blessed - So Mote It Be.
The Spirits are in attendance - So Mote It Be.
The Rite is Ended - So Mote It Be.

Afterwards
The now-consecrated space should be properly warded (through Setting Watchers & Wards), permitting the spirits called during the rite to pass through them.

Author's Notes
This rite is written for five doorways, because the foyer chosen to act as cella in Moonhaven has five doorways: one to the den and ritual area (Love), one to the kitchen (Health), one to the back parts of the house where we tended to congregate day-to-day (Laughter), one to the library (Wisdom) and one to the out doors, through which we normally left to go to work (Prosperity).

For a cella with fewer doors, some of these might be combined - Laughter and Love, for instance, or Health and Prosperity. One should change the rite appropriately. Alternately, those who dwell there may choose other attributes: justice, peace, fertility, for instance. Let the temple reflect the priests and worshipers.

The spirits that are called are an excellent opportunity for exploration and communion - each rite and location will call different spirits of those themes, and the priesthood is encouraged to interact with those spirits, and get to know them. They are the servants of [Our Lady Amaranthine] - the Lady's household, if you will - and will work hard to fulfill their duties according to her will.

[Sunday Bonus!] Gathering the Light of the Moon

2010-04-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

So, in preparing for tomorrow's post, I realized that there is one aspect of it that wouldn't make any sense to folks reading it without posting something extra. So, consider this a Sunday bonus, if you will. Nothing major, just a simple rite intended to prepare a tool for working in the liturgy I'm developing for Moonhaven's goddesses.

Gathering the Light of the Moon

This rite uses candles to "capture" the light of the moon for ritual purposes. As such, it requires a single candle of white color. Although white is always appropriate, it is also possible to imbue candles with the light (or lack thereof) of specific phases of the moon, using a different color: red for the waxing moon, white for the full moon, gray for the waning moon and black for the new moon.
Such candles have use beyond simply that of Moonhaven's liturgy, obviously - the would be an excellent addition to any spell that depends on or is empowered by a specific phase of the moon.
Tools: Diana Oil, candle (white, black, grey or red), cloth large enough to wrap the candle in (of a color the same as that as the candle), box or other container large enough to hold wrapped candles

Anointing the Candle
Outside under the moon of choice, anoint the candle with eyes fixed on the moon - or on a place in the darkened sky with no stars for the new moon. While anointing, speak the following rune:

Black spirits and white,
Red spirits and grey,
Hearken to the rune I say.
Bless ye this vessel, this darkened night
Make it a lantern for Diana's light!

Touching the Moon
Once the candle is anointed, take it up in the left hand, and salute the moon with it. Turn its point in a clockwise spiral, as though "swirling" the moon's surface (this should be counter-clockwise if imbuing a red or black candle) and say:

Argent barque on star-tossed sea,
Be thou a flame against the sky
Flicker with life and enflam'd be
And in this vessel, never die.

Then, light the candle with the right hand. Allow the flame the settle in and burn well on the wick, before extinguishing it by flicking or snuffing the candle.

Now sleep, thou moon, away from sun
And wait the witch's call.
Now slumber, thou light, the two-from-one
Burning spark of silvery All.

Storing it Away
Store away the candle in a box or other container, wrapped in cloth colored appropriate to the moon's phase. Never let the light of the sun touch it, lest its charm be lost.

Our Lady Amaranthine

2010-03-31T17:55:00.000-07:00

I have communed with Diana Domina far more often than Regina Nemorensis. I call Diana Domina our Lady Amaranthine, for the robes or gown she wears - rich red-purple robes, the color of pomegranates. I cannot tell the color of her hair, as she has a halo of silver light around her head - the hint of hair is there, but it is all darkened in contrast to that luminance.

I originally imagined her wearing the beautiful garb of a Roman noblewoman, probably clad in white or other lunar hues, but my experiences have been very different. She is also surrounded by the smell of fresh pomegranates in our interactions, strong and pungent, almost overwhelming. I've always associated the pomegranate with other deities before, so wondered if I was conflating things, or misinterpreting them.

As it turns out, Diana of Ephesus' iconography shows her with what many have thought were breasts, eggs or bull testicles for a long time. In my meditations, though, they are not - they are in fact strings of pomegranates, which is sacred to her. She says that the pomegranate's rich redness is like blood, and its many seeds the symbols of fertility, and that smearing a handful of the seeds and juice from a freshly carved pomegranate smeared on a woman's belly and pubis will bring pregnancy.

My interactions with her have been strange and not at all what I expected. We have discussed the health of the household, and she has urged me to not rush the consecration of the altar to her - "It will come in its time," is what she says every time I bring up the topic.

Next week, I'll post the consecration ritual I wrote for the foyer, which is the center of our house, in terms of layout, and the gateway by which most things come into it. She laid claim to this room early on in my meditations, saying that we should make this a place holy to her, as her cella.

Dea Biformis

2010-02-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

The next few weeks I spent in ample meditation, prayer and sleep-communion, paired with my own researches.

The first and most important thing she gave me during this time was an understanding of her essential nature. She is dea biformis, or the two-formed goddess. That is, she is dual aspected in her role as the patroness of our covenstead. As befitting important aspects of witchcraft praxis and the ancient ties of Diana to Janus, she is "two faced," a goddess of liminal, in-between places, looking upon both extremes from a place of power and wisdom.

Each of these aspects has a name, of course, which are not to be spoken outside of the proper places and times for doing so. But for our purposes, these aspects are Our Lady of the Oaks and Our Lady Amaranthine.

The essential division between the two aspects lies in understanding something of the nature of our home. Our Lady Amaranthine, named for the color of her robes, is the Diana Within - the household goddess, who is the Lady of the home. She watches over and protects us and all those things that the interior of the home is associated with: nurturing, health, prosperity, and the like. She is also the Diana I go to directly for better understanding of household Mysteries - she is the witch-queen of all the sorceries of hearth and kitchen for our home, as well as my mentor (if you will) on the idea of household gods and the rites to interact with them. I mostly interact with her through meditation and communion.

Our Lady of the Oaks, on the other hand, is a bit more distant. She is wild, our Diana Without (as in "outside," rather than "lacking something"). This aspect is far more akin to the classical depictions of Diana, although she is very clearly tied to this land - not merely the property the house rests on, but to the Stone Mountain area and its environs. She is a witch-queen, too, though her Mysteries are deeply rooted in this land, and its old magics. The thing that sets her most apart from the depictions of Diana I know is her skin - it darkens and lightens, ranging from the very pale of the lightest Caucasians when the moon is dark, and deepening to a deep, African mahogany when the moon is full. I mostly interact with her in dreams.

Next week, I'll talk a little more about Our Lady Amaranthine.

Thanks for reading, folks.

The Walk in the Forest

2010-01-24T13:07:00.000-08:00

My dreams after the session with L. Sophia and L. Fattah were powerful.

I was standing in a wooded area, and it was night. The full moon shone down from above, and I could make out the vague silhouette of Stone Mountain in the distance, black against the sky's dark, dark blue. She was standing behind me. Part of the way through I was sure she was back and to my left, while at others I was sure she was back and to the right. I knew that I shouldn't turn around, though; asking her why, she said that it simply wasn't that time yet. I didn't know her well enough yet.

She was laying claim to our covenstead, as we'd asked, and she reiterated what she'd said through L. Fattah earlier - she needed no other to do the work she intended. I realized suddenly that our covenstead needed to be Moonhaven, and asked if she would accept that name. She said that not only would she do so, but she was honored by it.

She said that oaks are sacred to her, and that she "would live well in Moonhaven's oaks." She also said that she came to me partly because of that - not only my own connection with oaks (present probably from my earliest pagan days, and the source of my Craft name), but also the oaks within our house as well. The mirror, in particular. She then pointed to one of the oaks here near us, and I recognized it as one of the oaks from our yard.

This oak in particular stands in our backyard. About a third of the backyard is what I'd call "domesticated," with lawn grass and carefully planted hedges and the like. The rest of it, though, is pretty much woodland, with tall standing trees, no lawn but a carpet of fallen branches and leaves, and generally left to run fairly riot. There is a short fence, with a hedge behind it that separates these parts of the yard, and in a break in that separation stands a tall, ivy-wrapped oak tree.

This was the oak she was pointing to. "This is mine," she said. "I stand on both sides of this oak." She said I'd understand later, but that when the time came to make a shrine to her at the foot of a tree, this would be the tree. She said that we would need a place for her indoors as well.

She then pointed to a star in the sky, reaching over my head to do so. She said: "In the huntsman's belt, I have left a guardian for your home. But stars not meant for the Earth."

Then she pointed into the distance, on the horizon, towards the solemn silhouette of Stone Mountain. She said: "Go there and find the stone who will serve. Bring it here and place the star in the stone - marry sky to earth."

Diana

2010-01-08T13:03:00.000-08:00

A few months after moving in, I took a trip back to Oregon, to officiate at the handfasting of one of my dearest friends, and my Craft working partner of many years, L. Morgaine d'Ursa. While there, I had the opportunity to return to Rookhaven, and sat in council with my High Priestess, L. Sophia and her High Priest, L. Fattah. We did a lot of talking, some additional training, and then settled in for an interesting evening.

L. Fattah had been working with a new system of channeling (new for us, anyway), and he wanted to show it to me. I was definitely interested, as the method seemed a very solid one, providing communication with deities close to us, and with the egregores closely associated with our coven and line. The formation of a new coven was on all of our minds, and so desiring some questions answered of the Great Ones, we sat down with L. Fattah's stone.

Very shortly thereafter, he indicated that the goddess Diana had a message for me. She was willing to be approached to act as the goddess of our covenstead, serving to ward it and act as our spiritual contact in the way other entities have been so contacted for other of our covensteads. Gleefully, I told him that I accepted. He chuckled.

"No, no, she's not offering," he clarified. "She's willing to be approached by you, if you want to ask her."

Ah. Quite the difference. So, I did so, with L. Fattah as our intermediary, asking her three times to come and watch over our covenstead. The following conversation was powerful and thought-provoking. She indicated that she would not "need" a masculine counterpart in her duties, despite our normal tradition of having a god and goddess fulfilling that role. I was also left with the impression that this was merely the beginning, an introduction, and things would move along upon my return to Stone Mountain.

Our Arrival at Our New Covenstead

2010-01-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

In 2009, I moved into a lovely new house. Joined by my partner, another couple and a fifth friend of ours, we settled into this house to make it a home. We had been very discriminating in choosing this house. Not just any place would do for our purposes. We needed more than a dwelling capable of housing five men. I had been teaching a small group of Seekers for a few months at that point, and intended on building a coven, bringing the lineage of Oregon's Thalia Kyraphia to Georgia.

So, this home needed to be more than just where we lived - it needed to be a covenstead.

I knew I'd found the proper place when I walked into the den. This so-called "den" (which was quickly dubbed "the cathedral") was a massive room, with huge vaulted ceilings. At one end, with hardwood flooring, sat a fieldstone hearth, with a massive mirror above it. This mirror, which was framed in oak and carved with hand-sized oak leaves and acorns, literally stopped me in my tracks. I stared at it, dumbfounded - the oak has always been of significance to me in my own spiritual growth, and here I was, looking at my own face reflected back at me, surrounded by oak leaves.

The other side of the den was floored in beautiful, deep red tiles, and featured a set of massive picture windows that gazed out onto the back yard, with about an acre of tall trees and beautiful green foliage. Only a small portion of the back part of the property was what I would call a "lawn" - the rest of it was wooded, with a scattering of oak and other trees, a trellis-arched swing off to one side, and at the far end of the property, a small stream that burbled merrily over the rocks of its bed anytime it rained.

Paradise. I had to have it. Fortunately, my soon-to-be housemates agreed, and we all sat down to see if we could make it happen financially. In the meantime, my partner and I took a flower from the tea rose bushes up front, and a stone from its yard, with which to work some magic to bring us home to it.

Now, it is tradition in our line to name a covenstead. Many of us have used "[Something]haven," in honor of the first of our covensteads, Rookhaven, in Southeast Portland, Oregon. Well, we struggled and struggled forever, with no luck coming up with a name for our new home. We were happy to be there, though, and content to let the subject percolate.

Welcome

2010-01-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

Most pagans these days look to "big names" in terms of Divinity. It's natural - most of us come from more conventional faith systems, which focus on The End All, Be All when it comes to that sort of thing.

Pre-Christian faith systems, however, were often far, far more nuanced. The "big names" were big because knowledge of them often spanned multiple communities. The vast majority of cultures, however, also held to "smaller" gods. Individual tribal gods, for instance, the gods of natural geographical features, household gods and a family line or clan's ancestors.

One of the things that training in British Traditional Witchcraft has given me is an appreciation of and fascination with these "small gods." Gerald Gardner touched on the fact that the deities of BTW are tribal gods. We don't pretend they are all-powerful or all-encompassing. Indeed, they are very much the kinds of gods well-known in old paganism: "belonging" to a single tribe (in this case, the Wica), their names and rites kept secret from outsiders.

They aren't seen as omnipotent entities. They are treated as our friends and close confidants in many ways. We don't ask them to do things for us - we do them ourselves (though we may ask them for their help in doing so). We don't talk about the "destiny" or "purpose" our gods have for us, any more than we talk about those that our friends have for us. Our gods want us to be happy - not by their definition of happy, but by ours. They'll help make that happen (just as those close to us will). Moreover, they need us, just as we need them.

This dynamic, then, has sharpened my perspective in a lot of ways. When we moved into our current home, we knew it would be a covenstead. As time has passed, we've sought to interact with our household and local gods - particularly the Diana Biformis who acts as the goddess of our covenstead (but not our coven).

This blog, then, is about the evolution of our interactions with these small gods. Creation of liturgy, recording experiences and understandings, and generally keeping a place where we can record this information for posterity's sake.

I'm not going to pretend that it's likely to be of any interest save to myself, my housemates, and maybe a handful of others. But for those who're interested - welcome.