A Ritual of Dedication
 

We preform a Ritual of Dedication for those wishing to proclaim the
beginning of their year and a day of study and practice on their chosen
path.
The following is the working outline of such a ritual. We may change it
to match the people of the circumstances of the occasion.

I. Casting the circle and purification:
Using smudge stick (sage) and sea water (blood of the mother earth), the
circle is cast by each walking around the outside of the circle, waving
the smudge stick and sprinkling water as we go. WE can either chant or
drum. Circling inside the circle, all participants are cleansed, with
smudge stick and sea water.

(Add a personal blessing here.)

II.  Calling the four directions.
Since North & South are masculine, and East & West are feminine, how
about HP take N & S, and HPS take E & W?

(Invite spirit witnesses and guardians appropriate to the people being
dedicated.)

III. Calling the Goddess and the God HPS -
Blessed Be Lady moon, mother of all life.  I invite your presence in our
circle tonight.  Join with us in joyous enchantment of this night.  For
behold, we stand here in the light of your love to worship in the
ancient way and to spin moon magick.  Like our ancestors before us, I
seek to invoke your primal creative power,
that our rite shall be successful.  Hear me now, my mother, as I bless
your bounty and your goodness.  Bless me in turn with your eternal
tenderness.  Wrap us in your warm silvery light.  Hold us forever in the
protective embrace of your boundless arms.  So mote it be!

HP - Lord of the Night, join us now in this sacred space.  Your Lady
rides high in the starry sky and will soon be in and of us. Come now to
join us in the ancient holy rites.  So mote it be!

IV.  Chant - "Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Innana"

V. Statement of Purpose and Introductions  HP - draw down the moon into
ourselves, focus, rebirth, dedication, etc.  Introduce dedicants.
Ask them to say something as to what they hope to get out of this
ritual.

HPS and HP -  Present dedicants with scarves and presents.

HPS - Ask other participants to introduce themselves and present gifts,
telling why they chose that particular gift.

(Gossamer scarves can be laid out on sand and gifts left out to be
charged in the moonlight.)

VI.  Retelling of the Moon Goddess Myths - see following pages

VII. Chant - "We All Come From the Goddess."

VIII.  Drawing down the moon visualization and meditation. It will
include stuff about new paths, energizing, new names, etc.

IX.  The Ceremony of Cakes & Ale

HPS - Tonight we consecrate and consume the cake of your earth and the
ale of your heavens, that we might carry your essence within us, that
your love and will might be carried by us into the mundane world.  By
this sharing we also tie tight the bonds which hold us together in
spirit on the Old Path.

HP - (taking a piece of sweet bread ) -Lady of the Moon, we gratefully
thank you for the bounty of your light.  Allow us to use this symbol to
fill ourselves with your boundless presence.  Be in and of us always, as
a mother is part of her child

HPS - ( passes out sweet bread )- From one to another we are all linked.
The bread sustains all life.  It is in the giving and taking of
sustenance that we continue the sacred, never-ending chain of life. Eat
hearty, my sister (brother).

HP - takes a piece of bread - holding it up to the moon - Blessed be
this circle, the microcosm of the Triple Goddess.  This bit of
life-giving grain from your eternal womb we give back to you now in
humble thanksgiving.  May you and your creatures of the wild partake and
enjoy. ( Places piece of bread on the ground ). Blessed Be.

HPS - Mother, we thank you for the mysteries of your watery realm; they
sustain our spirit and our imagination.By the water of your oceans, all
living beings are blessed and made sacred. Through it all things are
born, and by  it we shall all return to you.  Allow us to use this
symbol to fill ourselves with your boundless presence.  Be in and of us
always.

HP - ( passes cups and pours tea ) - In this sharing of this sustenance
we affirm that we are all brothers and sister in the never-ending chain
of life l linking one to the other, moon after moon, generation after
generation, forever and always.

HPS - takes a cup with tea - holding it up to the moon - Blessed be this
circle, the microcosm of the Triple Goddess.  This cup of life-giving
ale we give back to you now in humble thanksgiving.  May you and your
creatures of the wild partake and enjoy.  ( Places cup on the ground ).
Blessed Be
Participants are asked to share any of the meditation they have
experienced.

X. Dedication

Dedicants are asked to step to the middle of the circle, one at a time.
They are asked to share their name, why they chose it, and any other new
undertaking, purpose, vision, etc. they have.

HPS - holding silver bowl of water - drawing a pentagram on the forehead
- Silver Mother of the night, Bless ________, that they may always walk
securely on your sacred path.

XI. Chant - "Everything She Touches Changes" If there are enough people,
do a spiral dance to this.

XII. Sending out of energy in a cone of power and then do a grounding.
HPS to say some appropriate words.

XIII.  Thanks given to the Goddess and the God. Open the Circle -
thanking each of the direction.

"By the earth that is her body,

By the water that is her living womb,

By the fire that is her bright spirit,

By the air that is her breath,

The circle is now open, but unbroken.

The peace of the Goddess go in our hearts,

Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again.
Blessed Be."

Myths: Selene or Inanna
Selene:
The Greek goddess Selene, sometimes called Mene, was the sister of
Helios (the Sun) and Eos (the Dawn).  She was one of the children of the
Titans Hyperion and Theia.  Some sources list different parents.
Although she began as a separate deity, Selene was later identified with
Artemis and particularly the Roman Diana, who ruled over the Moon.
As a Moon Goddess, Selene was noted for her liaisons, with humans or
gods, but she did not allow herself to become attached.  When she became
fascinated with the handsome shepherd Endymion, she began to shirk her
nightly duty of guiding the Moon through the heavens.  This came to the
attention of the other gods, who became suspicious of Selene's unusual
behavior.  They noticed that Selene's chariot was often missing from its
heavenly path.  Night after night, the goddess sat beside the sleeping
youth, gently kissing him and creeping into his dreams.
Finally Zeus decided that something had to be done.  Selene was
neglecting her duty and becoming excessively pale from her nightly
rendezvous with the shepherd.  Zeus called Endymion to him and gave the
young man a choice: death in any manner he chose, or eternal sleep
during which he would not age.  Endymion chose to sleep.
It is said that in a Carian cave on Mt. Latmos, Endymion still sleeps,
and Selene still steals away from her nightly rounds to visit him.
While Selene sits with her sleeping shepherd, the Moon begins to fade
away until it is totally gone.  When she returns to her duties, the Moon
begins to grow again until it reaches Full. Even though Endymion sleeps
and only sees the Moon Goddess in his dreams, tradition says she has
borne him fifty daughters.  The generic name of the bluebell, Endymion,
shows its association with Selene's lover.
Endymion symbolizes the "sleeping" part of the human mind, the
unidentifiable something that is influenced by the phases of the Moon,
particularly in dreams.  As Endymion created fifty daughters with Selene
during his sleep, so we are fertilized with creative ideas during our
receptive resting periods, whether this be in dreams, meditations or
daydreaming.
Selene represents the second aspect of the Moon; the Full Moon as lover
and bride.  She is pictured as a beautiful woman with a gold crown.

Inanna:
This goddess was called by the name Inanna in Sumeria, but was known as
Ishtar in Babylon.  She was a deity of light, life, love, death, and the
evening star.  She had great power over the destinies of cities and
lovers.  She Personally overcame great adversity and helps her
worshippers do the same.
If you are faced with difficult decisions or adversities that you can't
seem to solve, call upon Inanna.  You must have done everything you can
do before this goddess will work with you.  She has no time for those
who won't take responsibility, try to shift the blame, won't make
decisions, or want everything dropped in their lap.
During the night of the Full Moon, joyous celebrations were held in her
many temples. At these rites, which were called the sacred Qadishtu,
women who lived as priestesses in her shrines, took lovers to express
the sacredness of sexuality as a gift from Ihstar.  The sexual rites
enabled the men to commune with the goddess.
Goddess of the positive and negative sides of all she ruled;
patroness of priestesses; guardian of the law; teacher.  Love,
fertility, revenge, war resurrection, marriage, lions,
double-serpent scepter, lapis lazuli, amorous desire, the dying and
begetting power of the world, purification, initiation, overcoming
obstacles.