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Solitary Candlemas Rite
Perform this rite on February 3rd, the date of this Cross Quarter in 1990. Your altar
should face northeast. Place your tools on the corners of your altar corresponding to
their Elements (Wand, South; Cup, West; Athame, East; Pentacle, North). Also have a bowl
of salt and water, a cup of red wine and a plate of bread or cake. Have figures or candles
representing the God and Goddess. You will also want two other cups or bowls each filled
with water. Decorate your altar so that it is a proper throne for the God and Goddess.
Your cauldron (if you have one) should be in the northeast. Make a three-foot straw broom;
bless and consecrate it as a Tool of the God and Goddess.
Candlemas Incense:
1 part Violet
1 part Mysore Sandalwood
Opening the Temple Rite:
Beginning in the east, use the broom to sweep the Circle from the center to the
outside. You must take the time to visualize sweeping away the energies so that the Circle
area is clean. Sweep round the Circle several times, until it feels right. Replace the
broom near the altar. Hold the bowl of water high above the Goddess candle and say:
Na tayah de lamay ge na oh Aradia! (Blessed be the blood of the Goddess!) I cleanse and
make sacred this water, the purifying Water of Life. Na tayah de lamay ge na oh Aradia! So
mote it be!
Replace the bowl. Trace the symbol of Taurus over the plate of salt (a circle crowned
with the crescent moon) and say:
Ay ya natas oh balda al ve roh! (I bless & purify this creature of earth!) I
cleanse and purify this sacred salt in the name of Aradia and Cernunnos. Oh God and
Goddess, fill this creature of Earth with your divine blessings and make it pure. So mote
it be!
Sprinkle three pinches of salt into the water and stir it with your Athame or finger.
Visualize a pure white light emanating from the salt and water. Walk deosil (clockwise)
around the Circle. Sprinkle the salt water freely and say:
I cleanse and purify this circle with water the blood of life and salt, the substance
of all living things. Whiter then snow and pure as virgin oil is this Circle. Oh Aradia,
oh Cernunnos, I sprinkle the lustrous waters upon the ground of this earth. May this space
may be a temple to You and a vessel of Your love and wisdom. So mote it be!
When you return to the altar, replace the cup and light the incense. Hold the censer
high above the Horned God candle and say:
Ra ba ah gello sah Cernunnos (Blessed is the fire of the Horned God!) May these
perfumes fill the circle, consecrating all encompassed by the sacred smoke and fire. Ra ba
ah gello sah Cernunnos!
Walk deosil around the circle swaying the censer freely and say:
I consecrate and cleanse this circle with the fire of the Cernunnos! All unsettled
forces I cast out in the name of the Horned God and in the name of my Lady Aradia. So mote
it be!
Return to the altar and replace the censer. Anoint your third eye with anointing oil
(olive oil). Pick up your Athame or sword and trace a white circle three times around the
temple area, saying:
I trace this Circle as a boundary between the realms of Man and the hidden places of
the God and Goddess, to preserve and contain the power I raise. This Circle is hidden in
truth and guarded by Cernunnos and Aradia. Here I practice my rites of magic and worship
in safety and with great power, assured by the Great Goddess Aradia my Mother and Horned
God Cernunnos my Father. So mote it be!
Walk around the circle deosil, saying:
This Circle is strong and this Circle is sacred, for Aradia and Cernunnos encompass its
boundaries. This Circle contains the energy I raise and guards me against all evils. None
may come and none may go if they would not honor this rite and my Lord and Lady. So ye
spirits above and below, aid and give power to this rite. Come forth and give blessing to
Aradia and Cernunnos. Come forth and give praise to the Old Ones. So mote it be!
Invocation to the East:
Oh children of Air, creatures of swiftness, come forth! Aid and strengthen my sacred
Circle. Spirits hidden by time deep within my mind and soul, come forth and make thy
presence known. Yes, come forth oh Argestes and Notus, eastern winds of thought and
breeze. Guard the east well. So mote it be!
Invocation to the South:
Oh children of Fire, creatures of light, come forth! Aid and strengthen my sacred
Circle. Spirits hidden by time deep within my mind and soul, come forth and make thy
presence known. Yes, come forth oh Auster and Notus, southern winds of heat and spark,
Guard the south well. So mote it be!
Invocation to the West:
Oh children of Water, creatures of passive seas, come forth! Aid and strengthen my
sacred Circle. Spirits hidden by time deep within my mind and soul, come forth and make
thy presence known. Yes, come forth oh Favonius and Zephyrus, western winds of shimmering
ebb. Guard the west well. So mote it be!
Invocation to the North:
Oh children of Earth, creatures of terrestrial kingdoms, come forth! Aid and strengthen
my sacred Circle. Spirits hidden by time deep within my mind and soul, come forth and make
thy presence known. Yes, come oh Aquilo and Boreas, northern winds of synthesis and form.
Guard the north well. So mote it be!
Stand at your altar facing the northeast. Visualize the Goddess in Her as Maiden
walking from the north to the northeast. Here She picks up two cups, one is gold the other
silver. Hold as clear an image of Her as you can. See the Horned God as the Young Child
displaying much attention to the Maiden. He wears clothes made of leaves and other natural
materials. Again build a firm image of the Horned God in your mind.
Relight the incense. Watch the Maiden walk from the northeast to the center of the
circle near the altar. There She pours from the silver cup the Fluid of Life onto your
pentacle, resting on the northern corner of your altar. See the pentacle glow and feel it
vibrate. Then She walks back to the northeast where the young Horned God stands. She
stands in front of the Horned One. He then kneels and clasps His hands around the cauldron
in the northeast. She pours half of the Sacred Liquor from the golden cup upon His head.
He then stands as the Maiden kneels and grasps the cauldron of regeneration. He now pours
the other half of the Liquor from the golden cup upon the Maiden's head.
Meditate upon the meaning the symbolic acts you have just witnessed. Afterward, pick up
the two cups from the center of the altar. Walk to the northeast where your cauldron (if
you have one) sits. Notice the God and Goddess stand together in front of you. With the
cup you hold in your left hand, symbolically empty the cup upon your head and say:
May the Spirit that unites and separates all things, the essence that makes up even the
Gods and Goddesses flow once again through my soul. May it cleanse the caverns of my mind
and body. I drink the milk of the Aradia and blood of Cernunnos. I am the air of extremes.
I am the soul of purity and love. So mote it be!
Empty the cup in your right hand into the cauldron and say:
My body is but the form of this world and shall be torn apart by the scorpion and
snake. My mind is the throne of the Gods and Goddesses and shall disappear in the soil of
the Earth, swallowed by the eagle and carried into the sky above. My soul, pure, is but a
reflection of the Spirit, Creator, and the very Cosmos itself. Never shall it be divided.
I give gladly as I take. As above so below. So mote it be!
Return to your altar and set down the cups. Make any invocations, prayers, or
divination now. Relight the incense.
Cakes and Wine Rite:
Lift the cup of red wine and say:
Blessed be this sacred wine. This womb and cup of life holds the wine that is a toast
and a gift to Cernunnos and Aradia my Lord and Lady and to the Old Ones. So mote it be!
Set down the wine. Hold the plate of cakes (bread or salt) high above the altar and
say:
Blessed be this bread of life, that it might be a fitting gift to Cernunnos and Aradia
and to the Old Ones.
As you eat of the cakes, say:
I shall never hunger.
As you drink the wine, say:
I shall never thirst.
Place a cake and a sprinkle of wine in the cauldron and proclaim:
Oh Aradia, Goddess and Mother of my soul, Cernunnos, my Father and God, I offer this
sacrifice as a token of my love. As you give me daily the things I need, so do I offer
this bread and wine to you and to all the Old Ones of the hidden realms. So mote it be!
The Great Rite:
Raise the cup of wine and vividly imagine it as the womb of Goddess. Remember all that
this symbolizes. See a dark indigo light coming down through your head, filling your body
and filling the cup. At once say:
This cup is the womb of my Lady Aradia. Within it are the fluids that give life to all.
Replace the cup. Raise your Athame high, such that the blade is pointed upward. Imagine
the Athame as the phallus of Cernunnos. Remember all that this symbolizes. See a white
light coming down through your head filling your body and the Athame. Proclaim:
This dagger is a symbol of the phallus of Cernunnos. May His fertile seed flow freely
and fill the womb of Aradia. So mote it be!
With both hands on the Athame, pierce the wine in the cup. Imagine the sensation of
being the God and Goddess as they unite. Say:
De vel na arla hana! (The veil is parted!) As the man is to the woman so this blade is
to the grail! Together the God and Goddess create and destroy. In unity they are my Lord
and my Lady and in the name of the Great Spirit uniting all things, I bless and consecrate
this wine. So mote it be!
Dismissing the Elementals of the East:
Oh sylphs of peaceful winds, I thank thee for coming here to aid my work. Return now to
thy place of dwelling. Be there peace between us now and forever, and come when I call
thee forth again! So mote it be!
Dismissing the Elementals of the South:
Oh salamanders of warmth and light, I thank thee for coming here to aid my work. Return
now to thy place of dwelling. Be there peace between us now and forever, and come when I
call thee forth again! So mote it be!
Dismissing the Elementals of the West:
Oh undines of flux, I thank thee for coming here to aid my work. Return now to thy
place of dwelling. Be there peace between us now and forever, and come when I call thee
forth again! So mote it be!
Dismissing the Elementals of the North:
Oh gnomes of gemstone foundations, I thank thee for coming here to aid my work. Return
now to thy place of dwelling. Be there peace between us now and forever, and come when I
call thee forth again! So mote it be!
This concludes the Candlemas rite
Merry meet! Merry part! Merry meet again!
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