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The directions are represented by a single large item on the appropriate side of the fire:
Altar Symbol Examples:
East: statue of bird
South: large candle in glass container
West: conch shell
North: flower pot filled with rosemary cuttings
Center: the fire
Supplies:
grainy type breads or rolls, in basket to be passed out for sharing
matches to light fire
bundle of grain to be burnt
bucket for water to put out fire
flashlight in case it gets dark before cleanup finished
bug repellant
Theme:
This is the beginning of the harvest season, a "start"of the end, which will lead to a new beginning.
SMUDGE WHEN READY TO BEGIN.
CALL THE DIRECTIONS: (Can be done by one person, or a different person for each direction)
East:Spirits of the East
Aurora, Guardian of the dawn;
Aeolus, Bringer of warm winds;
Let your breezes gently caress all we do,
Let our harvest be plentiful. Blessed Be!
South:Spirits of the South
Chicomecoatl, Corn Goddess;
Huitzilopochtli, Sun God;
Bestow your light and warmth on our endeavors,
Let our harvest be plentiful. Blessed Be!
West:Spirits of the West
Oshun, Sparkling headwater of the rivers;
Donar, Source of life giving water;
Be generous with your liquid life,
Let our harvest be plentiful. Blessed Be!
North:Spirits of the North
Demeter, Mother of the grain;
Neper, Father of the grain;
Share with us the abundance of your good earth,
Let our harvest be plentiful. Blessed Be!
Center:Spirits of the Center
The place of transformation - both within and without,
Join us here today, Mother, Father, Son and Daughter,
We ask you to join us here today in our celebration of the first harvest as we give thanks for all you have provided. Blessed
Be!
LEADER:
On this day we honor the beginning of the harvest, the first fruits of the grain.
It is time to be thankful for the gifts of life we are receiving
The grain that is being harvested now will nourish our bodies and help us to sustain life over the long winter ahead.
It is a basic part of life that some things must die so that others may live
The taking of life, even that of the grain, is a sacrificial act that should be surrounded with much awe, thanks, and praise.
Life is never to be taken lightly. Life and death form an endless cycle.
This time of the year is the beginning of the end of this year’s cycle.
This is a time of transformation.
Even as the baker takes the grain and transforms it through her work and the heat of her hearth,
so must we take the harvest of our year and transform it by our work and our energy into that which will carry us through
the coming winter.
PASS THE BREAD AROUND THE CIRCLE, SAYING:
Take and eat this bread of the harvest.
READ POEM:
Bakerwoman God,
I am your living bread,
Strong, brown Bakerwoman God.
I am your low, soft, and being-shaped loaf.
I am your rising bread, well-kneaded
by some divine and knotty pair of knuckles,
by your warm earth hands.
I am bread well-kneaded.
Put me in fire, Bakerwoman God,
put me in your own bright fire.
I am warm, warm as you from fire.
I am white and gold, soft and hard, brown and round.
I am so warm from fire.
Break me, Bakerwoman God.
I am broken under your caring Word.
Drop me in your special juice in pieces.
Drop me in your blood.
Dunk me in the great red flood.
Self-giving chalices swallow me.
My skin shines in the divine wine.
My face is cup-covered and I drown.
I fall up, in a red pool,
in a gold world,
where your warm sunskin hand is there
to catch and hold me.
Bakerwoman God, remake.
LEADER:
Remake.
Transformation
Like the grain, some of which disappears only to reappear next spring, transformed into growing, green plants,
there are things in our lives which may need to disappear for a time so that a transformation can occur in our lives.
HELPER PASSES OUT THE STALKS OF GRAIN WHILE LEADER CONTINUES:
Take this stalk of grain.
Think of your life.
Let the grain represent something in your life that needs to be transformed by your work, by your energy.
When you are ready, let the fire transform the grain as you will transform your life.
START THE CHANT "AIR MOVES US" (repeat 3 times)
Air moves us,
Fire transforms us,
Water shapes us,
Earth heals us.
And the balance of the wheel
Goes ‘round and ‘round,
And the balance of the wheel goes ‘round.
CAST GRAIN INTO FIRE AND WAIT FOR ALL OTHERS TO DO SO.
LEADER READS PRAYER:
We give thanks to the Mighty Ones
For the richness and goodness of life.
As there must be rain with the sun,
To make all things good,
So must we suffer pain with our joy,
To know all things.
Our love is ever with the Goddess and the God,
For though we know not their thoughts,
Yet do we know their hearts--
That all is for our good.
Mighty Ones, bless us now.
Keep us faithful in your service.
We thank you for the crops;
For life; for love; for joy.
We thank you for that spark
That brings us together--and to you.
Help us to live with Love
And with Trust between us.
Help us to feel the joy of loving you
And of loving one another.
CLOSING COMMENTS:
The Spiral Dance moves on and we with it, towards the winter, towards the final harvest.
We carry with us what we have been, what we are, and tonight, we begin the transformation into what we will be.
Whatever may come, we know the cycle will continue and the grain will rise again in the green shoots of spring.
Hold fast to this promise of transformation and know that the God and Goddess will help you in your Spiral Dance.
Let us close with the chant "Hoof and Horn", after which we will dismiss the directions
Hoof and horn, hoof and horn,
All that dies shall be reborn;
Corn and grain, corn and grain,
All that falls shall rise again.
We all come from the Goddess
And to her we shall return,
Like a drop of rain,
Flowing to the ocean.
Hoof and horn, hoof and horn,
All that dies shall be reborn;
Corn and grain, corn and grain,
All that falls shall rise again.
We all come from the Sun God
And to Him we shall return,
Like a spark of flame,
Rising to the heavens.
Hoof and horn, hoof and horn,
All that dies shall be reborn;
Corn and grain, corn and grain,
All that falls shall rise again.
DISMISS DIRECTIONS:
North:Spirits of the North,
Thank you for sharing your gifts with us today and all the year.
Let us walk in your path all the days of our lives. Blessed Be!
West:Spirits of the West,
Thank you for sharing your gifts with us today and all the year.
Let us walk in your path all the days of our lives. Blessed Be!
South:Spirits of the South,
Thank you for sharing your gifts with us today and all the year.
Let us walk in your path all the days of our lives. Blessed Be!
EastSpirits of the East,
Thank you for sharing your gifts with us today and all the year.
Let us walk in your path all the days of our lives. Blessed Be!
Center:Spirits of the Center.
Thank you for sharing your gifts with us today and all the year.
Let us walk in your path all the days of our lives. Blessed Be!
LEADER:
The Circle is open, but unbroken.
Merry meet and merry part, and merry meet again!
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