A Pagan Ritual Prayer Book (11 page)

Among the ancient Pagans, the rituals that surrounded the spirits and deities of the home and the honoring of the Ancestors were more important than the great public ones. After all, we live in our houses every day; we eat in them; we make ourselves vulnerable in sleep in them. They are our most important property, and contain most of the rest of what we own, whether simply material, like pots and pans, or sentimental, like old photographs. We need them to be safe, and to feel safe in them.

The divine beings most involved in domestic rituals are those of the border (of our land, or the door, the border between outside and inside) and those of the hearth. In other words, those of the edge and those of the center.

Hearth guardians are traditionally female; they are the soul of the enfolding home. Border guardians, on the other hand, tend to be male; they are the warriors manning the ramparts. That's how they'll be recognized in the following prayers. If you see them differently, it should be little trouble to change things around.

Hermes:

• Hermes klept
  n, who protects thieves,
  

  instead guard my property from thieves.
  

   
  

  Even as you support the Cosmic Order,
  

   
  

  you, herald of Zeus who enforces divine law,
  

   
  

  you, god closest to men,
  

   
  

  enforce the little order of human law, the way of mortals,
  

   
  

  and the order smaller yet of this home,
  

   
  

  my little cosmos,
  

   
  

  and preserve it inviolate from intruders with burglary on their minds.
  

   
  

  Hermes, god of thieves, this time protect against thieves,
  

   
  

  and send them on their way with no gain.
  

   
  

Land Spirits:

• Those who dwelt in this land before it was ours, and was still wild,
  

  we offer you our apologies for displacing you,
  

   
  

  with this offering of [scattered grain/corn/wheat/ etc.; poured-out milk/beer/wine/etc.; strewn tobacco] we complete the cycle of gifts:
  

   
  

  our offering for your land.
  

   
  

  By the exchange may we be friends,
  

   
  

  by friendship may there be peace,
  

   
  

  and by peace may we live lives together in happiness.
  

   
  

Silvanus:

• Silvanus of the wild,
  

  be Silvanus of my land,
  

   
  

  and I will pour wine to you as a libation.
  

   
  

Terminus:

• Lord who protects borders,
  

  protect me, my household, my land,
  

   
  

  and all who enter here as guests.
  

   
  

  In return for which, in promise of future offerings,
  

   
  

  to establish, maintain, and strengthen friendship between us,
  

   
  

  this wine, this grain, this egg,
  

   
  

  willingly given.
  

   
  

• She burns in the center of the Hall of the Gods, and around her they gather in contemplation, in council.
  

  She makes them one family of comrades.
  

   
  

  When they gather where she is those who contend are at peace,
  

   
  

  those whose nature is constant motion,
  

   
  

  rest.
  

   
  

  Burner and Warmer,
  

   
  

  Dweller on the Hearth,
  

   
  

  even the gods continually praise you.
  

   
  

  So one would expect me to feel awe when I see you,
  

   
  

  but I feel friendship and love coming from you,
  

   
  

  and I can only return it in kind.
  

   
  

• This fire I sit by is the Goddess of the Hearth.
  

  Not a sign, or a symbol, or an image, or a representation, or a manifestation of a goddess who lives on some celestial, spiritual, unobserved place:
  

   
  

  Here in front of me is this goddess herself.
  

   
  

  Warmed and lit by her, and eating food cooked through her,
  

   
  

  I will sit, and know her here, and thank her for this wonder.
  

   
  

• We gather at the fire and the fire draws us in
  

  and holds us in her arms.
  

   
  

  She speaks the words our hearts, our hearts must hear.
  

   
  

  that ever where she is, we are safe,
  

   
  

  safe from fear.
  

   
  

Hearth Goddess, with an offering of food:

• We eat together, home's center,
  

  with the same food on our tables.
  

   
  

  It's nice to eat with a friend.
  

   
  

• Lady who sits on the throne of the hearth,
  

  who appears to us in scarlet robes,
  

   
  

  with golden fringe:
  

   
  

  increase our family's peace with your welcome love.
  

   
  

  A stove is a hearth,
  

   
  

  and the goddess who watches over hearths,
  

   
  

  watches over this stove that cooks the food of our family
  

   
  

  and is the hearth of hospitality:
  

   
  

  with the lighting of this oil lamp I bring you honor.
  

   
  

  I bring you into my heart, a heart that loves you.
  

   
  

• I place you here in the center of my house:
  

  be the navel about which all turns;
  

   
  

  be my home the world you support.
  

   
  

  With your warmth enliven the house.
  

   
  

  With your warmth enliven those who live in the house.
  

   
  

  With your warmth enliven those to whom hospitality is given in the house.
  

   
  

  Be, then, the very power by which hospitality is given,
  

   
  

  linking those who live here with the greater community.
  

   
  

  Be, then, not only the center of the house
  

   
  

  but its connection with that which is outside the house.
  

   
  

  Be the one we face and the one who faces others.
  

   
  

  I place you here in the center of my house,
  

   
  

  and I will worship you here.
  

   
  

• See, here I stand,
  

  with flame in my hand.
  

   
  

  The fire is laid before me.
  

   
  

  Everything is prepared.
  

   
  

  The house stands about me.
  

   
  

  Everything is prepared.
  

   
  

  See, here I stand,
  

   
  

  with flame in my hand.
  

   
  

  The heart of the home
  

   
  

  is about to be lit.
  

   
  

  The house is about to live.
  

   
  

  Bright Goddess,
  

   
  

  Queen of the Hearth,
  

   
  

  The fire which will warm us,
  

   
  

  The fire which will cook our food,
  

   
  

  The fire which will light our homes.
  

   
  

  You are the Queen of the Home
  

   
  

  and I am your priestess.
  

   
  

  I light the heart of the home.
  

   
  

  I awaken the house to life.
  

   
  

• You are in the shining fire
  

  here in the home's heart.
  

   
  

  Stay with me
  

   
  

  Stay in our home
  

   
  

  And each day I will honor you.
  

   
  

• Little fire, I will tend and feed you,
  

  and you will bless me from your vast store.
  

   
  

Brighid:

• A new land
  

  A new house:
  

   
  

  the same hearth goddess.
  

   
  

  Welcome, Brighid;
  

   
  

  with you on the hearth, I'm home again.
  

   
  

Westy
: