A Pagan Ritual Prayer Book (19 page)

Water Spirits:

• If I could slide between the raindrops, why would I want to?
  

  Why avoid the purifying water that runs over me, carrying untruth away?
  

   
  

  Do you know, water spirits, that you do this?
  

   
  

  Not just feeding the earth but supporting truth?
  

   
  

  I wouldn't avoid truth, so I don't avoid
  you
  .
  

   
  

Xák
^w
m Nép
t:

• Unkindled water,
  

  hot blood flowing,
  

   
  

  twin horses, shining:
  

   
  

  he rides within.
  

   
  

It's very rude to ask for something and then not thank the person who gives it to you. Divine beings are people too, even if not human, and they like to be thanked. People who always give and are never thanked tend to stop giving. Something to remember.

The food and drink we consume become actual parts of our bodies. Besides being a polite thing to do, a grace blesses them, which means that we consume the sacred, which means that we become
made up
of the sacred.

• Even if “Thank you” would be enough, I offer you this in gratitude for answering my prayer.
  

• If I have forgotten your presence today, [god's name],
  

  thinking I faced troubles all alone,
  

   
  

  forgive me this failing.
  

   
  

  Knowing that now, when I had the time to stop and think,
  

   
  

  I knew that you were there
  

   
  

  and that your help made things easier,
  

   
  

  made adversities gentler,
  

   
  

  slowed my anger
  

   
  

  cleared my thinking,
  

   
  

  so that my judgments came, as much as is possible,
  

   
  

  from a peaceful heart.
  

   
  

  We can take if for certain, can't we, that your help will be needed again tomorrow?
  

   
  

  When I need your help then,
  

   
  

  if I don't think of you then,
  

   
  

  in the heat of the moment,
  

   
  

  please don't hold it against me.
  

   
  

  When time comes for reflection I will think of you again with thanks.
  

   
  

Cars:

• Though you can't really say it's alive,
  

  my car drinks the blood of plants and animals that died long ago.
  

   
  

  So I thank their spirits for making it possible for me to drive to where I will buy my own food,
  

   
  

  whose spirits I will also thank.
  

   
  

The God and Goddess:

• From those into whose hands we place a gift we expect words of thanks,
  

  from those to whom we mail one, a thank-you note.
  

   
  

  Those who don't follow these rules of etiquette we call rude.
  

   
  

  We don't want you to call us rude, Mother and Father,
  

   
  

  or to be rude even if you are too polite even to think it,
  

   
  

  so we thank you for your many presents,
  

   
  

  especially the ones you're giving us now.
  

   
  

Sequana: (Goddess of the river Seine, who has been represented riding in a boat, which is identified with the Isle de la Cité.)

• Far from where the river springs,
  

  the ship parts the unstopped river,
  

   
  

  at the heart of a city brightly lit,
  

   
  

  renowned for art; for beauty and splendor;
  

   
  

  your gift to the world, Sequana,
  

   
  

  and for this my gift to you.
  

   
  

Taranis:

• Praise to you, Taranis, riding in your wagon from beyond the mountains,
  

  its wheels spraying rain with each turn,
  

   
  

  over the waiting, parched land.
  

   
  

  Such a gift inspires one in return.
  

   
  

  Ours is so little compared to yours, but it's our best, Thunderer,
  

   
  

  and given in true gratitude.
  

   
  

• Gathered here with family and friends, we take time to consciously think of everything the Gods deserve to be thanked for. In fact, even if they had done nothing in this last year but gather us to be here with our loved ones, they would be deserving of gratitude. For this, and for so much else, thank you, Holy Ones, who respond to our love and gifts with those of your own. Your people here today will always thank you, with sincerity, with mindfulness, with daily and true devotion, for all you give us.
  

• Blessings and thanks to the earth from which this food comes.
  

  Blessings and thanks to the plants and animals from which it is formed.
  

   
  

  Blessings and thanks to the people who brought it forth and prepared it for us today.
  

   
  

  And blessings and thanks to that One,
  

   
  

  Infinite, Mysterious,
  

   
  

  lying behind it all and giving it and us our being.
  

   
  

• This drink, life's changing.
  

  This food, life's form.
  

   
  

• Seated across from us,
  

  or to our right or left,
  

   
  

  or in their own mysterious sacred say,
  

   
  

  may the Gods come to eat with us.
  

   
  

Animal Spirits:

• Grown, gathered, and ground, this grain is Earth's gift.
  

  Bred, born, and butchered, this beef is Earth's blood.
  

   
  

  We who eat do not forget.
  

   
  

  Our eating is worship of those whose gift and blood this is.
  

   
  

The God:

• The grain was thrust into the ground:
  

  it became a baby.
  

   
  

  It grew into a plant:
  

   
  

  it became a child.
  

   
  

  It produced seed:
  

   
  

  it became a man.
  

   
  

  It was cut down:
  

   
  

  it became our bread.
  

   
  

  Fertile God, who freely cast the gloried seed in the welcoming body of Earth,
  

   
  

  we worship you when we eat this bread.
  

   
  

• Mixing, joining together.
  

  Slapping against the board, kicking in the womb.
  

   
  

  Kneading, moving down the birth canal.
  

   
  

  Rising, coming into the world.
  

   
  

  Baking, passing through the flames.
  

   
  

  Eating: he is in us.
  

   
  

• The God goes into the grain: the God
  is
  the grain.
  

  He grows as the grain grows, for he is the grain.
  

   
  

  He is cut down, he is threshed, with the grain,
  

   
  

  the God who is the grain.
  

   
  

  He is ground into flour, which is the God.
  

   
  

  Baked from the flour formed from the grain,
  

   
  

  the bread both contains and is the God:
  

   
  

  by eating it we draw the God in,
  

   
  

  by consuming it the God becomes part of our bodies.
  

   
  

  We re-form the threshed and ground God.
  

   
  

The God and Goddess:

• Though my food may be fast,
  

  may my life be long:
  

   
  

  this is my prayer,
  

   
  

  God and Goddess.