Hymn to Hekate

 

"Hekate Einodia, Trioditis, lovely dame,

 of earthly, watery, and celestial frame,

 sepulchral, in a saffron veil arrayed,

 pleased with dark ghosts that wander through the shade;

 Perseis, solitary Goddess, hail!

 The world’s key-bearer,

 never doomed to fail;

 in stags rejoicing, huntress, nightly seen,

 and drawn by bulls, unconquerable queen;

 Leader, nymphe, nurse, on mountains wandering,

 hear the suppliants who with holy rites thy power revere,

 and to the herdsman with a favouring mind draw near."

 

(Orphic Hymn to Hekate; Triple Hekate and the three Graces statue, Metropolitan Museum of Art)
 
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Brigid's Eve Blessings

"O Brigid, Mary of the Gael,

May thy protection never fail.

Spread thy mantle over me,

Where’re I pass, where’re I be.

Weather foul or weather fair,

Keep me in your loving care."

(traditional)

(© photo by H. Warren, St Brigid's Well in Kildare, Ireland. Statue by Annette McCormack.)

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Earth Mother Prayer

Cover my Earth Mother four times with many flowers.

Let the heavens be covered with the banked-up clouds.

Let the earth be covered with fog; cover the earth with rains.

Great waters, rains, cover the earth.  Lighting cover the earth.

Let thunder be heard over the earth; let thunder be heard;

Let thunder be heard over the six regions of the earth.

~Zuni Prayer~

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Prayer to Sarasvati

 

Saraswati, you who are the great wave of universal wisdom,

you who flow like a river and awaken our intellect,

shine upon us now as the embodiment of universal wisdom.

(Agastya)

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Brigid's Eve

"The sacred Three,

to save,

to shield,

to surround

the hearth,

the house,

the household,

this eve,

this night,

oh! this eve,

this night,

and every night,

each single night."

 

(Carmina Gadelica)

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Babylonian Creation Myth

 

"They kissed Her feet, saying: 

'The Creatress of mankind we call Thee;

The Mistress of all the Gods, be Thy Name!'

They went to the House of Fate,

Ninigiku-Ea and the wise Mama.

Fourteen mother-wombs were assembled 

to tread upon the clay before Her.

Ea says, as he recites the incantation.

Sitting before Her,

Mama recited the incantation; 

When She completed Her incantation, 

She drew upon Her clay. 

Fourteen pieces She pinched off;

Seven pieces She placed on the right,

seven pieces She placed on the left,

between them She placed a brick. 

Ea was kneeling on the matting; 

He opened its navel; 

He called the wise wives.

Of the seven and seven mother-wombs.

Seven brought forth males,

seven brought forth females.

The Mother-Womb, the Creatress of Destiny,

In pairs She completed them,

In pairs She completed before Her,

The forms of the people Mami forms. 

In the house of the bearing woman in childbirth,

Seven days shall the brick lie,

from the house of Mah, the wise Mami. 

As the Bearing One gives birth,

May the mother of the child bring forth by herself."

 (© Ancient Babylonian text from "The Great Mother" by Erich Neumann, trans. R. Manheim.
Photo of female figure, Khafajah, Nintu Temple VII, Early Dynastic period, 2600-2500 B.C. Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago.)

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Prayer to Hecate

 

"Yes, lend me your hand I pray and reveal to me the pathways of Divine Guidance that I long for. Then shall I gaze upon that precious Light whence I can flee the evil of our dark origin. 

Yes, lend me your hand I pray - and when I am weary, bring me to the haven of piety with your winds.  Hail, many-named mother of the Gods, whose children are fair. Hail, mighty Hekate of the Threshold."

(Proclus Diadochus Hymn, trans. Vogt; marble relief from Crannon, Thessaly, 4th century BCE. The British Museum.)

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Happy Solstice!

In ancient Baltic traditions, the Sun Goddess Saule rules the heavens and rides across the sky in her golden and silver chariot, pulled by twin stallions.

"Saule, with her two gold horses,

Rides up the stone mountain

Never heated, never weary.

Never resting on the way."

Her festival was held on the Summer Solstice - bonfires were lit, blessings were asked, flower wreaths signifying the sun were assembled, and a special meal was shared.  Celebrants would stay up the entire night to witness her rising.

"The Sun dances over the silver mountain

Silver shoes she hath on her feet. . ."

 

(© quotes from the "Encyclopaedia of Religion & Ethics", Ed. J. Hastings; art by Annalceflames /DeviantArt.)

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Brigid's Eve

 

Brigid,

You are a woman of peace.

You bring harmony where there is conflict.

You bring light to the darkness.

You bring hope to the downcast.

May the mantle of your peace cover those who are troubled and anxious,

And may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world.

Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all Goddess has made.

Brigid, you are a voice for the wounded and the weary.

Strengthen what is weak within us,

Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.

May we grow each day into greater wholeness in mind, body, and spirit.

 

Adapted from a Prayer to St. Brighid

Solas Bhríde Community, Kildare, 1997

 

 

  

(© art by Susan Falcon-Hargraves Fine Art & Design)

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Prayer to Nehalennia

 

Greetings Goddess Nehalennia,

Greetings protective Mother,

Goddess Nehalennia, who gives us fruitfulness,

Goddess Nehalennia, who give the land bountifulness,

Goddess Nehalennia, who protects the land from water,

Goddess Nehalennia, who protects people against water,

Goddess Nehalennia, who protects sailors and merchants from water,

Goddess Nehalennia, who protects trade from water,

Goddess Nehalennia, who brings prosperity through water,

Goddess Nehalennia, protecting Mother hear our prayers.

Protect us today against all dangers and grant us prosperity!

 

(Early prayer to  Nehalennia)

(© photo by M. Mabel of  shrine of Nehalennia approx. 150-250 CE, Netherlands, showing her holding loaves of bread, with a dog and a basket of apples on either side.)

Blessings of the Full Moon in Pisces!

 

Homeric Hymn to Selene:

"And next, sweet voiced Muses, daughters of Zeus,

well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged Moon.

From her immortal head a radiance is shown from heaven and embraces earth;

and great is the beauty that ariseth from her shining light.

The air, unlit before, glows with the light of her golden crown,

and her rays beam clear, whensoever bright Selene

having bathed her lovely body in the waters of Ocean,

and donned her far-gleaming, shining team,

drives on her long-maned horses at full speed,

at eventime in the mid-month:

then her great orbit is full and then her beams

shine brightest as she increases.

So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men."

(© photo by Dreamstime)

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Hymn to Sekhmet-Bast

 

Mother of the gods, the One, the Only,

Mistress of the Crowns, thou rulest all;

Sekhmet is thy name when thou are wrathful,

Bast, beloved, when thy people call.

Daughter of the sun, with flame and fury

Flashing from the prow upon the foe;

Safely sails the boat with thy protection

Passing scatheless where thy fires glow.

Daughter of the Sun, the burial chamber

Lies in the darkness til thy light appears.

From thy Throne of Silence send us comfort,

Bast, beloved, banish all our fears.

Mother of the gods, no gods existed

Til thou camest there and gave them life.

Sekhmet of the boat, the wicked fear thee

Trampling down all evil and all strife.

Mother of the gods, the great, the loved one,

Winged and mighty, unto thee we call,

Naming thee the Comforter, the Ruler

Bast, beloved, Mother of us all.

(From The Egyptian Book of the Dead )

To Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom

 

"O Wisdom!

You circled, circling,

encompassing all things

in one path possessed of life.

 

Three wings you have -

one of them soars on high,

the second exudes from the earth,

and the third flutters everywhere.

 

Praise to you, as befits you,

O Sapientia!"

 

By the Sibyl of the Rhine, Hildegard of Bingen

(Symphonia Armoniae Celestium Revelationum)

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Happy Beltane

 

Hymn to the Graces

"Hear me, illustrious Graces, mighty named,
From Jove descended and Eunomia famed;

Thalia, and Aglaia fair and bright,

And blest Euphrosyne whom joys delight:

Mothers of mirth, all lovely to the view,

Pleasure abundant pure belongs to you:

Various, forever flourishing and fair,

Desired by mortals, much invoked in prayer:

Circling, dark-eyed, delightful to mankind,

Come, and your mystics bless with bounteous mind."

 

 
 
("Hymns of Orpheus", trans. Taylor; section of "Primavera" by Sandro Botticelli)

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Full Moon in Virgo

 

"Hear, Goddess Queen, diffusing silver light,

Bull-horned and wandering through the gloom of Night.

With stars surrounded, and with circuit wide

Night's torch extending, through the heavens you ride:

Female and Male with borrowed rays you shine,

And now full-orbed, now tending to decline.

Mother of ages, fruit-producing Moon,

Whose amber orb makes Night's reflected noon:

Lover of horses, splendid, queen of Night,

All-seeing power bedecked with starry light.

Lover of vigilance, the foe of strife,

In peace rejoicing, and a prudent life:

Fair lamp of Night, its ornament and friend,

Who givest to Nature's works their destined end.

Queen of the stars, all-wife Diana hail!

Decked with a graceful robe and shining veil;

Come, blessed Goddess, prudent, starry, bright,

Come moony-lamp with chaste and splendid light,

Shine on these sacred rites with prosperous rays,

And pleased accept thy suppliant's mystic praise."

("The Hymns of Orpheus" #8; trans. T. Taylor)

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To The Fates

"Daughters of darkling Nyx, much named, draw near, infinite Moirai, and listen to my prayer; who in the heavenly lake, where waters white burst from a fountain hid in depths of night, and through a dark and stony cavern glide, a cave profound, invisible abide; from whence, wide coursing round the boundless earth, your power extends to those of mortal birth; To these acceding, in a purple veil to sense impervious, you yourselves conceal, when in the plain of Moira you joyful ride in one great car, with glory for your guide; till all-complete, your heaven appointed round, at justice, hope, and care's concluding bound, the terms absolved, prescribed by ancient law, of power immense, and just without a flaw. For Moira alone with vision unconfined surveys the conduct of the mortal kind. . . Come, gentle powers, well born, benignant, famed, Atropos, Lachesis and Clotho named; unchanged, aerial, wandering in the night, untamed, invisible to mortal sight; Moirai all-producing, all-destroying, hear, regard the incense and the holy prayer; propitious listen to these rites inclined, and far avert distress, with placid mind."

(Hymn to The Fates, Orphic Hymn, trans. Taylor; sculpture by Gottfried Schadow, 1790, Berlin)

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Hail Hekate!

 "Hekate Einodia, Trioditis, lovely dame,

 of earthly, watery, and celestial frame,

 sepulchral, in a saffron veil arrayed,

 pleased with dark ghosts that wander through the shade;

 Perseis, solitary Goddess, hail!

 The world’s key-bearer,

 never doomed to fail;

 in stags rejoicing, huntress, nightly seen,

 and drawn by bulls, unconquerable queen;

 Leader, nymphe, nurse, on mountains wandering,

 hear the suppliants who with holy rites thy power revere,

 and to the herdsman with a favouring mind draw near."

 

(Orphic Hymn to Hekate; Triple Hecate relief, NG Prague, Kinsky Palace.)

 
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Hymn to Ratri

 

Hymn to Ratri, Night

The Night comes near and looks about, 

The Goddess with her many eyes. 

She has put on her glories all. 

Immortal, she has filled the space, 

Both far and wide, both low and high.

She conquers darkness with her light. 

She has undone her sister, Dawn.

The Goddess Night as she approached, 

And utter darkness flies away. 

For thou art she in whose approach 

We seek today for rest, like birds, 

Who in the branches seek their nest. 

The darkness of the night is lighted 

by the light of the moon and stars,

The dawn or bright day that lasts 

from morning till evening,

The darkness, caused by 

the retreat of Dawn or Day, 

is lighted up by the brilliant Night.

The villages have sought for rest, 

And all that walks and all that flies,

The falcons come, intent on prey.

Keep off the she-wolf, keep the wolf, 

Keep off the thief, O kindly Night, 

And be thou light for us to pass. 

Black darkness came, yet bright with stars. 

It came to us, with brilliant hues; 

Dawn, free us as from heavy debt.

Like cows, I brought this hymn to thee, 

Accept it graciously, O Night! 

(photo Nasa; Hymn from the Rig Veda, trans. Muller)

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Happy Brigid's Day

 

Brigid,

You are a woman of peace.

You bring harmony where there is conflict.

You bring light to the darkness.

You bring hope to the downcast.

May the mantle of your peace cover those who are troubled and anxious,

And may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world.

Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all Goddess has made.

Brigid, you are a voice for the wounded and the weary.

Strengthen what is weak within us,

Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.

May we grow each day into greater wholeness in mind, body, and spirit.

 

Adapted from a Prayer to St. Brighid

Solas Bhríde Community, Kildare, 1997

 
 
  
(© art by Susan Falcon-Hargraves Fine Art & Design)

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Amaterasu-Omikami

 

"Heaven and Earth are one; 

there is no barrier between them.
The High Heavenly Plain is the high heavenly plain
which covers all countries of the world,
and the Sun Goddess is the goddess who reigns in that heaven,
casting her light to the very ends of heaven
and earth and for all time.
There is not a single country in the world
which does not receive her beneficent illuminations;
This Goddess is the splendor of all splendors."

(Quote by Motoori Norinaga, 1771; 19th century woodblock of Amaterasu emerging from her cave by Shunsai Toshimasa.)

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