Dear Friends,

My Noumenia, a simple beginning to the Lunar Month as Hecate’s Deipnon (1) is the end…

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I shower, and put on fresh clothes.  I gather the implements and clean them.  I begin.

I light the tea-light candle and place it in the stoneware scented oil warmer that serves as Hestia’s altar within my kitchen.  Making the first offering of some Olive Oil and dried Rosemary.  Having set the offering table I kindle a charcoal from the flam of Hestia’s tea-light, having tried to light it with a match and failed… yet when kindled from Her (for She IS the hearth and the hearth fires) it flares and sparks to life.

I place the coal into the fresh dish of salt that serves to hold the incense and coal ashes and place that upon a plate on the table.  I breath onto the coal to help it along to red hot life while praying…

“With the breath of my body,

And the work of my hands,

I praise the ancient Gods,

I praise the Gods of Olympus,

I praise the Gods that wander Gaia’s green self,

I praise the Gods of the Underworld, (2)

I praise All of the Gods and Guardian Spirits of this house.”

The words and phrases are interwoven and spoken repeatedly as I kindle the coal to life.   When it is fully alive with the fire I sprinkle some of the dried Rosemary onto it, letting the smoke purify me and my home and the offerings.  I speak the words once more.

The offerings for this, my first Noumenia in the new home are simple…

I take up a cup of Water.

“I make an offering of Water,

Cold Clean Water, Drinkable Water,

More than all too many see in a day.

I make an offering of Water unto the Gods and Guardian Spirits of this home,

I thank you for your blessings,

May you never thirst.”

(the offering is poured into an offering cup)

I take up the measuring cup of Oatmeal in my hands…

“I make an offering of grain, of Oatmeal,

A meal’s worth, more than all too many see in a day.

I make an offering of Oatmeal unto the Gods and Guardian Spirits of this home,

I thank you for your blessings, Even as I seek to learn how to better honor them,

May you never hunger.”

(the offering is poured into another offering cup)

“Thank you, and Blessed Be!”

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Not the most formal or recon-focused of Noumenia, but then I would tend to label myself a Hellenicly influenced Polytheist these days.  I also have a lot of irons in the metaphorical fire and need to do some more research on this practice…

I decided to wait a day after Hecate’s Diepnon, since I not only needed a day (or night) of rest, but I also wanted to wait until the crescent was at least astrologically present.  Then too I needed a day to do some laundry so I would have some clean clothes to wear!

Blessings to you all,

Pax

NOTES

(1) aka “Hecate’s Supper” where an offering is left at a Cross-roads.

(2) Don’t Panic U.U.’s and other non-Pagan readers, this isn’t as woo-woo or dark a phrase as it might sound to Abrahamicaly influenced ears.  Polytheistic cultures, like the ancient Greeks, tend to see the Gods as being everywhere.  Including Underground.  In the case of Ancient Greece, and some of the other Polytheistic paths, the Gods of the Underworld were a mixture of Fertility and Secrets and Afterlife and Wealth related Deities and associations.