Oh Holy Hekate
Brightly Coiffed Maiden of the Crossroads,
Sweet Secrets Bearing Lady of Earth and Sky and Sea,
Thou who art both Nurse and Guide,
Thy praises I raise up to Heaven,
Libations I have poured Thee,
The Light of Thy Torches guides me,
I have walked through Times of Trial and Turmoil,
Yet I am whole, and have grown and learned,
Thank You, Thank You, Ten Thousand Thank Yous.
Blessed be
Dear Friends,
In the face of recent events Pagan community journalists are looking at the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic member of the U.S. Congress who was shot at in an apparent assassination attempt, and adding their prayers. Pagan Elders and Teachers are encouraging us to pray and send energy, and to not only not despair but too find ways to Bend that oh-so -famous Moral Arc of the Universe more towards justice from the strange and tangled place our Nation finds itself in these day. Pagan Authors and Elders are writing essays inquiring into the moral responsibility for the vitriolic climate that pollutes our fair Nations politics.
I am neither an Elder nor an Author, and only a sometimes hap-hazard Journalist. I will find ways to act and work and do whatever it is I can do to bring positive change into the world and into my Nation, but for now, I also pray….
Holy Libertas, Holy Justitia, and All You Holy Powers of Healing
Hear Me, oh, Holy Powers.
Lady Liberty,
Goddess of Democracy, You who raises your Torch to light the way to Freedom and holds close to your heart the Laws and History and Ideas and Ideals that should be guiding us. Inspire your children and friends and praise-singers and drum-beaters to action, let us stand in numbers too great to ignore and say
“No. Not here, and not ever here!”
To the rule of violence and to the fear-mongering and rabble-rousing that has helped lead to this.
Swift Winged Justice,
Lady of the Scales and the Sword, who although blindfolded sees all. I know that You cannot be everywhere at once, but please be in Arizona now. Cleave through the lies and accusations and counter accusations and help the forces of Law to work Your wonders and to find the truths at the heart of this matter.
All You Holy Powers of Healing,
Be with, sustain, and nurture those injured on that tragic day. Be with, sustain, and nurture the families of the fallen, and the wounded, as they go forward from this terrible cross-roads. Be with, sustain, and nurture all those touched personally by this horrible event and help them to to heal, to grieve, to find the comfort they need, and to continue.
Honored and Beloved and Mighty Dead,
Welcome the Fallen from this tragic day amongst your numbers, may they find peace amongst your numbers and reunion with their beloved families. May your presences and inspiration be there for your families and for your spiritual descendants who have need of you in this trying time.
Blessed Be and So Mote It Be.
So Mote It Be,
Pax / Geoffrey
Pray, Pray Pray,
By Geoffrey Stewart / Pax
I close my eyes and open my heart
And I pray, pray, pray.
I raise my hands and I raise my voice
And I pray, pray, pray.
Lady, shine, shine down on me.
Lord, walk, walk away with me.
As I walk this journey
Through the mystery
I raise my voice and I kiss my hands,
And I pray, pray, pray.
Between The Worlds on the Eve of a most Grievous Day,
In this place and in this hour I call upon the Holy Powers,
I breathe the Breath of Life, breathing inspiration from Them,
I breathe in lifes energy, drinking in the Spirit, the Magick
I dive deep wishing to be drunk with Them and Their presence
Calling on Their power
Breathing into my Heart Chakra, I pray the prayers of Peace.
I pray for all those who would act with hate, may their fears be calmed.
I breathe in their fears and breath out The Breath of Life to them.
I pray for all those who would act hateful from fear and anger, may they find courage and compassion.
I open my heart to their anger and fears and seek to send them the Love due all beings.
I pray for those who would use times of fear and division as stepping stones to power or prestige, may they find failure.
I open my arms wide, desiring to comfort the afflicted and the fearful and the angry and the grieving and the confused and all those being manipulated from and into those states by those who would unjustly seek power.
I pray prayers for all those who would act with hate, may their actions come to naught.
Holy Powers
Help me in my walk this day, help me to know my self and to find my Work.
Guide me and Inspire me, welcome in my words and actions as you are in my heart and hearth.
Help me to perceive clearly with all my senses and all the ways of knowing.
Help me to express myself clearly and creatively.
Help me to Love myself and all the wide world around me, help me to be Compassionate and Centered.
Let the my will be strengthened and my True Will be revealed.
Help me to know my emotions and to be fully engaged with all my senses and sensuality in the delicious dance of life.
Help me to walk Balances and Strong, and to be Grounded this day.
Holy Powers, thank you, and blessed be.
So I was going through my Witches Datebook/Organizer the other night and it occurred that I hadn’t heard anything about this years Imbolc Poetry Blogging?!? I was alarmed!
I am also realizing that I should probably read Anne’s Hill’s Blog of Gnosis a little more often…
“Life is hard enough; why shouldn’t we take all the full moon weekend leading up to February 2nd to celebrate this patroness of the arts and healing, and read her a poem or two?” ~ Anne Hill, in 5th Annual Brigid Poetry Festival
This event has been going on for years now, and is one of those deeply cherrished events in the Pagan Blogosphere; I would like to encourage any of you Podcaster’s out there to take up this event as your own with an Bridget or Imbolc Poetry reading in one of your February episodes?
My first Poem is actually a repost of a my prayer for Haiti…
I Pray to You oh Mighty Mother and Forceful Father
I respectfully call out unto All the Holy Powers of the Universe,
Please bring all of Your Love and Compassion and Blessings to bear,
On the Island and the People of Haiti in this time of pain and suffering,
May the Holy Powers of Air inspire them and help them to communicate with their far flung families,
May the Holy Powers of Fire warm them and bring the healing of bodies,
May the Holy Powers of Water quench their thirst and bring the healing to their hearts,
My the Holy Powers of Earth feed them and lend them strength,
Blessed may You be,
Blessed may they be,
So mote it be.
Peace & Poetry to you and yours, and blessings to Haiti,
Pax
Dear Friends and Pagani,
As you doubtless know a 7.0 earthquake has hit the island nation of Haiti.
(Stories on CNN, The New York Times, and New Jersey(dot)Com’s coverage of Wyclef Jean’s calls for donations to the Haitian charity Yele, on his Twitter feed)
In the midst of my everyday and my crazy schedule, my heart has been going out to the people of Haiti and I am trying to figure out how best to help.
I am particularly sympathetic to this issue as someone from Anchorage, AK. The 1964 Good Friday Quake‘s devastation is something every Alaskan school child studies. While I now live thousands of miles away, I also live with the knowledge that what historical records we have of the tectonic activity of my hometown says that there is a large earthquake every 20 years or so. Anchorage is nearly 20 years overdue… so my prayers and sympathies are very much with the people of Haiti.
When I have the chance I hope to take a candle and a card to the Haitian Consulate here in Orlando, which has a large Haitian population.
In the meantime I will donate what little I can to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee’s earthquake relief fund (here) and for the moment am just spreading the word.
(more info on the UUSC at their site, and on wikipedia)
There is also an evolving discussion of the different avenues of donation going on at the relevant article on the Wild Hunt.
It is through there that I also found a list of Green Charities operating on the ground in Haiti, if you are as minded of long term aid as well as short term relief you might consider donating to them as well.
A Witches Prayer for the Haitian People
I Pray to You oh Mighty Mother and Forceful Father
I respectfully call out unto All the Holy Powers of the Universe,
Please let all of Your Love and Compassion and Blessing to bear,
On the Island and the People of Haiti in this time of pain and suffering,
May the Holy Powers of Air inspire them and help them to communicate with their far flung families,
May the Holy Powers of Fire warm them and bring the healing of bodies,
May the Holy Powers of Water quench their thirst and bring the healing to their hearts,
My the Holy Powers of Earth feed them and lend them strength,
Blessed may You be,
Blessed may they be,
So mote it be.
Peace,
Pax / Geoffrey Stewart
An Update…
Shortly after posting this I received an e-mail from PeaceNext, the social networking site of the Parliament of The World’s Religions, with a link to a CNN(dot)com list of charities working to aid the nation and people of Haiti…
Beltane-tide Prayer 2009
I dedicate this prayer and post
To You oh Illustrious Lady,
Golden, Sea-Born, Cyprian,
Night and Laughter Loving Queen,
As we wind our way towards Beltane,
Open the peoples eyes and inform their minds,
To dangers both known and unseen
~Pax
I have yet to make it to a festival myself, I don’t have anyone I know real well to share camp with and now that issues of time and money are waning I am hesitant to throw myself into this aspect of the Pagan community without finding a festival buddy first. Silly, I know, but its how I feel.
As we wind our way towards Beltane I am reminded, by stories from one of my dearest Pagan friends of just how festive some of the festivals out there can be!
Especially this time of year. Beltane, or May Day, is the time of year when many of us modern Pagans celebrate fertility and passion and joy and love and lust. In theory it’s all about the fertility of the land and a time when many Witches and Pagans celebrate the sexual union of their Goddess and God bringing life back into the world. In practice there are event’s and festivals that feature that symbolism and often a dancing of the May Pole, and a lot of flirting games and sometimes a lot more than just flirting as folks very actively celebrate fertility.
For me, as a Witch who is also a budding Hellenic Polytheist, Beltane seems like the natural time to honor Aphrodite.
Aphrodite is the Goddess of Love and Beauty, of Procreation and Fornication, of Desire and Flirtation: She is Fairest of the Gods of Marriage, She whose wrath can strike men impotent, She who bestows Beauty and Grace, Lady of Pleasure and Merriment; She Who with Erato and Apollon presides over Love Poetry and Song, Lady of the Morning Star, Protectoress of the Homeland, and Goddess of Peace.
I’ve written a few things about Her before, prayers of my own, and the Orphic Hymn to Aphrodite, and a little post wherein I suggested we modern Pagans should celebrate and honor Her in our Circles and at Beltane.
Now I could wait and hold a solitary ritual with an altar of images of Aphrodite, and with flowers and sweet candies for Her. I could, and possibly shall, read the Orphic Hymn to Her and some more prayers of my own to Her, and pour libations of wine and water and honey.
In the last day or so, however, I feel compelled to say some things about sex and sexuality how we Pagans honor Beltane.
Now, sex is wonderful and beautiful and sacred, as is wine, and music. So too is Love, in all it’s forms from friendship to blazing passion to deathless romance, so too is Trust; and so too are every atom and cell of our bodies. At least that last part is a part of the party line for a lot of Pagans out there; some of the stories I hear from friends about the festival circuit are beginign to make me wonder though.
If every atom and cell of our bodies partake of the Divines, then don’t we owe it to Them and to ourselves to be a little careful with our cells and atoms? If our community is so fabulously free of psychological hang ups, so open, so sex-positive; if sex is sacred how come you never see an HIV testing tent at a community Beltaine event?
Since personal responsibility is such an integral part of being Pagan, why don’t we talk more at this time of year about reproductive health and about birth control and about family planning? Why don’t we see Beltane (or even Imbolc) health fares in our Pagan communities?
I find myself wondering how many people in our community realize that one of the big reasons that a lot of open rituals will pass out dixie cups for sharing or wine or mead at the appropriate time in the ritual is because sharing a drinking vessel can spread oral herpes?
How many of you knew that oral herpes is present in 50 to 80 percent of the U.S. population?
When I read that roughly 1 million people in the U.S. have HIV; and 1 out of every 5 of them has no idea that they are infected! When I hear that someone in the United States is infected with HIV every 9 minutes and 30 seconds…
I cannot help but wonder what Aphrodite, what any of the Goddesses of Love and Beauty, must think of these sad simple facts? Are we truly celebrating fertility and honoring the full spirit of the season if we don’t think about our actions?
Nor is HIV the only potentially lethal STD that you need to worry about. To paraphrase Henny Youngman…
Take my Hepatitis B. Please!
I have no idea where or when I got Hepatitis B, I learned about it long after that fact when I was taking a routine HIV test.
Luckily enough (if you can say that about a life-changing illness) my body fought off the infection. This means that while Hep-B is present in my blood, I am not actively contagious and cannot transmit it to my Partner through casual contact or even sexual activity. It is still in my blood though, and I am at risk for liver problems later in life.
I find myself wondering how many in the Pagan community may face a medical time bomb and not even know it?
We are responsible for our actions and choices. The gods have granted us this gift of intellect and will, and Will, so use it wisely! Honor the Goddesses and Gods of your path, especially those of Love and Beauty and even Lust; but seek to do so in wisdom and honor. Inform and educate yourself and make choices grounded in your head and heart, not your hormones, this Beltane season!
~~~A Few (unconventional) Beltane Resources~~~
CDC general STD information and curriculum tools
An STD information page from the University of Maryland
Coalition for Positive Sexuality ~ A free-online Sex education resource, including information on STD’s and Birth Control.
She is The Queen of Heaven
The Star of the Ocean She is
She is The Brilliant One in the Sky
The Mistress of the House of Life She is
She is the Great Lady of Magic
Lady of The Words of Power She is
She is The Throne of Kings
The Masterstroke of Women She is
She is The Lady of Ten Thousand Names
The Goddess of the Moon and the Sun She is
Imbolc,
First time in a long time
Picking up the Cards
Rearranging the Shards
Lookin’ for and Scrying in
The Mirrors of my Contemplation again.
~
Stretchin’ so many muscles,
I haven’t even felt in a long long time.
~
Relearning to Write,
Relearning how to Scry,
Relearning how to Breathe,
Relearning how to Rhyme,
And the Ebb and the Flow,
And don’t you know,
Relearning my Craft
All Alone in my own Time.
~
First time in a long long time
Picking up the Cards
Rearranging the Shards
At Imbolctide.
Dear, Dear Goddess,
Help me to find patience with those who have mistaken their need to run away from their tremendous Mommy and Daddy and Church issues, for a Pagan spiritual calling. You know, the ones who like to talk about how wonderful and enlightened and tollerant the Pagan community is an then when the topic of Christianity comes up their head snap back like a giant Pez dispenser spouting off ignorant and hateful things about Christianity? Yeah, they are exhausting my love for other beings as of late…
Thank you,
Your loving Servant and Child,
Pax
I Summon, Stir, and Call you Forth!
Oh, liquid limbed King of Cats
Oh Amber Eyed Queen of Felines
I ask you both to Guide and Guard and Heal
My Feline Friend Tiger
Health and Happiness
My Prayers and Hopes for Him
Bliss, and Blessed Be!
So through the agency of a promo on Fey’s Podcast, I ended up listening to the 4th episode of the Druidcast podcast, featuring a fabulous talk given to the OBOD by Ronald Hutton about the History of the Pagan Horned God.
This is a fascinating talk and in my humble opinion not only has some fascinating and valuable information about the evolution of the Horned God in the 19th and early 20th Century, but also contains the best performance by a heterosexual academic of the fabulously homoerotic Hymn to Pan, EVER!
Dr. Hutton’s talk has me contemplating the God I serve. In his talk Dr. Hutton discusses the history of the idea of the Horned God as it was in the ancient world and as it re-emerged to the historical and literary record in the 19th century.
He then discusses how the image of the Horned God is, for many, primarily sex and grunt and groan and stuff of the locker room and armpits… c’mon you know that you’ve got a little bit of that image of Old Horny!! He also discusses how he is viewed by many modern Pagans as consort to the Goddess and an idealized lover and spirit of Life, and that there is sometimes not much development of his role beyond that in the thought or writings of modern Pagans.
To a degree this would seem to be true to this Witch.
As a solitary Witch of nearly 20 years now, I look back on my early years of Witchcraft and it just seems to me that a lot of the material out there went on and on about the Goddess and then was like…
“oh, yeah, there’s a god too… he’s her consort… but now back to the Goddess and Magic… did we mention magic theres spells and stuff….”
I felt this lack of ballance rather keenly when I read Witches Goddess and Witches God by the Farrar’s. It seemed to me, at the time, that the book about the Goddess was much more about allowing the witches involved to experience and commune with the Goddess, and that the material about the God was somehow less… something than the material about the Goddess.
At least that’s how it seemed that way to me at the time… so I started drifting away from Books and looking for a relationship with Him. I’ve already written of how He sent me an image/meditation/message, once upon a time…
One day though I was sitting before a makeshift altar and centering and grounding and an image leaped into my fore brain, a bolt from the blue….
The image was of myself sitting cross-legged, Indian-style as they still used to say when I started school, with an image of Cernunos super-imposed/interwoven with my own. His/my hooves extending some roots into the soil… the base of His spine also extending roots into the ground that intertwined with the roots of the great tree He/I leaned against. One hand turned downward, cupped over His/my knee, the other held open and relaxed facing up. Our Antlers weaving between the branches of the tree, rattling amongst them slightly as We moved Our head.
Then it was gone…
In regards to that gift, I’ve also mentioned that it felt almost like being taught how to properly meditate and ground and center… from an intensely personal perspective..
“Not quite, more like this…“
There have been two other times that HE has decided to share his Wisdom in a rather direct fashion with me….
One was a moment of poetic and Divine inspiration wherein He gave me the first half of this poem…
Charge of the God
By Geoffrey Stewart / Pax (C) 1997
“Hear now the Words of the Great Father who of old amongst mortals was known by many names; Tammuz, Brahma, Osiris, Dionysus, Wottan, Apollo, Cernunos, Janicot, The August Personage of Jade, and by many other names.”
“I who am the Wise Youth and the Wild Man, The Horned Hunter and the Dark Wanderer, the Fury of the Storm and the Gentle Whisper of the Leafs in the Trees, I call upon your minds and bodies to arise and join me in this now sacred place.
Learn and remember! I welcomed you into this world and promised you a life of both Pleasure and Pain, Joy and Wonder, Fear and Fury; for all of these are a part of my Mysteries, the Lessons that must be learned, cherished, and remembered lifetime after lifetime.
Know then that whatever tests and trials you face in this life, I have faced before. For I am the Guardian of the Gates of Life and Death, and whatever steps you take and wherever you are within the Spiral Dance, of Birth and Life and Death and Rebirth, I have led the Way. For I am the Lord of the Dance, and to know my Mysteries you must learn to be at one with the Rhythm, the Tao, The heartbeat of the universe, that confluence of outer and inner forces that moves and works upon us all.
From all things you encounter, all people whose lives you touch, Learn and Give something of yourself in return.
All learning and wisdom is sacred to me; all quests for knowledge and understanding, all acts of effort, and thought, and willing sacrifice; all of these are my rituals.
Know now that sometimes I lead, and sometimes I follow; but as you wind your way through the Spiral Dance, I am always with you.”
The second half of this Charge came to me a few years later, rather quietly and calmly without the sense of singing inspiration that accompanied the first part.
The other time that He has decided to speak in a direct fashion to me was actually through me. I was discussing and demonstrating for a couple of guys I knew, whom I felt could use some good guidance and metaphysical self-help techniques, how to cast Circle… as a part of this I decided … on the spur of the moment, to demonstrate Invoking the divine… SO I invoked the Horned God.
He! Decided! To! Show! Up!
By which I mean that after 3 or 4 years of calling upon and invoking the God and Goddess, He decided to show up and speak and work through me directly.
I experienced a brief yet, I assure you internally spectacular, moment of panic as I felt something from outside myself roll over me like the tide, and into me. It was as if everything in my mind that was ME was pushed up and back into the rear of the crown of my skull and He started to speak through me. After a moment of panic, and then truly realizing why in the religions of the African Diaspora those divinely posessed are said to be ridden or to be as a horse to the Spirits, I realized two things.
He wasn’t going to harm me, and He was speaking… so I started to pay attention to what He was saying to my friends. After a short time, He left, and I resumed control of both the vertical and horizontal and made some small talk and polite goodbyes to my friends and went home to quietly freak out in peace.
It took a while before I invoked, rather than invited Their presence, at my own Circles.
~~~~~~~~~
He is so much more that the stuff of the locker room. He is poetry and music and theater. He is the caress of the wind on a warm summer’s day and both the blinding flash of lightning and the rumbling roll of the thunder. He is so much more than we can put into words and so worthy of our love and so ready to love us in heart and mind as well as in body.
Great Green Eyed Horned God,
With the Sun Upon your Brow,
Wise Youth and Wild Man
Darkness and Richness of the Earth
And the Blade of the Plow
Skilled of Mind, Skilled in Speech, Skilled of Hands,
And how,
Guide and Guard us your Children
As we seek along the Path to Wisdom.
Blessed Be!
Chrysalis 