"Beginning the Darkness"

A Full Moon ritual to face the darkness within

Designed to be performed during the waning year (autumn)

Gathering In

Ground, center, and chant the following as the Wiccans enter the ritual area:: All: Listen to the Lord and Lady call their children in the moonlight...
Circle members process in and are blessed by the Priest and Priestess:: We bless you with the new-sharp chill of the air,; the waning warmth of slanting sunlight,; the chill rains pattering on damp leaves,; and the first frost-touched cold brown earth of fall.; We bless you in the names of the Lord and Lady.; Welcome to the Circle! Blessed be.

Creating Sacred Space

Casting the Circle

Priestess: Join with me as we create this Circle in which we gather in love, joy, and friendship; as a boundary between our everyday world and the realm of mystery; as a shield against all stress, worry, and mischief; and as a sphere to focus and contain the energies we raise tonight. We bless this circle in the names of the Lord and Lady. So mote it be!

Calling the Quarters

(Please take your time reading these: speak loudly so that everyone can hear, think about the meaning of what you are saying, and take enough time that we all get a chance to think about the meditations, attune with the elements, and truly feel the waning Year.)

East: The East, the direction of Air, brings us gifts and messages as the Year begins to close. Wood and leaf smoke drifts in on the breeze, and the crisp bite of fall wind plays at our clothing like a child looking for a sweet, reminding us that once again the Year is ending and the winter is coming...and spring will follow that winter, and so on, as it always has and always will. Spirit of the East, Essence of Air, welcome!

South: The South, the direction of Fire, brings us challenge and motivation as the Year begins to close. The sharp pop and crackle of the bonfire, flames dancing reflected on newly barren trees, the contrast between heat from the bonfire and the surrounding chill, the light and heat keeping us moving in the rapidly cooling night, reminders of the Fire's gentle motivation for us within the waning Year. Spirit of the South, Essence of Fire, welcome!

West: The West, the direction of Water, brings both cheer and promise during the closing days of the Year. It is cheer in the taste of cider, interwoven with clove and cinnamon, still warm from the fire; the friendly bite of coffee's aroma, warding off chill; and the insistent prodding touch of a hot shower on a slow, cold morning. Water's promise is written in the first snows and the first frost...water that after the next Year rises will become the sustenance for the first green of Spring, six months from now. Spirit of the West, Essence of Water, welcome!

North: The North, the direction of Earth, brings memories and hope at the closing Year. The crunch of dried brown leaves beneath our feet, the crimsons and golds and russets falling to the ground, remind us of childhood leaps into freshly-raked piles, smelling the damp earthy smell, hearing their rustle and feeling their light covering as we buried ourselves in the mounds. And the leaves' gentle blanket over the ground will cover the sleeping Winter Earth, slowly to transform into the humus from which Spring green will grow, giving us hope for the cycle at the close of the Year. Spirit of the North, Essence of Earth, welcome!

Priestess: The Circle is cast. In this place that is not a place...
Priest: In this time that is not a time...
Priestess:With a willing suspension of disbelief...
Priest: We consider the possible...
Priestess: Explore the probable...
Priest: And question the truth.

Welcoming the Lord and Lady

Charge of the Goddess

Priest: Listen to the words of the Great Mother, who of old was called Isis, Freya, Danu, Cybele, Demeter, Kuan Yin, Lakshmi, Shekinah, and many other names:

Priestess: Whenever you have need of anything, once in the month, and better it be when the Moon is full, you shall gather in some secret place and adore the spirit of Me who am Queen of all the wise. Sing, feast, dance, make music and love, all in My presence, for Mine is the ecstasy of the spirit, and Mine also is joy on earth. For My law is love unto all beings. Mine is the secret that opens the door of youth, and Mine is the cup of wine of life that is the Cauldron of Ceridwen that is the holy grail of immortality. I give the knowledge of the spirit eternal and beyond death I give peace and freedom and reunion with those that have gone before. Nor do I demand aught of sacrifice, for behold, I am the Mother of all things and My love is poured upon the earth.

Priest: Hear the words of the Starry Lady, the dust of whose feet are the scattered stars, whose body encircles the Universe:

Priestess: I who am the beauty of the green earth, and the white Moon among the stars, and the mysteries of the waters, I call upon your soul to arise and come unto Me. For I am the soul of nature that gives life to the universe. From Me all things proceed and unto Me they shall return. Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals. Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you. And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not unless you know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.

Welcoming the Lady

Priestess: These are the last few moments of warmth before the Year ends at Samhain and the Gates open. And as we store the crops away, we give thanks and stop for a moment, bathed by the light of the full moon.

Lady Selene,

Lady Hecate,

Mistresses of the dark and light of the moon,

Twin faces of the waning year's coin,

Come to us now in your moment of union

As crops and wood are laid by

And show us that the endless cycle of death and rebirth

Summer to winter

Harvest to sowing

Light to dark

Eclipse to fullness

Is no more than a promise, and a great joy

That what has always been will always be.

Lady Selene,

Lady Hecate,

Welcome!

Charge of the God

Priestess: Hear the words of the God, he who is slain and reborn, the Summer King and Winter Child, the soul of mankind and the mirror in which mankind reflects:

Priest: I who am the glory of the Sun and the Lord of the dance, the ripe grain that is reaped and the seed which is sown, I call to you with the cry of a babe and the horn of the hunter. I am the soul of mankind, born to learn, live, love, die and be reborn. Drink of My vine, the blood of life, and lift a glass to My holy laughter echoing across the hills. But know that I am both harvester and harvest, the sacrificed One of sword, sickle and cross who descends into the womb of the Mother where all souls go to be reborn. For in this I reveal My mystery: that My dance is yours, My path is yours, and My laughter leads the way to the Summerland. For I am you and you are Me. And My light is with you always, to lead you through the shadows and back again.

Welcoming the Lord

Priestess: This is the time of the harvest, of gathering home into barns, preparing for the long winter to come. The God of the Waning Year is the Lord of the Harvest, the grain that is sown, the wine that is fermented, the cider pressed, the fruits gleaned from the dying Earth.

Lord Dionysus,

Master of the vine,

God of the blood of the grape,

Bring to us your cheer and joy

As we finish another turning of the Wheel.

Help us to remember,

That as the bare vines will produce fruit again,

So will the bleak winter give way to the promise of Spring.

And that we can find joy in the growing darkness,

With the company of those we love.

Lord Dionysus,

Welcome!

Power and Magick

Litany of the Lie

Everywhere it says "C1", "C2", etc. below, we go around the circle, each Circle member taking a different line.

Priest: Into the Darkness... what do we send?: ALL: We send the lie...; C1: ...told by my fears that hold me back from becoming...
Priestess: Into the Darkness... what do we send?: ALL: We send the lie...; C2: ...told by pains of the past which weights down my soul...
Priest: Into the Darkness... what do we send?: ALL: We send the lie...; C3: ...I tell myself to keep from facing that which challenges me to growth...
Priestess: Into the Darkness... what do we send?: ALL: We send the lie...; C4: ...of stubborn pride that keeps me from forgiving, cloaking pain in righteousness...
Priest: Into the Darkness... what do we send?: ALL: We send the lie...; C5: ...of the walls I place around me, keeping others from knowing the true me...
Priestess: Into the Darkness... what do we send?: ALL: We send the lie...; C6: ...that others have told me, and I believed -- lies about who and what I am...
Priest: Into the Darkness... what do we send?: ALL: We send the lie...; C7: ...some tell society about who we are and what we believe...
Priestess: Into the Darkness... what do we send?: ALL: We send the lie...; C8: ...some tell each other about color, gender, "they" and "we"
Priest: Into the Darkness... what do we send?
Priestess: We send the Self, enveloped in darkness, that in embracing the darkness we might know light...

Falling Further In

Take me past this lonely truth
And let me go beyond my skin
The walls that held me here before
Have no purpose anymore
Let me enter in

Break me from my injured past
And make me over in your arms
The pain that guided me before
Has no comfort anymore

Let me enter in; From far away
I hear my mother crying: The sky is grey
They say the earth is dying: I hear her voice
And still I make a choice to stay: I leave a life behind me; I feel myself begin; I'm reaching out to keep you; Falling further in; I feel the light inside me; You go beyond my skin; I'm reaching out to keep you; Falling further in
Wake me with your dark embrace
And make me open in your arms
I want to lose myself within
Leave the person I have been: Let me enter__; From far away
I hear my mother crying: The sky is grey
They say the earth is dying: I hear her voice
And still I make a choice to stay: I leave a life behind me...
(From the album Falling Further In by October Project. Not used by permission, so don't try to sell this ritual or anything.) :)

A lie is anything that makes you less you. Take one of the autum leaves gathered from our yard and placed in the cauldron before us. Name it a lie, to go into the autumn earth to die and be reborn in the spring. Name it silently or aloud, but know it is the lie you name it. Touch it, caress it, get to know it. Look at the beauty in the leaf. What beauty is hidden by your lie? After a time, take the leaf, go to the cauldron, and burn the leaf, with any or no words as you wish. When all have done this, we will build a cone of power to sink into the darkness, embrace the lies, and resurrect them into truth.

(Build the cone by chanting the words; different people take different lines, so they're all said at once, like a spoken round...)

1. She changes everything She touches,
and everything She touches, changes... (repeat)

2. All seeds She deeply buries,
She weaves the thread of seasons,
Her secret, darkness carries,
She loves beyond all reason... (repeat)

3. Change is... touch is... touch is... change is...
change us!... touch us!... touch us!... change us!... (repeat)

4. Everything lost is found again, in a new form, in a new way,
Everything hurt is healed again, In a new life, In a new day...(repeat)

(Chants are from Starhawk's The Spiral Dance.)

Raise the cone, ground, and send the excess energy back to the Mother. (After the ritual, we will send the ashes themselves back to the Mother by a tree outside, where our lies can be buried deep to become dreams in the spring.)

Feasting and Fellowship

We pass the bread and cider around the circle and share with one another with the words, "May you never hunger" and "May you never thirst".

Closing the Circle

Priest and Priestess: Lord and Lady, we thank you
for your presence,
for the Circle,
for light and love,
for night and change,
and we ask your blessing as we depart,
knowing you are with us always.
Hail and farewell!
Blessed be.

EAST: In the chill bite of autumn winds, we salute the East, hail and farewell! Blessed be.
SOUTH: In the warm crackle of the autumn bonfire, we salute the South, hail and farewell! Blessed be.
WEST: In the sharp edge of frost, we salute the West, hail and farewell! Blessed be.
NORTH: In the crisp crunch of fallen leaves, we salute the North, hail and farewell! Blessed be.

ALL: The circle is open, but unbroken.
May the peace of the Goddess
and the love of the God
go in our hearts.
Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again!
Blessed be!