Beltaine 2000 Order of Service

Welcome to Our Celebration!

Before we begin...

Enjoy the antics of the Fool and other entertainments, greet each other, and check out the Raffle items before the Briefing. Words to the songs we will be singing are on the back of this sheet.

Preparing ourselves for our time with the Gods and Spirits

• Processional and purification - Come Through the Arbor
• Bardic Invocation for our eloquence and inspiration
• Welcoming the Allies, the spirits of the people and their gods who lived in this land before us
• Honoring our mother Ana
• Meditation, grounding and centering
• Unity chant - We Are One With the Mother
• Statement of purpose - We celebrate the passion of spring and seek the blessing of fertility.

Declaring Center and opening the Portals

• Tree, Fire, and Well - Portal Song
• Acknowledging the Outsiders - the forces of chaos and change
• Invocation of Manannan mac Lir, our Lord of the Dead, to guide and protect us in the Otherworld

Acknowledging and honoring our guests

• Ancestors - our beloved dead
• Nature Spirits - the spirits of the land and its creatures
• Deities: Lugh, Bríd, Danu, and Bel (feel free to offer a silent welcome to your own gods)
• Archetypes - acknowledging the three societal functions within us
• Deity of the Occasion: Aren, our god of love and freedom

Giving and Receiving

• Selecting the May King/Queen by random lot (bannock bread)
• Passing the basket of flowers: Direct your praise and energy to the basket to build a group offering. While you hold it, you may give praise or thanks to the gods silently or in the form of a vocal or physical offering. When you finish, pass the basket to the person next to you.
• Group praise - Maypole Dance (The Lusty Month of May)
• Main sacrifice - Jumping the Fire
• Omen of return
• Return blessing - May Wine
• Cauldron Blessing
• Welcoming new members, officers, and guild members, and bestowing other honors

Unwinding and closing

• Recessional - Now the Rite is At an End

And afterwards... Join us for a potluck and socializing, and don't forget to get your Raffle Tickets!

Beltaine Songs 2000

Processional:
Come Through the Arbor (trad.)

Come through the arbor to the grove
To start the celebration (2x)

Young and old we come together
To the grove to honor the old ones (2x)

Unity:
We Are One With the Mother
(trad. ADF)

We are one with the Mother,
We are one with the earth
We are one with each other
By our lives, by our birth.

Declaring Center and opening the Portals:
The Portal Song
(by Ian Corrigan)

By Fire and by Water
Between the Earth and Sky
We stand like the Worldtree
Rooted deep, crowned high.

Come we now to the well....

We will kindle a fire....

Gather we at the tree...

Group praise:
The Lusty Month of May
(from "Camelot" by Lerner and Loewe)

Refrain:
It's May, it's May, the lusty Month of May
That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray
It's here, it's here, that shocking time of year,
When tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear.

It's May, it's May, that gorgeous holiday,
When every maiden prays that her lad will be a cad
It's mad, it's gay, alive, a lust display,
Those dreary vows that everyone takes, everyone breaks,
Everyone makes divine mistakes
The lusty month of May

(Refrain)

It's May, it's May, the month of "Yes, you may."
The time for every frivolous whim, proper or im-
It's wild, it's gay, depraved in every way,
The birds and bees with all of their vast amorous past,
Gaze at the human race aghast
The lusty month of May.

(Refrain)

It's May, it's may, the month of great dismay,
When all the world is brimming with fun, wholesome or un-
It's mad, it's gay, alive a lust display,
Those dreary vows that everyone takes, everyone breaks,
Everyone makes divine mistakes
The lusty month of May!

Recessional:
Now the Rite is At an End
©1996 Paul Kershaw and Marae Price

And now the rite is at an end, again we're parting ways
May truth and honor be your friend and lucky be your days
I'll hold you dearly in my heart, I'll hold you in my mind
And though our branches grow apart, our roots shall be entwined.

Note to Parents: Children are welcome to stay and attend the ritual with you, but only if they are supervised. If they decide to leave and go back to Child Care, they may not return to the rite.

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