Beltaine 1999 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 We Now As a People
• 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
• Meditation, grounding and centering
• Unity chant - We Are One With the Mother
• Statement of purpose - We celebrate the time of lust and freedom at the beginning of Summer.

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
• Deities of the Occasion: Ana, this land our Mother, and Aren, our god of freedom and passion, her heart's love.

Giving and Receiving

• Passing the Flowers: Direct your praise and energy to the flowers 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 flowers to the person next to you.
• Group praise - Staines Morris; Maypole Dance - Round and Round
• Main Sacrifice - leaping the fire
• Omen of return
• Return blessing - May dew
• 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 1999

Processional:
Come We Now As a People

Come we now as a people,
To gather together at the Sacred Well
Come we now as a people
To gather in the warmth and the light of the flame.

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.

Opening the Ways:
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
...The eye and the mouth of Earth
...And silver we bring
...The waters of rebirth
...Together we sing:
CHORUS

We will kindle a fire
...Bless all and with harm to none
...And offerings pour
...A light 'neath the Moon and Sun
...Our spirits will soar.
CHORUS

Gather we at the tree
...The root and the crown of all
...Below and above,
...Together we make our call
...In wisdom and love.
CHORUS

Group Praise:
Staines Morris

Then to the Maypole haste away,
For 'tis now our holiday.
(repeat)

Round and Round

Round, round, round we go,
Weave a weaving, watch it grow.
Bring us joy today,
Dance the lusty dance of May.

Round and round and round we go,
Make our love grow.
Bring us freedom on this day
To follow our hearts' way.

Closing:
Now the Rite Is at an End (by 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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