Imbolc 2004 Order of Service

Welcome to Our Celebration!

Before we begin...

Take off your coats, 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
• Honoring our Mother Ana
• Unity chant - Single Threads
• Statement of purpose - We gather as a community and honor our hearth goddess, Bríd, by sharing our bounty and our talents with each other in the form of a feast.

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, Aren, 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: Bríd, goddess of the hearth, community, poetry, healing, and smithing
• Welcoming the corn dolly
  Note: After we welcome Bríd to be with us we will all kneel and say:
  "Bríd, Bríd, come to our house, come to our house tonight!"
  

Giving and Receiving

• Before the Praise Offerings, we will share our food with Bríd and each other.
• Passing the Bríd Cross: Direct your praise and energy to the cross 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 cross to the person next to you.
  
• Group praise - a toast - The Way to the Well
• Main Sacrifice: offering of the Bríd Cross
• Omen of return: runes
• Return blessing - Brat Bríd / candles to take home
• Cauldron blessing
• Welcoming new members, officers, and guild members, and bestowing other honors

Unwinding and closing

• Recessional - Walk With Wisdom

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

Imbolc Songs 2004

Processional:

Come We Now As a People

© Ian Corrigan

Come we now as a people
Together, to gather at the sacred well.
Come we now as a people
To gather in the warmth and the light of the flame.

Unity:

Single Threads

©1996 Marae Price

Single threads entwined in weaving
Are our hearts and minds and souls
As the branches weave the forest
So our joining makes us whole.

Declaring Center and opening the Portals:

The Portal Song

© 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:

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.

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

Mannanan:

Mannanan Invocation

©1996 Marae Price

We stand at the border and watch the mist close in.
Waves rolling, rolling,
Where shore meets the ocean, where land meets sea and sky,
We call to you, Manannan,
Manannan, Manannan,
We welcome you as you one day will welcome us.

Group Praise:

The Way to the Well

We will never, never lose our way
To the well of her memory
And the power of her living flame,
It will rise, it will rise again.

Closing:

Walk With Wisdom

(trad.)

Walk with wisdom, from the hallowed place
Walk not in sorrow, our roots shall ere embrace
May truth be your brother,
And honor be your friend,
And luck be your lover until we meet again.

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