Midsummer

 

The cauldron, filled with water and decorated with flowers, is placed before the altar. High Priestess casts the Circle and then stands before the Cauldron, wand upraised. High Priest stands in North behind the altar; coven is in a circle, facing inwards, alternately man and woman. High Priestess says:

High Priestess:

Great One of Heaven, Power of the Sun,

We invoke thee in thy ancient names -

Michael, Balin, Arthur, Lugh, Herne;

Come again as of old into this thy land.

Lift up thy shining spear of light to protect us.

Put to flight the powers of darkness.

Give us fair woodlands and green fields,

Blooming orchards and ripening corn.

Bring us to stand upon thy hill of vision,

And show us the lovely realms of the Gods.

 

High Priestess traces an invoking pentagram upon the High Priest with her wand. He comes desoil about the altar picking up his own wand and the scourge. He plunges the wand into the cauldron and holds it up, saying:

 

High Priest:

The Spear to the Cauldron, the Lance to the Grail, Spirit to Flesh, Man to Woman, Sun to Earth.

 

Saluting High Priestess with wand, he joins the Coven in their circle. High Priestess picks up a sprinkler and stands by the cauldron, saying:

 

High Priestess:

Dance ye about the Cauldron of Cerridwen, the Goddess, and be ye blessed with the touch of this Ccnsecrated water; even as the Sun, the Lord of Life, ariseth in his strength in the sign of the Waters of Life.

 

High Priest leads a slow circle dance deosil about the Cauldron. As each passes, High Priestess sprinkles them with water from it.

 

Cakes and wine follow and dances, rites and games as the High Priestess shall direct. A balefire may be lit and leaped.

NOTES

• based on Stewart Farrar's What Witches Do, which is based on Alex Sander's BOS
• There's a similar ritual given as "A Beautiful Old Fire Rite to the Horned God" in The Grimoire of Lady Sheba. The HPS' first speech is broken into verses here (but not in the Farrar version) and in Sheba's version. I think it's easier to read that way.