This past March, the Clergy Council hosted our first virtual stream where we Re-Kindle the Unity Flame each year. I’ve been thinking a lot about what Unity looks like. Here in the US, we’re struggling as a country to find it, and I know those around the world are experiencing their own struggles with unity. It’s been hard to see the light in the darkness, and it is in those moments when we must turn to community to make it through.
Continue reading “Thoughts on Unity”Rituals & Liturgy
Either full rituals, or parts that I’ve had in ritual.
A Winter Solstice Reflection: Passing the Light
I wrote this brief reflection/working for the Winter Solstice Rite I’m running at ORW this year. I really like the imagery of passing the light. It gives us time to honor the holy dark, but also look to finding hope. If you’d like to do this working, you’ll need a candle (or electric candle) for each person present, and the overhead lights turned off.
Continue reading “A Winter Solstice Reflection: Passing the Light”Celebrating Heliogenna
Heliogenna is a modern Hellenic Neopagan celebration of the Winter Solstice, created by Hector Lugo. (there is a lot of controversy in the hellenic recon community and modern hellenismos community about whether this should be celebrated at all. Do lots of reading, and make a decision that is meaningful for you) This collection of thoughts and liturgy expands on his original presentation of the celebration. Here is a link to more information and additional liturgy from Hellenion: https://www.hellenion.org/rituals-and-practices/heliogenna-festival/
Continue reading “Celebrating Heliogenna”New Website on ADF Liturgy Concepts
So a thing I’ve been working on ADF Initiate Preceptor is getting our courses modernized. To that end I’ve now got the initiate version of Liturgy 1 up and running in Google Classrooms, and one of the things I made to go with it is a supplemental website that contains useful information when working through the course.
Ritual for the First Day of School
Howdy, y’all! It’s about time to school to start back up, or maybe for you it has already started (you poor souls). A lot of my writing lately has been focused on custom rituals for various things. I thought today I’d share with you a ritual for a child’s first day of school. This is written specifically for the first day of Kindergarten, but could very easily be modified for any pre-K or elementary grade kiddo. I will probably be doing something very similar to this with my daughter he in just a couple weeks. Enjoy!
Rainbow Attunement
This is geared towards the warmer months of the year and I originally wrote it for a Summer Solstice Ritual honoring the Avestan Goddes Ardvi Sura Anahita, though you could easily shift some of the imagery for use in rites in the dark half of the year. Enjoy!
A Simple House Blessing
Our grove priests travel around during the Stay at Home month in February of each year. I modified the blessing we do to work for any time of the year, and in this case focusing on a hellenic hearth. This is the blessing I use most frequently when doing commissioned house blessings.
Power of the Forge Attunement
I wrote this attunement for our Imbolc rite last year. It was requested that we do a “convection” attunement. I like these because it work the way science does, with heat rising and cold falling.
A Healing Ritual for Mental Health
Mental Health is something that so many people struggle with, myself included. It can seem hard to see the hope and the light when the world seems to be covered in darkness and nothing but feelings of bleak desolation. While religion is no substitute for other medical interventions, such as therapy and/or medication, is definitely has its place in making things more bearable. When the flame seems to have gone out, we can pray in hopes of finding it’s light again.
While this is a full ADF Core Order of Ritual, the working section can be performed as a stand alone piece, particularly if performing the whole ritual seems daunting. The ritual can also be performed on behalf of another, though please do make sure you have their permission first to offer prayers on their behalf.
Breaking Away from the Earth Mother/Sky Father Binary
One of the things that has come up recently in discussion on various ADF forums is the the binary nature of Earth Mother and Sky Father. Although not all groves or solitary practitioners include an invocation to the Sky Father, as only the Earth Mother is required in our core liturgy, the implicit binary is still present. This dualistic Earth Mother/Sky Father present in ADF rituals can be quite off-putting, especially for our non-binary members.
Continue reading “Breaking Away from the Earth Mother/Sky Father Binary”