A Rite written by the Oak and Feather Grove … Our Grove celebrated this rite at Fairy Holes (caves of ancient dwellings surrounded by woodland) at the Spring Equinox of 2004.
Prior to the ritual, Grove Leader(s) declare the intention of the rite before the Spirit of Place, Ancestors of Place, local Deity. Once acceptance of the rite is given, the ritual may go ahead.
As Oak and Feather Grove includes children, a circle is not often cast. To ensure that the rite is held with peaceful intention the grove, with joined hands, recites the Druid’s vow for as many times as necessary, until grove leaders are satisfied that there is peace.
We swear by peace and love to stand,
Heart to heart and hand to hand.
Mark O spirit and hear us now,
Confirming this our sacred vow.
To enable focus and as a signal to ritual mode, the Druid’s prayer is recited by all grove members.
The Rite begins with all present making the Gorsedd Prayer:
Grant O spirit thy protection
And in protection, Strength
And in Strength, Understanding
And in Understanding, Knowledge
And in Knowledge, Truth
And in Truth, Love
And in Love, the Love of all Existence
And in that Love, the Love of Spirit and All Creation
The Call for peace is made.
Calling the quarters:
Different members of the grove call upon each quarter and to Ancestor.
East: Hail the Spirits and Guardians of East. We honour the breeze that carries the sweet scent of spring, bringing inspiration to our hearts. We honour the strong winds that clear the dead wood from the forest and the cobwebs from our minds. Hail and Welcome.
South: Hail the Spirits and Guardians of South. We honour the Sun whose growth renews vigour and vitality, throughout the land, and within ourselves. We honour the growing, sparkling light that shines to reveal all: from the beauty around us, to our deepest inner fears. Hail and Welcome.
West: Hail the Spirits and Guardians of West. We honour the glistening dew, the soft kiss upon the grass, the jewels upon the spiders web .We honour the torrent downpour of the spring rains, that quench the land’s thirst as a lover quenches our passion. Hail and Welcome.
North: Hail the Spirits and Guardians of North. We honour the fertile earth, the beating pulse of the uncoiled spring, which signals the growing tide. We honour the dark, cold bedrock, the bones beneath the flesh, the foundations from which we grow. Hail and Welcome.
Honouring the Ancestors:
Hail to the Ancient ones, Spirits and Guardians of this place. We honour the lives of those who dwelt here once. Lives differed from our own, lives that were sharply focused by the need for warmth and shelter. Lives that engaged in deep relationship with the natural world in order to survive. We honour the connection between those lives and our own. The joys of love and the wounds of hate; the miracle of life and the mortality of death. These are the ties that bind us closer than the history of our blood, the ever spinning spindle that links us through the millennia of change.
All join in the Druid Oath:
We swear by peace and love to stand,
Heart to heart and hand in hand.
Mark, O spirit, and hear us now,
Confirming this our sacred vow.
Grove leader guides and holds the focus of the ritual:
As the light and dark halves of the year become equal, we give thanks for the lessons and blessings of the dark and welcome the changing tide brought by the light. Feel the pulse of the land – is your heart beating in time? Smell the newness upon the air – do your spirits soar? Now is the time to find your balance as the energies about you shift.
Find a word that symbolises your experience of the closing dark half of the year and a word that encapsulates your hopes for the growing light half of the year.
Once everyone has shared their words with the grove, time may be taken individually in the dark recess of the cave to give thanks and say farewell. If you feel uncomfortable going right to the back of the cave, ask yourself why. Leaving the cave, feel your “rebirth” into the light at the cave mouth. You may wish to speak some words of welcome to the light. If you feel uncomfortable about leaving the darkness behind, ask yourself why. Some expression of your hopes for the light half of the year may be spoken, as hazelnuts are cast, rolled or shot putted (!) into the woodland (less intrusive to the woodland than eggs). Take care that you do not leave any hopes or fears deposited in the cave.
Whilst waiting to go into the cave, grove members may chant / meditate / trip through the trees, depending on how the Awen takes them!
When everyone has returned, focusing on the potential ahead, feeling the rising sap of the land, the Awen is chanted. Candles from Yule may be lit at this point.
Bread and Mead are then consecrated, the first bread given back to earth with a libation of mead, thanking the spirits of place and the ancestors. The bread and bread are shared once around the circle.
Poetry and song, sharing of drink and food.
Close with simple thanks to spirits of place, ancestors and quarters . Members of the grove find their own words, allowing them to express their own connection.