AWC 2006 – Main Spring Ritual
by Applegrove (Invocations and story by Blayze)

SET-UP
Circle is set up with lanterns at the quarters. Altar is in the East. 

In the centre of the circle is a mound covered in a white cloth. The Goddess is under the mound. 

Cords are laid out in a wheel upon the ground. 

4 x Green for Earth (Centre)
8 x White for Moon (Middle)
4 x Yellow for Sun (Outside)

Altar items:
Altar Tools 
Fire sculpture

Ritual Clothing:
Cloak for Maiden
Scarf
Crown for Maiden
Cloak for Young Stag
Stag Helmet
Spear

Outside the main circle area but still at the elemental points are 4 elemental altars. They are covered in the appropriate coloured cloths and hold items that represent one element each. 

In addition each elemental altar will have the tools / ingredients required for the blessing of the circle.

Water: Bowl of water, aspergum, seashells.
Earth: Bowl of salt. Bowl of earth. Bowl of crystals
Air: Censer and incense. Charcoal. Smudge Fan and Joss sticks.
Fire: Central candle. Tee lights. Tapers.

PRE-RITUAL
All to gather at the main lodging site. Each person draws a token from a bag. Their token will represent one element. When they have drawn their token, they gather at the banner of that element.

Chanting, drumming and/or singing, everyone processes down to the main ritual area. They break off into elemental groups and make their way to their elemental altar. HP, HPS and Crone walk to the centre of the circle and remain there.

Each elemental group will have two facilitators, one male and one female. The participants will be led into an elemental meditation. At the end of the meditation everyone needs to discuss and decide on a way of cleansing and consecrating their element. When this is decided, the group will ritually cleanse consecrate the element ready for the circle cast. 

At the signal (probably the ringing of a bell), each group is to line up beside their banner.

RITUAL
The Crone steps forward and takes up her broom and begins to sweep the circle. 

As she sweeps she chants : “Thus we banish winter, thus we welcome spring, we say farewell to what is dead and greet each living thing.”

When the circle has been swept, the Crone goes to the altar and sits in front of it holding the broom across her knees. She will re-join the circle when it has been cast.

HP and HPS call in each elemental group separately.

HP: I call upon the Guardians of Water to cleanse and consecrate this space.

Water enters the circle at the Western Gate and walks once around the circle. Whoever holds the bowl will asperge the area. The rest hold their shells. All chant. When they arrive back in the west, they line up around the circle with the banner on their right. This forms one quarter of the circle. Those holding shells full of water place them gently on the ground behind them.

HPS: I call upon the Guardians of Earth to cleanse and consecrate this space.

Earth enters the circle at the Southern Gate and walks once around the circle. Whoever holds the bowl of salt will sprinkle it. The rest hold their crystals. All chant. When they arrive back in the South, they line up around the circle with the banner on their right. This forms the second quarter of the circle. Those holding crystals place them gently upon the ground behind them.

HP: I call upon the Guardians of Air to cleanse and consecrate this space.

Air enters the circle at the Eastern Gate and walks once around the circle. Whoever holds the censer, censes the area. The rest waft their joss sticks. All chant. When they arrive back in the East, they line up around the circle with the banner on their right. This forms the third quarter of the circle. Those holding joss sticks place them gently in the ground behind them.

HPS: I call upon the Guardians of Fire to cleanse and consecrate this space.

Fire enters the circle at the Northern Gate and walks once around the circle. Whoever holds the large candle (or lantern), flames the area. The rest hold their teelights. All chant. When they arrive back in the North, they line up around the circle with the banner on their right. This forms the last quarter of the circle. Those holding tee lights place them gently on the ground behind them.

HPS: The sacred space has been cleansed by Water, Earth, Air and Fire. Four become one in Spirit.

HP: I call forth the Guardians of the Elements to the centre of the circle.

The two Guardians of each element move to the centre of the circle. They leave their elemental items at the base of the banners planted in the ground.

The females form a circle of joined hands. The males line up in a star formation with the HP standing for Spirit.

Earth Male: We stand for the Earth
Earth Female: The Stone
Earth Male: And the Shield

Air Male: We stand for the Air
Air Female: The Wind
Air Male: And the Sword

Fire Male: We stand for the Fire
Fire Female: The Flame
Fire Male: And the Spear

Water Male: We stand for the Water
Water Female: The Wave
Water Male: And the Cauldron

HP: We stand for the Spirit
HPS: The Unification
HP: And the Egg

Those in the pentagram join hands at each call of the HP 

HP: Spirit to shield
Shield to Sword
Sword to Spear
Spear to Cauldron
Cauldron to the Circle of the Season
So Mote It Be!

All: So Mote It Be!

The males now stand in a pentagram with a circle of females surrounding them.

HPS: 5 is the star at the centre of all
The circle surrounds... never ending
All of you create and form the Temple of Truth!
Join hands in the circle.

HPS then casts the circle.

HPS: By the Blade a Circle born, between the Worlds a boundary formed. By the Powers raised herein, to Guard without and hold within, be this circle cast.

HPS: The circle is cast. Blessed be!

All: Blessed Be!

HPS: Now I would ask our Guardians of the Elements to call in their quarters.

The Guardians return to their quarters. One will draw the Pentagram and call the King. The other will hold up the representation of the element.
Each group vibrates the name of the King as He is called.

Air vibrates PARALDA  All face East.
Air: Paralda! King of the Element of Air. We do summon, stir and call thee up to attend our circle and witness our rite. Hail and Welcome!
(Draws Air invoking pentagram)

Fire vibrates DJINN All face North
Fire: Djinn! King of the Element of Fire. We do summon, stir and call thee up to attend our circle and witness our rite. Hail and Welcome!
(Draws Fire invoking pentagram)

Water vibrates NIKSA All face West
Water: Niska! King of the Element of Water. We do summon, stir and call thee up to attend our circle and witness our rite. Hail and Welcome!

Earth vibrate GHEB. All face South
Earth: Gheb! King of the Element of Earth. We do summon, stir and call thee up to attend our circle and witness our rite. Hail and Welcome!

When all quarters have been called. Those holding the representations of the element, place them upon the altar. 

All join hands for the central invokation.

All: Our Lady of the Moon, and Our Lord of Death and Resurrection, we do build this circle, a place sacred and apart in thine honour. Descend we pray, and fill this place with thy love and thy power this day. Blessed be!

HPS invokes the God

Beloved is the hunter who rules the wood
The wood is a land without end
Without end is the bounty of tree and stag
Majestic is thy realm
Thy realm entwines the secret glade as the vine reaches to the skies
The skies are warmed by thy radiant face 
Thy power undimmed by the velvet cloak of night

By the last light of the sun
We call to thee O Horned one of forest and glade
We call to thee from crowned hills and sacred vales 
Lord of the Hunt, Protector of Game 
Warrior, King and lover of the Queen of night
We call to thee 
Shining one, Radiant one
We invoke thee!

HP invokes the Goddess

Beloved is the mistress of the velvet night
The velvet night is bejewelled with stars
The stars are the pearls of the ocean deep
The ocean deep is thy hidden realm
Thy hidden realm is full of the bounties of mystery and spirit
Spirit is called by the tides
The tides are the silvered rays of thy glorious face
Turning darkness into light

By the rising of the silvered moon 
We call to thee Lady of the rivers and streams 
We call to thee from endless oceans and sacred pools
Lady of the tides, of the cycles of life 
Mother, Queen and lover of the lord of the sun
We call to thee
Silvered one, flowing one 
We Invoke thee!

Power Raising is performed by the Cord dancers with the rest of the participants circling x 2 circles (Male and Female).

HP: I call upon those who would weave the web of life and dance to the call of Spring.

Cord dancers come forward and pick up the cords from the ground. They hold the wheel and move to the mound. Centre of the wheel (Web) should be over the centre of the mound.

HPS:  It is the time of the Spring Equinox. Day and Night are equal at this point on the Wheel. Winter has turned to Spring and once more all is in balance. The moon goes round the earth, the earth goes round the sun. When day and night are equal, the greening has begun!

HP: All is movement, the Earth is spinning around the Sun. The power of Darkness is waning but not yet balanced with the Light. As the world shifts into balance of equal day and night, so must you find that balance within yourself. It is the first step in awakening your spirit to the rhythms of the land.

HPS: I ask those of you on the outside of the circle to form two rings. The men on the inside and the women on the outside. We will dance and chant to bring power to our circle.

All to begin circling and dancing.

All: The moon goes round the earth, the earth goes round the sun. When day and night are equal, the greening has begun!

Repeat until power is raised. Those with cords place the cords across the mound. Those in the circle dance drop to the ground. When all are centred again they may return to their places in the circle.

HPS: The power of the dance radiates across the land, following the lines of earth and star. It is time for the Maiden to come into her power also.

HP: There is one who was chosen by the Gods to be a vessel for the Spring. Will our Spring Maiden please step forward.

Maiden enters the centre of the circle.

HPS: Who will prepare the Maiden?

3 Women (including Crone) step forward. One to anoint, one to cloak her and one to give her a sip of brew.

Anointer:  May your spirit be awoken to the Spring.

Cloaker: May the mantle of Spring keep you safe.

Brew: May the Spring fill you up and make you whole.

The three women return to their places.

The Maiden is led to stand in front of the mound.

HP asks everyone to join hands and to begin humming, feeling the power move around the circle and out into the centre. 

Drummers step forward and surround the mound. They drum a trance rhythm.

HPS stands before Maiden and invokes:

From the bower of the green earth we call thee
Maiden of the spring stars,
Virgin moon and reflected sun,
The power of growth is within thee.

Virgin queen we call forth thy dance
Upon the green hills and fields,
Flowers bloom beneath thy feet
And thy crown is woven of blossoms, wild and free.

Thou art the cauldron of rebirth whose waters
Quench the thirst that lies between winter and summer,
Shimmering between night and day.

Maiden we call to thee,
Let the saps rise and the buds unfurl.
Maiden of spring we invoke thee!

Drumming ends.

From beneath the mound, the Goddess awakes. She stands and the white cloak falls from her shoulders.

She places her hands on the shoulders of the Maiden and recites a charge.

I am she who graces the wild woods.
I make life renew within the land.
fertile fields are my domain,
and all who look upon my face are reborn.
my voice is the gentle wind.
I teach the leaves my song and they
sing of peace and new life.

I am the memory of pure white snow
graced with shoots of green.
my birth was gentle and yours may be also.

Maiden am I!, Virgin am I!
remember me when passions overwhelm.

Darkness and light are met within me.
I am the threshold unknown,
the mystery of fertility yet untested.
I am the gateway to the beginning,
and I stand guard at the time of endings.

I am spring, I am power, I am goddess!

Goddess: Thou art now the Maiden of Spring and you stand in my stead.

She kisses the Maiden. 

Goddess: It is the equinox, a time of balance between day and night. Choose your consort, one not yet joined in the fertility of the land, but awoken to the potential.

Goddess gives Maiden a scarf from around her waist. Dummers withdraw.

Goddess withdraws to sit before the altar. Spring Maiden walks the circle. She carries the scarf. When she has made her choice she ties the scarf to the Youth's wrist. She stands next to him in the circle and takes his hand. Everyone else to join hands as she leads them in a slow spiral walk.

When she reaches the centre (and the HP who is standing there) she stops.

The HP says:

HP: Halt. To walk the spiral you must first have the knowledge of where you have been. Life is danced upon the wheel, past and future come together in this moment. I ask all of you to sit in your spiral. Close your eyes.

All sit.

HPS walks the spiral and begins to tell the tale. Maiden withdraws down the spiral and is given the cloak, spear and helmet for the Young Stag. He is crowned during the story. Goddess now joins the end of the line as her mortal self and the Maiden takes her place sitting before the altar.

HPS: "There is a place that stands outside of time and space... a land far away, yet only an indrawn breath from where we stand. It lies where three hazels grow, at the meeting of long roads, at the fording place of a stream. 

It is the calm before the dawn. The smell of night blooming flowers is carried by a light breeze. A full moon hangs overhead, sending silver beams to illuminate the paths of the forest. A flash of white can be seen through the trees. 

Into a clearing lit by the moon lightly steps a Maiden clothed all in silver and white. Vines of spring flowers are entwined up her arms and her girdle is hung with ivy and and silver disks. At her waist is a silver flask. Upon her head is a shining silver crown, glowing with tall candles, heady with the scent of honey.

She begins to dance in an ever tightening spiral towards the centre of the clearing. There at the centre lies a large flat stone with a rough bowl carved into its surface. She takes the silver flask from her waist and leaps across the stone, continuing her dance. Twice more she leaps and joy and wild abandon light her face.

Suddenly she stops. A faint glimmer of rose-gold light appears from the East. She pours the contents of the flask into the bowl of the stone. She kneels before it and kisses the symbol of an equal armed cross surrounded by a circle that is carved into the side of the stone. As she bends her head, the flames atop her candle crown touch the surface of the liquid within the bowl and it ignites.

The Sun rises in the East and the clearing is now bathed in gold.

The flames in the stone bowl leap higher as the dawn light grows more intense, echoing the Maiden's joyous leaping but a moment before. She raises her head from the stone and looks to the East. From out of the glow of the risen sun a figure walks.

It is a Youth wearing only a loincloth. His hair is burnished copper and falls to his shoulders. The buds of small antlers poke up from his brow. He has the look of one entranced as he walks through the trees.

The Maiden moves toward him. He looks at her with a start and falls to his knees in awe of her beauty. As she moves closer to the Youth, flowers burst forth from grass bent beneath her step. Her gown of white and silver ripples in the sunlight. the vines at wrist and waist entwine her body to form stiff green embroidery of leaves and flowers. The candle flames upon her crown dance in time to the flame in the bowl and the light in her eyes.

At last she stands in front of him, and taking his hand she gently helps him to his feet. She motions for him to follow her and begins to dance around the clearing once more, leaping and spiralling across the grass with flowers bursting into bloom behind her. He moves awkwardly at first, his knuckles white and his face full of confusion. But as the dance progresses his face lights with a joy to mirror hers. They dance and twist and leap around the clearing until a riot of leaves and flowers cover the ground. 

He begins to take on the rose-gold glow of the sun as a sheen of sweat coats his skin. The sun is now high overhead as they have danced the morning away. She draws him towards the stone in the centre of the clearing and bring him to stand before the flames. 

The flames leap up high and form a twisting spiral pillar of light at his presence. The light caresses his skin and entwines his limbs. Where the light touches him, whorls and spirals leave their mark. From fresh skinned youth his body is covered in tattoos of shimmering bronze, copper and gold, his eyes glowing with reflected and inner light.

She releases his hands from her grip and reaches down to the ground. With one smooth movement she lifts the greenery of the clearing like a cloak and settles it about his shoulders.

He stands cloaked in the green world with the Sun shining from his eyes.

He grows taller and stronger, muscles rippling under the golden skin.

From the forest of Winter's shadow I call thee
Child of the Golden Hills
Uncrowned King and dawns bright ray
The power of growth is within thee

Shining One, I call forth thy hunt 
upon green hills and fields
Hidden paths unfold beneath thy feet
and thy cloak will be carried by bear, stag and boar

Thou art the rebirth of the Sun
The spear that marks the shadow and the return
Flaming between night and day.

Young stag I call to thee
Let the hunt ride out and thy crown be many-tined
Youth of Spring's dawning
I invoke thee!

She takes the flaming crown from her brow and places it upon his head. Instantly it shades to gold and the metal twists and writhes to form two large antlers, many tined upon his own brow. The buds of his youth are now only reflected in the buds of flowers bursting forth upon his cloak.

He laughs with joy and ecstasy.

The sun is sinking lower in the sky now, but before it sinks into the west she kisses him on the lips. Their bodies grow rigid with desire, his arms encircle her as they kiss.

But suddenly the Maiden is no longer there. A shining spear is held in the newly crowned King's arms. The shaft entwined with silver filligree and green enamel. The head a silver flame, pure as the moonlight.

The King has found and accepted his power. Day and night equal but the Sun Crowned King is now in the ascendancy of his power. He sinks down upon the stone, cradling the silver spear like a lover whilst the sun sinks into the West.

All that remains is a forest clearing lit by the newly risen moon and a lonely figure glowing gold and shining in the dark, head bent over a spear. Weeping at beauty and power and waiting for the new dawn to arrive.

HP recites the Charge of the Sun God.

I am He who rides the dawn wave
to break on the Western Shore.

I am the Spear, the flight of birds
I am the Sword, the scent of battle 
I am the Shield, guardian of fertile earth.

My blood is the golden tide that awakens the Land
My heart the red rending of sacrifice to come.

I give green gift to the leaves of the trees
Yet shroud my face lest they fall too soon,
For Might and Mercy are within me
And Honour is my domain

I am the budding horns of kid and kine
I run with hooves of burnished bronze
Across fields that ripen at my touch

I am Lord of Forest and Field
My chariot, the endless sky
I am the core of men and the sum of all
And I stand in the rays of the Sun.

HPS:  Open your eyes.

In the centre of the circle now sits the Young Stag, crowned, cloaked in green and cradling the spear in his lap. The scarf of the maiden is tied around the spear.

Young Stag: The moon goes round the earth, the earth goes round the sun, when day and night are equal, the greening has begun. 

He stands up, taking the hand of the person next to him. He begins to walk the spiral back out to the circle, he leads the circle around once and then spirals back in, then returns to the circle once more. Everyone is now facing inwards again.

The HP brings the fire sculpture from behind the altar and places it in the centre of the circle.

He gives the Young Stag a taper. The Young Stag moves to the centre and lights the fire sculpture.

HP: The Sun grows in strength once more. Happy Ostara everyone!

Cakes and Ale

Farewell quarters

Dryghton

Close circle.

All to process back up to main site taking candles and lanterns to get ready for the feast.