February Ritual Prompt

A free offering

Ritual is how we braid ourselves back into the animate world. It calls the soul into participation, restores the old bone knowing and reminds us there is nothing that is not holy.

Elemental, Ithell Colquhoun, 1971

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Perhaps what brings us closest to the gods is participation with the animate world. Ritual is a form of participation. It is rooted in intentionality, which is really just honed attention. Simone Weil said ‘Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.’ And in his Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield re-iterated the great teaching of the East: ‘Where attention goes, energy flows.’ I find it exquisite in its simplicity and precision.

Ritual is sharpened attention. It creates a type of passageway for the great currents of life to move back and forth between us and the living world. Our earliest ancestors knew this. The earliest evidence of ritual behaviour was a form of poiesis - a receiving of visionary experience from the spirit world and giving it back in the form of art.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, in response to all the interest in the Solstice ritual, I thought it would be great to send out more ritual prompts for those among you who would like to introduce more ritual into your life, or add new elements to your own practice.

These prompts are intended to deepen our sense of interconnectedness with the natural world and the cyclical nature of being/life, and to cultivate more of a direct relationship with the sacred, or the more-than-human-world.

I have crafted them based on my academic research on the ritual behaviour of ancient peoples and those continually practiced by traditional cultures. They are dependent on the seasons, and the main cultural framework I will be drawing from is Celtic/ Celtic-Iberian (as per my own heritage). They are a synthesis of some of my findings and are meant to make ritual more accessible to the modern western psyche.

I am very interested in direct ways of knowing the transcendent, without there being a “middle man” so to speak, like a shaman or a guru. Intermediaries have their place, but I think it is vital to develop our own direct experience of the more-than-human world as well, in simple and sincere ways.

The prompts will be sent out during the equinoxes, solstices, and the cross-quarter days. Fewer people have heard of the latter- these are the days that fall between an equinox and a solstice and have been approached as highly auspicious around the world.

Though I am following the Celtic wheel, many of these festivals fall on similar days cross-culturally. Samhain, for instance, is a period of ancestor veneration and remembrance from the British Isles to Indonesia, Korea and Mexico; the Spring Equinox is celebrated as the Persian New Year, Holi in India and the festival of Dionysus in ancient Athens; and the rising sun of the Winter Solstice is marked by megalithic sites from Stone Henge, Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza and the Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.

Particular gods are attributed to each season. I will share some of the stories, myths and folklore attributed to them along with each prompt.

Being European but living in Australia and balancing these two great hemispheres means that following a seasonal ritual cycle is tricky! I’ve been working out how I can offer these ritual prompts to you all in a way that makes it accessible to both hemispheres. What I’m going to do is offer options for both.

Below you will find the ritual intended for the seasonal shift of both hemispheres.

In February, if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere you’re now moving into Imbolc. And if you’re in the South, your festivity is Lúnasa.

Suggestion for every ritual:

Set up an altar with symbols of the season. Ideally this is done with natural objects gathered from the land on simple walks and later returned back to the Earth.

Bee magic:

During every ritual prompt, I will place a prayer pot with the names of anyone who would like to be included in it by my hive. This will fortify your prayers. If you would like to be included, please send me your name (and out of interest, where you’re joining from and anything else you’d like to tell me/fellow readers!)

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NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

Imbolc, St Brigid’s Day

Goddess: Brigid in Gaelic, Sant Ffraid in Welsh

Imbolc comes from middle Irish and probably means “milking”. It celebrates the first signs of Spring marked, particularly, by the the sprouting of Brigid’s flower: the snowdrop. Known in Gaelic as Galanthus Nivalis, and meaning “milk flower of the snow”, it was seen in pre-Christian Britain as a symbol of hope for the coming of spring.

Brigid tells us we are half way to spring. Half way through the dreaming dark of winter. And we can fortify the prayers and deepen all the wishes we made on the winter solstice.

On the night of February 1st, Brigid begins to stir.

I see Imbolc as a chance to review the past six weeks since the winter solstice, and re-commit to any pledges, prayers or wishes we made during that time (or, for some, on New Year’s eve).

It marks the possibility for new life, new beginnings, fresh starts… But, not just yet. There is still a fallow period available to us for rest, introspection, and deep dreaming before the spring and the start of a fresh life cycle begins again.

THE RITUAL:

1. On the night of February 1st, light a candle in each room (simple tea lights will do) and leave them on overnight (safely, of course!). This signifies the calling back of the sun and the return of the light.

2. Then place a ribbon or fabric outside. You can hang it from a tree, a bush, the wall of a holy well (my personal favourite from years ago!), or even a chair… Whatever you have available.

3. Offer any prayers and wishes into your ribbon or fabric that you would like support in bringing to fruition in the Spring.

4. Leave it out overnight. Folklore tells us that Brigid will wander across the land during the night, offering her blessings for the coming Spring.

5. In the morning, gather your ribbon or fabric. This will now be imbued with morning dew, which was seen as her blessing and a magical substance made of the alchemical unification of fire and water.

6. You can keep the ribbon or fabric close over the coming year, it can be seen as a power tool and used to cover an altar, or tied around your wrist, or in other ritual practice.

EXTRAS:

Make a traditional Brigid Cross! Here are some instructions by the marvellous Michael Fortune from Folklore.ie:

Here is a piece I wrote on Brigid and the coming of Spring:

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SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

LÚNASA

God: Lugh in Irish, Mercury in ancient Rome

Also known as Lammas (from the Old English for “loaf mass”, Lunasa is held on August 1st, the midpoint between summer solstice and the autumn equinox. In the Southern Hemisphere, the equivalent would be February 1st.

Lugh, meaning “light” and “brightness”, was one of the most prominent gods in the Irish pantheon. He is likely a later version of an ancient Sun God, and went from being venerated as a deity to remembered as a mortal man and a cultural hero. In Irish myth, he lead the Tuatha de Danann - the pre-Christian supernatural race - to victory against the sea-faring Formorians.

Although the festival is named after him, the festivities were held in honour of his foster mother Tailtiu. She was a primeval goddess remembered in Irish myth who can be likened to the grain goddess Demeter.

In her myth, she is said to have died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. Lugh established a harvest festival and funeral games in her honour, which continued to be celebrated as late as the 18th century.

Lúnasa means August in Gaelic, and marks the beginning of the harvest season. After the labours of planting our seeds in the spring, and maintaining them throughout the heat of summer, August is the time for collecting the bounty and sharing it. If you have been working on a creative project or idea, this is a good time to start to give it form, or even put it out into the world!

It is a time to acknowledge your journey so far, and relish in the fruit it has borne.

As David Whyte wrote:

You have ripened already, and you are waiting to be brought in. Your exhaustion is a form of inner fermentation. You are beginning, ever so slowly to rot on the vine.

Whether or not the labours of the past season have born fruit, there are always gifts in our efforts and there is always something to be grateful for. This ritual is about giving something back.

THE RITUAL:

This one is a little more social!

1. Bake a loaf of bread in honour of the primeval mother-goddess (or whatever creative force you believe in) and kneed it with gratitude. Speak all you are grateful for into the dough. Place it on your altar and ask it to be blessed by the gods of the harvest.

2. Then share it with your community/family/friends… Traditionally this would have been accompanied with a feast replete with song, dance and good cheer. So organise something special for your loved ones! This is a time for merriment, gratitude, acknowledgment and recognition of all the things that have got you in the shape you are in, and for all the ensuing gifts (seen and - perhaps more likely - yet unseen).

3. Lay out offerings of fruit, corn, grapes, apples, and/or any other crops that might be harvested at this time wherever you are in the world.

Lugh, Illustrated by Maud Gonne for Ella Young’s re’telling The Coming of Lugh, 1909.

EXTRAS:

Here is a re-telling of the myth of Lugh by the Celtic mythologist and folklorist Ella Young: The Coming of Lugh: A Celtic Wonder Tale

Exhibition on Resurrecting John Barleycorn, a folktale on the personification of barley, by Matt Rowe, curated by Laura Mansfield.

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Let me know how you get on! And don’t forget to send me your name if you would like me to add you to the prayer pot.

February 1st blessings to you!

NB: Please adjust any of these rituals to suit you, your lifestyle, belief systems, and general capacity.

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