Winter Solstice Ritual 2 ruis-elder (21 December) in the year of our Lady 2006

Needs: red altar cloth, lots of red candles, a fire in a fireplace or a fire pit or a wood burning stove or a pillar candle in a cauldron, small sheets of paper, pen or pencil, candlesticks for candles, matches, censer, ground cinnamon, pine, sage, drum, a bouquet of red and white flowers and sprigs of pine, a bowl of pinecones, mirror, feather, bowl of water, white rock or crystal, picture of the setting sun, picture of the rising sun, CD player, Shawna Carol's CD Goddess Chant

Set up altar:
If you're working where it's safe to do so, place your red candles around the perimeter of your circle. If that isn't feasible, place them around the perimeter of your altar, leaving room to safely work. Remember that this is the festival of light and blessed beginnings, so you'll want plenty of candles, as many as possible.

Place the censer in the center of the altar and the paper and writing implement in front of it. Place the bouquet at spirit well away from an open flame and the bowl of pinecones in front of it.

Place the feather at air, the mirror at fire, the bowl of water at water, the crystal or white stone at earth, the pictures of the setting and rising suns at spirit

Cleanse space by drumming.
Cleanse aura by drumming.
Light charcoal and allow to heat
Light all the candles

Isis, Daughter of Nut the night sky, you who wear the sun as an ornament, you who know the dark underworld as well as the light of the world above, teacher, and source of inspiration, I invite you into my circle this night. Come, Lady of the thousand names, you who were worshipped in all the lands! Fly up from the underworld of doubt and procrastination! Fly up and teach me to do the same so I may breathe inspiration from your success.

Caress the feather. Feel yourself flying out of darkness and into the light of new inspiration!

Amaterasu, Japanese sun Goddess, you who have a passion for beauty and joy, you who abandoned your people until you saw your own beauty for the first time in the mirror and in joy returned from the cave, you whose temples still stand, whose worship still flourishes across Japan and around the world, I invite you into my circle this night. Bring me the passion to do what is needed to accomplish my blessed beginnings.

Hold the mirror toward fire so Amaterasu can see the beauty of her own light. Now hold it to yourself. See your own beauty. See your own power.

Sarasvati, Hindu Goddess of water and of female energy, inventor of speech and of all the arts and sciences, mother of intuition and of creativity, I invite you into my circle this night. Come, lovely lady of art and intuition! Bring me the wisdom and the inner knowing that I need to make my blessed beginnings come true!

Take a sip of water to take Sarasvati's power into yourself.

Unelanuhi, Cherokee goddess of the sun, you who divide day from night and create the seasons of the year, you who are also called Aag:hu Gu:gu which means beautiful woman, a word also used to describe the glow of dawn, I invite you into my circle this night. Come, beautiful woman, and bring the dawn of my blessed beginnings with you! Bring me the light and the courage and strength to manifest my blessed beginnings!

Raise the white rock or crystal to earth as a gift to Unelanuhi. Now examine the stone or rock. Unelanuhi has etched a message for you in that stone.

Tonan, Aztec mother goddess who watches over birthing mothers, you who are honored at winter solstice when the women dance dressed entirely in white shells and eagle feathers and kill the sun of the old year and birth the sun of the new year, I invite you into my circle this night. In your honor I slay the sun of old doubts and all the lies I told myself to hold me back. (tear up the picture of the setting sun). And in your honor I birth the sun of new beginnings. In so doing I become one with you and with all that is in the universe. (go into labor! Groan! Cry out! And draw from your body the rising sun! You are one with Tonan now, one with the world! You have brought life giving sun back to the world!)

On this the shortest day of the year, I am here to greet the dawn of the waxing year as well as the dawn of my blessed beginnings. I celebrate the return of the sun and the inspiration, passion, wisdom, and strength I have to make my beginnings come true. Tonight I climb from the dark of doubt and into the light of surety, for I have the power to do with my life whatever I choose to do. Lady Sun and I are united in strength, united in beauty, united in will. We have the power to light the world with our ideas and to nurture life with our words. As the pinecones of December remind us of the potential for life when all is in a dormant state, so we remember that even at the darkest time the seeds of our blessings lie within us, just waiting to burst forth.

Charge of the Goddess:

Whenever you need anything, once a month and best when the moon is full, and eight times more in the year, you shall meet in some safe place to celebrate my spirit, who am the queen of all women. You shall meet in freedom, and as a sign of trust you shall be naked in your rites. Sing, feast, dance, make music and love, all in my presence, for mine is ecstasy of the spirit and joy on earth. My only law is love unto all. Mine is the secret that opens on the door of birth and mine is the mystery of life that is the Cauldron of Hecate, the womb of immortality. I give knowledge of the all -creative spirit, and beyond death I give peace and reunion with those gone before. Nor do I ask any sacrifice, for I am the mother of all things and my love is the breast milk that nourishes the earth.
I who am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars and the mysteries of the waters, I call upon your soul to arise and come unto me. For I am the soul of nature that gives life to the universe. From me all things proceed and unto me they must return. Let my worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold- all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you. And you who seek to know me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not unless you know the mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that which us attained at the end of desire.

Place some pine on the charcoal

Pine burns for fertility, for healing, for cash. The seeds I sow this night bring forth success that lasts.

Cinnamon brings me healing, spirituality, and success. I am one with all that is and so am deeply blessed

Sage I burn for wisdom and for protection too. The smoke of burning sage makes my wishes all come true.

Write each of your wishes on a separate piece of paper. Write each as a manifestation (I manifest good health for myself and those I love). When you are satisfied that all your wishes have been written throw each into the fire or burn it on the pillar candle inside the cauldron.

The smoke of my wishes rises like a prayer. My beginnings are manifested in the waxing year.

Dance and sing, beat on the drum. Your dreams have come to fruition! It's all already happened! You know it's true! You just haven't caught up with it yet! Celebrate with abandon! And when you're so full of power you don't know where to put it, send that power into the fire. Charge the fire with your power! Watch it leap in response!

You've done a wonderful job, so relax now. Listen to Shawna Carol's song Blessed Be (track 6), and know that your new year will be fruitful and bright. If you want, gaze into the fire. What do you see? What do you hear? Is the fire particularly warm? Is it bright and cheery? Is anyone inside the flames? Feel free to ask questions of the fire.

When you're ready ground and send the remnants of energy into the earth as a thank you gift

Open the circle thanking the Goddess in reverse order, beginning with Tonan and ending with Isis. Toss the ashes of the censer into the fire. Allow the fire to burn itself out if it is safe to do so. If you've used a pillar candle pinch or snuff it out. Do not blow it out lest you dissipate the energy. Let the other candles burn themselves out. Return the water and the pine cones to the earth, and if you used a pillar candle, scatter the ashes of your wishes to the four winds. Return the censer ashes to the earth once they've cooled.