Rituals

Boe is providing rituals for every Solstice, Equinox and the midpoints between them, for those who would like to connect to the rhythms of the year and the indigenous festivals of Britain.

This is something you can do in your own home, at your own time.

There will be rituals for:

Imbolc ~ 1st February

Spring Equinox (Ostara) ~ 20th March

Beltane ~ 1st May

Summer Solstice (Litha) ~ 21st June

Lammas ~ 1st August

Autumn Equinox (Mabon) ~ 21st Sept

Samhain ~ 31st Oct

Winter Solstice (Yule) ~ 21st Dec

The current season ritual will be provided below and has been put together by Boe, available free of charge. If you’d like to donate a small contribution towards making Boe’s work possible please do so here: https://paypal.me/boehuntress. To be kept informed of when the next ritual is available sign up using the box at the bottom of this page.

Imbolc Ritual 

1st February

Read this through and identify what you need to prepare for the ritual. You are welcome to adapt this ritual as desired. The ritual can be done any time within a week either side of Imbolc.

Imbolc means 'in the belly' and refers to the hidden potential of life, germinating below the soil.

Everything is still in hibernation to some extent at this time of year, but a lot is going on invisibly, unseen. It's known as the 'quickening of the year.' It's been associated with the uncoiling of the snake – an awakening of internal sexual energy, which precedes the birth of spring. 

Imbolc is associated with 'the hearth,' and represents internal and hibernatory energies – a sense of preparing and making space for new beginnings. 

In my own map of 'Thirteen Qyeens,' Imbolc falls in the moon of Desyr, a Lover Archetype who is associated with healing, tears, water, and poetry, and makes space for new beginnings through grief. The song is here.

Some people do a ritual spring cleaning of their spaces at this time, in the spirit of making space for new beginnings. Feel free to do so before your ritual if that appeals to you. 

The Ritual 

You will need:

• A poem that speaks to where you're at in your life at the moment (your own or someone else's).

• A bowl and jug of water.

• Ginger root, made into a tea (or any kind of herbal tea will do).

• Paper and pen.

• Bulbs or seeds and something to plant them in.

There are two parts to this ritual. One part is a walk outside, the second part is in your home/hearth. They can be done on the same day or different days. 

Part One: Go for a walk, looking for snowdrops, willow or rowan trees. As you're walking, speak aloud and tell the Others (beings of nature) what is in hidden potential in your life, what you are brewing and germinating, or what you would like to. Once you get to a willow or a rowan or a snowdrop, read a poem. If you can't find any of these trees/flowers you can speak your poem to any being that arrests your curiosity. If there's a twig, or fallen flower that offers itself to you then bring it home to your altar (it's always good to ask permission before picking anything, and listening to the reply).

Part Two: Place anything you bring home from your walk on your altar/sacred space (if you don't have an altar you can make a temporary sacred space to do the ritual – any clear surface will suffice). Place an empty bowl and a jug of water on your altar, and your herbal tea. Have your bulbs/seeds and soil ready for planting.

To begin your ritual, identify any grief that is currently present. As inspiration, here are the five gateways of grief as identified by Frances Weller in the book The Wild Edge of Sorrow:

* The First Gate: Everything We Love, We will Lose.

* The Second Gate: The Places That Have Not Known Love.

* The Third Gate: The Sorrows of the World.

* The Fourth Gate: What We Expected and Did Not Receive.

* The Fifth Gate: Ancestral Grief.

As you name the things you are grieving for, pour water from the jug into the bowl. If you cry any tears, you may want to cry into the bowl or collect them in tissue and put the tissue in the bowl. This is to acknowledge the sacredness of your tears, and their potency as waters of healing. If you do not cry tears, or feel numb, this is also welcome. Acknowledge that there is always grief present, even if we can't access it, and the water in our bodies is carrying it. 

Grief is known as 'the healing feeling' - much healing happens in acknowledging and expressing our grief. It also unites the conscious and the unconscious will (grief often being carried in our unconscious). 

Once you feel your grieving is complete, invite a sense of healing, and symbolically welcome this in by drinking your ginger/herbal tea. As the warm liquid enters your body, invite it to bring the healing that is needed in your body, mind and soul, to prepare you for the next season, and the new life that is wanting to come through you.

You may also want to connect to your internal sexual energy, which is for you, as a form of life force. If it appeals you can imagine it like a snake stirring from hibernation.

Write a poem about what is invisible and hidden in potential in you (or anything you want to express right now). There's no pressure for the poem to be a great work of art. It can be a stream of consciousness, single words, just an expression that feels true for this moment.

Now turn to your bulbs/seeds and plant them, as a symbolic act of what is hidden beneath the soil in you. Water them with the bowl of water (if there are tissues in the bowl, squeeze and remove). Read you poem to the plant. Place your plant in a sunny spot and await the spring.

End of Ritual