Imbolc Ritual 2008

Friday February 1st, 8:15pm, Quaker Meeting House, Cardiff

Imbolc is a festival celebrating the slow returning of Spring, and the return of warmth to the earth from under the winter’s slow and cold. At this time of year we see the ice and snow melting, snowdrops pushing through the earth, and the days beginning to lengthen.

This is also a sacred day for the Irish Goddess and Saint, Brighid, who usually is seen in the form of three women or three fires. These three flames represent the Fires of Healing, in which we are purified and cleansed; the Fires of Inspiration, in which we find creativity and joy; and the Fires of the Forge in which we are shaped and transformed.

This ritual celebrates the return of the fires of Spring, as well as the fires of Triple Brighid herself, in a face-to-face meeting with the Goddess. The three women playing the roles of the Triple Brighids will be partially channelling, and they will be met outside the circle by the ritual participants.

Participants to Bring:

• Tealights
• Altar items (optional)
• Food and drink
• Bardic Circle Offering (optional)

Roles Required:

• Brighid of Healing
• Brighid of Inspiration
• Brighid of the Forge
• Master of Ceremonies
• Invoker of Goddess
• Invoker of God
• Quarter Caller of East/Air
• Quarter Caller of South/Fire
• Quarter Caller of West/Water
• Quarter Caller of North/Earth
• Circle Caster
• Drum Master

Stuff for the Ritual:

• Lots of candles
• 3 x Lanterns
• 2 x cauldrons
• Various swords/daggers
• Black clothes for Brighid of the Forge, black cloak
• Red clothes for Brighid of Inspiration, red/black cloak
• White clothes for Brighid of Healing, white cloak
• Small scrolls with the nineteen sentences from “Candles for Brighid” written on
• 4 x laptops for sound effects
• Snowdrops
• Various altar items
• Drum
• Hammer
• Herbs and nice basket
• Lighters
• Incense and Burner
• Charcoal discs

Before the Ritual:

Anybody present before the start who isn’t a normal ritual participant, e.g. the Three Brighids, Drum Master, Master of Ceremonies, will help set up and decorate. Altar will be set up, and ready to receive ritual participants’ own items. Two baskets – one with tealights and one with the scrolls for “Nineteen Candles” are placed either side of the door to the main room. The cloakroom is decorated fit for Brighid of Inspiration (Red and orange cloths, red and orange candles, harp music, poetry in written form); the alcove on the right of the door to the room is decorated fit for Brighid of the Forge (black cloths, black pelt, battle helmets, swords, plain candles, hammer, sound effects of crackling fire and blacksmith’s hammer); the landing upstairs/kitchen is decorated fit for Brighid of Healing (white cloths, white and blue candles, jugs and bowls of water, sound effects of trickling water).

The Three Brighid’s will be channelling either fully or partially for this ritual, so before it begins they will take some time together in the ritual room preparing. This can involve their own private ritual for Brighid, invocations, Breastplate formula, etc.

Incense is lit in ritual room.

Ritual participants begin to arrive, and are kept out of the ritual room. They are given the usual shoes/safety/choice spiel by the Master of Ceremonies. Their food and drink offerings for the feast are placed in the kitchen.

Three Brighids light their lanterns and stand together in the centre of the room. There is no other light. No other candles are lit. Participants enter and form the circle. As they enter, they are marked with one of three colours: red (Fire), yellow (Air), or blue (Water), by the Master of Ceremonies.

Set up the Circle

The Circle Caster casts the circle in whichever way they see fit.

Call the Four Quarters

The four Quarter Callers invoke the directions and elements in any way they see fit.

Invocation of the Goddess Brighid

The Goddess Invoker calls to Brighid to be present at the rite (although hopefully she will be already!). The invocation is also a wonderful way to paint a picture in the minds of the other ritual participants as to the nature of the Goddess they will be working with during the evening. The Goddess Candle on the altar is lit.

Invocation of the God

This can be any youthful, awakening God of Spring, yet an Irish one will probably be more appropriate. The young Lugh Samilidanach would be suitable. Again, the God is invoked to be present at the rite, bless all those attending, and the invocation will paint a picture of him. The God candle on the altar is lit.

Statement of Intent

Master of Ceremonies says something poignant about Imbolc, and the theme of this ritual. Natalia, you can write something yourself when you’ve seen this mystery play, or we can team up and write something.

“First of all I would like to welcome you all to this ritual and thank you for celebrating it with us.

As the cold and dark months are slowly coming to their end, the time has come to celebrate and welcome back the light into our lives. And with that, celebrate Brighid, the Triple Goddess, representing three Sisters, or the Virgin, the Mother, and the Old Woman, or the three Fires, the Fires of Healing, Inspiration and Forge.

Slowly, but surely, the Earth is re-awakening after a Winter’s sleep, and gifting to us snowdrops, little buds on trees and most importantly, the light. Daylight, which gives us energy, strength and warmth.

Winter has been hard on us. It’s been cold and dark. The days have been short and the nights everlasting. Light and warmth have been rare gifts. In times like that, the fires which alight the passions inside us have had a hard time burning and the flames that burn within us - the flames of Brighid herself - have been scattered by Winter's hand.

The Mystery Begins

This flows seamlessly from the Statement of Intent. At the line “Winter has been hard on us”, Drum Master plays “Winter Noises”. At the line “…been scattered by Winter’s hand”, the Three Brighids swirl out of their stance and scatter around the room, swirling, and finally after about 5 second of this they slowly drop to the floor and shade their lamps with their cloaks. The room should now be in almost total darkness except for the two candles on the altar. Drum Master slowly fades the “Winter Noises” out, and the Three Brighids don't move until the noises stop, when they leave the room

After about 30 seconds of complete stillness and darkness, a heartbeat drumbeat starts, during which each Brighid slowly rises up in turn:

1. Brighid of Healing rises, and leaves the room slowly, leaving her lantern by the door so that the main room has some light. She places herself on the upstairs landing, seated, holding her well of water.
2. Brighid of Inspiration rises, and takes her lantern with her as she leaves. She places herself in the cloakroom, seated, holding her lantern.
3. Brighid of the Forge rises, and leaves the room slowly, leaving her lantern by the door. She places herself in the alcove by the room, holding her hammer.

Narration

When all three Brighids have left, the Master of Ceremonies states that it is now Imbolc, and time to rekindle the flames and warmth in the earth and in our own lives. We must face the Triple Brighids and unite them once more.

Three Groups

Quarter Caller of Water calls to those marked with Water (blue), and leads them out of the ritual room. She will be their “guide” for the duration of the meetings with Triple Brighid. She takes them first to the Brighid of Healing, upstairs.

Quarter Caller of Air calls to those marked with Air (yellow), and leads them out of the ritual room. She will also guide that group from now on. She takes them first to the Brighid of Inspiration, in the cloakroom.

Quarter Caller of Fire calls to those marked with Fire (red), and does the same. She takes her group to the Brighid of the Forge, in the alcove.

The order that each group goes to each Brighid is as follows:

Water: Healing, forge, inspiration

Air: Inspiration, healing, forge

Fire: Forge, inspiration, healing.

No group is with the same Brighid at the same time. Each Quarter Caller is responsible for greeting each Brighid and approaching each one first, so their group gets the idea. She is also responsible for gauging the speed of the group ahead, holding back her group if necessary whilst waiting for other groups to finish up. Whatever you do: don’t rush the group through, don’t panic, let it happen!

As each group approaches each Brighid, each Quarter Caller has a small invocation to say specific to each one.

To say to Brighid of Healing: “Fire in the Hearth that nourishes and heals, we come to you for blessing and purification!”

To say to Brighid of Inspiration: “Fire in the Head that incites and inspires, we come to you for rekindling and awakening!”

To say to Brighid of the Forge: “Fire in the Forge that shapes and tempers, we come to you for transformation and wisdom!”

Each Brighid will ask her own question – this will remain the same for each and every person, but each Brighid will decide what their question will be. Each participant is expected to answer, or interact in some way, even if it is to look into Brighid of Healing’s bowl of water, breathe in the smoke of Brighid of the Forge’s incense, or sing with Brighid of Inspiration. Most likely, they will answer with words – each Brighid will then respond as their channels see fit.

When each group is finished with all Three Brighids, their Quarter Caller leads them back to the ritual room. As they enter, the Quarter Callers invite each participant to take a candle from the basket by the door, and to take one of the sentences from the receipt book. If there are less than 19 participants, Quarter Callers, Drum Master, Master of Ceremonies, Circle Caster, etc also take one. If, even with these there are not 19, the last Quarter Caller to return to the circle will randomly assign the remaining candles to participants in the ritual room. When these have been given out, participants reform the circle and wait patiently and in quiet reflection for everybody to finish. Everybody should, theoretically finish at roughly the same time as each other.

The Three Brighids make sure all lights upstairs, in kitchen, cloakroom, and downstairs are turned out, all candles snuffed for safety reasons, and congregate outside the ritual room, listening for their cues.

The ritual room is still lit only by two lanterns and two altar candles.

Nineteen Candles for Brighid

Master of Ceremonies:

“We have met with Brighid of the Triple Flame. We have listened to her wisdom. We have received her blessings. But change cannot occur when our fires burn low, and we cannot move forward when our inner forces of transformation, creativity, and cleansing are so scattered.

We light our candles now in turn – each of you has one of nineteen sentences. If you have sentence ‘1’, you begin. He who has sentence ‘2’ follows, and so on, until the very last. Light your candle and place it somewhere in the room. As the room grows brighter and warmer, so too may your lives and the earth around us rekindle and welcome the Light!”

As described already, each participant takes it in turns (dictated by the number on their paper) to light their candle from the altar candles, and place it somewhere in the room. They must also read their sentence, and keep hold of it – there is a reason they received that sentence and not the others. Here it is, in its entirety: [nb – this was in the end slightly changed to be easier to understand, but the scrolls were of course lost, so this is the unchanged version.]

“Your first candle lit is your sunrise birth:  the flame of your house reaching Ceugant's brow
Second is the spark of your union with Bress, Son of Elathan
Third is the pillar of fire, as you took the veil, rising high and clear
Fourth are brothers, Dagda the father, Boadb The Red, Medar, Ogma and Aenghus
Fifth is eternal life's spring: that sings your name, in crystal gaze
Sixth is the flame on your Altar, that never dies!
Seventh is the grove at Llandwynwn, on Mona's shore, where lovers tryst
Eighth is the strength of your oxen of Dil - Fea and Fernea, the red and the black
Ninth is the sigh of your breath, as new life grows from old, your bridge of truth
Tenth is a milk white cow, of redden ears, thee Earth Mother's nectar, sweet
Eleventh is a girdle, that spans night and day, yet heals all and remains
Twelfth is a veil of truth, in a flowering thorn, your weary all path
Thirteen is for your son Ruardan, to be reborn
Fourteenth is the white light of the flowering word, born at sunrise - the molten sky
Fifteenth is the grove at Kildare, with solid oak and crystal spring
Sixteenth are shrines throughout Albion, in Church, Well and Wall
Seventeenth is your will, of black iron, forged in the determination of one thousand eyes
Eighteenth is a healing - the white dog at the portal, the chalice of your smile
Nineteen is a clarsach which spells - hours, days and signs, all in a silver bough.”

At the fifteenth candle, Brighid of Healing enters and takes up her lantern.

At the sixteenth candle, Brighid of Inspiration enters, carrying her lantern

At the seventeenth candle, Brighid of the Forge enters and takes up her lantern.

They stand in the centre of the circle, back to back.

When nineteenth candle has been lit, the Triple Brighids raise their lanterns and in unison say/cry:

“Our last is our first, the beginning of the turning sea, the beginning of the three.
The dancing sun in the hearts of all! The candle that never dies!”

Master of Ceremonies finalizes the spell:

            “With the lighting of these fires,

            The flame of life grows ever higher!

            Ignite in us our hearts desires,

            Brighid bless us with your fires!”

Brighids reply in unison:

“Each day and each night
That you call the descent of Brighid
May the power of healing be with you
May the power of poetry be with you
May the power of shaping be with you
In all the realms and among the kindred.

Kindle my flame in your head, heart, and loins,
Make yourselves my cauldron, my harp, my forge,
That you might heal, transform, and inspire,
All in my honour, Brighid, Triple Fire!

So mote this be!”

 

Communion

Goddess and God invoker lead the group in taking Communion of bread and wine.

Take down the Circle

Brighids will remain in the centre for the duration.

Master of Ceremonies indicates in some way to the God Invoker to begin dismissal.

God is given thanks and dismissed.

Goddess is given thanks and dismissed.

Quarters are given thanks and dismissed.

Circle is taken down.

Chant of “May the Circle be open yet forever unbroken” started by Brighids and picked up by group.

Hugs and stuff.

Feast and Bardic Circle

Led by Brighid of Inspiration of course!