Come today to worship the Kindreds.
Come today,
always come.
Come we together on this holy day,
across the distances that lay between us,
to this time,
to this place,
for one strong purpose:
to worship the Holy Ones in the proper manner.
Come, O come,
ever come,
ever and always come,
come to worship,
come to the sacred place:
Come, O come,
ever come,
ever and always come.
Stand tall, waiting,
for the coming of the sacred before you,
no fear, no concern,
with welcoming hearts.
Do not worry, they will come,
with flower-scented steps,
scattering blessings.
We are here:
we were always here.
We are here now:
we were always here now.
We are here together now:
we were always here together now.
We have always been here like this:
and we are always like this again.
Come and make offerings:
poems or prayers, well said,
songs or steps well prepared.
The deities see,
The Ancestors watch,
The Land Spirits look on,
And they will hear you.
Come, make offerings.
The Gods wait well,
those patient ones,
and will be here when you arrive,
ready to spend time together.
May the beating of the drum be the beating of your heart.
When you follow the beating drum may your heart follow.
May you come wholeheartedly to the ritual.
A family scattered is a family still.
Today is a family reunion in the home of our Mother and Father.
Individual in existence,
One in purpose,
Neither denying nor losing who each of us is,
we are one, gathered together.
With hands open in giving and receiving
we come to you confidently,
All-Gods.
When the rituals are performed rightly,
all of the ways of the soul are well:
May this ritual be performed rightly.
When the rituals are performed rightly,
all of the relationships in society are well:
May this ritual be performed rightly.
When the rituals are performed rightly,
all of the ways of the state are well:
May this ritual be performed rightly.
When the rituals are performed rightly,
all of the things of Heaven and Earth are well:
May this ritual be performed rightly.
When the rituals are performed rightly,
all things that are or may be are well:
May this ritual be performed rightly.
We come together today as a community to worship the Undying Ones.
This is as it should be; it is not good for people to be alone.
When we evolved from the species that came before us it wasn't just our larger brains that gave us an edge,
it wasn't just the tools that our larger brains inspired us to make that did this,
it wasn't just the upright stance that allowed us to use those tools easily that improved our ability to survive.
Most of all it was community.
It was our love of having other humans around us,
to help us when we were weak, to be helped when they were weak,
to be protected and to protect,
to be loved by and to love,
to gather together to reassure ourselves, to know that things will be okay.
That is one of the great strengths of our species.
It is part of us, not decided on, but written into our bodies, encoded in our DNA.
We may need guidance and explanations to live well in communities, but we do not need outside information to know that we must live together as communities. It is who we are.
So when we come together as a community to worship today, we are doing something that is precisely a human thing to do.
When we worship as a community, we are worshiping as fully human beings.
Let us join now in worship.
A school of fish, responding to currents,
A meadow of grass, responding to wind:
each individual, each in the same pattern.
That is us, as we come together for worship.
Still your fears,
replace them with awe;
Prepare for the Holy
with a single mind.
Come to where the Gods are,
Come to the drums, Come to the bells,
Come dancing to the sacred place,
Come dancing, Come singing, Come.
I call, I call, I call you here,
to worship, to worship, the Ancient Ones.
Listen and come to the one who calls,
who calls, who calls, who calls to you.
Gather by the tree that rises,
and rise with it to celestial realms,
where Shining Ones gather
to hear our prayers:
make prayers to them here.
I call you before the Holy Ones,
into the halls of the All-Gods gathered in council.
Here we will put our petitions to them for the consideration of the Wise,
and for the granting of the True, the Right, the Just,
as those who are True, and Right, and Just decide.
Xáryomēn, lord of the law of the people,
giver of well-disposed friends:
be our good herdsmen.
Bring us together.
Make us one.
May we come before the gods speaking with one voice.
Surrounded by all the numinous beings of earth and sky and water, I pray with confidence, for I know their help is certain.
I place myself at your service,
gods of my people.
Open me to your wishes,
make me a conduit for your will,
bringing forth your desires in the human world.
This offering goes before me, opening the door.
Key to the gods, be my way-shower.
Living so long in the polluted world of man
I turn at last to the sacred land,
the pure land of the gods,
the holy land of the goddesses,
which is my true home.
[Before a tale is told]
It was a long time ago—
no one knows when, or even if (still the story is true)—that which happened, happened.
It is still happening, of course, and always will—
that's the way it is with true stories.
Listen carefully, then, because this story is about where you come from,
or maybe where you are.
Maybe you haven't found it yet.
Maybe it is something that's already happened,
so it will explain where you are,
or maybe it's going on right now,
so it will help you decide what to do,
or maybe it hasn't happened yet—forewarned is forearmed.
Listen carefully, then:
this story is true.
Half-stag, half-man, sitting between,
between this and that,
between this and the other,
god of the gates, open the gates,
Cernunnos who guides my steps.
God of the herm constructed on the borders:
you pass through as well as keep out.
Pass through my prayers, my offerings, to those I worship;
Pass through as well their presence, their blessings, to me.
The cattle of Apollo seemed to go one way when they had gone the other:
may our prayers go both ways,
may the Immortals go both ways.
By hanging this triskele around my neck
I am placing myself under the care of Manannán,
God of Mystery.
I draw a hammer on my forehead with my thumb,
dipped in mead,
to mark me as Thor's.