Long Island Open Circle


Waxing Gibbous Moon Circle
July 8, 2006

HP rings bell thrice.

HPS consecrates water and salt:
By salt and water, by the body and the blood of the earth, do I sanctify this place and these people.

HPS walks once around, sprinkling Circle and people with water.

HP consecrates incense (air) and fire:
By fire and air, by the passion and the spirit of the sky, do I sanctify this place and these people.

HP walks once around, censing Circle and people with incense.


HP: We who come to this space are learners. We bring gifts to offer and we hope to be given gifts in return. The gift we that we will offer tonight to those who can hear our voices and feel our hearts is energy in its unconditional and pure form, a flow of energy that they can use as they see fit. We empower the energy gift only with love and with devotion, and we direct it everywhere and to the six directions. 

HPS: Let’s take a moment first to feel the energy. As we let go and allow the energy to flow in and around our bodies, we can begin to turn it up, generating deeper and greater power.
 
Starting from your feet, allow -- do not force – the energy to flow upward into us from the center of the universe – the source of us all… up throughout your body to the top of your head.

Now that we have the energy, we can allow ourselves to be blessed by it and to be healed by it. We send the overflow through our right hands to the directions as our devoted gifts. 


(Volunteers)

Sisters and Brothers of the North, of the Winter, of Earth
We ask that you offer the firm and stable surface upon which to build our circle.
We offer our devoted gift.

Brothers and Sisters of the East, of the Spring, of Air
We ask that you offer clarity of perception, that we can truly see our circle.
We offer our devoted gift.

Sisters and Brothers of the South, of the Summer, of Fire
We ask that you offer purity and action, that we can make changes in our circle.
We offer our devoted gift.

Brothers and Sisters of the West, of the Autumn, of Water
We ask that you offer the depth of emotion and fluidity to truly feel our circle.
We offer our devoted gift.

Sisters and Brothers above and below
May you offer blessings beyond that which we know, so that evolution occurs in this circle.
We offer our devoted gift. 


After the gifts have been offered to and received from the directions, the HPS and HP walk two more circles feeling and directing the energy of the circle.


HP: In magick, in the astral realms, in human thought -- like attracts like. The visible moon is like the great eye of the grandmother, the goddess behind the moon. At the new moon her eye is closed; she is sleepily looking into the realms beyond the tangible. As her great eye waxes open to crescent, she sees the astral world echoing on the shadowy material, of energy over mater, of mind over body. When her eye is half open she recognizes harmony in motion, balance between the worlds. When her eye is wide open, her full attention is on reality, on now, on this world in action. Her power is in full effect.

HPS: We have all felt her gifts in varied phases. In truth we spend most of our waking time with our eyes mostly open -- our own eyes waxed open to gibbous. We are awake, but living in a state somewhat less then fully engaged. Imagine living all of our lives with the full power of the fullest moon or intuiting our path in the dreamlike state of a new moon. 

HP: Since like attracts like, we ask the Goddess in the moon to share in our primary state of being. Please join me saying the Bold Lines:

In Greek pantheon the Goddess Atriums hunts with the crescent moon as her bow, but Selene is the Goddess of the moon over Greece. 
Mothers, would you sit with your children?

In Rome the hunter by moonlight takes the name Diana.
Mother, would you sit with your children?

The Virgin Goddess Hena to Polynesia, was the moon and the first woman. 
Ancient maiden, would you sit with your sisters and brothers?

The Egyptians know Hecate as a crone of the moon.
Grandmother, would you sit with your grandchildren?

The entity known in the vast skies over southern Africa as Ngame.
Mother, would you sit with your children?

Celts from Ireland and England to parts of Spain and France saw Nimue as their Goddess in the moon.
Mother, would you sit with your children?

Al-Mah the Goddess that pulled the waters of the Tigress and Euphrates rivers. 
Mother, would you sit with your children?


HPS : We share with the moon lady our own phase of mostly-wakefulness, where actions in reality are complemented by echoes in the other world; where thoughts can lead to actions, where actions lead back to dreams, and intuition can bring cause and its effects. 



Gibbous Moon Meditation

When we think of the Moon we think of her full. We think of her round and white, sailing above the clouds, the earth illumined below in her silvery ghostlight.

But tonight she is only half full over our Circle. Tonight the light is not so bright, the shadows not so deep. Tonight finds the Moon in that in-between place, no longer dark, but not yet full. 

We think of the Moon in her fullness, but in truth she spends most of her time in the in-between places – waxing and waning, in the ebb and the flow.

When we think of our own lives we think of the full days and the dark days too. But we also spend most of our lives in the in-between places. We are mostly rising up from our last defeat, mostly coasting down from our latest goal. Most of our time is not spent in the valley or at the peak but on the plain. 

The rhythm of the Moon is the rhythm of life. There is a wisdom in this. To stay only in the valleys or to dwell only on the peaks would be unbearable. The waxing and waning times give us a chance to breathe, a chance to appreciate the sweetness of the heights and to absorb the lessons of the lows. 

Each New Moon is a beginning, and so is each trip into our own dark moon. Each Full Moon in our lives is the culmination of the lesson begun in the dark. 

Remember then that our own path runs both uphill and down, cyclical just as the timing of the Moon’s phases. And remember that as surely as you go down into the valleys, you will as surely pass through those dark places and rise up again toward the light. 

We have faith that the waning Moon will wax again. Let us have as much faith in our own cycles. Let us remain steadfast in the dark of the Moon and let us dance in her silver light when she is full. Let us remember that every step in the journey is a right step under the watchful eye of our Moon Mother, waxing and waning and waxing again along with us.

copyright 2006 Hillary Foxsong hillary@liopencircle.org  

HP: If you choose to open your eyes but let your eyes lids hang gently -- let your focus be diffuse. See the other world hanging over the material world, the way the sky is everywhere over the earth yet nowhere in particular. The way the moonlight clings to ground in softness. Give thanks to our great mother. Encourage the silver we wear to reflect the light of the moon, as the moon reflects the light of the sun. Silver is the metal of moonlight. Much of the power we feel is a reflection of the energy from a pure source. 

HPS and HP place a small plate and small cup at the altar of the north.

Please allow this food and this drink to be empowered with silvery light of the moon. Please share this simple food and drink with your children. 

HPS and HP share cookies or almonds and water with all those present around the circle.

Eat and Drink.



HPS: Lady of the moon, Goddess in all your forms and splendor, our circle is empowered by your love. This is a circle unbroken, to be carried in the hearts of we who have built it. If you choose to leave, please take our gifts and this circle in your heart back to the glowing light of the moon. 

HP: Brothers and sisters of the six directions – North, East, South, and West, Above and Below – carry the healing energy of this Circle to the farthest corners of the Earth, and let it be freely shared with all beings. 

Thank you one and all. Let us all just be children of the gibbous moon light…

Notes: July – Buck Moon or Hay Moon -- Renew and awaken the fires of love, romance and life. Work with the moon's energy at this time to bless all of nature and any of nature's gifts you have planted. Work in your ceremonies with gifts of nature, such as herbs, stones and wood.

 

Long Island Open Circle

www.liopencircle.org