csua.org/u/cc9 -> web.archive.org/web/20021005142859/http://www.atheling.demon.co.uk/redvanes_horse_rituals.htm#handfasting
Redvane's Horse Rituals "Any act based on love and pleasure is a ritual of the Goddess. it requires no liturgy, no ca thedrals, no confessions." Penderleith, Witshire Archaeological Maga zine, 1874 I've always based my ritual working on this very sound advice . Likewise I rarely write down these rituals beforehand (or after for that matter), instead I trust to the Goddess and the God (who I normally cal l upon by the name of Cerunnos in his stag guise) to guide me through wh at I'm doing. However this means that all the rituals I've described here are reconstru cted from memory and my "Notebook of obscure bits" (I was too poor to af ford a proper "Book of Shadows" <g>) - with the exception of the Handfas ting ritual which (because it was a public ritual) was written and rehea rsed before it took place. This is not necessarily a bad thing as I don 't believe that slavishly following someone else's ritual out of a book (what a friend of mine calls "Southern Baptist Wicca") is a good thing. Take what you see here and feel free to adapt and use it as you think f it. A word of caution though - if you use the horse rituals be sure you know what you are doing and are competent around horses. And I don't n eed to tell you that you shouldn't take candles into stables do I?
I used to use this one a lot when I'm going o ut riding on roads or if me and horsey are going to be doing something a bit risky like showjumping. This ritual contains the key to involving horses in your rituals... This is appropriate as it's a direct of fering to the Epona via her animal :-) Take a small food offering (pieces of carrot are good), break in two spea king the following. watch over <horse's name> and I this day, keep us safe from harm. May <horse's name> and I be joi ned in spirit and mind that we might protect each other from all dangers . Then offer one half of the food offering to your horse before you mount a nd eat the other half yourself. Essentially it's an energy summoning ritual and I last u sed it to help out a sick horse. To do the ritual you'll need a decent sized menage (20m by 40m or larger) or open space so you can work up a d ecent amount of speed on the canters, a horse that knows what he or she is doing and a few riding lessons under your belt - at least enough to d o canters on a circle and a couple of elementary dressage moves such as changes of rein, figures of eight and serpentines. As you reach the end of your warmup start to centre yourself, straighten your b ack and open your shoulders so you can breathe properly. Slow to a walk (either rein) and sit deep into the saddle. Picture a shaft of light r unning through your head, down your spine, through the horse and into th e ground, once you have that picture the light, still connected to the g round, speading out to cover both you and the horse. Now as you walk around, sit as deep as you can without slouching forwards start to draw in the light into a single point somewhere inside the hor se (I ususally locate it around the heart towards the forelegs but you'l l find what works for you). Start to think of you and the horse as a si ngle entity, merged together on a physical and spiritual level - feel th e ripple of muscle, the breathing as he or she walks, the slow beat of t he heart. If you have got your position right feel yourself sinking int o your horse until there is only one of you. When you're ready start a slow rising trot, either in a circle or on the track of the menage and begin a chant (either silently in your head or, if no-one is going to stare and your horse isn't going to be freaked out by you nattering away up there) - The chant can be anything you like bu t when I did a horse healing ritual I used something that goes like this : Epona. Repeat this, mix the words together - the words are not that important - but as you ride picture raising the energy in the space bounded by where you are riding - I find green to be a good colour and it's one that ten ds not to upset the horse. Work at feeling the horse's connection with t he earth and your connection to the horse - try to retain that feeling o f being only a single being. Speed up the trot to a working pace - if y ou're already at a working trot and comfortable with that stick to it as I've found that extended trot messes the ritual up (but it might work f or you-give it a go). Now if you have the feeling of oneness work at ra ising the energy, draw the power up from the earth, through your horse, picture his or her hoofbeats waking the energies beneath you and your ci rcling movements drawing those enegies together into one space. Before you chage diagonals pictur e a silver thread trailing behind you from the central point you got ear lier in the ritual - you'll use this thread to "tie up" the energy and w eave the pair of you into it. As you cross the diagonal feel yourselves penetrating through the power you've raised - I picture it feeling like warm water - and trail the thread through it. Now just work at differe nt paces, walk and trot, doing the chant if you like and continuing to r aise and bind that energy. Dance through the energy you are raising, dr awing it all together. If you are doing a ritual to heal someone who's not there picture them in the middle of the menage, surrounded by the he aling energies you and horsey have raised. If your ritual is to heal the horse you're riding then when you have got your energy tightly bound and really humming, ride into the middle of it and stop, then picture all that power flowing into the part that needs healing. If you're healing someone else, another horse for example, you can do the same, diricting in your mind the energy through the you/hors e combination to whoever needs it. A somewhat more risky approach is to ride several times throygh the centre of the circle, pocing up the spir it of the poorly horse that you have placed there and direct it to the s ame place in your horse. However if you do this latter step it is imper ative that you close down the ritual properly, ensuting that the afflict ed horse's spirit is seperate from yours. To close the ritual, unwind any remaining enegy by a slow trot in the opp osite direction to that you started, letting the energy sink back into t he ground, letting you and your horse cool off. When done ride into the centre of the menage, offer up a word of thanks to Epona and Cerunnos ( any words will do) and dismount. Give your horse a big hug (this is mandatory in all my horse rituals) and share food together. The Handfasting This one I know is probably going to get me into loads of trouble with so me folks out there. However all I ask is that you keep an open mind and bear in mind the Starhawk quote I started this bit with... As many people who know me know, I was privaledged to conduct the handfas ting between the late Mark Matthews and his pony mare, Pixel. This was back in 1993 and was, to be honest, an improvised affair even though it was something we'd discussed in the past.
read about it here) and so, in conjunction with the participants, we came up with a ritual w hich went something like this... To begin the ritual a circle is cast by the Priest(ess). If desired (gard en-)candles placed at the four quarters. The priest(ess) consecrates the circle by walking the circle clockwise th ree times with his/her staff tracing the circle, speaking: "I cast and conjure this circle of my art to set this sacred space betwee n the worlds. May all who enter here be protected and may no harm come u nto them. May all enter here freely of their own free will and desire an d may the blessing of the Goddess and the God be upon all who work the a ncient rites in this sacred space." On the third circuit the elemental quarters are called: At the East: "Hail guardians of the East, spirits of Air. Welcome to the Lady and Lord of the Watchtower o f the East. May it stand in strength, ever watching over this circle." At the South: "Hail guardians of the South, spirits of Fire. Watch over this celebratio n and grant us your presence. Welcome to the Lady and Lord of the Watchtower of the South. May it stand in str ength, ever watching over this ...
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