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Dionysos Autumn Equinox Rite

by Emerald

This is the Autumn Equinox Dionysos rite done by Sassafras Grove, ADF in 2004. Please see the end for credits and works cited.

While the inspiration and overarching vision for this rite were mine, its creation was truly a collaborative effort. Dionysos gave me the charge to perform a rite in his honor, and I did the bulk of the research, decided on the theme and intent, chose the Bardic Patron and Gatekeeper, and came up with the magickal working of the Induction of Receptivity.

But the actual nuts and bolts of how this rite would happen were hammered out by the three primary planners—me, Earrach, and Rowan. The countless hours they spent listening to my ravings and their suggestions as to how to make all of this raw material into a ritual that worked were invaluable.

This rite would not have happened without them. Diana, Maria and FreyaDragon also contributed greatly to this rite. All of the ancient texts were selected by me with the exception of the Gateway closing prayer "To the Stars" which was chosen by Diana.

I. Beginning the Rite and Establishing the Groupmind

A. Ritual Briefing

B. The Consecration of Time

The Nine Knells - with tambourine

C. The Consecration of Space and of Participants

Purification of the Participants: Sea (wash hands), Land (put hands on labyrinth rock), Sky (incense) - Blessers On Site
While purifications are taking place, D1 will talk about the season and the harvest (connecting John Barleycorn lore with Dionysos lore)
Procession: (Come We Now as a People, up tempo) Congregation will process into the meeting room carrying giant thyrsus, torches, baskets of figs and grapes, ivy, etc. All will process behind the bilé and around the space once. On the next pass, the giant thyrsus will be put in place in the center of the room and the "harvesty stuff" will be placed on the regular altar.
Warding of the Site / Acknowledgment of the Outsiders

D. Bardic Patron - Arion

D2:

Poet and Harper beyond compare,
Your praise of kings and prayers
To gods most high resound
As players, ivy crowned,
Whirl words to stir the heart,
Illuminating mysteries by your art.

D3:

Arion,
Pride of Corinth
Excellent in challenge
Darling of Sicily
Scholar and teacher
Entrancing, enthralling,
Hear and attend us!

D2: Arion, harper, master of melodies
D3: Give music to our dance
D2: Arion, golden voiced, honey-tongued bard
D3: Give words to our music
D2: Arion, poet, beloved of gods
D3: Give grace to our words
D2: Arion, Light of heaven, divinely inspired
D3: Hear our prayer
D2: Arion, Light of heaven, divinely inspired
D3: Heed and attend us

D2 and D3:

Arion, Light of heaven, divinely inspired
Accept the place we have prepared.

Sacrificer makes offering to Arion.

E. Earth Mother - Gaia

O mother Gaia, of Gods and men the source, endured with fertile, all-destroying force; all-parent, bounding, whose prolific powers produce a store of beauteous fruits and flowers. All-various maid, the immortal world's strong base, eternal, blessed, crowned with every grace; from whose wide womb as from an endless root, fruits many-formed, mature, and grateful shoot. Deep-bosomed, blessed, pleased with grassy plains, sweet to the smell, and with prolific rains. All-flowery Daimon, centre of the world, around thy orb the beauteous stars are hurled with rapid whirl, eternal and divine, whose frames with matchless skill and wisdom shine. Come, blessed Goddess, listen to my prayer, and make increase of fruits thy constant care; with fertile seasons in thy train draw near, and with propitious mind thy suppliants hear. (Orphic Hymn 25 to Mother Earth)

All touch or kiss the ground.

(Song: Oh Earth Mother...)

F. Matron of the Grove - Brighid

D1:

I light this candle in honor of Brighid
The Matron of Sassafras Grove
Through the years you have been midwife
To many changes and new beginnings within our grove.
You foster our hope through good times and hard,
Through challenge and victories
You are the source of all our work
The voice in our song
The strength of our arm
The hand that heals discord
The inspiration of all we create
Lady of the Hearth Fire
Lady of the Sacred Wells
Lady of our grove
Remember us as we remember you.

G. Unifying the Grove

Tree Meditation, Merge into Grove. Song: We are one...

H. Declaration of Intention and Historical Precedent

D2:

As we prepare to enter the dark time of the year, the time when everything's dying around us, life still endures. And Dionysos, like Persephone whom we encountered in last year's Autumn Equinox rite, is a symbol of that. I think a lot of people need to be reminded of that as the days get shorter and they start to despair because it's dark when they get out of work and it seems like the cold will never end.

In honoring Dionysos, the very embodiment of "zoë," the life-force itself, and experiencing his blessings in the rite, we are actively preparing to face the dark. We are reminded that life does indeed endure, even in the darkest days. Instead of resenting the dark time of the year, we embrace it.

In a literal harvest, we are gathering in the food that will sustain us through the winter. In this rite, we are experiencing the power of Dionysos, taking that into ourselves to sustain us through the dark time of the year. By becoming one with the god, we experience his divine essence, the life force itself. We will call him to the rite, present him with offerings of praise, and ask for his blessings. We will receive those blessings through music and dance. As we dance, we take on the personas of the maenads and the satyrs, Dionysos's mythological companions, as we break down the barriers between human and divine.

Dance is a way of connecting with the god, of becoming one with his power, of feeling the pure, undifferentiated life force flowing through us. In the second phase of the celebration, the post-rite sacred drinking party, we will engage in his gift of wine, literally taking the god into ourselves to achieve a similar state. By learning about Dionysos and what he represents, we know on an intellectual level that life endures. And by experiencing the mystery of the rite, we know it in our hearts as well.

II. Recreating the Cosmos and Preliminary Power Raising

A. Creating the Vertical Axis

1. Evoking the Spirits of Fire and of Water

The Sacred Fire

i. Lighting, evoking and venerating the Sacred Fire, as Sacrificer lights the sacred fire:

Fire of the Sun and Stars;
Fire of our hearts and minds;
Fire of the Gods and Goddesses!
Fiery radiance of the Upper Worlds
and Animating Spark, burning within all that lives...
Let this flame ignite as the most holy and SACRED FIRE...
and let its light and heat sanctify this place, these people and these proceedings.

ii. Salutation of the Fire, gesture to the Sacred Fire exclaiming:

Behold! The Sacred Fire!
Sacred Fire: Burn Within Us!

(All repeat)

The Waters of Life

i. Decanting & Descriptive Invocation of the Waters, as Sacrificer makes offering to the well and fills the Grail:

Waters of Life's Origin;
Waters of our sustenance;
Waters of the Cauldron of Rebirth!
Around us, below us, and within us,
the Waters flow from the Well
at the foot of the Great Tree...
Let this Vessel, as the Grail of our rite
receive, contain and convey to us
the Sacred Waters of the Blessed Ones.

ii. Salutation of the Waters, gesture to the Sacred Waters exclaiming:

Behold! The Waters of Life!
Sacred Waters: Flow Within Us!

(All repeat)

2. The Creation Myth - D1:

WHO ARE WE? FROM WHENCE DO WE COME?
WHAT IS THE STORY OF OUR PEOPLE?
Not hard...

A great misty cloud had gathered together in the void
Swirling and spiraling; spiraling and swirling
Drawing ever-in upon itself.

At its center a radiance shone forth
And drove outward the surrounding cloud
gathering the waters together here below.

And so it was that the stuff of creation drew apart
To form the Fire Above
And the Waters Below.

The Solar Fire warmed the Cauldron of Creation
And stroked upon its waters with thunderbolts
And begat upon it Life.

And the Life begat the Creatures
And the Creatures begat the Ancestors
And the Ancestors begat Us, the Living People.

Upright, like you, Great Tree
We bear upon us the mark of Creation
Then, now, and for all time.

Rooted in the ancestral waters of the World Below,
Spanning this Middle-World of form
And reaching ever-upward to embrace the Fire Above.

3. Honoring the Great Tree /Axis Mundi ("Bilé")

Sacrificer Asperges and Censes the Tree

Salutation of the Tree

Sacred Tree, Grow Within Us!

(All repeat.)

The Well, the Fire, the Sacred Tree
Flow and flame and grow in me!

(All repeat.)