Feast of Wisdom and Age

The altar should be set with the symbols of the season, a plate for each circle participant and one for any incorporeal participants should be available. The purpose of this circle is to align ourselves with those lucky souls who are feasting with Mannanon and Ainé in that hall where the wisdom and magic of the ages is shared.

Cast the circle with the elemental symbols, a hazel wand is particularly appropriate for air at this time; mead is the wine of choice or for non-alcoholic circles, mulled cider; a cut apple may be used for the pentacle.

Create Sacred Space

An altar in the center is set with 3 candles - blue, green & yellow - set in a triangle. Symbols/Images of the Gods, Ancestors and Land should also be present.

The Priestess stands at the altar and says:

Priestess: The sky above us (draw spiral three times above)
The sea surrounds us (define a circle)
The earth beneath us (touch and ground in the earth)
Thus the Realms make sacred our circle.

She lights the three candles for the realms and says:

The fire of inspiration infuses the realms and links all beings to the inner fire of divinity.

Call Witnesses

East: Wind blowing through the hazel, come to us and bring us your wisdom.
Air of Air, I summon stir and call you forth.

South: Fire of honey, mead well made, come to us and bring us your inspiration.
Fire of Fire, I summon stir and call you forth.

West: Salmon swimming in a clear pool, come to us and bring us your sacred knowledge.
Water of Water, I summon stir and call you forth.

North: Red cheeked apple, living pentacle, come to us and bring us your deep knowing.
Earth of Earth, I summon stir and call you forth.

Priest: Hear us, O Mannanon, Horseman of the crested waves
Lord of Emain Ablach,
That fruitful land where rivers pour forth streams of honey
And salmon leap from the womb of the white sea
Lord of the silver branch whose golden apples bring peace and healing
Lord of the Cup of Truth
We invoke thee for thy gifts
Come from the western isles
and bless our circle with your wisdom
Be welcome in our midst

When the calling is complete All say:

We stand outside of time, in a place not of earth, as the Old Ones did before us we join together in His name.

Priestess: Hear us, O Boann, Opener of the Bright Well
Lady of the Five Salmon, holy fish of knowledge
Lady of the Nine Hazels
Whose purple nuts drop into your waters
Your sacrifice sends forth the five streams of our mortal senses
And unlocks the power of the seer and the poet
We invoke thee for thy gifts
Come from the source of life below
and bless our circle with your knowledge
Be welcome in our midst

When the calling is complete All say:

We stand outside of time, in a place not of earth, as the Old Ones did before us we join together in Her name.

Priest: Hear me, O Ancestors
Parents of all that live
Ancestors of my body and path
We invoke thee for thy gifts
Come from the land of eternal youth
to witness and aid in our rites
Be welcome in our midst
When the calling is complete All say:

Be welcome in our midst.

Priestess Hear me, O Spirits of the Land
Foundation of growth and life
Spirits of rock and tree and earth
We invoke thee for thy gifts
Come from the body of the land which surrounds us
to witness and aid in our rites
Be welcome in our midst

When the calling is complete All say:

Be welcome in our midst.

The Journey

At this time there should be a circle dance, drums and flutes are nice, if someone feels moved to "salmon leap" that is fine. This dance is a calling and an aligning of our circle with Emain Ablach. The following should be spoken so that we share the imagery with each other and our ancestors.

The wheel of the year is turning now. The season of darkness stretches before us like a great and sunless sea. Listen: the stag bells, the summer has gone. Winter winds blow wet and cold, the sun is low, short its course, the sea running high. Deep red the bracken, its shape lost; the little wren finds no shelter for her nest; the wild goose has raises its familiar cry.

With the clamor of harsh Winter a storm of waves is roused along the world's edge. It spreads on every side, tearing at beaches and rocks, and rushes back to the sea, mountainous and raging. The fishes are roving as wave after wave covers the shore.

Far beyond those waves, there is an island, around which glisten the horses of the sea, a fair course upon which the white wave surges. We will voyage tonight to Emain Ablach, leaving for a time this mortal land. Come, children of the Celts, and witness that land which awaits beyond this life, as islands in a sea. Here before us await two vehicles to carry us on this journey: to Mannanon, the intervening sea is a plain strewn with flowers, he has sent his two-wheeled chariot drawn by a stallion with red mane and green legs to carry some of us and sweet Boann has sent her silver boat with a sail of gold trimmed with pearls, to carry others. Step now into the chariot, into the boat, feel the freshening wind, feel the strength of the red-maned stallion, as we begin our voyage.

Coracle may race against chariot on the plains of this sea, those in the chariot seem to be racing through a meadow upon which many blossoms fall, red tipped flowers without blemish. The coracle breasts the purple troughs and white crests of the waves, Boann's tresses they are called, we move over a host of waves breaking on the clear sea. We smell the mingled scent of plain and sea, the honey scent of blossom and fruit, the tang of the salt wave, together we come to the Blessed Isle. We stretch our legs and move swiftly onto the island before us.

On Emain Ablach the teeming Summer holds life in its arms, strewing flowers on the face of every hill. Here it is always like May, the month of strawberries, of fair weather, of wild garlic, of delicate roses, of prosperity. A wondrous land is the land I tell of, youth does not give way to age there, in the many-coloured land of surpassing beauty. Sweet warm streams flow through the land, the choice of mead and of wine. Purple the surface of every plain, a mossy cloak upon its crags, gold and silver shine the leaves of the trees, a marvel of beauty shines this lovely land,

We enter into a great hall with pillars of bronze shining through aeons of beauty, where splendid people without blemish dance together and the light glints on white teeth and dark brows and every cheek there is the color of the foxglove. Here, there is neither "mine" nor "thine"; unknown is wailing or treachery, no sound here is rough or harsh, only sweet music striking on the ear. We know that they dance as we dance before the feast, dance now until you feel that Emain Ablach is aligned with our circle between the worlds. When you can hold both places within you, when the Fair Folk sit to feast, sit you also with your circleers here.

When we have "arrived" set the places out and have the participants sit in a circle with the plates in the middle. This is the "round table" at which all are equal and from which we may aspire to feast at the Table of Wisdom.

First comes the welcoming when we welcome in the incorporeal visitors. We listen in silence for any wisdom they want to share with us right away. Then we each share the reading we have brought with us, aligning ourselves by study with the intent of gaining sacred knowledge. There follows a period of comment when insights are shared and then another silent time for more sharing with any incorporeal visitors. When all are finished we eat our apples and nuts to internalize what we have learned.

If anyone has received prophecy for the coming year it can be shared with the circle at this time.

Close

Priestess: Spirits of the Land, Foundation of growth and life
Thank you for witnessing our rites
May there be peace between us now and always.

Priest: Ancestors, Parents of all that lives
Thank you for witnessing our rites
May there be peace between us now and always.

Priestess: Boann, Lady of the Nine Hazels
Thank you for witnessing our rites
May there be peace between us now and always.

Priest: Mannanon, Lord of the Cup of Truth
Thank you for witnessing our rites
May there be peace between us now and always.

Snuff three candles for the realms and say:

Priestess: The sky above us (draw spiral three times above)
The sea surrounds us (define a circle)
The earth beneath us (touch and ground in the earth)
Thus the Realms make sacred our lives.
Let the circle be open but unbroken.

The fire of inspiration infuses the realms
and links all beings to the inner fire of divinity.
I hold this flame in my heart as I from this place depart.