Echoes from the Temple

Ritual to be performed on the fifteenth day of the Lunar Month

_______Opening Prayer_______

I call out to all the Immortal
and eternal Gods of Mount Olympus,
You, pillars of the world.
Come immortal Gods to this prayer,
Come joyous to these libations
And grant us all untainted virtue.

(Offer libation of wine)

_______Prayer to Hestia_______

(Light central Fire and offer libations of wine)

O Blessed Hestia,
Royal daughter of the mighty Kronos,
You are the magnificent
And perpetual fire,
Elevate the pious suppliants
Who give due honor
And worship unto you in these sacred rites
Grant unto them happiness everlasting
You who are needed by all
Come, smiling blessed goddess,
Accept from me these offerings with kind heart
Inspiring happiness and gentle health.

_______Hymn to Selene_______

Hear, royal goddess, light-bearing, divine Selene,
bull-horned Mene, night-runner,
roamer through the nightly air,
torch bearing fair-starred maiden, Mene,
you wax and wane both male and female,
a shining lover of horses, mother of time,
fruit-bearing, amber, somber, shining down in the night,
all-seeing, wakeful, full of lovely stars,
rejoicing in silence and the blessed peace of the night,
bright giver of good grace and bringer of completion,
a holy image of the night, you lead out the stars,
your long cloak streaming, running in spirals.
All-wise maiden, come, blessed kind goddess of beautiful stars,
and shine with threefold light, maid,
redeeming your new supplicants.

(Offer libation of wine and honey)

_______Invocation to Selene_______

And next, sweet voiced Muses, daughters of Zeus,
well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged Moon.
From her immortal head a radiance is shown from heaven
and embraces earth;
and great is the beauty that arises from her shining light.
The air, unlit before,
glows with the light of her golden crown,
and her rays beam clear,
whensoever bright Selene
having bathed her lovely body in the waters of Ocean,
and donned her far-gleaming, shining team,
drives on her long-maned horses at full speed,
at evening time in the mid-month:
then her great orbit is full
and then her beams shine brightest as she increases.
So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men.
Once the Son of Kronos was joined with her in love;
and she conceived and bare a daughter Pandia,
exceeding lovely among the deathless gods.
Hail, white-armed goddess, bright Selene, mild,
bright-tress-ed queen!
And now I will leave you
and sing the glories of men half-divine,
whose deeds minstrels, the servants of the Muses,
celebrate with lovely lips.

(Either face East, or turn to face the Moon.)
(Burn Lunar incense, anoint your forehead with Lunar oil and chant AKTIOPHIS.)

(Offer libation of wine and honey)

I call upon you who have all forms
and many names, double-horned goddess,
MENE, whose form no one knows
except him who made the entire world,
IAΩ, the one who shaped you
into the 28 shapes of the world
so that you might complete every figure
and distribute breath to every animal and plant,
that it might flourish,
you who wax from obscurity into light
and wane from light into darkness.

(Say the following words and articulate the corresponding sounds)

The First companion of your name is silence,
The second a popping sound, (forcibly separate pressed lips)
The third groaning, (as if exerting)
The fourth hissing, (simulate a snake)
The fifth a cry of joy, (laugh out loud)
The sixth moaning, (as if in pain)
The seventh barking, (simulate a dog)
The eighth bellowing, (roar like a bull)
The ninth neighing, (simulate a horse)
The tenth a musical sound, (humming or singing note)
The eleventh a sounding wind, (simulate the wind)
The twelfth a wind-creating sound, (blowing sound which results in the wind whistling)
The thirteenth a coercive sound, cry OIY! (In commanding tone)
The fourteenth a coercive emanation from perfection, (a sigh, as in accomplishment)

(Say the following words and visualize them sequentially)

Ox, Vulture, Bull, Beetle, Falcon, Crab, Dog, Wolf, Serpent, Horse, She-goat, Asp, Goat, He-goat, Baboon, Cat, Lion, Leopard, Field mouse, Deer, Multiform, Virgin, Torch, Lightning, Garland, A herald's wand, Child, Key

I have said your signs and symbols
of your name so that you might hear me,
because I pray to you, mistress of the whole world.
Hear me, you, the stable one, the mighty one,

AΦEIBOHΩ MINTHP OXAΩ ΠIZEΦYΔΩR XANΘAP XAΔHPOZO MOXΘION EOTNEY ΦHPZON AINΔHΣ ΛAXABOΩ ΠITTΩ PIΦΘAMEP ZMOMOXΩΛEIE TIHΔPANTEIA OIΣOZOXABHΔΩΦPA.

(AF-EH-EYE-VO-EE-OO MIN-TEER OK-AH-OO PEE-ZEF-EH-DOOR KAN-THAR KAD-ER-OH-ZO MOK-THE-ON EH-OT-NEY FEHR-ZON EYE-EEN-DES LAK-AV-OH PIT-OH RIF-THAM-ER SMO-MO-HO-LAY-EE-EH TEETH-RAN-TEE-AH OH-EE-SO-ZO-HAV-EE-DO-FRA) 

_______Giving Offerings_______

(Elevate Food Offering)

O Selene, accept from me this food,
that you may shape the course of my life with luminous light
and make it abundant with good things,
deliver me from all sicknesses and evils.

(Elevate Wine Offering)

O Selene, accept from me this wine,
that when my soul rages for worldly things,
I may be delivered and purified.

(Elevate Incense Offering)

O Selene, accept from me this incense,
that you may reveal to me, the path of Divine Guidance
and permit me to gaze upon that precious light.
For when I am weary, bring me to the haven of piety with your winds.

_______Closing Prayer_______

Khaire, O Blessed Gods,
May you look upon the pious
With kind hearts,
Never abandon us,
And turn from us all illness
And misfortune,
And drive away all sorrow.

Σελαθαη!