Welcome to Shining Lakes Grove, ADF

Fall Equinox 2001 Order of Service

Welcome to Our Celebration!

Before we begin...

Enjoy the antics of the Fool and other entertainments, greet each other, and check out the Raffle items before the Briefing. Words to the songs we will be singing are on the back of this sheet.

Preparing ourselves for our time with the Gods and Spirits

Processional and Purification (We Approach the Sacred Grove)
Bardic Invocation for our eloquence and inspiration
Welcoming the Allies, the spirits of the people and their gods who lived in this land before us
Honoring our Mother Ana
Unity Chant (We Are One with the Mother)
Statement of Purpose - We honor the Stag God and the power of the wild.

Declaring Center and Opening the Portals

Tree, Fire, and Well (Standing at the Crssroads)
Acknowledging the Outsiders - the forces of chaos and change
Invocation of Manannan mac Lir, our Lord of the Dead, to guide and protect us in the Otherworld

Acknowledging and Honoring our guests

Ancestors - our beloved dead
Nature Spirits - the spirits of the land and its creatures
Deities: Lugh, Aren, Bríd, Danu, and Bel (feel free to offer a silent welcome to your own gods)
Archetypes - Acknowledging the three societal functions within us
Deity of the Occasion: The Stag God

Giving and Receiving

Passing the Basket of Corn. Direct your praise and energy to the basket to build a group offering. While you hold it, you may give praise or thanks to the gods silently or in the form of a vocal or physical offering. When you finish, pass the basket to the person next to you.
Group Praise: singing / Stag Dance (Fur and Feather)
Main Sacrifice: Offering the corn
Omen of Return: runes
Return Blessing: cider
Cauldron Blessing
Welcoming new members, officers, and guild members, and bestowing other honors

Unwinding and Closing

Recessional (Walk With Wisdom)

And afterwards... Join us for a potluck and socializing, and don't forget to get your Raffle Tickets!

Fall Equinox 2001 - Songs

Processional:

We Approach the Sacred Grove

We approach the sacred grove
With hearts and minds and flesh and bone
Join us now in ways of old;
We have come home.

Unity:

We Are One with the Mother

We are one with the Mother,
We are one with the earth,
We are one with each other,
By our lives, by our birth.

Opening the Portals:

Standing at the Crossroads

© Pandora

Come together, gather at the Center
Open we these Portals three.
Start the journey, standing at the Crossroads
The Well, the Fire, and the sacred Tree.
(repeat)

Group Praise:

Fur and Feather

© Sable

Fur and feather and scale and skin
Different without but the same within
Many of body but one of soul
Through all creatures are the gods made whole.

Recessional:

Walk With Wisdom

(traditional ADF)

Walk with wisdom
From this hallowed place
Walk not in sorrow,
Our roots shall e'er embrace.

May truth be your brother
And honor be your friend
And luck be your lover
Until we meet again.

Questions? Comments? Please contact Rob Henderson, SLG Webmaster. All content copyright Shining Lakes Grove, ADF, or the individual author(s), all rights reserved.