This Sunday sermon was delivered by a Circle member on September 16, 2007
Most of you know that there is a group of Pagans affiliated with this church and that this group is called Circle of the Flaming Chalice. You know that the members hold rituals from time to time. Some of you have participated in the annual Beltane ritual and have even danced the Maypole. But the meaning of all of this has not been adequately explained. That is my task today, to explain the meaning of the rituals, as practiced by Circle of the Flaming Chalice.
First, some background.
Although we are not a Wiccan circle per se, our rituals seem to be mostly Wiccan metaphors. Wicca is a new religion, about 60 years old. It borrows selectively from various ancient religions, mostly Celtic and Egyptian. There is an element of polytheism, but Wicca is mainly duotheistic, celebrating the Goddess and God. The Goddess represents the Sacred Feminine and the God represents the Sacred Masculine. Together, they represent the Sacred All.
This concept goes beyond the sexual and reproductive and speaks to the dual nature of all things. Fire is useful, but it can be dangerous. Water is essential, but you can drown in it. Wiccans see life as balance. Darkness balances light. Masculine balances feminine. Death balances life. None of these things can exist without its other side. The other side of the mother is the father. Thus we worship the Goddess and the God, not as opposites, but as two parts of the whole. Neither is the embodiment of total good or total evil. Each has both light and dark aspects. It is the divine feminine and the divine masculine creating the divine whole.
The various goddesses — Brigid, Cerridwen, Isis, and so forth — are thought of as different names for the Goddess, just as the various gods — Cernunnos, Osiris, Lugh, and so forth — are thought of as different names for the God. You could say that each of the goddesses and gods are simply aspects of the Goddess and God. Or, all gods are one God. Some Wiccans take this literally, some are polytheists, yet others accept it solely as myth and metaphor.
The Goddess and the God are also seen in the Wheel of the Year. This is both recognition of and metaphor for the annual cycle of the seasons and the sun. At the most simple level it's about the agricultural year — planting, growing, and harvesting — and the recognition of the solstices and equinoxes. At the deeper level, it's about the cycle of life, from birth, through growth and parenthood, and the mystery of death.
The Wheel of the year has eight sabbats, or religious festivals.
Our Circle begins the Pagan year with Samhain, which Christians appropriated as Halloween. This is the time of the last harvest and remembrance of our dead. It is similar, in some respects, to the Mexican Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead. This is the Circle's only closed ritual. We speak of those departed whom we wish to honor. Since this is the time when the veil between the land of the living and the land of the dead is thinnest, we try to feel their presence. We end with a pot luck feast. It is a very personal night.
Samhain is also celebrated, as I mentioned before, as the last harvest before winter sets in. The ancient Celts would gather all of their livestock together and slaughter what they reckoned they would need to survive until spring. Today, we enjoy the pumpkins and squashes that have come to symbolize the holiday.
Next comes Yule, the winter solstice. This is the longest night and shortest day of the year. Metaphorically, the sun is reborn. This is the promise that light and warmth will be returning. Up until now darkness has triumphed. The sun's return is the promise of spring, the promise that the ground will soften and planting can begin again.
There are some very powerful ideas here. The virgin Goddess gives birth to the sun god. Light returns to the world. Darkness is defeated. Is it any wonder that the Christian church eventually decided to fix Christmas on December 25? For Christians, the myth becomes historical fact. For many Wiccans, the myth remains a myth.
We know that the Earth is tilted on its axis relative to its orbit around the sun. We know that this is elliptical and thus our distance from the sun varies along this orbital path. The combination of tilt, rotation, and off-center elliptical orbit explains the seasons.
What of it? There are Israeli archaeologists who are convinced that the Exodus never happened. This does not stop them from celebrating Passover. There are some myths that are important enough to celebrate even when you know that they are only myths.
Next, about February 1, is Imbolc, also called Brighid. The longer days promised at Yule are being delivered. But this is not about the sun. The Pagan holidays that we celebrate alternate between celestial and agricultural celebrations. This is the first of three planting celebrations. Imbolc is an old Celtic word meaning in the belly, or in the milk. It also means in the womb of Mother Earth.
This is the first promise of spring, as some flowers are starting to show themselves. People are starting to spend more time out of the house. This is a time for rededication, even initiation. It's a time for letting go of those things which have been holding us back and starting fresh. Imbolc is spring cleaning time.
This is when we honor the Goddess Brighid, or Bridget. When possible, water from Bridget's well is used in the ritual. Bridget was one of the more popular goddesses in ancient Ireland. There are many wells throughout the island dedicated to her. Water from any of these is considered sacred. We also use Bridget's fire. Until fairly recent times, this was the first hearth fire lit after completion of spring cleaning. Bridget was Goddess of fire and smith-craft.
Ostara, named for the Goddess Eostar, is next. Christians celebrate it as Easter, with the Pagan and Christian themes having much in common. Spring has returned. Light and darkness are in balance, for this is the spring equinox.
It is during this time that the Earth is being resurrected from the virtual death of winter. The Goddess and the God are once again meeting anew and rejoicing in the courtship. There is a splash of color as grass, trees, flowers, and farm crops reach out to the sun. The Earth is being repopulated with lambs, rabbits, chicks, and other animals. These three animals, as well as eggs, are all sacred to the Goddess in Her mother aspect. According to one legend, the Goddess found a bird that had lost a wing. In order to save its life, she transformed it into a rabbit, but it still retained the ability to lay eggs. Voila! Easter Bunny.
Pagans, following a pre-Christian custom, decorate eggs with symbols representing hopes and plans for the future. This is often part of the Ostara ritual.
The next sabbat is Beltane, or May Day, May 1st. It is directly opposite Samhain on the Wheel of the Year and second only to Samhain in importance. Now the Lady and Lord meet and rejoice together in the warm sun. This is the dance of life and its symbols evoke the Great Rite, the sexual union between the Goddess and the God that ensures the fertility of the Earth. The Maypole, as the most potent symbol of this, reminds us that nothing of importance is ever a solely individual achievement. This is only one of the lessons of the Seventh Principal.
Whereas Samhain is a time for solemn contemplation, Beltane is a time for rejoicing and celebrating the gifts of life. The metaphors of Beltane all have to do with fertility and hope for the future.
Near the end of June we celebrate Midsummer, also called Litha, and the summer solstice. This is is the longest day and the shortest night of the year. We now see the Goddess as Mother Earth and the God as Sun God and King. The earth is pregnant with the plantings of Beltane. On the Wheel of the Year, Litha lies directly across from Yule, the shortest day of the year.
This is when we celebrate the shortening of the days. We begin to look forward to the harvest even as the crops continue to grow. It is also the time when adults engage in childlike play with their children. This is a time of joy and the feeling of being empowered.
This is the time to celebrate the abundance of nature and the Earth, for the Earth is alive with color and growing things.
As August starts we celebrate Lughnasad. The God is the Corn King who dies with the waning year. The Goddess, who is Mother and Reaper, accepts the God's sacrifice so that the people may live. This is the first of three harvest celebrations, the grain harvest. As part of the ritual, there is the literal sharing of bread. Bread, of course is important in many cultures: injera from Africa, pita from the Middle East, Wonder Bread from the United States, matzo from Judaism, etc. In American culture bread has been referred to as the “staff of life.”
The ancient belief was that the God must now die. His body was the grain. If the grain was not cut down, people would starve. It is the harvest rituals, more than anything else, that brings home the importance of agriculture to urban dwellers.
The next harvest cycle, around September 21, is celebrated as Mabon, more commonly, and more traditionally, known as the Autumnal Equinox. After this day, the days grow more noticeably shorter. We begin to look forward to winter, yet we celebrate.
Why not celebrate? Fruits, such as apples and grapes, are being harvested. So are vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, and onions. For farmers, it's time to stop worrying if the crops will survive and start thinking about storage and marketing. For Pagans, this is Thanksgiving, and has been so for many centuries. The name — Mabon — and the fact that it is being celebrated by urban dwellers are about the only new things about this holiday.
At the end of the next month is Samhain and the cycle begins again.
As the seed is planted in the Earth, so is the seed of our life planted. As the seed matures into trees, grasses, grains, and flowers, so do our children take shape and get born. As the grain matures, so do we. As the grain is harvested, so do we die. The cycle of life, the developmental stages, The Wheel of the Year.
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