POMONA COMMUNITY FARM
1/18/09
1.GROUND & CENTER/ PURIFICATION & CONSECRATION
2.ESTABLISH INTENTIONS
3.DEFINE RITUAL SPACE/ CALL CORNERS
4.INVOKE MALE AND FEMALE DIETIES
5.INVOKE FACETS OF NATURE SPIRITS AS GUIDES
6.RITUAL WORK
7.THE EXCHANGE/MAKING OFFERINGS
8.FRUIT & WINE
9. CLOSING THE CIRCLE
10.FAREWELL TO THE GOD/GODDESS
11.TAKING DOWN CIRCLE
12. FAREWELL TO ATTENDEES
*ALTAR- WHITE SAGE, CHALICE OF WATER, CHALICE OF WINE, BASKET OF FRUIT, FLOWERS, NOVEENA CANDLE WITH GODDESS IMAGE (IDEALLY POMONA HERSELF, ANY WOMAN WITH FRUIT OR FLOWERS)
1.GROUNDING AND CENTERING
TIME IS TAKEN TO SETTLE.
ATTENDEES ENTER CIRCLE AND SIT DOWN ON EARTH.
SAGE IS LIT AND EACH BEING IN CIRCLE IS SMUDGED.
LET US TAKE A FEW MOMENTS OF SILENCE FOR SOME DEEP BREATHS.
IMAGINE THE EXCHANGE OF CO2 AND O2 BETWEEN THE HUMANS AND PLANTS AROUND US. AS WE BREATHE OUT RELEASE THE TOXIC SUBSTANCES WITHIN INTO THE AIR.HEAR THE PLANTS AROUND RECIEVE OUR EXHALATION AS THEIR NOURISHMENT.
AS WE BREATHE IN WE TAKE IN THE ELEMENTS WHICH NURTURE US FROM THE SURROUNDING LEAVES.
REPEAT THIS PROCESS
2.STATEMENT OF INTENTION
*TO HONOR THE ROMAN GODDESS POMONA AND HER CONSORT VERTUMNUS IN HER ASPECTS OF FRUITING AND BLOOMING. TO UNDERSTAND HER MYTHOLOGY IN RELATION TO OUR CONTEMPORARY WORLD AND THE POMONA COMMUNITY FARM
*TO OPEN SPACE FOR FURTHER CEREMONY @ THE POMONA COMMUNITY FARM
*TO EXPLORE THE IDEA OF 'ABUNDANCE' THAT SPROUTS, GROWS, DANGLES, WINDS AND VINES IT'S WAY TO US FROM THE FERTILE MOTHER EARTH.
*TO APPRECIATE EACH OTHER AND THE PATHS THAT HAVE LED US TO THIS POINT.
3.DEFINE RITUAL SPACE
TO THE EAST-AIR ELEMENT
(RAISE SAGE)
WE CALL UPON THE WINDS OF FLOWER POLLEN, THE AIR THAT WE BREATHE AND SHARE AS ONE WITH ALL BEINGS.
MAY IT STAY CLEAN AND PURE.
WE CALL UPON THE WINDS OF CHANGE TO STIR UP THIS GARDEN,
SHAKING DEAD LEAVES FROM THE TREES
PREPARING THE SOIL FOR THE COMING YEAR;
MAY ABUNDANCE BE UPON US THROUGH ALL IT'S MOONS...
TO THE SOUTH-FIRE ELEMENT
(RAISE NOVEENA CANDLE)
WE CALL TO THE SPIRIT OF THE SUN AND IT'S GOLDEN RAYS OF LIGHT.
TO THE FIREY STAR IN THE SKY WHICH LOOKS UPON ALL BEINGS ON EARTH AND ILLUMINATES ALL. MAY OUR HEART'S BE WARMED AND NURTURED BY THE ELEMENT OF FIRE. MAY IT GIVE US STRENGTH AND COURAGE TO HELP RETURN THIS EARTH TO THE GARDEN IT ONCE WAS.
TO THE WEST-WATER ELEMENT
(RAISE CHALICE OF WATER)
WE CALL TO THE LIFE GIVING WATERS THAT THE TREES DRINK UPON.
THE ARTESIAN WELLS BENEATH THE EARTH. THE CREEKS OF TOVENGAR NOW DAMNED. UNTIL YOU RUN FREE AGAIN WE KEEP YOU ALIVE IN OUR MEMORIES AND WE EAT THE FRUIT FROM TREES WHO'S ROOTS ARE BURIED SO DEEP THAT THEY DRINK FROM THEE. . TO THE RAINS THAT FALL SOFTLY ON OUR FIELDS, BE HERE WITH US TO BRING FERTILITY TO THIS LAND.
MAY THE WATER IN OUR BODIES BE AS PURE AS THEE
(DRINKS WATER)
TO THE NORTH-EARTH ELEMENT
ALLOW US TO BE AWARE NOW OF THE ROCKS AND THE SOLID WORLD. IT IS UPON THIS EARTH THAT WE TREAD. IT IS THESE MINERALS WHICH PROVIDE US FORM. IT IS OUR BODIES AND OUR GRAVE. HEAR OUR CALL! FERTILE SOIL AND STONE, GREAT SNOWY MOUNTAINS OF THE TONGVA: WE SEE YOU TOWER ABOVE US. GIVE US PERSPECTIVE ON HOW SMALL OUR COLLISIONS ARE. UPLIFT OF CONTINENTS, WE HARVEST THE FRUIT THAT GROWS AT YOUR FEET.MAY WHAT ROLLS OFF YOUR SURFACE FEED US.
(ALL EAT FRUIT)
TO THE ABOVE-THE STARS
WE CALL TO THE GREAT INFINITE ABOVE, SEAT OF THE STARS. MILKY WOMB OF MYSTERY, WE CALL YOUR GREAT LIGHT DOWN THROUGH OUR CROWNS AS A COLUMN THAT FLOWS THROUGH OUR BODY AND INTO THE EARTH....
TO THE BELOW-EARTH'S CENTER
MAY OUR ROOTS GROW DEEP INTO THE SOIL AND FEEL AWAYS CONNECTED TO IT'S SPINNING MAGNETIC CORE, REACHING UP THROUGH MAGMA, MANTLE AND CRUST. GREAT UNDERWORLD OF THE DEEP AND DARK, BE HERE WITH US AS WE DRAW THIS FORCE INTO OUR BODIES.
ALLOW THESE FORCES, FROM ABOVE AND BELOW, TO MEET IN ....
THE CENTER- OUR HEARTS
WHERE ALL DIRECTIONS INEVITABLY CONVERGE. FEEL YOUR HEARTBEAT AND THE LIFE OF THE ELEMENTS WITHIN YOURSELF.
SO MOTE IT BE!
4.INVOCATION OF NATURE SPIRITS
FIRST, GO AROUND CIRCLE AND ALLOW EACH PARTICIPANT TO THINK UPON AN ANIMAL OR PLANT THAT IS PART OF OUR LIFE COMMUNITY IN OUR AREA.
SHARE WHAT THIS PARTICULAR BEING CAN TEACH US AS A MEMBER OF OUR COMMUNITY AND WHAT IT REPRESENTS TO YOU PERSONALLY.
RESTATE INTENTION:
5.RITUAL WORK
READ STORY OF POMONA
POMONA AND VERTUMNUS
Once, when the kings of the Silvian House reigned over the Latin people, there lived a nymph whose name was Pomona. She never went near the springs, or lakes, or rivers, nor near the wild woods; she cared only for places where grew trees that were laden with fruits. She was no huntress; the only implement that she ever held in her hands was a pruning-hook or a spade.
She would loosen the earth round the roots of some of her trees; she would cut away growth that was too luxurious; sometimes she would make a cut in a tree and would graft into it a twig from another tree, and she would rejoice to see one tree bearing two kinds of fruit. Sometimes she would train a vine to grow along an elm-tree. But all day she worked where fruits grew, leading water to flow by the roots, or destroying insects that came upon the leaves of her trees.
In the spring-time she would see Flora, her sister-nymph, in the fields, giving color and fragrance to the flowers, giving sweetness to the honey in the combs, giving grace to the boys and girls who came about her. To Pomona Flora would give all that she had to give. But Pomona would never go to her or call Flora to come to her amongst her trees. And sometimes she would see Venus, the great lady who had so many worshippers, but she would not leave her trees to go to where Venus had her shrine.
Pomona grew up supple and robust; she grew sound and handsome as an apple upon one of her trees. She gave herself no adornments; all she ever wore was a brown dress; all she ever put upon her head was a wreath of leaves to keep the sun from burning her face.
Silvanus and Picus were the first of the demi-gods to see that Pomona was becoming more and more good-looking as the seasons went on. She was shy, they knew; but each thought what a fine sweetheart she would make, if he could get her to walk or talk with him. And each knew that she had lots to give a fine garden and fruits of every kind--apples and pears, grapes and cherries. Silvanus was the first to go see her: he went in his hunter's dress, with a spear in his hand, and the game he had just killed in a bag at his side. Pomona would not come near him. Then he chased her so that she had to slip from him behind tree after tree. She wearied him out and he went away. But he came to her at another season: this time he did not come from the hunting; he came from lands that he had cleared and that he had sheep grazing on. He came to her as a shepherd, and he sought to woo her mildly, but she would neither speak to him nor let him come near where she was.
Picus came the very day that Silvanus came as a shepherd--Picus the son of old Saturnus who was god of the grain-sown field. Picus was handsome; Picus wore a scarlet cloak; Picus could talk well to any woman. But when he came near her Pomona dashed water in his face from her stream. Then Picus saw Silvanus and thinking that he was Pomona's favoured suitor, began to abuse him. Silvanus caught hold of him, and beat him, and tore his scarlet cloak from his shoulders. Pomona fled from both of them, and after that she would let none of the male divinities come near where she was. She built a wall round where her trees grew; she would not go outside the gate, and she was very careful to let no one who might turn out to be a lover come within it.
Young Vertumnus saw her through the gate; he saw Pomona and he loved her more ardently than either Silvanus or Picus had loved her--Silvanus who was much older than he looked, and Picus who was always in love with some girl. He came to her gate, but she would not let him come in. Back he came in the garb of a reaper, carrying a basket of barley-ears as an offering to her. She bade him go away. Another time he came as a mower, with grass binding his brow. She left him outside the gate, nor would she speak to him at all. And then he came as a ploughman, big and burly, holding in his hand a goad which Pomona might think that he had just used to drive the oxen in the furrows. She left him before the gate, and although he shook it with his hands, he could not force it open. And then, that she might think of him as one who had an interest in trees and fruit and be kind to him on that account, he came bearing a ladder upon his shoulder as if he were ready to mount to where the apples were growing and gather them. But Pomona knew him for one of the male divinities, albeit for one of the youngest of them, and she would not let him come to where she tended her trees.
One day Pomona saw outside her gate a bent and weary-looking old woman. She had on a head-dress that fell across her eyes, and she leaned upon a stick. Pomona, the kindliest of the nymphs, asked her to sit in the shade of one of her trees and rest herself and eat some of her fruit. The old woman came within. "How beautifully your garden is kept!" she said. "I have never been where trees grew so well, or where the fruits looked so bright and so refreshing. Do you live here all alone, my dear?" She ate the fruit that was given her and she looked at Pomona as she stood there in her brown dress and with the leaves about her head. "I have heard of you, my dear," she said. "Everything I heard about you made me think you were beautiful, but you are more beautiful than I thought." And saying this she kissed Pomona.
And as she went from tree to tree the old woman kept calling to her. Pomona came back and stood under an elm-tree near where the old woman sat. The elm-tree supported vines which were covered with bunches of grapes. "Look," said the old woman. "If that elm-tree stood unmated to the vine it would have no value except for its timber. And the vine that grows there! If there was no elm-tree for it to grow upon it would straggle along the ground, flat and unflourishing! So you see what good comes of mating two beings--the vine and the elm-tree. But you, my dear, refuse to be mated, refuse to be wedded, refuse even to know one who might be a sweetheart for you! Listen! Consent to having an old woman like me make a match for you!"
Pomona was so surprised to have someone talk to her in this strain that she sank down on the grass beside the old woman. "Be wise and choose Vertumnus! I know the lad well--I know him as well as I know myself! He is a lad who does not wander idly through the world. He has wide spaces to live in, and he dwells near at hand! He is not like the others who came to woo you--Picus, for instance, who went and fell in love with Canens, and who went on until he had an enchantress fall in love with him, and who, because he would not respond to her, has since been turned into a woodpecker. I'll say nothing about Silvanus! He has been in love with nearly all of the nymphs! Vertumnus is not like either of these divinities. You will be his first love, dear Pomona, and his last. And besides, he is interested in all that you are interested in--he deals in fruits, too! He was made to be yours, and you were made to be his, and I am here to tell you that!"
Even as these words were said the head-dress fell off the head of the one who spoke to Pomona. Bright and ardent were the eyes that she saw then. Pomona stood up and would have run away; but hands held her hands, gently, firmly. "You are Vertumnus," she said. She saw a face before her--a youth's face; the stick that the pretended old woman had leaned on fell away; the cloak fell off the figure. Pomona saw a youth who was tall and fine as one of her own trees. And until the evening star came they stayed amongst the trees, and when they parted Pomona had promised to wed her Vertumnus.
There they reigned over the orchards and lands. You can find their bodies in the elm and the grape.
5. INVOKE GODDESS/GOD DIETIES
INVOCATION OF THE GODDESS POMONA/ GOD VERTUMNUS
HAIL GODDESS POMONA!
APPLE MOTHER OF THE FRUIT TREES !
CARRIER OF THE PRUNING SHEAR!
WE INVOKE THEE TO OUR CIRCLE!
WOOD NYMPH OF ROME!
GUARDIAN OF THE SACRED ORCHARD!
LADY OF THE FRUIT AND SEED!
WE BECKON THEE TO JOIN US!
WE HONOR YOU WITH OFFERINGS OF FRUITS AND INCENCE, WATERS OF THE EARTH AND FLAME OF THE SUN, BE HERE WITH US
POMONA!
GREAT GODDESS OF THE SWEET FLESHY WOMB !
BLESS THIS LAND WITH YOUR PRESENCE
SO OUR HARVESTS MAY FLOURISH THIS COMING YEAR...
GREAT GOD, VERTUMNUS!
CONSORT OF POMONA!
WE INVOKE THEE!
COME TO OUR CIRCLE AND BLESS US
YOU,WITH YOUR MYSTERIOUS DISGUISE
YOU, DRESSED AS AN OLD WOMAN,
LIKE A FRUIT RIPE WITH AGE
SWEET AND NURTURING
YOU WHO WON THE HEART OF THE NYMPH
THAT NONE OTHER COULD WOO
GOD OF THE FIELD AND THE HARVEST
WE WELCOME YOUR PRESENCE UPON THIS LAND
BLESSED BE!
7. THE EXCHANGE/MAKING OFFERINGS
PASS FRUIT AROUND CIRCLE. EACH PERSON CHOOSE A PIECE OF FRUIT THAT THEY ARE DRAWN TO. STUDY THE FRUIT AND WHAT IT SYMBOLIZES TO US. COMPARE THE FRUIT TO A DISGUISE OF AN OLD WOMAN. WHAT DOES THE FORM OF FRUIT TEACH US? CREATE AN INTENTION OF WHAT THIS FRUIT MEANS TO US AND THEN PLACE UPON THE STATUE OF POMONA.
(**IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN IMAGE OF POMONA, OFFER AT THE BASE OF A FRUIT TREE, ESPECIALLY APPLE, OR UPON AN ALTAR OR GARDEN**)
8.CAKES AND WINES
PASS CHALICE OF WINE AS A SYMBOL OF LIFEBLOOD OF THE BLOOD OF THE GODDESS. DELICIOUS FRUITS AND GAZE UPON THE TREES AND FLOWERS. REFLECT UPON THE DELICIOUSNESS OF THE FRUITS AND ENJOY THE GIFTS OF POMONA.
9.CLOSING THE CIRCLEWALK IN COUNTER-CLOCKWISE CIRCLE AROUND CEREMONY SPACE WITH WHITE SAGE
10. THANKING THE GOD/GODDESS & ANIMAL/ANCESTORS
GIVE THANKS TO POMONA
TO THE FRUIT WHICH REACHES OUR MOUTHS
MAY WE TAKE LESSON FROM HER STORY
AND TEND TO THE BRANCHES AND VINES
AS IF WE WERE LOVERS AND FRIENDS
GIVE THANKS TO VERTUMNUS
TO THE CHANGING SEASONS OF THE WORLD
TO THE CONTINUALLY REVOLVING HARVESTS
BE THEY ON THE BRANCH THE VINE THE STEM OR THE ROOT
IT IS THE FOOD OF YOUR WORLD THAT FEEDS US
OFFER EXTRA WATER, WINE AND FRUITS AND THANK POMONA AND VERTUMNUS. ASK TO STAY IF THEY WILL AND GO IF THEY MUST.
11. TAKING DOWN THE CIRCLE
GATHER ITEMS AND PUT OUT CANDLES, INCENSE.
12.FAREWELL TO ATTENDEES
GIVE LOVE AND INVITE FRIENDS FOR DINNER, STAY IF THEY WILL GO IF THEY MUST!
BLESSED BE!
No comments:
Post a Comment