Creating Circles and Ceremonies: Rituals for All ... - reading...

Book III: W heel of the Year 243
She floats on silent owl-feathered wings,
Celebrating with the voice of larks,
Howling with the dirge of wolves,
Her voice sings the lonely music of the
whale song.
She awoke from restless and empty dreams,
turning to Her Lover for His nourishing
warmth. Lying in the hollow nest His body
had formed She found the red ripe heart of
a pomegranate, each seed a drop of His
precious blood. She began Her search, over
hill and under hill. She searches for Him
with the migrating herds of deer and bison.
She seeks Him under drifts of fallen leaves,
where squirrels cache their winter stores.
Outside the Circle of firelight Her restless
eyes sweep the barren landscape.
(Crone closes Book and retreats offstage as
spotlight hits Fauna.)
Fauna: Where is He—
My fair and tender Lover?
I hunger for His touch
And for the smell and taste of Him.
Long and fruitless has my search been.
I have asked the stones, but they are silent.
I have asked the wind, but it only sighs.
I have asked the fire,
But it snapped at me impatiently!
I have asked the rain,
But it only mirrors my weeping.
Am I not the Mistress of all magick?
I shall make a spell!
(She spins, slowly, then faster)
By the Starlight dream I spun, By the
Moon and by the Sun,
All things concealed shall be revealed,
As I do will so be it done!
(She flings out Her arms…Fauna walks out
to the first person sitting in the Circle, who
holds the red lightstick. She points at the
person and demands:)
Fauna: Have you seen my true Love?
1 st Person: (reading from card by glow stick)
I haven’t seen Him since the beginning of
August. He was just fine then—strong and
tall as corn, golden as the sun, Ripe and
lusty and spilling seed upon the ground.
(Fauna hands the person some pomegranate
seeds, then goes widdershins to next person
in Circle with green glow light.)
Fauna: Have you seen my Lover?
2 nd P: I saw Him towards the end of September.
He wore all the colors of a rich harvest.
(Fauna will hand each speaker some pomegranate
seeds as she goes on, one by one
around the Circle, asking and being answered
by the people with green lights. As she asks
each person: “Have you seen Him?” she varies
her voice and phrasing. Sometimes laughing,
sometimes bullying, sometimes teasing,
sometimes changing the wording altogether:
‘Come on, how about you? Are you hiding
Him under your seat?’ etc.)
3 rd P: I saw Him in early October. He
looked tired and spent. What have you
been doing to Him?
4 th P: I saw Him back when we had that
cold snap. He was cold and pale and
hardly said a word.
5 th P: I saw Him in the field after harvest; he
wore a bandage and walked with a limp.
6 th P: I saw Him beneath an Oak tree,
fallen in a blaze of blood.
7 th P: I saw Him shivering in the long
autumn rain.
8 th P: I saw Him in the city, where he
hardly stood a chance.
9 th P: I saw Him completely silent under a
waning moon.
10 th P: I saw Him the morning of the first
frost. His face was wrinkled and His
hair was white.
11 th P: I thought I saw Him moving
through the fog like a will-o-the-wisp,
but I couldn’t catch up with Him.
12 th P: I didn’t see Him. There’s nothing left
of Him but bones rattling in the wind.
13 th P: He’s gone to the Kingdom of Death.
Lady, look for Him in the Underworld.
Fauna: (At this point Fauna begins a spiraling
dance, singing and chanting:)
I circle around, I circle around,
The boundaries of the Earth.
Wearing my long wing feathers as I fly,
Wearing my long wing feathers as I fly.
(The audience joins in and the drummer begins
to pick up the beat. The audience joins