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

254 Creating Circles & Ceremonies
You must stay out and eat those that die
of starvation and so be punished for your
greed. (Coyote leaves.)
Jesus: Grandmother, give me shelter! I am
here, for I can do no more. My 2,000-year
experiment has failed. Were it only myself
I could abide my failure. But it is the
people—the women, the men, the children
who suffered on my account. I
wanted to change the world for the better,
to aid the advancement of man and
create a world united in peace. Verily, I
say, my dreams have turned to gall and
ashes, and all the natural world has been
twisted and poisoned in my name. Grant
me rest and forgetfulness.
Wint’ry Queen: My son, your burden must
still be borne. The men who followed you,
and who built on what you started, were
not the same quality as yourself. They could
not have followed your example and built
the dream you had, for they never understood
it, or you. I pity you, but the law is
immutable. You have had your age of glory
and now you must stay and help clean up
the mess that was made in your name. You
have a final cup of bitterness to drink. (She
offers him a drink from the chalice.) Go.
But first...let me take your crown of thorns.
(He bows to her, and she removes the crown
of thorns. He leaves.)
Woman: Mother, give me shelter! I am weary
unto death of the cruelty of humanity. I
have given my love and nurturing to all
the world and I have been repaid with betrayal
and lies. I was raped by my brothers
and sold into slavery by my father. I
was seduced by a lover and then denounced
as a whore by my sisters. I have
given birth to many children who have
taken all that I had and not even repaid
me with gratitude, and finally the whole
family left me alone to clean up the terrible
mess they made of my life. All my
life I have lived for others, only to find
that my best efforts were all in vain. I no
longer know what to believe, so I have
come to seek peace in your shadow.
Wint’ry Queen: Beloved daughter, my door
is always open to you. You sold your
freedom for security when this age began,
and found it was only lies and illusions.
Come in and rest and be renewed.
Your time is coming soon. Your task is
first to learn the wisdom of the Sybil.
Lulled by my poppies, sleep to dream the
healing and teaching dreams. For when
the time is fulfilled, you will take my place
as the ancient Crone. (Woman enters into
the Wint’ry Queen’s cloak.)
Winter King (comes forward, circling in a
spin, sweeping the room with his scythe:)
I am the winnower, I am the reaper, I am
the shadow behind your back. I take the
living in their prime, and I await at the
end of time. After me comes but the darkness;
after me comes but the cold.
Through the long and lonely nights you
feel the fear of growing old. (He then
fades out of the circle to stand in the
shadows by the Yule tree like the specter
at the feast.)
Priestess: And darkness now enfolds the sleeping
world on this longest, darkest night.
(She extinguishes all lights, including altar
candles and candles on Yule Log. Then
she begins Ayisha’s chant for all to join in:)
Deepest darkest longest night
Gather round the fire bright
Singing power unto the sun
Rise again when morning comes!
Wint’ry Queen: Granddaughter, awaken!
(She slowly unfolds cloak to reveal young girl—
Lucia—within. She is dressed in bright Yuletide
garments and wears a wreath of ivy leaves. She
holds a very large red Yule candle, which the
Wint’ry Queen lights as she opens her cloak.)
Your beauty rest has ended and the time
of the Koré has come. The world is weary
of strife and longing for love. Now at this
darkest time when the need is greatest,
innocence must re-enter the world and be
the bearer of light and truth. Someday,
my child, you will return to this door and
wearily seek entrance. I will be sleeping
the sleep of metamorphosis and your
mother will sit in my place, welcoming
you with the promise of renewal. But today
is your quickening and all the world
rejoices. Evoe Kore! Evoe Lucia!