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

68 Creating Circles & Ceremonies
of one great secret deep,
The one the sky, the one the sea,
the one the caverns keep,
And I alone thought least of all
among the brothers three,
I guard the utmost mystery
and this I’ll teach to thee.
I sit not on the radiant mount
nor rule the scented sea,
But lonely in my cloistered halls
I call the dead to me.
They come with fear and deep despair
and cry unto the sky,
“Oh why live we and suffer so
if only now to die?”
My countenance is hard as stone,
implacable the law,
But oh, my heart would comfort give
and stay the bloody maw.
Yet all must pass beneath the gate
to see again the light,
And in the darkness meet their souls
and seek their paths aright.
And lonely in my somber toil
I yearn for loving eyes,
A soothing touch, a heart that knows
how I am moved by cries.
Oh, maiden whom the flowers love,
who wears the verdant green,
Come with your laughter to my halls
and rule my realm as Queen.
Let amethyst and azurite
And radiant tourmaline,
Ignite before the light bestowed
by Erebos’ new Queen.
Let souls who journey through the night
find comfort in your gaze,
Let those who craven’d in despair
now find a voice for praise.
To all who walk the spiral path,
the key of life to gain,
Bestow the token of a glance
that says all’s not in vain,
Unto my realm I beckon you,
fear not the Stygian gates,
With fullsome heart and outstretched hand—
thy Dark Lord waits.
—Tom Williams
65. Invocation of Eros
When all is dark and still,
As it was in the Beginning of Things,
I call to you, Beloved of All,
To stretch your feathered wings.
Born of a windsown egg,
Hatched in Erebos:
Cosmic Attractor, Thou art Eros.
Lover of Chaos, whose golden arrows
Made sweet love bites in the flesh of Gaea,
Rendering Her pregnant with possibility.
Oh, I love you! Yearn for You
Loosener of limbs
Who strikes me down
With bittersweet venom.
Intoxicator of heart and loins
A fever in the blood.
Thou are that and even more
Heart of Hearts that I adore.
Whisper soft wings in the shadows
White stains on my sheets
Sweet pleasure and pain
Sorrow and gain.
All that You are is all whom I love.
For You are the One who caresses
And I confess that I cannot live
Without Your touch upon my senses.
Comforter, Healer who conquers all defenses.
So that even the deathless Gods fear
The havoc that You bring.
I sing Your praise
And raise your hymn
To vaulted Olympus and beyond
To the skies.
Like the rush of blood to cheeks and thighs.
Come here to us drawn by the sighs
Of maid or man
Who would great You as Lover
Or greet You as Lord.
Come in us and through us
Pierce us with your Beauty and Power,
With shafts of Ecstasy: Now!
This hour from Your quiver of Desire.
We walk on fire who call Your name
We know no shame when You inspire.
Aphrodite’s Son of Delight,
Come to us now, here in the night!
—Morning Glory Zell, Beltane 1996