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

82 Creating Circles & Ceremonies
And in unison, they both say:
And conjoined they be one in truth:
For there is no greater Power
In all the worlds
Than that of a man and a woman
Joined in the bonds of love
From which all life comes forth
Blessed Be!
99. Great Rite
Now as cup and blade unite,
Awake the Great and Sacred Rite!
Weave the dance of perfect love,
By the horn and by the dove!
—Katlyn Breen
The second part of the consecration is for the bread. Many options are possible for this
(see the following section, “Sacraments & Snackraments”). For the purposes of this model,
however, we will assume that you are using a wonderfully aromatic round loaf of freshbaked
bread. Mmm-MM! It should be resting on a suitable plate. It is common in magickal
rituals for such a plate to have inscribed on it a five-pointed star, or pentagram, inside a
circle. Such a plate is called a pantacle, meaning “all angles.” But while such a special ritual
plate is particularly nice, really any plate will do.
Now, with your previously-consecrated Athamé, you should pierce the bread,
releasing its aroma, then break it open while saying something like the following:
We break bread to share in fellowship
As our ancestors have done
Since the dawn of agriculture.
Breathe in the spirit of the Earth,
The Sun, the Rain, and the Fire,
Bound together for our nourishment.
Communion
Grounding excess energy is an important part of any magickal ritual, and eating and
drinking before closing the Circle is a very common way of accomplishing this. Though many
traditions use other methods of grounding and closing (such as stomping their feet, clapping
their hands, singing, etc.), it might be important to note that sharing food and drink is also a
cross-cultural ritual of bonding. Sharing a light meal with your fellow celebrants facilitates a
comfortable closeness and familiarity with them as well as with the deities. We like to take
further advantage of the opportunity to discuss the ritual and its personal meaning to us during
this time, as a sort of planning and “debriefing.” This not only helps to ground overabundant
energy, but carries the necessary magick with us beyond the Circle. (—Crow Dragontree)
According to Webster, to commune is to “communicate intimately with; be in a state of
heightened, intimate receptivity,” as in “he seemed to commune with nature.” Communion is
a deep and open sharing at the spiritual level. For those familiar with the term, true communion
is grokking. (from R.A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land; literally, “drinking”)
This is the part of the ritual that modern Wiccans usually call cakes and wine. Christians
call this Holy Communion, involving the “miracle” of transubstantiation in which the communion
bread and wine is believed to become literally transformed into the actual physical
flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the children’s rite of
“Cookies and Milk”—perfectly appropriate substances for Pagan rituals. But the rite of
communion goes far deeper than any modern practice or tradition. It is the primal “feast of
fellowship” that is as old as time and a sacred part of nearly every culture in the world.
Sharing food and drink in the Circle is a reminder that we share our lives and our purpose.
Also, since everything on Earth is part of the body of the Goddess—Mother Earth herself—
ritual communion reminds us that everything we eat and drink is sacred, as it really is her
flesh and blood we are taking into our bodies to become our flesh and blood.
And we also honor the Lord as the Sun God and the Green Man, by remembering that
his solar rays provide the energy to ripen all plants, and that he is cut down in the fall to yield