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

Book I: T he Magick Circle 91
7. Ending the Ritual
All Good T hings
By Oberon Zell-Ravenheart
All good things must come to an end—at least until the
next Circle. Attention is now refocused after the communion
to send our magick out of the Circle and into the world to do its work. Now it is time to thank
the deities and spirits, and bid farewell to the Elementals, all in reverse order of their invocation.
There are several different terms for this. Some call this “banishing,” but that sounds rather
unfriendly to us, so we prefer to consider this as “releasing” or “dismissing” the Elements. After
this the Circle itself is released or opened, and with it all the power created by the ritual.
T hanking the Deities
This enchanted evening we have been blessed by the presence of our beloved God and
Goddess, and/or other deities. They have been our special guests, and we must now thank them
for coming, and say goodnight. If different people invoked them, those same individuals should
now step forward to bid them farewell, and in reverse of the order in which they were first called.
A farewell to the God, for example, might go something like this:
Radiant Lord of Light and Laughter,
Thank you for your blessings here.
We are yours forever after—
One with oak and sun and deer!
Blessed Be! (all repeat, “Blessed Be!”)
And then to the Triple Moon Goddess we might say:
Lady of the Silv’ry Wheel,
Maiden, Mother, ancient Crone,
We bear within your mystic seal—
We thank you, for we are your own!
Blessed Be! (all repeat, “Blessed Be!”)
Of course, if we are using chants or songs to call them in or say goodnight, everybody will
join in together. Here’s a little chant we often use at HOME to thank
both the God and Goddess together at the end of our ritual:
Give thanks to the Mother Goddess;
Give thanks to the Father Sun!
Give thanks to the children in the garden where
The Mother and the Father are one!
(repeat at least three times; on the last, sing:)
…The Mother and the Father have fun!
If candles have been lit for the God and Goddess on the central altar, they
should be put out now—rather than blowing them out they should either be pinched
out with your fingers (lick them first!), snapped out (practice this!), or snuffed with
a candle snuffer. The person putting out the candles might say something like:
As these flames of the material world are darkened,
They shall ever burn in the worlds beyond.
The rite is ended; Blessed Be! (all repeat, “Blessed Be!”)