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

94 Creating Circles & Ceremonies
“Young Father Goose”
His name was James Orchard Halliwell-Phillips, although he preferred to shorten it, as a
by-line, to James O. Halliwell.
He was born in 1820, and so precocious an antiquary did he soon prove himself to be
that he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 18.
At the tender age of 22, Halliwell produced perhaps his greatest book. The Nursery
Rhymes of England was published in 1842; it was revised and enlarged five times—in 1843,
1844, 1846, 1853, and c.1860. And in 1849 Halliwell was also to produce a substantial “sequel,”
which he called Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales.
In these volumes, Halliwell collected much that had gone before, but he also added
much that was new to print. He writes that his rhymes are gathered “principally from oral
tradition,” but it is apparent that he also did much research in libraries; again and again he
states that he was able to trace one rhyme or another to a 15th- to 18th-century manuscript.
More than any other man, James O. Halliwell deserved to
be called—if he chose to claim the title—“Father Goose.”
Here is the poem:
Merry are the bells, and merry would they ring,
Merry was myself, and merry would I sing;
With a merry ding-dong, happy, gay and free,
And a merry sing-song, happy let us be!
Waddle goes your gait, and hollow are your hose,
Noddle goes your pate, and purple is your nose;
Merry is your sing-song, happy, gay, and free,
With a merry ding-dong, happy let us be!
Merry have we met, and merry have we been,
Merry let us part, and merry meet again;
With our merry sing-song, happy, gay, and free,
And a merry ding-dong, happy let us be!
110. Quarters Farewell
Deity & Element Dismissals
Wise One…
Brave One…
Sure One…
Strong One…
We bid you now hail and farewell!
Go by the powers that brought you,
Go by the unweaving spell.
As the bright pentagrams fade,
Depart as the Circle is gone—
Winged One…
Fierce One…
Swift One…
As we say, so be it done!
—Deborah Lipp & Isaac Bonewits, 1992
111. May We Walk in Beauty
May we walk in beauty in a sacred way
May we walk in beauty each and every day
May we walk in beauty in a sacred way
May we walk in beauty each and every day
N: May the beauty of the Earth
Fill our hearts with mirth.
W: May the beauty of the Rain
Wash away our pain.
S: May the beauty of the fire
Lift our spirits higher.
E: May the beauty of the Sky
Teach our minds to fly.
—Author unknown