Song/Invocation: by Cris Williamson

When in dreaming sacred comes
Let our eyes be open
Music frightens fear away
Let our ears be open
Knowledge of the blood abounds
Let our hearts be open....

Casting the Circle/Invoking Goddesses of Light and Inspiration:

North: By the earth that is her body, we call Oya (West Africa), Goddess of change and free women, to our circle. Send forth your strength. Be here now!

East: By the air that is her breath, we invite Sappho (Greece), Mother of poetry, foremother of inspiration, to our circle. Send forth your muse. Be here now!

South: By the fire that is her great spirit, we call Pele (Hawaii), Goddess of women's passion and power, to our circle. Send forth your flame. Be here now!

West: By the water that is her blood, we invite Tiamat (Sumer), Dragon Mother for emergence of women and of spring, to our circle. Send forth your flow. Be here now!

Chant:

We are opening up in sweet surrender to the luminous love light of the one
We are opening up in sweet surrender to the luminous love light of the one
We are opening...We are opening...We are opening...We are opening
(repeat 3x)

Welcome:

Tonight we celebrate one of the oldest of all seasonal festivals. It used to be called Imbolg or Imbolc, meaning "in the belly," a reference to the new gestation of the world spirit within the Mother. It became a fire festival, betokening the potential heat of a new growing season and the Goddess' sexual fires, and the lighting of a purificatory "new fire" on every hearth.

North: What is this night?
South: It is the night of Candlemas.
East: What is the meaning of this night?
West: It is the festival of new fire.
North: What do we honor on this night?
South: We honor the hidden heat of life, the unquenched spirit within the frost.
East: After this festival of new fire, what will we do?
West: We will rekindle our lights, and look toward a brightening future.
North: How do we recognize ourselves on this night?
South: We hold high the fire. We feel the stirring of life. We call upon the Mother who brings us the spring.
East: Who helps us?
West: Our Goddess helps us.
North: What is our Goddess?
South: She is the eternal promise, the fire in the flesh, the undying spirit of blood and breath, rain and sunshine.
East: Who is our Goddess?
She is the Virgin of Light, the Crone of Darkness, the Mother of Time.
North: Where is our Goddess?
South: She is in all hearts in all seasons of the turning year.
East: Who is our Goddess?
West: Behold, she is ourselves.

Reading: "Candlemas Poem" by Diane Stein

Night of lit white candles...darkness turned to light
"Everything she touches changes"
Feast of waxing flame...fire of heart and hearth...fire of the mind
flickering of spark...quickening of air
warming into inspiration....

Song Reflection: "Bridget" by Cynthia Smith

Here are my words, I'm calling from your heart, and calling from your mind.
I am the spark that kindles the flame and nurtures all in kind.
For a jewel of light has been at every root and lies within the soil's clay
And it cradles the babe of our visions and dreams and sends all creation into flight....

Reading: "Our Passion for Justice" by Carter Heyward

Love, like truth and beauty, is concrete. Love is not fundamentally a sweet feeling, not, at heart, a matter of sentiment, attachment, or being "drawn toward." Love is active, effective, a matter of making reciprocal and mutually beneficial relation with one's friends and enemies. Love creates righteousness, or justice, here on earth. To make love is to make justice....

Shared Reflection:

Candlemas is also known as Brigit, for the Celtic Goddess of fire and inspiration, and Imbolc, which means "new lambs" or "in the belly." This is the beginning of spring, when winter's temperatures start rising, halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. It is the promise of new green to come. Valentine's Day, Groundhog Day, Lent and the Chinese New Year are outgrowths of this ancient festival. In the deepest cold of winter, the spring is born and nurtured. It is a time of light, inspiration and poetry, creativity, healing, dedication and initiation. In the Tarot, the card for Candlemas is the Star, Persephone emerging from the pool reborn. The woman at Candlemas has purified herself, cleansed the old from her being, and she accepts a new order of her own choice. She has trust and hope in what is to come, and certainty on her beginning path. She is innocent and new.

We dedicate ourselves to our dreams, inspirations and love.

What and how are you loving, dreaming and creating anew in this world?

Chant:

Under the moon...under the earth...under my skin...I'm under rebirth. (repeat 6x)

Sharing of food and drink

Blessing:

I am willing to be different and strong
I am willing to be different and beautiful
I am willing to be different and free
I am willing to be different from patriarchy
For this difference
Is the same
Sameness
With the non-linear
World of magic
The Goddess
Her forces
My dreams
The moon
My feelings
My creativity
My passion
My deep love
Of all creation
And the only conforming
I need to do
Is forming Creation
For I am form
And I am forming
To universal law
And therefore
Must survive
And even though
I may at times
Feel alone
And misunderstood
I will remember
That I have sisters out there
Who are learning to be free
Like me
And that I am not alone
But all one
And one with the all
And that once free women
Were respected
And loved
And will be again
And will be again
And will be
I will to be
I will it to be
And so doth it be
Forever
And ever
So be it
Blessed be

Opening the Circle: Chants

Woman am I, spirit am I
I am the infinite within my soul
I have no beginning and I have no end
All this I am
Blessed am I, spirit am I
I am the infinite within my soul
I have no beginning and I have no end
All this I am

May the circle be open but unbroken
May the peace of the Goddess be ever in your heart
Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again
(repeat 3x)
Blessed be, blessed be, blessed be.

Sign of peace

Sources:

Cries of the Spirit, edited by Marilyn Sewell
Womenıs Rituals -- A Sourcebook, by Barbara C. Walker
Casting the Circle -- A Women's Book of Rituals, by Diane Stein
The Goddess Celebrates -- An Anthology of Women's Rituals, edited by Diane Stein
Goddess Meditations, by Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D.