Dea, Rites and Mysteries of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Spring: Rite of Good Health
Ritual no. 4
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS DANA
Invocation: Beautiful Dana, in Whose waving hair many-coloured suns gleam, Whose robe is the Oceans, Who art the Divine Mother of the Tuatha de Danann of Atlantis and the Western Lands: bring us Your joy. Bring us good health and the awareness of the beauty of all nature that is Your veil. May we glory in life and show forth its myriad beauties in our works.
Oracle of the Goddess Dana
through her priestess
The humblest clod of earth has its particular jewels. For know that though the lesser cannot comprehend, but only reflect, the Great: yet the Great comprehends, permeates and animates the lesser. Each snow crystal manifests its individual pattern of Deity. And this is what is meant by the immanence of the Divine Spirit.
Many of you have sought urgently to rise to the heights of Art and the Divine Sciences: yet have lost your own particular gifts during your dizzy ascent. For I am found in the laughter of daily life: in the absurd; in the casual sketch; in the ignored small talent. Despise your individual gifts; and you grow ill. True health is to be in harmony with the higher and the lower spheres; it is to blend with all degrees of consciousness. Otherwise illness and sorrow redress the balance, reminding you of that which you ignore. For the artist who sees beauty in a bowl of fruit on a kitchen table knows me as well as the scientist who penetrates the atom, and the occultist who transcends the earthly sphere.
Be original: for that which is original in you is of Deity. That which is mere repetition does not exist. Bring the Deities the gift of yourself. Do not despise Your oddities. By enjoying your Originality you will learn of your Origin. And so you will know the Divine Source.
Respect the Originality in all about you, whether a particular cat with its particular ways, or in the drawings of a child. So will you know their true selves. And your own true self will become apparent on the earthly plane, and you will know perfect health and you will radiate health to all whose lives touch yours. Express Divinity through music and the arts and through your works, and through radiations from your rainbow-hued auras. Each aura differs from another: give Us your unique gift!
On the altar let there be a bowl of earth, a cup of water, a candle and a phial of oil. An amulet to be magnetised for good health is placed by the oil.
Devotee: May the Goddesses bring us Their gifts of Good Health and Happiness.
Invocation for Strength: We call upon Thee, O Gaea, Earth Goddess, Mother of all, Eldest of all beings. Thou dost feed all creatures that go upon the goodly land, and all that are in the paths of the seas, and all that fly.
Devotee places earth in each hand and upon each foot.
Devotee: Holy Mother, grant us cheerfulness and strength.
Devotee allows earth power to come up through feet and up the spine with glowing warmth.
Invocation for Vitality: Blessed Savitri, may we receive life from Thee as Thy consort:
"On Her lap His head She rested
As She laid Him on the sword,
Clasped Him in Her beating bosom,
Kissed His lips with panting breath.
On Her lap with deeper kindness
Placed Her consort's death-like head.
And the touch of true affection
Thrilled Him back to waking life,
As returned from distant regions
Gazed the Prince upon His Wife."
Devotee cups hands around candle-flame and gazes into it. Power of life is felt through heart and brow and the entire aura, as golden rays.
Invocation for Radiance: Hail to stately Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful. The moist breath of the Western Wind wafted Her over the waves of the loud-moaning sea in soft foam, and there the gold-filleted House welcomed Her joyously. Oh Thou adorned with ornaments of orichalc bring us freedom to join the lovely dances of the deities.
Devotee drinks the cup of water slowly and feels the power as a brilliant shower of silver light coursing through body and aura bringing joy and the power of swift movement.
Invocation for a Healthy Mind: May we understand the teaching of Zorathustra in his hymn: "His shall be the best part who as an Initiate proclaims the divine precepts of Integrity, of Virtue, and Immortality for the Wise One is all that Dominion which may be increased for him by the Good Mind."
The Blessing of the Amulet
Devotee holds the amulet over the candle flame.
Invocation: Oh Isis, bless this amulet that whoever uses it may feel strength a kindness. May Thy son Kephera, the Sun Beetle, hallow this charm; He Who in the book of the Coming Forth by Day spake these words: "I am Tem Kephera, Who brought Himself into being upon the thigh of His Divine Mother. Behold I gather together the charm from every place where it is. I sail at night in the Makhent boat of Ra, as She sailest up the Pool of Fire in the Underworld. Behold I gather together the charm, the charm which created the forms of being from the Mother and which giveth the heat of fire unto the Gods. Behold the charm is given unto Me from wherever it is, swifter than greyhounds and quicker than a shadow."
Devotee places oil on the amulet and places it over the heart.
Thanks are given to Isis for the hallowing of this amulet through the charm of Tem-Kephera, the beetle that holds within Himself the Inner Sun. May our hearts be filled with Strength and Kindliness. May we be blessed by the Goddess Dana, Holy Mother of the Tuatha de Danann.
Meditation
Devotee visualises a happy experience in the Land of Heart's Desire, Ildathac, having read these ancient words spoken to Bran by a fairy woman: "Take this branch from the apple-tree of Emhain, like those that are familiar; twigs of white silver on it, and crystal buds with flowers. There is an island far away, around which the seahorses glisten, flowing on their white course against its shining shore; four pillars support it, shining through aeons of beauty, a lovely land through the ages of the world on which many flowers rain down. There is a huge tree there with blossom, on which the birds call at the hours. Colours of every hue gleam throughout soft familiar fields. Without sorrow, without grief, without death, without any sickness, that is the character of the many-coloured land, Ildathac. Let Bran listen to the wisdom expounded to him. Do not sink upon a bed of sloth; do not let your bewilderment overwhelm you. Begin a voyage across the clear sea, to find if you may reach the Land of Woman."
The Devotee experiences happiness and harmony and perfect health.
Prayer: May all beings be blessed with harmony and joy.
Thanksgiving: Thanks are given to the Goddesses for Health and Happiness.
Devotee places water on his/her brow.
Sources: "Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Fragments of the Epic Cycle, Homerica", Hesiod, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Loeb Classical Library series no. 57, Harvard University Press, Cambridge and William Heinemann, London, 1959. “The Ramayana and the Mahabharata”, Romesh Chunder Dutt and Ernest Rhys, editors, Everyman‘s Library series, edition no. 403, John M. Dent & Sons, London, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, first published 1915. “The Hymns of Zarathustra”, from “The Zend-Avesta”, Sacred Books of the East series, translation by James Darmesteter, edited by Frederick Max Muller, Motilal Banarsidass, Bungalow Road, Jawaharnagar, Delhi 7, India. “The Book of the Dead: The Papyrus of Ani in the British Museum, the Egyptian text with Interlinear Translation”, Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London, 1909, first printed by the British Museum, London, 1895. “Scottish Gaelic Folk Prayer”, and “11th Century Poem”, Irish Anonymous author, 7th - 8th works, all from "A Celtic Miscellany”, Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London, 1967. "Communion with the Goddess. Part I. The Vital Elements", (Manual of the Fellowship of Isis series), Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, Cesara Publications, Clonegal Castle, Ireland, 1976.
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