Dea, Rites and Mysteries of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Autumn: Litany of the Earth
Ritual no. 6
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS HATHOR
Invocation
Hail to the Goddess Hathor Who weareth the horned disc upon the head of the Holy Cow. Thy spiritual body is glorious among the Khus, Thy Name is established upon earth before Seb, and Thy Body shall endure permanently in the Neterkhert. Thou journeyest about upon the earth, Thou sees all that are therein. Thy Life is forever, and Thy Sovereignty is forever.
Oracle of the Goddess Hathor
through her Priestess
Divine is the Cow goddess, the Mother. Living is She and forever giving. She feedeth milk to Her calves, and from the scented grasses She creates the mighty strength of bulls, and the deep gentleness of Her daughters, the milk yielding cows.
Protect My children. Know that I wear the Crown of Sovereignty. The discs of sun and moon are in unity upon My head, and the horns of Power are My insignia. The Mother protecteth Her children. She giveth them nourishment. She bestoweth love and warmth, and She teacheth them to move and have their being among pleasant pastures.
I the Great Mother through the form of the Cow call upon you My human children to protect My children. Save them from lives imprisoned without sight of sun or grass. Save My winged children the birds from lives lived in cages. Eat not the flesh or eat the eggs of those who have been slaughtered in prison. Know that greed and willful ignorance return to the wrong-doer through the Justice of My Sister the Goddess Mayet of the Scales. All that is done for good or ill returns to the doer as doeth the shadow return at dusk to the thrower of the shadow. Do good, and protect My children. So shall you reap the five cubit high corn of My heavenly pastures; drink of the white milk of the stars; and through bathing in the River of Life know Eternity.
If the rite is celebrated out-of-doors, the earth is used, and a fire may be lighted. A pool or stream may be used for water, and a leafy branch taken from a bush or tree. If indoors, a pot of earth containing a leafy branch is placed on the altar, with a pitcher of water, an earthen bowl of burning charcoal, and bread and wine. Devotee during the invocations places hands over the earth, and for each blessing dips the bough in water and sprinkles water around the circle. If the other participants be present, they recite the blessings. Let animal friends be present.
Invocations
(To Seven Deities of Nature)
I invoke the Goddess Rhiannon of the Miraculous Birds: I invoke Epona. the Hen-headed Horse Goddess.
Pwyll penn Annfwn, King of Dyvet, was on a Mound of Arbeth when he saw a young girl wearing brilliant golden clothing and riding a pale white horse. She told him her name was Rhiannon, daughter of Dyveidd Hen.
In the name of Rhiannon Epona, bringer of courage, may all cocks and hens and every bird; all horses ponies and asses and all hoofed creatures be blessed.
I invoke Sekhmet, Lion-headed Goddess of the Noon Day Sun:
"In the leaf-strewn cavern, Daphnis, thy wearied limbs lie sleeping,
While for the beasts on the mountain thy hunting-nets are spread:
But see to hunt the Hunter, into thy cave come creeping,
Pan and Priapus with him; quick, Daphnis, quickly! Flee.
A lad that was a fowler, deep in a leafy grove
Was stalking birds, when lo, he spied the Winged Love.
Thinking how fine a bird was here, in wild delight,
One within another he fixed each jointed rod
And hither stalked and thither, flutterings of the God.
An Ancient told the hunter: 'Shun him: and well for thee,
So long as thou failsts to catch him - once thou art a Man, then he
That flees away so nimbly, shall no more flee at all,
But turn unsought of a sudden and on thy head shall fall."
In the name of Sekhmet the strong, may all wild beasts be blessed.
I invoke Bast the Beautiful:
"Nature gave horns to cattle,
And hoofs She gave to horses,
And nimble heels to rabbits;
To lions mighty grinders,
And fins She gave to fishes;
To birds, their wings for flying,
To dogs, a deep devotion.
Has She forgotten cats then?
Ah no, She gave them Beauty.
Aye, fire and sword are weaker,
Than a playful kitten."
In the name of Bast may cats and snakes, owls and bats and all creatures of the night be blessed.
I Invoke Artemis, who protects all with horns and cloven hooves:
"Shepherds all that wander this ridge of the mountains, feeding
Your flocks of goats and fleecy sheep. grant now to me,
Cleitogoras, a little boon yet kindly, heeding,
My prayer in the Name of Earth and Queen Persephone.
Pray bring from the flock the mother of some fair lamb, and setting
Her udder full of milk above my gravestone's base,
Let the white stream spurt from it. Deem not the Grace forgetting:
Even the Shades can render a grace for a kindly grace.
His yoke-ox, growing feeble with age and years of ploughing,
Alcon his master pitied, and saved from the bloodstained knife,
Honouring his true service: mid the meadow-grasses' soughing
Knee-deep he lowes, contented and furrow free for life."
In the name of Artemis with Her moon bow and silver rays may all bulls and cows, stags and hinds, and rams and ewes, goats and all cloven-footed creatures be blessed.
I invoke Arachne the maiden spider:
"Oft when a storm is coming, along some jutting strand
The chattering crow betakes him towards the shelter of the land:
And from their hollow homes in haste the ants will bear
The eggs that are their treasure; and quickly up the wall
Crawl worms that men have named 'the sable earth's entrails.'
Oh lucky you, Cicada,
Singing in the tree-tops,
Happy as a Monarch,
And tipsy with a dew-drop
Dearly the Muses love you,
And dearly too Apollo,
Who gave you piercing music."
In the name of Arachne, skillful weaver of webs may the myriads of insects and worms and germs be blessed.
I invoke the Nymph Cleito and the sea-god Poseidon of Atlantis. Harken to the poem sung by the Dolphins Soul:
"Never again rejoicing in the surges that I sunder
Shall I toss my neck aloft, as I leap from gulfs to sea;
Now, circling round a galley, at its fair prow snort with wonder
Proud to find it fashioned in the shape of me.
For the dark-blue roller hurled me high on the land's dry breast,
And in this narrow shingle is my body laid to rest."
In the name of Cleito and Poseidon may whales, dolphins, seals and every watery creature be blessed.
I invoke the Great God Pan:
"Of the dear Son of Hermes, O Muse, sing now to me,
That goat-foot, horned Lover of ringing revelry.
On the reeden pipe of a shepherd he plays his music lone.
No nightingale can utter a strain of lovelier tone.
Then round him the lilting voices of the Nymphs of the mountain ring;
They trip by the dark-black water, bubbling from a spring.
Soft round them lies the forest-lawn and perfumed sweet
The hyacinth blends, and the crocus, with the grass beneath their feet.
But the song of the Oreads tells of the Blessed Deities on high,
For 'Pan' is the Name they give him, since he fills All Olympus with joy."
In the name of the ever-living Pan, may all nature spirits and human-kind, each tree and plant and all the grasses be blessed.
Devotee gives a Blessing to each animal present, with sign of the Ankh with holy water on each head.
Devotee: "In the Name of the Earth Mother may you receive Her Blessing."
Contemplation. Music may be played on pipe or stringed instrument. Harmony with all creatures of the earth is experienced.
Devotee: Thanks are given to the Earth Mother for Her gifts of bread and wine.
Devotee places both hands over bread and wine in Blessing. Any who are present eat and drink, handing bread and wine from person to person. Bread may be shared with animal friends. Let there be dancing and singing.
Sources: ‘Invocation from the Funeral Text of Takhert-P-Uru-Abt’, from “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. “The Mabinogion”, translation by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones, published by J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., London, and E.P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1949. “Homeric Hymn to Pan”, and verses from "The Anacreontea", and Leonidas, Addacus, Aratus, Anyte, all from Greek Poetry”, translated by F. L. (Frank Laurence) Lucas, Everyman’s Library series, no. 611, J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., London, 1951.
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