mark roth-whitworth, the Silverdragon, 1997-2000
First, a word about the terminology: most current neoPagans speak of the "four elements". Originally, this came from the ancient Greek idea that there were only four, rather than the many on the periodic table, as we know now. However, there *are* Four forms of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma (though one might add some other state for neutron matter, or the inside of a black hole). Certainly, one may say for those names Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.
This pattern is based on current neoPagan sources, as well as on scientific understanding of the world.
Consider the East, that which is related to the rise of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and which has always been ascribed to be of the form of Air. The South, from a northern hemisphere perspective, is the realm of the Sun, the form of Fire, the Day. The West is the setting sun, and of the form of Water, while the North is the Form of Earth.
Some consider above and below, as well as the circle around us. This seems to us to be more inclusive, and reasonable. In addition, it allows the balance that we will require.
The idea is to create the sphere as a filter, filtering out the mundane garbage, then to modify the filter by opening/adjusting it for what you want in the sphere (as defined below).
And so, to create the Sacred Space:
Perform the Banishing Ritual of the Lesser Pentagram. This *may* be altered so that either the Guardians, or the Deities whom you intend to invoke at those nodes (quarters) are named, instead of the standard names.
Face North, first, then turn to the East. Consider the East, and the formation of the Solar System: all begins as gases and stardust, drawing inward in a spiral, drawn by the mass that will be the Sun. Welcome that darkness, and know that we are all drawn from it. Together, the Black Mother, the alchemical Source of All that we know. When you have the Beginning drawn in your mind's eye, draw the invoking pentagram. Call, if you will, upon the Guardian or Deity that you desire in that quarter.
Draw the line clockwise, to the South. Consider the South, and the ignition of Fire of the Sun, Lord of the solar system, bringer of life as we know it, and the joy and enthusiasm of new life. When you have the Creation of the Sun in your mind's eye, draw the invoking pentagram. Call, if you will, upon the Guardian or Deity that you desire in that quarter.
Draw the line clockwise, to the West. Consider the West, and the condensation through liquid to solid, and the first rains on the the Earth, Lady of our Life, that brought forth Her life on this world, in token of which are the trees above. From the evolution of bacteria that did not need air, to the creation of the atmosphere by them, to the ones that did, and the evolution of the first plants: when you have the first of the large plants in your mind's eye, draw the invoking pentagram. Call, if you will, upon the Guardian or Deity that you desire in that quarter.
Draw the line clockwise, to the North. Consider, now, Gaia, alive as She is and has been, from Whom we are all descended. When you have Her multiplicity in your mind's eye, draw the invoking pentagram. Call, if you will, upon the Guardian or Deity that you desire in that quarter.
Turn from the North to the East. Now consider those small creatures that sought safety in the trees, which are above, and we who came of them in the trees above, our Ancestors, whose symbol is the Green Man. With that in your mind's eye, draw the Circle up, from the East to that which is between ourselves, and the sky above.
From the Sky above, draw the Circle down to the West. Consider that life, to grown, to hunt, and to be hunted, to learn knowledge, to learn joy and pain, whose symbol is the Horned Man. With Him in your mind, continue the Circle. Think also of the passage of the day.
From setting Sun, in the West, trace the path of the Sun, on the other side of the Earth. Consider Those that first went underground, to seek sacred space, to find the Secret Places, whose symbol is the Smith, Lord of the Underworld, Who makes, and judges, and unmakes; Who works in the Lady's Forge, from whence we all are made or remade. From the West, draw the Circle down to that which lies below us, and make the invoking pentagram. Call, if you will, upon the Guardian or Deity that you desire in that quarter.
From the Center Beneath, continue the sacred Circle back, to the East, to the surface of the Earth, and the dawn of another day.
And from this Sacred Space, the the ritual be completed.
And from the realm of the Earth, we come to the center of *here* and *now*, the Symbol in the Center of the Sacred Space, knowing where we have come from, and how, and, having, with forethought, brought the Will of what path we should go, celebrate that it may be the path that will be followed.
And when all has been celebrated, bid Those that have come to celbrate with you good will, and safe journey to wherever they may go, and offer the wish to meet again in joy.
Final Notes on the Ritual
If it is in your symbols that there is a Great Rite, symbolic or otherwise, it should be *begun* when the Secret Places beneath are considered, then the Earth, and Her joy and pain considered, as a virgin bride, and in full and mutual joy at the Center, *here* and *now*. From that joyous power, let flow the observations that shift the Path in accordance with Will. Delineating the Sacred Space The Sacred Space, drawn above, is for the northern hemisphere on Earth. You need to figure out what's appropos on any other planet, once you're there, but it should have, in the same way, where you came from, and how you got *here* and *now*.
Note that, symbolically, Down is also the Past, and Above the Future. For that reason, the pentagram is drawn on the *first* pass to the Center Beneath, since the next pass is later, that is, futureward. In a like manner, the pentagram is drawn on the *last* past through the Center Above, since that is, in the history, as it were, of the ritual you are performing, the most futureward.
Seven celebrants might be a Good Number - the men, three women; the women being the East (the Morning Star), the West (the Moon and/or the Evening Star), and the North, the Earth; while the men are above (the Green Man), the South (the Horned Man), and Below (the Smith). An Elder may be in the West, with the Moon, as psychopomp. And with the ritual is answered the question of where we come from, and where we are going, within reason. Reason does not look for where, if anywhere, one individual may be in a billion years. Can *you* really imagine where *you* could be in ten thousand years? Beyond that, what other questions are there?
We are created, in the Sacred, Secret Places, from the Pattern; we build upon that Pattern, and send that pattern off, in the end, to merge with the Universe, to texture the world with our pattern, or to continue our presence in one way or another, should we be strong enough to hold together when it is we who are the Magick that is sent on, depending on how we leave the *now*, through that circle of light reported by those near death. Perhaps those that leave straight through become one with the all, those that leave with attachments enter at an angle, and affect the future, as Magick does, and those that are strong enough to encompass the Circle become more, as an electron around a proton, something stable, and *of* Magick. Perhaps it is They that become the local deities, and our companions further on. ****************************************************************************
To be considered a draft Request for Comment.