Solitary Winter Solstice for the Home Shrine

Prepare your ritual space to include a fire or fire representation, a well representation such as a bowl of water, a tree representation such as a stick collected from outside, your chosen divination system, and several rounds of offerings. The offerings listed below are typically common and are named simply to give you ideas. Please revise this to fit your needs and the supplies you have on hand. After you have arranged your items as you would like them, begin by finding your center…

Grounding and Centering

For a guided Two Powers meditation, ADF Members please click here: https://www.adf.org/system/files/members/orders/bardic-alchemy/oba-two-powers.mp3

Lighting the Fire

As you speak the following, light your flame or imagine your fire representation coming to life and connecting to all fires.

As I light this sacred flame, kindled from the Great Flame that lies in all fires, I connect my shrine to all shrines, my flame to all flames, my fire to THE Fire to light my way in this work.

Purification and Opening Prayer

Light a stick of incense from the flame or dip your fingers in a small bowl of water. Wave the smoke around you from feet to head or mark your third eye, heart, and palms with water. Place the incense into an incense burner when done.

“May I be pure that I may pass through the Sacred.

May I pass through the Sacred that I may attain the Holy.

May I attain the Holy that I be blessed in all things.” –Ceiswir Serith

House Spirit Offering

Prepare an offering for your house spirits. Common offerings include clean, fresh water, small snacks, and shiny objects.

Spirits of place who share my home,

Be welcome at my table,

Share in the hospitality I offer to you,

And add your energy to this work.

I invite you to celebrate this Solstice with me.

House Spirits, accept my offerings and invitation.

Inspiration

Light incense or offer a few drops of a spirit or scented oil.

Spirits of Inspiration, join me, on this, the longest eve of winter.

Bring warmth to my words that they may warm the hearts of those who hear.

Bring eloquence to my speech that my words be laced with beauty.

Guide my words that they be gifts to the Kindreds.

Inspiration, accept my offering.

Earth Mother

Offer grains or bread.

Gentle guardian of the Earth, Mother to us all,

Support and strength, foundation and hope,

Great Earth Mother, Hear my call.

I see you in the flowers, now asleep below the land.

I see you in the trees, the streams, and the prairies.

I see you in each of us, for we are all made from you and to you we shall return.

Earth Mother, I honor you.

Earth Mother, accept my offering.

Statement of Purpose

Through the sunset of the year, I have come to the time of the Winter Solstice,

in remembrance of the blessings I have received throughout the year.

On this longest night, as the sun sinks down into the Underworld,

I name this flame the beacon of hope to stand against the darkness

until the sun is born again in a bright dawn of joyful celebration.

Recreating the Cosmos

Prepare an offering for each of the hallows to bless them and prepare them to be the Gates.

Burning bright, the Flame before me,

Lighting paths the night would hide,

Shine your light upon my shrine.

Sacred Fire, show the way to worlds unseen,

Sacred Fire, burn within me.

Offer incense or a drop of oil to the Flame.

Flowing deep, the Well before me,

Washing clean to purify,

Reflect the light upon my shrine.

Sacred Waters, show the way to worlds unseen,

Sacred Waters, flow within me.

Offer silver to the Well.

Standing tall, the Tree before me,

Lifting high the Fires light.

Deeply rooted on my shrine.

Sacred Tree, show the way to worlds unseen,

Sacred Tree, grow within me.

Cense and/or asperge the Tree.

Gatekeeper Offering and Opening the Gates

Prepare an offering for the Gatekeepers.

A child of the Earth is calling,

To the Keepers of the Ways Between,

To those who guide and guard the ways,

Gatekeepers, All, hear my words!

To you, Keepers of Keys who opens the ways,

To you, Guardians of Liminal Spaces,

To you, Guides outside of time and space,

Gatekeepers, All, hear my words!

Come to my Fire, and stand beside me!

Openers of Ways, Masters of Time,

Liminal Beings, Allies in travel,

Gatekeepers, accept my offering!

Make offering and prepare to open the Gates:

Gatekeepers, join your magic with mine…

As you speak the words to open each gate, trace a counterclockwise circle above each in turn.

May the Well sink deep into the bosom of the Earth, down below the Chaos of Potential, and open as a Gate to the Underworld.

May the Fire rise high into the heavens, far above the Chaos of Order, and open as a Gate to the Upper Realms.

May the Tree hold fast the ways between and open as a Gate to the world behind ours in the Middle Realm.

Bring your hands together in front of you and part them wide as you speak the following:

By our words and by our deeds, Gatekeepers, let the Gates be opened!

Pause for a moment and feel the opening of the Gates, stepping you outside of time, and meet the Kindreds with joy and purity of intention in your heart.

Invitation to the Ancestors

Offer coins to the Well.

You who have gone before me

Those of blood and bone,

Those of heart and honor,

Those of hearth and spirit,

Be warmed and welcomed by my fire.

Bring the wisdom of your journeys

To brighten the spirit of hope

On this, the longest night.

Ancestors, accept my offering.

Invitation to the Nature Kin

Offer grains, seeds, or clean water.

You of the middle realm

Standing side by side with me,

Sharing in the bounty of the Earth Mother,

Guiding my feet along her paths,

Be warmed and welcomed by my fire.

Bring the purity of your hearts

To brighten the spirit of hope

On this, the longest night.

Nature Kin, accept my offering.

Invitation to the Shining Ones

Offer incense, oil, or spirits.

You who dwell on high

Granters of Vision’s Truth

Bestowers of Wisdom’s Grace

Gilded Guardians of Inspiration’s Muse

Be warmed and welcomed by my fire.

Bring the powers of your healing

To brighten the spirit of hope

On this, the longest night.

Shining Ones, accept my offering.

Key Offerings to the Sun

Offer incense, oil, or spirits.

As the darkness descends upon the land and all is blanketed in white and cold,

I speak of the promise of new beginnings that shine down from the Sun.

Bright, shining Flame of Hope, I honor you this day.

Your rays kiss the Earth to bring forth new life,

Life which sustains and nourishes Earth’s Children.

Where your Fires touch the Waters,

The Waters are set to dancing,

Rising into the Sky to join the Court in shimmering splendor,

And falling back to the Earth to bring the blessings of the Sky to her people.

Sacred Sun, I honor your role in sustaining the Earth, bringing light and life to the land.

Sacred Sun, accept my offering.

Final Offering

Offer oil or spirits.

Offerings made, freely given by head, heart, and hand.

I offer freely of my words, of my love, and of my stores.

May my words rise high through the Fire.

May my words drop into the Well.

May my words echo through the Tree.

May they carry my offerings throughout the Realms.

Kindreds, All, accept my offerings!

Omen

Prepare to take an omen using your preferred method.

May the true sight be upon me.

May the true words be mine.

May the Kindreds grant me the wisdom and wit

To understand their blessings.

Take and interpret your omen.

Waters of Life

Prepare a cup of water or your preferred beverage.

During this time of the year when the waters of the sky come down in soft, icy stillness, I reflect on the magic that lies within them:

All waters are, by their very nature, sacred

Welling up from the Underworld carrying the wisdom of the Ancestors

To pool where it will in the middle realm

Where it is kissed by the Sun and rises

High into the sky to pool among the heavens

And rain down upon the Earth

To be drawn back into the land and prepare to repeat the dance,

The Dance of the Waters.

For a time, I set these Waters apart,

Water that quenched the thirst of beggars and kings alike,

That they may hold the blessings offered to me by the Kindreds, Three.

Just as I place my offerings into the Fire that they may be transformed into a form that is useful to the Kindreds,

So, too, do I ask that their gifts be transformed into a form that I may receive.

Ancestors, send your blessings up and fill this cup from the Well of Wisdom.

Ancestors, grant me your blessings in the Waters.

Noble Kin, fill this cup from the Spring of Renewal.

Noble Kin, grant me your blessings in the Waters.

Shining Ones, send your blessings down and fill this cup from the Cup of Inspiration.

Shining Ones, grant me your blessings in the Waters.

Raise the cup as you speak the following:

Blessings, flow through me, sustain me, renew me!

Behold! The Waters of Life!

Drink from your cup, spending a moment of quiet reflection on the omens you have received and how these may be made manifest in your life.

Thanking the Beings

Ancestors who’ve gone before,

Noble kin and Spirits of Nature,

Shining Gods, Goddesses, and Deities,

For all your aid and guidance,

I give you full honor and thanks.

Kindreds, All, I thank you.

Thanking the Gatekeeper and Closing the Gates

Gatekeepers, All, for all your aid,

You have my full honor and thanks.

Gatekeepers, I thank you.

As you speak each of the following, trace a clockwise spiral above each Gate to close it.

May the Well be but water once more.

May the Fire be but flame upon my shrine.

May the Tree be but wood, and

May all be as it was before,

Save for the blessings our work has made manifest before me.

Gatekeepers, let the Gates be closed.

Thanking the Earth Mother

Earth Mother, All Mother, Our Mother,

For all you have given to me,

For upholding and supporting me,

Earth Mother, I thank you.

Thanking Inspiration

For honeying my words and silvering my tongue.

Spirits of Inspiration, I thank you.

Closing the Rite

After closing the rite, extinguish the flame or leave it to burn safely, as desired.

May the work done here today be the seeds of blessings to blossom in the year to come. This rite is ended.