Adaptation of the FOI Liturgy Ritual
"Flamma Vestae. Initiation into a Fellowship of Isis Iseum"
Written by FOI Co-Founder Olivia Robertson
Sample Rite:
Lasair Danann. Initiation into a Druid Clan of Dana Grove
Lasair Danann (LOH-seer DAWN-on) Flame of Dana
Initiation into a Grove of the Druid Clan of Dana
Two Oracles of the Goddess Dana
On an altar let there be 4 white candles, flowers/oak leaves, incense, a sun disc. pendant and long red cord by an unlighted candle. An open fire or glowing charcoal in brazier/cauldron and a vessel of water is in the Grove. On a table are wine, fruit-juice, a glass of water, a loaf of bread and a loving cup or glasses.
By the entrance is the Guide and. Candidate. The Candidate wears white with white veil (woman) white hood (man). A Companion holds Candidate's gift of incense, flowers and work of art.
The Admission
Guide and Candidate stand at entrance to Grove.
ArchDruid: Honoured Guardian of our Grove, who seeks admission to the Holy Place?
ArchDruidess speaks with Guide and returns.
ArchDruidess: Noble Druids and Companions of the Grove of , the Guide conducts a Candidate hither. She/he is a member of Aset Shemsu, the Fellowship of Isis. She/he seeks Companionship into our Grove
ArchDruid: Who stands Sponsor for this Candidate?
Sponsor speaks in favour of Candidate.
ArchDruid: Who would refuse this Candidate Companionship?
Companions speak - if any wish to.
ArchDruidess: Let us confer.
Decision is made.
ArchDruid: The Candidate is to be admitted! ArchDruidess admits Candidate and Guide.
Facing the Accessors
Guide: The Candidate must now face the Three Assessors. Leads Candidate before Dedicants of Brigid, Dana, and the Morrigan.
ArchDruidess: Harken to the words of the Goddess Brigid. "I carry the flame of Truth, which dances in the breath of Spirit. Dare you face Truth with honesty, whether it be the soul-shaking winds of new ideas, the ugliness of wrong-doing of yourself and others, or the shock of harsh facts?"
Candidate replies.
ArchDruidess: Though Truth may be feared as terrible, when Brighid is faced with Courage and Faith, perfect beauty and goodness are seen!
ArchDruid: Heed the words of the Goddess Dana. “I am the goddess of the wisdom of Nature. I show the soul the face of the Sun, which inspires and sustains the dance of the seasons. Do you balance truth with compassion, love with understanding? “
Candidate replies.
ArchDruid: Those who love, forgive others; those who face the truth are just; those with wisdom forgive themselves.
ArchDruidess: Harken to the words of the Morrigan. “I am the Goddess of Justice. The sharp eyes of my crows discover all falsehood and heartlessness. Are you just to those you dislike? Do you understand the point of view of those with whom you disagree? Are you just to all creatures, human, animal, plant?"
Candidate replies.
ArchDruidess: Learn to recognize the good qualities in every being, including yourself, and acknowledge that which is real and eternal! Be irritated by others' short-comings - and you waste time being angry with fleeting shadows. Be true to your real self!
ArchDruid: Has any Companion a question to put to the Candidate, before acceptance into our group?
If so, Companions do and Candidate replies.
The Acceptance
ArchDruid: (to Candidate) Do you in mind and heart adore Deity? Do you love Dana, Goddess of our Grove?
Candidate: I do.
ArchDruid: May our Companions signify acceptance of this Candidate.
Companions: (in turn) I accept this Candidate as a Companion of our Grove.
ArchDruid: (to Candidate) Which Goddess Name (if woman)/ God Name (if man) do you choose, in token of your soul's birth through the Goddess?
Candidate: To the name/s given by my parents, I add the Divine name of ***.
ArchDruid of Grove: With the Holy Name of (Chosen Name) I declare you a Companion of our Grove
The Offering
Candidate: I offer incense to the Goddess Dana! (sprinkles incense on fire) I offer flowers to the Goddess Brighid and water to the Morrigan!
I offer this work made by myself (art, writing, craftwork, etc.) for this Grove,
(Candidate presents her/his work.)
ArchDruid: I accept these gifts for the Grove in the Name of Dana Patroness of our Clan, and to Brighid of the Well and Morrigan of the Grael.”
Bestowal of Spiritual Gifts
ArchDruid: O Dana, grant us Thy Warmth. Dana, Goddess of Abundance, your life giving solar light feeds all your children. In thine golden eyes are seen the love of the Mother who values all her children upon the Earth; under which is your perpetual fire; the earth and the hearth are symbols of the home. The earth is like a ball resting on no prop. Its own power of rotation keeps its orb balanced. Your undying fire is hidden in our Grove, within protective branches. Dana is so called the Living Sun. The Hearth, her Focus, is named after her warmth.
ArchDruidess: (gives Candidate taper) Light this candle from the hearth of Dana. Share your power and your gifts with others and you will suffer no diminution, but rather add to your store of knowledge, power and happiness.
Candidate lights candle. ArchDruidess lays hands over Candidate's head and heart. Warm power may be felt and flame coloured lights seen.
ArchDruidess: May Dana's light brighten your mind and Her Sun warm your heart.
ArchDruid: Hear the words of a Druid who has gone before you to Her service: “Now, after long miles of journeying and searching at last you found a haven of companionship and peace. Rest assured that you are now safe under the protection of our Goddesses, whose clear Light shines for all. Rejoice now, as becomes a son/daughter of the goddess. As a Companion join ecstatically in the Clan of the Goddess Dana. As you enroll yourself in her ancient clan, know that Her service is perfect freedom.”
ArchDruid: Let the Candidate read to us all the words of an Initiate of the Goddess Isis.
Candidate: (reads) Hear the words of Lucius, Initiate of the Mysteries of the Goddess Isis: “The Companions accepted me as one of their own, a loyal servant of Isis. Not a single night did I pass, nor even doze off during the day, without some new vision of Her. She always intended for me to be initiated into Her sacred Mysteries, to which I had long been destined. I frequently spoke of this to the High Priest, begging him to initiate me into further Mysteries of the goddess. He checked my restlessness, so gently and kindly that I was not in the least discouraged. He explained that the proper time for further initiation would be indicated by signs from The Goddess Herself, following the measured unfolding of the gifts I had already received. He said: "The perfect manifestation of all the interweaving cycles of Life are in Her hands. It is by Her grace that the Companions of the grove are born again and restored to new and healthy life.”
ArchDruid: When that time comes, my friend, you will be told by the Goddesses you revere.
ArchDruidess: Hear the words of the Goddess Dana:
Oracle of the Goddess Dana
“You need to return to your roots in order to grow! It is through love of those living with you that you attain a wider love, and not through spurning your family! It is from your children that you may again learn the language of birds and trees, and through your grandparents that you may hear the music of the spheres! As you develop the magical language of the Angels, you will find your own spiritual family. It comprises humans, Deities, Nature Spirits, animals, trees and stones, not only on this planet but from the stars. Such families are as constellations in the great galaxy. My Tuathe De Danann came from the sky, yet also dwell within the hidden sun at earth’s matrix. The Golden Age shines about you, resplendent in the matriarchal darkness. Naught is alien when all is known and loved. You are kin to all beings in the cosmos and all are kin to Me.”
ArchDruidess: (anoints Candidate's brow with water) May Dana bring you enjoyment of your forgotten immortality! Golden power may be felt flowing through head and body of Candidate and white light seen.
ArchDruidess: (presents Candidate with Sun Disc) Accept this Solar Disc, the Sign of Dana.
ArchDruid: (presents Candidate with cord) In the Name of the Goddess Brighid and the Goddess Morrigan of our Clan and Grove , accept this cord! The Sacred Cord links the mother with her baby, and with it are joined families, lovers and friends! (Candidate links symbol on cord and ArchDruid puts it round her/his neck.) The cord hangs loosely! Love and friendship must be free.
Omnes hold hands and circle three times to music except veiled priestess.
Manifestation of the Goddess
ArchDruidess: Companions of this Grove, the Holy Time has come! Power fills our Grove. Let us invoke the Divine Presence of our Goddesses among us.
Curtains are drawn. Only light is from 3 candles on altar. All sit except ArchDruid who raises his arms and gives inspired invocation. Silence. The ArchDruidess is in trance and the ArchDruid protects her aura from interruption. If there is no manifestation, the ArchDruid lifts her veil and gives an address or the given oracle. If a manifestation is to take place, Companions will observe a quickening in the air like dancing sun-motes or swirling stream. A sphere of light may appear above and behind ArchDruidess. The Goddess may appear to clairvoyants or on extremely rare occasions, materialise for a short while.
Invocation and Oracle
ArchDruid Invokes Goddess. The Divine Oracle is delivered through the ArchDruidess. When it is finished the ArchDruidess returns from trance.
Invocation: Dana of the golden corn and deep stars of the sky, Dana, Divine Mother, come to us, illuminate our hearts and minds!
Oracle of the Goddess Dana
The beauty you perceive in earth and spirit is woven through my Rainbow web. Wherever I am truly honored, harmony resides. I am the Divine Mother, My Name is Dana. Speak my name and carry it with you. Do this and you do well. My gifts are threefold - happiness, harmony and inspiration. The Golden Age has never withered, it lives on in Spirit World, and it lives within each one who honors My gifts and honors My name. Use them well and you will find your true home in a Land of Beauty laughing beneath the Summer Stars. The veil between worlds has been drawn aside, step over the threshold at dawn and dusk. My gifts transform ugliness to beauty, sorrow to happiness, barrenness to abundance. Evil can be transmuted into good through use of inspired intuition. My True Children use My Gifts and thus strike the divine chord within other beings and so effect transformation. Only goodness and beauty are everlastingly real. Do not worry if your gifts seem small, not all who reach the Land of Heart's Desire are great poets and dreamers. Share with others the measure of My gifts with which you have been endowed with loving heart and pure intent. The Golden Age exists within you and within others - NOW!
Meditation
ArchDruidess: Let us now meditate on the Oracle
Meditation on Oracle and on work of Grove, including use of talents or new member. Experiences are shared. Rays of friendship are sent forth to sister centres all over the world.
Love Feast
Companions welcome new member with handshakes and kisses and words of friendship. Wine, fruit-juice are blessed. New member is toasted. Bread is blessed. Love feast is shared.
Thanksgiving and Blessing
ArchDruidess: Thanks is given to Dana for Her oracles, and to the Goddesses Brighid and the Morrigan.
ArchDruid: Let us go forth with the Divine Blessing.
Sources: “The Golden Ass”, Lucius Apuleius, new translation by Robert Graves, (from a translation by William Adlington, 16th century), Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, UK, 1950.“Fasti”, Ovid, translated by Sir James George Frazer, (Loeb Classical Library series 253), William Heinemann, London, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1931. “Juno Covella, Perpetual Calendar of the Fellowship of Isis”, (entry on Vesta) Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, Cesara Publications, Clonegal Castle, 1982.
Adapted from “Flamma Vestae. Initiation into an Iseum”
written by FOI Co-Founder Olivia Robertson.
Original Adaptation (Flamma Brighid) written by Maury White-Hereford, Prsts. H, ArchDruidess, and Daniel H. Campbell, Prst. H., ArchDruid
Wyld Myst Nemeton, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Further adapted (Lasair Danann) by Arthur Freeheart, Prst. H., ArchDruid
Wandering Wayfarers Grove, Potsdam, New York, USA
and Linda Iles, Prsts. H., ArchDruidess
Grove of Elen of the Ways, San Diego, California, USA
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