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Weekly Purification Ritual (by Michael
Standingwolf)
my altar has a central image, which is
flanked on either side by a small votive candle, and then on
either side of that are two much larger, "framing"
candles.
preparation
ablutions: wash your hands, feet, and
face, saying:
my feet/hands/face i purify in
honour of the god.
set up a cult image of apollo.
have some bay leaves and/or frankincense nearby.
light the two outer candles.
1. opening
be seated before the altar and take 3
deep breaths.
i come before this altar
to honour the blessed gods who hold wide olympos,
the shining and magnificent gods who are for
ever.
not one of you, gods, is small, not
one a little child;
all of you are truly great.
therefore you are worthy of praise and sacrifice, you
olympian deities,
the gods of humankind, the holy ones.
2. invocation of hestia
light the first votive candle,
saying:
with this flame, i call upon her
who is first among the immortal gods.
may she come and bless these holy rites.
holding it in both hands like an
offering, circle it clockwise before the altar
3x.
HOMERIC HYMN TO HESTIA
(24)
light the second votive
candle.
3. dedication
already this radiant four-horse
chariot, the sun, flames over the earth,
and at this fire of heaven the stars flee into the sacred
night;
the untrod parnassian cliffs, shining, receive the wheel of
day for mortals.
the smoke of dry myrtle flies to phoebus' roof.
the woman of delphi sits on the sacred tripod,
and sings out to the hellenes whatever apollo cries to
her.
but you delphian servants of
phoebus, go to the silver whirlpools of castalia;
come to the temple when you have bathed in its pure
waters;
it is good to keep your mouth holy in speech
and give good words from your lips to those who wish to
consult the oracle.
but i will labor with laurel boughs and sacred wreaths
making pure the entrance to phoebus' temple,
and the ground moist with drops of water.
o paian, o paian, may you be fortunate, child of
leto!
lovely is the labor, o phoebus, i
carry out for you before your house,
honoring your prophetic shrine;
glorious my labor, to be a slave for gods, not mortal but
immortal;
i do not tire of laboring over my auspicious work.
phoebus is a father to me; i praise the one who feeds
me;
the name of father, beneficial to me, i give to phoebus who
rules this temple.
o paian, o paian, may you be fortunate, child of
leto!
4. offering of incense
light the bay leaves or the frankincense
and cense the image of apollo clockwise.
hear me, pythian apollo, apollo
loxias, apollo mousagetes,
phoibos apollo, apollo akesios, apollo smintheos,
or by whichever name you wish to be called.
i offer this incense in honour of you.
5. invocation of apollo
visualize the altar as looking out over
delphi, where you can see the sun rising. cyclical
invocations:
ORPHIC HYMN TO APOLLO
(34)
KRIOSA LYSIA'S INVOCATION OF
APOLLO, or
o holy child of great leto,
golden-haired phoebus,
come from afar to be near us
as the son of hyperion rises over the navel of the
world.
as daylight dawns at sacred delphi
we who adore you turn our thoughts there,
scattered as we are across the whole earth,
and each in our own way salute you,
remembering the one we shall never forget.
where your golden foot steps is hallowed ground;
may you come to each one of us.
and with your coming the light grows warm,
and soft harmonies cleanse the air.
your presence purifies us,
for only what is pure can approach apollo.
where you are is sweet delphi,
and we who are yours unite in this sacred place
to greet and to praise you,
to smell the fragrance of your hair,
and to remember, to always remember,
apollo who shoots afar.
6. readings to apollo
o lord of delos whose very heart is
song,
what better offering can i lay before you
than the glorious songs of those who loved you of old?
accept this sacrifice of words which i pour out in your
honour.
cyclical readings:
- HOMERIC HYMN TO DELIAN
APOLLO
- HOMERIC HYMN TO PYTHIAN APOLLO
I (3.179-299, 375-387)
- HOMERIC HYMN TO PYTHIAN APOLLO
II (3.388-546)
- EURIPIDES' HYMN TO APOLLO IN
IPHIGENIA AMONG THE TAURIANS (c.
1235-83)
- KALLIMAKHOS' HYMN TO
APOLLO
- KALLIMAKHOS' HYMN TO DELOS (in
parts)
- APOLLO IN THE LIBRARY OF
APOLLODOROS (1.4.1-2, 2.6.2)
- PAUSANIAS ON DELPHI (10.5.5-13,
10.24.1-7)
pause to contemplate or meditate on
apollo, and then pause to remember the members of kyklos
apollo who are also performing a ritual to the god at the
same time.
7. purification (the python
verses)
i come now before apollo paian for
purification,
for he among all the gods is renowned for cleansing and
clearing away whatever ails us.
they say that near the temple at delphi there was a
fair-flowing spring, where the lord,
son of zeus, with his mighty bow, killed a dragon,
a great, glutted and fierce monster, which inflicted
many evils on the people of the land-many on them
and many on their slender-shanked sheep; for it was
bloodthirsty.
o kind phoebus, there are monsters here too.
please listen while i tell you
everything.
speak freely now to apollo about
circumstances in your life with which you would like his
help, about qualities within yourself which you would like
to improve or overcome, and about any errors and wrongs you
may have committed in the past week.
when you have detailed all your concerns,
imagine all negativity emerging from your body in the form
of a great dragon-like serpent. as you read the following
verses, visualize apollo the archer standing before you and
just to the side. when you reach the appropriate place in
the hymn, see him fire his arrows into the python coming out
of you until it is completely torn out of your body and lies
thrashing on the ground. as you continue reading the hymn,
see it rot & disintegrate until there is no trace of it
left.
the python brought their day of
doom to those who met it,
until the lord far-shooting apollon shot it
with a mighty arrow; rent with insufferable pains,
it lay panting fiercely and writhing on the ground.
the din was ineffably awesome, and throughout the forest
it was rapidly thrusting its coils hither and thither; with
a gasp
it breathed out its gory soul, while phoibos apollon
boasted:
"rot now right here on the
nourishing earth;
you shall not ever again be an evil bane for human
beings
who eat the fruit of the earth that nurtures many
and will bring to this place unblemished offerings,
nor shall typhoeus or ill-famed chimaira
ward off woeful death for you, but right here
the black earth and the flaming sun will make you
rot."
thus he spoke boasting, and
darkness covered its eyes.
and the holy fury of helios made it rot away;
hence the place is now called pytho, and people
call the lord by the name of pytheios, because on that
spot
the fury of piercing helios made the monster rot
away.
now visualize apollo bathing your body in
his magnificent golden light, burning away any last traces
of negativity, and then healing and regenerating every part
of your body from your head to your toes. say:
ie paian, i am healed!
ie paian, i am cleansed!
ie paian, i am purified!
8. offering of libation
9. invocation of leto &
artemis
the delian maidens,
followers of the lord who shoots from afar,
first praise apollon with a hymn
and now again leto and arrow-pouring artemis.
and so i too will praise the stately mother of the god who
suffered much for his sake,
and also his formidable, arrow-pouring sister who stands
always at his side,
for those who are dear to luminous apollo
are dear as well to those who love him.
ORPHIC HYMN TO LETO (35)
HOMERIC HYMN TO ARTEMIS (9)
10. closing invocation of
apollo
o holy archer whose broad shoulders
gleam,
to you i give thanks for the purification you bring,
the healing you have given me at this time of delphi
dawn.
stand by me, o radiant one, as my sanctuary and support,
both today and every day,
until revered persephone calls me near.
your ways are my ways, o treasured son of the noble daughter
of koios,
so lead me on that path which you of all the olympians show
forth:
that illustrious way which heals and honours the body;
which harmonizes and ennobles the heart;
which elevates and inspires the intellect;
and which purifies and enlightens the soul.
ie paian, o lyre-bearing god!
it is through you that mortals attain
perfection.
lord apollo, founder of laws and
cities, who sent forth the ships to new shores
and inspired the deep-souled to heights of philosophy,
may our prayers be pleasing to you.
as we pray to you for purification, may you indeed purify
us,
dissolving the effect of our faults as we mundanely strive
to dissolve the faults ourselves.
may we belong to the inmost whorl of the restoration of your
worship, and your honors,
and may these, which were once dimmed,
never be dimmed again.
take 3 deep breaths.
extinguish the candles.
sources
1. rg-veda 8.30.1-2. verses 1-2a: trans.
wendy doniger o'flaherty; verse 2b: trans. ralph t.h.
griffith, with edits
3. euripides, ion c. 80-155 (selections)
4. incense recommended by ORPHIC HYMN 34.
words after gitana, "ritual honoring athena," 11 june 2005,
at http://persephones.250free.com/Athena-ritual.html
7. homeric hymn 3.300-4, 356-74
9. homeric hymn 3.157-9
10.todd jackson, kyklos apollon, 16 feb 2005 (with
edits)
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