Calendar of the Sun

26 Blutmonath

Valraven’s Day

Color: Black
Element: Air
Altar: Upon a black cloth set a black stone, a white stone, a chalice of mead, a knife, a skull, and the figure of a black winged horse.
Offerings: Kneel and meditate on Death. Face a fear that is long overdue.
Daily Meal: Meat.

Invocation to Valraven

Black horse that runs across the sky
Ridden by Valkyries in their battle-wrath
Ridden by Hel in her implacable coldness
Riding the spirits of the air in turn,
Show us our dreams
And not our nightmares,
Yet if you must bring us nightmares,
Let them be guides to the darkest corners
Of our hidden mind and soul,
The better to know ourselves.
Black horse that runs across the sky
On great black wings,
Let us listen for the rustle of your feathers
In our ear as we lie awake
In that moment before sleeping.
Let us go to visit you
Where you are enthroned
In the place of smooth black stone
The place where no light falls
The place where the Dead pass by
On their way from rainbow to earth
On their way past Mordgud’s toll
On their way past Nidhogg’s working
On their way over chill water
Into the icy realm of Death
Where only your Queen rules.
And when we come as your guests,
Lord who lives beneath the ground
And rides the winds in the sky,
May we always be free to leave.
(Hum one wordless note, then blow out the candles and leave in silence.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]