Tag: Kore

Celebrating Legends, Folklore & Spirituality 365 Days a Year for Jan. 6 – Twelfth Night, Epiphany of Kore, and Persephone

HALLOWEEN

January 6

Twelfth Night, Epiphany of Kore, and Persephone

Traditionally, on this day the ancient Greeks would carry the statue of Kore around her temple seven times as they prayed for protection and good fortune. Following the temple activities ties a nocturnal rite was held in honor of Kore (daughter of Zeus and Demeter, whose name means “maiden”), an aspect of Persephone before her marriage to Hades.

On this day in Old Europe the ashes from the Yule log were removed, and either stored for magickal purposes or scattered on the fields to insure fertility. Later on in the day the Lord of Misrule, known as the King of the Bean, was selected. Cakes were made, and a bean was baked into one. Whomever found the bean in his cake was then elected king for the day. The king, along with the Queen of the Pea (selected by finding the pea baked into another batch of cakes) ruled over the final Yuletide festivities.

Celebrating Other Spirituality 365 Days A Year – Epiphany,

Celebrating Other Spirituality 365 Days A Year

Twelfth Night, Epiphany of Kore, and Persephone

Traditionally on this day the ancient Greeks would carry the statue of Kore around her temple seven times as they prayed for protection and good fortune. Following the temple activities a nocturnal rite was held in honor of Kore (daughter of Zeus and Demeter, whose name means “maiden:), an aspect of Persephone before her marriage to Hades.

On this day in Old Europe the ashes from the Yule log were removed and either stored for magickal purposes or scattered on the field to insure fertility. Later on in the day the Lord of Misrule, known as the King of the Bean, were selected. Cakes were made, and a bean was baked into one. Whomever found the bean in his cake was then elected King for the day. The King, along with the Queen of the Pea (selected by finding the pea baked into another batch of cakes) ruled over the final Yuletide festivities.

The Celtic Calendar for Saturday, January 12th

Celtic Comments & Graphics


The Celtic Calendar for January 12

Earth Mysteries

The Sun has been growing stronger since the Winter Solstice, and this Capricornean day is also linked with the element of Earth, making January 12 the perfect time to read up on Earth mysteries, or the Cults of Natural and Spiritual death and rebirth, that attracted devotees in ancient times. These included the Greek Eleusinian mysteries, which focused on the reaction of Demeter, Mother Earth, to the abduction of her daughter, Kore (“Maiden” in Greek), or Persephone, by Hades, the ruler of the underworld. In her grief, Demeter caused all plants to die, except at Eleusis, until Kore was returned to her for six months of ever year.

Calendar of the Sun for January 6th

Calendar of the Sun

6 Wolfmonath
Day of Kore Underground

Colors: Dark brown and white
Element: Earth
Altar: Set with a brown cloth, a white candle, a bowl of earth saved from the Day of Kore’s Descent, a cup of well water fed by an underground stream, a dead twig, and the figure of a serpent.
Offerings: Dried flowers. Shed skins of snakes. Seeds that will be planted in spring. A promise to bring joy into a dark place, even at the peril of your own life or happiness.
Daily Meal: Dark, coarse bread. Root vegetables. Poppy seeds. Millet. Nuts and seeds.

Invocation to Kore Underground

Cold lies the Earth
And all things upon it,
And our spirits are chilled
With the sight of Earth asleep.
The Maiden of Spring lies
Deep underground with her bridegroom,
Lying with the Lord of Death,
Lying with the ghosts of our ancestors,
Lying with all that is forgotten,
And we are called merely to endure
Cold and darkness
As She willingly goes below the Earth
To bring comfort and light
To the realm of cold and darkness.
Let us never forget
That even in the time of winter
We can, as She does,
Give of ourselves
To bring light to the darkest places,
To endure them with faith in the cycle of life
And never to fail in our hope
Of the coming of the Spring.

Chant:
Kore Kore Kore Proserpina
(Let one chosen for the work of the daily ritual carry the bowl of earth from person to person about the hall, and let each one take a bit of the earth and rub it on their faces, and let it remain until the evening ablutions. Then let the water be poured as a libation to Kore into the remainder of the earth, and be carried outside and poured onto the Earth itself. Gather new earth, which will be saved until the day of Kore’s return.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for May 29th

29 Thrimilchimonath

Ambarvalia – Sprouting Corn Day

Color: Green
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a green cloth set a pot in which shoots of some kind of grain have surfaced, ready for transplanting.
Offering: Carefully nurture some fragile dream.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian

Ambarvalia Invocation

Great Demeter of the fields,
Mistress of all the crops
That are grown to the benefit of Man,
Kore, daughter of the springtime earth,
And the Lares of the home
Who watch over us all,
We honor you today in our work.
For some things are too tender
To be thrown to the cold earth
Exposed to frost and chill
In a place they were not born to walk.
Teach us that it is right and proper
To nurture these tender things,
To give them strength and protection,
To water them with what they need
To manifest themselves,
And never to chide them for their weakness.
And even if they live but for one season,
To cherish their short lives
And be glad that they once appeared on Earth.
Help us to nurture our most delicate dreams
That they may rise whole and sturdy
When the sun and the season allow it.

Chant:
We plant you with our love
We plant you with our hope

(The pots of green shoots are taken outside and carefully transplanted into the soil. Each touches them, waters them, and says, “So I nurture my dreams.”)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for March 22nd

 

 

Calendar of the Sun
22 Hrethemonath

Quinquatria Day IV
Ostara

Colors: Pale blue, yellow, spring green
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a cloth of Ostara colors, place a rainstick, a bowl of eggs, a great bowl of water filled with stones, a yellow candle, incense of violets, and a fan made in the shape of a bird’s wing. Add also flats of earth and a bowl of seeds. Set up a vase of branches cut from a tree and allowed to sprout green in warm water. Hang hollowed eggs marked with appropriate symbols from the tree. Some should be half golden and half black.
Offerings: Plant something. Introduce the joy of planting and working with gardens to the underprivileged.
Daily Meal: Eggs. Poultry. Rabbit.

Ritual Note: Like all the eight high holidays, this day should ideally be spent not enclosed and isolated, but in common with the larger pagan community. This can be done a number of ways, including spending the day elsewhere, at the Brigid’s Day ritual of another group or tradition, or by inviting in those pagans who would otherwise not be able to attend a ritual. Either way, the eight holidays should be a time of remembering the place of the house in the greater community. If the choice is made to go elsewhere, then no liturgy is needed for the day. If the choice is made to bring the greater community into the lesser one, the following ritual can be used:

(First four who have been chosen to do the work of the ritual cast circle with fan, candle, rainstick, and green branch.)

East:
O Mercury, rider of the wind,
Lithe of body and supple of tongue,
Blow a breath of freedom
Into our weary minds!
Spirits of the Air,
Caress us clean!

South:
O Bast, cat dancer in the fire,
Curious one with the flashing eyes,
Quick to pounce and quick to laugh,
Renew us with your fire!
Spirits of the Flame,
Awaken us!

West:
O Lorelei of the Sea
Mermaid singing with your siren song
Send us playful salt spray
And the rain of your laughter!
Spirits of the West,
Wash away the winter sorrows!

North:
Kore, earth Maiden,
Springtime’s goddess,
Returning yet again
From darkness into light,
May green arise in your footsteps
And flowers blossom from your touch!
Spirits of the North,
Welcome to Spring!

Ostara Invocation (Call And Response):

Call: Hail the coming of Spring!
Response: Hail the day of the eastern wind!
C: Tonight Day is equal to Night.
R: Today Night is equal to Day.
C: Today all things are in balance.
R: Balanced on the blade of a knife!
C: Balanced on the blade of Thought.
R: Balanced on the blade of Wind.
C: As the winds rise in the east,
R: As the sun rises in the east,
C: As dawn gives new beginnings,
R: At the dawning of the year,
C: We lift our arms to the eastern sky,
R: We lift our spirits to the coming of Spring,
C: And may the rain wash us clean!
R: May all things be cleansed!
C: May all things begin anew!
R: May we rise in hope and be transformed!
C: May we rise like the grass springing forth from the soil!
R: May we unfurl like every new leaf!
C: Arise, and sing for joy!

Ostara Chant

Bass descant:

Breath warms thee
Hands prepare thee
Hope sows thee
Sun awaken thee

May the seeds we plant spring forth and grow
May we reap our dreams from what we sow,
And our transformation has begun,
We are rising upwards toward the sun
We are rising upwards toward the sun
We are rising upwards toward the sun
We are rising upwards toward the sun
We are rising upwards toward the sun.

Soprano melody:

(We will) Break the surface of the Earth,
Like the Mother’s flesh gives maiden’s birth,
Like the heaving mountains rise and fall,
Like the buried hope within us all,
Like the greening tendril skyward springs,
Like the birds return on joyous wings,
Like our every breath of eastern wind,
We will see the dawning year begin,
And the seed of sorrow planted deep
Shall awaken from its bitter sleep,
And our transformation has begun,
We are rising upwards toward the sun….

Breath warms thee
Hands prepare thee
Hope sows thee
Sun awaken thee

All together:

We are rising upwards toward the sun
We are rising upwards toward the sun
Alive
Alive
Alive…..

 

Pagan Book of Hours

Jan 5 – Theodosia/Gift of God

Jan 5 – Theodosia/Gift of God
On this day on the island of Andros in ancient Greece, the water of a spring by the temple of Dionysos tasted like wine. This continued for a week although it only tasted like wine inside the temple.

This was the same day in Alexandria that water was drawn from the Nile as part of the ceremonies of the Koreion (see above). Blackburn notes that Aion (the miraculous child of Kore) was associated with Sarapis and Dionysus which may be why the liturgy for this day commemorates the miracle at the wedding-feast of Cana when Christ turned water into wine.

Source:Blackburn, Bonnie and Holford-Strevens, Leofranc, The Oxford Companion to the Year, Oxford University Press 1999