Winifred Hodge Rose
Here is an optional ceremony to perform as you begin your study of the Ferah soul. If you have a general soul-token that you hallowed during our first ceremony, you can wear that or have it near you during this ceremony. If you have a separate Ferah soul-token prepared, then keep it near you and follow the instructions for it during this ceremony.
Here is a link for more information about soul-tokens: https://heathensoullore.net/soul-tokens-for-working-with-heathen-soul-lore/
Preparation
Here are the items you will need.
– Soul-token(s) or materials for making soul-token(s), if you are planning to use this.
– Your altar.
– Candle in a candlestick that you can hold. If it is a votive or tea-light, place it on a dish so you can carry it without burning yourself. Matches or lighter.
– Thor’s Hammer, or other item that you use for Hallowing.
– ‘Needfire’: incense or aromatic herbs or twigs that will provide a wisp of smoke when burned, along with a suitable container (fire-pot) and charcoal if needed. I like to use a small, burning twig or stalk; if you use loose leaves, then you will need charcoal for burning them. Only a small amount is needed, for a brief time. If you don’t want to use any of these, you can use your candle, or simply imagine a Needfire in front of you. If you are using a little fire-pot with twigs or dried herbs, have a cup of water handy to put it out when you are ready.
– Whatever kind of ceremonial drink you wish to use, and your drinking horn, goblet, or other vessel. This is referred to as the ‘horn’ in the ceremony guidelines.
– A bowl with a little water in it for the blessing-bowl, and a leafy twig for sprinkling. You can use your fingers to sprinkle with, if you don’t have a twig.
– Have your Daybook handy to write any notes, questions, experiences, ideas that occur to you during your meditation and at the end of the ceremony.
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The Ceremony
Hallowing:
Circle the sacred space, or turn around in place, with a lighted candle, holding a Thor’s Hammer in your other hand. Speak these words, or your own preferred words, and raise the Hammer when you say “Thor hallow”.
Fire I bear around this frithyard,
And bid all here keep frith;
Flame I bear to enclose,
Bidding bale-wights flee away.
Thor hallow, Thor hallow, Thor hallow this holy stead.
Set candle and Thor’s Hammer on your altar.
Calling:
Hear me, all you hallowed folk,
Both high and low of Heimdall’s kin!
I hail you, Holy Ones of all the Worlds that are!
Ever shall frith and faith hold firm
Between myself and you:
The wellsprings of my souls.
Raise horn and drink; pour a little into the blessing-bowl.
Eldfathers, eldmothers, kindred of old,
Rooted in might, holding troth with your own,
Behold the new roots, the green shoots from your boughs,
And bless me: the fruit of your branches.
Raise horn and drink; pour a little into the blessing-bowl.
Landwights blessed, land’s life-givers,
Holy hold this stead, all harm withstand.
Be welcome here, all good wights,
And share the blessings with me.
Raise horn and drink; pour a little into the blessing-bowl.
The Needfire
If you have a Ferah soul-token to initiate and bless, have it ready in front of you. If you are not using tokens, that is fine: your souls are all here with you anyway! Light your incense, herbs or twigs if you are using them. If you are not, imagine a smoking Needfire before you, aromatic with sacred herbs. Use the smoke, physical or imaginary, to cleanse yourself, your tokens, and the space you are in, by passing your token(s) through the smoke, and waving the smoke around as you recite three times:
Hallowed herbs, all ill dispel,
As fuel on the fire, as smoke on the wind.
If you have a Ferah token, keep it with you for the following meditation.
The Fire of Life: Ferah Initiation
Keeping your focus on the Needfire, or your lighted candle, or the image / sensation of a sacred fire in your mind-body, proceed with the following meditation:
Ferah is the Fire of Life, ignited from the sacred energies of trees, lightning, thunder, Earth and Sky. It is a soul of rootedness and connection. It roots me in the past, with the evolutionary history of the Earth, of living beings, humankind, and the Holy Ones involved in all of this.
Ferah connects me with the same beings and phenomena in the present. It connects me through patterns, rhythms, and laws: these are natural, human, and godly patterns of behavior and of living.
Ferah is a soul overflowing with life-force, with responsiveness and connection, with wisdom. It fills my body with life, my heart with connection, my mind with wisdom.
Spend a few moments in silent meditation on your Ferah soul; write in your Daybook if you wish. If you want to name your Ferah token, do so now.
Now take a moment to honor your Ferah by raising up your token. If you have no token, you can raise your cupped palms or put your hands to your heart to honor your souls, if you wish.
Raise tokens / hands for a moment. If you have a Ferah soul-token, and it is something you wear, then you may wear it now.
Hail your Quest
Raise your ‘drinking horn’ and offer good words to your Ferah soul as you begin this mighty quest. Offer prayers to whichever Holy Ones you wish, for their help and Gods-speed on your exploration of Ferah. Sip from your ‘horn’ after each speaking. When you are finished, pour the rest of the drink into the blessing-bowl.
Blessing
Use the twig or your fingers to sprinkle liquid from the blessing-bowl around your altar, yourself, and your soul-token(s) if you have any.
Thanks-Giving and Closing
All-holy Gods and Goddesses, ancestors, good wights of this place, I offer thanks for your blessing and help with this new adventure I am undertaking: the exploration of my souls, and exploration of my soul-connections with the souls and spirits of other beings, including yourselves.
I take joy in my kinship with you, and with the Feorhcynn: with all that lives. May the frith among us all strengthen and deepen day by day, as I pursue the wisdom of my own souls, and share in the wisdom of others.
This rite is ended. I go forth now in frith, and bear gifts of wisdom and blessing with me, always!
If possible, pour the remaining liquid in the blessing-bowl out in a suitable place outside. If that’s not possible, you could pour it into the pot of a house-plant, or drink it all. If you must pour it down the drain, first say a prayer to the Earth-mother, asking her to accept this offering however it reaches her, and saying that you mean no disrespect to her by pouring it down the drain.
If you have a Ferah token, have a suitable container to store it in when you are not wearing or using it: a cloth bag or wrapper, a small bowl, jar, or box. Keep the container on your altar or other meaningful place.