Winifred Hodge Rose
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.
Hallowing
Circle the sacred space, or turn around in place, with a lighted candle in one hand and 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 Sefa 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, feel, smell, or sense 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 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 wish or need to, you can extinguish the Needfire when you are done.
If you have a Sefa token, keep it with you for the following meditation.
Seeds of Self and Others: Sefa Initiation
Note: this is not a journey type of meditation. It is a discursive one, which offers a few words, a sentence or two at a time, followed by a pause for you to think, feel, and intuit about it. Begin with a prayer, then proceed to the meditation.
Sefa Prayer
Beautiful Sif, Sibbia, Sippe: Your name itself means ‘relationship, kinship’. Your shining beauty is a symbol of how we can strive for beautiful, meaningful relationships. Guide us on the path toward knowing our Sefa soul, who is focused on relating to everything we care about, and gives us the skills and qualities to promote those relationships.
Sjöfn, you who promote love and affection among us, bless the exploration of our Sefa who values this pursuit. Frigg Frith-weaver, and your companions who promote frith and goodwill: enlighten us with your wisdom, and bless our pursuit of understanding.
Wise Kvasir: you came into being through a collective ritual of frithweaving among all the Gods, who were so very tired of war. The fermentation of your thoughts and your rede inspire our own growth. You, too, are a patron and a symbol of our Sefa soul, which arises through the harmony of all our souls as you arose from the harmony among the Gods. Stir our souls, wise Kvasir, that we may pursue wisdom with all our powers.
Sefa Meditation Seeds
Settle yourself comfortably now. Breathe gently but deeply. Let go of tensions and of thoughts that are irrelevant at this time, as you pursue the knowledge of your Sefa soul. Breathe. Let your mind open freely to the wisdom that lies within you. Read the following lines slowly, and give yourself time to digest them before going on to the next ones. Write your thoughts in your Daybook if you wish.
My Sefa-Self is a song, and the singers are all my other souls, singing the song of my Self.
Sefa arises as a collective, and it encompasses all the collectivities that matter to me:
My own collective of souls,
The people and other beings closest to me, and those farther away whom I care about, as well,
The places, land, and country I belong to and relate to,
The interwoven ideas, ideals and values that matter to me.
Sefa is what I belong to, and what belongs to me: the Sib, the Sippe, the Kindred, in all the ways that I personally define them. From ‘kindred’ comes ‘kindness’, and ‘kindred spirits’.
What qualities and abilities do I need, to help establish and nurture all these collectivities?
Awareness, and attention.
Perceptiveness: the ability to perceive others truly, and my own souls as well.
Insight into myself and others.
Deep understanding.
Caring.
Empathy.
Compassion.
Commitment.
Sefa is the soul who generates these relationship-supporting abilities and skills.
As Aldr weaves together the strands of events-in-time to create my Werold-Hama…..
….so Sefa weaves together the strands of my connections with others, collectively creating the multidimensional frithgarths in which I am embedded.
Aldr weaves my place in Time; Hama weaves my Lich which gives me a place in physical Space.
It is Sefa who weaves my place within the great web of interrelationships that is my World.
Think deeply on this, and honor the work and the power of Sefa: my own Sefa, and all others.
Finish by raising up your Sefa token, and naming it if you wish. If it is something you wear, then you may wear it now. If you have no token, you can raise your cupped palms or put your hands to your heart to honor your Sefa.
Hail your Quest
Raise your ‘drinking horn’ and offer good words to your Sefa as you begin this mighty quest. Offer prayers to whichever Holy Ones you wish, for their help and Gods-speed on your journey. 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 Prayer
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 Sefa 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.