SisterSpirit Ritual:

Our January ritual focused on the Goddess within everyone. Our January rituals are traditionally off the beaten track. The holidays are over, the bills are starting to roll in, the weather is cold, and we spend a lot of time indoors. We've celebrated storytelling, sacred humor, and other things that keep us from getting cabin fever. This year, we decided to look within ourselves and find that strength that exists within us all.

We went back to our usual winter home, the Echo Theater, for this ritual. About 25 women participated. Each woman was given a small tea candle before the ritual started, which would be lit to invoke the Goddess within. Here's the ritual program:

Following our usual custom, the circle was cast by the actions of the participants. We had set up chairs in a circle around our altar, a round card table that we cover with some nice fabric and cover with candles and items appropriate to the ritual. This month, we put a statue of a Bird Goddess on it. This Goddess has large eyes. On Her chest, the same large-eyed Goddess is repeated. For us, this symbolized the Goddess within.

When we were ready to begin, our Town Crier (a woman from Ohio who was raised on a farm and has a strong and resonant voice - she says she got it from calling the cows in from the pasture) signalled us to rise and join hands. We sang:

We designate four women to call the directions, and then let each invoke the direction as she wishes. Occasionally, we write these out, but usually, it's up to each invoker. That was the case with this ritual.

Each invoker lit a tall candle from the center candle on the altar, which had already been lit before the circle was cast. The candles were in traditional colors for each direction: yellow for east, red for south, blue for west and green for north. After invoking, the four direction callers stood facing her direction with her back to the altar, forming a small inner circle.

The Town Crier led this, and the other participants followed her example. Each woman took her individual candle to a direction that called to her and lit her candle on that caller's candle. Then, each placed her tea candle on the altar, saying "I invoke the Goddess within (and gave her own name, either given or circle name)." In this way, we invoked the Goddess together, all of us invoking the Goddess within. When each woman had lit her candle and placed it on the altar, she returned to her seat.

We closed our eyes. One woman led us in a visualization of a tree putting its roots down deep into the heart of the Earth, drawing the energy up to the tips of its branches, reaching out to the stars, and then grounding that energy again in a full circle.

We all stood and moved close to the altar. We joined hands by crossing our left over our right arm and taking the hand of the woman on either side of us. We sang as a call-and-response:

When we had sung this three times, we intoned the Cosmic Sound, OM. We did this three times also.

Led again by the Town Crier, we counted off, one, two, one, two. Those who were "one's" stayed in the outer circle and faced in toward the altar. The "two's" formed an inner circle, backs to the altar, facing the women in the outer circle.

The two circles moved in opposite directions, so that, after singing each verse of the song that follows, we each looked into the face of a different woman. Each verse was sung looking directly into the eyes of the woman opposite you in the other circle. Then, the outer circle would move to the right and the inner circle to the left, and we would repeat the song until each in the outer circle had sung to each in the inner circle. Also, one woman had her foot in a cast and could not stand very long. She stayed in the outer circle, and we each went up to her and sang to her directly.

Since looking directly into the eyes of someone else for an extended period of time is something that we usually don't do with someone we don't know very well, the Town Crier introduced this part of our ritual and talked about why we were doing this. In this, the heart of our ritual, we were looking into each woman and recognizing the Divine in her. It was important that we take it seriously. Introductions like this are commonly done in our rituals to help participants focus on the purpose of the ritual.

The song was:

We spoke a chant this time, rather than singing it, as we usually do. As we chanted, we danced around the altar, drumming and rattling and calling out names of Goddesses.

When the energy had been raised, one woman signaled for us to ground the energy, saying "I am the Goddess, magic is afoot." We all sank down to the floor, or as we were able, and sent the energy back to the Earth.

The feast is both a socializing event and a recognition of the blessing of the Goddess. We start the feast with a loaf of good bread. Someone hands the loaf to someone else in the circle and says, "May you never hunger." The one holding the loaf repeats this until everyone in the circle has been offered some bread. In the meantime, someone starts pouring cups of juice, passing them in the same way, saying, "May you never thirst." Other goodies are passed as well. We usually bring cookies, corn chips, nuts, cheese and crackers.

While SisterSpirit isn't in business and we aren't trying to make a profit, it does cost money for renting the ritual space and for things like candles to pass out. Also, we have a very cheap, but not free, office in an old building in downtown Portland. And we have a phone, with an answering machine that isn't quite dead, yet. We are very grateful when ritual participants share some of their wealth with us, so that we can keep holding rituals like this.

First, we sang a song, not devoking the Goddess within, but doing a final homage:

We devoked in reverse order. Amethyst Crow started with North, and Arvanna ended with the East.

We ended with another song:

We chanted our traditional opening of the circle, "The circle is open, but unbroken. Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again! "

A group hug followed.

SisterSpirit members stayed for the election of Council members. Then, we headed for a Vietnamese restaurant for more feasting.

May the peace of the Goddess be ever in our hearts.