Kristen's Quotes from GOG's Samhain Ritual and Wake for Dionysos.
( Not, you know, that they capture the bits that I thought were utterly amazing – like the fire invocation I would’ve loved to get all of, and I couldn’t stop watching to write fast enough. Some of the Dionysos one I didn’t catch. The invocations in general were pretty amazing. Ancestors, etc. ~Kristen)
(These are from the Sunday ritual. We also performed the same ritual on Saturn's Day and held an all-night vigil. Note the lack of sleep...)
Pre-Rit
"Pat, I'm going to have to ask you to remove your foot." (Nm)
"Oh... But I need that for later." (P)
"Welcome to Samhain 2006 part two!" (Nm)
"I think the Gods are more interested in where your mind is than where your butt is." (Nm)
re: the myth at hand
"Zagarus & Persephone had a child-" (Bl)
"Zeus."
"Oh my god! I'm sorry guys - two hours sleep." (Bl)
"I do love that we had someone call who can't come to the ritual because she has a hangover - that's cool, you did the ritual." (Nm)
"More about where you get to with the wine than the wine [...] much more about the beyond than how you get there." (Nm)
"So, the coffin is full of masks. Dionysus' body is the masks." (Nm)
re: the invocations & their masks
"Sometimes there are three or four hands involved and you get to see that trail." (Nm)
"Begin with three chimes, and you're the chime guy." (Nm)
"...a thursis. It's a staff with a pinecone on it. That's another form of Dionysos, and he's happy to see you." (Nm)
re: the meditation
"-the three hour tour." (Jf/M)
"No, not unless I fall asleep. If I stop talking long enough, somebody kick me." (Nm)
"Can we have that in writing?" (Jf)
"As you walk around in your daily life [...] you are the center of the universe. We are creating a communal center of the
universe." (Nm)
re: Gates
"-and she's going to do that all by herself."
-mumbled protests from K-
"Well, she's not going to do it all by herself. Though Hermes & Kristen -could- do it all by themselves - it's -better- if it's a
community act." (Nm)
"It was a mistake, but I -liked- it." (Nm)
"We invite our special guy, and Blue will do that." (Nm)
"After she stops hiding behind the pillow."
"This is the part where the ancient druid would be like, where's the sacrifice?" (NM)
"Pat's foot?"
-P repeats his protest of needing it for later-
"ADF does not allow blood sacrifices in public ritual, nor should they." (Nm)
"Welcome, do you want to do something" (to LS)
"Welcome to the grove, here, do something - that's our slogan. We stole it." (Nm)
"Idea for a ritual? That sounds interesting, make it happen. That's how I cut down on my workload - I mean, that's how we 'inspire each other."
(Nm)
"Nice save." (Jf)
re: allpraise
"At Samhain, it's between you and your kindred." (Nm)
"Because under the cover of noise, the people who really need to give praise will have the safety to do so." (Nm)
re: the omen
"Say what comes to mind, much like the seance, if you're all thinking the same thing, you won't know unless you say it." (Nm)
options on your dixie cup of life
"You can say 'you weirdos', I'm not even touching it." (Nm)
"If you don't formally accept it - it still -happened-, but that's your choice." (Nm)
praise for the kitchen witch
"We love you Patty, and we'll be true- and we won't finish the song, because we didn't for Bob either." (Jf/M, Bob was the kitchen
witch for Samhain part 1)
"If you don't do it that way, the passers out are chasing the pourers all over the room." (Nm)
"-but it's -funny-." (JM)
how to summon help
"Garcon! waiter, grounding over here." (Nm)
grove policy on grounding
"We don't want to be right up your tail if you need space to grieve." (Nm)
"We have thongs." (Nm)
-Jenif/bard of the evening groans, see Mabon 04 notes for previous issues with thongs-
"Isaac in a thong?"
"-we have –songs-." (Nm)
---
"I can't remember what it's called, but I like your thing with the pinecone on it."
"It's my -penis-."
"There's a chair coming, it might want our feet." (P)
"Bow chicka bowbow." (M) (spelling?)
"-No-." (Jf)
Rit
"We are here to honor the Gods. Old ones who give life to all that is, give to us Your presence." (Nm)
Earth mother (Tr/Gaia)
"The beginning, the basis, the start."
Directions (Ed/Tiresius)
"As you can see, I cannot. Not on this plane."
"-but I have other senses. I can feel cold air from the North [...] I can smell sulfur, I can smell Elizabeth. I can smell pine. I can smell grease- not the country. From the Greasetrucks."
"I can almost hear the leaves falling from the trees, the sound they make when they flutter to the ground."
Fire (Joanne/Hephaestus)
"I am the fire of Hephaestus [...] if you can not understand Him, strain harder."
"That is Hephaestus' fire. Hate Him if you must."
"Hephaestus molds as He sees fit, and that -is- the whole of it."
"You know what? The senior druid needs a tissue." (Nm)
Tree (Db)
"I have been here before you & I will be here after you. I have been here before you & I will be here after you. I have been here before you & I will be here after you. I've held you in my arms all your life."
"Tree of life, dreaming tree, please hold us during this ritual."
"Tree, accept our offering."
"Floor, accept our offering." (Nm)
"It's wood."
Well (M)
"Down, down, down farther than man has ever gone in the earth. [...] Down where all the scary things are supposed to live. Water has been there."
"We're always connected to those scary things, we just never realized. Don't be afraid of the water. Don't be afraid of the well."
Gates (Nr's invocation/K's voice/Hermes)
*I would traditionally write my favorite lines here, as I wouldn't be able to get it all down. I'm going to follow that pattern.
"Stealing in around the edges
wine-bright laughter and stilling song."
"No boundary but your gaze holds it
No border known but your wings cross it."
"Guide of dreams past sleeping spirits' gates
Guide of spirits to the gates of Charon's ferry."
"Will You come
Giving from beloved edges
Still or laughing in stealth or song?"
Outsiders (Annie/Ariadne)
"How do you find the outsider? You have to go into the maze yourself."
"We've had people decide the Corner Tavern was a better idea than the rit." (Nm)
"We'll deal with it later, so long as the water goes out, and we get two humans back." (Nm)
(first time in recent recollection the grove didn't hum the jeopardy song waiting for the humans to return)
"Can we call in the ancestors-" (Nm)
-phone rings, answering machine goes off-
"I didn't mean it that literally." (Nm)
"Could be my mom. Or Norma's. Likely it's an ancestor trying to sell aluminum siding." (Ed)
Ancestors (Jenif./ Thanatos)
"I know sleep. He's my brother. No, my children. I am many, many things, but sleep is not one of them."
"I am your past, I hold your past. I brought your loved ones where they needed to go, but they are -not- asleep."
"They are happy, or they are sad, they are here but they are not. They are many things and nothing."
"They still love you. I know because they tell me when they pass through. In a way you will soon know."
"Keep them in your hearts [...] I am sorry for your pain, I am sorry for your loss. But they are -not- asleep."
"Don't you wonder what the neighbors think?" (Nm)
Nature Spirits (Dragyn)
"Think small, think really really small. One-celled organism."
"Bigger yet, a little mouse. You have a houseplant. You have a pebble. A little bigger, you have a bird [...], large rock."
"Even bigger. Something like a lion, huge cactus."
"You have the entire surface of the ocean covered in plankton that create most of our oxygen by themselves."
"Pumpkins, lots of pumpkins, cardinals." (P)
"All the fish that get made into sushi." (JM)
"All the delicious, delicious sushi." (P)
"I'm terrified I'm going to forget someone because I always always do." (P)
"Nature spirits, accept our offering twice, cause we know what world our bread's buttered in." (Nm)
Gods & Goddesses (Mn)
"We are here [...] we see everything. We know everything. We see - you. You honor us, but you honor yourselves. We ae all part
of the same stuff. When you speak, you speak from your heart - it is the same heart."
(Ganesha gets called in like ten times)
"Did somebody say Ganesh?"
"I swear, there's a God who should sell used cars." (Nm)
"They'd probably be good cars though." (P)
"We'd buy 'em anyway." (Nm)
Dionysos (Bl)
"Do your throats hurt? They should, the way you've been singing. I don't hear that very often. I'm there, in the pain of your throat."
"You see masks as a front."
"Who is the real you - the one [...] who is invoked by the beeping of the alarm clock?"
"She does because she loves me. I don't ask so much of you. Just - push."
"I turned mother against child. I am the laughing God, formed from unspeakable grief."
"And would you like your religion more metaphorical than this? Then maybe this isn't the place to come. Because we really believe, and this is our lives." (Nm)
Omen
"There are mirrors behind mirrors behind mirrors going down, that distort as well as show truth."
"If you don't do it, you'll do it again."
"If everything's a reflection, what are we reflecting?"
"Change."
Waters of Life
"Take it or leave it - it's your choice, but it doesn't matter. You've already been changed." (N,)
re: Dionysis bread
"So is He saying bite me?"
"Yeah, He is. Chew it -slow-." (Nm)
"Who didn't get a piece of Dionysis?"
"That's the best God I've had in awhile."
"Sorry honey, I've been busy." (JM)
"Mm, yummy God."
The Mirror (Nm)
"The mystery is in the -mirror-."
"Who do you see? I see a living breathing person with a choice."
"Breathe because you can."
"The mirror lies and you know that and you know sometimes, you don't make the best choices."
"It is the power to own those choices."
"-because you choose to be here. You choose to be in this weirdo religion [...] because you see and I don't ask you to always see clearly because the mirror lies. I ask you to- choose- to see."
