Calling the Circle

Lighting the altar candles:

 

White candle in the center:

Mother of all life, soul of our being, center of all our longing,

who shines for all and flows through all,

Be with us, guide us, now and always.

Candles representing the four directions:

As we light the candle of the east, we remember that it represents the element of

air, morning, spring, and birth.

As we light the candle of the south, we remember that it represents the element of

fire, noon time, summer and adulthood.

As we light the candle of the west, we remember that it represents the element of

water, evening, autumn, and maturity.

As we light the candle of the north, we remember that it represents the element of

Earth, night time, winter, and old age.

The circle is open, where night and day, birth and death, joy and sorrow, meet as one.

 

Check in: Circle 

In our sacred circle, we share what is happening on our spiritual journeys

 

Fall Equinox Reading 

Into the quiet with a reading for the Fall Equinox:

This is the harvest home festival, the ingathering time, when we bring in the crops, fill the woodshed and prepare for the cold.  Now day and night are equal and we turn our thoughts again to balance.

Fall Equinox is a time of evaluation.  Did we plant enough of the right things?  Did we tend our crops well?  Have we nurtured what will truly feed us?  How do we preserve our harvest, so it can continue to nourish us through hard times?

Above all, this is a time to give thanks, to offer gratitude for what we have, and to remember the balance of all the elements that sustain our lives; gratitude to the earth, the living soil that grows our food, to the air we breathe, to the sun’s warm rays, to the life-giving rain and the flowing, cleansing waters; gratitude toward our community, to our family and loved ones, and to all the families of beings that are linked to the web of life.

Gratitude is the counter to greed.  If we neglect to say thanks for what we have, we feel eternally dissatisfied, and need more and more.  When we are thankful for all we have been given, then we need very little in order to feel surrounded by abundance.

In a just world, everyone would have enough to sustain lives with room for beauty, pleasure, self-expression and love, to restore and regenerate the natural systems that provide what we need.  May the balance be restored!                                                        Starhawk

 

Centering Time  (15-20 minutes)

Out of the quiet with the Aramaic Lord’s Prayer. (handed out)

 

Ritual:  The Four Paths

Creation Spirituality recognizes that all of creation exists within cycles, rhythms, and seasons of growth.  Just as there are four seasons, four winds, and four geographical directions, so too there are four paths of spirituality.  Understanding these paths helps us to find our place in our spiritual journey and in the larger scheme of things.                              Matthew Fox

 

Each of the four paths will be honored in the following manner:

• Candle lighting
• Reading
• Short silence

Chanting and drumming:

Earth, my body
Water, my blood
Winds, my breath
Fire, my spirit.

                       

I. Via Positiva:

Awe and Wonder—These are the joyful, ecstatic moments in our lives when we are filled with praise and thanksgiving for the beauty and grandeur of life.                   Matthew Fox

 

Light the small yellow candle

 

O Holy One, I ran through the fields and gathered flowers of a thousand colors—

And now I pour them out at Your feet.

Their beauty and their brightness shout for joy in Your Presence.

You created the flowers of the fields and made each one far more lovely

than all the skill of man could design.

Accept my joy along with theirs,

this field of blossoms at Your feet.

Holy One

as the wind blows through these flowers

till they dance in the ecstasy of creation,

send Your Spirit to blow through my being

till I too bloom and dance with the fullness of Your life.

Ishpriya R.S.C.J.

 

 Short silence

 

Expressing gratitude for the abundance in our lives using the phrase “Thank you God, as Gaia and Creator, for the abundance of __________.”

 

Chanting and drumming:  (do twice) 

Earth, my body

Water, my blood

Winds, my breath

Fire, my spirit.

                       

 

II. Via Negativa

Letting Go—These are the lonely, quiet moments in our lives when we are asked to sink into darkness and nothingness, to let pain be pain, and accept the mysteries of life.     Matthew Fox

 

            Light the small black candle.

 

We have forgotten who we are.

We have forgotten who we are.

We have alienated ourselves from the unfolding of the cosmos.

We have become estranged from the movements of the earth.

We have turned our backs on the cycles of life.

We have forgotten who we are.

We have sought only our own security.

We have exploited simply for our own ends.

We have distorted our knowledge.

We have abused our power.

We have forgotten who we are.

Now the land is barren.

And the waters are poisoned.

And the air is polluted.

We have forgotten who we are.

Now the forests are dying,

And the creatures are disappearing,

And the humans are despairing.

We have forgotten who we are.

We ask for forgiveness.

We ask for the gift of remembering,

We ask for the strength to change.

We have forgotten who we are.

United Nations Environmental Sabbath program

 

Short silence

 

Chanting and drumming:  (do three times)    

Earth, my body

Water, my blood

Winds, my breath

Fire, my spirit.

 

                       

III. Via Creativa

 

Creativity—These are the fertile moments in our lives when we find creative expression and outlet for all the joy and suffering of our existence.  Freeing creativity helps us to move beyond our sorrow or stagnation.                                    Matthew Fox

 

Light the small green candle.

 

Teach your children what we have taught our children—that the Earth is our mother.  Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.  If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.

This we know.  The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth.

This we know.  All things are connected like the blood which unites one family.

All things are connected.

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.

We did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it.

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.

                                    Chief Seattle

 

Short silence

 

Sharing the recipes that creatively use the Fall harvest

 

Chanting and drumming:  (do four times)     

Earth, my body

Water, my blood

Winds, my breath

Fire, my spirit.

 

           

IV.  Via Transformativa

A time of befriending new creation—These are the prophetic moments in our lives when we are called to share our talents and gifts with the hurting, fractured, dysfunctional aspects of our society.  In so doing, we honor our connection to all of creation.                                                              Matthew Fox

 

 Light the small purple  candle.

 

We join with the earth and each other.

To bring new life to the land

To restore the waters

To refresh the air.

We join with the earth and each other.

To renew the forests

To care for the plants

To protect the creatures.

We join with the earth and each other.

To celebrate the seas

To rejoice in the sunlight

To sing the song of the stars.

We join with the earth and each other.

To recreate the human community

To promote justice and peace

To remember our children.

We join with the earth and each other.

We join together as many and diverse expressions

Of one loving mystery:  for the healing of the

Earth and the renewal of all life.

United Nations Earth Sabbath program

 

 Short silence

 

 Sharing ideas for change in our use of Mother Nature’s resources

                        A basket is passed with slips of paper.  We each take one and read it.

                   

Chanting and drumming:  (do five times)       

Earth, my body

Water, my blood

Winds, my breath

Fire, my spirit.

           

  

Concluding the Ritual Circle:

 

Abbot Pastor said:

            If you have a chest full of clothing, and leave it for a long time, the clothing will rot inside of it.

            It is the same with thoughts in our hearts. If we do not carry them out by physical action, after a long while they will spoil and turn bad.

                                                                                                            Celtic Daily Prayer

 

Statements of commitment to one action that we will commit to doing in our lives using:

“Spirit, guide me to ____________.”

 

Agape Meal

 

We remain in our circle as we pass the pumpkin bread and cider to one another saying

Be nourished by this bread, a gift from the Earth

Drink in the essence of Creation, of all that is.

 

Closing the Circle

Circle is closed as candles are extinguished in reverse order of their lighting.