Calendar of the Moon
21 Saille/Mounukhion

Aphrodite Urania's Night

Colors: Blue-green and blue-violet
Element: Water and Earth
Altar: Upon a cloth of blue-green and blue-violet, set forth a bowl of henna mixed with water, wreaths of flowers, and a chalice of mixed fruit juice and tea.
Offerings: Flowers in water. This is an appropriate night for ritual sex, although the emphasis should be on exploring sexuality that is different, or with someone different, than one's normal mode, provided that it does not violate vows and strictures. If this is not possible, then meditate on what it is to have a love for another human being that is not accepted.
Daily Meal: Fish/seafood and meat together. Fruit.

Invocation to Aphrodite Urania

Hail, Aphrodite Urania, Lady of Unconventional Love!
You who are the patron of love in all its forms,
Love between too young and too old, beautiful and plain,
Rich and poor, men or women or the sacred third,
Healing and codependence, joy and obsession,
The love that plays havoc with family and society,
The love that breaks down boundaries.
No act of love and pleasure is less than sacred to you.
Hail, Builder of Bridges, who will bear us up!
You are the slender line of love across the deepest of abysses.
When we leap off that cliff, holding our breath,
Knowing nothing is certain but our feelings,
We find ourselves not tumbling terror-stricken as we had feared
But walking safely on the great span of your heart
Where we meet each other on the sacred middle ground
And cross to a more joyous land.
Bearded Aphrodite of Cyprus,
Who moved to the sacred ground of the Third
In order to love Hermes,
Whose child is Hermaphroditus,
You are the bridge between the sweet waters of the heart
And the earthy depths of the body,
The mud that we first crawled from,
The love we will always turn back to,
The quicksand that mires us,
Our tears crashing against the rocks like tides.

(One who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual, and who is closest to the Sacred Third, goes about with the henna, marking the hands of each in turn, and saying, "Love and be loved.")

[Pagan Book of Hours]