Calendar of the Sun
9 Eostremonath
Hocktide: Day of the Amazon
Color: Red
Element: Fire
Altar: Upon cloth of red put six red candles, a chalice of clear water, crossed swords, a bow and
arrows, crossed spears, and a crescent moon.
Offering: On this day all women in the community must wear red and carry upon them some
blade, large or small. Upon meeting them, each man must bow to them.
Daily Meal: Red food.
Hocktide Invocation
On this day we honor
The Saxon women who turned away
The attacking Norsemen from the sea
When their menfolk had failed
Or been slaughtered, their bones lying
In graves still fresh and bare.
For when the need arises,
Anyone can find the courage
To face what must be faced
To dare what must be dared
To fly in the eye of the storm
Heedless of life or death.
We honor the spirit in women,
For millennia put down and buried,
But that rises when in need,
And shows its brave spirit.
On this day we do penance
For a thousand years of repression,
For a thousand years beating down
The spirit of the Amazon.
May she burn within you all!
(The women of the community approach the altar and place their blades upon it, and vow to
always be strong. Then they take the blades to wear for the rest of the day, and each anoints the
next with the clear water.)
[Pagan Book of Hours]