Calendar of the Moon
24 Ngetal/Maimakterion
Maimakteria
Color: Grey
Element: Air
Altar: Upon a grey cloth set a chalice of rainwater, five grey candles, incense, large fans,
lightning bolts of metal, and a pile of heavy grey cloaks and veils.
Offering: Let grain blow away into the wind.
Daily Meal: Cold raw food.
Maimakteria Invocation
Hail Zeus Maimaktes, Blustering One!
Hail Gods of wind and rain!
The year turns from autumn to winter
And the storms come, with the hail
And the falling thunder! Spare us,
Spare our houses and the last remnant
Of our crops! Spare the trees that shelter us,
Our roofs and walls and chariots,
Our animals that huddle against the cold.
Hail powers of oncoming winter,
Powers of storm and hurricane,
Powers of wind and water that threaten us!
We ask for forgiveness for all that we have done
That could have been done better,
And we ask for mercy, O Winds,
Even though we have not always been merciful ourselves.
Hail Zeus Maimaktes, Blustering One,
May you turn your eyes from us
And lay your seething vision somewhere
That no innocent heart is harmed.
Chant:
Hail, hail, the wind and the rain,
Hail, hail the tears and the pain,
Hail, hail the force and the form,
Hail, hail the power of the storm.
(Each goes forth to the altar and wraps themselves in heavy grey cloaks and veils. Then all come
into a circle and dance, slowly and heavily, chanting. When the chant builds and subsides, the
rainwater is poured out as a libation.)
[Pagan Book of Hours]