Calendar of the Moon
2 Coll/Metageitnion

Pannukhis

Colors: Blue and white
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of blue and white light many white candles, and above them have many spinning chimes than turn with the heat of the candles. As Pannukhis is an all-night vigil, the candles should not be allowed to go out; if one burns down, another should be put in its place immediately, so that the chimes will never cease to play.
Offerings: Vigil for the entire night, in honor of Athena. Meditate on areas in one's life where one needs to be more objective, and strive for this, silently.
Daily Meal: Fasting save for water.

Pannukhis Invocation

(Call and Response)

Call: We wait in the night for the Birth of the Virgin.
Response: We wait in the night for the miracle to occur.
Call: We wait in the night for the light to dawn.
Response: We wait in the night for the Sacred to appear.
Call: For Great Zeus once lay with wise Metis, the Titan.
Response: He feared her power, and that of her children.
Call: She became a fly, and he ate her.
Response: So he hoped to take her power into himself.
Call: But wisdom that is ill taken will not act as expected.
Response: It will turn the world upside down.
Call: And now Zeus is pregnant with the child of Metis,
Response: Now the great King labors like a woman,
Call: Now we wait for his moans and pain,
Response: Now we wait for the miracle to occur!
Call: We wait for the one who can make a man a mother,
Response: We wait for the goddess in armor and helm,
Call: Lady of Wisdom, Metis's daughter,
Response: She-dragon of many shapes, come!
All: Come! Come! Come! Come! Come!

(At the hour of Auge, all must sing and chant. At the hour of Anatolia, a torch is lit from the candles, and all process around the house and grounds as the Sun rises. If any are fleet of foot, a race is appropriate. While the procession goes on, the altar to Athena is erected in the temple room; no matter what is done at Sponde, that altar will be present for the next three days. All return with the torch and the fire is lit on Athena's altar, and must never go out.)


[Pagan Book of Hours]