Calendar of the Moon
6 Nion/Anthesterion
Rhea's Day - Pre-Initiation for the Greater Mysteries
Color: Green
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a green cloth set a sheaf of grain saved from the previous year's harvest, laid in a
winnowing basket, and a chalice of fresh-pressed fruit juice.
Offerings: Care for the Earth.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian
Rhea's Invocation (to be spoken by a priestess who is invoking her)
I am the Earth before you walked on it.
I am the mountains before humans tracked them.
I am the fields before they were grazed
By any except the wild herds.
I am the trees before they were cut down,
When they grew so thick that no light
Could be seen between their branches.
I am the stones before they were dug.
I am the plants before they were bred
For your use, and then harvested.
I am the grandmother who saw you born.
I am the mentor who watched your first steps.
I am the Old One who watched you grow.
From my loins came my daughter Demeter
Who knew that you must eat more
Than my wilderness could give you,
And fed you from her bounty.
From her loins came my grandchild Persephone
Who gave herself to your Dead
That you might be nurtured both before and after.
I have watched you grow, my grandchildren,
But you were not my first children.
Tell me, then, what you will do for me?
(Each person comes forward and speaks an oath, saying how they will protect the earth for the
elder children of Rhea, the plants and animals who were here before us. The juice is shared
around, and the remainder poured as a libation for Her.)
Chant:
The Earth is our Mother, we must take care of her,
The Earth is our Mother, we must take care of her,
Hey and a ho and a ho na hey and a ho and a ho na na
[Pagan Book of Hours]