Calendar of the Sun
23 Winterfyllith
Day of the Scorpion: Beginning of Scorpio
Colors: Dark red
Element: Water
Altar: Set with a cloth of dark red, a large chalice of red wine, a curved knife, a candle, a whip,
and a wreath of thorns.
Offerings: Extremities - of asceticism, or indulgence.
Daily Meal: Meat. Bitter greens. Vinegar. Spicy or sour food. Shark or eel.
Invocation to Scorpio
Desert's child of the scorching heat,
Bearing each night of barren cold,
Springing from the core of the earth,
Underground water running beneath,
Darkest cave of mysteries,
You whose gift is Desire,
Bless us with the ability
To follow our true passions,
And to start over again from the beginning
When the burning comes.
By the power of all that transforms,
You challenge us
To forever stoke the inner flame.
May we go forth with lust for life.
(The Scorpio chant is a low ohm, in multiple harmonies. Afterwards, one who has been chosen to
do the work of the ritual approaches with the wine in one hand and the wreath of thorns in the
other. S/he asks, "Wilt thou have agony or oblivion?" To accept and hold the wreath is to say
that one has been asleep for too long, and needs to be violently awakened. To accept the wine is
to say that there has been too much pain, and one needs respite from it. If one accepts neither,
s/he says, "Thou hast enough of either, so thou must give some away to others." The individual
must then either offer massages to those who chose oblivion, or a whipping to those who chose
agony.)
[Pagan Book of Hours]