Calendar of the Moon
16 Luis/Gamelion
Day of the Sugar Maple
Color: Golden
Element: Earth
Altar: On a cloth of deep gold place a vase of forced and budded branches of the sugar maple, a
large pottery bowl of maple sugar, a single golden candle, a pot of soil, seeds, a large bowl of
water, and a bell.
Offerings: Plant seeds. Promise to look for sweetness in the natural order of things.
Daily Meal: Vegan. Serve maple sugar and maple syrup.
Invocation to the Green Man of the Sugar Maple
Hail, Green Man of the Winter!
Your secret blood rises
With the first teasing thaw,
Amid the chill winds and snow.
We drink of your blood,
And you give it willingly,
Sacrificing your life force
That we may have sweetness.
For happiness is no luxury,
It is our right and our delight.
You who bleed for our pleasure,
You who give us your innermost gift,
You who flame like a torch in the autumn
And warm our tongues in the spring,
Tree of beauty, tree of nourishment,
Fire of a hundred hills,
Wild turkey who gives of its flesh,
We hail you, sacred sugar maple,
Green Man of the Winter,
On this the time of your rising.
Chant:
I am flame on the hill
I am love on the tongue
I am words that flow forth
As the winter is sung.
(Each comes forward and plants a seed in the pot of soil, saying, "Hail Green Man of the
Earth!" Water is poured onto the pot, and then the rest is poured out as a libation. Maple sugar
is passed around and shared. Ring bell and dismiss.)
[Pagan Book of Hours]