Ritual For The Genesia

Ritual for the Genesia
5 Boedromion
 Ritual washing
 Ritual washing with innvocation to Okeanos
Okeanos whose nature ever flows, from whom at first both Gods and men arose;
sire incorruptible, whose waves surround, and earth’s all-terminating circle bound: hence
every river, hence the spreading sea, and earth’s pure bubbling fountains spring from thee.
Hear, mighty sire, for boundless bliss is thine, greatest cathartic of the powers divine:
earth’s friendly limit, fountain of the pole, whose waves wide spreading and circumfluent roll.
Approach benevolent, with placid mind, and be forever to thy mystics kind.
 Purification – water sprinkled from a bay branch – Be gone all corruption and evil”
(three times).
Blessed Okeanos, may your bright waters purify this space, and prepare both me, and it,
for the rites that are about to unfold.
 Euphemia sto, euphemia sto, eukhomai tois Theois pasi kai pasais.
(Let there be words of good omen, Let there be words of good omen, pray to the Gods
and Goddesses.)
 Who is present? Those attending answer: All good people!
 Lighting of the lamp for Hestia with invocation: Daughter of Kronos, You whose
eternal flame illumines all our worship, come to this oikos with blessings . . .
 Libation of wine to Hestia
 Homeric Hymn 24 to Hestia
To Hestia
Hestia, you that tend the far-shooting lord Apollo’s sacred

house at holy Pytho, from your locks the oozing oil ever
drips down. Come to this house in kindly (?) heart, together
with Zeus the resourceful, and bestow beauty on my singing.
 Invocations and prayers to Themis: To you who sits leaning against Zeus, who consults
closely with Zeus, and are the just order of all things . . . .
 Libation of honey sweet wine
Leap for goodly Themis
From the Hymn of the Kouretes

 Invocations and prayers to Gaia: Gaia, to you who nurtures us into being, who nurtures
us through life, and who accepts us unto once again unto Thee . . . .
 Libations of khernips to Gaia
 Orphic Hymn 26 To Earth
Ges

[Gaia Thea], mother of men and of the blessed Gods,
you nourish all, you give all, you bring all to fruition, and you destroy all.
When the season is fair you are heavy with fruit and growing blossoms;
and, O multiform maiden, you are the seat of the immortal cosmos,
and in the pains of labor you bring forth fruit of all kinds.
Eternal, reverend, deep-bosomed, and blessed,
you delight in the sweet breath of grass, O Goddess bedecked with flowers.
Yours is the joy of the rain, and round you the intricate realm of the stars
revolves in endless and awesome flow.
But, O blessed Goddess, may you multiply the gladsome fruits
and, together with the beautiful seasons, grant me favor.
 Homeric Hymn 30 To Earth, The Mother of All
Ges

I will sing of well-founded Gaia (Earth), mother of all, eldest of all beings. She feeds all
the creatures that are in the worlds, all that go upon the goodly land, and all that are in the
paths of the seas, and all that fly: all these are fed of her store. Through you, O queen,
men are blessed in their children and blessed in their harvests, and to you it belongs to
give means of life to mortal men and to take it away. Happy is the man whom you delight
to honour! He has all things abundantly: his fruitful land is laden with corn, his pastures
are covered with cattle, and his house is filled with good things. Such men rule orderly in
their cities of fair women: great riches and wealth follow them: their sons exult with
everfresh delight, and their daughters in flower-laden bands play and skip merrily over
the soft flowers of the field. Thus is it with those whom you honour O holy goddess
(semne thea), bountiful spirit (aphthone daimon). Hail, Mother of the gods (theon mater),
wife of starry Ouranos (Heaven); freely bestow upon me for this my song substance that
cheers the heart!
 Invocations and prayers to Zeus: Oh blessed Lord of the Gods, He who watches over
mortals and rules our fate…
 Libations of honey sweet wine to Zeus
 Aratos' Hymn to Zeus
To Zeus
From Zeus let us begin;

him do we mortals never leave unnamed;
full of Zeus are all the streets and all the market-places of men;
full is the sea and the havens thereof;
always we all have need of Zeus.
For we are also his offspring;
and he in his kindness unto men giveth favorable signs
and wakeneth the people to work, reminding them of livelihood.
He tells what time the soil is best for the labor of the ox and for the mattock,
and what time the seasons are favorable both for the planting of trees
and for casting all manner of seeds.
For himself it was who set the signs in heaven,

and marked out the constellations,
and for the year devised what stars chiefly should give to men right signs of the seasons,
to the end that all things might grow unfailingly.
Wherefore Him do men ever worship first and last.

Hail, O Father, mighty marvel, mighty blessing unto men.
Hail to thee and to the Elder Raced!
Hail, ye Muses, right kindly, every one!
But for me, too, in answer to my prayer direct all my lay,
even, as is meet, to tell the stars.
 Orphic Hymn 15 To Zeus
To Zeus
Much-honored Zeus, indestructible Zeus, we lay

before you this redeeming testimony and this prayer:
O king, you have brought to light divine works,
and Earth, goddess and mother, the hills swept by the shrill winds,
the sea, and the host of stars marshaled by the sky.
Kronian Zeus, whose scepter is the thunderbolt, strong spirited,
father of all, beginning and end of all,
earth shaker, increaser and purifier; indeed, All-Shaker,
god of thunder and lightning, Zeus the planter.
Hear me, O many-faced one, and grant me unblemished health,
divine peace, and riches and glory without blame.
Translation by Apostolos N. Athanassakis
 Libations of unmixed red wine to the dead (do not partake of the libation yourself! Pour
it all out to them)
“He who marries is to consider that one of the two houses in the lot is the nest and
nursery of his young, and there he is to marry and make a home for himself, going away
from his father and mother. And they shall beget and bring up children, handing on the
torch of life from one generation to another, and worshipping the Gods according to law
for ever.
And let a man not forget to pay the yearly tribute of respect to the dead, honouring them
chiefly by omitting nothing that conduces to a perpetual remembrance of them, and
giving a reasonable portion of his fortune to the dead. Doing this, and living after this
manner, we shall receive our reward from the Gods and those who are above us; and we
shall spend our days for the most part in good hope.”
Adapted from Plato's Laws
“Blessed Zeus who judges over our fates. May we give libation to those in our family lines we
have intimately loved and lost—to our parents and grandparents, and all those we have lived
with. May we also give libation to all in our line we know the names of, but have never met or
never got to love as intimately as we would have liked. And finally let us give libation to those in
our line we do not know of, those whose names have been lost. May we connect through the ages
and strengthen these bonds forever. Hail to the Blessed Dead! And hail to Zeus who governs all!”
 Invocation to Hestia: Daughter of Kronos, You whose eternal flame illumines all our
worship, I/we have honored You in first place with a libation of honey sweet wine and
now honor you in last place with a libation of honey sweet wine:
Blessed Hestia, Goddess of home and hearth. To you, I offer last of all a libation of honey
sweet wine, as a pious mortal should. Tend to those whom I/we love and guard the houses of
the pious. As the Gods will it, so shall it be!
 Libation of honey sweet wine to Hestia

 Extinguishing of the lamp

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Hestia, you that tend the far-shooting lord Apollo’s sacred

Leap for goodly Themis

From the Hymn of the Kouretes

 Homeric Hymn 30 To Earth, The Mother of All

From Zeus let us begin;

For himself it was who set the signs in heaven,

Wherefore Him do men ever worship first and last.

 Orphic Hymn 15 To Zeus

Much-honored Zeus, indestructible Zeus, we lay

Translation by Apostolos N. Athanassakis

Adapted from Plato's Laws

 Libation of honey sweet wine to Hestia

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