Wednesday, September 26, 2018

A Full Pagan/Druidic Funeral Script


This is a high-church version, based firmly on A.D.F.'s Order of Ritual, modified for a very mixed audience from the beloved's several communities. The deities mentioned are his, and would be re-worked as circumstances require. Hopefully various turns of phrase and prayers may be helpful even if the full script is less so.

Simple shrine – small FW&T, big censer for incense offerings, if Fire can’t be kept going.

 1: Welcome  (ending with: )
In Pagan paths, we are taught that death is a part of the cycle of existence. No form can be eternal – all arise from the womb of the world, and vanish again in their time – but essence can endure.  Many wise people have believed that a soul, a spirit, remains alive after death, that death is just the leaving of one form for another, while our eternal essence carries on. We hope that this is so; yet, as long as human memory does not fail, we can be sure of another sort of endurance – we endure in our deeds, in the memories of those whose lives we have touched. The dead live in us, of that we can be certain, even as we look outward into the unknown adventure that may await us all.
So, we are joined here by our memory, by our lives with ***,  by our affection and by our sorrow. Let us spend a few moments preparing our hearts….

2: Attunement/ simple Two Powers
• Take a few moments to settle your body… and take a deep breath… let it out and take another… and another…
• In our work, we remember the impersonal divine as Fire and as Water…
• Just as every tree is rooted in the deep, sustaining water that flows in the land, so each of us is rooted deep in the rich, fertile power of the divine.
• Just as all life derives its energy from the shining sun, as all are guided by the moon and stars, so are we illuminated and guided by the shining fire of the divine.
• Take a deep breath… and feel the deep in you, the light in you…

3: The Gate To Home
• It is by this flow, and shining, that each of us is connected with one another, with the holy world in which we live, and even with the Gods.
• So we will open our Gate. The Gate Between is our Fire, which we feed… is our Well, to which we make offering of silver… it might be a shining mist… a spiraling light… a deep opening… an Oaken Door…
• When we open the Gate, we choose to open ourselves to the divine… in ourselves, in the world, and in the realms of dream and story that we call spirit…

• Today we make this Gate for ourselves - to make our connection to ***… to his story, to our memory of him, and to his spirit
• We also make this Gate for *** – that this fire be a beacon to his spirit, that he see us and hear us, that he see clearly his way forward in his next great adventure…
• Let the Gate be open…

4: The Invitations
• Now to the Sacred Fire we call
The Threefold Kindreds, spirits all
• Mighty and beloved dead
Be welcome at the Fire
• Wild Ones, Spirits of the Land
Be welcome at the Fire
• Eldest, wisest, Shining Gods
Be welcome at the Fire
• Holy Ones, accept our offering!

• Likewise let us call to the Gods of ***’s heart and hearth. In our ways we say that we are drawn to the divine by the beauty and power of the gods, each of us drawn to the proper beloved. On the altar in ***’s home the chiefest gods were the Goddess called Brigid, the High One, and Manannan MacLir, the God of Wanderers.
• To the Lady of Fire and Water, the Daughter of the Sacred Fire, Brigid the Foster-Mother we call. Often have you had gifts and honor from our ***, now we ask you to see our fire and folk, to spread your cloak of love and comfort over our kinsman as he enters the world of spirits. Grant him your rest and peace, Mother of Healing, and in time, guide him to a gentle fate at the table of the Dead.

We spill this offering to you in ***’s name- - Brigid, accept our Offering!
• To the Grey God of the Misty Border, the Sailor on the Seas, the King Without a Throne, to Manannan MacLir we call. Often has our kinsman *** called to you, now we ask you find him where he wanders, O Guide of Souls, and show him his right path. Let him be welcomed in Tir na Marbh, fed on your ale and apples. Grant him a clear path, Son of the Boundless, and guide him in time to his future home. We spill this offering to you in ***’s name- - Manannan macLir, accept our Offering!
• Come to our fire, spirits, join us in this remembering, in this blessing, of Anthony Joseph Gooch, his life and his legacy.

5: Offerings to ***
• So open your hearts, and fill your memory with ***… Let him be present in your heart… call to him with the joy you felt in his life…
• ***, we speak to you from this world you knew, though we know not where you are. We keep this fire, for a time, to guide you to us, we kindle a fire in ourselves in your memory.
• We set this table for you… (drink) and (bread), in the old way, that you might be certain of your welcome
• In the Mother’s Love be welcome
In the Joys of Life be welcome
Be welcome here among those who remember you with love.
So be it!

7: The Eulogies

8: Prayer of Sacrifice:
• Now, at last, we offer to the Host of the Feast of the Dead, to Donn MacMil, whose death opened the way for us all. Receive this offering, Brown Bull, Chieftain of welcoming, and receive with it our kinsman, *** into comfort and his next work.
Donn, accept our offering!
• And again we offer to all the powers – to the Kindreds three, to the line of ***’s forebears, to his allies among the spirits; to Brigid the Comforter and Manannan the Guide, and again to Donn the Lord of the Hall of the Honored Dead. Throw wide your gates, and welcome the bright spirit, the deep soul of our *** among his friends and kin who await him.
Holy Ones, accept Our Sacrifice!


9: Thanks & GoodBye
• Before we end this formal remembrance, it is proper for us to give thanks to all who have aided us.
• First we thank you, ***, for being here with us. We will hold you in our hearts as we go from here, but we do not hold you to your life. Let the gate be open for you and the fire guide you, let the waters of the well sustain you, as you go on your way with our offerings of love.
***, We Thank you!
• Remember again the Gate, our connection with the divine… While we never truly banish that connection, we must now turn our hearts away from the past, and toward the future.
• So let us close what we have opened, let Fire be flame and Well be water, let the oaken door be shut, the connection loosened for now…
Let the Gates be closed.
• We offer our thanks to the Mother of All.
We offer our thanks to the Gods, Dead and Spirits.
May the Three Sacred Kins
Bring joy to all beings, and renew the ancient wisdom.
To the Fire, Well and Tree
We offer our thanks.
May Wisdom, Love and Power
Kindle in all beings and renew the ancient wisdom.
To the Earth, Sea, and Sky
We offer our thanks.
May the ancient wisdom be renewed, and may all beings
know peace, joy and happiness
In all the worlds.
So be it
And so, our work is ended. Let us go now to our feast, joined in fellowship.

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