Big Deal

A cosmological hymn, this one almost utterly naturalistic.

(Does anyone care about, uh, 'book of shadows pages' these days? I'm just an old typesetter, and like doing them. Someday I'll offer a full-color grimoire...)

A Blessing for the Big Deal

In all the world, from pole to pole, Life is puzzle-tight with Life,

Pieces making a pattern, threads in the weave.

Pull this thread and the other end will change, remove a piece and the picture becomes unclear.

Each and all and every one is needed for the whole.

The Great Pact between all things

That I will breathe out what you breath in, that I will consume death to maintain life,

That I in my turn will return to the Mixer – is the Big Deal we have made,

The Old Bargain that keeps mortals, gods and all in good order.

It is that to which I call.

To the Great Lights, and the Powers that hold the Heavens I give praise.
Where mass and velocity swirl in the Great Dance of Stars,

Where a web invisible holds the hands of the planets in their reel,
I gaze up from the Well of green life,

And stand in awe.
So, Oh Great Lights of the measuring, time-keepers, ever-present, I give you my blessing.
Be steady as you are bright
Be constant as you are lovely

And I will keep my watch

To the Shadows in the Deep, and the Power that remembers and restores I give praise.
In deep pools, where the corpses of lives go, The Rivers of Memory and Forgetting run.
Where form becomes essence, where bones pile high,

the roots of lives find growth,

And I am nourished.

So, Oh Powers of Death and Powers of Birth, Cauldron of Wonder, I give you my blessing.

Be dark as you are deep,

Be giving as you are full
And I will give what is due.

In the Midst of the Living World, among the Green and the Lively, to the Great Ground I give praise.
Where Fire and Water meet, stone rises, cooling. The realm of ever-changing makes soil of stone,

And there the seed catches. Life springs forth in the middle Realm,

Rooted Deep and Crowned High

And that is such as me.
So, Oh Nine Clans of Beings, Court of the Midrealm, Makers and Shapers I give you my blessing.

Be fruitful as you are plentiful
Be true as you are beautiful
And I will play my part.

So as mortal folk among the worlds, we are blessed.

Let light and time be our blessing.
Let fertile dark be our blessing.
Let ever-changing dancing life be our true blessing.
And let us keep sharp watch, make due gifts, and play our roles with skill
in Wisdom, Love and Power.
And as we are blessed, so we give blessing in turn
To the Great Bargain, the whole Big Deal of the Holy Cosmos.
Let our voice go forth, and let blessing be increased for all beings.
So be it!