Desperate Druids - Part 14 - Celebration

PART 1 GETTING READY (Laughter) PETER: Am I late? SARAH: Not at all, go and talk with people. Iíll take care of things. SARAH: People come together! Time to start the service. PETER: Where are you going, Kikki? KIKKI: If you must know, Iím just here for the food, These services have no magic oomph in them for me. Iíll be over with Dan preparing the picnic. PETER: What, Dan, youíre not attending? But after all your workÖ? DAN: I canít stand more than 5 minutes of any formal ritual, my eyes just glaze over. Food has to be prepared, things to do. Enjoy the service Peter. See you soon. SARAH: Dan! I forgot the sacrifice, find me something quick. DAN: Right! SARAH: Form a line on the trail folks, weíre starting in 3 minutes. PETER: Where should I stand? SARAH: On your feet. Anywhereís fine. Hereís your lines (paper noise) PETER: What, I have lines? CRAIG: Iíve got my part memorized, of course. Using paper is beneath a Druid. In fact, Caeser wrote thatÖ (Interrupted) SARAH: Good, good. Craig, youíll do the processional hymn as planned? CRAIG: Yes. SARAH: Thank you. CRAIG: Join me, young student. Stand by me in line. PETER: Okay. DAN: Hereís the sacrifice, Oak leaves with acorns. Mead, water and chalice are on the table. SARAH: Thanks Dan, youíre a lifesaver. JODY: (Noise of rustling bushes.) I am prepared and settled. Are we ready? SARAH: Just about. JODY: Sarah, could you play the preceptor role today? Thomas was up all night on the choreography and didnít learn his lines, again. Do you know them? SARAH: Yes, Iím fine with that part too. JODY: This is it then? Our last time? Letís get started. SARAH: Okay folks! Silence your electronic devices! Line up! Dan, cue up the music! Places everyone! Places! PART TWO - PROCESSION JODY: Greetings everyone! Thank you for coming to our celebration of the beginning of the harvest season for the great festival of Lughnasadh. Let us pray. O Lord, forgive us these three errors that are due to our human limitations: Thou art everywhere, but we worship thee here; Thou art without form, but we worship thee in these forms; Thou hast no needs of prayers and sacrifices, yet we offer thee these prayers and sacrifices. O Lord, forgive these three errors that are due to our human limitations. O Mother, cleans our minds and hearts and prepare us for meditation. CRAIG: Let us proceed joyously to the grove with a song for the god Lugh. O Earth Mother! We praise thee for all things. That flower openeth That grass waveth For see that springeth We praise thee for winds that whisper Through the graceful elm Through the shapely maple Through the lively pine Through the shining birch Through the mighty oak We praise thee for all things. O Earth Mother! Who givest life! PART THREE INVOCATION AND SACRIFICE SARAH: Craig, please take the north. Wanda south. Thomas east. Peter west. SARAH: The Druid Sigil is drawn, my lady. Please step in. JODY: I am the wind which breathes upon the sea, I am the wave of the ocean, I am the murmur of the willows, I am the ox of the seven combats, I am the vulture upon the rocks, I am a beam of sunlight, I am the fairest of plants, I am a wild boar in valour, I am a salmon in the water, I am a lake in the plain, I am a word of knowledge, I am the point of the lance of battle, I am the Goddess who created in her head, the fire; Who is it who throws light into the meeting on the mountain? Who announces the ages of the moon? Who teaches the place where couches the sun? If not I--- SARAH: If not we? SARAH: Craig, would you announce the liturgical dance piece? PETER: (Thinking) Hmmm. Donít see dance in the Methodist church very often. CRAIG: The following item for the godsí pleasure is an interpretive dance by Thomas and Zoe to praise and sustain the fertility of the land, replicating the passage of the four season, and symbolizing the struggle for sovereignty of ancient Britain through a great warrior queen. It will be performed in accompaniment of an Irish jig, a type of music (interrupted) SARAH: Craig, what did you say their title was again? CRAIG: Ahem. ìLetís Boogie like Boudicca Til Our *** Go Boom Boom!î (laughter by all) (DANCE MUSIC, no vocal, finished with applause) SARAH: My lady, here is the sacrifice. JODY: Thank you my dear, and thanks to our sacrifice. Our praise has mounted up to thee on the wings of eagles; our voices have been carried up to thee on the shoulders of the winds. Hear now, we pray thee, our Mother, as we offer up this sacrifice of Life. PART 4 CALL AND CHANT SARAH: (rustling paper noises) Check your lines everyone! JODY: For the sun has come to warms us. THOMAS: SEE HOW WE ARE WARM. JODY: The newborn plants, the worthy tasks, the thoughts of Lugh have we nurtured CRAIG: SEE HOW THEY HAVE COME TO FRUITION JODY: We have praised the Mother with the work of our hands PETER: Um, WE HAVE REACHED BEíAL WITH THE WORK OF OUR HANDS. JODY: The abundance we have found, it will sustain us WANDA: A GREAT BOUNTY IS BEFORE US. JODY: The flowers of the earth, the fruit of the earth, we can offer you freely SARAH: THEY ARE THY BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN WHO WILL SEE US THROUGH COLD AND DARKNESS. JODY: We know you are drawing away from us, but please first partake of the comforts you have brought us. SARAH & ALL: WE REJOICE TODAY! PART 5 DIVINATION and ROTATION JODY: Accept our praise and sacrifice, we pray thee. (noise of fire burning leaves and acorns) And cleanse our minds and hearts, granting us thy peace and life. SARAH: North, south, east, and west, folks. JODY: Hast thou accepted our sacrifice, O our Mother? CRAIG: I call upon the spirit of the North to give answer. CRAIG: (rustling leaves) I see and hear the rustling of the trees. WANDA: I call upon the spirit of the South to give answer. WANDA: I see a lovely cloud sailing in the sky. THOMAS: I call upon the spirit of the East to give answer. (White hawk cries out) PETER: And I call upon the spirit of the West to give answer. (no noise) I donít see anything special. CRAIG: That means the sacrifice has been rejected. SARAH: Three out of four ainít bad. THOMAS: Itís Peterís first time. Do it again. Try harder. PETER: I call upon the spirit of the Wind to give answer. PETER: (loud fart) (gasp) THOMAS: Peter, thereís definitely some wind coming from your direction! (most laugh) SARAH: Praise be! Our sacrifice dedicated to the fart-ility and renewal of life has been accepted. PART 6 THE LITURGY OF THE WATERS JODY: Praise be! Our sacrifice dedicated to the cleansing of our minds and hearts, has indeed been accepted! SARAH: I have the honey mead and water. JODY: Of what does the Earth-Mother give that we may know the continual flow and renewal of life? SARAH: THE WATERS OF LIFE. JODY: From whence do these Waters flow? SARAH: FROM THE *** OF THE EARTH-MOTHER, THE EVER-CHANGING ALL-MOTHER. JODY: Has the Earth-Mother given forth of her bounty? SARAH: SHE HAS, AND HER BOUNTY IS OVERFLOWING. JODY: The give me the Waters. (Still scene as Sarah pours Mead and Water into Jodyís chalice, glug glug noise) JODY: Oh inspiration of Beíal, oh manifestation through Lugh, oh sacrifice of Gaia, come and meet in our festival cups today. And hallow these waters by the three ways of day and one of night; bring to them the purity by thy seven-fold powers, oh Dalon Ap Landu. PART 7 ORDINATION JODY: Are there any among you who wish to partake of the Waters of Life We have two new aspirants today. This is good. JODY: Do you two believe in the two Basic Tenets of Reformed Druidism? PETER: I do believe them. WANDA: I do believe them. JODY: Then kneel, please. Peter Smythe, I draw the sigil on your forehead and ordain you into the first order. The Waters of Life (Sip noise,) WANDA: Wanda Wanabe, I draw the sigil on yourÖ. on your forehead and ordain you into the first order. The Waters of Life. (Sip noise) SARAH: The Waters of Life The Waters of Life. JODY: To thee we return this portion of thy bounty, O our Mother, (Pouring noise upon the ground) even as we must return to thee. PART 9 FIRST MEDITATION JODY: Let us relax a bit and hear two meditations First Meditation, selected by Thomas, with illustrations by Wanda, taken from the Kekchi Indians of Guatemala. (various graphics through the story, might find another) Thou, O God my Lord, Thou my Mother, Thou my Father, Thou Lord of hill and valley. Now, after three suns, after three days, Shall I begin to gather my maize Before Thy mouth, before Thy face. A little of Thy food and drink give I to Thee. It is almost nothing, that which I give to Thee, But I have plenty and good Of my own food and drink; Thou hast revealed it to my soul and to my life: Thou my Mother, Thou my Father. I begin therefore the harvest, But I am not this day ready for the harvest Without Thy word, and without Thy countenance. Who knows how many suns, how many days I reap? It is no quick matter to harvest from among the weeds. I can only complete it slowly. Who knows till when I can speak to Thee, Thou my Mother, Thou my Father, Thou celestial one, Lord of hills and valleys? I will again speak to Thee: Wherefore not, my Gods? SARAH: No gift is guaranteed. A gift once in doubt, it is twice appreciated. When accepted in thanks, it is thrice appreciated. JODY: Wanda, those pictures were truly beautiful! The girl looks just like Sarah. SARAH: Yes, they are uncannily realistic. WANDA: I would like to offer them to the sacred fire. JODY: Please do. (Burning paper noise) PART 10 Second Meditation JODY: The Second Reading was selected by Sarah, adapted from the Druid Chronicles. Book of Meditations, Chapter the Seventh. For what reasons is that ye sit here under the oak? Why is it that ye have come out together under the summer sky? Have ye come that ye might not be alone? If so, it is good. But verily I say unto you: many there are who have come together, yet remain alone. Do ye sit in the open that ye might come to know Nature? If so, it is good. But verily I say unto you: many there are who have sat for hours and have risen up knowing less than when they sat down. Rather, in your coming together, seek to know in what way ye may help him who is next to you, and strive to act justly toward him. And in your sitting down in the fields of the Earth-mother, open your minds as well as your eyes. Let your meditation grow and branch out as the oak which is over your head. Except that ye have done these things, your sitting is in vain and coming is futility. And why is it that ye do stand up before others and speak unto them? Do ye teach unto them the ways of the Ancient Druids? If so, it is good. For they had their wisdom, and that is oft forgot. But verily I say unto you: in their day, even they also were young in their traditions. The wise man is not constrained to learn only that which he is taught. Yea, even as there is a time for talking, is there also a time for no talking. In the silence of your being shall ye find that which is not of your being; and in the Earth-mother shall ye find that which is not of the Earth-mother; in Be'al shall ye be made aware, and your awareness shall fill you. Ye shall be like the morning sun which has risen and whose brightness is already full, but whose path is yet ever upward; and the light of your awareness shall sweep before it all the shadows of your uncertainty. Then shall ye need wait no more; for this is the great end and all else is but beginning. SARAH: Working together we are whole of heart. When we think only of ourselves, there are holes in our heart. PART 11 BENEDICTION JODY: Go forth into the world, secure in the knowledge that our sacrifice has found acceptance in the Earth-Motherís sight, and also our rejoicing. And go forth to feast with your brethren and sisters, even unto excess; be merry, for soon all shall sleep. SARAH: Peace! THOMAS: Peace! CRAIG: Peace! PART 12 DEPARTURE And we who reach for the stars in the heavens Leaving our circles for the meadows and groves Still live in the love of the Lords and the Ladies The greater the circle, the more that love grows. Around and around, and around turns the good Earth, All things must change as the seasons go by, we are the children of the Lords and the Ladies, Whose mysteries we know, but will never know why. PART 13 FINAL COMMENTARY DAN: That sure ran long! So Peter, what did you think about it? PETER: It was amazing! I still feel jittery. DAN: Itís like that the first time. Welcome officially to the Reformed Druids. Remember this day, because there might not be many more of these services. PETER: Why not? DAN: Jody was the only one who in the grove who was dedicated to the older Druid liturgical format. Things will change soon, perhaps not for the better. Come, more work to do. Letís extinguish the sacred fire properly and start another for cooking. KIKKI: Zoe, Iím telling you, let me set you up with Jorgen. Heís a fine true heathen. Heíd be a perfect match for you. Heís tall, blond, strong, umÖ. a man of few words. KIKKI: Oh, not him still! Goddess! I saw you staring at his butt the whole service. You get so desperate to hand-fast someone every summer. Slow down! Did you notice that he didnít clap even once after your dance? KIKKI: So what? For all I care, he can speak Martian fluently. Thereís one thing you gotta learn about men, itís not what words they say, itís how they say them. Wake up and listen to him. You can do so much better. KIKKI: Donít get me started on Peter either! What? Destiny? Oh come on! Hush! Theyíre coming over here. Stop slouching! JODY: The service is done, thank you. SARAH: Congratulations. That was lovely. (Sarah gives Jody a kiss.) JODY: Thank you. For one moment, I felt the unity of the Grove and will treasure it. But I am dreading the next partÖ the election. SARAH: Time for that later. Dan and Kikki have finished, foodís going fast. Letís eat, drink and be merry! (Quiet fade out, voices cannot be heard as camera pans out)