Goddess Centered Practice
In the woods behind my house rest a collection of nine large flat rocks. Daily, I walk down to these “priestess rocks” for some sacred time alone to pray, meditate, consider, and be. Often, while in this space, I open my mouth and poetry comes out. I’ve come to see this experience as "theapoetics"—experiencing the Goddess through direct “revelation,” framed in language. As Stanley Hopper originally described in the 1970’s, it is possible to “…replace theology, the rationalistic interpretation of belief, with theopoetics, finding God[dess] through poetry and fiction, which neither wither before modern science nor conflict with the complexity of what we know now to be the self.” Theapoetics might also be described, “as a means of engaging language and perception in such a way that one enters into a radical relation with the divine, the other, and the creation in which all occurs.”
Simple Full Moon Ceremony for a New Baby
On October 30th, I gave birth to a new baby boy. He was born at home in water, my fourth homebirth, 
but my first waterbirth (his birth story is available here). On the full moon of his one week "birthday," we took him outside for the first time in his whole life--to meet the world, to feel the fresh, cool air, to be introduced to the moon and the Earth as a member of our family. Here is an outline of the very simple ceremony of welcome we held for him. While we did this with just our other children present, it could easily be expanded to include additional guests.
Each family member carries a candle outside into the full moon's light.
Circle up, hands on each other's backs, and hum in unison three times to cast the circle (this is our tradition in our local circle--the hum quite literally unifies and harmonizes our energy and centers us in time and space together. Very simple and effective).
Placing our hands on the new baby:
Welcome to the spinning world, baby boy!
(family repeats)
Welcome to the green Earth! 
(family repeats)
We're so glad you're here!*
(family repeats)
Each family member chooses a piece of corn from a chalice and makes a wish aloud for the baby, tossing the corn into the moonlight.
(Our kids love tossing corn so we use this during many full moon rituals.)
Hold the baby out under the moonlight. (Our baby stared right at the moon with solemn, wide eyes.)
Join hands and say closing prayer:
May Goddess bless and keep us,
may wisdom dwell within us,
may we create peace.
*Adapted from the children's book On the Day You Were Born by Debra Frasier
Closing prayer adapted from unknown source.
Crossposted at Woodspriestess.
Comments
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Monday, 10 November 2014
Thanks, Carol! We did the feet to earth ritual with the baby before this one when she turned one month. For the full moon, we were on our deck and it was too dark to actually go down to the grass! So...we will probably wait until he is one month too and then touch his feet to the earth. I also took my daughter down to introduce her to the rocks and the woods where I find such sacred space. I'll do that with the new baby too in the next couple of weeks. Lots of introductions and mini-rituals are needed for each baby, I guess!
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Monday, 10 November 2014Wangari Mathaai describes a ritual of introducing a baby to the land in Unbowed.
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Lovely! For you next (hee he) baby, you might add "placing the child on the earth" which is part of many earth-based traditions, or so I have read. All good wishes to all of you and the new arrival too!