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Public prayer is often sung prayer—to one another, we speak; to the gods, we sing—and good prayer (whether sung or spoken) deserves a good, communal conclusion.
What follows is three musical settings for “So mote it be,” two serious and one satirical.
You can draw your own conclusions.
First Tone
“So mote it be” is sung on the same note for each word, but “so” is held twice as long as the other three, thus giving it an emphasis: SO mote it be.
X x x x
As in all good music—or poetry, for that matter—the tune reinforces the meaning of the words.
Second Tone
“So mote it be” is sung with three notes, all held to equal length. “So” establishes the base note. “Mote” goes up a step from the base note. “It” goes down a step from the base note. “Be” returns to the base note.
x x+1 x-1 x
This setting has a nice “circular” quality to it; here, also, beginning and ending on the same note musically restates what the words say.
I am the Goddess of Fire
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He the Horned, God of Witches, is known as the Merry Piper: who among us has not danced to his piping?
His the Primal Sound, the song of creation.
(To the silent Breath of Life, the Pipes give Voice.)
Come, let me speak a Mystery in your ear.
His pipes are female.
Think of Pan and Syrinx, the nymph who became the pipes. Think of Krishna's flute, herself a goddess incarnate.
The Voice of those Pipes brings What Is into Being.
In company with sheep-herds and cow-herds, His piping arouses and, thrusting, drives the Dance of Life.
The lure of those Pipes recalls to life the Dead.
With Imbolc fast approaching there is a lot of information going around about both the holiday and the goddess. I thought it might be helpful here to offer some basic information about both, sourced from the original texts.
The name Brighid comes from the older name Brig or Bric, which means power, vigour, strength, authority according to the electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language. It is in this form that we find older references to the goddess, such as in the Cath Maige Tuired. In later use, such as the Sanas Cormaic we see it spelled Brigit and there are now several variants. Its suggested the earlier root in proto-Indo-European would mean high or height giving us 'exalted one'. The popular idea that Brighid comes from Breo-saighead or Breo-aighead meaning "fiery arrow" is a fanciful folk etymology from Cormac's Glossary. This is the full entry: "Brigit .i. banfile ingen in Dagdai. is eiside Brigit baneceas (ł be neicsi) .i. Brigit bandee noadradís filid. arba romor ⁊ baroán afri thgnam. is airesin ideo eam (deam) uocant poetarum hoc nomine cuius sorores erant Brigit be legis Brigit bé goibnechta .i. bandé .i. tri hingena in Dagdai insin. de quarum nominibus pene omnes Hibernenses dea Brigit uocabatur. Brigit din .i. breoaigit ł breoṡaigit." (Brigit - a poet, daughter of the Dagda. This Brigit is a woman of poetry (female poet) and is Brigit the goddess worshipped by poets because her protection was very great and well known. This is why she is called a goddess by poets. Her sisters were Brigit the woman of healing and Brigit the woman of smithcraft, goddesses; they are three daughters of the Dagda. Almost all Irish goddesses are called a Brigit. Brigit then from breoaigit or breoshaigit, 'fiery arrow').
Its unknown what Imbolg means but the leading suggestion is i-mbolg "in the belly" although alternatives have also been suggested over the years. The name is referenced in the Táin Bó Cuiliagne and Dindshenchas, usually as a time marker, ie "luan samain sáinriuth cossin cetáin iar n-imbulc" (monday of Samhain particularly until the Wednesday of Imbolg). We also find this reference to Imbolc in the Dindshenchas: "iar n-imbulc, ba garb a ngeilt" (after Imbolc, rough was their herding). There is no information as far as I am ware of older celebration practices for this holiday.
An alternative name for the holiday is Oimelc or Oimelg, possibly meaning "ewe's milk", oi meilg, although this name appears to be later and less common. We see a reference to Oimelc in The Wooing of Emer: "55 To Oimolc, i.e., the beginning of spring, viz., different (ime) is its wet (folc), viz the wet of spring, and the wet of winter. Or, oi-melc, viz., oi, in the language of poetry, is a name for sheep, whence oibá (sheep's death) is named, ut dicitur coinbá (dog's death), echbá (horse's death), duineba (men's death), as bath is a name for 'death'. Oi-melc, then, is the time in which the sheep come out and are milked, whence oisc (a ewe), i.e., oisc viz., barren sheep."
We also have this about Oimelc in the Sanas Cormaic: "oimelc .i. oimelg .i. isí aimser andsín tic ass caerach." (Oimelc that is oimelg that is the season when the sheep are in milk.)
I know this is a lot of references and facts to throw out there but beyond the huge array of personal practices and folk customs these are the main factual items that I see coming up either skewed or inaccurately relayed. I hoped it would help to provide some basics for people to work outwards from.
After almost 50 years in the pagan community, I have yet to come across a better way to introduce non-pagans to the idea of living paganism
Alas, I can no longer remember who I learned this from; whoever it was, I'd never met him before. (I do remember standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you at Pan-Pagan, though, eagerly drinking up your words.) Whoever you were, you have my thanks. Your analogy is spot-on, and deftly avoids all the scary buzz-words; it's served me very well down the years.
“You know Native American religion, right?” you say.
They nod. Everybody knows Native American religion, or thinks they do. A lot of non-Native Americans even have a certain amount of respect for Native American religion. It's all about being close to “Nature,” right?
“Well, this is Native European religion,” you say.
Silence about one’s magic is a long-standing witch—and Druid— tradition.
Buddha would not discuss theory or cosmology because doing so wouldn’t leave enough time for spiritual practices. I feel somewhat similarly about magical spells I do.
Talking about them more than needed drains the energy out of them and distracts me from the focus, inner growth, and realizations that help me do an effective, safe spell.
