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PaganSquare
PaganSquare is a community blog space where Pagans can discuss topics relevant to the life and spiritual practice of all Pagans.
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.
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.

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.