A Woodland Walk and Ritual with Found Objects

I wrote this ritual for a group of friends to do after a woodland walk. If you are thinking of heading out into the woods or countryside some time over the Spring Equinox and want to combine it with a ritual, by all means give this a go:

The idea of this ritual is that, while on a woodland walk, to look for something to use as a wand something to represent the God Herne and something to represent the Goddess Diana – and also things to gift to them in the ritual.

Once your walk is over, find a nice place in the woods to cast a circle. Put the God and Goddess in the centre of the circle and dance around them, and then give them the gifts.

Things you will need to bring: 
Bottle of water, food and drink to share afterwards.

Ritual:
All stand in a circle – place the objects to represent the God and Goddess in the middle, place the food and drink in front of them.

Purification:
Pass the bottle of water round the circle, everyone pours a little over their hands and says: “May I be cleansed of all doubts and fears” and silently considers all the things that are bothering them being washed away.

Meditation:
Everyone takes three deep in breaths and out breaths, meditating on breathing in peace and breathing out love.

Cast circle:
One person walks around the group, casting a circle with the wand.

Calling the quarters:
Turning to the east, south, west and north in turn, welcome the quarters.

All dance around the God and Goddess singing:

Goddess we call to you
Green Lady we call to you
Diana we call to you
Be with us this day

Horned God we call to you
Green Lord we call to you
Herne we call to you
Be with us this day

Giving gifts to the God and Goddess:
One person says: “Diana and Herne, Lady and Lord of the Woods, we thank you for your blessings and your presence. Please accept our gifts to you”

People take it in turns to come forward and lay their gift at the feet of the Goddess and God.

Food and drink:
One person says: “Diana and Herne, Lady and Lord of the Woods, we ask that you may bless this food and drink”

The food and drink then gets passed around, with some being offered to the God and Goddess.

Dismissing quarters:
Those who called the quarters thank them and say goodbye to them in reverse order.

Opening circle:
One person says: “Lady and Lord of the woods, we thank you for your presence. Go if you must, stay if you will. We open the circle, but may peace and friendship remain.”

All join hands and do a circle dance.

Tidy up afterwards and take your litter home with you.

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