Drawing Down the Sun

In a previous blog post entitled "The Charge of the Goddess - History, Sources and Analysis", I mentioned a ritual called the Drawing Down the Moon. This ritual forms the core of any coven work (although it can also be adapted for solitaries) because it is precisely during this rite that the Goddess is invoked into the High Priestess' body (by the High Priest). The Drawing Down the Moon is performed during the Opening Ritual (i.e. the first part of any ritual) and the invocation itself is its climax. You can find the whole ritual in the "Opening Ritual" post mentioned above, although I would just briefly like to summarize what exactly happens and how all of this is related to this post topic.

During the Drawing Down the Moon, the Priestess temporarily becomes the Goddess' vessel; the Goddess speaks through her for a short period of time during the ritual itself (although a bit of energy may linger). After the ritual is performed by the High Priest, the High Priestess then delivers the Charge of Goddess. It is during this recital that the Goddess' presence is truly noticed in the voice, body language, facial expressions and the general physiognomy of the Priestess. 

The Charge of the Goddess and the ritual of the Drawing Down the Moon emphasize the Goddess and female energies in general. This is to be expected as Wicca is primarily focused on the female deity. Nevertheless, certain individuals began to notice an imbalance which occurred as a result of this focus. Namely, the God had begun to be neglected. Now, as much as Wicca may be Goddess-oriented, it also calls for equality and balance. It was just a matter of time when a certain amount of focus would be put back on the male deity to restore this balance. And thus we come to the main topic of this post.

What is the Drawing Down the Sun?

The Sun and Moon are generally thought of as opposing celestial bodies (at least from Earth's perspective). In an archetypal way, the Goddess has become associated with the Moon (which corresponds to everything feminine, including women's menstrual cycles), while the Sun has been compared to the God and essentially male energies. You may have concluded that the Drawing Down the Sun ritual will be very similar to that of the Drawing Down the Moon but with one main difference - it focuses on the God instead of the Goddess!

In short, the Drawing Down the Sun is also a part of the Opening Ritual during which the High Priestess invokes the God into the body of the High Priest. Of course, invocations of the God have existed up to the creation of this rite, but none of them were as intense as the Drawing Down the Moon was. It only seemed fair for equal attention to be paid to both the Goddess and the God. And so the Drawing Down the Sun was created.

How It Came to Be...

The ritual of the Drawing Down the Sun was created by Janet and Stewart Farrar in the early 1980s. It was first published in their book entitled The Witches’ Way. They were led by the notion of sexual balance and came to the conclusion that any man is equally capable of invoking (or being the vessel of) the God as any woman is of invoking the Goddess.

Although, this does not mean that men are incapable of invoking the Goddess, or that women are incapable of invoking the God. In their book Progressive Witchcraft, Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone comment on this notion: "It is seen all the time in religions such as Voudon, and according to Ray Buckland, who has studied their practices for many years, it is also not unusual for the loa to manifest contra-sexually (a female loa “riding” a male adherent and vice versa), something he told us he once witnessed. There should be no surprise in this, as spiritual mediums have always been able to do the same thing." (p. 97). Different people are in tune with different energies and there is no reason why a woman wouldn't be in tune with male energies, or a man with female energies.

What followed this ritual was another beautiful poetic creation by Doreen Valiente. As she had "created" the Charge of the Goddess for the Drawing Down the Moon ritual, so she created a counterpart of the aforementioned Charge and fittingly named it the Charge of the God. Apparently, Doreen thought that a similar ritual to this one existed in the past but was lost over the years.

When Is the Ritual Performed?

We have already established that the Drawing Down the Sun is a part of the Opening Ritual which, according to standard Wiccan ritual form, is made up of the following:

1. Preparing the altar and ritual space
2. Cleansing the water with salt
3. Opening the circle with the athamé
4. Marking the circle with the Elements
5. Visualizing the protection of the circle
6. Invoking the Elements
7. Invoking the Goddess and God: Drawing down the Moon (the Fivefold Kiss+the Charge of the Goddess) + the invocation of the God (sometimes the Drawing Down the Sun)
8. Dancing the Witches' Rune (optional)

As you can see, the Drawing Down the Sun ritual is usually held after the Drawing Down the Moon. The Farrars explain that this is the best way of conducting any ritual because the High Priestess is usually the one leading everything. Once she has become the Goddess' vessel, she can then invoke the God into the High Priest in the name of the Goddess.

In a broader sense, the Drawing Down the Sun is usually performed at the four Major Sabbaths (also known as the cross-quarter days or the fire festivals: Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain) and also at the summer solstice (i.e. Litha/Midsummer). All of these Sabbaths have one thing in common - they celebrate the Sun and with it, the God. Some of these days encourage the Sun to grow, others celebrate its heat and light, while the others bid farewell the setting Sun and the waning God. Nevertheless, they all focus on the main star of our solar system and the male energies in the atmosphere.

The Drawing Down the Sun ritual

Finally, we come to the ritual itself. Of course, I cannot claim ownership. The following quote is from Janet and Stewart Farrar's A Witches' Bible (pp. 68-70). 

At the end of Drawing Down the Moon, after the High Priestess's words "Here I charge you, in this sign", the High Priestess and High Priest change places, moving deosil, so that he stands with his back to the altar and she faces him from the centre of the Circle.  

The High Priest picks up his athame from the altar and holds it in his right hand over his left breast, points upwards. 

The High Priestess gives him the Fivefold Kiss as follows: 

"Blessed by thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways" - kissing his right foot and then his left foot. 

"Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar" - kissing his right knee and then his left knee. 

"Blessed be thy phallus, without which we would not be" - kissing him just above the pubic hair. 

The High Priest spreads his arms to the Blessed Position, still holding his athame in his right hand, point upwards. 

The High Priestess continues: 

"Blessed be thy breast, formed in strength" - kissing his right breast and then his left breast.  

"Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the sacred names." They embrace, length for length and with feet touching, and kiss each other on the mouth. 

The High Priestess steps back a pace and kneels. She invokes: 

"Deep calls on height, the Goddess on the God,
On him who is the flame that quickens her;
That he and she may seize the silver reins
And ride as one the twin-horsed chariot.
Let the hammer strike the anvil,
Let the lightning touch the earth,
Let the Lance ensoul the Grail,
Let the magic come to birth." 

She touches with her right forefinger his throat, left hip, right breast, left breast, right hip, and throat again (thus forming the Invoking Pentagram of Fire). She then spreads her hands outwards, palms forward. Meanwhile she continues to invoke: 

"In her name do I invoke thee,
Mighty Father of us all -
Lugh, Pan, Belin, Herne, Cernunnos -
Come in answer to my call!
Descend, I pray thee, in thy servant and priest." 

The High Priestess stands and takes a step backwards. The High Priest makes the Invoking Pentagram of Fire towards her with his athame, saying: 

"Let there be light!"

Notes: For those of you that are not familiar with some of the terminology, to move deosil means to move clockwise. The "blessed position" is the body position in which the feet are together and the arms simply outstretched (it is also known as the welcoming gesture as I explained in my post on minimalistic rituals and gestures; in this ritual, this simply allows the Priestess to kiss the Priest's breasts as his arms were previously in the way). As for the invoking pentagram of fire which is mentioned two times, you can see what it looks like in the picture just next to this text. The reason for choosing exactly this pentagram is because it is invoking (and after all, we are trying to invoke the God!) and because fire is an essentially male element with emits masculine, strong, almost aggressive energies. Also, even though it is traditional for the High Priest and High Priestess to kiss on the mouth when finishing such rituals or when handing the cup to one another and so on, this has become a less common practice in modern times so it is possible for the two to kiss on the cheek also. The Fivefold Kiss is also a normal part of the Drawing Down the Moon ritual and it was simply modified for this situation.

The Charge of the God

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Charge of the Goddess is an essential part of the Drawing Down the Moon ritual, although it seems that the Charge of the God is not commonly seen in Drawing Down the Sun. This is logical because the authors of the latter two texts are different (Janet and Stewart Farrar wrote the Charge of the God, whereas Doreen Valiente was simply inspired by them and wrote the Charge of the God). 

In an attempt to find Doreen's original Charge of the God, I came across many variations and even more individual works by many authors. Here are some of the ones I found to be quality: 

Christopher Hatton Charge

Jason Mankey Charge

Siobhan Charge

Unknown author

Unfortunately, the only trace of Doreen's Charge which I was able to find was on the Internet. I looked through my books at home, but I didn't manage to find anything other than information that a Charge of the God was indeed written by Doreen Valiente. I came across the following one on this website which claims that this text was written by Doreen herself. It reads:

Listen the the words of the Great Father, who of old was called Osiris, Adonis, Zeus, Thor, Pan, Cernunnos, Herne, Lugh and by many other names. 

My Law is Harmony with all things. Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life and mine is the dish of salt of the earth that is the body of Cernunnos that is the eternal circle of rebirth. I give the knowledge of life everlasting, and beyond death I give the promise of regeneration and renewal. I am the sacrifice, the father of all things, and my protection blankets the earth. 

Hear the words of the dancing God, the music of whose laughter stirs the winds, whose voice calls the seasons: 

I who am the Lord of the Hunt and the Power of the Light, sun among the clouds and the secret of the flame. I call upon your bodies to arise and come unto me. For I am the flesh of the earth and all its beings. Through me all things must die and with me are reborn. Let my worship be in the body that sings, for behold all acts of willing sacrifice are my rituals. Let there be desire and fear, anger and weakness, joy and peace, awe and longing within you. For these too are part of the mysteries found within yourself, within me, all beginnings have endings, and all endings have beginnings.

Judging by the wording, I wouldn't be surprised if this truly was Doreen Valiente's Charge of the God as many similarities can be seen between this text and the original Charge of the Goddess in the construction of the sentences general style. Whatever the case, the text is still beautiful. I see no reason why each person can't write their own Charge of the God (then again, using it in a ritual isn't obligatory so this issue can completely be avoided in this case). 

It is obvious from the above examples that even those texts which weren't written by the "first generations" of Wicca can be inspiring and nicely incorporated into a ritual. You decide whether or not you will use any of them in your own rites, or write your own versions, or simply not include any version of the text.

Whatever you decide is fine by me, but my main point is this: the God fulfills the Goddess just as she fulfills him. They are two halves of one whole which cause imbalance when isolated. Both the Drawing Down the Sun rite and the Charge of the God came to exist because of a growing awareness of this issue. It really is worth remembering that the world isn't made up of women or female energies alone. In fact, the word is balanced out by contrasting forces; there would be no feminine if it could not be compared to masculine just as there would be no white if it could not be compared to black. Acknowledging all the aspects of our world is necessary for balance, for acceptance and for happiness. If you disagree, feel free to express your feelings, but this is my honest and humble opinion. 

It was a pleasure writing this post and you can expect to hear from me again soon. 

Yours,

Witch's Cat

The Opening Ritual

I decided to write a post on this topic because it is quite ample and important, but it also confuses practitioners quite often. The Opening Ritual is made up of several smaller rituals which include the Drawing down the Moon ritual and the Great Rite. I will try to explain the construction and meaning of the Opening ritual throughout this post according to the version which is most popular (the one from Janet and Stewart Farrar's book A Witches' Bible). 

As I said, the Opening ritual is an important part of any ritual, as is the Closing ritual. This can be (and usually is) the opening/beginning of any ritual, if you want it to be, but this is me speaking in general :) you are free to adapt anything you feel needs to be adapted to your own needs.

Before the beginning of any ritual, it is important that you set your altar and appropriately decorate the space you're working in. You can read more about the ritual tools you can have in my post entitled "Ritual Tools". 

From this point onward, I will try to give alternative ways of doing things for those Solitaries out there in addition to the original coven form of the ritual. If you are working alone, you will automatically have to take on the role of High Priest and/or High Priestess. If there are two of you, then each will take on one role and the others (if there are any more) will take on the role of the (rest of the) coven.

So I don't start repeating myself too much, you can have a look at my older post about ritual form in which I described how things are done in any ritual from a traditional standpoint with examples of invocations and everything else you may need. I hope this will be detailed enough for you. But, to summarize, what you  need to do at the beginning of any ritual is:

1. Prepare your working space/altar (decorations, ritual tools, get the place warm, get the music ready etc.)
2. Cleanse the water with salt
3. Open the circle with your athamé (in covens, this is done by the High Priestess who leaves a gap at the northeast part of the circle where the High Priest and rest of the coven wait to be let in)
4. For covens: the High Priestess lets the High Priest into the circle with a kiss, he lets in one woman and this continues until everyone is inside
5. Close the aforementioned gap in the circle (if you are working alone or with only one more person then you don't even have to make the gap since you don't have anyone to let inside)
6. Mark the circle with the Elements (in covens, these tasks are assigned to four people so that each person gets one Element)
7. Visualize the protecting of the circle
8. Invoke the Elements (in coven rituals, the coven usually repeats after the High Priest and High Priestess)
9. Invoke the Goddess and the God

Invoking the Goddess and God

In my previous post on ritual form, I gave you a shorter and simpler version of this invocation, while the longer version, which I will give to you in this post as i promised, is (accordingly) a bit more complicated. Of course, you can choose to do the invocation the simpler way if you like it more :)

Also, I would like to emphasize that these rituals are mainly for covens. You can do some invocations alone, but you would need to adapt them a bit.

The first smaller ritual which makes up this part of the Opening ritual is the Drawing down the Moon ritual.

This is a short ritual in which the High Priest invokes the Goddess into the body of the High Priestess. I find it quite fitting that a woman be the manifestation of female energy, don't you?

This ritual begins with the High Priest giving the Priestess the Fivefold Kiss. Of course, it is not possible to do this part of the ritual if you're working alone but it is if you at least have one more person with you. I will describe the ritual nevertheless because you never know if it could come in handy one day :) For practical reasons, I will refer to the High Priest as HP and the High Priestess as HPs.

• the HPs stand with her back to the altar, with a staff/wand in her right hand and a scourge in her left (her hands are crossed in the Osiris pose)
• the HP kneels in front of the HPs
• the HP kisses the HPs in the following order: right foot, left foot, right knee, left knee, womb, right breast, left breast, lips. When he kisses her on the womb, she spreads her arms in the blessing position (simply outstretched arms as if you are about to hug someone). I understand that this part might be quite strange for some of you, but don't worry. There is always alternative. For example, the HP can kiss his hand and with it lightly touch these body parts. This way, you can feel more comfortable, but the energy has still been transferred.
• While the HP kisses the aforementioned body parts, he says, after each "group" (feet, knees, womb, breasts, lip) the following sentences:

"Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways.  

Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar. 

Blessed be thy womb, without which we would not be. 

Blessed be thy breasts, formed in beauty. 

Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Names."

(Note: on Imbolc, the HPs gives the HP the Fivefold Kiss and she has to substitute "womb" with "phallus" and "made in beauts" with "made in strength".)

• the HP kneels once more in front of the HPs and begins drawing down the Moon (also given according to Janet and Stewart Farrar). While speaking the following words, he makes a triangle symbol (pointing downwards) by touching the HPs' womb, right breast, left breast and then womb again:

"I invoke thee and call upon thee, Mighty Mother of us all, bringer of all fruitfulness; by seed and root, by bud and stem, by leaf and flower and fruit, by life and love do I invoke thee to descend upon the body of this thy servant and priestess."

(Note: some people will put one more invocation here, but I would rather go on to the part where the HPs begins the Charge of the Goddess) 

The Charge of the Goddess

This is the time of the ritual when the High Priestess is filled with the Goddess' energy i.e. being charged with it. Only this version exists (with minor adaptations), so I would recommend you stick to it. It is usually said that his beautiful poem was written by (the recently deceased) Doreen Valiente, one of Gerald Gardners' followers. I have written a detailed post on this topic which you can read here.

• the HPs does and invoking pentagram of Earth in the air (you can find it in the post on ritual form) with her wand and says:

"Of the Mother darksome and divine

Mine the scourge, and mine the kiss;

The five-point star of love and bliss - 

Here I charge you, in this sign."

The five-point star which is mentioned is the pentagram (which is mentioned just above) with which the invocation of the Goddess is finished. But just so you don't get the wrong picture, nothing bad is going on here. As soon as people see anything with the word "dark" in it (like darksome), they start jumping to conclusions. The first line simply talks about the good and bad side of the Goddess that all of us have. As divine and perfect as she may be, she also has a dark side which we have to be conscious of. The symbol of the scourge is closely related to this. The scourge usually has negative connotations, while the kiss almost always has good ones. This part of the ritual signifies the end of the drawing down the Moon and the beginning of the Charge of the Goddess which is done only by the High Priest and the High Priestess.

• the HP stands to the left of the HPs and speaks the beginning of the Charge:

"Listen to the words of the Great Mother; she who of old was also called among men Artemis, Astarte, Athene, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Dana, Arianrhod, Isis, Bride, and by many other names."

• the HPs continues:

"Whenever ye have need of any thing, once in the month, and better it be when the moon is full, then shall ye assemble in some secret place and adore the spirit of me, who am Queen of all witches. There shall ye assemble, ye who are fain to learn all sorcery, yet have not won its deepest secrets; to these will I teach things that are yet unknown. And ye shall be free from slavery; and as a sign that ye be really free, ye shall be naked in your rites; and ye shall dance, sing, feast, make music and love, all in my praise. For mine is the ecstasy of the spirit, and mine also is joy on earth; for my law is love unto all beings. Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever towards it; let naught stop you or turn you aside. For mine is the secret door which opens upon the Land of Youth, and mine is the cup of wine of life, and the Cauldron of Cerridwen, which is the Holy Grail of immortality. I am the gracious Goddess, who gives the gift of joy unto the heart of man. Upon earth, I give the knowledge of the spirit eternal; and beyond death, I give peace, and freedom, and reunion with those who have gone before. Nor do I demand sacrifice; for behold, I am the Mother of all living, and my love is poured out upon the earth."

• the HP now says:

"Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess; she in the dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven, and whose body encircles the universe." 

• the HPs continues:

"I who am the beauty of the green earth, and the white Moon among the stars, and the mystery of the waters, and the desire of the heart of man, call unto thy soul. Arise, and come unto me. For I am the soul of nature, who gives life to the universe. From me all things proceed, and unto me all things must return; and before my face, beloved of Gods and of men, let thine innermost divine self be enfolded in the rapture of the infinite. Let my worship be within the heart that rejoiceth; for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. And therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you. And thou who thinkest to seek for me, know thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not unless thou knowest the mystery; that if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it without thee. For behold, I have been with thee from the beginning; and I am that which is attained at the end of desire."

 You can find quite a correct version of this poem in verse form on this website. This marks the end of the drawing down the Moon ritual, but before going on, I would like to explain a few things.

People often wrongly interpret the words in this poem or invert their meaning. One of the parts which often causes dilemmas consists of the following two lines:

"And ye shall be free from slavery; and as a sign that ye be really free, ye shall be naked in your rites; and ye shall dance, sing, feast, make music and love, all in my praise."

I have already said several times on this blog that you don't have to be naked in your rituals if you don't feel comfortable that way. But, the fact is that nudity is completely natural. Modern society looks at the human body almost pornographically. The naked body has lost its enchantment and freshness and has become connected to feelings of shame, perversity and eccentricity. The human body used to be something completely normal that nobody was ashamed of. As it so happens, I have chosen that the only person who will see me naked is the person I love and I have stuck to that. If you have a certain reason for not wanting to be naked in your rituals, I support you!

The last thing I would like to discuss is the part where it says "make music and love". I think it's clear that music can be made in the ritual space using instruments, singing, clapping your hands, beating sticks etc., but what does "make love" mean? Well it certainly doesn't mean that you have to make love to someone during the ritual (so no, there are no orgies!). What this refers to is the fact that love should be expressed in the ritual. There should be no negative emotions in the sacred circle because we are talking about a celebration here, and we all know that negative emotions and bad moods just kill the whole atmosphere. Of course, there is another smaller ritual inside the main one which metaphorically shows us the importance of sexual intercourse and its sanctity, but remember that there is no actual, physical sexual intercourse in the circle.

But let us get back to the ritual...

We have covered the first ten points. After we have finished the Drawing down the Moon ritual and the Charge of the Goddess has been spoken, we have to do a few more things, including the invocation of the God.

• the HP and HPs stand facing the altar with their arms raised in the position of the Horned God salutation (clenched fists with the little finger and forefinger up). The HP invokes the God:

"Great God (Cernunnos), return to earth again!

Come at my call and show thyself to men.

Shepherd of Goats, upon the wild hill's way,

Lead thy lost flock from darkness unto day.

Forgotten are the ways of sleep and night -

Men seek for them, whose eyes have lost the light.

Open the door, the door that hath no key,

The door of dreams, whereby men come to thee.

Shepherd of Goats, O answer unto me!"

I would like to note that this invocation (also taken from Janet and Stewart Farrar) isn't the whole thing. I left out a few things in order to simplify it for you. If you're interested in what the original looks like, you can find it here.

When this part is finished, the Witches' Rune can begin. This is a dance lead by the High Priestess with the goal of raising the energy in the circle. You dance in a circle or rather a spiral clockwise (deosil). This obviously can't be done if you are working alone, but there are other ways of raising energy, such as dancing, singing, mantras, visualizations and directing energy. In case you do have someone to dance with, I would like to explain how this works :)

So, each person has to hold hands so that their left palm is facing upwards and right palm downwards. The HPs leads the coven in a dance going spirally from the perimeter of the circle towards the middle clockwise. Nobody can let go of their hands until she says so. While everyone dances, the following song is sung:

"Darksome night and shining moon,

East, then South, then West, then North;

Hearken to the Witches' Rune -

Here we come to call ye forth!

Earth and water, air and fire,

Wand and pentacle and sword,

Work ye unto our desire,

Hearken ye unto our word!

Cords and censer, scourge and knife,

Powers of the witch's blade -

Waken all ye into life,

Come ye as the charm is made!

Queen of heaven, Queen of hell,

Hornèd hunter of the night -

Lend your power unto the spell,

And work our will by magic rite!

By all the power of land and sea,

By all the might of moon and sun -

As we do will, so mote it be;

Chant the spell and be it done!"

Again, I have simplified this version slightly, but you can find the full version with a few notes here, and as it turns out, many people have put it to music so you can even listen to it here. 

Anyway, when the HPs decides that the dancing has realized enough energy, she yells "Down!" and everyone falls to the ground. After this, everyone sits around in a circle (staying inside the consecrated space) facing inward. This is officially the ending of the Witches' Rune which is followed by the Sabbat/Esbat ritual (or both) and everything that goes with it, the cakes and wine part as well as the Closing ritual which includes the thanking of the God and Goddess, dismissing the Elements and closing the circle. If this part isn't clear enough for you, I suggest you read my "Ritual Form" post where all of this is explained. :)

To summarize, the Opening ritual consists of the following parts:

1. Preparing the altar and ritual space
2. Cleansing the water with salt
3. Opening the circle with your athamé
4. Marking the circle with the Elements
5. Visualizing the protection of the circle
6. Invoking the Elements
7. Invoking the Goddess and God: Drawing down the Moon (the Fivefold Kiss+the Charge of the Goddess) + the invocation of the God
8. Dancing the Witches' Rune

Everything that comes after the Rune falls under the main part of the ritual with differs too much from occasion to occasion for me to be able to describe it here.

So you don't think that too big an emphasis was put on the Goddess in the invocation, you have to know that a Drawing down the Sun ritual also exists. In this ritual, the High Priestess invokes the God into the body of the High Priest. A general invocation of the God does exist, as you saw in the previous invocation (which is called the Great God Cernunnos invocation), and for most of the Sabbats, some kind of invocation of the God does have to exist. But, this part is never as emphasized as the invocation of the Goddess since Wicca is, in fact, more Goddess-oriented. Nevertheless, a drawing down of the Sun does exist but that is a separate topic. It's important to note that Doreen Valiente believed that an invocation of some sort for the God similar to this one did exist, but that it was lost, like many other things.

I hope that I will have the chance to write about the Drawing down the Sun ritual some time, but until then, I guess I'll just have to occupy you with other things :)

Until next time. Yours,

Witch's Cat