Lewis Stead

The Ravenbook

whatever sanctification rite (hammer rite) you wish to do

in order to consecrate your space, theres nothing else to be done: no

squiggly Hebrew letters inscribed on the edges of a 9 circle, no

alchemical elements or quarter castings. The layout of the folk

during ones rituals is determined by your space--theres no magical

formula that requires a circle or any other shape. If the room is

square, arrange people in a square. We tend to form up in a

semi-circle with the altar in the front, and the Gothi and Valkyrie on

either side of the altar.

Of course, whatever else one wishes to do to decorate ones ritual

space is up to them. I know people who have decent sized statues of

the Gods. Our kindred has a kindred banner (The Raven Banner!) which

we usually hang behind the altar. Pictures of the Gods, statuary, etc

are all appropriate.

When one is outside, other considerations come into place. I would

not recommend doing ritual outside at night or in darkness, unless one

has been at the site during the day and/or one is planning on spending

the night. Getting to the site and setting up in the dark tends to

take too much time and detracts from the overall experience. I highly

recommend rituals at dusk, or if you can drag your kinsmen out of bed,

at dawn. Holding a Balder-blot, and meditating on his loss and the

temporal nature of life while watching the setting sun is a truly

incredible experience. The best places to hold rituals tend to be in

groves that are sufficiently mature for the shade to have killed off

most of the ground vegetation (traditionally the continental Germans

held their rituals in groves) or open fields where one can see the

sky. Check that the space you have selected is reasonably flat and

that if you plan on people sitting down that the ground is dry and

without poison ivy. Unless you have a firepit, I dont recommend a

fire--its more trouble than its worth. Forget candles and incense.

These can be useful psychological aids indoors, but outside they look

ridiculous--Ill never forget the ridiculous image of a Wiccan ritual

I attended during which a person with utter seriousness and pomp

carried a single stick of incense around the ritual site.

Most everyone I know who is a practicing Pagan of any type has some

type of space set aside in their home for occasional honoring of the

Gods. In some ways this may be a more important thing to concentrate

on than the setup of your Ve for group ritual work because the form of

your home altar takes the place of the ritual trappings found when

working with a group. The major purposes of a home altar are to

remind one of the place of the Gods in ones life, and to provide a

convenient and regular place to make occasional offerings and prayers

to the Gods.

Home altars tend to be very eclectic. In our home, we have the top of

a bookshelf set aside with an altar holding our usual ritual tools,

and a few candles. We have another friend who has no permanent

shrine, but carries a statue of Thor in a small wooden box. One side

of the box can be removed to display Thor, and under the Gods seat is

a small piece of lava taken from Thingvellir. Its not necessary to

have all or any of the tools for the blot on ones home altar, unless

one plans to perform full blots at it. Offerings in the home tend to

be candles or incense; not traditional, but simple and part of our

modern culture.

THE HOLIDAYS

The ancient Norse knew four major holidays the Spring and Autumn

Equinoxes which we call Summer and Winter Finding, and the two

solstices which we call Midsummer and Yule. However, there were many

other minor festivals and modern Asatru have added even more. A

calendar of Raven Kindred rituals is provided in an appendix and I

also encourage anyone to find as many as one is willing to meet for.

We meet monthly, but some groups meet 8 times a year and also

celebrate the cross-quarter days of May Day/Walpurgis,

Halloween/Samhain, February eve or The Charming of the Plow, and

Lammastide or Freyfaxi,

Most of our rituals also honor only one or a few Gods or Goddesses at

any one time. However, there is no reason why the entire pantheon

should not be offered prayers and thanks at any occasion. This would

be particularly appropriate at the major holidays. Unlike most other