4. Cleansing of Negative Energy
Leader asks all to be seated, and then will give out a hand-sized
round, black stone; a bowl of salt water; and a towel (for a larger group,
use 2, 3, or 4 of each and them distribute equidistantly around the circle).
Leader then says:
We will pass the stone counterclockwise. As you hold it, fill it
with your pain, your anger, your negative energies, voicing them if you wish,
while everyone is chanting: "Heh-kah-tay, Heh-kah-tay." When you
have poured it all into the stone, bathe it in the cleansing and purifying
salt water, and dry the stone with the towel, then pass it on. When each
of you has done this, place the stone in the water, cover the container with
the cloth and place it near the altar.
The items are passed around the circle. When they are returned to the center, Leader makes a gateway in the Northwest and says:
Let all negativity be cast out of this circle, and from each of our lives as it has been washed out of these stones. I banish it into the earth, to be carried away from here and away from our lives, to be transformed and purified by the cycles of nature, just as this salt water will be made again fresh.
Leader takes bowl, exits circle, and if outdoors, pours water into
the earth. If indoors, take bowl and pour water either into a sink or toilet. (i think it's easier to be sacred pouring it into a sink, but do what feels best to you.)
5. Visualization: A Trip to Tartaros
Leader:
Now we will journey to the Underworld to ask a boon of the chthonic Hekate. Sit comfortably, breathing in and out slowly and at ease. Close your eyes and feel your center.
Three faced one, patroness of the 9 wild muses, Torch Bearer, Star-crown wearer,
Mother of ghosts who prophesize in the form of bee, serpent, mouse, or bat.
She of 3 heads: mare, dog, serpent; or lioness, mare, dog;
or lioness, dog, serpent; or yet, heifer, lioness, serpent.
Dog-star of summer. Brazen sandled one, Whose Magic mists are raised by willow spells.
Thessalian witches, followers of Hekate, Cerdo the weasel, shapeshifters & spellspinners.
Turn west. There lies the opening to Tartaros, the Underworld, in a grove of black poplars, sacred to Her whom we honor. The purpose of the visit is to learn something, perhaps of the future. Often this was done through mantike, inspired prophecy through possession by the deity, enthusiasmos, the deity within us. Don't forget to give a coin to Charon, the ferryman over the River Styx. [pause]
We've reached the other shore. Beware Cerberus, the three-headed dog; his job is to prevent hapless ghosts from fleeing and the living from entering. But tonight we are under the protection of Hekate Chthonia, Hekate Ourania, and he, her servant, lets us pass.
Do not tarry in the cheerless Asphodel Meadows where weary shades wander, purposelessly, twittering like bats.
Look ahead: there lies Erebus, the palace of Hades and Persephone, She who was tutored by Hekate; now She is in the world above for it is summer.
Perhaps we will catch a glimpse of the three Erinnyes, the Furies, who live in Erebus. There is no mistaking them, who punish those who break those of deservedly guilty conscience. They are aged, with snakes for hair, dogs' heads, coal black bodies, bats' wings, and bloodshot eyes. In their hands they carry brass-studded scourges.
To the left is Lethe, shaded by Hekate's white cypress - do not drink of its waters, for it is the Spring of Forgetfulness, for common souls of the dead awaiting rebirth, and we yet live.
Instead, approach Mnemosyne, the Pool of Memory, shaded by white poplars of Persephone. This pool is for initiates. Kneel down and sip its cool waters and see a vision there. [pause]
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