Church of the Earth of NC

Written by Johnson Davis These are my notes for the July 2005 Full Moon circle.   Included are my introductory comments, the guided meditation for raising a leafy sphere, the invocation,  some slightly guided cavorting, the release and the grounding.

These are exactly as I used them, typos and all, so please be understanding...

Introduction

Rhythm 101

Less is more! Everyone should be listening more than they are banging. If we don’t, we end up with cacophony rather than rhythm. In the seasons, the phases of the moon, heartbeats, and sex… steady, consistent rhythms get the job done… boom… boom… boom… boom…

Dance

Keep your eyes open, keep moving around the circle and don’t run into each other. If you aren’t dancing, move to the outer edge, giving dancers plenty of room.

Don’t be embarrassed. Just feel the rhythm and walk. Walking the circle, slowly turning to the music is a great way to reach partial trance and build energy.

The Circle

We will be raising (I hope) powerful, primitive and, most importantly, blind energy. Please do nothing but enjoy it, grounding afterward. We are celebrating, not casting!

We will be creating a strong, dynamic circle together, so enter and exit thoughtfully. Visualize the energy as a waterfall, splitting the stream in your mind before walking through so you don’t get wet. Turn and close the split after you pass through it.

To exit, take a moment to bring your own energy into yourself, then exit. After you reenter, take a moment to ground yourself and begin to contribute to the sphere again.

Raising the Circle

Pause and breath between each verse.

Assume a comfortable stance and close your eyes.
Notice how you are breathing, how your body feels.
Be aware of your surroundings, the trees, the ground and the others here tonight.

With your feet firmly planted, take deep breaths. As you breath, focus on bringing it to your center, expand your belly, knees loose, body balanced, and release it.

Notice how these deep breathes feel in your body. If you are tense, anxious, worried, find those feelings and let them out with your breath.

As you breath, feel your feet on the ground. Your body is balanced. You are calm, you are aware. You are part of the earth as it spins through the universe.

Now feel your roots push down through the soil beneath your feet. Breath and feel the warm soil around your roots as they reach into the earth.

Feel your roots reach deeper still, through loose rock and into the cool rushing waters deep below the surface. Breath and feel the icy water rush around your roots.

Feel your roots reach even deeper now, through the miles of rock beneath the waters and into the fiery, living, molten center, the lifeblood of our planet, flowing since the earth was born. Breath and feel the cleansing fires from the moment of creation surround your roots.

You can now release things into that fire, thoughts that cloud your judgment, memories that burden you. Gather them and let them flow down through your roots, past the warm soil, the cool water and into the fire to be transformed back into pure energy. Breath and feel the transformation below you.

Now draw some primal, pure energy from the center of the earth up through your roots. Feel it pass through rock, cool water, warm soil, in through your feet, up your legs and into your belly. Breath and feel the primal energy collecting at your center.

Now straighten your spine as if it is the trunk of a tree, reaching up to the sky, the moon. Feel the energy in your belly rise through your trunk. Draw some through your heart as it passes by. Let it release your tension. Let heal as it passes. Breath and feel your emotions, your passions, feel them swell with ancient energy.

Now let the energy rise through your neck and throat, and into your head. Feel the third eye in the center of your forehead. Open your awareness with it as much as you feel comfortable with. Breath and see the magnificent universe, lit by primal energies.

Let the energy pass through the crown of your head, reaching for the moon and stars as branches and leaves. Feel all our branches join and intertwine above us forming a great canopy, then sweeping back down around us all like a weeping willow, reaching to the ground at the edge of our garden with us at the center. Breath and feel the energy flow the length of your branches, finding a home again back in the earth at the edge of our garden, the base of our sphere.

Now feel the cool light of the moon and stars on your leaves and branches above us. Draw it down into you head, your heart, your belly, down through your roots into the earth. As you breath, feel the balance with earth and sky, the energy of earth flowing up through you, the light of night flowing down through you.

Breath and feel the living sphere of leaves and branches around us now, the energy flowing through it will both contain and protect us. Feel safe here.

Now with your eyes still closed, just imagine opening your eyes. You are calm and grounded, in a state of awareness of everything around you, and you can still feel this with your eyes open.

Now breath and open your eyes. Still calm, still in the world, still safe inside our living sphere of leaves and branches, its energy flowing through all of us, breath and be.

Now look around. Breath and feel the energy coming from the earth through the soles of your feet, charging our sphere. Breath and feel the light of night shining on the sphere and flowing through you down into the earth.

Now for the best part. Imagine you are not stuck or static. Your roots flow with you wherever you go. Our sphere expands and moves with us, always expanding to protect us all. Breath and feel how dynamic our roots and spheres, all made of pure energy, can really be.

Now, slowly, feeling your roots flow to follow your foot, take a step forward. Breath and feel your roots still reaching deep into the earth. Breath and feel your trunk still reaching through you to the sky. Breath and feel the sphere of branches and leaves still cascading down around us all.

Now, slowly, feeling your roots flow to follow your feet, take two steps backward. Breath and feel your roots still reaching deep into the earth. Breath and feel the sphere expand keeping us all safe inside.

Now, breathing, eyes open, energy flowing, and roots deep, we are safe in our sphere, we are the sphere.

Invocations (responsive?)

Eastern elementals of air, inspirational breath of life,
please join this circle and witness this rite.
Blessed Be.

Southern elementals of fire, passionate forces of life,
please join this circle and witness this rite.
Blessed Be.

Western elementals of water, lucid dreams of life,
please join this circle and witness this rite.
Blessed Be.

Northern elementals of earth, foundation and food of life,
please join this circle and witness this rite.
Blessed Be.

Mother, Goddess of moon and star,
manifest on this, Your night.
Bring your presence from afar,
and bless us in this sacred rite.
Grant us knowledge and clarity,
lend Your power, send Your light.
Set our primitive spirits free,
join us in our dance tonight!

Pause for individuals to silently invite their own entities.

Rhythm, Cavorting and Silliness May Now Ensue!

For at least 50,000 years, rhythm and dance have been used for trance, energy and celebration on this earth. Primitive man on every continent, tens of thousands of years before written history, first listened to their heartbeats, then pounded their drums and began to dance around their fires, imitating the animals they worshiped.

Now it is time for us to dance…

o Imagine your heartbeat. Just a single repeating beat.

o Now choose an animal.

§ Birds soar, feeling the wind in their wings as the earth speeds past below them in a distant blur.

§ Big cats walk with every inch of their body, a fluid, rippling mass of muscles and sinew that can only be described as coiled energy.

§ Bears, most in tune with the cycle of the seasons, hibernate in winter, wake and frolic in the spring, laze in the hot summer, and finally gorge in the fall in preparation for another winter of sleep.

o Now, walk the circle as that animal. Move as it would. Make it’s sounds deep in your throat.

o Faster around the circle, you are an animal in search of prey, in search of a mate, fleeing a fire, splashing in a river. Scream or laugh, call out in triumph.

o Slower now we walk the circle. Our inner animal is searching for a place to enjoy a meal, to rest, to die.

o Now we are still, and there is only the rhythm again. The endless cycle of the earth continues.

o Breath.

Release (responsive?)

Pause for individuals to silently release their own entities.

Gracious Goddess,
Thank you for joining our circle
And witnessing this rite.
Go if you must,
Stay if you will;
We bid you farewell.

Spirits of the North, South, East, and West,
Thank you for joining our circle
And witnessing this rite.
Go if you must,
Stay if you will;
We bid you farewell.

Grounding

Standing firm, eyes closed, breathing deeply, feel the energy of the rhythm, the energy of the dance, feel it flowing through you and seeping back down through your roots and into the earth. Grow calm, feel peace.

Breath deeply and feel your branches slowly untangle and withdraw from the others’ branches, drawing them back into yourself.

Breath deeply and feel your roots drawing back up into your body, withdrawing from the fire, the water, the soil.

Now your branches and roots are completely within you, they are part of you, they are you. You are calm, you are awake, open your eyes and be in the world.

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