Winter solstice is a time for birthing. It is the birth of light, the birth of the sun. What do we want to birth? What do we want to pull forward from the other dimensional realms into this one?
What is this? Read about why I am creating an Abruzzo-Italiana Wheel of the year here.
In this ritual we will call on the Moon and her Mirror, sacred water, to bring forth energies, events, dreams, and wishes from the other dimensional realms. We will make offerings to the moon and the Goddess Diana through her Mirror of the Moon, the vehicle of Lake Nemi, because the moon is the creatrix and Winter Solstice is the time for birthing. Birthing is bringing things forward into the 3D realm that are already alive in the alternate realms.
Please read the previous 2 blog posts to gain a more comprehensive understanding of this ritual:
Icamiabas: Amazon Warrior Women in Precontact Americas
The Goddess Diana, Lake Nemi and the Mirror of the Moon South of Rome
What energies do you want to see birthed on the earth at this time? What energies do you want to call forth from another dimension? What do you want to bring through this doorway of parturition?
Ancient women knew that a sacred body of water in communion with the moon, could facilitate many kinds of birth. The Moon Goddess is the creatrix. She is time in the sky. The sun and moon create linear and cyclic time within the container of all time. At certain conjunctions, these cycles of linear and cyclic time create portals.
Winter Solstice is one of those portals.
The Ritual:
The serpent and the moon are one.
Your daughter is returned to you
Teach her the ways of Janarra
For the good of humanity
All the magic ways
For this ritual you will need:
Hibiscus tea (1 8oz portion for each participant)
Wood ash
A large outdoor tub or basin filled with water (This will be filled and left out under the evening sky the night before the ritual)
An outdoor fire pit
Rattles and bells
A secret from a lineage you are initiated into that you will share with the group you invite.
An offering to be made to that secret.
Participants are invited to bring:
1 8oz portion of hibiscus tea
Something physical to represent an energy or quality that they wish to pull through into this dimension or something they wish to manifest. This can be for the personal, community, global or universal good.
Rattle and bells
Something to sit on that is waterproof
An offering to Lake Nemi
An offering to the Moon
An offering to Diana and the Icamiabas
Food and drink to share
If you are doing this alone or indoors:
The night before the ritual, place a small round mirror outside under the stars calling Lake Nemi and the moon into it
The next morning, gather the mirror
For the ritual, place this mirror into a bathtub or bowl full of water, further calling lake Nemi through the mirror into that water
Put a candle near the bathtub or place the bowl of water by an indoor wood stove or fireplace or candle
Continue to carry out the ritual as instructed below
Why are we sharing a secret?
Spiritual medicine lineages are alive and they will find a way. They will find a way to stay alive. Part of how they do this is with the passing on of secrets to initiated members. All lineages have secrets and this is part of what protects them and helps them to endure.
If you are the holder of a medicine lineage, you have a right to the secrets. If you are initiated into an adopted lineage, you need to earn the right to the secrets. They will be revealed to you slowly as you progress in your work.
It does no good to be impatient. That will only slow you down. You must trust that when the time is right, all will be revealed. Even for me, restoring a lineage that I am a holder of to myself and my family, the Italian Strega/Janarra lineage, the secrets are slow to reveal themselves.
They have been hidden away by my ancestors for safekeeping. They have been told to unwind and reveal themselves to me slowly as I learn, progress in my understanding and proficiency and as I continue to dedicate myself to the practice.
In the Italian tradition, December 24— Christmas Eve, is a time to reveal secrets. It is commonly believed that the ritual to remove the malocchio (evil eye) is taught to lineage holders on Christmas Eve.
But that is only a remnant of a much larger tradition of keepers of the craft revealing secrets of the lineage throughout the month of December.
In this Winter Solstice ritual, you will include and pass on a secret of your lineage to the people you invite. Make sure you know they can be trusted with the secret. This secret teaching will be incorporated into your ritual and not passed on by any of those you tell it to unless they are told to by the keepers of the lineage. You will listen for your own guidelines.
There are many secret rituals that I carry out on my own. The Strega Tree Collective also carries out secret rituals that I will never write about or share in a public way. If you do your own deep listening, engage in the work of your lineage with clean intentions and keep a consistent practice, you will be rewarded with teachings of the secrets of your lineage.
Secrets protect the lineages from each other. As long as all know that others have secret rituals they can be sure they do not know everything about each others’ lineages and so they are less likely to trespass or enter into territory they do not have permission to.
It also reminds us that there are many spiritual ways and lineages, and all are equally valid.
Access to lineages is earned. Spiritual medicine lineages must be respected an honored by all. They are here to support the life systems of the planet and were entered into as a soul contract long before our current lifetimes. Spiritual medicine lineages have a sovereignty outside of humans and should be respected as such.
The Strega/Janarra lineage is an ancient moon lineage. Everyone that I have initiated is initiated into this lineage through me. It is fitting that this last ritual I will carry out to complete the eight I was prescribed by Amy Tanzman Palmer, another diviner in the Strega Tree collective, is an overt moon ritual.
Be careful with these ancient moon lineages as they are holding a very potent and ancient layer of medicine lineages. They have been in hiding for a long time and with good reason. Awaken them with caution and only reveal what is meant to be revealed when the time is right.
Ritual: December 21: Winter Solstice—Manifesting with the Goddess Diana and the Mirror of the Moon
- The leader of the ritual will host it.
- They will build a hearty fire in the outdoor fire pit before participants arrive.
- Next to the fire pit is an outdoor tub holding water that will stand in as lake Nemi (Tub has been filled with water the night before and Lake Nemi has been called into it. To learn about lake Nemi see previous blog post here)
- A large ash circle is created around this fire pit and tub within which the ritual will take place.
- Sacred smoke is burned inside the container that is created
- Offerings are made to the land and the lineage: (you will ask what)
Arrival
- Call in the directions
- All make offerings to Lake Nemi, the Moon, Diana and the Icamiabas under the fig tree, one at a time speaking prayers aloud
- Circle the fire
- Carry out a grounding ritual or meditation (This is big medicine. All must be safely grounded)
- Synch up energy. Shake rattles and bells until leader feels the energy of the groups is sufficiently cohered and that ample numina has been conjured
- Call in Lake Nemi, continuing to invoke with rattles and bells
- Secret revealed and offering to secret made
- One at a time, participants place representative objects, muiraquitãs, they have brought into tub, stating what they are calling forth through the water with the Moon. Then they offer their portion of hibiscus into the water. (To learn about muiraquitãs go here.)
- After each participant deposits her muiraquitã, rattles and bells are shaken again, asking the moon and Diana to “make them real”
- After all participants have completed this step, the group again shakes rattles and bells until the leader feels it is complete
- Gather the activated muiraquitãs from the water. Participants will take the activated muiraquitãs home with them to be kept somewhere as power objects.
- Close ritual/ release directions
- Feast and celebration
Leave the tub out over night. When you empty it, make it an offering of the water to your lineage.
Blessed Solstice and Happy New Year to All.
