Cernic tradition in Iowa

I am borrowing the text of this entry from a blog called The Circle of Shadows. I just wanted to make certain that, in this case, proper credit was given to the author and/or coven. I had originally wanted to post this December 3, 2010 post last Yule, and had sent an e-mail which wasn't responded to.

This is one of the few references to a present day pagan tradition/ritual which actually refers to its Cernic origin. The blog goes in a little bit of a different direction than we usually think of as being Cernist, but sometimes things take time to develop; and to develop a consensus among the larger body of people. It needs some time.

The Coven Ritual for Yuletide 2010 (Cernunnos and the Crone)

December 3, 2010

So, over the past couple of weeks I and few friends of mine have been working on a ritual for this Yuletide season, which falls on December 21, 2010 and also falls on the night of the Full Moon. It will be a very special night since it falls on the rare occaison (though certainly not unheard of) that a Witches Sabbat and Esbat (moon ritual) fall on the same night.

I think one of the great things about our coven so far is that we have managed to put our personal ideas, differences, and preferences aside and just focus on the celebration of the pagan holidays. Our rituals have been generic enough to suit all members, yet they also retain their meaning at the same time. The coven I am now calling the "Circle of Shadows" first met formally on November 7, 2010, the purpose was the observence of Samhain 2010 which actually took place one week prior to our formal observence due to the illness of a member. Upon the conclusion of this meeting we all seemed to feel that this organized grotto of witchcraft was indeed worth pursuing. I think we all feel as though the ritual itself could have been better, but given the lack of preparation (only a couple of weeks) hindered how effective the ritual could have been.

With my personal preferences of more dark sided occultism, and the preferences of other members for a lighter side to such things I feel that we have (in most cases thus far) blended both ideas (and those in between) well. And we all seem to get along with one another very well and have a chemistry that is still developing at this point, but still ever present none the less.

As the high priest at our Samhain meeting and now the High Priest of our Yuletide meeting, we seem to have many obstacles to work through. But yet this Yuletide is the darkest night of the year and thus very mportant to myself. And it is very important to the other members, each for different reasons but we each are able to to afford the the other members thier own importance and celebrate the REBIRTH OF THE SUN. Which is, after all the most important aspect of this holiday!

Om, Sarva Buddha Dakini, Hri Mama Sakta Soha...

Happy Yuletide to all!

Raven Brimstone

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