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Mother's Night Blot
Hallowing
Godi holds the ceremonial hammer and opens the circle with the traditional blessing:
In the Elhaz position standing facing North the Godi speaks:
Hammer to the North, hold and hallow this holy stead.
Godi faces East and speaks:
Hammer to the East, hold and hallow this holy stead.
Godi faces South and speaks:
Hammer to the South, hold and hallow this holy stead.
Godi faces West and speaks:
Hammer to the West, hold and hallow this holy stead.
Godi return to the North position and speaks:
In the name of Thor we call to the ancient Gods and Goddesses – all. May this Hammer, symbol of Mjolnir and symbol of Thor, reaffirm the abundant strength and power of our Gods and of our people. I consecrate this place of community and frith, banishing from it all impure influences. May our minds in this consecrated place likewise be sanctified, as is our will to the just services of Odin, ancient god of our people. As Heimdall guards the Bifrost, may this place be warded against all forces unharmonious to our purpose here this day. Wights of the land, wherever we may be, give us your blessing this Frey Faxi.
Sacred Fire
Godi lights candles.
Godi speaks:
Great Odin, we kindle the fire of cleansing and creation,
The first mystery and final mercy,
Let flame be kindled by flame,
That through the darkness we may come to light.
And may the holy flame of our people and our future,
Which ever burns,
Grow again to bathe Midgard
In its sacred radiance.
Invocation
The Godi faces the altar, holding high with both hands a horn of mead and recites:
Mother Frigga we call upon you this night to be with us this Winter Solstice.
You are the matron of all.
Your wisdom and guidance keeps us secured on our path as we prepare for the coming winter months.
Mother of our people! You are manifest in the promise of the sleeping seeds and waiting buds; you give life to forest, field, and family!
We praise you and seek your blessing on us.
We sing your praises and call for your protection in time of need.
Ancient Disir of our families we call upon you this night as we give praise and sing of your deeds. Watch over us this longest night of the year as we wait for the sun to warm us once again.
First Reading
Attendant reads:
Yule is the most sacred time of year for Asatruar. It is the end of the last month and beginning of the first month of the year. This twelve-day span is begun on the Winter Solstice and is called Mōdraniht, or Mother’s Night which is a celebration of Frigga and the Disir of the family. Disir are the female ancestral spirits that guide and protect the family line down through the ages. In the time of our ancestors all spinning was done and put away until the end of Yule while families retreated to the Hof for the cold, long winter celebration. Now is the deep night of the year, the dark stillness before the sun is reborn, and the eve of Balder’s birth. We come together in darkness to honor Mother Frigga, and ask her blessings on all mothers, or mothers yet to be.
Scholars have linked these Modra ("Mothers") with the Germanic Matres and Matrones. Rudolf Simek says that Mōdraniht "as a Germanic sacrificial festival should be associated with the Matron worship of the West Germanic peoples on the one hand, and to the dísablót and the Disting already known from medieval Scandinavia on the other hand and is chronologically to be seen as a connecting link between these Germanic forms of worship. Scholars have placed the event as a part of the Germanic winter period of Yule. The event is attested by the medieval English historian Bede in his 8th-century Latin work De temporum ratione. Scholars have proposed connections between the Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht and events attested among other Germanic peoples (specifically those involving the disir, the collective female beings, and Yule) and the Germanic Matres and Matrones, female beings attested by way of altar and votive inscriptions, nearly always appearing in trios. This night is ruled over by the woman of the house who stands for all the womanly wights that care for their kin.
Second Reading
Second Attendant reads:
There are a number of customs that are attributed to Mother’s Night. Traditionally, at dusk, a candle is lit in the home to bring light to the longest night of the year and shines throughout the night. This light is used by the Disir to pierce the veil and watch over the family until the first light of day reaches the hearth. The ancestral disir use this night to give blessings to the family, especially to mothers to be. The lighting of the candle signifies the start of Yule. At the nightly meal a place is set for the Disir so that they may join in the celebration and libations are poured in their honor. This is a night for telling stories about the female ancestors of the family. Some people spend the entire night doing this with no sleep so that they can spend as much time as possible with the ancestral disir. Some people use this day to bring in and decorate a Yule tree as decorating the home with evergreen is a traditional holiday custom.
Invocation
The Horn is passed as the folk sing
Song:
Mothers and Fathers of Old
From far beyond this mortal plane,
Mothers and Fathers of Old.
We pray that you return again,
Mothers and Fathers of Old.
To share with us the mystery and secrets all untold
From the ancient ways we seek to reclaim
Mothers and Fathers of Old.
Hail to the Alfs, all ringed round us, the Fathers of the folk.
Hail to the Dises, all ringed round us, the Mothers of our might.
Hail to our kin, in the hidden lands, Hail the ancestors on this holy Yule!
Third reading
Attendant reads:
Merry Yule and Mothers' Night,
May you be safe and warm!
May Norns and Disir lend you light
To keep you from all harm!
Midwinter tide has come, and now the year will turn again,
May the Gods bless your kith and kin and home,
Kinfolk and home,
May the Gods bless your kinfolk and your home.
Midwinter Sun shines bright at noon
In crisp and azure skies,
Midwinter night, the snow-white moon
Among the stars will rise.
In frith within and frith without we celebrate tonight,
May the Gods bless your kith and kin and home,
Kinfolk and home,
May the Gods bless your kinfolk and your home.
O may your year be ever kind,
Bring happiness and mirth,
Peace and plenty all around,
And fire in your hearth.
May Aesir, Vanir and good wights upon your journey smile,
May the Gods bless your kith and kin and home,
Kinfolk and home,
May the Gods bless your kinfolk and your home.
© Michaela Macha
Anointing
Godi places evergreen sprig in blessing bowl and sprinkles the altar. Walking sunwise around the circle, Godi anoints each of the celebrants with mead saying:
I give you the blessings of Frigga.
Godi returns to altar and takes up the gandr. Godi assumes Elhaz position, faces the circle and speaks:
Goddess Frigga!
You, who are the natural mother
Of all things,
Mistress and Governess
Of all the elements,
The initial progeny of Midgard,
Chief of the powers divine,
Queen of our folk,
Principle of the High Gods
That dwell in Asgard,
Essence of nature –
Hear us now as we give tribute!
Closing
Godi speaks:
Spirits of Asgard we thank you for your presence here in this circle. We ask for your blessing and while you depart to your noble realm we bid you hail and farewell. I hereby release any Spirits that may have been imprisoned by this ceremony. Depart now in peace to your abodes and habitations. The blót is now ended, let the sumbel begin.