Calendar of the Sun
10 Wolfmonath
Ilithyia's Day of the Midwives
Color: Red
Element: Earth
Altar: The altar shall be the same as Sponde the previous day.
Offerings: Give aid to a midwife.
Daily Meal: Center around milk and dairy products.
Ilithyia Invocation
Slim maiden with quick hands / That bring forth the life of others, / Daughter of Hera, child of marriage, / Daughter of Zeus, child of kingship, / Your hands reach forth / To every matron's opening womb, / Bringing the new bride into the world of family, / Bringing the maiden into the time of mothering, / Bringing the tribe a new life. / Let us learn from you, maiden midwife! / For though we do sometimes find ourselves / Bringing new life into the world, / More often we kneel in your place, / As you kneel between the laboring woman's thighs, / Watching the opening of the sacred door, / Kneeling in honor of the power of birth, / We find ourselves assisting in the birth / Of the others who struggle, / Who writhe and twist and despair of being done, / Who need out skilled hands, our urgent voices, / Our love and care and attention / That what must be birthed shall come to be. / Teach us, Ilithyia, of how to better hold the labor of another / In our waiting hands.
Chant:
From the dark of the womb we bring forth life / From the dark of the mind we bring forth light / From the dark of the dream we bring forth sight / From the dark of the Wheel we bring forth fate / From the dark of the night we bring forth day / From the dark of the heart we seek the way.
Pagan Book of Hours
Order of the Horae
First Kingdom Church of Asphodel
http://www.paganbookofhours.org/