Full moon celebrations

In an earlier post I mentioned that I had decided that the period of the full moon would be devoted to honouring deities.  This evening I carried out the third of my full moon devotions.

The full moon was on Sunday evening at 16.38 GMT so my devotions started the evening before in honour of Brigantia or Brighid.

I chose the time of sunset each day (or as close to it as I could get) for my devotions so at sunset on Saturday evening I gathered together three tea lights, my wooden quaich, a small white bowl, some milk and honey in the kitchen.  I poured some milk into the white bowl, heated it and added a little honey.  I lit the three tealights one for Brighid as mother of hearth and home, one for Brighid as healer and guardian of wells and healing springs and one for Brighid as smith and craftswoman.  I then sang a hymn of praise to Brighid in Gaelic (Irish), it’s called Gabhain Molta Bhride and I first heard it played by Fiona Davidson accompanied with her harp.  Fiona kindly sent me a CD with it on so I could learn it and this is the version she sent me:

Once I had sung this hymn of praise I poured three portions of the sweetened milk into the quaich and then used the remainder to toast the three aspects of Brighid, Mother of hearth and home, Lady of healing waters and Lady of smiths and craftworkers.  The milk in the quaich was left to cool before pouring out in the garden and the candles left to burn out.

On Sunday evening I gathered a single candle, the quaich and a glass of mead.  The candle I lit for Rigantona and then I sang a Hymn to Epona I crafted to her as Epona some years ago.  After singing this I poured some of the mead from my glass into the quaich and used the rest to toast her as Mother of the Tribe.   The mead in the quaich was left overnight by a statue of Epona and poured out in the garden the following morning.

This evening I went out into the garden somewhat later than I had hoped owing to family matters.  I gazed at the stars for a while and then sang a hymn of praise to the Cailleach I crafted a few years ago.  I’ve never recorded this one so I can’t let you hear it here.  After singing it I came back inside and poured a little single malt whiskey into the quaich as an offering.  As I’m not fond of whiskey myself I toasted the Cailleach as Mother of the Land with some red wine.  The whiskey has been left and will be poured out in the garden tomorrow morning.

I am unsure if the form of these devotions will remain exactly as I have carried out this month but it felt good to do these things at this time of the full moon.