Calendar of the Sun
11 Wolfmonath
Hecate's Day of the Midwives
Colors: Red and black
Element: Water
Altar: Upon a black cloth lay many long red cloths, three red candles, a clay bowl of well water
filled with stones, and a knife.
Offerings: Give aid to a midwife.
Daily Meal: Bread and soup.
Hecate's Midwife Invocation
Call: Hail, Hecate, Three-Faced Goddess!
Response: Hail, Hecate, Lady Underground!
Call: Hail Maiden Moon-Pale, leader of the Hounds!
Response: Hail Grandmother of Wolves and Toads!
Call: Hail Old Woman, Witch who stirs the cauldron!
Response: Hail Hecate, Midwife Crone who aids those in need!
Call: It is by this title that we call you today, Lady!
Response: For you are the friend of every mother in labor...
Call: But especially those who have been cast away.
Response: The homeless, the husbandless, the scorned...
Call: Those whose children will not be born into happy homes...
Response: Those whose children may be taken from their mother's arms...
Call: Those whose children are born in anguish of the heart...
Response: Those who did not wish to see their bodies swell...
Call: Those who did not wish to open the door of life...
Response: Those who find themselves torn with pains unwished.
Call: It is to you that they turn, Old Grandmother...
Response: It is your hands that soothe them, Mistress of Underground Rivers!
Call: It is you who casts no judgment upon them.
Response: Teach us, Grandmother, how to keep from judging!
Call: Teach us how every chance for life is sacred...
Response: No matter how ambivalent the circumstances.
Call: Teach us how every moment of birth is worth assisting...
Response: No matter how unworthy the vessel.
Call: We are all bound by the thread of blood shed at our birth.
Response: We are all bound by the pain of our entry into this world.
Call: Hail Hecate, Grandmother of Blood and Pain,
Response: Challenge us to think beyond our own simple labors.
(Take the red cloths and pass them through your hands until all are joined together.)
Chant: Hecate, Cerridwen, Dark Mother Let Us In
Hecate, Cerridwen, Let Us Be Reborn
[Pagan Book of Hours]