Calendar of the Moon
9 Coll/Metageitnion
Taliesin's Day
Color: Sky-Blue
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of sky-blue set a chalice of wine, a cup of honey, a ring of keys, a single stone,
and many blue candles.
Offerings: Words that you have written yourself.
Daily Meal: Any food transformed to look like something else, such as a subtlety.
Invocation to Taliesin
Hail, Greatest of Bards!
You who were once Gwion Bach,
A wandering child with no home and no luck,
You who minded the Cauldron of Cerridwen
And stole from it three drops of wisdom,
You who heard the language of birds
And fled from the Goddess's wrath,
You who were hare and fish and otter,
You who were a bird and a single grain of corn,
You who were seized by Her sharp eyes
And devoured by Her questing beak,
You who grew to fullness again in Her belly
And were birthed forth a second time,
You who were cast into the sea and blown forth
Upon the shore of a far land,
You whose words bedazzled the throned ones,
You whose curse turns men to stone,
You whose song confounds and enlightens,
You who are the Power of Words
Cascading over our ears and our minds,
Infuse us with the Spirit of Inspiration
And may our own words gleam
With the treasure more precious than gold.
(One who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual pours the honey into the wine cup and
stirs it, and takes it about to each one present, bidding them drink and saying, "May thy tongue
flow with honey." Each drinks, and the rest is poured out as libation. As this is the day of the
God of Bards, one should be brought in from outside the house to sing or speak to all the folk
present. They should be feasted as the reliquary of Taliesin, and given honor. Many books
should be read tonight.)
[Pagan Book of Hours]