Calendar of the Sun
11 Winterfyllith
Day of Wayland the Smith
Colors: Red and White
Element: Fire
Altar: Upon a red cloth place the figure of a white horse, two white candles, several gold rings, a
cup of mead, and the tools of blacksmithing.
Offerings: Handcrafts.
Daily Meal: Soup and bread.
Wayland Invocation
Long ago, a smith loved a swan-maiden,
And their love was fair, until she came no more
Into his forests. So he waited for her by her lake,
Making fine things of gold to gift her with
Should she return. But he was laid low
By greedy men and cruel, who shot him down
And finding his works to be fair, lamed him
And kept him prisoner for a king's avarice.
Long he dwelt in prison, on an lonely isle,
Thundering forth many rings of gold
And against greed and cruelty he wrought his vengeance.
For the sons of the king came forth to him,
Threatening and bribing, reflections of their father's
Gaping maw, and he laid them low with a hammer.
Goblets he made from their skulls, and necklaces
From their teeth. Then came their sister
To find her brothers, and he defiled her,
And fled the island on wings as broad
As those of his lost swan-maiden.
Yet to this day, when folk leave a horse
Unshod, with coin on the stone
In Wayland's hills, he will come forth
And shoe the beast for nothing. So it is
That even he who is abused into darkness
And violence can come to a place
Of generosity and the open hand.
Teach us to overcome the wounds that cripple us,
O Smith of great craft, and to hammer ourselves
Straight and true once again.
(The cup of mead is poured out as libation, and all disperse to work that day on crafts, while
meditating on their wounds and how to overcome them.)
[Pagan Book of Hours]