Background
I wrote these prayers as part of a Lupercalia ritual that I led for the University of Toronto Pagan Society in 2006. My goal was to write prayers for various sections of my ritual that could be used in future public rituals and in my personal practice. I consulted a variety of sources online at the time as well as a few primary and secondary sources I had time to access. I am presenting an edited version of my original ritual notes, which unfortunately did not include footnotes; I have endeavoured to site specifically the online sources that I was able to track down. [1] The translations, unless otherwise specified, were provided by a friend whose skills in Latin far exceed my own; thanks again for your assistance my friend.
I hope these prayers will be helpful to others looking to create rituals in honour of the Gods. I found that they worked quite well in ritual especially with encouraging audience participation - i.e. having the crowd repeat what you say or even the closing verse of the prayer for emphasis. Instruments or other “noise makers” such as rattles, bells, foot stamping, etc can also be used to increase the effect. [2]
Personal Purification
This sort of prayer appears in many Nova Roma rituals published on-line, and I use it in my personal practice.[3] So in this case both the English and Latin versions come from Nova Roma sources:
May this water cast out all of my impurities from my substance as from lead to gold. Purify my mind, Purify my body, Purify my heart. As it is wished, so may it be!
Haec aqua a corpore impuritates, modo simile plumbo mutando ad aurum, elluat. Purga mentem. Purga carnem. Purga animum. Ita vultis, ita siet!
As I recite this prayer I douse a match or some other source of fire (say a stick of incense) into a bowl of water containing both salt (preferably sea salt) and vervain; I then wash my hands and face in the bowl.
Prayer for Vesta
This is a short little piece inviting Vesta to be present for and hopefully accepting of the offerings she will be receiving. In this case I’m providing not only my original prayer written in English, but also both the Latin and literal translation:
“Mother Vesta, shining goddess of the hearth, eternal flame, accept our prayers and bless this ritual with your ancestral flame that our offerings today may become worthy of the immortal gods. Let it be so and it is so.”
Vesta Mater,
dea foci nitens,
ignis aeternalis,
vota nostra accipe (accipias) ac
hunc ritum flamma proavita bene dic (dicias)
ut digna deis immortalibus nostra offerenda fiant.
"Vesta Mother,
Goddess of the hearth shining,
Flame eternal,
Prayers our accept (may you accept) and
this ritual by means of your flame ancestral bless (may you bless)
so that worthy of the gods immortal our going-to-be-offered-things
might become."
Purification of Space
I wrote this in the style of a traditional Christian protective (and directional) lorica like The Lorica of St. Patrick. A lorica is a form of ritual incantation or prayer, but the word can also translate as some kind of protective armour or shell. So, what I like about this sort of prayer is that it literally envelopes the practitioner in a sort of protective spiritual armour. I decided to use this style of incantation to help in preparing ritual space:
“May this water and may this smoke
cast out all impurities from this space
so that there divine worship might be done.
Purify above,
Purify below,
Purify before,
Purify behind,
Purify to the right,
Purify to the left;
and let all unclean things be cast out from this sacred space.
It is so!”
Haec aqua et hic fumus
omnia de hoc loco profana
deiciant
ubi res divina fiat.
Super purga,
infra purga
ante purga,
post purga,
dextrum purga,
sinistrum purga.
Omnia profana
de hoc loco sacro
deiciantur.
Sic est.
Although this is certainly a modern innovation, and based on Christian precedent, in practice it worked quite well; it really seemed to help get everyone involved prepared for the ritual and set the appropriate tone for working in sacred space. If one were so inclined they could also write loricas to any Gods or Goddesses they like -- especially for prayers of a protective nature in times of need.
Prayer to Janus
I wrote this prayer for Janus specifically to be used in the opening stages of a ritual. Janus is a god of beginnings, the god of thresholds, and it is through Janus that the sacred realm is opened up to us in ritual. With that in mind the prayer asks Janus to not only open the way that the Gods might come to accept our offerings and praise, but also to help in protecting this ritual space from any malicious or unwanted influences (i.e. ill omen). What I like about the prayer is that it calls upon many epithets for Janus, which perhaps could be viewed as having a cumulative or strengthening effect - it calls his attention through a connection with the various names by which he is recognized:
“Great Janus, multi-faced, all seeing, God of Gods (divom deus), known by these and many other names, who in prayer is called even before mighty Jupiter, may you sanctify this ritual and let no impurity corrupt this space.
Janus, he who presides over beginnings and endings, Janus Limentinus, guarding of the threshold, Janus Patulcius and Janus Clusivius, who both open and close the threshold, may you grant us blessings and protection from harm be it ill omens, malicious spirits, or any unwanted influence as we perform this rite.
Let it be so and it is so.”
Jane magne,
multis faciebus,
omnia videns,
divom dei,
nominibus his aliisque vocatus,
qui in precatu etiam ante Jove potente invocaris,
hunc ritum sancias et
interdicas ne quid profanum hunc locum corrumpat.
Jane, qui principiis terminiisque praesides,
Jane Limentine, liminis custos,
Jane Patulcie et Jane Clusivie,
qui facis ut limen pateat et claudatur,
nobis bona dones et
nos a malis tuearis,
dum hunc ritum facimus.
Sic sit et sic est.
Prayer for the Capitoline Triad and to All the Gods
This is a prayer written for the Capitoline Triad and to All the Gods. I used it as the final section of opening prayers for my Lupercalia ritual. I specifically wanted it to be as concise as possible and flexible enough to be used in multiple contexts. I referenced various online sources for ideas and quoted a specific passage from Silius Italicus Punica Liber X translated by M Moravius Piscinus from Temple of Religio Romana. [4]
It has the same kind of feel as the Janus prayer, calling the attention of the various gods through their epithets and suggesting why they are being asked to participate in the ritual:
“Jupiter Optimus Maximus, protector of boundaries (Fidius) and of the state (Stator), great thunderer (Tonans), watch over this ritual and grant it thy blessing so that it may be found worthy both in your eyes and to the immortal gods.
Juno Regina, celestial light (Lucetia), who warns against dangers (Moneta), who purifies (Februata), sanctify our hearts and minds and grant us your blessing for this ceremony so it may be found worthy both to your eyes and to the immortal gods.
Minerva most skilful (Sollertissima), goddess of wisdom, master of the arts, bestower of victory, let us be eloquent and grant this ritual your blessings so that our words will be worthy both in your eyes and to the immortal gods.
O Father Jupiter who inhabits the Tarpeian Heights as His chosen
abode next to the heavens, and You Juno, Daughter of Saturnus, and You, divine Virgin, whose gentle breast is harshly girt with the
Aegis of the terrible Gorgon, and all You Gods and Indigites of Italy,
Hear us and grant us your blessings so that our prayers and offerings will be found worthy both in your eyes and to the all the immortal gods.
Let it be so and it is so.”
Closing Thanks
This closing prayer was written as a means to help slow down the ritual so it didn’t end too abruptly. During my Lupercalia ritual we had time set asside for both a ritual feast where we shared food and drink, and for discussion about both Lupercalia; this prayer was used after that as a means of bringing people back into a ritualistic headspace just long enough to bring the ritual to a close.
“We thank you Vesta of the sacred flame for blessing us and our offerings to the immortal Gods as we performed our sacred task.
We thank you Great Janus for blessing us and for watching this place while we performed our sacred task.
We thank you blessed gods of the Capitoline Triad and all the immortal gods for blessing us and this ritual as we performed our sacred task.
Accept our thanks and praise as we end this rite. Let it be so and it is so."
NOTES
[1] If you do find material in this article that you feel infringes on any copyright, or that should be cited in a different fashion, please contact me through Templum Deorum. We can discuss the situation in greater detail and find an acceptable resolution.
[2] Music was often used in antiquity as an important element of ritual; perhaps to help participants avoid outside distractions. Using some sort of wind instrument or a percussive instrument like bells, rattles, or drums can also be helpful from a ritualistic perspective as means of warding off spirits of ill omen while making offerings and at other important points in ritual.
[3] Source: Nova Roma, available at: http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Daily_Rituals_%28Nova_Roma%29 (modified).
[4] For this piece I modified this prayer from the Religioromana yahoogroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ReligioRomana/message/3636. The last paragraph has excerpts from M Moravius Piscinus’ translation of Silius Italicus Punica, Liber X, which is available at: http://www.religioromana.net/romanprayers-piscinus/silius.htm.
