I

Neptvno Ad Minerva

NEPTVNO AD MINERVA
Neptune Before Minerva
 II
Neptvno Ad Minerva

NEPTUNE BEFORE MINERVA:

A
t the centre of the Templum stands an Altar with a burning flame. The
Altar is decked with blue and red fillets. When all is ready, the Celebrants
enter the Sacred Space in due order, they circle the Altar Earthwise three
times, at the end of the third circuit they form a semicircle facing towards the
West.

THE BEGINNING:

From their place within the Celebrants, a Sacerdos approaches the Altar and
offers three pinches of incense. The Sacerdos speaks the following invocation:

Sacerdos:
Hail Mighty Minerva!
Come forth Holy Goddess!
This company that is pleasing to Your heart awaits You.
Minerva come, be present and ever near!
The ancient rite is begun

Holy Minerva,
Always You aid us with Your counsel,
Witness the existence of our works,
Give us wisdom Sapientissima,
So that we may prosper!

A single chime followed by silence:

Minerva enters the Sacred place from the West and comes to the centre of the
Celebrants. She holds out Her spear and gestures slowly around the circle:

Minerva:
I have trod the fair paths of the heavens,
To be in this place,
In answer to your fervent prayer.
I shape the course of every life with luminous wisdom,
I drive sickness and evil away from you,
And when your soul rages over worldly things,
I deliver you purified, by My Sacred Rites.
 III
Neptvno Ad Minerva

I give you My hand,

And shall reveal the ways of Divine Guidance,
Then shall you gaze upon that most Holy and precious Wisdom.

I give you My hand,

And when you are weary,
I shall bring you to My haven of piety.
For as I Will so it is!

The company bow towards Minerva. She then circles the Celebrants, touching
each in blessing. She returns to the centre of the Sacred Space:

Silence:

Neptunus enters the Sacred Space from the East and comes before Minerva:

Minerva:
Hail Neptunus!
Great God and Sea Lord,
Honoured by all the Gods
My Fathers Brother.
What brings you here to this far western Isle?
I see You come in wrath,
Upon your golden chariot,
Drawn by six white winged horses,
Surrounded by Tritons.
One hundred Nereids riding upon dolphins,
Are in Your retinue.
Anciently we contended,
Now I would speak with You.
May our old feuds be buried?

Neptunus:
I have come from the salt depths
Of the Encircled Sea
Where the white feet of My Nereids
Once trod their spiralling dance.
The peoples and great cities upon her coasts were mine,
But now the Sacred Groves are deserted,
The Temples desecrated,
The Sacred Rites forsaken.
Countless Holy Images and rich ornament
Have been fed to the fires of ignorance.
When such desolation falls like a blight,
The day for the worship of the Gods is past!
 IV
Neptvno Ad Minerva

Minerva:
Stay Your anger!
Be welcome here
And You shall hereafter receive gifts
A thousand times more splendid
Than ever You received before.
You and Your retinue.
For in this place the Flame of Wisdom still burns
And not all have forgotten the ways of Holy Religion.
You who rule over the waves,
Who holds dominion over the winds and storms,
Whose dwelling place reaches from the Ocean depths
To the heights of Heaven,
Stay, and here You shall be honoured.

Stay,
And along the shoreline,
Upon Your altars,
Decked with dark blue ribbons,
Shall be piled those rich offerings
That Your mercy deserves.
Mighty Neptunus,
Lord of the Waters,
The highest honours shall fall to You again
And all shall acknowledge Your might
And pay You due reverence.

Neptunus:
My rage and loss is unabated,
Your children are too few and scattered,
My gifts are counted for nothing!
To all I would bring storm and flood,
Raging seas and boiling waters!
Let You Minerva, helmeted in gold
And whatever Gods there are here listen,
And know that the Divine Peace
Has been broken by mortals
Let them now attend to my complaint and anger,
For I would avenge the violation of the Gods!

Minerva:
Stormbringer and Earthshaker!
I hear Your words! But I repeat My offer,
For whatever disasters You in Your vengence
 V
Neptvno Ad Minerva

Hurl at My Islands,
I will snatch My children away from all harm.

From Mighty Jove I received the Gift of Light

And My Name still resounds on Earth
For My Wisdom and valour in war.
All My children remember Me with reverence.
Yet still I have a care
For those now wrapped in that formless darkness
That descended upon them,
The darkness that made them blind to the Holy Mysteries.
Even these, whose eyes are closed to My Light
And within whose hearts My Divine Flame is barely alive,
These too I shall guide from afar
And in the end all Your rage and storm
Will be like a gentle summer breeze!

Neptunus:
My course is set!
All shall stare in wondering shock
At the winds gone wild upon the blackening seas!
They shall see how false the breeze can blow
There shall be no pity
On those who have forgotten My power and might!
A thousand tales of shipwreck,
Vast tracts of drowned land,
These shall be the offerings that I shall accept
In payment of their crimes,
All vowed in blood to the seas Rough Lord.

Minerva:
The anger of a God
Who perceives He is without honour,
Shakes the foundation of the world,
Shall all be overthrown in your vengence?
Shall the promise of renewal
Be swept away by the rising tide?
Once before the salt water was defeated by the olive,
The stallion tamed by the bridle.
So shall It be again.

But if your anger can only be sated in death

Then all shall be infected with madness.
For they are all mad,
Those who seek a warlike slaking of their passions.
 VI
Neptvno Ad Minerva

If bloodthirsty struggle is to be the only solution,

Then war shall never be banished from the lives of mortals.
Listen to My voice and put aside Your rage,

You who with a nod can stir the Ocean,

Who encompasses all lands with Your salt water,
Hear My words to You,
Grant Me Your indulgence,
Give Me mercy and justice.

Neptunus:
Can the Daughter of Jove
Achieve all that She promises?
Dare I challenge You once more
And risk dread fate?
My Retinue is ragged
For want of an honourable home,
My heart tempts Me with Your offer,
but My blood boils still.
I am wary of falsehood
Even from Gods!

Minerva:
O Neptunus!
Grand and rare is this pledge I make You,
To rule with honour as once You did.
Land and Sea conjoined.
And to Your Retinue due honour also,
To the azure Nereids and swift Tritons.
Once again shall You attain mastery of the Oceans,
I name You Stars of the Seas.
Sparkling,
In Apollos gleam

May You come now to Your caverns,

Near the foaming waves that encircle these Islands,
Then seek the lofty ships,
That once more shall sail westwards.
Not long shall You need to search,
For soon they shall come across the sea.
Circle around them,
And divide Your labours.
 VII
Neptvno Ad Minerva

First Nereid:
We shall tighten the rigging,
From masts to decks.

First Triton:
We shall spread the sails,
To Vulturnus, the East Wind.

Second Nereid:
We shall send into the water,
The rudders, whose curved blades steer the ships.

Second Triton:
We shall plumb the depths,
With leaden weights.

Third Nereid:
We shall dive down,
And drag the hooked anchors from the seas floor.

Third Triton:
We shall control the tides,
And make the seas flow Westwards!

Minerva:
All this is borne up
By the Power of Neptunus.
May none be without their task!
To honour my pledge,
My children come forth.
Behold!

The Celebrants come forward before Minerva and Neptunus and lay offerings at
the Altar. As each does so, they recite a line of the following prayer:

Celebrants:
Golden Minerva!
Mighty Neptunus!
Sacred Land and Sacred Waters!
Give to us Wisdom and fair Seas.
Give to us Temples and Holy Ritual,
The smoke of rich spices,
Altars and incense flame,
Sacred Groves and Holy Mountains,
Earths frontier and Seas edge hushed with the Breath of Gods,
 VIII
Neptvno Ad Minerva

Glowing with dawns first shaft of light.

Holy Gods, give to us the Music of Prayer,
Sweet singing and communion,

Mystic nights of darkness and vision,

And the dear forms of the Golden Gods we knew

Minerva and Neptunus we come before You,

We receive You with pious greeting and with prayer,
We receive You with the voices of thanksgiving.
Hail Minerva! And preserve us!

Hail Neptunus! Let Your waters receive us,

May they bear us up and protect us.
Hail! When You drive out with Your horses!
May You drive them home again with joy!
May each soul travel the length and depth of the Sea.
To our home in these Western Lands.

Minerva bows her head in fulfillment of Her pledge She raises Her spear:

Minerva:
Mighty Jove granted to Me alone among His Daughters,
That I should win all things that belong to Him.
I was born from the Head of Jove.
The Head of Jove bows not in falsehood,
And in falsehood His Daughter has no part

A single chime followed by silence:

Neptunus:
How long has it been?
Since I have heard such words,
Or received such honour?
My anger is stilled,
My rage is quelled.
These Holy Things I thought,
Were lost for eternity.
Holy Minerva,
This Land that is dear to You,
May it prosper in happiness
And silence,
Enduring and eternal honour,
Shall abide here,
Covered as it will be in Temples,
 IX
Neptvno Ad Minerva

And sacred Groves.

Its fame shall be unsurpassed.
Sacred to Wisdom,
Wind and Wave.

Neptunus stands before Minerva and offers Her His Trident:

Neptunus:
In token of Your gift,
Of Your pledge,
I surrender to You My Trident,
Symbol of my Sovereignty
Over the Oceans.
Take it,
Take it and Rule,
In Wisdom and in Truth!

Minerva takes the Trident and holds it above Her head:

Minerva:
I wish for no harsh dominion,
Over Earth or Wave,
But in this cause,
Of Union and Harmony,
I take from You the Trident of the Seas!

Minerva hands the Trident back to Neptunus:

Minerva:
In this same instant,
I return it to You,
As the seal of Our friendship,
True Lord of the Oceans.

Neptunus accepts the Trident and bows to Minerva,

He then stands beside Her and faces the Celebrants:

Minerva:
Come, may all be present,
At these Holy Rites.
May all in whose hearts is
Harboured unspoken,
And unholy desire,
Be far from here.
 X
Neptvno Ad Minerva

My Children,
Follow where I may lead
In faithful trust.
These Isles, now doubly Blessed,
Shall be home
To the Peace of the Gods.
Here shall be preserved,
My Estate,
Forever.

Come, may all be present,

For there once was a time,
When Gods and mortals,
Supped together,
Let that time come again.

Neptunus:
In making Sacrifice,
In the giving of Offerings,
And in the performance,
Of the Sacred Rites,
You have called upon Us,
To be with You.

Minerva:
Now the Rites are done,
Share this wine and bread,
This is a communion not only between,
Deities and mortals,
But between the mortals,
Who partake of it as well.

Neptunus:
By this you are joined,
In communion with Us.
In community with the Gods.
Share and be blessed.

Minerva:
I bring the highest gift which is Wisdom,
A pure and strong light to all counsels.
In balance I hold opposing forces,
Bound but separate.
Herein Harmony is born,
The child of Strife and Love.
 XI
Neptvno Ad Minerva

The keen spear blade divides acutely,

Weighing truth with wisdom.
The cosmic mind is crowned,
By balanced deeds.

Share and be blessed.

Two Sacerdotes pass around the Celebrants with bread and wine as a
communion, finishing with Neptunus and Minerva. This act is followed by
silence Then a single chime signifies the end of the rite.

(Music: Calm Seas.)

Neptunus and Minerva lead out of the Sacred Space, followed by the Celebrants
in due order, circling the Altar three times sunwise and then leaving:

Ordo Minervae Occidentalis Anno IV: