Goddess Mary Magdalen Ritural

Ritual for Mary Magdalene
Ritual for Menarche from Diane Stein?s "Casting the Circle". After reading about the millions of people around the world who are supposed offspring of Mary Magdalene and Jesus, I think it appropriate that Mary Magdalene be considered a Mother Goddess to all women. What better time to celebrate this than at a woman?s first menstrual cycle. So, the following is taken from Stein?s book.
Decorate the altar for this ritual in red and white, red for blood, menstruation and the Mother aspect, and white for innocence and the Maiden Goddess. Use red and white candles and flowers, crystals on the altar and a red cloth in the center of the circle for the girl to sit on. Have a moon necklace for her, a red stone or clear crystal, or a pendant shaped like the moon or a Goddess aspect. The girl wears a crown of red flowers in her hair.
Candles - red and white

Flowers - red and white (red roses for the Magdalene)

Incense - myrtlewood

Moon pendant or crystal for the girl

Bowl of corn meal

Oils for self blessing
Light candles - on altar and at each of the elements and spirit.

Purify

Cast Circle/Invoke amazon Goddesses.

Earth - Changing Woman, Goddess of women?s bodies

Air - Athene, Goddess of action and women?s wisdom

Fire - Pele, Goddess of youth?s love and passions

Water - Yemaya, Goddess of women?s blood and the sea

Spirit - Hathor, Goddess of the moon and women?s moontimes.

Invocation by the High Priestess -

"We are here to celebrate (name of girl), who has now become a woman. We welcome her into women?s mysteries and the sisterhood. Women come into their full power in their moontimes, and (name) has begun her knowledge of that power."

Body of ritual - Go around the circle. Each woman sings the girl?s name and a welcome for her or uses her name as a chant.

Go around the circle. Each woman talks about her own menarche, what it was like, what it meant, how things are different now. (Make it funny, make it not too long for each woman to speak, make it positive.) The girl talks about her own first blood next.

The high priestess takes the girl?s moon necklace from the altar, handing it to the first woman in the circle. Pass it around the circle, each woman holding the pendant and sharing a secret of being a woman and a blessing for the girl. The girl?s mother puts the pendant on the girl and talks about her own daughter?s growing up, and what it means for both of them. If others have gifts for her, they speak next and give them to her.

The girl reads the "Daughter Chant" below, then talks about what being a woman means to her.
Daughter Chant
from the Navaho Puberty Ceremony

Watch over me.
Hold your hand before me in protection.
Stand guard for me, speak in defense of me.
As I speak for you, so do ye.
As you speak for me, thus shall I do.
May it be beautiful before me.
May it be beautiful behind me.
May it be beautiful below me.
May it be beautiful above me.
May it be beautiful around me.

I am restored in beauty.
I am restored in beauty.
I am restored in beauty.
I am restored in beauty.

The high priestess or the girl?s mother talks briefly about responsibility - she can have a child now, be sexual with men or women. Talk about how to take care of herself (birth control, safe sex, etc.). Passion is an act of the Goddess, but use free will and balance, it?s not a power to take lightly. Talk about how the girl?s body will change, is changing, what to do for cramps, etc.
The girl?s mother walks her to each of the four elements and spirit and presents her as a new woman. The high priestess touches the girl?s third eye with corn meal or oil and blesses her as a woman in the name of the Goddess of each element.
Self-blessing - Ask the girl to lead it and all to participate.

The high priestess says:

"From this month on you are a member of the women?s moonlodge. You have joined the cycles of the Moon Goddess as women have done for untold centuries. We hope your monthly bleeding will be a time of joy, a time of reverencing your womanhood and Goddess-within, a time of reverencing your life. We hope that you will flow with the changes of your body and the moon, resisting the negativity that patriarchy places on women?s blood. We welcome you and bless you as a woman. So mote it be."

Raising power - Use songs to raise the cone of power and direct it to the girl for blessings and for her protection, good life and happiness as a girl and as a woman. Visualize the energy of the cone cascading back into the circle as a waterfall of red light, filling the circle with life and positivity. Breathe the light within.

Ground - Send the excess energy for earth healing, or to women at menarche everywhere.

Open circle. Hugs :-)