The Red Meal, or the "Sacrament of Bread and Wine"
The Rite of Elder Communion and Witch-Sacrifice
* * *
The Red Meal or the Housle is the Traditional Craft
rite par excellence. In its simplicity and power, it
makes the central statement of the entire Traditional
metaphysic: that the seen and the unseen worlds are
one, and by the vehicle of the Meal itself, they are
mentally and physically made so.
The Red Meal is called so by virtue of the fact that
the dead were believed to eat “red food”- and it is
worth noting that Apples in the northern reaches were
seen as food for the dead, just as the pomegranate
was seen as food for the dead in the south, and the
pomegranate, like some species of apple, is a very
red food- the edible seeds inside are blood red. Red
is the color of life force, and the idea that the dead
ate pomegranate or “the apples of Dame Hel” in
the underworld leads to the idea that the dead are
receiving nourishment that will regenerate them.
To eat the “Red Meal” is to place yourself, a living
person above ground, in the same “space” as the dead
below ground, and merge with their Underworldly
condition.
The Red Meal is, ideally, red; what I mean by that
is, you should try to use dark breads and red wine.
This carries the symbolism mentioned before, but it
also represents the sacrifice of animal or human flesh
from ancient times- the red bread representing freshly
killed meat, and the red wine representing blood.
Actual live sacrifices are not normally carried out
anymore, for a variety of reasons. The power of
sacrifice is fully mediated and called forth by the
symbolic bread and wine, so killing is actually quite
unnecessary; the spiritual fulfillment and bond created
by the Red Meal is every bit as strong as the ancient
act of live sacrifice.
Underworldly or Otherworldly forces are called upon
to send their power into the body of the bread and into
the liquid of the Wine, and when they are consumed,
that power enters into the people who are partaking
of this most ancient sacrament. This is directly in line
with the logic of ancient sacrifice, by which the God
or Gods were called upon to bless the animal being
offered, which was then butchered at an altar or in a
holy place, and whose body was roasted and shared
by the gathering, and whose blood was sprinkled on
the gathered, and on the altar. The act of sacrifice was
called “Blot” by the northern heathens, and it simply
means “Blood”- and a “blessing”, or a “Bletsian”
literally meant to be “sprinkled with blood”.
The act of the Red Meal, today, embodies the ancient
act of sacrifice totally, as the body and blood, or
bread and wine, is blessed, divided, shared, and the
wine is used to anoint the body and sacred items or
to consecrate a place. Then, the portion that was not
eaten or drunk is given directly to the Earth itself- and
this portion is absorbed into the Land, to move into
the Underworld/Otherworld, and be consumed by the
powers that the Red Meal was dedicated to.
When this happens, not only have the participants
been blessed by taking physical food and drink
into their bodies which was blessed with the power
or powers of otherworldly beings, but the beings
themselves also “eat” a portion, forming a perfect link
with the human participants- for the time of the Red
Meal, and ever after, the participants are literally One
with the powers unseen, through the vehicle of the
meal. This is why the Red Meal has more than just a
worshipful purpose- this is how it can magnify and
empower sorcerous workings; after sharing the Meal
with powers in the Unseen, you are one with them,
and your incantations or spells are their words and
spells, as well.
The meal shows a spiritual, ongoing reality, though
expressed in serial time- the union of the seen with
the unseen. It consciously awakens the participants
to the reality of their oneness with the unseen, and
acts as a direct channel for power to enter them,
and for their power to enter the unseen. The Red
Meal is a two-way flow; it causes deep spiritual
transformations, and re-affirms our ties and bonds
with the Spiritual powers that rule over the Old Ways,
and with our ancestors and other powers that are our
patrons in the unseen.
Any spiritual power or powers can be called upon
to bless and share the Red Meal with you- normally
it is done for the White King or the Witchmother, or
for both of them, and in the case of both, he is called
to bless the bread and she the wine. If only one is
called, both bread and wine are blessed in the name
of that one. If the ancestral powers or the Pale People
are called, they too can bless the bread and wine- our
Germanic ancestors called this form of the sacrifice
an “Alfablot” or an “Elf-blot”- Elf-blood, the Elves
being the same as the Faeries or the Feeorin, or the
Sidhe people in the Hollow hills. Alfablots were
actually done at burial mounds, to underscore this
fact.
Any power can be called upon, from the Pale People
as a whole, to the spirit of a particular dead person,
to the spirit of an Oak tree that the Red Meal is
performed in front of. Your familiar spirit or Fetch-beast,
or your Fetch-mate can be called upon to bless
and share the Red Meal, and the union created with
them through this act is very powerful, and it leads to
further meeting and internal experiences with them.
The Red Meal is first and foremost an act of worship
and attunement- but as we shall see later, it has a
sort of “practical” usage as well, in the art of power-working.
The local land-powers are often honored using the
Red Meal, and it is a handy way of gaining familiarity
with them, and gaining their trust, if they are at all
friendly or willing to give trust.
Remember- through your mind and body, intent and
word and motion, the unseen powers are called and
mediated into the body of the bread and wine, thus
making it their true appearance and the vehicle of
their entry and blessing into people and the Land; a
perfect circle that begins and ends in the Land.
Concerning the use of the Bell
As with many callings or invocations to powers in
the unseen world, a bell is used during the Red Meal.
If you don’t have a bell, anything that makes a good,
sounding noise can be used- a flute, a horn, a drum,
or even a sharp hand-clap; but the bell is traditional
and was taught to me. As I discuss the secret to using
the bell for any invocation here, bear in mind that this
applies to any device or action that makes a good,
sharp or resounding noise.
It is said “The bell is ringing to the ears of spirits”.
This statement may sound a bit funny at first, because
spirits don’t have ears as humans do. However, this
short statement is communicating something else,
entirely- the sound of the bell ringing, and slowly
fading, is reaching the spirits or beings that are being
invoked.
The bell “echoes” both in this world and in the
unseen. When you ring the bell during the Red Meal,
before the invocations, or when you use a bell in
any other rite, you have to be aware that as it rings,
and as it echoes and resonates and slowly fades out,
the “sound” is traveling all the way to the “ears”
of the spirit you are calling- you have to internally
know that this is the case, visualize (without seeing
anything) the “power” of the sound “fading” out,
and yet, know that it is “being absorbed” into the
unseen world, and ringing there too, traveling all the
way to the awareness of the spiritual power that you
are calling. The bell’s sound, and its fading, is the
physical “bridge” that connects your invocation and
will to the spirit’s attention.
Of course, just words can do this; you need no
resonating sound beforehand. But it is better, stronger,
if you have one. Some people just stomp or tap the
ground/floor three times before the Red Meal (or any
rite) to “get the attention” of the beings below. That is
a variant on this bell technique described here.
We will discuss verbal invocations soon, but it
should be mentioned here that the bell (or horn or
flute or whatever) can be used as a powerful form of
“wordless invocation”- if your mind and heart is fixed
firmly on the power you wish to contact, the sound
of the bell fading and flying to their awareness can
actually “invoke” them well enough. It is simply a
more advanced, yet organically simple, technique. In
the end, invocation is about awakening the attentions
of omni-aware otherworldly powers. If the sound of
a bell (or whatever) can make you feel that you have
their attention, it has succeeded as an invocation.
The Meal
I am going to now give the passages and basic
outline of the Red Meal.
The Red Meal is best performed outdoors, near a
place of power- especially in front of a huge old Tree
of some kind, preferably one with a big root system.
If they have to be done indoors, that is fine, but the
end of the rite requires you to give the remains of the
Meal to the ground, so you will have to go outside
to do that, or at least, go outside later, after the rite is
over, to deposit the offerings on to the earth or into a
body of water somewhere.
1. Walk a counterclockwise circle or semi-circle
around the place where you will be doing the Red
Meal. This represents the "reversal" or taking the left-way road to the underworld, into the Unworld of spiritual connection and potential.
2. Ask the great Horned Master and Witchfather to bless a small pot or bowl of water, making it "full of grace and a road of the unseen powers", and then anoint with it, and sprinkle it around your area in the same manner that you walked it. Then light a lamp or candle or fire, asking the Secret Presence and Witchmother to make it "a powerful lamp and light to what is seen and unseen, and a great door to the otherness."
You can awaken any of these powers in your psyche focusing inwardly on a beautiful young man with goat's horns and the eyes of a goat, who walks towards you and emits light from between his eyes, and who begins to turn into a serpent, (for the Master Puck or Buccos, the Witchfather), focusing on a great white "Godly force" within all of nature that is ancient and dim and deep and all-pervasive (for the Antlered Master, Vindonus or Edric), focusing on the fire itself and seeing a "fire" like it within a strange hollow place in all things (all forms, trees, animals, people, elements) and focusing on the idea of this fire within all as a seductive and watchful feminine spirit, who is somewhat feline-seeming (for the Secret Presence or Hyldor) or by focusing on a great, brooding dark void at the heart of everything, that everything sprang from and is sustained by at every moment, and feeling this dark void as dwelling within the ground and sky and waters and in all things- and feeling it as a great grandmotherly and stern force- the Witchmother or Old Fate. Either of these "male" figures can bless the water, and either of these "females" can bless the fire- or both can be called on for each.
3. Ring the bell- ringing its sound to the ears of the
powers you are sharing the Red Meal with. If this is
all the invocation you need, then continue. If not, then
invoke them, using your own words, or with one of
the invocation techniques we will discuss later.
4. Say the blessing for the bread, with your left hand
held over it:
“Here is bread, the life of the Earth,
Blessed to give us life and strength.
I consecrate it in the name of_____
With my left hand I bless it
With my left hand I shall eat it.”
4. Ring the bell again, (you don’t have to re-invoke if
you already succeeded at that) and say, for the Wine,
while lifting the cup:
“Here is wine, filling the cup with abundance
I consecrate it in the name of ______
With my left hand I lift it,
With my left hand I shall drink it.”
Holding the cup in your left hand still, bring it near
your lips, and say
“I drink this cup in my Lady’s name: She shall
gather me home again.”
Then drink a little. Everyone who shares from the cup
should say the same, holding the cup with their left
hand, before they drink.
After you (or everyone gathered) has shared from the
cup, everyone should eat a piece of the bread- tear or
cut it apart, making enough pieces for everyone.
As you bring the piece of bread, held with your left
hand, near your lips, you should say:
“I eat this bread in the unknown name, for fear
and care, and want of Him.”
Then eat.
The rest of the wine should be poured into the same
bowl or dish containing the remains of the bread,
mixing the two together, and each person who is at
the gathering should dip their finger in the mixture
and anoint their head with it. If the area that the Red
Meal is being performed in needs to be consecrated
or blessed, the wine inside the bowl can be sprinkled
around it, and objects can likewise be blessed with the
same sprinkling.
When that is done, the bowl with the remainder of
the bread and wine should be held up by the person
leading the Red Meal. He or She says the Declaration
of Giving:
“As some is taken, so is this given
By the sons and daughters of the family of the Old
Faith
I give it to the Ground (1)
I give it to the Pale People below (2)
That above and below will become one (3)
For what is taken is truly given
And what is given is truly taken
The day and night are wed
As the living and the dead.
Here is shown a mystery.”
Notes to this declaration:
1. If you are indoors, you say “I give it to the
ground”, and after the rite, you bring it outside. If you
are outside on a field or meadow, you say “I give it
to the ground” or “I give it to the Land”. If you are
before a huge old Oak tree, you say “I give it to the
roots” or “I give it to the Tree”; if you are at a body
of water, you say “I give it to the stream” or “I give
it to the lake”, or whatever. If you are making the
offering at a stone, like an ancient standing stone, or
an offering-stone, you say “I give it to the stone”…
just use common sense here. No matter what, the
red meal’s remains HAVE to reach the earth, the
Land, or the water, in some way. That is how they
will ‘Pass below and within’ to reach the powers and
“complete the circle” of the meal. This is a Tithe to
the Underworld.
2. The standard declaration says “I give it to the Pale
People below”- but if you wish, you can declare that
you are giving it to any power- if the Red Meal was
done for a deceased relative, you can say that you
give it to that person; if it was done as a devotion to
the White Lord of Elfhame, you can say “I give it to
Lord Edric” or “I give it to the Old One”; it can
be given to any power- “I give it to my familiar spirit”
is also an option. But remember, even if you did the
Red Meal for a relative or for a certain power or
powers, you can still say “I give it to the Pale People
below” here- it’s just a matter of how you feel, how
inclusive you want to feel.
3. The standard “request” for the meal is that the
powers in the Unseen make you whole- that “above
and below”, or, in other words, “This world and the
unseen world” become one- the basic message of
the Red Meal. However, this Meal can be used for
specific purposes that go beyond that, and turn this
offering into a form of magic. To make an example,
imagine that you did the Red Meal outside before an
Oak tree, to the White Horned King specifically, to
have him send you a dream of guidance, to help you
through a difficult situation. You could say, in the
declaration: “As some is taken, so is this given, by
this son of the family of the old faith… I give it to
the Roots of this tree, I give it to the Horned Master,
that he might send dreams to guide me, in my time of
need… for what is taken is truly given, etc.” But the
‘standard form” of the Red Meal merely requests that
above and below be made as one.
After the declaration is made, the bowl or plate
containing the remaining bread and wine mixed is
poured onto the ground, or onto the roots, or the
stone, or into the water, wherever. That is the end of
the Rite.
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