This ritual is the opening part of pretty much every other ritual, but can also be cast on it’s own if you feel like you could use a moment in a sacred space. And that is the very purpose of Erecting the Temple (also known as Casting the Circle in other traditions): to consecrate and make holy the space where you will conduct your rituals. It need not be the same space every time, and can be done inside or outside. Once the ritual is complete, follow with the Clearing the Temple ritual (at the bottom of this page). In Seax-Wica, we don’t follow strict rules for closing out the scared space, and don’t feel that the energy gathered during a ritual is dangerous, like many other traditions do, who often follow much more rigid ‘Closing’ rites.
For this ritual, set up your altar, lighting the Altar Candle and Incense. Pick up the Altar Candle and walk clockwise (deosil) around the Circle, lighting the Circle Candles with the Altar Candles. Place the Altar Candle back on the Altar after they’re all lit. Then read or recite the following or something similar:
“I am now erecting the Temple. I am here of my own free will and accord, in Peace and in Love.”
Take up your Seax and hold it with the point in the Salt Dish, then continue:
“Salt is Life. Let this Salt be pure and let it purify my life, as I use it in these Rites, dedicated to Woden and to Freya.”
With your Seax, lift some salt and drop it into the Water three times, then stir the salted Water with your Seax, and continue:
“Let the Sacred Salt drive out any impurities in this water that together they may be used in the service of Woden and of Freya; throughout these Rites any at any time and in any way I may use them.”
Place your Seax back in its sheath, then pick up the bowl of salted Water and walk around the Circle, sprinkling it boundary. You can start at any point, continuing until you’ve made it around the Circle. Return the bowl to the Altar, then pick up the Censer and again take it around the boundary of the Circle (again, always going clockwise). Place the Censer back on the Altar and sit, kneel, or stand before the Altar and pick up the salted Water. Dip your fingers into and draw a Pentagram on your chest, then place the slated Water back onto the Altar. Take up your Seax and kiss the blade, then continue:
“I know invite the Gods to witness these Rites I hold in their honor.”
Hold your Seax up high, then continue:
“Woden and Freya; God and Goddess; Father and Mother of all Life. Here do I invite you to join with me in my rites. Guard me and guide me within this Circle and without it; in all things. So be it!”
Kiss the blade of your Seax, then place it on the Altar. Pick up the Drinking Horn and spill a little of the drink on the ground (if outside) or into an offering bowl (if inside), saying:
“Woden and Freya!”
Take a drink and then place the Drinking Horn back on the Altar, then continue:
“Now is the Temple erected. I shall not leave, but with good reason. So be it!”
Clearing the Temple
At the end of your ritual, raise your Seax high, and say the following or something similar:
“I thank the Gods for their attendance. As I came here in love of them, and them in love of me, so do we go our separate ways. Love is the Law, and Love is eh Bond. So be it! The Temple is now cleared.”
Kiss the blade of your Seax and place it back in its sheath.
“The Tree” is the basic liturgical and organizational writing and the basis for Seax-Wica, but it is a ‘base’. It provides the rituals as if being practiced by a coven, but nowadays most Wiccans, especially those of the Seax-Wica tradition, are solitary practitioners (they work alone). The following information on Erecting the Temple is adapted from “The Tree” and is only one way that a solitary can use these rituals in their own practice.
seax-wica.org 