Originally hand written on March 14, 2025.
Today is Pi day and a Full Moon eclipse. It felt like a good idea to perform the rite of the Devotee on a day when the moon is blood red.
I was having some trouble writing the hymn, I either had too many ideas or not enough… feast or famine. Knowing this was something I should be proud of now and in years to come felt like a LOT of pressure. And I don’t always work well under pressure.
Then I realized I just had to take the first step. Choose one thing and do it. So I decided to make a list of Aekáth’s epithets and managed to compile a list of 3331 names which made me realize the next step. Which will be sitting and meditating on each one and making notes on each one – any crazy associations, images, ideas both sacred and profane, a general free for all.
In writing the hymn, I didn’t want to just list her epithets willy-nilly without better understanding them. Then I considered making a poem of praise but abandoned that because I was listening to my intuition. I also abandoned that line of thought because with the little I know of the Greeks, their relationship with their Gods was a little more reciprocal than just singing praises. The whole idea felt a little too much like a toddler shouting ‘mommy, mommy, mommy’ until they get Mama’s attention and then wandering off.
Finally I decided to try to follow what I’ve learned from Jack. My brain remembered his instruction to call upon Aekáth with a little bit of flattery and using her names, titles, and functions. Show Her that you know about Her. Then, having requested Aekáth’s attention, ask for something so you aren’t just calling upon her for no reason. I decided to ask for Her wisdom.
The one thing I haven’t made a decision on is if my hymn should only be used for this rite or if I should use it in what I think of as ‘pivotal’ rites. Ones that are milestones or mini-initiations. When I know, you’ll know.
Drawing on the energy of an eclipsed full moon felt serendipitous as this moon is good for change and evolution. Since I’m starting on a new path of learning and embracing Aekáth, working for change feels necessary. I know some say that eclipse energy is chaotic but sometimes you need to ride the chaos, embrace it and let it carry you past stagnation. And I have certainly been stagnating. Having finished the rite, I still feel that this was a good idea and perfect timing. I also had some anxiety about performing the ritual – I didn’t write it, I didn’t change it (much), and I worried I wouldn’t ‘feel’ anything.
Sometimes I worry I’m a psychic null and other times I wonder why I think that.
To start, I took a shower and drew up golden energy and let it cycle through me, clearing out my chakras and aura. Then I scrubbed my hair and body before pronouncing myself purified both internally and externally. Because, as I learned from GGK, we enter the presence of the Goddess cleansed and purified or not at all.
Prior to the shower I had set up my altar. According to CoH, there shouldn’t be any effigies or symbols of other deities or spirits on the altar. They also said to decorate with local greenery (or flowers) and I searched around and the only green I could find at this time of year was evergreens. I didn’t want to use the pine trees outside my door because they are declining and I didn’t want to bring that energy into my rite. Near the trees is a hardy bush that after doing some research I discovered it to be white cedar. I took this as another good omen as white cedar is considered to be the tree of life, arborvitae, that holds human souls. To me, that connects it to Aekáth-Psychopompus. In certain tales, white cedar is used for torches and its sparks were said to have formed the stars.
I donned a black dress after my shower and was about ready to start when I realized I didn’t have a red length of yarn/cord/string. That led me to running around the house trying to locate where I hid my yarn stash. Finally I found a skein of dark red yarn and cut a length to drape over my strophalos for the ritual.
Finally, I was ready! While prepping I had been humming-singing:
“We go down as She goes down
We follow Her underground
Hail to Aekáthi
Who dies to become whole.
And deep calls to deep.
With twin torches,
She lights my way
Leading into the light of day
Hail to Aekáthi
Who spins the threads of Fate
And deep calls to deep…”2
I tried to make sure I was following the rite faithfully, I tend to flub lines or skip parts but I think I was fairly successful with this one. I did make a few changes – after my hymn and after my rite I sounded my wee singing3 bowl and struck it three times. At the very end I offered up red wine, first to Aekáth and then drinking some myself. “Holy Red Goddess, I offer this red wine; dark as blood and just as sweet.”
While reading the hymn my anxiety spiked when I didn’t ‘feel’ anything energetically. Was I not doing it right (rite?), couldn’t She hear me? Then I remembered something Jack said (and I’m most definitely paraphrasing): Of all the deathless gods, only Aekáth always answers when summoned. So I took a deep breath and had faith She was listening.
And because it was dark, because I’m learning to trust the process, I spoke the barbarous words with gusto. I didn’t feel self-conscious giving voice to the nonsense words. My hands were on my chest over my heart and I could feel them reverberating within my ribcage. The words buzzed like electricity beneath my fingers. Thinking back on it now, my hands still tingle in memory. Powerful. Magickal.
By the end of the rite, I was certain that Aekáth heard my petition.
At the very end, I snuffed the candle and thanked Her:
“Blessed Aekáth,
Thank You for attending my rite.
May there be peace between us
Now and forever.
Go if You must,
Stay if You will.
You walk in Power,
Blessed be.”
1 333 struck me as both funny and something to roll my eyes about. A quick google search says that 333 is a sign of encouragement, alignment with divine energy (snort), and a reminder to embrace your creativity and intuition. Aekáth is the Lady of triplicates, very humorous with the triple threes.
2Adapted from the song Inanna (Sumerian) By Suzanne Sterling (1992), recorded on “Second Chants” by Reclaiming and Friends (1994)
3Just as I wrote ‘singing’ my smoke alarm went off. It scared the crap out of me, but then I had to laugh. Just as I was talking about making noise, noise was made.
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