Seasons of Wicca: The Essential Guide to Rituals and Rites to Enhance Your Spiritual Journey - Ambrosia Hawthorn 2020
Funeral Ceremony
Wiccan Rites
Rituals to Enhance your Spiritual Journey
A funeral ceremony, often called a Summerland service, rite, or ritual, will help you and your loved ones find peace in the wake of a death. This rite also provides an opportunity to celebrate your loved one’s life in a group setting, facilitating the great healing found in shared mourning and shared memories.
FUNERAL CEREMONY
This ceremony can be done to honor deceased loved ones at any time of year. A Wiccan funeral ceremony resembles a traditional funeral by often including a eulogy, poetry readings, and prayers to a deity. Funeral ceremonies are sometimes led by High Priests or Priestesses, officiants, or clergypersons.
Rite Setting
Altar or outdoors
Tools and Supplies
Altar decorations—flowers, photos, notes, heirlooms, and mementos
Wand or athame
Elemental representations
Deity representation
1 pillar candle—white or black (to represent the departed)
Fire-safe plate or candle holder
Lighter or matches
Cake and ale (optional)
PRIOR TO THE RITE
1.Choose an area, indoors or outdoors, to use as an altar for the ceremony.
2.All participants should take a purification bath or shower and prepare themselves for the ceremony. It’s common to wear robes or other special-occasion clothing.
3.Cleanse the ceremony area.
PREPARING THE ALTAR
Decorate the designated altar space with photographs, notes, heirlooms, mementos, and flowers for your loved one who has passed. Guests are welcome to bring flowers or photographs to adorn the altar table. Place the tools and supplies on the altar. Place the elemental and deity representations intuitively around the altar space and surrounding ceremonial area. Place the candle on the fire-safe plate in the center of the altar space, among the decorations.
THE RITE
1.The leader of the ceremony uses a wand or athame to cast a circle of protection silently or out loud and visualizes energy creating a wall around the area.
2.The leader, silently or out loud, calls upon the element of air for mental clarity, the element of fire for power, the element of water for fluidity, and the element of earth for stability.
3.The leader invokes the chosen deity by saying something like: “Deity, we invite you to join this circle tonight. Lend us your guidance and grant us your blessings.”
4.The leader of the ceremony lights the candle representing the departed. They then introduce the ceremony by saying something like: “Merry Meet. We gather together today to honor the memory of (name), who has departed our beloved Earth.”
5.The leader reads a poem and gives blessings and a eulogy.
6.The leader invites friends and family to give eulogies or blessings: “If anyone would like to share their thoughts, prayers, or memories, now would be the time to do so.”
7.Allow enough time for all mourners to say their goodbyes.
8.At the end of the ceremony, the leader thanks the deity for their presence: “Deity, we thank you for your presence and blessings. We welcome you to go if you desire or stay if you’d like.”
9.The leader releases the elements in reverse order, beginning facing the north and ending east, thanking each element for their assistance and bidding them farewell. Then the leader opens the circle by saying: “The circle is opened and energy is released back into the earth. Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again.”
10.Allow the candle to burn out. Leave the decorations in the altar space until the ceremony is over.
11.If desired, have a reception with cake and ale.
