DD 12/27/04 NEW YEARS BLESSINGS

A slight variation on a Jewish New Year's custom, for all my sweet witches at the turning of the year:
Slice an apple, dip it in honey, and eat it with the following blessing:
May it be your will, Blessed Ones of our ancestors, to begin anew with us a good, sweet year!

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(and, for good measure, a song...)
The Rolling World
by Ruth Barrett and Cyntia Smith
Recorded on: "Music of the Rolling World," Ruth Barrett and Cyntia Smith, Aeolus Music <http://www.aeolusmusic.com/earlypge.htm> , P.O. Box 1608, Topanga, CA 90290), 1982.

The Mother gives birth on night's longest hour,
with the frost aglow on the green.
The Child of Light is reborn as the sun
to renew us on our journey unseen.
All life in the earth begins to unfold
as the waxing light is seen.
Each seedling will sprout into its own self
to inspire us to be truly free.
Chorus: And like the rolling world
The Wheel of Life is a-turning
We weave the circle dance
Upon this rolling world of learning.
The Maiden returns in blossoms so new
to embrace her Mother in mirth.
And like children we play in the sweetness of day
and rejoice in Life's return to the earth.
The maypole is crowned with ribbons so bright
As lovers meet in desire.
Through woodlands and meadows we laugh in the sun
And the Dance of Life grows wild in the fire.
Chorus
The oak branch is placed in the bonfire's blaze
their embrace dissolves into one.
Light triumphs this day, yet begins its decay
as the wheel turns we spin ever on.
The corn and the grain gleam ripe in the field
We have labored long in the soil
Now we wait as our days fade into night
Will we be rewarded well for our toil?
Chorus
The harvest of plenty, we give thanks with joy
as leaves are blown from the trees
We gather to share in wonderment there
of the Circle of Rebirth in the seed.
The Old Woman, she sits in front of the hearth,
She is wise and bids us come near
We may pass in between what is seen and unseen
for the veil of Death is nothing to fear.
And like the rolling world
The Wheel of Life is a-turning
We weave the circle dance
Upon this rolling world of learning.