Materials
Grain for an offering.
Food for the simple feast
A beverage for libations.
A ritual fire.
Establish sacred space
Suggested chant: The Earth is Our Mother https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OAD6wATezo
Note- Chant and drum while gathering, recite story while still drumming, chant, drum and dance some more at the end.
Introduction/Storytelling
There came a time many centuries ago that our Grandmother Earth groaned under the weight of so many children. The Gods spoke among themselves saying “Our mother is merciful, but her many children are draining her essence. Let us act now before she is too weak to sustain any of us!”
And so mighty Zeus caused the rain to fall upon the Earth for many days and Poseidon caused the oceans to rise up and swallow the land and millions of the Earth's children were drowned.
One man, Deucalion, was warned by his father, Prometheus, and he and his wife Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, survived the storm by sheltering on Mount Parnassus, the only place in the world that was spared.
As the waters receded, they began to search high and low for more survivors but soon they began to fear they were the only people left on Earth. Pyrrha dispaired, “What a lonely life for us. If only the Gods had destroyed us as well!”
At her words the clouds broke and the sun shone down and a beautiful rainbow arced downward from the sky toward them and the voice of Iris, the Herald of Hera was heard “Do not despair children of Earth, I bring good tidings from the Queen of the Sky. You shall not be alone if you throw the bones of your mother behind you.” And with that, she was gone.
(Author's note: According to other versions the answer is given by the Oracle of Delphi or Themis. But this makes more sense to me for many reasons. Not the least being that Oracles are people and these two were supposed to be the only survivors. Also, Hera is the storm breaker and she has been replaced in many stories, I suspect this may be one of them. Feel free to use other versions as you wish.)
Pyrrha was not comforted. She became even more upset. “The bones of our mothers?” she exclaimed “We are to defile our mothers corpses? And how would we find them after that storm?”
But Deucalion had his father's foresight. “The Earth is our mother.” he told her and picked up a stone and threw it over his shoulder. Sure enough the moment it touched the ground, it changed and became a little boy.
So each began throwing stones behind them and each stone that Deucalion threw became a little boy and each stone the Pyrrha threw became a little girl and each with his or her own talents and tastes and personalities according to the type of stone that was thrown.
As each man, woman and child is unique, so is each stone. And as each group of people offer their own unique way of looking at things, and their own unique history, so does each type of stone have its own unique energy and natural history. We are here today to honor our mother by sharing our knowledge of her bones. The stones and minerals that make up her physical body.
(Toss and offering of grain into the fire.)
Educational bit: Bring out a bag of crystals and other minerals and allow the children to explore them. Tell them their names, but don't try to get too elaborate. Let the children choose a stone to keep for themselves.
When everyone has finished:
“We give thanks for the wisdom of our mother's bones.”
(Toss grain into the fire)
Share feast
Close ritual.
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Comments, questions, criticism?
