A book of poems, prayers, meditations, and affirmations, The Book of Hours: The Goddess Speaks is destined to become an invaluable aid to creating your own life-affirming rituals. Prayer, simply stated, is speaking to the Deity—in whatever form one worships. Thus, these poems are meant to be spoken from the heart.

Following an excerpt from the book’s introduction, are some of author Galen Gillotte’s prayer-poems for the celebration of May Day, or Beltain (May 1):

from the introduction
In every culture in every time we have spoken with the gods. Rituals, prayers, various meditation paths, and our many holy books attest to the need of humans everywhere to express their love and devotion, their passion and needs, and even their anger and despair to the One who is unknowable and sublime. Every religious instinct and impetus to worship is in the hopes that the Divine will in some way make itself felt in our lives, that we will in some small way touch the Infinite. The tendency to make the gods in our own image has resulted in multiple paths, many of which do not agree with one another.

This book is about experiencing the Divine in terms of She/Her/Goddess. It is a joyful embracing of the feminine. It is an acknowledgment that we are created in Her image, and as such are sharers in the divine nature. The world shifts when we feel Her presence. She is both immanent and transcendent. She can be known in the cry of birds in the springtime, the full fruited trees of summer, autumn’s dying breath, and winter’s barren landscape.

This book is filled with prayers to the Goddess. It is simply presented as a book of hours, with each day divided into three parts—morning (from dawn till noon), evening (from noon till dusk), and night (from dusk till dawn)—for the threefold essence of the Goddess.

prayers for Beltain

Lady—
You dance before the altar
of Your womanhood,
all innocence to flee like
morning’s gold.
The carefree season of
Your joyous splendor
softly fades to summer’s
fecund hold.
O Maiden Bright Star
of the fleeting moment,
tonight You join to Be-come
Mother Earth;
in days to come Your
dance waxes eternal
as through Your love
we all receive new birth.

Lady—
Desire, stone-encased, stirs
and flowers forth from breasts
and thighs.
The sleeping Goddess sighs.
Unconscious omnipotence stirs
and wakes.
The Goddess reaches out as,
horned and laughing,
the wild Oak King takes Her.
Lady of the Fields grant us
fruitfulness of mind and heart
and earth and teach
our souls to soar.

 

Lady, Lady of the day
clad in blossoms of the May,
happily You laugh and play,
lead me on Your joyful Way
and one day bring me home.

Lady, Lady of the earth,
You of sorrow and of mirth,
Your harvest is beyond all worth,
grant to me my own re-birth
and one day bring me home.

Lady, Lady shining bright,
gliding through the starry night,
clothed in softly glowing light,
touch me with Your lustrous might
and one day bring me home.

 

I bow to Thee, Hecate, Diana, Mari,
and thank
Thee for Thy blessing—
the Cauldron of Night
full of life, and death, and life again;
Thy magic gives me wings.
Blessed Be.