The Wyvern Street Irregulars

They gathered in the kitchen of Marie and Marny's apartment. Janet was last to arrive because she had detoured upstairs to pick up ingredients for mooncakes.

Marie faced Mary. "Its your call. Want to bring a guest?"

Mary smiled, looked at Brian. He smiled back. "Yes," she said.

Marie nodded. "Good. Okay, I have to go prepare the circle. You lot might as well have a bit more sherry if you want." She headed for the livingroom.

Janet bustled around making sure everyone who wanted sherry had some. "Marie is preparing the circle and cleansing the quarters," she explained to Mary. "We enter in sequence: Marny, me, Scott, you, Brian." She sat at the table beside Scott. "Lets be quiet now so we can hear when she is ready."

Soon they were filing into the livingroom. The furniture was pushed back to clear as much space as possible in the centre of the room. Four unlit candles in coloured columns of glass marked the quarters. The altar was a simple wooden tray on the floor in the centre. They removed their robes as they entered the room, setting them on an armchair. Marie annointed Marny's forehead with oil and him into the circle with a kiss, then they both welcomed the others, the men receiving annointing and a kiss from Marie, the women from Marny. Janet took position in the north, Scott in the East. Marie and Brian stayed in the north-east, where they all had entered. Marie went to the west, Marny to the south. Mary held Brian's hand, surprised that being naked felt so easy and natural. Brian squeezed her hand and smiled at her. Everyone turned to face the east. Marny picked up a taper from the altar, lit it with his Zippo, handed it to Scott.

Scott traced a pentagram in the air toward the east with his athame, declaring "Element of Air, be with us now to witness our rites and protect our circle." He lifted the yellow glass cylinder, lit the candle, replaced the cylinder, passed the taper to Marny.

Everyone turned to face the south. Marny drew a pentagram with his athame, declaring "Element of Fire, be with us now to witness our rites and protect our circle." He lifted the red glass cylinder, lit the candle, replaced the cylinder, passed the taper to Marie.

Everyone turned to face the west. Marie drew a pentagram with her athame, delcaring "Element of Water, be with us now to witness our rites and protect our circle." She lifted the blue glass cylinder, lit the candle, replaced the cylinder, passed the taper to Janet.

Everyone turned to face the north. Marie drew a pentagram with her athame, delcaring "Element of Earth, be with us now to witness our rites and protect our circle." She lifted the blue glass cylinder, lit the candle, replaced the cylinder, passed the taper to Marie.

Everyone sat, Marie and Marny closer to the altar than the others. Marie closed her eyes. Marny faced her, gave her a little bow of his head, and addressed her. "Goddess, Mother, Sister, Lover, Spouse, be with us now in the person of thy servant Marie."

Marie's eyes remained closed a few beats. She smiled, raised her head, opened her eyes, lit the black candle on the altar, passed the taper to Marny.

Marny close his eyes. Marie faced him, made a litte bow, invoked. "God, Father, Brother, Lover, Spouse, be with us now in the person of thy servant Marny."

Marny smiled, opened his eyes, lit the white candle on the altar, extinguished the taper, set it down on the altar, kissed Marie. Then they both looked at Mary.

"Tonight we welcome a new member to our family," said Marie. "Mary, do you agree to join us for a year and a day as dedicant and student?"

"I do," said Mary.

"As a dedicant," said Marny, "you will learn to work with the elements. In about a year and a day if you choose to take your First Degree, you will be expected to be proficient at circle casting and calling the elements. In the First Degree ritual you would demonstrate that proficiency. In dedication we introduce you to the elements. But most important, more important than your dedication to this coven, is your dedication to the Lord and Lady, the Goddess and the God. Your dedication as a Witch." He stood, approached her, helped her to rise. "Man to woman, woman to man," he said. He kneeled and kissed her feet. "Blessed be thy feet, that brought thee to this Way." He kissed her knees. "Blessed be thy knees, which shall kneel at the sacred altars." He kissed her just above the pubis. "Blessed be that womb, without which we would not be." Rising, he kissed her breasts. "Blessed be thy breasts, formed in beauty." Finally he kissed her on the lips. "Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the sacred names." He led her to the altar. "Make your own dedication to the Lord and Lady, it need not be aloud," he told her.

Mary closed her eyes. Marny returned to his place and sat down. Silence reigned for a while. Finally Marie opened her eyes and looked around.

Marny smiled at her. "Welcome Mary, Dedicant and Witch!" He said. "Now each of the elements has a gift for you, starting with Air."

Mary nodded at Marny then turned to face Scott.

Scott smiled and bowed to Mary. "Air, meet Mary, Dedicant and Witch. Air is mind, inspiration, knowledge, freedom." He handed her a bundle of packages of incense sticks. "Welcome to the Coven. Blessed Be."

Mary smiled and nodded at Scott. "Blessed Be." She approached Marny.

"Fire, meet Mary, Dedicant and Witch," said Marny. "Fire is warmth and passion, will and anger, heat and energy." He handed her a box of candles. "Welcome. Blessed Be."

"Blessed Be." Mary replied with a smile, and approached Marie.

"Water, meet Mary, Dedicant and Witch," said Marie. "Water is motion and emotion, feeling and cleansing." She gave Mary a small bottle. "This water comes from all around the world, from springs and from rain, rivers and seas, snow and ice. Entire lineages have contributed to this water. At various gatherings and meetings over the decades people have brought holy water from many sources and mingled it all. It is a link to the deep roots of our tradition. Welcome, and Blessed Be."

"I am honoured," said Mary. "Blessed Be." She approached Janet.

"Earth, meet Mary, Dedicant and Witch," said Janet. "Earth is solid and stable, enduring and empowering, dark and fertile. Earth is our home, our planet, our roots." She handed Janet a pretty decorated jar. "Rock salt," she explained. "Salt of the Earth. Welcome, and Blessed Be."

"Blessed Be," Mary replied. She looked around. "Thanks everyone." She returned to her place beside Brian and sat, placing her presents on the carpet beside her.

"As you can see," said Marie, "we work pretty simply. We deliberately don't have a room set aside as a Temple. Magick and the Craft are part of life. Magick is all around us all the time, and doing our circles in the livingroom helps to remind us of that. Now you should annoint your yellow candle and we'll all charge it." She picked up a small bottle of oil from the altar and passed it to Janet. Janet passed it on to Brian. Brian passed it to Mary. "Put into it the energy of the circle, to be with you when you light the candle and meditate," said Marie. "Try to find at least a few minutes each evening or night to light the candle and meditate. When you light it, know that we are all with you, our love and goodwill are with you."

Mary nodded at Marie and carefully opened the little bottle of essential oil. She sniffed it cautiously, then smiled. "Frankincense?" She asked.

Marny nodded. "Right. Its a good general-purpose oil. Some folk list it as solar, some list it as lunar. So think of it as both if you like."

Mary took a drop of the oil on a fingertip and dabbed it on the candle, then rubbed it all over the candle. Then she held her hands together, palm up, the candle resting across her palms, and closed her eyes, concentrating on drawing energy into the candle. Gradually her fingers closed around the candle. She opened her eyes, looked around.

Scott smiled at her, reached out his hand for the candle. She gave it to him. Imitating her own gesture, he held it on his open palms, closed his eyes, concentrated, slowly closing his hands; then passed it on to Marny.

Mary watched as her candle was passed from person to person around the circle, each person pouring energy and goodwill into it. She wanted to remember this each time she lit the candle. Surround herself with her friends. Feel this cozy comfortable energy. Being in the livingroom was a lot different from the formal Temple. Better, she thought. More natural. Well, different anyway. The Temple was kind of nice but felt kind of high magick, fancy. How many people could afford to put aside a whole room just as a Temple? But clearing a bit of space in a livingroom, that wasn't hard. Lots of people had that much space.

When the candle had passed all the way around the circle and back to Mary, Marie spoke. "So here we are: Wyvern Street Coven." She nodded at Brian and smiled. "Plus a guest. A very welcome guest. This is our first meeting as Wyvern Street Coven so I should ask you, Janet, and you, Scott, if you will accept Marny and I as your High Priest and High Priestess and serve as our Maiden and Summoner." Janet and Scott both nodded, but Marie went right on talking. "Formally neither of you have received your Second Degree yet, but we'll work on that. At Second Degree you should be ready to run a secondary Coven. Not a completely independent Coven, that comes with Third Degree. After you've been running a successful Coven for a while and are recognised Adepts of Wyvern Street Circle. Because we are tightly affiliated with Wyvern Street Circle and we intended to uphold the tradition that our Third Degree corresponds to at least Adeptus Minor." She looked around, smiling.

Janet and Scott looked at each other, smiled, looked at Marie, looked at each other again. Finally Janet spoke. "I accept. Thank you, High Priestess." She smiled.

Scott nodded at Marie. "I accept too. Thank you, High Priestess."

Marie smiled. "Thank you, Maiden and Summoner. Wyvern Street Coven is pretty much responsible for this entire building now, so get familiar with the whole place. Especially make sure to take good care of the Temple and the Wizard's apartment. It is still his apartment but it is also the nerve centre of the building and the Temple lamp is always burning."

Janet nodded. "The Eternal Flame." She looked at Brian. "There are probably observances involved in refilling the lamp and so on?" She asked.

Brian smiled. "There is an instruction manual in the Altar," he said. "But maybe in the evening I can show you. After the party." He looked at Mary, eyebrows raised in query.

Mary smiled, nodded, reached for his hand. The party. Yes.

Brian squeezed Mary's hand, winked at her. Yes, they would come to the party together.

Janet grinned. "Sounds good."

"You might have noticed," said Marny, "that I used my Zippo to light the taper tonight. We used to deliberately use a match, to signify new, fresh light. But now that we're part of Wyvern Street it seemed appropriate to use the Wyvern Street tradition, the flame we flamebearers bear in common, the light that we all are part of."

"Of course a match can mean pretty much the same thing," said Marie. "Its mostly in the intent. You can draw upon the same archetypes of fire or light regardless of what tool you use. But if you've a tool associated with a particular tradition you might as well use it when working in that tradition." She looked at Mary. "As a new Dedicant the first tool you should work on is a Pantacle and Salt. I hope next Sunday is good for you, because that is the next Full Moon.Try to find or make a Pantacle by then, and bring it and your salt." She looked around at everyone. "Tonight we make mooncakes, because we'll need them before Sunday."

Janet leaned forward, held her right hand over the small bowl of salt on the altar. "Blessings upon thee, creature of salt," she said, then stood up, opened a doorway in the circle, and headed to the kitchen to fetch ingredients.

Marie leaned forward, took a pinch of salt from the altar and sprinkled it into the bowl of water beside the saltbowl. "I exorcise thee, creature of water. Let all illusion and malignancy be gone from thee." She picked up the bowl, held it cupped between her hands. "Today we begin a new phase of our lives," she said. "We enter into new dreams, new opportunities, a new world. Let us put all negativity behind us. All darkness, sadness, loneliness, disappointment. Release it all into the water. Let it all go."

Janet returned with a huge mixing bowl on top of a stack of paper napkins on top of a stack of plates. The handle of a large wooden spoon extended over the side of the bowl, and she had already loaded the bowl with all the ingredients. She set down the plates separately from the bowl, sat, and placed the bowl in her lap. "We use a recipe that doesn't require cooking," she explained. "That way we can make them right here in circle. We all help mix them, we all put our energy into them, we all form them into crescents, and we all call down the moon into them. The power of imagination, the power of dreams. The intent is to nourish the imagination as well as the body."

Marie passed her the bowl of water. She bowed her head over it, seemed to mutter a few quiet words, then passed it to Brian. As it made its way around the circle she leaned forward, took a small pinch of the salt and sprinkled it over the contents of the mixing-bowl. Then she grasped the handle of the wooden spoon in her right hand and began to chant. "Mother Moon, Sister Soul, Nourish us, Make us whole." The others joined in. She stirred the contents of the bowl three times deosil (clockwise), folded it three times likewise, stirred it three times again, and passed the bowl to Brian.

The bowl of water made its way around the circle deosil - clockwise - from person to person as each stirred it and willed energy into it, still chanting. Janet took a napkin and plate, passed the stack of plates and napkins to Brian, who took one of each and passed the stack on. The diminishing stack of plates followed the water around the circle so that when the water bowl returned to Janet everyone had a plate. She checked the consistency of the mix, found it satisfactory, spooned about a sixth of the mix onto her plate and passed the bowl to Brian. She let the chant fade.

"Everyone take a portion of the mix and form it into crescents," she explained, forming a crescent herself to show them the approximate size and shape. "Don't take too long because they will start to set pretty fast. The moon is the realm of dreams too, so as you mold the cakes you can also think of it as the stuff of dreams. You can take hold of your dreams and mold them to your will. Pour the power of dreams into the cakes, let them be nourishment for our dreamselves as well as for our imaginations. Look at your hands. It seems easy to look at your hands, but in dreams if you can remember to look at your hands you can wake up in the dream. Try to remember to look at your hands. How can you tell whether you are dreaming? Look around you now and know that this could be a dream."

She paused briefly and looked around the circle, then continued. "Let it be a dream. We are between the worlds, between the waking world and the dream world, between the outer world and the inner world. Each time that we eat these cakes in the days ahead, look at your hand and remember making these cakes. Remember looking at your hands as you shape the cakes. Some night, maybe even tonight, you will wake up enough in a dream to remember this. To look at your hands. To see what they are doing. To remember that you might be dreaming. We are between the worlds, and from between the worlds we can change all the worlds. All power for change is in the moment, in each moment, whether we are dreaming or awake. We have the power to shape our dreams, we have the power to change our lives, we have the power to change our world. We can be here in our dreams any time we want to. We can let our dreamworlds merge, we can meet in our dreams, help each other in our dreams. Let these cakes nourish our shared dreams. Let us shape our dreams together, shape our world together. In our dreams we can look at our hands and, if we choose, be here again in circle forming these cakes. Between now and Sunday, which is the Full Moon, try to remember this each night before you go to sleep. Remember making these cakes together. Maybe we will meet in our dreams sometime between now and Sunday. Maybe even tonight. We'll just look at our hands, remember making these cakes, look up and find that we are here, in circle, like we always are, without beginning, never ending. Between the worlds. Between times. Shaping our dreams."

She paused, looked slowly around at everyone. "Choose one cake to share with all of us. Reshape it into six little cakes. We'll need to wait a few minutes for them to set so now is a good time to chat."

Gradually they finished forming their cakes and looked around. No-one seemed in a big hurry to say anything.

A warm, comfortable silence fell. Various looks and smiles were exchanged. Eventually Marie picked up the decanter of wine from the altar, unstoppered it, poured wine into the chalice. She looked at Marny, smiled, passed him the chalice. Stoppered the decanter and placed it on the altar. Then she looked around with a grin. When she was sure she had everyone's attention she lifted a pinecone-tipped wand from the altar and held it up for all to see. Marny held the chalice toward her in both hands. Slowly, she lowered the pinecone into the chalice until its point just barely disturbed the surface of the wine. She and Marny both closed their eyes for a few seconds, then she raised the wand, he lowered the chalice, and they opened their eyes. Marny sipped then passed the chalice to Marie, saying "Never thirst."

The chalice made its way around the circle. Marie topped it up and tried a mooncake. "Cakes and wine," she announced.

This time they passed their plates around as well as the chalice. By the time the chalice returned to Marie they had each eaten one small mooncake made by each of them.

"Why does this circle feel so different from when we were in the Temple?" Mary asked. "Is it just because we're in a livingroom instead of such a formal Temple?"

They looked around. Thought and sensed. Finally Marie said "the Temple is permanent, and has the Flame burning all the time. That probably accounts for some of it. But also we have only called the elements. In the Temple we work with the Archangels. That makes a big difference to me."

"This is earth-based and moon-based," said Janet. "this is low magick, that is high magick. Thats how I think of it. The Temple is much more transcendental."

"This certainly feels more down to earth," Mary agreed. "Dreamy but a nice everyday kind of dream."

"Speaking of dreams," said Marny, "the walls between the worlds are thin at this time of year." He slid a box of candes forward from beside him. "We have candles to charge for the lanterns." He took a couple of candles and slid the box toward Marie.

Marie smiled. "Let these candles light the way for all those we love who have passed on, if they choose to visit with us in this season of remembrance." She took a couple of candles and slid the box toward Janet.

"It is the blood harvest," said Janet. "Winter is coming. Let us take light with us into the new year, into the winter." She took a pair of candles and slid the box to Brian.

"The year turns," said Brian. "Let us leave behind what we no longer need, and carry forward the light that we have gathered." He took a pair of candles and slid the box to Mary.

"The past is good," said Mary. "I hope the future will be at least as good." She took a pair of candles and slid the box to Scott.

"A new year, a new home, and a new job," said Scott. "I have much to be thankful for." Taking the last pair of candles, he slid the empty box to Marny.

"I am seeking inspiration," said Marny. "I need to reconnect with my muses, my creativity. I am making a new year's resolution to apply myself to my writing throughout the winter. I hope the new year will bring new energy to my writing."

Janet picked up the essential oil from where Mary had placed it, on the east edge of the altar tray. With a circling motion from east through south to west she placed it on the west edge and smiled at Marie.

Marie picked up the oil, unstoppered it, took a dab of oil on a fingertip, and annointed her candles. Then she passed the bottle and stopper to Janet, bowed her head over her candles and closed her eyes. The oil passed from person to person deosil - clockwise - around the circle until all were still and silent in meditation over their candles. A minute or two passed. Eventually Marny slid the empty box to Marie, who placed her candles in it and slid it to Janet. Around the circle it went, gathering the candles. Back to Marny. He placed his candles in it and put it aside.

"Okay," he said. "That takes care of scheduled business, I think?" He looked around. No-one demurred. "We always work deosil - clockwise - even when opening the circle. Because we aren't banishing anything, we are simply opening the circle. We aren't undoing anything, we are confirming what we have done, confirming that we have completed what we came to do. So we say goodbye to the elements in the same order that we welcomed them."

Marie spoke up. "On the other hand, we always invoke the Goddess before the God and say goodbye to the God before the Goddess." She turned toward Marny. "God, Father, Brother, Lover, Spouse, thank you for being with us. Stay if you will, go if you must. Blessed Be." She kissed him on the lips.

Together, the others echoed "Blessed Be." Marny extinguished the God candle.

Marny addressed Marie. "Goddess, Mother, Sister, Lover, Spouse, thank you for being with us. Stay if you will, go if you must. Blessed Be." He kissed her on the lips.

Again the others echoed "Blessed Be." Marie extingished the Goddess candle.

Marny helped Marie to stand up. The others also rose, and they all turned to face the east.

"Actually it is not quite true that we aren't banishing anything," said Scott. "Because we use invoking pentagrams to invoke the elements and banishing pentagrams to banish them." He looked at Mary. "Many people say that you have to be firm with the elements, thus that you should always firmly banish them. But we like to make friends with them." He faced the east and raised his athame. "Element of Air, we thank you for witnessing our rites and protecting our circle. Go if you must, stay if you will." He traced a pentagram with his athame. "Blessed Be."

"Blessed Be," the others echoed, waited a moment while Scott extinguished the east candle, then everyone turned to face the south. "Each element has its own invoking and banishing pentagrams," said Marny. "Some people use the Earth pentagrams in all four directions, maybe to underline the fact that they are earth-based. But we use the separate directions of drawing it for each element." He raised his athame. "Element of Fire, we thank you for witnessing our rites and protecting our circle. Go if you must, stay if you will." His athame traced a pentagram. "Blessed Be."

"Blessed Be" again from the others, Marny extinguished the south candle, and they all turned to the west.

Marie raised her athame. "Element of Water, we thank you for witnessing our rites and protecting our circle. Go if you must, stay if you will." She traced a pentagram. "Blessed Be."

"Blessed Be" from all, Marie extinguished the west candle, and they all turned to the north.

Janet raised her athame. "Element of Earth, we thank you for witnessing our rites and protecting our circle. Go if you must, stay if you will." Pentagram. "Blessed Be."

"Blessed Be" again from all. Janet extinguished the north candle, and they all turned to face inward and held hands.

Marie spoke up. "The circle is open, but never broken."

They all lifted their linked hands and chanted together, moving their hands in rhythm with the chant. "Merry Meet, Merry Part, and Merry Meet Again!". They released their hands on a downbeat with the end of the chant.

"Snacks in the kitchen," said Marie.

They began gathering their things and putting their robes back on.