Calendar of the Sun 29 Blutmonath Sekhmet's Day Colou
r: Red Element: Fire Altar: Upon a red cloth set two torches, the figure of a lioness, and a clay pitcher of beer mixed with red fruit juice. Offerings: Meat. Blood. Wrestle with the Beast Within. Daily Meal: Beer. Meat from a hoofed animal. Barley. Invocation to Sekhmet Long, long ago, Ra Lord of the Sun Was wroth with the people of the earth, For their disrespect and their carelessness, And his anger was so great That he called forth into existence The lioness goddess Sekhmet As a manifestation of his wrath, And he set her upon the people, Intending her to eat a few of them And teach them all a lesson. And Sekhmet leaped upon them, But she did not stop her destruction, And after three days she had killed so many That Ra begged her to stop, regretting his error, But she refused, saying that there would be no end To her appetite for blood and death. So Ra had beer dyed red as blood, and spread it Over the field of carnage, and she drank, And fell asleep, and was enspelled. And so we hail Sekhmet, for within each of us Is the beast of wrath whom we must propitiate, And never let run wild, lest it slay All that we hold dear. Hail Sekhmet! (All respond: "Hail Sekhmet!" ) Be merciful to us, we who cower In your shadow, and feel your footprints within us. (All respond: "Have mercy upon us!" And may your hunting be plentiful, And all your days bright with sun. (All respond: "Hail Queen of the Desert Sun!" Then the red beer is poured as a libation, and the torches are carried outside, where they are left to burn out.)
[source:paganbookofhours.org]