Calendar of the Moon Elder Tree Month Colour: Russet Element: Air Altar: Upon a russet cloth set three black candles, a cauldron filled with water, a vase filled with elder branches, a cup of dried elderberries, and a knife. Offerings: Give aid to the elders in the House, and outside. Daily Meal: Soups and stews, and soft foods. Ruis Invocation Call: Hail the month of passing. Response: For all things pass away. Call: Hail the month of waning. Response: For all things must fade and die. Call: Hail the month of creaking wood. Response: Hail the month of creaking bones. Call: Hail the month of the dwindling Sun. Response: Hail the time of all endings. Call: For even as we began the year in silence, Response: So we shall end the year in silence. Call: For even as we began the year with chill winds of newness, Response: So we shall end the year with chill winds of darkness. Call: May the raven croak his warning from the bare branches. Response: May the deer leave her footprints in the wake of the first snows. Call: We will surrender ourselves to the darkness. Response: Yet even with that surrender, we shall not pass away. Call: For the seed that was grown in the spring still lives. Response: Its life force is given back to the Earth. Call: Its life force is given back to the Maker of new life. Response: And new life shall spring forth in time. Call: This is the moment of waiting for the end. Response: This is the moment of bowed heads. Call: Elder Goddess, teach us to praise loss, death, and the passing of all things. Response: For from this flux we know your blessings flow. Chant: In the eye of the Moon We walk willingly Into the darkness.
[source:paganbookofhours.org]