Short versions of our rites
The liturgies used by the Temple of Horus on the Prairie, based on those of Edfu, are meant for an established, dedicated worship space, with multiple attendees. As such they involve numerous specialized implements and are of a decent enough length to make it worthwhile for those traveling to the temple.
But most pagans don’t have the luxury of a “church” type location: they often worship at home, or visit in small groups. Like anyone, they are often pressed for time and space. Maybe they don’t have room for the numerous offering vessels (even if it is because they clutter their altars with mementos, seashells and polished rocks). They may also be eclectic, not wanting to focus on just one religious tradition.
Thus, we present some quick and dirty rituals from Edfu and elsewhere for short yet meaningful blessings, celebrations of the lunar phases, offerings and praise. They can be inserted into existing rituals or used on their own. Think of them as “microrituals” (“micro” being the new “e-” of the 1990s) that can set the tone for a more free flowing evening of discussion, meditation, or contemplation. Enjoy!
Full Moon Prayer
How beautiful is your enduring face. You rise at the fifteenth day lunar festival in your body; the Uraeus shall not be carried away. (1)
New Moon Prayer
Hail to you, perfect child of the day of the new crescent, who rejuvenates at the beginning of every thirty days, the perfect child who travels in the sky on the course of the sun, who replaces the solar disk at night, who hides his image, conceals his plans, and changes his appearances. Thoth mingles in the company of the bas of the listener, as the left eye is provided with its constituent elements. The Gods are together with the sole God as your perfect face pleases me. (2)
General Blessings
Come, white eye of Horus, welcome, you who shines like Ra in the horizon; crush the powers of Set. The Eye of Horus guards you, it confers its protection of you, it lays low your enemies for you. (3)
May you illuminate me, so that you wash away sickness, and drive away all evil from me. May you set your iris as my protection, so that you repel affliction from my vicinity! (4)
A Blessing for the Dead from the Book of Breathings
An offering which the king gives to Osiris, Foremost of the Westerners, the Great God, Lord of Abydos, that he may he give a invocation offering of bread, beer, beef, fowl, wine, milk, offerings, provisions, and every good and pure thing to the ka of the Osiris NN, true of voice. May he be healthy. May he live, enduring at the command of Ra himself, and like Ra neither perishing nor being sick forever and ever.
A Short Offering Litany to Horus
(Asperge altar and offerings) I pour water upon the altar.
(Offer meat and/or incense) I make a roast meat offering as a gift for you.
(Libation with white vase) Water in white vases.
(Offer bread and/or cake) The great bread and cake.
(Libation with red vase) Water in two red vases.
(Raise all offerings) The menu thereof is before your face.
The Eye of Horus is before your nose.
The Eye of Horus is before your face.
The Eye of Horus purifies your tongue.
Note that since wine was offered as “The Eye of Horus before Your face” in the full 24-stanza litany of Edfu’s Hall of Offerings, you can offer wine at the second to last stanza here. You can also offer natron or salt at the last stanza since it uses the same word (bd). The key to this shortened version of the “menu” is flexibility. For the “two red vases” you can pour twice. This litany came from a ritual on the outside wall of the Edfu temple’s inner sanctum, and shares six items (seven or eight if you count wine and natron) with the longer offering litany.
Final Blessing
Praise to you, Ra who is Horus on the Horizon, chief of the Gods, the great winged sun disk who illuminates all faces, the light of which drives away the darkness. Father of the fathers, who creates all things, after whose becoming everything will become, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Horus, the Great God, Lord of Heaven. May your beautiful face be gracious to me.
This one is an oldie but goodie, and useful for reciting after the prior offering litany.
E III 212, 15-16.
(E III 209, 17 - E III 210, 4.
Book of the Dead, Spell 151, Pap. Nebseny 1 ff. Cf. Dumichen, Petuamenap, III, Taf. I, 2.
From a 22nd Dynasty stela (BM 1224), in Darnell, John Coleman (2013) “Theban Desert Road Survey II : the rock shrine of Pahu, Gebel Akhenaton, and other rock inscriptions from the western hinterland of Qamûla, Yale Egyptological publications; 1, pg. 57.
Watterson, Barbara (1976) An Ancestral Ritual from Edfu Temple: An Investigation of Inscriptions on the Naos Exterior, University of Liverpool, pg. 285 (E IV 86).
E VII 93, 4-9, from the Edfu Databank at The Göttingen Academy
of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony (https://tinyurl.com/y6uvfjn8)
Most pagans cluter their alters with junk. For Heathenry, all you really need is an offering bowl. Sure, idols, or a picture of a God, is great, but ultimately unnecessary. No crystals required lol