The Hawthorn Tree

At the edge of the hedge is a Hawthorn Tree
And its blossoms are sweet as sweet can be
And the bees are humming there all the day
And these are the words that I hear them say
Sweet sweet is the Hawthorn Tree

All the breezes that breathe o er those blossoms
A burden of perfume happily bear
And the songsters revel there all day long
And these are the words of their merry song
Sweet sweet is the Hawthorn Tree

And a maid and her lover wander by
As the twilight glories fade and die
And they pause neath the fragrant boughs to rest
And above them sways the robin's nest
Sweet sweet is the Hawthorn Tree

We too they whisper shall soon build a home
Neath the azure arch of the infinite dome
And we all the day shall sing like the birds
But with deeper meaning in music and words
Sweet sweet is the Hawthorn Tree

Nathan Haskell Dole

With this Invocation, let this tree become the Cosmic Tree, the Gateway to the Ways between the Worlds!

The Fountain of the Fairies

There is a fountain in the forest call'd
The Fountain of the Fairies: when a child
With delightful wonder I have heard
Tales if Elfin tribe who on its banks
Hold midnight revelry. An ancient oak;
The goodliest of the forest, grows beside;
Alone it stands, upon a green grass plat,
By the woods bounded like some little isle.
It ever hath been deem'd their favorite tree,
They love to lie and rock upon its leaves,
And bask in moonshine. Here the woodman leads
His boy, and showing him the green-sward mark'd
With darker circlets, says the midnight dance
Hath traced the rings, and bids him spare the tree.
Fancy had cast a spell upon the place
Which made it holy; and the villagers
Would say that never evil thing approach'd
Unpunish'd there. The strange and fearful pleasure
Which fill'd me by that solitary spring,
Ceased not in riper years; and now it wakes
Deeper delight, and more mysterious awe.

Robert Southey

With this Invocation, let this well become the Deep Cauldron, the Gateway to the Underworld, the Ancestors and the nourishing waters of the Earth!

Beltaine Fire

The morrow was May and on the green
They'd lit the fire of Beltan E'en,
And danced around, and piled it high
With peat and heather, and pine logs dry.

A piper play'd a lightsome reel,
And timed the dance with toe and heel;
While wives look'd on, as lad and lass
Trod it merrily o'er the grass.

Exerpt from The Kelpie of Corryevreckan by Charles MacKay

With this Invocation, let this fire become the Sacrificial Fire, the Gateway to the Realms of the Mighty Ones, carrying our Offerings to Them and filling us with the fires of Joy and Inspiration!