(Participants stand in a circle, with a basket of corn, sunflower or squash seeds, and some planting trays filled with soil. A filled watering can is also at hand. If you have rain water, so much the better. Readers are given colored paper cards to prompt their lines; Master, Ceres, Flora and Pomona also are readers and need scripts. We shared this ceremony at the Grange Farm School in the spring of 2015, everyone loved it!)
Master: The Grange uses the old time words of Faith, Hope and Charity to honor elements of our relationships to Earth and each other. Listen for them within this pageant of wisdom. Wisdom of the Land and Seed, from our Founders and also contemporary wisdom from mindful thinkers.
Today we are planting seeds as a mindful act of Hope. Let us hear & deeply consider this shared Seed Wisdom from celebrated Earth keepers and as told by our own Grange Seed Goddesses - Flora who represents the energy of youth and spring flowers, Pomona who is the Numina of orchards and fruit trees - and Ceres, the Roman Goddess of Grain, seed, growth, & harvest. Each time they speak you will know it is the Words of our own historic Grange wisdom.
Flora: The seed is the beginning- it holds the promise of things to come. (Stands, delivers this line, then begins her procession - walks around handing out seeds AS MASTER SPEAKS - Flora continues around circle as she hands out seed to all in circle, then back to her station.)
Master: Flora’s blessing in the flower realm attracts pollinators to the orchard, garden and farm. The fragrance & beauty of the blossoms brings peace and happiness to us all. Her abundant seeds bring a sense of new beginnings to this time of Spring Equinox. Flora is FAITH that the year will bring goodness.
We are planting sunflower seeds today to offer HOPE for our work in the Farm School and to ‘plant’ abundance in our fields & offer HOPE for prosperous local farms. Take a few seed from the basket, and hold it a minute. Send your best thoughts & prayers into the seeds. You can make a prayer or blessing for our Harvest success and put it into the seeds you hold, when the tray comes around, plant each seed with FAITH that it will grow into an abundant harvest for us all. Your relationship to the harvest starts with the planting. Thoughts are seeds onto seeds.
Green Reader: Vandana Shiva says: "The seed in its essence is all of the past evolution of the Earth, the evolution of human history, and the potential for future evolution. The seed is the embodiment of culture because culture shaped the seed with careful selection—women picked the best, diversified. So from one grass you get 200,000 rices. That is a convergence of human intelligence and nature’s intelligence. It is the ultimate expression of life, and in our language, it means “that from which life arises on its own, forever and ever and ever.”
Pomona: (lifts up apple for all to see) The apple tree is the culmination of the wisdom of the apple seed and many years of Perseverance until the first harvest is freely given. My generous fruits are a blessing of sweet fruit, wise seed and FAITH in future trees - all in one harvest. Enough and some to share, in CHARITY.
Red Reader: Here is a Quote by Gary Paul Nabhan -
"A seed is really something spiritual as much as it is something material. It contains a life spark that allows the regenerative process to happen. We need seeds because they are the physical manifestation of that concept that we call hope. Planting seeds is the most tangible act that we can do as humans of expressing our hope for a better world for our children.”
Ceres: The seed holds the harvest. Take of the field of wheat for your bread, but save the best portion of the best for seed. It is the Grange symbol for FAITH. The seed holds the plant, the plant holds the harvest. The harvest holds the seed. I am the giver of life, the seed becomes the sheaf, becomes the bread and the feast, from which the seed is saved for planting again. I am all of the cycle in one.
Blue Reader: Vandana Shiva says, “The gift of seed is the ultimate gift - it is the gift of life, of heritage, of knowledge and of continuity. Saving seeds is saving biodiversity, saving knowledge of the seed and its uses, saving cultures and conserving life.”
Aqua Reader: Thomas Berry describes…"The essence of a seed is life. Through it, generation after generation of wisdom is carried to the present moment for release into the future. The seed is part of an unfolding process. It evolves through the ages in accordance to many forces – some that are known, but many that are ultimately beyond human comprehension and part of the “deep mystery”
Flora: The seed is the beginning- it holds the promise of things to come.
Master: -Thomas Berry says: "To plant a seed is to activate the deepest mysteries of the Universe."
Now Ceres & Flora will speak more of our own Grange ritual words as found in the common Manual…
Ceres: (Holds sheaf of grain) The seed is also the harvest. You will require food for sustenance. Take of this wheat, but save the best portion of the best for seed. It is the Grange symbol for FAITH. The FAITH in which you labor will have a realization in the promised reward. And in the blessed sunlight of that Faith all around you will be beautiful, By the FAITH even the nodding grain and pluming corn in their season furnish delight of the mind, as well as nourishment of the body.
Flora: Be as a grain of wheat. Begin in innocence in the darkness of your inner thoughts; allow the cultivation of knowledge and then the ripening of wisdom to guide your harvest. Share these grains of wisdom with all you meet. Teach this to the next generation of seeds that they may continue the cycle of diligent labor and reward.
Cultivate with HOPE the seed thus planted, that it may yield a hundred fold (Taken from the Manual of Subordinate Granges - page 25)
Master: The seed also undergoes incredible change in order to express its true nature, which is to create life. The seed is willing to completely crack open and reveal its inner self, to destroy ‘what was’ in order to create the new sprout that comes forth…how great is that ancient wisdom and how brave! Can we each be as a seed in our own life?
White Reader: Cynthia Occelli says - “For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn't understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.”
Master: Knowing these things anew - you can proceed to the seed-planting tray and plant your seed with a prayer or thought of your own inner choosing. With the words of Ceres, we finish this pageant and these seed thoughts.
Ceres: As we each plant our seeds, may we have HOPE for this coming seed cycle, and may your prayers & dreams come true!
Flora: lightly waters the tray ceremonially when done, inviting the seeds to sprout forth!
The End. (Master leads applause)
~~~
NOTES: The script is specific to our local farms and you will want to customize it to fit your Grange. It can be done in about 15 minutes at the start of a springtime Grange meeting. You will need seeds, a planting tray, water container, cards with seed sayings, a sheaf of wheat for Ceres, an apple for Pomona.
Plant the seeds, harvest and again save some of the best seeds for next year, and repeat this ceremony with saved seeds. We have been saving and planting sunflower seeds for two years and are about to replant them yet again!
The Master, as the director, can announce before the start that she will prompt all readers by Goddess name or card color (if you wish to do this with no rehearsal, it will go fine with this simple direction, and with a few helping words now and then)
Readers and participants may wish to keep the colored cards with their “wisdom sayings".
Master: The Grange uses the old time words of Faith, Hope and Charity to honor elements of our relationships to Earth and each other. Listen for them within this pageant of wisdom. Wisdom of the Land and Seed, from our Founders and also contemporary wisdom from mindful thinkers.
Today we are planting seeds as a mindful act of Hope. Let us hear & deeply consider this shared Seed Wisdom from celebrated Earth keepers and as told by our own Grange Seed Goddesses - Flora who represents the energy of youth and spring flowers, Pomona who is the Numina of orchards and fruit trees - and Ceres, the Roman Goddess of Grain, seed, growth, & harvest. Each time they speak you will know it is the Words of our own historic Grange wisdom.
Flora: The seed is the beginning- it holds the promise of things to come. (Stands, delivers this line, then begins her procession - walks around handing out seeds AS MASTER SPEAKS - Flora continues around circle as she hands out seed to all in circle, then back to her station.)
Master: Flora’s blessing in the flower realm attracts pollinators to the orchard, garden and farm. The fragrance & beauty of the blossoms brings peace and happiness to us all. Her abundant seeds bring a sense of new beginnings to this time of Spring Equinox. Flora is FAITH that the year will bring goodness.
We are planting sunflower seeds today to offer HOPE for our work in the Farm School and to ‘plant’ abundance in our fields & offer HOPE for prosperous local farms. Take a few seed from the basket, and hold it a minute. Send your best thoughts & prayers into the seeds. You can make a prayer or blessing for our Harvest success and put it into the seeds you hold, when the tray comes around, plant each seed with FAITH that it will grow into an abundant harvest for us all. Your relationship to the harvest starts with the planting. Thoughts are seeds onto seeds.
Green Reader: Vandana Shiva says: "The seed in its essence is all of the past evolution of the Earth, the evolution of human history, and the potential for future evolution. The seed is the embodiment of culture because culture shaped the seed with careful selection—women picked the best, diversified. So from one grass you get 200,000 rices. That is a convergence of human intelligence and nature’s intelligence. It is the ultimate expression of life, and in our language, it means “that from which life arises on its own, forever and ever and ever.”
Pomona: (lifts up apple for all to see) The apple tree is the culmination of the wisdom of the apple seed and many years of Perseverance until the first harvest is freely given. My generous fruits are a blessing of sweet fruit, wise seed and FAITH in future trees - all in one harvest. Enough and some to share, in CHARITY.
Red Reader: Here is a Quote by Gary Paul Nabhan -
"A seed is really something spiritual as much as it is something material. It contains a life spark that allows the regenerative process to happen. We need seeds because they are the physical manifestation of that concept that we call hope. Planting seeds is the most tangible act that we can do as humans of expressing our hope for a better world for our children.”
Ceres: The seed holds the harvest. Take of the field of wheat for your bread, but save the best portion of the best for seed. It is the Grange symbol for FAITH. The seed holds the plant, the plant holds the harvest. The harvest holds the seed. I am the giver of life, the seed becomes the sheaf, becomes the bread and the feast, from which the seed is saved for planting again. I am all of the cycle in one.
Blue Reader: Vandana Shiva says, “The gift of seed is the ultimate gift - it is the gift of life, of heritage, of knowledge and of continuity. Saving seeds is saving biodiversity, saving knowledge of the seed and its uses, saving cultures and conserving life.”
Aqua Reader: Thomas Berry describes…"The essence of a seed is life. Through it, generation after generation of wisdom is carried to the present moment for release into the future. The seed is part of an unfolding process. It evolves through the ages in accordance to many forces – some that are known, but many that are ultimately beyond human comprehension and part of the “deep mystery”
Flora: The seed is the beginning- it holds the promise of things to come.
Master: -Thomas Berry says: "To plant a seed is to activate the deepest mysteries of the Universe."
Now Ceres & Flora will speak more of our own Grange ritual words as found in the common Manual…
Ceres: (Holds sheaf of grain) The seed is also the harvest. You will require food for sustenance. Take of this wheat, but save the best portion of the best for seed. It is the Grange symbol for FAITH. The FAITH in which you labor will have a realization in the promised reward. And in the blessed sunlight of that Faith all around you will be beautiful, By the FAITH even the nodding grain and pluming corn in their season furnish delight of the mind, as well as nourishment of the body.
Flora: Be as a grain of wheat. Begin in innocence in the darkness of your inner thoughts; allow the cultivation of knowledge and then the ripening of wisdom to guide your harvest. Share these grains of wisdom with all you meet. Teach this to the next generation of seeds that they may continue the cycle of diligent labor and reward.
Cultivate with HOPE the seed thus planted, that it may yield a hundred fold (Taken from the Manual of Subordinate Granges - page 25)
Master: The seed also undergoes incredible change in order to express its true nature, which is to create life. The seed is willing to completely crack open and reveal its inner self, to destroy ‘what was’ in order to create the new sprout that comes forth…how great is that ancient wisdom and how brave! Can we each be as a seed in our own life?
White Reader: Cynthia Occelli says - “For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn't understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.”
Master: Knowing these things anew - you can proceed to the seed-planting tray and plant your seed with a prayer or thought of your own inner choosing. With the words of Ceres, we finish this pageant and these seed thoughts.
Ceres: As we each plant our seeds, may we have HOPE for this coming seed cycle, and may your prayers & dreams come true!
Flora: lightly waters the tray ceremonially when done, inviting the seeds to sprout forth!
The End. (Master leads applause)
~~~
NOTES: The script is specific to our local farms and you will want to customize it to fit your Grange. It can be done in about 15 minutes at the start of a springtime Grange meeting. You will need seeds, a planting tray, water container, cards with seed sayings, a sheaf of wheat for Ceres, an apple for Pomona.
Plant the seeds, harvest and again save some of the best seeds for next year, and repeat this ceremony with saved seeds. We have been saving and planting sunflower seeds for two years and are about to replant them yet again!
The Master, as the director, can announce before the start that she will prompt all readers by Goddess name or card color (if you wish to do this with no rehearsal, it will go fine with this simple direction, and with a few helping words now and then)
Readers and participants may wish to keep the colored cards with their “wisdom sayings".