Naming Festival - Dedication of a New Born Child

Should take place on the first day of a Full Moon, and includes a dedication circle ocmposed of women in the mother's bloodline and extended family. After a purification bath, the mother dresses in white or saffron. The baby should aso be dressed in white. Select a tree to represent the Tree of Life: Oak, poplar, willow, alder, or elm is traditional, but any tree available will be fine. The women form a circle around the tree, singing and joyously dancing.

The baby is placed at the foot of the tree with a bowl of corn or barley, a bowl of water, a bowl of salt, and a white garlic bulb. The mother will have chosen the child's Guardian Mother (NOT godmother).

The ritual begins with the Guardian Mother, acting as Maiden, giving the Great Charge:

Aphrodite, Arionhod,
Lover of the Horned God,
Might Queen of Witchery and nIght;
Morgan, Etoine, Nisene,
Diana, Brigit, Melusine,
am I named of Old by men;
Artemis and Cerridwen,
Hell's Dark Mistress, Heaven's Queen.
Ye who would ask of me a rune,
Or who would ask of me a boon,
Meet me in some secret glade,
Dance my round in greewood shade,
by the light of the full Moon.
In a place wild and lone,
Dance around mine altar stone;
Work my Holy Mystery,
Ye who are feign to sorcery,
I bring ye secrets yet unknown.
No more shall ye know slavery,
Who give true worship unto me.
Ye who tread round on Sabbat night,
Come ye all naked to the rite
In token that ye be really free.
I teach ye the mystery of rebirth,
Work ye my Mysteries in mirth.
Heart joined to heart and lip to lip,
Five the points of Fellowship
that bring ye ecstasy on earth.
For I am the circle of Rebirth.
I ask no sacrifice, but do bow,
No other law but Love I know,
By naught but Love may I be known.
All things living are mine own,
From me they come, to me they go.

The mother, as High Priestess, now moves to the center of the circle, facing the tree. She hold the child in her outstretched hand and says:

Queen Brigit, we have brought you here
The fruit of my womb, for joy, for fay.
Bless this child with golden luck.
May her/his heart have your silver touch.
Health and wealth shall be her/his lot,
by sickness nor evil shall ever be caught.
Blessed Be.

The mother places the baby again on the ground and rejoins the circle. One sister now moves forward, takes the bowl of barley or corn, and pours it on the ground in an uninterrupted circle around the baby saying:

Demeter, accept this offering to you,
May this child never know hunger of Body,
Nor heart, nor soul.

Another sister takes the bowl of water, sprinkles the child, and pours the water on the ground around the child, saying:

Marianne, accept this water as an offering to you. May this child have the Life-Force sap always strong within her/him. May fertility of the Moon infuse him/her with love for all living. May she/he know Sisterhood.

A third sister takes the bowl of salt, again making a circle around the child and saying:

Blessed Be Sophia, Wisest of the Wise, in the earth and beyond the heavens. Protect and bless this child with wisdom.

All in the circle again, the women unify and raise power, building songs and different patterns out of the sounds. Then the afterbirth and umbilical cord are buried with the garlic under the tree and covered with the leftover water, barley or corn, and salt.

The mother now pronounces the child's name to the women for the first time. There are, however, two names. One is the child's legal name, and the other is the child's Secret Name, and must not be uttered again (not even to the child) until the initiation ceremony of the child. Feastings, dancing and joyousness is in order, following the newborn child's dedication.

Holy Book of Women's Mysteries, Part II, Z. Budapest, Susan B. Anthony Coven, 1980