Vestalia

It seems like I just celebrated this festival and here I am again. I would like to share a beautiful invocation by C. Maria Caeca that I am including in my rites this year. I will light a candle each day from the 7th through the 15th in honor of Vesta, while reciting this and other prayers.


Hail Vesta, may She bless you and yours!

Vesta Mater,

When I must walk through mists of uncertainty,

When I become lost in the fog of doubt,

When the tiny, sharp claws of fear

Tear at my will, and savage my spirit,

When the harsh flames of anger

Threaten to sear me from within,

When the seeming fair false rectitude of arrogance lures me on to dangerous paths,

When I become careless of the hurt I may do to those I love,

When darkness hides my knowledge of right ...

If I can stop: wait: be silent:

If I can turn my regard inward,

deep into my center, to that place where I

am connected with all that is,

Your steady flame reveals itself, calling me,

Drawing me gently and surely

back into the balance of your brilliant silence

Back to the shelter of your quiet, steady strength,

Back into the light of your eternal flame,

Back to you ..where I may abide,

without uncertainty, doubt, fear, anger or arrogance,

Held in balance and protected by your living light.

You, who have always been, and will always be, 

so long as 1 hearth burns, so long as one flame is kept for you in one heart, 

to you, Vesta Mater, I now freely offer

Those few things I possess;

My mind, that I may serve you with diligence and learn of you;

my voice, that I may sing your praises,

my hands in your service:

my heart ...in simple, wordless, joyous love.

C. Maria Caeca

Blessings nine!