Ritual: Cosmology Meditation

I wrote this for part of my Dedicant’s Program for Ár nDraíocht Féin. I’m putting it here to fill a need some have felt for some Proto-Indo-European rituals for individual practice. The domestic cult rituals fulfill this function in part, but this one is more personal.

This is an assuredly non-reconstructed ritual. I have based it on the Proto-Indo-European ideology, but none of the actual sentences or phrases are reconstructed. Some of the words, however, have a theological meaning inherited from the PIEs: *Xártus, the pattern of the universe, and *ghóstis (appearing in the ritual in the plural, *ghóstēs) "someone with whom a person has reciprocal bond of hospitality," *nektŕ "not-dying;" a mixture of fire and water used as a sacred drink, and *régʷes "the dark place." *Deiwós is a PIE word for "god," but it literally means "shining."

I’ve also taken advantage of the fact that PIE had two words for fire and two words for water, one of each being inanimate (*paH2wr and *wodŕ) and one of each being animate (*hṇgʷnis and *H2ekʷeH2-). The animate words, of course, refer to each as alive, and the inanimate as "stuff." This allows me to specify the "deadness" of the water and the "aliveness" of the fire in the ritual.

Two important words that aren’t reconstructed are *ṇxṛtóm and *ghostítāt. I have formed these from legitimate PIE roots, using legitimate PIE word-formation rules, but they are my own creation. The first is based on the same root as *xártus, *xar- "to put together in an appropriate and beautiful manner." *Xártus is formed with the action noun suffix *-tu-, and therefore means "the act of putting together," and it is a masculine noun, i.e., a living thing. *Ṇxṛtóm, on the other hand, is based on a past participle, *xṛtóm, formed from the suffix *-to-. This participle would have the meaning, "that which has been put together." The *n- at its beginning is a negative prefix, giving *ṇxṛtóm the meaning "that which has not been put together." It is a neuter, and therefore not a living thing. This is important for the ideology in the ritual: that which has not been properly ordered is not alive. On the other hand, ordering requires something to be ordered. The *X´us and the *ṇxṛtóm exist in a relationship of ghóstitāt.

So what does *ghóstitāt mean? It’s based on the root *ghosti- "someone with whom one has a reciprocal obligation of hospitality," plus an abstract noun suffix *-teH2t- (which became *-tāt-). The resultant meaning is "state of hospitality." The significance of this will be pretty clear from the ritual.

For pronunciation, see PIE Pronunciation Guide.

After each step pause a few moments until you have the idea clear in your mind. Ideally, you should keep your awareness of each thing, adding new ones as you progress through the meditation; you might want to take a second after each new one to envision the previous ones.

Ṇxṛtóm
Chaos
(Hold your hands as far down as they’ll go, with the fingers interlacing and facing down.)

Wódṛ xapo hesti.
There is water there.
(Visualize water made of particles churning around together in the space below you. Each particle is like an infinitesimal dot. Here and there some clump together temporarily, but soon break apart. As a whole, the water looks like a dark lead.)

Régʷos
The dark place; the Well
(Bring your hands up to your solar plexus, transforming them into a cup shape (right hand on top of left) as you do so. A bowl appears, floating on the Chaos.)

Régʷos Ṇxṛtó hesti.
The dark place is in/on Chaos.
(Concentrate on the location of the Dark. It is very still.)

Régʷos saxyeti.
The Régʷes fills.
(Some of the water seeps into the Régʷes; it doesn’t pour, its random movement just brings it the water particles into it.) The Dark fills, but does not overflow, even though the water keeps oozing in.)

Ḱḗrd.
The heart.
(Become strongly aware of your heart, as present beneath your breastbone.)

Ḱḗrd saxyeti.
The heart fills.
(The water from the régʷes seeps into your heart, again sluggishly. Bring your hands up to your breastbone, keeping them cupped.)

Hṇ́gʷnis ḱḗrdi hesti.
There is a living flame in my heart
(A fire is kindled there.)

Hṇ́gʷnis tō gheumné saxyetor.
The heart fills itself with it (either the water or the heart)as a libation.
(Visualize the fire reaching out to the water and bringing it in as you flatten your hands against your breastbone.)

Hṇ́gʷnis tód kaxuti.
The fire burns it.
(The water swirls around in the fire and begins to merge with parts of it.)

Hṇ́gʷnis tód meyeti.
The fire changes it.
(The merging continues.)

Hṇ́gʷis tód gʷiqʷōti
The fire brings it to life.
(Almost there.)

Tód nektérm bhūyeti.
It becomes Nekter
(The water is now completely changed; mixed in with the fire is a burning water, gold in color now, that moves with its own life.)

Déiwos.
The Shining.
(A point of bright light shines in the center top of your head.)

Nektḗr Déiwom bṛǵheyeti.
The Nekter rises to the Shining.
(Cup your hands, with open part downward, and pressed against your forehead. The Nekter flows up and fills them. It does not pour out downward because it is flaming.)

Nektḗr Déiwom ǵhewetor.
Nekter pours itself as a libation into the Shining.
(Bring your hands together against your brow, just as you did against your heart earlier. The Nekter flows into the Deiwós.)

Nektḗr Déiwom dhidhēti.
Nekter feeds the Shining.
(The Nekter fills the spaces between its infinitesimal pieces of the light (photons, quanta, or however you wish to imagine them)).

Nektḗr Déiwom bhūyeti.
Nekter becomes the Shining.
(The Nekter fuses with the bits of light, so that they are indistinguishable.)

Xártus.

Déiwos Xártēu hesti.
The divine is in the Xártus.
(Separate your hands and move them to the side, so that your upper arms end up parallel to the ground, your lower arms at a right angle to them, and your hands with open palms facing front. (The orans position.) As you do so, imagine threads coming with your hands from the light in your brow. At each point along the way, infinite threads separate, and from each point of those threads, an infinite number again, and so on. As each thread meets with each other, they link, but remain separate threads, until by the time your hands are still there is a net that fills the universe with light.)

Nektḗr Xártum ǵhewetor.
Nekter pours itself as a libation into the Xártus.
(The Nekter in your brow flows down the threads, running along them like water would run over the threads in a net.)

Nektḗr Xártum dhidhēti.
Nekter feeds the Xártus.
(The Nekter flows into the infinitesimal spaces between each of the nodes of the net.)

Nektḗr Xártum bhūyeti.
Nekter becomes the Xártus.
(The Nekter fuses with the nodes, so that they are indistinguishable.)

Xártus Nektrḗ gʷēiti.
The Xártus lives through the Nekter.

Xártus smē gʷéiqʷeti.
May the Xártus truly live.
(You are aware of the living, changing quality of the Xártus. The threads move and swirl, and continue to grow.)

Heǵóm.
I.
(Bring your hands together to touch your forehead. Swrling threads of the Xártus come along with them.)

Heǵóm Xartḗu hesti.
I am in the Xártus.

Xártus mḗ ǵhewetor.
The Xártus pours itself into me.
(The threads enter into your body and being to move through it.)

Xártus mḗ dhidhēti.
The Xártus feeds me.
(The threads flow into the infinitesimal points between each of those that make up you.)

Xartū́ gʷēimi.
I live through the Xártus.

Xártum gʷēimi.
I live the Xártus.
(Bring your arms back into the orans position. The threads come with your fingers again, interweaving with each other and with the ones already there.)

Xártum smē gʷēyō.
May I truly live the Xártus.
(You are aware of the living, changing quality of the Xártus.)

Ǵlákt.
Milk.
(Bring your forearms down so that they too are parallel to the floor, with your hands cupped upward.)

Ǵlákt Xartḗu xaugeti.
Milk grows in the Xártus.
(Each point of the Xártus web begins to ooze with milk, so that the milk runs along the threads.)

Ǵlákt Nektḗr Xṛtḗus hesti.
Milk is the Nekter of the Xártus.
(The milk fills your hands.)

Ǵlákt Xṛtḗus ǵhewetor.
Milk pours itself as a libation from the Xártus.
(Turn your hands so the milk starts to pour from them. No matter how much pours out, it continues to pour.)

Nériom niǵhewetor.
It pours itself as a libation down into the below.
(Bring your arms down, so that your hands are laid on top of each other as a bowl again, except this time with the left on top of the right. Draw the milk down with your hands.)

Régʷos.
(Your cupped hands are again the dark place.)

Déiwos
(Still holding the image of the Régʷes in your mind, add the shining light in your brow. The Xártus twines through it, so that the two are intimately commingled, but still separate.

Ǵlákt Déiwōd Régʷom ǵhewetor.
The milk pours itself from the Shining into the dark place.
(The milk that is in the Deiwós (because of its place in the Xártus), pours down the axis which connects the Deiwós and the Régʷes).

Déiwos ǵláktṃ Régʷom dedōti.
The Shining gives the milk to the dark place.
(The milk fills your cupped hands. It continues to pour, even when your hands are full, but doesn’t overflow.)

Dōntḗ ghóstīs bhūyonti.
By the giving they become ghostēs.
(Concentrate on the flowing downwards of the milk.)

Déiwoskʷe régʷoskʷe ghóstēs senti.
The Shining and the Dark are ghostēs.
(Concentrate on the vertical line which connects the Deiwós and the Régʷes.)

Ṇxṛtóm.
(Bring your hands together at their tops so your fingers are intertwined. Again imagine the water below.)

Xártus
(Become closely aware of the network of threads again, with the milk running itself over them.

Ǵlákt Ṇxṛtóm ghewetor.
The milk pours itself into Chaos.
(The milk begins to pour down the threads and onto your fingers.)

Xártus ǵláktṃ ṇxṛtí dedōti.
The Xártus gives milk to Chaos.
(The milk pours from your fingers into darkness.)

Dōntḗ ghóstīs bhūyonti.
By the giving they become ghostēs.
(The milk mixes in with the water.)

Xártuskʷe ṇxṛtómkʷe ghóstēs senti.
The Xártus and Chaos are ghostēs.
(Concentrate on the web that is the Xártus uniting with the darkness which is in the Chaos.)

Régʷos
(Cup your hands again. They fill again, but this time the water is mixed with milk.)

Déiwos
(Become aware of the shining in your head.)

Hṇ́gʷnis.
(Become aware of the fire in your heart again. Bring your hands up to your heart, keeping them cupped.)

Régʷos Deiwí hṇgʷnei dedōti.
The Dark gives to the Shining through the fire.
(The liquid pours out from your cupped hands into the fire, which burns more brightly.)

Dōntḗ ghóstīs bhūyonti.
By the giving they become ghóstēs.
(Concentrate on how the liquid in the vertical line which connects the Deiwós and the Régʷes is in constant motion.)

Hṇ́gʷnī́ ghóstēs senti.
By means of the fire they are ghóstēs.
(Concentrate on the line itself.)

Hṇ́gʷnī́ wesus ghóstīs wesū senti.
Through the fire all is ghóstēs with all.
(Tendrils reach out from the fire throughout your body.)

Ghostítāt hṇgʷní hesti.
Through the fire, there is hospitality.
(The tendrils form a net, which holds the particles of your body, or is formed from the spaces between them. The net continues to move, though, as the flowing of the Nekter and milk mixture flows through the tendrils.)

Hṇ́gʷnis ḱṛdī moi hesti.
The fire is in my heart.
(Flatten your hands against your breastbone; the liquid pours from them into the fire.)

Régʷos deiwí ḱṛdō moi dedōti.
The dark gives to the shining through my heart.
(Concentrate on how the liquid in the vertical line which connects the Deiwós and the Régʷes is in constant motion.)

Dōntḗ ghóstīs bhūyonti.
By the giving they become ghóstēs.
(Concentrate on the line itself.)

Ḱṛdī moi ghóstēs senti.
In my heart they are ghóstēs.
(The liquid flowing from each end of the vertical line (milk from the Déiwos, fire/water/milk mixture from the regʷés) passes through the fire on their way to the other end.)

Ḱṛdī moi wesus ghóstēs wesū senti.
In my heart all are ghosté̄s with all.
(The liquids reach their ends, and fill them.)

Ghostítāt ḱṛdī moi hesti.
Ghostítāt is in my heart.
(Concentrate on the flowing.)

Ghostítātṃ gʷémi.
I live ghostítāt.
(Your body as a living, growing process takes part in ghostítāt.)

Ghostítātṃ gʷiqʷōmi.
May I truly live ghostítāt.

Tód héstu.
So be it.

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