The Ritual of the Deep Well and the Great Heart

We’ve had a few requests for more info about the ritual we did at Pantheacon for the Deep Well~Great Heart.  This rit is a great way to bring this Work/Joy to a group setting.  Also, of course, you can do it by yourself if ya want!

What ya need:

A larger Well (we used a cauldron at Pantheacon)

Another bowl or glass that is small enough to carry, but big enough to hold a gallon or a half-gallon of water

What ya do:

Welcome to a Ritual of the Deep Well and the Great Heart

Tonight we are going to visit the Deep Well that is all water everywhere.  We are going to open our Great Hearts and feel the depth of our connection to all things, taking what we need and offering what we can.

We each carry pain and power. Here, we are broken; there, we are brilliant. We each have the ability to increase the sweet flow of goodness in the worlds: kindness, compassion, strength, joy. Let us give and receive with grace, offering ourselves into the work of Making, Healing, and Tending the many worlds.

Tell a tiny bit about the Deep Well-Great Heart Society:

The Ritual of the Deep Well and the Great Heart arose out of the work of the Deep Well-Great Heart Society. This non-denominational dis-organization is dedicated to the furtherance of thoughtful compassion and all manner of healing. In service to this ideal, we create Wells, large and small, and fill them with water and prayers. When any person is in need, they may create a Well for themselves, wherever they are, and draw from that communal pool of energy.

And there is so much need.

You may have been afraid to truly look at the world.  You may have feared the opening that would happen in you, the caring that would pour out with nowhere to go.  . 

But we know that to look away is not the answer.  We know that we mustn’t ignore the brokenness of the world.

We might miss the blessedness.

From the farthest reaches of space, to the center of our sweet earth, everywhere there is rising and falling, competing and cooperating.  Creatures joining together to create fear and pain and beauty and wonder.  This is true.

Here is the secret I want to impart to you this day:  there is a Deep Well of Compassion and Healing in the Universe.  It already exists. It was part of the original plan of creation, that there be a place where creatures could go and dip their feet, cool their brow, calm and feed their heart. Remember their true nature of joy and creativity.

This Well is filled by the Spirits whose charge it is to keep us aware of our potential.  To not let us forget that we are cooperative beings, tribal beings, and that we depend on each other.  Not in any frou-frou way, but in a very physically real way.  We depend on each other.

And yet we break each other’s hearts over and over.  Our sweet faithful hearts that have been beating since time immemorial a rhythm that fits seamlessly with the song of the planet that is our home.  All of us, drumming in our time, breathing and feeding air to our blood.  Opening to the breath of the world flowing through us.  Taking our place.

We come to the Well to heal.  And healed, we turn and offer healing to another, and the power of our actions ripples out to everything. 

And here is another Secret:  The very deepest Well of all is our own Great Heart. 

The Well of Compassion lives in you.  It is you.  Do your Work in the world, then come home and breathe light into the Well.  Breathe light into your own soul’s beauty. 

Offer the kindness that you fear to offer in the shared reality.  The sweet word, the easing of pain, the carrying, the smile.  Offer these into the Well.  And soon you will find you gain the courage to offer these into the shared reality. 

Intro the Deep Well here in this room:

Tonight, our Well is here.  Like the dark womb of Night, the loving darkness of the Lady’s belly, the Well is a place of nurturance and healing.  All creatures, all energies and actions are redeemed here.

Intro the idea of Kala:

Water is the healer.  It softens and untangles.  We use it to wash our hands, our bodies, our souls.  Tonight we take water from the One Well which is all Wells, which is here in our circle and ask that blessed element to help us be ready to give and receive with grace.

Take water from the cauldron to the bowl (we make a small well right there on the spot!)

We do this by creating another small Well. We will bring this bowl around the circle and we invite you to speak a word or two about what keeps you from being present here right now. When we are done, we will raise a tone over this baby Well, to untangle and release those energies that kept us bound.

Carry or pass the bowl around the circle

Bring bowl to the center and tone

When it’s ready, pour water back into cauldron

All Water is One Water.  The Deepest Well is our Great Heart.

Now we are ready to give into this Well.

Now I invite you to think of a kindness you have done, something you did for another which you had no thought of what you’d get back from it.   Hold that image strongly in your mind.  Be pleased by it.  If you can’t think of a thing you’ve done, think of something you’d like to do.  Something that is in your power to do.  Hold that image.

Recognize that you are in a room now full of people who are thinking of a kindness, a thoughtful, skillful, helpful act.  Recognize that this might be true no matter where you are.  Everywhere, everyone has done at least one thing in their lives that was unselfish. 

Now I invite you to speak only a word or two about this kindness.  Don’t explain it to us, only let the breath of your speaking carry the energy of the event into the Well.

Envision the person you love best and let that feeling go into the Well for those who have none to love them.

Envision a place of great peace and let that sense of calm go into the Well for those who live in fear.

Envision your home and let that sense of being safe with your belongings go into the Well for those who have no home.

See the power of your kindnesses, your well-wishes, like stars floating in the water.  See the beauty of all you’ve done or will do.  See the timelessness of the Well blessing all times before and ahead with your compassion. 

TONE

Invite folks to come to the Well in the center of the circle and be fed from it:

Now take that into your heart.  Allow the abundance of goodness to overflow this Well and come into you.  Drink it in with all your senses.  See a river of stars arising from the Well and call it to you.  Watch it fill the Deep Well in your chest.  See your Great Heart expanding to hold more and more.

See your Heart overflowing with this energy.  Let it rise up through you, up to your head and just a bit higher to touch your crown.  Let it flow down your arms, this starry river, into your hands.  Down your belly through your sex and down your legs.  See it sink down into the earth, blessing all it touches. 

TONE

Now, allow the rhythm of your breathing to guide the movement of this energy in and out of you.  See the flow from this Deep Well to the Deep Well that is your Great Heart. 

See your Great Heart beating with the power of a thousand suns, each pumping motion pushing goodness into the shared reality.

This is your birthright.  Your gift and your responsibility, if you will it. 

Recognize your power.  See that the point of power is now, here, in you. 

Amen, ashe and blessed be.