Hymns, Songs, Poems and Readings for Invocations of Earth
Earth: Sephirah 10, Malkuth, “Kingdom”
Two hymns of Earth for rituals of invocation of Gods and Goddesses of Planet Earth and Her Living Universe of Soil, Ocean, Air, Light, and Sky by Joseph Payne Brennan and Robert A. Heinlein
Earth - what do we think of, when we hear or see that word? Gentle Gaia, sweet and kind? A ravished victim of modern technology? - Or do we remember Persephone and Pele, and the awesome forces locked in the crust, mantle, and core of our Planet? Earth is a true and real Power in the Universe, though our over-urbanized, high-tech culture often blinds us to that fact. . . . Yet Earth is also our home, our Mother, the first Mother, the greatest, Who was here before all other Solar-terrestrial Life. We are perfectly adapted to Her in every way, from the loveliness of Her skies and waters, that makes our hearts break for joy at the sight of them on the best days, to the vast, remorseless puissance of Her rampaging volcanoes, Her catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis, and even the heavy metals, uranium, radium, and plutonium, that keep Her core molten and active, and the relatively recent use of which by humanity has inevitably raised the question of the viability of Her creatures. I can think of no better portrait of the terrible molten power that lies at Earth’s heart, only a little of which is visible even in the most titanic volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, or other tectonic frenzies, than Joseph Payne Brennan’s “Heart of Earth.” And there is no better acknowledge of the Aeons-deep ties between Her and us, Her most cantankerous, ingeniously mischievous, terrifyingly inventive, Star-chasing children, whose nature She has patiently cultured and trained through countless evolutionary changes since the dawn of Life, than the heart-breakingly beautiful “Green Hills of Earth” by the late Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988), who, perhaps more than anyone else, was the Man Who Sold the Stars to America.
“Heart of Earth,” by Joseph Payne Brennan
Never forget: beneath your feet,
beneath the rose, below the wheat,
beyond the bastioned granite floor,
lies the ultimate, molten core.
The tides of fire, locked in sleep,
a vigil down the aeons keep.
Across the whirling gulfs of space
the elements of motion race.
The aeons burn; the cycles ebb;
the stenciled stars retrace their web.
Never forget: in the heart of earth
Still licks the fire that brought its birth.
Our calendar of iron and flame
invokes the time without a name,
the days of fire, the final men,
the molten core made whole again.
“The Green Hills of Earth,” by Robert A. Heinlein. From Heinlein’s short story, “The Green Hills of Earth,” copyright 1947 by The Curtis Publishing Company, included in the collection of his works, The Past Through Tomorrow (New York: Berkley Books, 1967), pp. 363-373.
I pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave me birth;
Let me rest my eyes on the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me
As they rove around the girth
Of our lovely mother planet,
Of the cool green hills of Earth.
We rot in the molds of Venus,
We retch at her tainted breath.
Foul are her flooded jungles,
Crawling with unclean death.
We’ve tried each spinning space mote
And reckoned its true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men
On the cool, green hills of Earth.
The arching sky is calling
Spacemen back to their trade.
All hands! Stand by! Free falling!
And the lights below us fade.
Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps the race of Earthmen,
Out far and onward! Yet -
We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
The following Youtube video gives one arrangement of the song; there are many others.
Click to view“Old Hundredth” - traditional English hymn (# 100 in the Anglican hymnal)
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise God all creatures here below,
Praise Him above, ye heaven’ly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
- Amen