Ritual for Temple Consecration

This ritual was designed for consecrating a newly prepared altar room. It is appropriate for any room that is being newly dedicated as an altar room, or for a room that has been repainted, re-arranged, or significantly changed in some way (even if it was always an altar room). For people without the space for an altar room, this ritual can be adapted for consecrating a new altar space.

However, having performed this ritual in two newly prepared, large altar rooms, I have to say that doing the ceremony with a full coven and all the “bells and whistles” makes for a very impressive and moving ceremony.

Advance Preparations

Before starting the ceremony, the room should be immaculately clean. This includes washing windows, cleaning all of the furniture in the room, including the altar, wiping down baseboards, dusting walls and ceiling (if the room hasn’t been repainted), and a thorough vacuuming or washing of the floors. Remove all unnecessary items and clutter. After the room has been consecrated, tools and other ritual paraphernalia can be put in place.

The priest or priestess should read through the ceremony, make any necessary adjustments to the text before making copies for themselves or others. Make certain that the descriptions of the offerings match the actual offerings given!

This is a very short ritual, and participants should remain standing throughout the entire ritual if they are physically capable. If the room is particularly small, arrange the ritual so there is a minimum of movement through the room. In a larger room, assistants may follow the priest or priestess from quarter to quarter, and serve as acolytes and bell-ringers. Background music is not recommended.

Offerings

Gather these offerings for the quarters in advance, and place them in the appropriate compass directions in the room: incense – loose or stick (a consecration or blessing incense is excellent, but jasmine, rose, or champa would do); a candle in a round ceramic bowl or holder, or in a chimena; scented non-aerosol spray, which can be made by putting a few drops of essential oil or perfume in a small spray bottle filled with water, or a bundle of rue and a bowl of water and cleansing salts; sand, preferably collected from a sacred site. (Note: adjust the text to reflect from where the sand was collected).

For the altar table: circles of silver and gold – these may be cut from silver or gold paper, or made from foil, or may be smaller representatives like gold and silver rings; an orb and crescent, which would be a small moon sculpture and a crystal ball or a sphere made out of a semi-precious stone.

For larger rooms with full covens, assistants and participants may hold bells, and a sage smudge (or a bowl with loose consecration incense) may be used to cleanse each corner and the altar area during the ritual. The priest or priestess should carry their wand throughout the ceremony, and inscribe a pentacle on each area consecrated.

All participants need to bring individual offerings to personal totems, spirit guides or guardian entities. This may be simple items like fixed votive candles, food items, leaves, flowers, crystals, or a representative image of the totem (for instance, a person with a bear totem might use a teddy bear). More elaborate gifts may include specially blended oils or incenses inspired by the totem or guardian and made by the individual for this specific purpose, embroidered pouches, or a pouch filled with a variety of herbs and stones dedicated to the totem or guardian.

Optional Forms for the Ceremony

Decide in advance how the ceremony will be performed, and make sure participants understand what they’re expected to do during the ritual. Don’t wing it. Rehearse assigned parts by reading through the ritual aloud before performing it with the group. Nothing is more disappointing and less inspiring than a sloppy ceremony.

There are two options for performing the ceremony with a coven.

1.) The priest/priestess recites the introduction, and continues reciting, moving from quarter to quarter around the room, with other participants stationed in the cardinal directions make the offerings as they are mentioned in the text, and complete the ceremony by reciting the final sections while standing at the altar. An acolyte or assistant may follow the priestess from quarter to quarter carrying a burning sage smudge and a bell to ring after each quarter consecration. Other participants may also ring bells after each section.

2.) The priest or priestess begins by reciting the opening evocation. Coven members are stationed around the room, and recite their quarter’s consecrations and make the offering for that quarter. The priest or priestess remains standing at the altar, and completes the ceremony by reciting the consecrations for the central altar and the concluding paragraphs.

Solitary practitioners can modify this ceremony to their own preferences.

The Temple Consecration Ritual

Opening Evocation

Priestess: I call upon the great gods and goddesses – ancient, benevolent and deathless – to witness and bless this rite of consecration. May all who come within this space enjoy the blessings and safety bestowed upon this circle of sacredness.

I call upon the Spirits of the East to guard this room from all bane coming from the east. May the Powers of Air – the winds of knowledge and wisdom – fill this room with inspiration and ideas, and bring answers to all questions.

I offer sweetly scented incense to the great goddess Pallas Athena, Daughter of the Mind of the Great God Zeus; she who brings gifts and weapons to heroes; she who whispers words of strategy and tactics into the hearts of the valiant; she who guides the hand of the artist, musician and writer. By this offering, we ask that you confer your divine blessings upon this place, that it may serve to inspire the minds of all who enter. By your grace may we find wisdom.

So Mote It Be – Blessed Be! (ring bells)

I call upon the Spirits of the South to guard this room from all bane coming from the south. May the Powers of Fire, the leaping lights of passion and courage – fill this room with life, the warmth of vitality, and the joy of laughter.

I offer this circle of light to the great goddess Hestia – first and last born of Cronos and Rhea, and eldest sister of Jove; she whose temple is dedicated to preserving the sacred fires at the center; she who purifies and grants omens of fire; she who is the conduit bringing spiritual energy to the plane of Earth for magical power. By this offering, we ask that you confer your divine blessings upon this place; that it may serve to warm and protect the souls of all who enter. By your power may we be guarded upon the path to self-knowledge.

So Mote It Be – Blessed Be! (ring bells)

I call upon the Spirits of the West to guard this room from all bane coming from the west. May the Powers of Water – the flow of love and emotion – fill this room with sincerity, sympathy, and open a channel for the stream of clear vision.

I offer this scented mist to the great goddess Hera, she who is the consort and companion of Zeus; she who champions the weak and the young, she who brings light to birth; she through whom flows the blood of generations and the continuity of family; she who is the cow-eyed Queen of Heaven and is the guardian of sacred love; she who is the Snake Goddess and rain-giver of the most ancient ones; she from whose breasts flow the great Milky Way, and who nurses the sacred seed of life and creation. By this offering, we ask that you bestow your divine blessings upon this place, that it will nurture an abundant flow of love and compassion in the hearts of those who enter. By your most ancient sovereignty may we find inner peace.

So Mote It Be – Blessed Be! (ring bells)

I call upon the Spirits of the North to guard this room from all bane coming from the north. May the Powers of Earth – the bones of the world that give form to all life – fill this room with endurance, the strength for growth and development, and be a source of all the wealth and abundance the world has to offer its children.

I offer the sands of the Sphinx to the great goddess Ceres Demeter; she who is the grandmother of all; she who enriches the soil with fertility, and with her daughter Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, brings a renewal of life each spring; she who is the giver of the Eleusinian blood mysteries; she who sustains our bodies through the wealth of the harvest, and who accepts our return to the bones of the earth upon our death. By this offering, we ask that you grant your divine blessings upon this place, that it will be a temple to celebrate the rhythm of the seasons of earth and sustain the lives of those who enter the sacred circle. By your powers may we be enriched with growth and lasting abundance in life, and with peace in death.

So Mote It Be – Blessed Be! (ring bells)

To the ancient powers deep within the Earth - by Queen Persephone, Dis Pater, and the great goddess Hecate - we give this circle of silver and gold. Share your power of earth magic and grant the wishes of those who pray and worship here. Hecate - she who wields the powers of sky, ocean, and underworld, mistress of witchcraft and sorcery, of spells and potions, of invocation and incantation: confer your blessings of wealth and glory upon those who seek your aid and use the powers of magic to aid their efforts in this place.

So Mote It Be – Blessed Be! (ring bells)

To the Lord and Lady of Heaven, Apollo and Artemis, Sun and Moon, and all the powers of the skies – we represent your welcome presence here with orb and crescent. Grant the fruition of the cycles of light and darkness upon this place, that it may be blessed in the eyes of the gods and the powers who are invoked here. Balance the powers of male and female, that the eternal love dance of Ares and Aphrodite find honor here. May the triple goddess of the sky find honor here – Phoebe the moon, Astreia the stars, and Hecate the dark sky that covers the world each night. We give these offerings and prayers to your honor and beseech your blessings and sustenance in this life.

So Mote It Be – Blessed Be! (ring bells)

(At this point in the ritual, offerings to personal totems, spirits or guardians are offered by each participant. Each participant should fill in the blanks in the following dedication. Move around the room in the same direction until everyone has given their offering)

I, (name), offer this (offering) to (totem/guardian). I give this gift with love and respect, and with appreciation for your protection and guidance.

Final Invocation

(declaimed boldly by the priest or priestess):

By the winds of the East, the fires of the South, the waters of the West, the earth of the North;

By the gods of the underworld; and the gods of the spheres of heaven;

By all ancient, sacred and loving powers of the realms of the universe –

I consecrate hereby this space, and dedicate it as a temple of worship, study, wisdom and enlightenment. May all who seek the sanctuary of virtue be drawn here as to a lodestone, and may the gods and powers now evoked continue to find honor herein and graciously bestow blessings upon all who enter this sacred space.

So Mote It Be – Blessed Be! (ring bells)