Praise to the moon, bright queen of the skies,
Jewel of the black night, the light of our eyes,
Brighter than starlight, whiter than snow,
Look down on us in the darkness below.
If well you should find us then well let us stay,
Be it seven times better when you make your way,
Be it seven times better when we greet the dawn,
So light up our way and keep us from all harm.
Give strength to the weary, give alms to the poor,
To the tainted and needy five senses restore,
Give song to our voices, give sight to our eyes,
To see the sun bow as the new moon shall rise.
Cast your eyes downwards to our dwelling place,
Three times for favour and three times for grace,
Over the dark clouds your face for to see,
To banish misfortune and keep Trinity.
In the name of the ocean that covers the earth
In the name of the rivers to which she gave birth
In the name of the ocean, the seventy seas
All praise to the moon, for eternity.
The magic hour: pink clouds and a sumptuous moon. The last full moon of summer. The next time she will be a harvest moon.
When I see a bright moon this beloved song comes to me. Called Traveller’s Prayer, it was written by John Renbourn and loosely based on a prayer to the moon collected by Alexander Carmichael in Carmina Gadelica (you can see the poem on this page).
This beautiful song is performed here with lovely images. Or you can listen to the recording by John Renbourn from the 1998 album, called either Traveller’s Prayer or Ship of Fools.
I confess to loving the version above, as I first heard it on a Revels recording called “Sing Noel – A European Christmas Revels.” The last verse was changed by Patrick Swanson, artistic director of Revels, to honor the waters which are tied so closely to the moon. The last verse as originally written by Renbourn was:
In the name of our Lady, bright maiden of grace,
In the name of the King of the City of Peace,
In the name of our Saviour, who hung on the tree,
All praise to the moon, for eternity.
Lovely all ways, is our Lady Moon.
I do love the internet sometimes. I had never seen the original book of “Carmina Gadelica” so I was tickled pink to find the archive linked above. At the same time, I’ve discovered that my moon widget in the column to the right is not working on iPhones and iPads. When I have another little bit of spare time, I will fix the code. I’ve had this lovely widget on my blog since the very beginning, and love to check in with it.
Lovely to see the moon lighting up all the rain-bearing clouds last night!
Beautiful post, my dear wiccan woman. The moon, she’s bringing great energy today. So blessed to share mine with yours during this wondrous journey we call life.