Oil of Nimue

The Sky at Dawn

This morning, I awoke with the Dawn.  I awoke with a very specific purpose.  Right now, it is the Crescent Moon, a time holy to Nimue.  And the newness of the Dawn seemed an appropriate time to honour her.

Back in November, I bought a mask for Nimue, to represent her presence in my life and in my house.  It's a ceramic mask designed to hang on the wall, with balloons on the white face.  I looked for masks for a quite a while and settled on this one, because it felt like her, a mixture of power and fun.  I ordered it, and when it arrived, I hung it on the wall.  When I hung it, my dog was outside.  When she came in, she noticed it up there right away.  It really disturbed her for a bit.  She kept looking up at it and wooing, talking in a way only huskies can.  She did get used to it.

I wanted to dedicate the mask to Nimue, to invite her into it and into my home.  I decided to use oil to represent her presence, her lao, coming upon it, by anointing it with oil as I invited her.  To this end, I needed an oil appropriate to her, both to use with the mask and to use in later workings.  With some prayer, some thought, some feeling, some advise from others, and some research, I determined the ingredients I would use and wrote a ritual poem to be part of the dedication and infusing of the oil.

Part of my decisions on what to put in the oil was from talking to other people.  Part came from Catholic symbolism and worship of Saint Dymphna, who is a real good parallel to Nimue for me, similar to the saints associated with the lao in Voudou.  I chose lavender oil, angelica root, and violets.  The recipe I wrote down at the time was:

What I decided on is a base of olive oil (I couldn't buy a large enough bottle of lavender oil).
3 of my hairs (to tie it to me)
27 drops of lavender oil
3 pinches of angelica root
3 pinches of violets (the herb store actually had some)
Add olive oil.  Charge it.  Pray the prayer to Nimue I wrote three times to invite her into it.

Life got weird at that time, so I wasn't able to perform the ritual at that time.  A few things changed by the time I did it this morning.  I rose before the dawn and got everything together.  I dressed in a way that would make me feel closest to Nimue.  Mice had got into the bag and eaten the violets I had bought.  That was in November with snow on the ground, so there were no violets outside.  I went a head with it, hoping our violets had bloomed.

Violets in Bloom

Bringing everything outside, I found that sure enough, the violets were in bloom.  It seemed like doing this in spring while they were actually in bloom was more appropriate to Nimue than the heart of winter.  I set everything down and went to work.  The sky was bright and beautiful blue and the sun was just rising, though still behind the mountains.

I began by plucking hairs from my head.  I plucked one, tied a knot in it, and put it in the bottle.  The hair is for the purpose of uniting me and her in the oil.  The knot was to bind me to her and her to me.  I found tying knots in hairs takes a lot of fine motor skills and coordination, something I don't have.  But after a while of trying, the knots were in each hair and the hairs were in the bottle.

The Lovely, Innocent Violet

Next, I put three pinches of the angelica root in the bottle, then picked three violet blossoms and put them in.  I put three drops of lavender oil in after that.  I hadn't reread my recipe and three is such a powerful number, I forgot completely about three times three times three for the lavender oil, since a drop is so small.  Three will work just fine.  Robert Cochrane said in his third letter to Joe Wilson when describing calling the Goddess, "Before you do this however, it is necessary to offer your devotions and prayers by bowing three times to the Altar, with arms crossed upon your chest and then turn about the Altar (which for normal purposes should be round, hence King Arthur) the number of the Deity you are invoking or praying to. The Maid is usually three times three - the Mother six times three, the Hag (which is anything but the true title), nine times three. Upon the last turn stop with your back to the Altar, and there begin your great chant. With a group one works in absolute silence, but by yourself it is easier to utter your prayer and meditation aloud until you begin to speak as one possessed'."  As such, I associate Nimue with three, so used this heavily in this ritual.  The smell of the bottle at this point was very lovely, fresh, strong, and innocent, like Nimue.

Having put the "core" ingredients in the bottle, I said my prayer, my invocation, my ritual poem, my spell the first time, holding my hand over the bottle and focusing and channeling energy into it.

Oh sweet darling,
Girl full of power and might.
The pool of your blessing fills me,
The water pours out upon my head.
Your blessing, your loa, flows like water,
Covering me in your presence.
As I hold my hands over this oil, pour through me,
Fill this oil with your blessing, be present in it.
Oh sweet Nimue, so mote it be.

I then added olive oil, filling the bottle half way up.  I then repeated the poem again.

Oh sweet darling,
Girl full of power and might.
The pool of your blessing fills me,
The water pours out upon my head.
Your blessing, your loa, flows like water,
Covering me in your presence.
As I hold my hands over this oil, pour through me,
Fill this oil with your blessing, be present in it.
Oh sweet Nimue, so mote it be.

Filling the bottle the rest of the way, I aligned my souls and repeated the poem a third time.

Oh sweet darling,
Girl full of power and might.
The pool of your blessing fills me,
The water pours out upon my head.
Your blessing, your loa, flows like water,
Covering me in your presence.
As I hold my hands over this oil, pour through me,
Fill this oil with your blessing, be present in it.
Oh sweet Nimue, so mote it be.

Oil of Nimue

Closing the bottle, I shook it to mix it up, three times.  And it was done.  So mote it be.

From the time I awoke this morning until the time I put the bottle in a safe place to sit and let the scents and essences and her presence blend, Nimue was strong on me.  It wasn't being ridden like the Voudou lao, nor possession of any type.  It was her sweet presence being close to me, her dwelling with me.  I felt, as I sometimes do, as a young girl, maybe twelve.  There was purity and innocence in my emotions and my actions this morning.

Nimue's Mask

The next step is the mask.

FFF,
~Muninn's Kiss