Pagan liturgy is an extremely fluid phenomenon. There are however some key features of ritual which can be identified. In Wicca and Duidry, for example, the sacred space is created in a fairly standard set of procedures. These may vary from one group to another, but many groups believe that there is value in repeating the same liturgy for the creation of sacred space each time they do a ritual, on the grounds that this will get you into a spiritual frame of mind more quickly.

Other than the creation and dissolution of sacred space, however, rituals will vary massively from one occasion to the next. The reason most contemporary Pagans place considerable emphasis on the creation of sacred space is that we do not (for the most part) have permanent temples, since we meet outdoors or in each other's living rooms.

Wiccans treasure a number of texts written by earlier practitioners, such as The Charge of the Goddess by Doreen Valiente, the Dryghtyn Prayer, and others which have not been published, as well as texts from earlier Pagan traditions, such as the Nine Herbs Charm.

Druids also have a number of key texts, such as the Druid's Prayer, the druid method of casting a circle, and the oath (We swear by peace and love to stand, heart to heart and hand in hand; ...)

Heathens are very keen on source texts (such as the Hávamál, the Völuspá, the Edda, etc.) but they do not seem to use them directly as ritual texts, more as inspiration for the structure of rituals. (I do not have enough data on this.)

Yvonne Aburrow

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