I am the God who waits in the dead of the year,
in the dark of life, at the end of the lane where no birds sing,
there will your rest again in my hand.

Be fearless to look upon my death’s head,
for I have other faces and another hand to give again that which I take.

Come gladly when I call, the Great Mother holds my promise and no thieves shall steal from you, nor evil ones harm you as you sleep in my hand.

Remember you trusted me in the spring-green child places…finding enchantment,
found me merry in summer attendance when you wed,
feared not to meet me in the autumn forest hunt.

Shrink not from me in the winter snow.
Have you not seen the return of life to the earth, safe from my keeping?
Will I do less for you? I am the great Lord of Death who waits for you.
Have faith in life and trust in me.

Invokes the God to enter the circle.

Dread Lord of the Shadows, God of Life, and the Giver of Life, yet is the knowledge of thee, the knowledge of death.

Open wide I pray thee thy gates, through which every soul must pass.

Let our dear ones who have gone before return this night to make merry with us, and when our times comes, as it must,

O Thou the Comforter, the giver of peace and rest, we will enter thy domains gladly and unafraid, for we know that when rested and refreshed among our dear ones, we are reborn again into this life, with sturdier limbs and keener brains,

by Thy grace and by the grace of the Great Mother, let it be in the same place and at the same time as our beloved ones, and may we meet and know and remember and love them again.

So mote it be