Day of Pales Ritual

Color: Sand-colored
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a sand-colored cloth set a man's right shoe and a woman's left shoe, side by side, with a shepherd's crook between them, and small figures of goats and sheep.
Offerings: Work in the barn with livestock. Do some chore or work-task that you were taught was inappropriate for your gender.
Daily Meal: Goat. Lamb or mutton. Coarse bread. Soup or stew. Greens.

Invocation to Pales

Hail, Keeper of Flocks and Herds,

Ass-headed god/dess, you who are

Both male and female,

Both god and peasant,

Patron of those who must dirty their hands,

Beloved of the working man and woman,

You who do not play favorites,

Trickster who loves a good joke,

Lord of the dry land between the rivers

Where your flocks graze on scrub

And the people's blood flows like water

In their everlasting feud,

Come to us and show us life

Through your crooked ass eyes!

Hail, Keeper of Flocks and Herds,

Lady/Lord of the crook and sandals,

You show us that roles

Are meant to be transgressed,

That work can be radical,

That being bound to the labor of the Earth

Does not have to make one heavy.

We need your humor, divine ass!

We need your braying laughter to echo

Over the desert and through our hearts,

And to watch you tip the balance of power

Like a child tips an applecart.

Hail, Keeper of Flocks and Herds!

(After the invocation, go to the barn, or to a local farm. Hoofed livestock should be given treats on this day, in honor of Pales.)

Found in: The Pagan Book of Hours