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The photos from and around the time of K's belly blessing ritual that I just got developed...
First, K. and her husband, on whose behalf the ritual was held:
The masking tape pentacle we drew on the carpet, before the ritual. During the ritual, lit candles were placed at each of the points to call down divine energy for the baby's health, strength, wisdom, etc to be directed into K.:
The altar itself, taken after the ritual:
Altar closeup, on the left side, taken after the ritual. The seashells hold water and salt. The chalice holds grape juice, and the plate a slice of pumpkin-cranberry bread; both of these were deliberately left over from the ritual meal, and were later taken outside and poured upon the ground as a libation to the Gods. The small pale statue is of the Maiden Goddess, to remind K. to retain the joy and energy of youth even as she moves into the role of mother; the white candle was lit in honor of the Goddess, with a small Goddess figure (a human torso) at its base; the wooden icon is of the Virgin Mary, but in this context was a perfect representation of the Goddess as Mother. The two tealights in holders are the candles that were placed at the corners of the pentacle during the rite.
Altar closeup, center, after the ritual. The white candle on the platen represented K. during the ritual; the blue candle represents her unborn child, and was united with the white candle as part of the ritual, to partake of the divine energies and blessings requested.
Altar closeup, left side, after the ritual. The white statue is of the Lord and Lady, and represents K.'s husband in his role as father; the yellow candle was lit in honor of the God, with a small God figure (a human torso) at its base; the black statue is of Pan with erect priapus, to remind K.'s husband to retain his energy and passion even as he moves into the role of father. To the immediate right of the statue is a fire candle in a red jewelled holder, an incense burner with charcoal, and a small brass bowl containing frankincense and Kyphi incense. The two blades are my athame (black-handled knife on the left) and my boline (wood-handled knife on the right); the athame is a ritual knife and represents the male principle, and the boline is used for cutting/carving things. Also visible are the card and little gift-bag with a bracelet in it (hematite and amethyst beads, with a little Goddess image) which we presented to K. as a gift, as well as recipe cards holding ritual notes.
A close-up of the Maiden Goddess statue and the Pan statue:
The next day, the pentacle still visible on the floor even after the tape was taken up... it still hummed with energy.
The altar in beautiful daylight, with the platen design revealed:
And now, some general pictures.
Our living room:
Emmie rolling around on our couch:
Me outside our back door, where someone painted a neat design on the wall. Note the henna tattoo on my arm, left over from the Earth Spirit Festival the previous weekend:
Me,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cockatiel_art (to the right of me), morgaine_inanna (on the far left with her girlfriend), and two other Shrine of Diana members (both of whom have LJs, but I can never remember their user names) at the local Take Back The Night march. Yes, I look maniacal. I never take good pictures. And yes, cockatiel_art is holding a rat. That's Otis, who you may recall me mentioning before.
Okay, that's enough pictures for now. ;-)
First, K. and her husband, on whose behalf the ritual was held:
The masking tape pentacle we drew on the carpet, before the ritual. During the ritual, lit candles were placed at each of the points to call down divine energy for the baby's health, strength, wisdom, etc to be directed into K.:
The altar itself, taken after the ritual:
Altar closeup, on the left side, taken after the ritual. The seashells hold water and salt. The chalice holds grape juice, and the plate a slice of pumpkin-cranberry bread; both of these were deliberately left over from the ritual meal, and were later taken outside and poured upon the ground as a libation to the Gods. The small pale statue is of the Maiden Goddess, to remind K. to retain the joy and energy of youth even as she moves into the role of mother; the white candle was lit in honor of the Goddess, with a small Goddess figure (a human torso) at its base; the wooden icon is of the Virgin Mary, but in this context was a perfect representation of the Goddess as Mother. The two tealights in holders are the candles that were placed at the corners of the pentacle during the rite.
Altar closeup, center, after the ritual. The white candle on the platen represented K. during the ritual; the blue candle represents her unborn child, and was united with the white candle as part of the ritual, to partake of the divine energies and blessings requested.
Altar closeup, left side, after the ritual. The white statue is of the Lord and Lady, and represents K.'s husband in his role as father; the yellow candle was lit in honor of the God, with a small God figure (a human torso) at its base; the black statue is of Pan with erect priapus, to remind K.'s husband to retain his energy and passion even as he moves into the role of father. To the immediate right of the statue is a fire candle in a red jewelled holder, an incense burner with charcoal, and a small brass bowl containing frankincense and Kyphi incense. The two blades are my athame (black-handled knife on the left) and my boline (wood-handled knife on the right); the athame is a ritual knife and represents the male principle, and the boline is used for cutting/carving things. Also visible are the card and little gift-bag with a bracelet in it (hematite and amethyst beads, with a little Goddess image) which we presented to K. as a gift, as well as recipe cards holding ritual notes.
A close-up of the Maiden Goddess statue and the Pan statue:
The next day, the pentacle still visible on the floor even after the tape was taken up... it still hummed with energy.
The altar in beautiful daylight, with the platen design revealed:
And now, some general pictures.
Our living room:
Emmie rolling around on our couch:
Me outside our back door, where someone painted a neat design on the wall. Note the henna tattoo on my arm, left over from the Earth Spirit Festival the previous weekend:
Me,
cockatiel_art (to the right of me), morgaine_inanna (on the far left with her girlfriend), and two other Shrine of Diana members (both of whom have LJs, but I can never remember their user names) at the local Take Back The Night march. Yes, I look maniacal. I never take good pictures. And yes, cockatiel_art is holding a rat. That's Otis, who you may recall me mentioning before.Okay, that's enough pictures for now. ;-)
