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Okay, now that GG #11 is finally out the door (yay! we get a cheque tomorrow!), I have time to jot down how Beltane went this past Sunday. (NOTE: to protect people's identities, they are referred to by their first initials, for example, He., or B. -- except in the case of someone like Northlight, who is quite openly Pagan and comfortable with being named)
Basically, everyone had a blast. Much drumming, singing, feasting, and general horsing around... the Pagan Park Pickup, where teams of four were given garbage bags, plastic gloves, and skewers and sent forth in different directions to clean up the park, went VERY well, with five teams entering. Prizes were given out for Most Garbage, Most Recylables, Largest Object (part of an old dock, about 8 feet long and 2 feet wide and 2 inches in thickness) and Strangest Object (an UNBURST water ballon, found sitting all by its lonesome on a patch of grass). One team found half a bottle of Old Spice in the woods, and another group a used (ick) condom... the joke went around that together, they made up a single successful date! We cleaned up a lot of garbage and left the park a considerably cleaner place than we found it. Doing something good for the earth is sure a great feeling!
The maypole dance got underway while I had ducked out to the washroom, but when I came back it was going great guns. He., B., and myself spent an afternoon two weeks back tying together strips of brightly colored cloth to form the maypole banners, and it turned out we had made of couple of them too short, and a couple of them too long! Much hilarity ensued, as people got closer and closer to the live tree the banners were strung from and a few almost got tied up in the braiding. When we were done, the final effect of interwoven yellow, pink, peach, blue, and teal strips wound tightly around the tree was beautiful, and many people took a few minutes to contemplate it in silence before moving on to the next event: the ritual workshop.
Ta., the Chick from the West, who called the Quarter of West, pointed out in an earlier posting that from the outside, the ritual looked fine and the energy flow was good. Yay! All I could see, of course, was the fact that it hadn't gone exacly as written, but apparently it worked out for the best. Quite a few people approached He. and myself after it was over and complimented us on it, including a couple of folks for whom this had been their first public ritual. Happily, they'd had a good time and fully intend to come back next year!
The ritual went something like this:
An altar was set up in the middle of a large clearing, draped in a clean white altar cloth and holding two chaplets of fake vines and real flowers and grain stalks, a green glass chalice and a large athame (ceremonial daggar representing the male principle), a little yellow jug of cream, a flat seashell with salt water, and a small cauldron with sand and a charcoal and frankincense. He.'s sister B. had made a lovely daisy chain which served as a centerpiece. To one side of the main altar was a smaller, secondary altar with two bowls for strawberries and two smaller bowls ready for cream.
The circle was first cast in birdseed in the empty field (thanks, Northlight!), and then people were called to enter circle. They lined up in a solemn yet quietly joyful procession to enter the ritual space at a "doorway" in the east, marked with Northlights 6' staff laid flat on the ground (again, thanks!), which they had to step over, nicely symbolizing their transition from ordinary space into sacred space. He. and I, acting as High Priestess and High Priest respectively, purified each person with a touch of salt water on the forehead and a smudge of frankincense smoke (oh, how sweet!). It took quite some time for everyone to file in, since there were about 60 or 70 people, but once it was done, the lady holding the Southern Quarter, J., led us in a fantastic grounding and centering exercise called the Triple Ohm. (I'll have to post it to this journal sometime, lol)
With everyone now mentally in ritual space, we were ready to begin. First the circle was cast by joining hands from person to person around the circle, symbolically creating the walls of the temple. Once that was constructed, the spirits of the four cardinal directions were invoked, a standard practice in Wiccan ritual circles, and asked to bless the participants with certain traits: the east for clarity, the south for passion, the west for adaptability, the north for stability.
Then He. and I called upon the Lady and the Lord, invoking Their energies into the two chaplets -- one for me, one for He., who was acting as High Priestess -- with which He. and I then crowned each other, signifying that we had taken on the aspects of the God and Goddess.
A spiral dance raised energy which was discharged into the food and drink (fresh strawberries and cream) on the altar. He. and I performed the symbolic Great Rite with the (cream-filled) chalice and athame; I poured a little of the cream into a little bowl with six strawberry pieces, and we fed each other with the blessing: "Come, Lord/Lady, taste the sweetness of life!" The four Quarter callers, who were holding the circle in each of the cardinal directions, then came into the center of the circle to receive communion, and returned to their places.
The sanctified cream in the chalice was then poured into a little yellow jug that held the rest of the cream, which was then carefully poured into two small bowls. Those bowls, together with two bowls of strawberries, were then taken up by myself and He., who invited the people forming the circle to "Come, taste with us the sweetness of life!" Men, women, and children came forward, their faces shining with quiet joy; some exchanged with us the phrase "Blessed be," which is common in Wiccan practice, as they accepted the food and drink consecrated by the Sacred Marriage, symbolized by the Great Rite. A piece of strawberry was dipped into the bowl of cream, then taken back to their place in the circle to be thoughtfully consumed, taking a little of that sacred union into themselves.
Thinking back to thier expressions, I realize now that I should have known the ritual had worked... :-)
The remaining strawberries and cream were poured on the earth as an offering, thanking the Lord and Lady for blessing us and nourishing us with Thier love. Then, the purpose of the ritual fulfilled, we devoked the Lord and Lady, removing the chaplets and placing them back on the altar. The Quarters were thanked for guarding the circle and bid farewell; then the circle opened, and the post-ritual feasting began, and the remnants of the afternoon quietly cleaned up -- the maypole banners cut free of the tree (many were further cut up and taken home by various people to place on their home altars), the last traces of garbage picked up, abandoned tupperware containers tracked down and given back to their owners. The last people on site, appropriately enough, were three women from the coven which had volunteered to take on next year's ritual. The one who's bucking to be the High Priestess for that rite even got the daisy chain from this year's altar to wear on her head as a sort of emblem of the responsibility she's undertaken.
I am so lucky to live in a city where we can worship freely and without prejudice. And that's all the space I'm going to take up on anyone's screen... until my next post, anyway. :-)
Basically, everyone had a blast. Much drumming, singing, feasting, and general horsing around... the Pagan Park Pickup, where teams of four were given garbage bags, plastic gloves, and skewers and sent forth in different directions to clean up the park, went VERY well, with five teams entering. Prizes were given out for Most Garbage, Most Recylables, Largest Object (part of an old dock, about 8 feet long and 2 feet wide and 2 inches in thickness) and Strangest Object (an UNBURST water ballon, found sitting all by its lonesome on a patch of grass). One team found half a bottle of Old Spice in the woods, and another group a used (ick) condom... the joke went around that together, they made up a single successful date! We cleaned up a lot of garbage and left the park a considerably cleaner place than we found it. Doing something good for the earth is sure a great feeling!
The maypole dance got underway while I had ducked out to the washroom, but when I came back it was going great guns. He., B., and myself spent an afternoon two weeks back tying together strips of brightly colored cloth to form the maypole banners, and it turned out we had made of couple of them too short, and a couple of them too long! Much hilarity ensued, as people got closer and closer to the live tree the banners were strung from and a few almost got tied up in the braiding. When we were done, the final effect of interwoven yellow, pink, peach, blue, and teal strips wound tightly around the tree was beautiful, and many people took a few minutes to contemplate it in silence before moving on to the next event: the ritual workshop.
Ta., the Chick from the West, who called the Quarter of West, pointed out in an earlier posting that from the outside, the ritual looked fine and the energy flow was good. Yay! All I could see, of course, was the fact that it hadn't gone exacly as written, but apparently it worked out for the best. Quite a few people approached He. and myself after it was over and complimented us on it, including a couple of folks for whom this had been their first public ritual. Happily, they'd had a good time and fully intend to come back next year!
The ritual went something like this:
An altar was set up in the middle of a large clearing, draped in a clean white altar cloth and holding two chaplets of fake vines and real flowers and grain stalks, a green glass chalice and a large athame (ceremonial daggar representing the male principle), a little yellow jug of cream, a flat seashell with salt water, and a small cauldron with sand and a charcoal and frankincense. He.'s sister B. had made a lovely daisy chain which served as a centerpiece. To one side of the main altar was a smaller, secondary altar with two bowls for strawberries and two smaller bowls ready for cream.
The circle was first cast in birdseed in the empty field (thanks, Northlight!), and then people were called to enter circle. They lined up in a solemn yet quietly joyful procession to enter the ritual space at a "doorway" in the east, marked with Northlights 6' staff laid flat on the ground (again, thanks!), which they had to step over, nicely symbolizing their transition from ordinary space into sacred space. He. and I, acting as High Priestess and High Priest respectively, purified each person with a touch of salt water on the forehead and a smudge of frankincense smoke (oh, how sweet!). It took quite some time for everyone to file in, since there were about 60 or 70 people, but once it was done, the lady holding the Southern Quarter, J., led us in a fantastic grounding and centering exercise called the Triple Ohm. (I'll have to post it to this journal sometime, lol)
With everyone now mentally in ritual space, we were ready to begin. First the circle was cast by joining hands from person to person around the circle, symbolically creating the walls of the temple. Once that was constructed, the spirits of the four cardinal directions were invoked, a standard practice in Wiccan ritual circles, and asked to bless the participants with certain traits: the east for clarity, the south for passion, the west for adaptability, the north for stability.
Then He. and I called upon the Lady and the Lord, invoking Their energies into the two chaplets -- one for me, one for He., who was acting as High Priestess -- with which He. and I then crowned each other, signifying that we had taken on the aspects of the God and Goddess.
A spiral dance raised energy which was discharged into the food and drink (fresh strawberries and cream) on the altar. He. and I performed the symbolic Great Rite with the (cream-filled) chalice and athame; I poured a little of the cream into a little bowl with six strawberry pieces, and we fed each other with the blessing: "Come, Lord/Lady, taste the sweetness of life!" The four Quarter callers, who were holding the circle in each of the cardinal directions, then came into the center of the circle to receive communion, and returned to their places.
The sanctified cream in the chalice was then poured into a little yellow jug that held the rest of the cream, which was then carefully poured into two small bowls. Those bowls, together with two bowls of strawberries, were then taken up by myself and He., who invited the people forming the circle to "Come, taste with us the sweetness of life!" Men, women, and children came forward, their faces shining with quiet joy; some exchanged with us the phrase "Blessed be," which is common in Wiccan practice, as they accepted the food and drink consecrated by the Sacred Marriage, symbolized by the Great Rite. A piece of strawberry was dipped into the bowl of cream, then taken back to their place in the circle to be thoughtfully consumed, taking a little of that sacred union into themselves.
Thinking back to thier expressions, I realize now that I should have known the ritual had worked... :-)
The remaining strawberries and cream were poured on the earth as an offering, thanking the Lord and Lady for blessing us and nourishing us with Thier love. Then, the purpose of the ritual fulfilled, we devoked the Lord and Lady, removing the chaplets and placing them back on the altar. The Quarters were thanked for guarding the circle and bid farewell; then the circle opened, and the post-ritual feasting began, and the remnants of the afternoon quietly cleaned up -- the maypole banners cut free of the tree (many were further cut up and taken home by various people to place on their home altars), the last traces of garbage picked up, abandoned tupperware containers tracked down and given back to their owners. The last people on site, appropriately enough, were three women from the coven which had volunteered to take on next year's ritual. The one who's bucking to be the High Priestess for that rite even got the daisy chain from this year's altar to wear on her head as a sort of emblem of the responsibility she's undertaken.
I am so lucky to live in a city where we can worship freely and without prejudice. And that's all the space I'm going to take up on anyone's screen... until my next post, anyway. :-)
