Suarentauro, main ritual, day 2
After a pause from the morning ritual and meal, we began working towards the main ritual. As so often happens, things didn't go perfectly according to plan. But, as also often happens, it turned out to be pretty neat.
When I first did this ritual I sent it to all of the participants for comment. webspinner1 had some really great feedback that helped me to understand how I had not quite fleshed out all of the steps to this ritual. For example, after our initial processional and arrival at our stations, I had it that the various assistants would distribute various items accordingly. One comment I got back was, in essence, who would go first? So, I really concentrated on trying to make sure that each step was mapped out, and that each person knew what they were doing, and when, and the order of it. This is also what prompted me to write up the preparation sections. I could use these as checklists to make sure that everyone had what they needed. In the end, I may have included too many cups or bowls, or not specified what each cup or bowl would be used. This is one of the holes that needs to be filled. However, because of the greater attention to detail, the ritual steps were more clearly marked.
This increased the apparent size of the ritual. The preparations were on 2½ pages, and the ritual itself spread across 12 more pages. Managing the steps and actions of 7 people, with five altars and three fires, in the proper sequence, was daunting. Seeing the size, and feeling that it might be a bit overwhelming, I broke the ritual into sections. By doing so, I hoped to make each section make sense on its own for what it was doing, and allow the people doing the ritual to be able to accomplish what they set out to do, as well as maintain the Greek-ness of the ritual. In the end, there were 16 sections, which were as follows: Opening, Pompe, Consecration of Sacred Space, Neo-Pagan Altar, Ignis, First Libations and Prayers, Second Libations and Prayers, Lustration, Sacrifice, Prayers for Protection, Agon, Triumph and Binding, Cakes and Ale, Final Libations, Releasing, and Closing.
This ritual was to be done outdoors, and during the day, in full ceremonial dress. Because I live in a typical suburban neighborhood, we wanted to try and have a bit of privacy. webspinner1 offered to erect a tent in the yard to the west, and we decided to try and erect a temporary screen of cloth over ropes and poles to the east. We also had to set up the altars, the cauldrons/fires, and gather all of the materials needed for the ritual. Because everyone was relaxing, and some were not there, and because I had not done this before, we didn't get started on this until 4:00 PM. As it turns out, this was a gross mis-calculation of the time necessary to get this done. There were little snafus, such as the attachments of the grills to the stands not working as I'd hoped, and having to find nuts and bolts to do it better. The tent, rather than taking two people 15 minutes, took 3 or 4 people nearly an hour due to the need to measure out the rope. The target start time of 6:30 came and went, and we were still at least an hour away from being ready. Between 7:30 and 7:45 we finally had everything up, all of the altars in place, all of the items on the altars, and we were dressed. It was time to start.
Another meditation, and while I had intended to lead this one I was too far gone into worrying about the start time and the ritual details to do so. Once again we listened to a recording. Poor Gabrial was so tired that he cried heavily, which not only echoed through the meditation but also meant that the drummer for the ritual (Jon) wasn't going to be there. So, we had to find someone else to drum, which fortunately traderjack agreed to do. We then did the smudge and tingshas to purify, followed by khernips. Victoria lit a torch from the candle and carried it downstairs, lighting a portable torch outside and setting it in place and ready. We next went to the basement, gathered up the things that we would carry, and began our procession.
We walked to the north, paused, and with a drum beating began walking in the circle. After one time, the drummer moved into the space and we continued our circle twice more, stopping only for me to declare the space created. We then progressed to our proper locations. It was still daylight by now, but barely. We had to arrange all of the items brought in the procession, consecrate the sacred space, and then do a full invitation and setting of the neo-pagan altar. By the time this was done, twilight was upon us. However, rather than being a hindrance, it became something far better and much more moving.
Prior to starting, I asked Victoria to light all of the tiki torches surrounding the deck to our west. As darkness fell these blazed out. Once the neo-pagan altar was in place, and all of the gods and spirits invited, we began lighting the fires. While not intended, the ritual took on a torchlight processional flavor to it, and the three blazing fires made for an eerie but moving atmosphere. Between those and the fading light, there was enough to read the ritual until the very end. Thus, most of the ritual was conducted in the fading light or darkness.
The feeling was electric. Voices rang out loud and clear, both individually and as a group when needed. Libations poured into the fire, wine libations, resulted in huge flame-ups. The meat from the sacrifice sizzled. Incense and smoke filled the air. The presence of the gods was so strong at times you could reach out and feel it. When it was time to pour the second libation I turned to fala_ten, who was assisting me, and muttered "this is so fucking cool!" There was no other way to express how it went. Of course, leave it to Raven on the east to start interjecting silliness. After the Agon, the silliness on the east was so much that laughter rang out regularly. Strangely, this didn't seem out of place at all. Rather, even though the ritual was serious business, it reflected the joy of many of the participants there. By the time my final prayers were uttered, we were all smiling and almost gleeful at the results.
We had an audience, the young girls next door watched from their porch. The funniest part of that was that when we ululated at the sacrifice, they did it too. I told a couple of people that they'll never know what they were doing at that time. :) I can't wait for the questions from my neighbors.
Because of the delays, getting food cooked was also delayed. We didn't start eating until nearly 10:00, but no one seemed to mind that much. There was a third ritual, but I'll save that one for another post.
When I first did this ritual I sent it to all of the participants for comment. webspinner1 had some really great feedback that helped me to understand how I had not quite fleshed out all of the steps to this ritual. For example, after our initial processional and arrival at our stations, I had it that the various assistants would distribute various items accordingly. One comment I got back was, in essence, who would go first? So, I really concentrated on trying to make sure that each step was mapped out, and that each person knew what they were doing, and when, and the order of it. This is also what prompted me to write up the preparation sections. I could use these as checklists to make sure that everyone had what they needed. In the end, I may have included too many cups or bowls, or not specified what each cup or bowl would be used. This is one of the holes that needs to be filled. However, because of the greater attention to detail, the ritual steps were more clearly marked.
This increased the apparent size of the ritual. The preparations were on 2½ pages, and the ritual itself spread across 12 more pages. Managing the steps and actions of 7 people, with five altars and three fires, in the proper sequence, was daunting. Seeing the size, and feeling that it might be a bit overwhelming, I broke the ritual into sections. By doing so, I hoped to make each section make sense on its own for what it was doing, and allow the people doing the ritual to be able to accomplish what they set out to do, as well as maintain the Greek-ness of the ritual. In the end, there were 16 sections, which were as follows: Opening, Pompe, Consecration of Sacred Space, Neo-Pagan Altar, Ignis, First Libations and Prayers, Second Libations and Prayers, Lustration, Sacrifice, Prayers for Protection, Agon, Triumph and Binding, Cakes and Ale, Final Libations, Releasing, and Closing.
This ritual was to be done outdoors, and during the day, in full ceremonial dress. Because I live in a typical suburban neighborhood, we wanted to try and have a bit of privacy. webspinner1 offered to erect a tent in the yard to the west, and we decided to try and erect a temporary screen of cloth over ropes and poles to the east. We also had to set up the altars, the cauldrons/fires, and gather all of the materials needed for the ritual. Because everyone was relaxing, and some were not there, and because I had not done this before, we didn't get started on this until 4:00 PM. As it turns out, this was a gross mis-calculation of the time necessary to get this done. There were little snafus, such as the attachments of the grills to the stands not working as I'd hoped, and having to find nuts and bolts to do it better. The tent, rather than taking two people 15 minutes, took 3 or 4 people nearly an hour due to the need to measure out the rope. The target start time of 6:30 came and went, and we were still at least an hour away from being ready. Between 7:30 and 7:45 we finally had everything up, all of the altars in place, all of the items on the altars, and we were dressed. It was time to start.
Another meditation, and while I had intended to lead this one I was too far gone into worrying about the start time and the ritual details to do so. Once again we listened to a recording. Poor Gabrial was so tired that he cried heavily, which not only echoed through the meditation but also meant that the drummer for the ritual (Jon) wasn't going to be there. So, we had to find someone else to drum, which fortunately traderjack agreed to do. We then did the smudge and tingshas to purify, followed by khernips. Victoria lit a torch from the candle and carried it downstairs, lighting a portable torch outside and setting it in place and ready. We next went to the basement, gathered up the things that we would carry, and began our procession.
We walked to the north, paused, and with a drum beating began walking in the circle. After one time, the drummer moved into the space and we continued our circle twice more, stopping only for me to declare the space created. We then progressed to our proper locations. It was still daylight by now, but barely. We had to arrange all of the items brought in the procession, consecrate the sacred space, and then do a full invitation and setting of the neo-pagan altar. By the time this was done, twilight was upon us. However, rather than being a hindrance, it became something far better and much more moving.
Prior to starting, I asked Victoria to light all of the tiki torches surrounding the deck to our west. As darkness fell these blazed out. Once the neo-pagan altar was in place, and all of the gods and spirits invited, we began lighting the fires. While not intended, the ritual took on a torchlight processional flavor to it, and the three blazing fires made for an eerie but moving atmosphere. Between those and the fading light, there was enough to read the ritual until the very end. Thus, most of the ritual was conducted in the fading light or darkness.
The feeling was electric. Voices rang out loud and clear, both individually and as a group when needed. Libations poured into the fire, wine libations, resulted in huge flame-ups. The meat from the sacrifice sizzled. Incense and smoke filled the air. The presence of the gods was so strong at times you could reach out and feel it. When it was time to pour the second libation I turned to fala_ten, who was assisting me, and muttered "this is so fucking cool!" There was no other way to express how it went. Of course, leave it to Raven on the east to start interjecting silliness. After the Agon, the silliness on the east was so much that laughter rang out regularly. Strangely, this didn't seem out of place at all. Rather, even though the ritual was serious business, it reflected the joy of many of the participants there. By the time my final prayers were uttered, we were all smiling and almost gleeful at the results.
We had an audience, the young girls next door watched from their porch. The funniest part of that was that when we ululated at the sacrifice, they did it too. I told a couple of people that they'll never know what they were doing at that time. :) I can't wait for the questions from my neighbors.
Because of the delays, getting food cooked was also delayed. We didn't start eating until nearly 10:00, but no one seemed to mind that much. There was a third ritual, but I'll save that one for another post.