Saturday was the day of the main ritual. I spent the early morning talking with Kris and Orion about some thoughts that had come up after sleeping on the Clergy questioning, then dashed off to grab a bit of breakfast before continuing the dash to the ritual-planning meeting. This was well attended and Kris explained what she was trying to achieve with the ritual and we went over the "staging" of who was doing what, when, and where, practiced some chants, and walked through parts of it. I had agreed to do whatever part she needed filled so became a mirror bearer; consecrator/purifier/greeter, circle set-up, and circle clean up person.
Later in the day I did my dinner prep work shift (which replaced the breakfast clean-up I was supposed to do but missed while talking with Kris and Orion earlier in the day - Ottercat was very kind and gracious about it). Prep for dinner involved going through slimy asparagus to see what could be salvaged but it was pretty much a lost cause; cutting off the tips of the artichokes and removing slimy outer leaves, if any; then spending about an hour stirring fondues. There was a chocolate fondue with Godiva liquor that just wouldn't melt properly until Ottercat added some evaporated milk to it, but still required much stirring. The white chocolate fondue was more cooperative and integrated nicely with the Amaretto liquor. The cheese fondue was quite uncooperative though, and had to be moved from the candle warmer to the Coleman before surrendering to the inevitable, but still expressed its reluctance by requiring constant attention and careful adding of more cheese, bit by bit. Luckily Pierce was amenable to stirring periodically, giving my poor wrists a break. Standing in the sun, however, did not make this task any easier and by the time dinner was ready I was feeling pretty done in (At least I am not as fair-skinned as the lovely Crista, who was sharing this task).
I scarfed down the "Decadence in the Woods" meal without time to really savor it and dashed off to do circle set-up with Alyse, Kris, and Jack. I got there about 10 min. late but only Alyse was waiting. At that point I realized I had forgotten my red ribbon (signal to the other mirror bearers to indicate their section of the circle) so dashed back to my campsite and got it. I returned to the circle area and Jack and Kris were there. But I then remembered having forgotten my goblet for the water sharing so dashed back to my campsite again for the goblet. Once again I returned to the circle area, and Alyse asked me if I had brought water for the commingling of the tribal waters. Yes, of course, I had, so back to my campsite I dashed once, again. Returning for the third and final time I then helped set out the rest of the candles around the circle edge, lit incense, censed the circle area, set out the 8 mirrors around the circle edge, and helped draw the circle. Afterwards Alyse and I remained within.
As greeters Alyse asperged the participants as they entered the circle and I consecrated them with sound using a Tibetan singing bowl beginning low and ending above their heads (if they were not too tall) to raise their energy. Alyse directed them to move in a sunwise direction around the circle. When all were in we found our own places, mine by the mirror with red ribbons hanging down (color coded:)
The ritual was great! The focus of the ritual was "thou are God/dess" and what that means. Kris shared with the circle her own feelings about it and discussed what Heinlein had said about it. She pointed out that "thou" was used deliberately not just to give it a more formal sound but because thou was the intimate form of you, something that isn't used in English anymore. So this phrase is meant to imply intimacy as well as recognize the divine within each individual and honor it in a way that is similar to "namaste". Then several people from the circle came out and shared their own feelings, recounted the first time it was said to them, connections that they make with it, what it means for them.
Ritual doesn't progress for me in a linear fashion so I can't really give a first this happened, then that happened description of it. Another part of the circle that was particularly meaningful for me was the Commingling of the Waters prior to water sharing. Many of us had brought water for this ritual and we each came up and poured out the waters into a huge iron cauldron that Jack had brought. People said something about where the waters came from as they poured. Jack spoke of his two-year rite of the Marriage of the Aquarian Deities, in which each deity that was invoked, brought water with the energy of their gifts for the wedding to be put in a cauldron and charged up by them and the circle participants. He brought water from that powerful working. Some brought water from their homes, their campsites, and their nests. I brought water from our land, Oakwind, to share my heart's dream with my tribe. People said profound, touching, silly, mundane things and brought it all to be shared.
Then the priests present: Jack, Orion, and Aeona (Kris continued to facilitate the circle) stirred up the waters in the cauldron with a stang (forked staff used by Hermes, as psychopomp in leading souls to the underworld) while we all chanted - I think that was where we used "Make yourself a power spot, Bring you a spoon and cooking pot, Bring air, bring fire, bring water and earth, And you a new universe shall birth" but really can't remember for sure. In any case, we raised power to charge up that water well. Four water bearers brought pitchers up and dipped water out of the cauldron to carry to the tribe. Each of us had an individual goblet or paper cup to be filled. Once everyone had water, the mirror bearers took their turn.
We picked up our mirrors and held them for the person to our left so they could gaze into their reflection and said, "Thou art God/dess. Behold the face of the God/dess" (depending on gender). They looked into the face of divinity and then drank deeply. Afterwards they took the mirror and held it for the person next in line while the mirror bearers kept pace prompting anyone who didn't understand what was needed. Then we slipped into place where the next water bearer had vacated so that we, too, might look into the mirror and share water.
While I prefer the traditional way of looking into someone's eyes and passing the cup I found this to be a very interesting variation which reminds everyone that divinity is within while also sharing the waters and energy of the tribe. It also rather neatly sidesteps the issue of some taking a separate cup for reasons of health (colds, etc. or concerns about them) as everyone had a separate cup.
The other highlight of the ritual for me was that the scions present, which includes me :), as well as Jim and Candy, Sam, Tamara, and Kim lit the bonfire and charged it up for the drumming and dancing that followed the end of the ritual. Someone posted to the Internest list, I believe, that later the next day that fire was still going. (Of course, a large bonfire that continues to be fed late into the night will have fire the next day but I prefer to see the magickal connection to the spirit of the Scions in CAW. Many of us are the ones facilitating nests, starting nests, helping to carry out the work of the church whether locally or nationally and I see that as feeding the fire that fuels the spiritual work of CAW.)
The next morning I went back to help clean up the site and take down the circle, which had been intentionally left up to include the drumming and dancing all night within sacred space. Then there was the rush to pack up, break camp, and try to get on the road to avoid getting home really late. Unfortunately we weren't as successful at that as we had been in driving down. I got home about 11 pm tired and more than ready for sleep.
Copyright © 2000 Kyril Oakwind