#great rite

[damahl001]

The Great Rite, union of the God and Goddess. Woman's body was the first altar. From a shoot my Priestess and I did around 1993

[thread-and-truth]

The Blood Rite is the Night Court's Great Rite... pass it on.

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Great Rite (Ex: Calanmai in the Spring Court)

Performed once a year in early Spring

Centers on primal instincts (lust, intimacy, reproduction)

Sacrificial/magical component that's described as a "give and take" of magic between the land and the High Lord and his people

Fuels the land’s magic and crops

Blood Rite (Night Court / Illyrians)

Performed once a year in early Spring

Centers on primal instincts (survival, violence, death)

Blood spilled on a sacred mountain = giving of magic?

Possibly fuels or anchors the Night Court’s power through Ramiel, which is described as "ancient" and "alive"

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Lucien explains that every court participates in the Great Rite - it's a give-and-take of magic between the HL and the land.

HOWEVER, his explanation does not explicitly state that every court's Great Rite consists of the same traditions.

He also explains that other males participate to bolster the magic, and we later learn that the HL doesn't actually have to participate - someone can take his place.

____________________________

It would make sense for each court's Great Rite to reflect the 'essence' of that territory. Spring is associated with rejuvenation, growth, new beginnings, birth, and fertility, so it makes sense for the Spring Court's Great Rite to center around procreation and agriculture. Logically, the Night Court's Great Rite (and the Great Rites in other courts) would be different.

Is it possible that the Blood Rite is a tithe of sorts, where blood spilled on Ramiel fuels the Night Court's HL / Rhysand's magic?

[acourtofantumbra]

Halfway through my Queen of Shadows reread and I'd written up this super long post running through a ton of 👀 parallels between ACOTAR, TOG, and CC witches, priestesses, and two of our favorite gingers' birth stories. But one second before posting the draft erased itself 🥹... Cute. I'll try again at one point because I want some smartie out there on the interwebs to tell me what it all means.

My conclusion every time is just like, "is everyone a witch?" and tbh I stand by that. But also... breeding... I hate to talk about it, but it's unavoidable at this point. All roads lead it to it unfortunately.

[cloudypaganwitch]

[silverlinedeyes]

Happy Calanmai Everyone!

Calanmai (which means first day (calend) of May (mai) in Welsh) is a Welsh celebration of the May Day holiday held on May 1. Celebrations start on the evening before with bonfires. That night, villagers also gather branches and flowers which they use to decorate their houses to celebrate new growth and fertility. This was obviously the inspiration for Calanmai in ACOTAR.

And happy anniversary of the moment when everything changed for all of us:

...

“There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”

“Thank you for finding her for me.”

[nialeirza]

ACOMAF timeline and why Calanmai possibly happened in May in the ACOTAR world

I put dates so I can actually count. I know there’s a calendar already made but I want to do this just to be petty because some people are actually becoming really petty about this.

Dec 21: Winter Solstice (I used the 2014 date)

Dec 28: (1 week after WS) 2 weeks before wedding

Dec 29: (1 day after) Tithe next month mentioned

Jan 10: (1 day before wedding) Nynsar mentioned ‘months and months from now’

Jan 11: Wedding day, Rhys arrives, start of NC week 1

Jan 18: (1 week after) NC week 1 ends, back at Spring Court

Jan 25: (1 week after) Tithe

Feb 8: (2 weeks after Tithe) Feyre and Tamlin getting ok

Feb 11: (one month since the bargain started) Start of NC week 2

Feb 18: (1 week after) NC week 2 ends, back at SC

Feb 19: (next day) sentries are back, Tamlin in borders

Feb 27: (8 days after) Tamlin back, meeting with Lucien about Feyre powers

Feb 28: (1 day after, afternoon) Feyre locked in the house, Mor rescue

Mar 1: (next day) wake up at dawn, Velaris, meet Inner Circle

(next March dates are not that important in counting but let’s include them)

Mar 2: (next day) Prison attempt

Mar 3: (next day) Amren’s amulet, Prison

Mar 4: (next day) Weaver

Mar 5: (next day) mortal realms

Mar 6: (next day) Attor, Velaris at night

Mar 7: (next day) afternoon training with Cassian

Mar 11: (4 days later) Summer Court invitation

Mar 12: (next day) Summer Court, approaching Nynsar, Calanmai soon after

Mar 13: (next day) jewels trove

Mar 15: (2 days after) saw the hiding place of the Book

Mar 16: (next day) mainland tour, last day in Summer, Book mission

Mar 17: (next day) Book in early morning, back in Velaris, blood rubies afternoon, dinner with Mor

Mar 18: (2am next day) Rhys nightmare

During weeks of waiting: insert Wings and Embers scene(?)

(Got a bit of trouble here because of the time skip but let’s assume a date from Feyre’s thoughts)

Assuming Apr 19: meeting with queens, Feyre nearly 2 months in Velaris

Apr 20: (next day, afternoon) Court of Nightmares, Veritas orb

Apr 21: (next day) leaving Velaris in 2 days, Starfall/Nynsar tomorrow

Apr 22: (next day) Starfall

Apr 23: (next day) Illyrian camp

Apr 24: (next day) training, Lucien, inn 👀

Apr 25: (next day) got attacked in the evening

Apr 26: (next day, early morning) Suriel, mating bond reveal, Mor winnows Feyre to mountain cabin

Apr 27: (next day) Feyre painting

Apr 28: (next day) painting again, Mor stayed overnight

Apr 29: (next day) Mor left at breakfast

May 1: (five days passed - since coming to cabin I think?) Rhys arrives, mating bond 👀👀👀

Then Feyre’s thoughts in ACOWAR when she was talking to Lucien about the Great Rite.

So Calanmai is in May. The Great Rite happened in May. You know where I’m going with this already. Let’s not mention it anymore.

Again, dates are assumed especially after the time skip but I counted as close as possible to scenes mentioned. May 1 Calanmai in ACOTAR makes sense since real world Calanmai happens at May 1.

[minnesotadruids]

What are druid marriages like as far as ceremony? Can it be done anywhere?

With the spiritual diversity among druids, there is also the diversity and freedom to customize and embellish liturgical scripts for druid weddings as well. In the Reformed Druidism (RDNA), there was early resistance to establishing a standard wedding ceremony script, since most of the RDNA ceremonies don't even have a mandatory basic outline (but they do have hallmarks that are common between most of the extant scripts). However, a handful of wedding ceremonies have been offered and used in an RDNA style by members of the priesthood.

Most of them have been written as modern handfastings. Traditionally handfastings were once trial marriages lasting a year and a day and were generally nonbinding. However, these days handfastings are usually used as the legal ceremonies, complete with signing a Marriage License or certificate. The iconic hallmark of a handfasting is when the spouses-to-be have their hands tied together with ribbons, and are expected to remain tied for a whole day (I doubt anyone stays bound for a full 24 hours though).

The RDNA wedding scripts from the mid 1970s generally look similar to the Common Order of Worship format, where the betrothed both have sacrifices which are offered to the Earth-Mother in exchange for a blessing, and they partake of the Waters-of-Life from the ritual chalice.

A strange ritual written in 1976 for the Schismatic Druids of North America (SDNA) has some elaborate expectations added in. SDNA Groves are already supposed to have both a priest and a priestess. The betrothed are expected to be skyclad or wear white, green, or brown robes. Just before the middle of the ceremony, the attendees begin the wedding feast. During this time, the betrothed are "emphatically expected" to go off somewhere private and have ritual sex with the priest and priestess, and then with the members of the opposite's wedding party (i.e., the groomsmen then mate with the bride and the bridesmaids mate with the groom after the priest & priestess mate with the bride & groom, respectively). Then the betrothed are expected to come back and consummate in front of the attendees while the priest and priestess do the same "as representatives of the god and goddess."

After this segment, the sacrifices are offered, the vows are exchanged, a written contract is signed in quadruplicate (one for each spouse, one for the Grove records, and one to be sent to the gods through the sacred fire). At this point the rings are exchanged and the betrotheds' hands are bound by ribbons. Then the Waters-of-Life are consecrated and shared and the betrothed are declared to be married. The other members of the wedding party are expected to serve the spouses and the priest & priestess for the remainder of the feast.

It is uncertain if the SDNA script was ever actually used, though part of it was inspired or based on the wedding of Morning Glory and Tim Zell. Fortunately, there are currently no SDNA Groves out there. I have conducted one RDNA style wedding which has a few variations that differ from the original scripts, and I designed it in a modular fashion so that the betrothed can select which segments they want to use, the types of blessings they prefer, and how they want to deliver their vows. I also utilize two chalices for the Waters-of-Life and have the betrothed consecrate the contents unto each other. Then they intertwine their arms to drink from their own cups at the same time followed by a kiss (an interactive gesture called brüderschaft which is German for brotherhood but anyone participates in it). I keep my scripts safe for all audiences though, so there's no ritual sex.

[mordigen]

Wicca is a Sex Cult - you won’t change my mind. Pt 2

And so we decided to join.....

We made our arrangements with our parents, each one of us “spending the night” with another so as to cover our tracks for our midnight outing. We were led in a fairly run-o-the-mill initiation rite with a group of other new members. They cast a circle, we were in white linen robes and donned with flower crowns. We all had a specific role in ‘calling’ the towers as to be one with the ritual we were involved in - they lit a bonfire. We all had candles, they lit one by one as they spouted out prayers and incantations. We were anointed and saged. When it came our time, we would speak our part  - some generically worded ‘dedication’ to the Goddess. We tossed our crowns into the fire, along with a lock of our hair. As we were officially initiated, the lead would come around and extinguish our candles as she closed the circle. It was nice enough, but ....anticlimactic. I’ll be honest, I don’t know what I was expecting, but whatever it was - the reality fell flat. BUT, I walked away thinking - well that’s not bad at all! What was I ever worried about? It seemed to galvanize my faith, and my denial. And since I was still under the belief that this was just a modern interpretation of a very olde faith, I thought then, perhaps, all those things we read about were simply from the “olde ways”, and this modern faith was nothing to worry about. 

But, it all changed once we had been initiated. There were now suddenly heavy expectations of new members. You HAD to attend so many meetings, or you’d be kicked out. You HAD to contribute so much work, or you’d be kicked out. You HAD to follow the High Priestesses rules - whatever that may be within each meeting - or you’d be kicked out. You HAD to pay tithings, or you’d be kicked out. And, of course - once you were initiated. Well....that’s when all the rituals became “skyclad”....and you HAD to participate....or else you’d be kicked out. 

Well. Spoiler alert - I was kicked out. I wasn’t the only one, but there were a couple of our friends who stayed. And I was once again seething in envy. They came back with stories that were shocking, honestly, with some of the things they had to do --- but they also came back with fantastic stories about all these new things they were learning and doing, and I just couldn’t stand it. There was one skyclad meditation class my friend was a part of where she was partnered with an 60 something year old man, where there was touching. Nothing scandalous - but still, contact. And whilst I absolutely did NOT want to get naked in front of a 60 year olde man, and I absolutely did NOT want to see a naked 60 year olde man - and did not want to have to touch palms with him, whilst both of us are horribly uncomfortably naked - I couldn’t get past everything she was taking away from it. She constantly touted how natural it was, how uninhibited you felt and how nothing dirty or sexual every happened and how it was supposed to force you beyond the realms of your body, where you didn’t even notice that you or anyone else was naked. Months passed, and the ones who stayed had nothing but positive things to say - and they had seemingly accomplished so much. Comparisons between nude beaches and nudist colonies abound, and the tut-tutting of how Americans are just a bunch of prudes because of Puritans. It’s a hard argument to dispute. The grooming was successful. They had won them all over. And truth be told, they were winning me over as well. I had started to reevaluate all my misgivings. I was just a prude. I was a slave to Puritan thought and tradition. 

It was less than a month hereafter, my friend was selected to participate in the Great Rite. I will not state how olde she was at the time, but her ‘partner’ was well into his 40s. I know nothing of the details beyond how utterly excited and eager she was, and how she apparently was able to achieve astral projection and make it to the Akashic Library.

Supposedly all her workings she ever did were wild successes - she got everything she ever wanted, and seemed to have just an infinite amount of knowledge about anything. She soared in confidence, personality, popularity, experimentation, intellect, and owned her blooming sexuality. I was unbelievably jealous. 

I made moves to join another coven myself. I wanted what she had. I wanted to become this enlightened, powerful, greater version of myself I ever could be. I wanted to be that fucking cool. So, I did some digging, and met some people. But, as I had come to find out - it was extremely hard to find one open to younger members. Specifically because of the sexual content. I eventually found one open to younger members. In retrospect, I did absolutely no due diligence whatsoever - I joined the first one that was open to minors as I was just desperate to join one, and start my journey to become as awesome as my friend. Only, this one was run by a Priest, not Priestess, and forced skyclad from the get go - it was part of their “trials” as to whether or not you were serious in your journey, as, according to them, that was the -only- way to perform rituals. If you were uncomfortable doing so, then you were not “ready”. 

So I performed. I hated every minute of it. I was unbelievably uncomfortable in front of all these complete strangers. But I forced myself through it, still holding fast to the idea that I just needed to shed all of my puritanical preconceptions and become comfortable in my own skin. The older men gravitated to the younger members - which was encouraged by the women as a rite of passage, for the sake of “mentoring”, that they all had gone through it themselves in their time. In more than one of my sessions, they were notably aroused. The older members brushed it off as just being a natural effect of the human nature, and not to take offense to it. So I pushed through, and tried to ignore it. I never had any of the overwhelming, enlightening experiences my friends claimed to have experienced - just horridly uncomfortable encounters with sexually aroused older men gawking at me. I was turned away from this coven for not being a “right fit” and not being “ready” for my journey. I was devastated. Though, when I look back on it today, I can only think that they could see/feel my discomfort and believed I would either not engage with them at all, in which case what’s the point? Or, if I did, I would have caved and told someone about the encounters - which would be a lot of problems for them.

But, I was young, and I was an idiot, and I was effectively brainwashed. So I set out to find another one, and was determined to not let my insecurities ruin my chances of being able to learn and grow in a legitimate Coven. It took a while, but I eventually found another one open to minors. They had legitimate application forms. I applied. I went to a few meetings and what could only be described as interviews. I had to take several tests. I found this encouraging - they really took the educational/intellectual side seriously. They swooned over the knowledge I had already gained - especially for it being all on my own. I was delighted. I was blind to the fact that so many of their tests were centered around doctrine - one of which being the secrecy aspect, yet again. Apparently, I had all the right answers. I was selected for initiation. I was ecstatic. But then they informed me that initiation was performed through the Great Rite, with either the High Priest or Priestess, and though wouldn’t be open to the entire Coven, would be confirmed/witnessed by the other Priest and several of the high-ranking officials. I immediately grew anxious - but I was determined. So I agreed....

(...continued)