I've been online wedding planning, trying to figure it all out. I stumbled upon a list of alternative unity ceremonies. And almost every single one has pagan ritual behind it. Like people don't even realize how much pagan tradition is still around in celebrations. I'm not just talking about weddings, I mean most any celebration.
Anyway, this list had the same ritual in every element (earth, fire, water,air) to combine two separates into one (lighting a candle, wine pouring, sand art, tree planting, canvas paint pouring, colored water pouring, etc.), it had the equivalent of spell casting by a coven (you pass the rings around to all the guests who say a prayer, bless them, send love and well wishes into the rings), a different spell involving spices (the couple pick out spices by what they represent and then combine them into one and use the mix through out the marriage, and that's pretty strong kitchen magick), another coven like ritual of candle lighting (the couple light a single candle together, then use that candle to light up the candles the wedding party are holding, who in turn light the candles of the guest, who light the next persons until everyone has a candle that was lit by the original flame, again pretty strong magick), a sealing ceremony (the couple fill a box with mementos from dating and their happy times together, love letters to each other, advice from guests, etc. and they seal it, to be opened on a designated anniversary) and included hand-fasting and jumping the broom (until this list, I thought both of those were explicitly Pagan). The only one expressly christian, was the making of a cross together.
Now all of these are STRONG magick, and people don't even realize it. The author opened up with a suggestion that these ceremonies are for less religious people. What they ACTUALLY meant was that these are not Christian ceremonies, except for the last one. But the fact that pagan rituals are seen as so normal, I love that. Keep on doing it! Paganism isn't evil or bad. It's nature. It's beautiful.
