Lady_Elaine
Sagittarius
Dog
Posted Tue May 01, 2007 4:11 pm...
[b]Guidelines for attending your first outside Ritual
By: Keitha (FireWind)[/b]
Safety
1. Find out a little something about the group/individual.
2. leave the address, phone number, and time you expect to be home
with a friend/family member, etc.
3. If you are nervous, bring a friend. There should be no objections
to this (unless your friend will be quoting bible passages all
night
4. If you are not comfortable at any time; Leave.
Ettiquette
1. There is usually a feast or at least cakes and ale at most
rituals, so it is usually polite to bring some food. If you are not
sure, just bring a bag of chips- no-one ever turned down munchies!
2. Don't be too late- you may hold up the ritual, or miss it
altogether. If you must be late- call if possible.
3. Depending on the type of ritual you are attending, there may be
some in-house rules. Do keep them- it's bad manners to have a
tantrum just because only priesthood are allowed athames into ritual.
4. If you want to leave during ritual, talk to the summoner, if
available, to open a door in the circle (he'll be the guy with the
big stick). Failing that, talk to the other members, or the
priesthood, depending. (Please note that the Priest or Priestess is
very busy during ritual, so talk to someone else first, if there are
others).
5. Don't talk about the weather or your favourite band during
ritual, it will disturb others who are concentrating.
6. Never, ever, touch another person's tools or jewlery without
asking first; it's incredibly irritating.
7. Don't spend the ritual criticising the way people do things;
ie. "My group usually does things this way...".
8. Don't try to be the center of attention- you are a guest in the
temple/home/group.
9. Many groups provide the ritual materials (candles, incense, etc)
out of their own pockets. Sometimes a hat will be passed around to
help offset these costs. You are not required to give a 'donation',
but it is polite. Understand that a lot of time and money can go
into a single ritual, and you are the beneficiary. It's best to come
prepared with a couple of bucks.
10. For Goddess' sake- thank the group for allowing you to attend.
11. Relax; and have fun.
Other Points
1. If you do something silly, just laugh. Rituals can get serious,
but most are fun. Everyone makes mistakes, and some are incredibly
funny. For example, one Beltaine, my friend and I thought it would
be fun to have a little fire going. But it was freezing out, so we
had the ritual in her livingroom. So, we used sparklers instead. We
thought it would be okay if we used the sparklers inside a pie
plate, on top of a heat pad on the floor. Note to all -> Never set
off 30 sparklers in a pie plate at the same time. Try to imagine a
Beltaine ritual with 30 sparklers burning a hole through a pie
plate, and rapidly heading through a heat pad towards the wooden
floor while a fire alarm is going off, blue smoke rapidly filling
the room, and two frantic Wiccans desperately trying to figure out
how to put the damn thing out. When it was over, we laughed til we
cried. Definately a memorable ritual, if anything.
2. If you're not sure what to do, just do whatever everyone else is
doing. If you do something silly, see above.
3. Sometimes people who have done energy work are concerned about
what to do during ritual. Should you call the elements along with
the Priest/ess; is it rude to ground yourself during ritual; should
you help cast the circle; if there's loose energy wafting around
you, should you do something with it? I had these concerns myself,
and was told to do whatever makes the ritual meaningful for you
(without subtracting from the meaning for others). If in doubt,
follow your gut.
Copyright Info: All articles by Keitha may be copied, posted,
printed, distributed, reprinted, and linked to as long as the text
is not changed, money is not earned, full credit is given to Keitha
at www.glasstemple.com <http>, and this
notice is attached.
By: Keitha (FireWind)[/b]
Safety
1. Find out a little something about the group/individual.
2. leave the address, phone number, and time you expect to be home
with a friend/family member, etc.
3. If you are nervous, bring a friend. There should be no objections
to this (unless your friend will be quoting bible passages all
night
4. If you are not comfortable at any time; Leave.
Ettiquette
1. There is usually a feast or at least cakes and ale at most
rituals, so it is usually polite to bring some food. If you are not
sure, just bring a bag of chips- no-one ever turned down munchies!
2. Don't be too late- you may hold up the ritual, or miss it
altogether. If you must be late- call if possible.
3. Depending on the type of ritual you are attending, there may be
some in-house rules. Do keep them- it's bad manners to have a
tantrum just because only priesthood are allowed athames into ritual.
4. If you want to leave during ritual, talk to the summoner, if
available, to open a door in the circle (he'll be the guy with the
big stick). Failing that, talk to the other members, or the
priesthood, depending. (Please note that the Priest or Priestess is
very busy during ritual, so talk to someone else first, if there are
others).
5. Don't talk about the weather or your favourite band during
ritual, it will disturb others who are concentrating.
6. Never, ever, touch another person's tools or jewlery without
asking first; it's incredibly irritating.
7. Don't spend the ritual criticising the way people do things;
ie. "My group usually does things this way...".
8. Don't try to be the center of attention- you are a guest in the
temple/home/group.
9. Many groups provide the ritual materials (candles, incense, etc)
out of their own pockets. Sometimes a hat will be passed around to
help offset these costs. You are not required to give a 'donation',
but it is polite. Understand that a lot of time and money can go
into a single ritual, and you are the beneficiary. It's best to come
prepared with a couple of bucks.
10. For Goddess' sake- thank the group for allowing you to attend.
11. Relax; and have fun.
Other Points
1. If you do something silly, just laugh. Rituals can get serious,
but most are fun. Everyone makes mistakes, and some are incredibly
funny. For example, one Beltaine, my friend and I thought it would
be fun to have a little fire going. But it was freezing out, so we
had the ritual in her livingroom. So, we used sparklers instead. We
thought it would be okay if we used the sparklers inside a pie
plate, on top of a heat pad on the floor. Note to all -> Never set
off 30 sparklers in a pie plate at the same time. Try to imagine a
Beltaine ritual with 30 sparklers burning a hole through a pie
plate, and rapidly heading through a heat pad towards the wooden
floor while a fire alarm is going off, blue smoke rapidly filling
the room, and two frantic Wiccans desperately trying to figure out
how to put the damn thing out. When it was over, we laughed til we
cried. Definately a memorable ritual, if anything.
2. If you're not sure what to do, just do whatever everyone else is
doing. If you do something silly, see above.
3. Sometimes people who have done energy work are concerned about
what to do during ritual. Should you call the elements along with
the Priest/ess; is it rude to ground yourself during ritual; should
you help cast the circle; if there's loose energy wafting around
you, should you do something with it? I had these concerns myself,
and was told to do whatever makes the ritual meaningful for you
(without subtracting from the meaning for others). If in doubt,
follow your gut.
Copyright Info: All articles by Keitha may be copied, posted,
printed, distributed, reprinted, and linked to as long as the text
is not changed, money is not earned, full credit is given to Keitha
at www.glasstemple.com <http>, and this
notice is attached.
If you cant explain it simply, you dont understand it well enough.-- Albert Einstein
Blessings Bright and Dark,
