I left Mystic South 2024 knowing I wanted to lead a ritual in 2025, but with no idea what it should be about. As the year progressed, two themes became apparent. One was the frustration and fear around our current socio-economic-political situation. And the other was the archaeological evidence that as far back as 10,000 years ago, people journeyed great distances to places like Göbekli Tepe and Skara Brae to form and maintain relationships with their extended families, their friends, and their allies. We don’t know what they did at these gatherings, but it is not a stretch to assume that what they did was not entirely unlike what we do at gatherings like Mystic South, even if it was on a very different scale.
And so fellow Denton Pagan Cynthia Talbot and I put together a ritual rooted in both of those themes, and that built on the first-hand experience many of us have that different deities from very different cultures are working together, or at least doing similar things in similar ways.
I haven’t heard as much talk of “horse trading” priests and devotees between Odin and the Morrigan as I heard in the mid-2010s, but it’s still going on. Hekate is busy as a Goddess of Witches. And other things – Gods are whole persons – but definitely with calling and directing witches. Among her other activities, Isis is a Goddess of Magic… and her story of taking the true name of Ra to restore life to the Earth is very relevant to us right now.
“The costumes are the sets”
One of the keys to successful ritual – especially public ritual, where you have a wide variety of people with a wide variety of backgrounds and expectations – is to create an atmosphere of mystery, reverence, and magic. That’s one thing when we’re doing it at our local UU church. But when you’re doing it in a hotel meeting room, where you can only bring what you can carry on an airplane, and where you’ve only got a half hour in between presentations for setup, trying to create a temple-like atmosphere is very difficult. It’s not impossible, but it’s hard.
So we took inspiration from my favorite movie of all time, Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
When Francis Ford Coppola made his Dracula movie in 1992, he decided to spend most of his budget on costumes. It shows: Eiko Ishioka won an Oscar for Best Costume Design. But that left little budget for sets. Coppola said “the costumes are the sets.”
I don’t have a Hollywood budget. But I do have talented friends.
Cynthia Talbot and Catt Kingsgrave designed and made costumes for me as Priest of the Morrigan, for Becky Sheehan as Priest of Odin, for Catt as Priest of Hekate, and Cyn as Priest of Isis. They are amazing, especially the detail work. Based on the comments, I think we were successful in using costumes to set the atmosphere instead of trying to decorate the room.
And I will definitely be wearing this outfit again when I do priestly work for the Great Queen.
You don’t need to go to this level. But do give some thought to what you wear when you lead ritual.
I asked our other leaders to “wear something priestly, whatever that means to you” – and they did. Thanks to Laura Perry, Michelle Gruben, Emily C, Derrick Land, and Emily Guenther for looking the part and for doing a great job with your parts of the ritual.
A ritual that continues working
For all that many of us found power and meaning in virtual rituals during the pandemic (and since), some things have to be experienced in person. The pictures we took before and after the ritual are all there are. There was no video and this exact ritual will likely never be repeated. But I am confident the impact of this ritual will be felt beyond the hotel conference room where it was held, now and in the days to come.
I think I had more positive comments about this ritual than any I’ve done before – including the Morrigan Devotional Ritual we did in 2018. So did the other priests, and so did our quarter callers who had only a few lines but who were an important part of presenting the ritual as one unified working.
Even if you weren’t there, think about what God or Gods call to you? Who are you oathbound to answer? Who do you want to answer?
Who will you answer?
There is power in community. There is power in family: our families of blood and our families of choice. And there is power in alliances, when people who aren’t close enough to be family realize they need to work together for the good of all, and to protect each other from those who would do them harm.
Pay attention in the coming weeks and months, whether you were a participant in this ritual or not.
And if you find yourself being moved to find or build or just be a part of a spiritual community? That’s a good thing in any time, but especially in times like these.
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