The
Patterns of Wiccan Ritual 1.1
Copyright © 1989, 2000 c.e., Isaac Bonewits |
In the Beginning....
In the 1940s and '50s, a retired British civil
servant and amateur folklorist named Gerald B. Gardner (referred to
affectionately as "GBG" or "Old Gerald"), together with his friends,
began to either reconstruct or invent what they chose to call "the Old
Religion" of "Witchcraft." They claimed that Margaret Murray had been
correct when she postulated that an underground Pagan cult had survived
in Christian Europe, and that the members of this cult had been the
"witches" whom the Church tried so hard to exterminate during the
Renaissance. Furthermore, Gardner and his associates said that the Old
Religion had continued to exist even into the 20th Century. See A Very
Brief History of Witchcraft for details about Gardner and of how he
fits into the overall history of the word "witchcraft."
Regardless of the conflicting historical claims
about whether or not there was ever a "real" coven which initiated
Gardner, it is very clear from his own notes that he could easily have
created the root liturgy of what was to become known as "Wicca" from
published sources and his own experiences in other Western occult
organizations. I have studied the first draft materials in a hand-bound
text he called Ye Bok [sic] of Ye Art Magical, of what eventually
developed into the first Book of Shadows ("BOS"). There is nothing
there that can be demonstrated to be a remnant of a surviving
underground British Pagan cult (though some parts resemble those of
Hindu Tantric rituals).
A famous saying among scholars goes, "Absence
of evidence is not evidence of absence," and this saying is usually
true. However, in this situation the missing concepts become quite
important. People writing liturgies almost always start out by
reworking ceremonial materials with which they are already familiar.
For one example, the Episcopal and Lutheran liturgies resemble the
Roman Catholic Mass. For another, the rituals that Aleister Crowley
wrote for his branch of the Ordo Templi Orientis (an offshoot of the
Free Masons that he turned into a more magically "oriented" group)
incorporate phrases and actions from the older rituals of the Masons,
the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the initiation rites of the
pre-Crowlean O.T.O. Most of the early A.D.F. rituals included segments
from the R.D.N.A. rituals I had learned previously (some of them, at
least as I perform them, still do).
The earliest versions of Gardner's initiatory
and liturgical scripts are full of obvious borrowings from the Masons,
the Renaissance "Goetic" grimoires (magical books), the writings of
Crowley, etc. There are no prayers, incantations, ritual actions, or
liturgical patterns that reflect any other sources than the
(Judeo-Christian) Western mainstream of occult tradition, the then
available published materials on anthropology and folklore, some
tantric methods he could easily have picked up in the Far East or
through Crowley, and a few lines of gibberish in an unknown "language."
If Gardner had attended genuinely Paleopagan (or even Mesopagan) rites
in England, their patterns of worship should be visible in his private
notes, even if he were forbidden to put secret words and phrases down
on paper. Yet Pagan liturgical patterns are invisible in his early
notes. They only begin to show up in the 1950's as the Goetic and
Crowlean materials were gradually removed, under the influence of
Gardner's priestess, Doreen Valiente.
At this point the authenticity of Gardner's
"apostolic succession" becomes rather irrelevant. If there was a real
coven that trained Gardner, they apparently didn't show or tell him
much of anything that was genuinely ancient or Pagan, at least not
liturgically.
This may not matter much. Gardner (or perhaps
the committee he was taking notes for) was extremely creative. He
changed the Goetic magical techniques to make them usable by small
groups of people instead of solitary magicians. He rewrote the first
three Masonic initiations to make them applicable to both men and
women. He made sensuality and eroticism a central part of his new/old
religion by borrowing tantric techniques and symbolism. Finally, and
most importantly, early in the 1950's he added Dion Fortune's theology
of Isis and Osiris and other polytheistic elements to make his creation
genuinely (albeit Meso-) Pagan. Around 1954, all of the notes he had
made during the 1940's and early '50's were transferred to a new book,
which became the first official Book of Shadows, and Ye Bok was retired
to the back of a file cabinet, where it would lie forgotten for twenty
years.
Whatever their origins, the first versions of
the Wiccan rituals (especially those for the holidays) were extremely
sparse, usually being only a page or two of text. Following Gardner's
advice that "it is ever better to do too much ritual than too little,"
the members of his new religion began to add materials to each of them.
Over the years the rites have expanded considerably, with enormous
variations in detail but with the same liturgical structure usually
being more-or-less retained.
Current Variations in Craft Liturgical Structure
For a variety of historical reasons, most of
them having to do with the secrecy of which Wiccans are so fond, there
is no universal pattern for Wiccan ritual, although the general shape
is similar from group to group. Different traditions do more or less
the same things but in differing order.
Almost all the traditions start with the
participants doing some sort of personal purifications (herbal baths,
fasting, etc.) before the ritual actually gets underway. These
purifications are not prompted by a sense of impurity or sinfulness on
the part of the participants, but rather reflect a need to begin
focussing consciousness, clearing away irrelevant thoughts, and showing
respect for the Goddess and God, as well as fellow coveners, much as
members of many other religions do before attending services.
The people attending the ritual then either
dress in ceremonial robes or else strip down to a state of ritual
nudity (becoming "skyclad," from a Hindu term for naked sages living in
the woods who abandon all social concerns and class distinctions in
their quests for enlightenment). The specialness of one's clothing (or
lack of it) is another cue to one's inner beings that sacred activities
are about to take place, as well as another way to show respect to the
Deities.
Almost all Wiccan groups use a circle as the
shape of their sacred space. Some have this shape physically marked on
the ground or floor, most do not (which is why it often turns into a
"magic oval"). Most will have candles or torches set up at the North,
South, East, and West intersections -- called "Quarter Points" or just
"the Quarters" -- of two invisible lines drawn through the center of
the circle, either just inside or just outside of the circle's line.
Some traditions have the altar outside this circle when the rite
begins, others place it inside either at the center or near one of the
Quarter Points.
Some groups have everyone except the presiding
clergy (usually a High Priestess and a High Priest, sometimes also a
Maiden and/or a Green Man as assistants) wait outside the ritual area
(usually in the Northeast, for reasons having to do with Masonic
initiations) while it is prepared for the ceremony, and bring them in
afterwards. Others have everyone in the circle from the start.
Traditions that have the people in the circle
and the altar outside of it may start with "the spiral dance" as first
described by Gardner in Witchcraft Today and later in Starhawk's The
Spiral Dance (she got it from the NROOGD tradition). After everyone has
spiraled into the center of the circle and spiraled out again, with an
exchange of kisses along the way, and are once more standing in a
circle holding hands, this ring will be broken and the altar will be
brought in. Unfortunately, as all too many can testify, the spiral
dance often turns into a spiral "crack the whip" game (and no, I'm not
referring to ritual scourging here), which is why I usually don't
recommend it except with groups composed solely of young and healthy
types dancing on a smooth, flat surface.
Salt and water are usually exorcised and/or
blessed by the presiding clergy, sometimes along with other substances
such as incense, oil, candles, etc. These items are used, either before
or after the circle is "cast," to exorcise and/or bless the circle as a
whole and/or all the people in it. As with the personal purifications
mentioned above, exorcisms done in Neopagan rituals have little to do
with banishing evil spirits and much to do with retuning the spiritual
energies of the objects and/or persons involved to make them
appropriate for the work at hand -- much as a cook who had been
chopping garlic would take care to wash his or her hands and the knife
before beginning to chop the apples for a pie (at least we hope so!).
The circle is cast by having (almost always)
the High Priestess walk around it in a clockwise direction, starting at
either the East Quarter Point (most common), the North (less common),
or the South or West (both rare), with a consecrated sword or knife.
This weapon may be held in the air at any of several heights, pointed
up, down, forward, or outward, or else dragged point-first along the
floor or ground (the original Gardner technique, where it was done by a
male "Magus") along the desired circle boundaries. The term "casting,"
by the way, used to mean "cutting" or "carving," which is why the
Goetic magicians used sharp swords to actually mark the ground -- and
why a ceremonial Wiccan sword should have a sharp point.
If the congregation waited outside the circle
while it was cast, they will then be brought into it through a "gate"
(usually in the Northeast) either symbolically cut for them at that
time, or left "open" during the casting process (and "closed" after
their entry). People are brought into the cast circle in a formal
fashion, usually with exchanges of passwords and/or kisses, often with
aspergings, censings, annointings, etc. Groups that practice binding
and scourging may do it at this point in the ceremony, both as a
purification process and as a way to start a flow of sexually tinged
mana, and/or they may wait until after the "Quarter Point Invocations"
have been done. ("Mana" is a useful Polynesian word that means magical,
spiritual, artistic, emotional, athletic and/or sexual energy. I
haven't found another word yet that combines all these meanings so
well.)
As a general rule, after the circle has been
cast, exorcised, blessed, etc., and the people are all present inside
it (also exorcised/blessed), a series of invocations will be done, at
each of the Quarter Points, to "the Mighty Ones," or "the Lords of the
Watch Towers," or totem animals, or nature spirits, or "the Kings of
the Elements," etc. Some groups will add an invocation to the center,
and some to the nadir and zenith as well. All these invocations finish
the process of creating sacred space, by asking for the protection and
cooperation of spiritual Gate Keepers. The reason there are so many, as
contrasted to Paleopagan rituals or modern Neopagan Druid rites, is
that the entire sacred space is considered "between the worlds," and is
in essence a single wide-open Gate. The multiple Gate Keepers focus and
attune the energies allowed or encouraged to pass between the people
in the circle and the spiritual beings encountered.
In Starhawkian Wicca (and some of the other
liberal trads) , the circle casting, Quarter Point Invocations,
exorcism/blessing of the circle and people, etc., can be done
completely or fragmentarily, in any order or all at once, depending
upon the consensus and/or whims of the participants.
Once the circle is complete, the usual next
step is a ritual process known as "Drawing Down the Moon." This means
that the High Priestess(es), or all the women in the circle, or
everyone in the circle, will attempt to manifest the Goddess of the
occasion through divine inspiration, conversation, channeling, or
possession. If only the High Priestess is doing this, she will often
deliver a memorized speech known as "the Charge of the Goddess," but
may (if sufficiently inspired or possessed) give the members of the
congregation, individually or as a whole, pointed advice and
information presumed to be from the Goddess.
Some Wiccan traditions will then do "Drawing
Down the Sun" upon the High Priest(s), all the men, or everyone in the
circle. If done upon the High Priest, he may then deliver a "charge" or
divine message from the God of the occasion. Some traditions might do
the drawing down of the God before that of the Goddess at certain
holidays or during certain seasons of the year.
Other forms of trance may be added to or
substituted for Drawing Down the Moon and/or Sun. A ritual dance, more
scourging, songs and chants, sexual play, ritual dramas, initiations,
handfastings (weddings), or other rites of passage, seasonal games,
and/or spell-casting (in any combination and order) may follow or
replace the Drawing(s) Down.
At some point, however, a ritual will be done
known as "Cakes and Wine" (or "Cakes and Ale," etc.). This involves the
blessing of food and drink by (usually) the High Priestess and the
High Priest, and passing them around for the congregation to enjoy.
Some traditions offer libations (to the ground, outdoors, or in a bowl,
indoors) before consuming the food and drink. Whether this communal
meal is done before or after a rite of passage is performed or a spell
is cast, and whether the meal is accompanied by general or topical
discussion (if any), depends upon a given trad's theory of the meal's
function.
Along with or (usually) as part of the Cakes
and Wine ceremony is a magical act known as "the Great Rite," which is
the primary symbol of the Sacred Marriage between the Goddess and the
God, a central concept in Wiccan duotheology. The Great Rite was
originally (in Gardner's notes) ritual sexual intercourse between the
High Priestess and High Priest, or sometimes by all the couples in the
coven, done to raise magical power, bless objects, etc. However, almost
from the beginning of Wicca, it has been usually done symbolically ("in
token") rather than physically ("in true"), through plunging a dagger
or wand into a cup of liquid to bless the wine or ale. Gardner was,
after all, working with a bunch of middle-class and working-class
British occultists, not the lower-class or upper-class types, or the
tribal peoples of ancient India or Britain, who might have been less
inhibited in their sexuality.
Occasionally the Great Rite is used as part of a
spell-casting or initiation, or to consummate a handfasting. A handful
of traditions insist that some or all of these functions require the
sexual act to be physical rather than symbolic, but even these few
traditions usually remove the acting couple from the sight of the rest
of the coven.
When the participants are ready to end their
ceremony, the Goddess and/or the God, as well as the entities invoked
at the Quarter Points, will be thanked and/or "dismissed." In some
traditions, excess mana will be "grounded" (drained). These steps are
done in varying order. At the end, the circle is often cut across with
knife or sword and the ceremony is declared to be over.
There is confusion in the Wiccan traditions
over the use of the terms "open" and "closed" when referring to the
magical state of the circle. Some groups will say "the circle is
closed" early in the rite to indicate that the magical barriers have
been fully erected (after casting and exorcism/blessing, etc.) and that
therefore no one is to enter or leave without special permission and
precautions (gate making). Others will say, "the circle is closed" at
the end of the rite, to mean that the ceremony has come to a close.
Conversely, some traditions use the phrase, "the circle is open" at the
other's same early stage of the ritual in the sense of being "open for
business" or the Gates between the worlds being open for communication
with the Other Side. Still other groups will say "the circle is open"
to mean that the ceremony is over and the magical barriers have been
taken down. This conflicting use of terms can be very confusing until
you find out how a given group functions. Originally, the circle was
opened at the beginning and closed at the end, following the Masonic
practice of "opening" and "closing" lodge ceremonies (whence Gardner
took the terminology).
This whole collection of variations in Wiccan
ceremonial patterns fits roughly within the "Common Worship Pattern" I
have described elsewhere, with some traditions matching it more closely
than others. I believe that Wiccan ritual can be far more powerful and
effective, both thaumaturgically and theurgically, if a liturgical
design is chosen that is as close a match as possible to that pattern,
primarily by adding missing steps.
One of the things that you'll notice quickly if
you attend many Wiccan rituals is that they tend to be "top-heavy" --
half to two-thirds of their liturgical structure consists of setting up
sacred space and doing the preliminary power raising (calling the
Guardians of the Quarters, etc.), with the Drawing(s) Down and spell
casting or rites of passage, supposedly the purpose for the rituals,
taking much less time, and the unwinding of the liturgy being
positively zoomed through. Perhaps these rites would be less top-heavy
if extensive trance, dancing, or other mana generating and focussing
methods were used, as I think Gardner originally intended, instead of
the usual two to three minutes' worth common in current Wiccan rites.
However, perhaps Gardner reasoned that modern Westerners need more time
and effort to escape mundane reality than folks from other times and
places did, so he deliberately elaborated the opening parts of the
liturgy. Be that as it may, the ritual design presented next inserts
the missing parts of the common worship pattern and makes the middle of
the ritual more important than the beginning or the end.
The Over-All Pattern of "A Generic Wiccan Rite"
I've underlined the items that are mentioned in
the Common Worship Pattern. The numbered items, on the other hand, are
the observable steps of the ceremony as it is performed. Remember that
this is my expansion and ordering of the steps as I have done Wiccan
rituals for several years now, with great success. I sincerely suggest
that people experiment with adapting their liturgies to match this
pattern.
First Phase: Starting the Rite &
Establishing the Groupmind
Clearcut Beginning: Consecration of Time
(1) Announcement of Beginning
The Consecration of Space
(2) Blessing of the Elemental Tools
(3) Casting of the Circle
(4) Blessing/Exorcism of Altar, People, and
Circle
Centering, Grounding, Linking & Merging
(5) Opening Unity Meditation/Kissing Dance
(6) Specification of Ritual Purpose &
Historical Precedent
(7) Specification of Deity(ies) of the Occasion
& Reasons for Choice
Second Phase: Opening the Gates &
Preliminary Power Raising
Invoking the Gatekeepers/Defining the Circle as
Center
(8) Inviting the Guardians of the Quarters
(9) "Between the Worlds" Chant or Affirmation
Third Phase; Major Sending of Mana* to Deities
of the Occasion
(10) Descriptive Invocation of Goddess and God
(11) Primary Power Raising
(12) The Sacrifice (a.k.a. the "Drop" or
"Release")
Fourth Phase: Receiving and Using the Returned
Power
Preparation for the Return
(13) Meditation upon Personal and/or Group Needs
(14) Induction of Receptivity
Reception of Power from Deities of the Occasion
(15) Drawing Down the Moon
(16) Instruction from the Goddess; the Charge
(17) Optional Activity: Drawing Down the Sun
(18) Optional Activity: Instruction from the
God; the Charge
(19) Optional Activity: the Great Rite (or in
step 23)
(20) Cakes and Wine (Blessing and Passing)
(21) Acceptance of Individual Blessings
(22) Reinforcement of Group Bonding
(23) Optional Activity: Spell Casting or Rite of
Passage
(24) Optional Activity: Second Ritual Meal with
Conversation and/or Instruction
Fifth Phase: Unwinding and Ending the Ceremony
(25) Thanking of Deity(ies) Invoked
(26) Thanking of Guardians of the
Quarters/Closing Gates
(27) Affirmation of Continuity & Success
Unmerging, Unlinking, Regrounding &
Recentering
(28) Closing Meditation/Kissing Dance
Draining off Excess Mana
(29) Charging of Tools
Deconsecration of Space
(30) Circle Closing
Clearcut Ending: Deconsecration of Time
(31) Announcement of Ends
Copyright © 1989, 2000 c.e., Isaac Bonewits.
This text file may be freely distributed on the Net, provided that no
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The Patterns of Wiccan
Ritual 1.1
Copyright © 1989, 2000 c.e., Isaac
Bonewits |
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