It is the celebration of life that is done symbolically using a chalice and Athame. It is part of the Beltane rituals. Symbolic version creation in the union of the maiden Goddess with her loving God. Beltane is a celebration of sexuality, purification and fertility. The planting of crops is finished, and many crops have grown to seedlings. Bees are very active pollinating flowers, and many creatures are in the height of their mating season. I would not use this in my practice this is not something that is something I want to do. I would light the fires and have the joy of the rituals without taking off my clothes I do not plan on joining a coven and they do not all use it as a sexual thing anyway. It is misunderstood by many people in many ways it is not just a sexual ritual between a man and an women it is also between the chalice and the athame. On the eve of Beltane all fires were extinguished and relit with embers from the Beltane fire. The fires celebrated the return of life and fruitfulness to the earth and would protect, heal and purify anything or one that passed by or jumped over. That it is an actual sexual act performed by the Priest and Priestess of a coven after a ritual. But this is not the case in all ritual in most cases it is between a chalice and a athame. You have to have a sexual doing in these rituals and in fact, it is only in some covens that do this and hardly done anymore.
Beltane is the Sacred Marriage and union of the God and Goddess. Beltane is also a celebration of fertility, fruitfulness and the coming of summer. It is a time when the light half of the year is waxing and everything is growing and coming into full greenery and bloom. It is the last of the spring fertility festivals, and is a time w...
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...s you'd like to see realized. All of these things can benefit from the Beltane celebration of growth and fertility.
Works Cited
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2001/20010423/beltane.shtml
1.]The Magical Circle School, Entrance Exam, The Resource Library Encyclopedia of Terms and Information,Great Rite - The Truth of the Matter,Minnie Eerin, http://www.mistresskalpanasrealm.com/mod/glossary/showentry.php?courseid=36&eid=12458&displayformat=dictionary
2.]A white witches book of shadows, the great rite,Erynn Shea Kelly, http://www.awhitewitchsbookofshadows.com/Great-Rite.html
3.]Wiccan Spirituality,Beltane: The Great Rite,Erin Drsgonsong,http://www.wicca-spirituality.com/great-rite.html
4.]Internet Book of Shadows at sacred-texts.com,Beltane: Its History and Modern Celebration in Wicca in America,Rowan Moonstone,http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos032.htm
Zagata, Darlene. "Spiritual Meaning of Black Obsidian." EHow. Demand Media, 14 Dec. 2009. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Kors, Alan and Peters, Edward. Witchcraft in Europe 400-1700. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 2001.
Rituals are held as a very important part of any society, including ours. They go back to ancient times or can be as simple as maintaining one’s hygiene. Non-western societies have rituals that may seem very foreign to us, but they have been engrained in their communities and are essential to their social structure. This interpretation will focus on the Great Pilgrimage, a ritual performed by Quechuan communities. We will be looking specifically at a community in the area of Sonqo.
Sabina Magliocco, in her book Witching Culture, takes her readers into the culture of the Neo-Pagan cults in America and focus upon what it reveals about identity and belief in 21st century America. Through her careful employment of ethnographic techniques, Magliocco allows both the Neo-Pagan cult to be represented accurately, and likewise, scientifically. I argue that Magliocco's ethnographic approach is the correct way to go about this type of research involving religions.
Godbeer, Richard. ""How Could They Believe That?": Explaining to Students Why Accusations of Witchcraft Made Good Sense in Seventeenth-Century New England." OAH Magazine of History July 2003: 28-31. Ebscohost.Web. 05 Nov. 2013.
"The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies." Secret Teachings of All Ages: , Part Three. N.p., 30 June 2007. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
Bacon, Elizabeth E. “Witchcraft.” Encyclopedia Americana. Volume 29. Pages 83 – 84. Connecticut: Grolier Incorporated, 1999.
The men of the tribe then join in the preparations for the dance by construct sweat lodges, which are used in the ceremony. They also collect other necessities, which are needed for the dance. The first day before the Sun Dance is a very significant day. In the early morning hours a group of men “known for their eminence in their tribe were chosen to look for a (cottonwood) tree with a fork in the top” (“Dance”). Along with this select group went a chosen woman.
In Judaism, sex is not considered shameful or sinful. “Judaism blesses sex, but Only sex between a man and a woman who are married and are touching one another during appropriate times of the months, careful to avoid the impurity of menstruation” ( “Manning and Zuckerman pg. 8“). In many religions and cultures menstrual blood considered as ritually unclean or impure. Judaism views menstruating women as a potential source of both life and death. “Female sexuality could lead to new life (the Birth of a child) or to bleeding and death (menstruation)”. ( “Manning and Zuckerman pg. 8“). Reminds me the film “Divine Women: When God was a Girl”, introduced by the historian Bettany Hughes, that had an interesting thesis, emphasized the role that women played in the social li...
Marshal Richard. Witchcraft The history and Mythology. by Random house publishing, Avenel, New jersey 1995.
Author Unknown. Blessed Be. Online Wicca Resource Center, publisher unknown date of resource creation unknown. Publication unknown. Sept. 30th 2011.
Despite people celebrating marriage in different ways it all comes back to one thing; marriage is a social ritual that by which two people affirms one abiding contracts between. The ceremonies are composed of rituals which symbolize facets of married life and the obligations being undertaken. In Hinduism the marriage celebration can start weeks before the actual ceremony depending on the preferences of the family. Once the day of the ceremony comes around the day starts with the brides’ family welcoming the groom into their home and both families are formally introduced. Both the bride and groom sit at the Mandap- tent where the ceremony is held under,-and are offered a drink. Gifts between the two families are generally exchanged at this point. The groom's mother gives an auspicious necklace to the bride, which is essentially an emblem of the married status in the Hindu religion. Then scared fire is lit and a pundit recites t...
The problems with some rituals are that if it is not on symbolism it is not highly, visible and therefore, very hard to interpret, this can be a secular ritual.
Lehmann A. C. & Myers J. E. Magic, Witchcraft and Religion – An anthropological Study of the Supernatural (Fourth Edition) (Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997)
He usually arrives dressed in his wedding attire on the back of a horse, or sometimes on the back of an elephant. “The wedding altar (mandapa) is built the day of and the groom is welcomed by his future mother in law where his feet are then washed and he is offered milk and honey. His sister in law will attempt to steal his shoes and if she succeeds, the groom must pay her to get them back” (beau-coup.com). At the wedding venue the bride waits for the groom in a room covered in garland, when the groom arrives they exchange garland. After this, the brides family will welcome the grooms family to the wedding. Like Christian weddings, the father of the bride gives the bride away at the wedding, this is called a Kanyadaan. A priest will facilitate the marriage by reciting mantras or holy hymns, but the bride and groom marry each other. The bride and groom are considered married when the groom ties a thread that symbolizes his vow to care for the bride. He ties it in three knots that symbolizes the gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Masheshwara. The ceremony takes place around a fire and the god, Agni is considered the witness to the union. “The bride and the groom then circle the fire seven times, in a clockwise direction, called Saat Phere which signifies seven goals of married life which include religious and moral duties, prosperity, spiritual salvation and liberation, and sensual gratification” (Gullapalli