The Sacred Space
I come with the expectation of a typical chest-beating Men’s Rite, but find myself challenged by several, including a man with a child. The smell of copal is thick as I enter, named as a God of Summer, and honor my ancestors. Water splashes my feet, and the men sing and drum, and begin to awaken him, shrouded on a throne. It is just a man, but no, as he rises it is Enki, the Father, drawn to this rite. He hears my voice and offers wisdom, and I honor him with my dance. My ancestors, the Gods, they are all here in this sacred place. I know it deep within.
Ritual to Enki, the Father
It is important that some act prepares the ritual space for ceremony and helps create a feeling of safety. To be vulnerable to a new and intimate experience requires that a level of trust be established. Even in a ritual produced as a theatrical event, the “audience” may need a specific time and experience to become unified and prepared. We call this establishing a sacred space, and there are many ways and levels of depth you can use to accomplish this. The greater the trust and intimacy you see your ritual intention as requiring, the more of these techniques may be needed to establish your sacred ritual space.
Some spiritual systems do not establish a sacred space. Their ritual experience is founded on a belief that the world in its entirety is sacred, so why is there a need to take ceremonial action to “make” it safe and sacred? If your audience represents a defined group that has this expectation, it is best to respect that in how you define sacred space. If you have a mix of people, choose a method that is efficient and symbolic to accommodate those who expect some act to make the space sacred, and yet does not offend those who don’t need this process.
The Entry Challenge
Here the participant is confronted with a test of some type that must be passed before entry to ritual is allowed. This can be a question to be answered, an emotional response like fear to overcome, or an actual physical test. We consider this a method to begin creating sacred space for ritual because a challenge acts as a filter for the intention of your participants. It is designed to make people feel safe for the intimacy of ritual. The challenge makes people declare they are attending with a certain nature. They might be asked:
- • Do you enter this ritual with an open mind?
- • Do you enter this ritual with an open heart?
- • Do you enter this ritual with malice for none?
- • Do you enter this ritual with willingness to speak your truth?
The challenge question might also affirm their intention: “Do you open yourself to change?” Once each participant has given the affirmation, everyone in the ritual knows that, at least by their words, they have this common reassurance.
The challenge may be physical. A temporary blindfold might be required to demonstrate that you “blindly trust those who join with you in this ritual.” Create a narrow opening and require entrants to “force” their way through. Two or more people can be shrouded or tented, and act as physical guardians.
Example
For a Samhain ritual, we once created a 20-foot tented passageway hung by rope from the trees. Participants had to push their way through, past smells, whispers, touch, and people who stood close together outside the passageway.
A knife, sword, or staff can be brandished to confront the participant. This can be to demand the entrant’s name, as was done for hundreds of years, from behind a cracked open door or in darkness: “Who goes there?” This hearkens back to another time when any spiritual experience outside the predominant religious tradition was a real risk taken by ritual participants. Passing a physical challenge with a weapon, no matter how symbolic, makes the presumption they will speak truthfully and enter the ritual with the proper authority or attitude.
We have also used physical illusions to challenge. An infinity box (see chapter Twelve) is a prop used in low light conditions to simulate a bottomless crevasse. An angled mirror reflects tiny LED lights on the underside of a piece of plate glass, creating multiple reflections, and the illusion of an infinite distance. The box was topped with 1-inch-thick tempered glass, thick enough to hold 500 pounds. In a darkened gateway, ritual participants were guided to step onto the glass with the challenge, “It takes trust and courage to cross the abyss. Now take that first step into your happiness.”
Even knowing it could not possibly be “real,” people were extremely reluctant to step onto a space that appeared to go 30 feet deep in the ground. To overcome the fear of falling into a deep well was the challenge participants had to cross.
Whenever you include a challenge of any type, you need a team member to supervise it. You really want all prospective participants to meet the challenge, but what do you do if someone fails? If the challenge is verbal, a team member can be in place to discretely whisper the answer if needed. With a physical challenge, an alternate route into ritual or an offer of physical help should be available. In many Wiccan traditions, if one fails the challenge or does not have the group password required, the gate guardian might ask those already in the sacred space, “Can anyone vouch for this person?” Then anyone already past the gate challenge can help the person be admitted by vouching for them.
In Wicca, a common entry challenge is “How do you enter this circle?” For many the classic challenge answer of “In perfect love and perfect trust” is either irrelevant or impossible to expect from participants in a large group ritual. If you decide to use an entry challenge, it should be designed to match the intimacy of your ritual, your community’s expectations, and the nature of the ritual purpose. Never allow a challenge to alienate your audience; it is just one tool in creating sacred space!
Make Holy
To experience ritual as a sacred act, we need to feel holy. Most of us have grown up with an underlying feeling that somehow we are just not worthy to come together in grace. The acts of cleansing, clearing, and blessing ourselves and our ritual declare we are both worthy and ready to together embrace the sacred. These activities of purification come in many forms, can blend together, and occur at any time during a ritual. Commonly they occur early on, at or near the ritual entry point as part of our inward movement to experience ritual.
Cleansing can be represented by physical activities such as sweeping, washing, or dusting. The “gunk”—unwanted thoughts, feelings, and concerns from our daily life—may be brought into the ritual. Some people can release these energies with just a thought or a phrase. Others will need a structured activity.
Cleansing can also be a step in defining the boundaries of our sacred space. A classic cleansing activity is sweeping the boundary of the ritual space outward. This can be done with a broom or pantomimed as an action. It can be done silently or with words that declare what is being “banished” or swept from the ritual space. Expressing the intensity of your intention is what will make it effective for your community to feel safe for intimacy.
Other activities can be used as well. A person or group can blow their breath outward from the center, like blowing off the dust. Asperging is the act of sprinkling a congregation with water. This is usually done by dipping a hand or small leafy branch in water and shaking a sprinkle above or upon the feet, hands, or head. Asperging can also be considered an act of blessing, anointment, or defining a ritual area if it is framed in a different context.
Example
During a men’s ritual celebrating Enki, the Sumerian Father God, the boundary was formed by carrying a gourd of water and a large, leafy branch around the circle, dipping into the water, and asperging the participants’ feet. To support the intimate sharing and devotional nature of this ritual, this symbolic boundary was reinforced by repeating the asperging blessing several times during the course of the ritual.
Sound can be used to cleanse a ritual area. Strong focused words declaring your intention are very effective. For whatever other cleansing method, carefully choose any words you add. Breath can produce a whole range of sound. Instruments that produce lengthy sustain or resonance, such as bells, chimes, gongs, and singing bowls, work well, as do flutes, didgeridoos, and drums.
The act of blessing is the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will, or approval. It can take place at any time from when participants gather until they exit a ritual. Blessing will often take place near a gateway and early in a ceremony to help create a sacred container. Blessing near a ritual’s end will signify the ritual is coming to a close and help people leave with a sense of the sacred.
Tradition can define specific forms and times for blessing. In any rite of passage, they are traditionally included for the people at the focus of the rite—for instance, the bride and groom in a wedding. In a devotional, ritual blessings are bestowed with the force of the deity being honored in the ritual. The act of devotion defines the participant as being worthy of redemption or approval by the deity. The nature or historical context of worship will frame what kind of blessing is most appropriate in a devotional.
Blessings can be as simple as sincere words directed at another. In many religions, they are performed by a priest or priestess who says the prescribed words with intention and may make specific hand signs or motions. They may face or touch each individual directly, or bless all the participants at once.
Blessings can include an anointment of oil or water or even earth. Smudging the body with smoke from incense, sage, or sweet grass is a form of blessing. Any substance representing the alchemical elements (Air, Fire, Water, or Earth) can be used, or any organic substance that supports your intent. Imagine stepping barefoot in rich, black earth as a blessing for a springtime ritual. We have even been blessed with Nutella.
Whenever you touch a participant with an oil or compound, you should have prepared them for the experience earlier. Many people are allergic to substances. Unless you have disclosed this blessing ahead of time you will need to ask each person for permission. We sometimes offer the advance instruction to motion “no” (a hand held up) if you wish to be exempt from an anointment or blessing. This can avoid confusion and disruptive discussion during the ritual.
Blessing becomes sacred by the intention behind it. In community ritual, blessings are most effective as an intimate and personal act. They are the perfect time to establish the authenticity and sincerity of your ritual team. A blessing offered casually or without intention certainly doesn’t reflect divine will and may not even feel like an act of approval. For people who have lived on the edges of community, without a feeling of belonging, the simple act of blessing can provide a powerful impact to your ritual participants.
Blessing serves several functions. It creates a sacred atmosphere and acknowledges the hallowed nature of each person. Blessing helps people discard feelings or thoughts that may keep them from opening to the intimacy of your ritual. Sharing this moment of personal holiness generates a bond between the person blessing and the person being blessed.
Create a Safe Place
A circle is a very versatile shape for any gathering of equals. A circle of people creates a natural boundary in its circumference and affords a space where everyone can see and hear everyone else. A circle is resistant to the establishment of a separation between performer and audience, something that may or may not be an advantage to your ritual purpose. It is easy to assume ritual takes place in the shape of a circle, and that participants are in a single row at the boundary. If your ritual takes place indoors, people will most likely assemble at the perimeter of the room, so your “circle” may be square or rectangular. You can offer formal rows of tables and chairs for people to sit in or gather them into a casual crowd. Whatever shape your intention brings participants together in, creating a safe place will define a boundary for the ritual container.
You can create a boundary either in advance or during the ritual. A boundary prevents the unwanted from entering and keeps the shared intimacy within. It can be either a very visible and real thing or a jointly held definition, or both. The need for a boundary to create ritual space will depend on your community and your ritual. For some people, establishing a boundary is critical, and for others it is a purely symbolic act that is unnecessary.
A substance like salt, flour, or cornmeal can be poured around the border of the ritual area. Rope, crepe paper, and even string lights create a continuous and flexible boundary. Many of these can be used indoors or outside. In a room, the walls themselves can form the boundary. Outdoors, simple garden lime (an inexpensive white powder made for lawns and gardens) is safe and easy to use. Whenever possible, choose something that will symbolically support your ritual purpose. Often a public ritual will draw observers, and it can become confusing to determine when an observer becomes a participant (if you choose to allow this). Using a physical boundary to define the space solves the problem. You are either in and participating, or outside and observing.
A person dramatically walking the edges of your ritual space will help establish a boundary. If they carry a tool that points—a knife, sword, staff, cane, broom, a laser light pointer—these can reinforce what walking feet create.
Words used with power and authenticity will establish a boundary. They must be said with loud force and authority, and a visual reference adds to their effectiveness: “I see a wall of glowing light rise up from the floor, surrounding us, to shelter and protect us!”
The engagement of your participants in the process will reinforce whatever action you take. Try this silent and effective method which can be used with nothing but hand movements:
Example
Once all participants are assembled, the leader raises his hands up to his chest and down to a palm-forward position, dramatically modeling a slow, deep breath and releasing it. (Participants mimic this action.) Then with slow and exaggerated exactness the leader presses his left hand to his heart, bowing his head forward. With careful deliberation, he presses that hand to the heart of the person to the left of him. Finally, he reaches down and clasps the person’s right hand. This action is silently passed around the circle until everyone is holding hands.
It helps to have other team members to the left of the leader to help model this action. It is up to you to assess the comfort zone of your participants. If hand-to-heart contact is too intimate, touch their shoulder instead.
Whatever you do to engage your ritual community in the establishment of sacred space, a minimum of words and a demonstration of the seriousness by which you do it is usually more effective than a lengthy, wordy, and elaborate method done casually or with insincerity! When participants experience a serious attitude in creating the boundary of a sacred space, they will feel the safety needed to open themselves to the intimacy of your ritual.
Even in a group of 200 people you still need a safe place for attendees to open themselves and experience the intent of your ritual. How you establish this should be a response to several factors. What is the ritual experience of your participants, and their level of knowledge and trust with each other? What is the depth of personal vulnerability demanded by your ritual intent? How many people are involved? How much time do you have or choose to allow to establish a safe place? What physical conditions are you working with? The answers to all these parameters will help define your best choices.
Guardians
You may have a ritual team member who has offered to reinforce the boundary as a guardian or tiler. These two roles are similar, but not the same. A guardian remains outside the ritual space, and he or she should be aware of that limitation. A tiler acts as designated guardian and also the handler for disruptions or upsetting circumstances within the ritual space. That role needs to be defined in advance. A tiler needs experience and skills dealing with people in distress within the ritual experience; a guardian does not.
People chosen for these roles can be physically impressive, but more importantly they should be calm, reasonable, and firm. A confrontational response by a guardian will only inflame any situation, and projecting calm resolve is the primary characteristic to assess in assigning this role. If a ritual is being disrupted in any way that is threatening, the team leader should halt the ritual immediately. The most that is expected of a guardian is to stand between any disruptive forces and attempt to diffuse the situation as the ritual participants disperse by direction of the team leader.
Determine in advance what distance observers must keep and have the guardian intercept them before they disrupt the focus of participants. If there are limitations on when late arrivals can become participants, the guardian can either inform them of this or welcome them into the rite.
In many spiritual traditions there are otherworldly forces which may be called upon to provide a guardian role for containment and safety when a ritual takes place. The cardinal directions (North, East, South, and West) or their alchemical elemental natures (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) can be acknowledged as spiritual guardians of the sacred space and honored or invited. Guardians can be of any number and may be mythic creatures, deities, or personages from history. The important aspect of inviting spiritual guardians is that your audience recognizes and accepts them as being up to the task. Your preparation, props, or words of incantation should clearly transmit who they are and what is asked of them. If you do call to spiritual guardians to help you create your ritual space, be sure to include a time near the end of your ritual to thank and release them from their duties.
Attunement
Attunement is the process of bringing a group into a harmonious or responsive relationship. It is valuable in ritual because it helps everyone bond together and get emotionally, spiritually, and mentally on the same page. When we are only observers in a social group, we easily slip into our own world, separated from those around us. At some level the purpose of your ritual asks people to risk sharing themselves. A feeling of bonding with each other will facilitate that sharing. Attunement is the preparation for intimacy.
Attunement may feel like a pause in the ritual action. It is an invitation to be fully present and aware. Many of the actions we have already talked about—blessing, sweeping, anointing, and so on—can also act as a ritual attunement. A special moment of attunement is appropriate for those who are the focus of a rite of passage. During a marriage ceremony, for example, it is the time set aside for the couple to feel their new relationship as a couple but within the context of the ritual.
Attunement can be accomplished by using a whole range of actions, from subtle and quiet to rowdy and boisterous. Any action that helps bring people right into the here and now of their experience will be effective. A group can be brought into harmony with the phrase, “Let’s all take a deep breath, and as we slowly release it, let go of any emotions we are holding on to, and feel this moment.” Incorporate a physical touch: reaching hand to hand, or to shoulder, or waist, or even surrounding and encountering an icon or symbolic prop. Any of these, when done reasonably simultaneously, will result in group attunement.
Sound can accomplish attunement within a group. A singing bowl, a didgeridoo, or a bell provides resonant tones to help people break their train of thought. Sound can also be reinforced with words: “As this sound passes through you, know that it resonates in each and every person here today.” A group song or chant can provide an attunement, but it should be something very easy, or taught in advance of the ritual, so everyone can join in. The whole idea is to present a readily shared experience, rather than one in which people revert to observing.
The directive phrase to “ground and center” can be enough in some communities to attune everyone by connecting themselves to the stability of the earth and their core selves.
Example
Imagine your ritual team spreading their feet slightly and rocking back and forth until they find stability. Then they spread their arms and close their eyes. As they draw in a deep, slow breath, their hands swing up toward their chest, and then back out, slowly exhaling.
Through the use of dramatic modeling, even an audience unfamiliar with the terms or process can come into attunement, can ground and center themselves, with no words explicitly spoken.
Exercise
Make a list of ways you can incorporate a method of group alignment or attunement that you can use. Mark any ones that best contribute to the ritual intent you are working with. How can they be specifically adapted to work even better with your ritual theme? Add this to your ritual notebook.
Become Sacred
Part of the journey to take sacred back is to claim your own ability to share your authentic self in ritual. Many of us have learned to keep safe by staying isolated within ourselves, keeping our feelings and fears from showing, and by trying to appear perfect. To share our vulnerability is risky, but it is the only sure way to reveal our true selves. Once we have taken this step as ritual leaders, we can make that sharing the norm. How deep into our human nature do we expect ritual to take the community? The authenticity we share as a team will define the level of empowerment others feel to take the risk of embracing our ritual purpose.
In this chapter, we have discussed all the actions we might take to establish a safe and sacred space for ritual to take place in. We have related the importance of a serious dedication to our ritual purpose in every action. Dedication is not enough. Once a ritual is underway, every interaction is also an opportunity to build a space where perfection is not the expectation. What you provide is a place of safety for each person. For an experienced ritual team, any limiting factors to our connection as humans are already shed by this point.
Establishing authenticity always involves risk taking. We take the risk that someone will see who we truly are, not accept us, and then reject us. We remove any personal barriers that allow us to hide from each other. If we do this successfully, the distance that resides between even strangers can fall away and the intimacy of being human together can blossom.
Here are some ideas to help you encourage releasing obstacles to intimacy. The window to the soul is said to be in our eyes. An action that asks people to gaze into each other’s eyes is a good place to start. This can be designed so your ritual team leads this process. Participants can be randomly matched with one another or paired up by an integrated ritual process you have designed. Brief instructions can help get started: “As you pass by, make eye contact with each person. In that brief moment you hold each other’s gaze, affirm and acknowledge their sacred nature.” For this process to work participants need to gaze significantly past that comfortable time of one or two seconds.
A personal interaction can be passed around your ritual and include a touch, phrase, or an answer to a question. These have to be structured carefully to be received well, and can even involve role playing: “Turn to the person on your left and as you meet their gaze, welcome them to the world as you would welcome your own newborn.” Introducing these types of challenges for participants to meet is very risky, but when successful the human connections made are tremendous.
Presenting oneself as completely vulnerable as an individual can draw out authenticity in others. This can come in the form of a heartfelt story from an individual or a sincere dialogue between two or more individuals. When we contribute in a leadership role, we will often have occasion to stumble, forget our words, or make a very public blunder. If we can handle these mishaps acknowledging our imperfection, without emotional turmoil, and offering ourselves acceptance, we firmly connect with all participants. Our primal response when faced with observing a real experience of pain or joy is to open ourselves, and that opening can become infectious in the ritual setting.
The most vulnerable we can be before others is to be fully nude. Nudity is certainly not appropriate in many settings, but being confronted by it can serve to “shock” ritual participants into responding with their true feelings. It is really hard to disbelieve, be angry at, or reject offerings or gifts from a nude person. They are so vulnerable we accept them as authentic almost automatically.
We have not even gotten to the “meat” of the actions that will move our community toward our ritual purpose. What we have done by this point is created a sacred space, a safe container for sharing intimately at whatever level our purpose requires. Many of the ideas, techniques, and concepts we have discussed will be repeated as we move on to developing the heart of the ritual. For many people, feeling safe in public ritual is an experience that will have profound effects.
Ritual: Ritual to Enki, the Father
Location: Pagan Spirit Gathering Men’s Rite, 2008
© Nels Linde
Ritual context
This was offered as the men’s ritual at the Pagan Spirit Gathering in 2008. It was both an invocation and celebration of the Sumerian god Enki. This was also a ritual to acknowledge the men going through and having completed an adult rite of passage. The ritual included about 60 males, from babies to kids, teens, and adults. It was the first men’s rite at this event that allowed a biological female who self-identified as male to attend.
Ritual intent
To celebrate and reclaim the archetype of Father with the fellowship of other males. This ritual is open to all who self-identify as male. Some children and teens may attend. Participants are encouraged to bring drums and rattles.
Ritual description
A devotional experience for self-identified males with Enki, the Father. Bring drums, rattles, and shakers!
Ritual setup and supplies
A small fire was in the center of a ritual grove. An altar was at the north for honoring mentors. This was a small table with a basket of candles and a lighter, and a slab of wet clay smeared flat to accept small vertical devotional candles. Next to the altar was a large gourd filled with water and a fresh leafy oak branch for asperging feet. Near the fire slumbered Enki, semi-nude and fully painted, crowned with flowers and leaves, sitting upon a decorated throne. Enki was embodied by Breighton, an experienced priest who had worked with Enki for several intense weeks and invoked Enki for a lengthy period in the ritual.
Ritual props
Costume and paint for Enki. A decorated chair/throne. Two tubes of metal screen wrapped together in paper and bound to resemble a scroll. Inside the tubes were 75 bisque raku clay disks with an embossed male figure, pierced so they could be strung on a cord as a necklace. This scroll represented the “ME,” the Sumerian wisdom of the gods and guide to life that the goddess Inanna steals in myth. Tongs to remove the scroll from the fire later were next to the throne. A bowl of animal crackers was near the gate. An open bottle of wine was available for libation. Near the ancestor altar were 75 god name tags, 75 candles, and enough clay to make an altar base layer to insert candles. A lighter, smudge supplies, an oak branch, and water in a gourd.
Team members
Entry guardian, three challengers, smudger, Namer, Enki, Ritualista.
Ritual script
As the males approached the outer path gate, all the ritual team sang in welcome, using a variant of “Come Brothers Come,” by Peter Soderberg (Sparky T. Rabbit) with the phrase “Horned God” replaced by “Enki.” Participants joined in singing at the gate, and the ritual team dropped out of the singing as they took on their path roles.
Gate Setup and Process:
The guardian at the gate acted as a regulator, allowing one festivant to enter at a time. He had a sign on his chest to prepare the entrants: “All that enter become Gods, but even Gods may have weaknesses” and “We must honor our ancestors and mentors.” Three challengers along the path to the ritual area confronted each participant:
The first asked: “How do you enter this circle?” (Participant answered.)
Next, a man with a child said, “Declare what brings you pride!” (Participant answered.)
The third asked: “Who do you honor?” The participant answered, then the third challenger replied: “Honor them within,” and directed them onward to the ritual area.
At the ritual area entrance awaited a smudger and a Namer. The smudger cleansed each entrant with copal burning on charcoal in a small cauldron. Participants then passed to the Namer. He had a tall basket of 75 adhesive name tags that declared each participant a god and included a symbolic petition to Enki, based on a human weakness related to the god source. For example:
God of Summer Wind: Too impatient to listen
God of Lightning: Quick to anger
God of the Canals: Desire to control
The Namer let each man draw one blindly, and to each the Namer said, “Thou art God,” and applied the name tag, then waved them in.
As they passed him to enter the circle, the Namer said, “Enki slumbers.”
The Ritualista greeted each male as they entered and directed them to light a candle for a mentor or ancestor at the North altar, saying, “Honor those who came before.”
As participants filled up the ritual area, the entry song faded and a new song was started by the ritual team, accompanied by rattles: “We Are Spirit,” author unknown, with descant. A basket of rattles was available for use.
When all had entered, the song ended and the Ritualista said, “Enki, Father of all, awaits our voice. Each here carries strength and seeks the healing wisdom the Father offers. Let us wake him!”
The team started a song of awakening, “We Are Your People,” by Beverly Frederick, with drumming and rattling.
The Ritualista and smudger walked the circle with burning copal and asperged participants’ feet with the leafy branch dipped in water. The Ritualista sprinkled Enki with water to awaken him as the song came to a crescendo and ended.
Enki awakened from slumber, surprised and glad his sons had sought him. He sat up and said, “Who seeks the wisdom of the Father?”
The Ritualista came forward first, modeling the proposed action, and offered his tag to Enki, saying, “It is I, God of Summer Wind. My breeze warms us all, yet I sometimes am too impatient to listen. Please, help me, Enki!”
Enki took the Ritualista’s name tag and stuck it on the scroll of the ME, saying, “The Father listens without the limit of time. Let me take your burden and add its resolution to the wisdom of the ME, our guide to a happy life. Be free of your burden!”
Two more from the ritual team went next; one read the written tag weakness, the other obviously ad libbed to show the participants could speak about their own weaknesses if they preferred. Ad libs were empowered by participants as they modeled this process.
Enki said, “Who else seeks wisdom?” and the process was repeated until all participants had been allowed an opportunity to speak to Enki.
In some instances, Enki added personal private advice to aid the petitioner. Drums, shakers, and clapping were started by the team to accompanying a brief personal dance by one petitioner. The dancer made his mark in the sand in front of Enki in completion, and the team fell silent. Periodically when there was a lull, or when Enki needed to reinforce his invocation, the Ritualista cleansed Enki with copal and wafted it around the circle, or asperged the participants’ feet with water using the branch.
When the process was complete, Enki said, “The Gods present are free of all these burdens, but who will now wrestle with them? We need new creatures lest these burdens return upon us. I, Enki the Father, will create men that they may build the world. Formed with the guidance of the ME, they are birthed with all they need to find happiness. Aid me in this task!”
The song of release was started by the team: “We Are Opening Up,” by Gladys Gray. The team started to clap, and later to whoop and howl, as the Ritualista took the tongs, picked up the scroll of the ME, now covered in the weakness tags, and held it over the fire. When all the paper was burned off, the metal screens surrounding the tubes were opened and the clay figure tokens were revealed and put in a basket. The energy reached a crescendo and broke.
Photo by Nels and Judy Linde
The Enki bead after burning off its
wrapping as the ME in the ritual fire.
Enki walked the circle, displaying the charred clay token figures, and said, “Behold, the humans will do the work of the world, and when they seek the wisdom of the Father, let them remember this symbol, and the wisdom of the ME as their guide.” Enki placed the basket of tokens at the North altar of mentors and ancestors.
The Ritualista poured a libation at each quarter and at the center as he walked the circle. As he was moving, the Ritualista said:
“Let these new creatures find the wisdom of the Father to know the Earth, our home for all creatures; Air, the words of power; Fire, fertility in all things; Water, the seed of life; and in the Spirit, their hearts, and to remember those who came before. Let the men of the world reflect the wisdom of the Father in all things.”
Enki said:
“These humans have been born with the ME, knowledge to build a happy home and make the land fruitful. Take this symbol that by your hand the trees be large trees. May your bulls be large bulls, and have the cry of wild bulls. May the great ME of the gods be perfected for you. May your silver be gold. May the land, and everything you have, increase and your people multiply!” Enki then handed a figure token to each participant, as the participants added clapping and rattling.
Enki asked: “Who here dedicates themselves this gathering to seek the wisdom?” Dedicants from the men’s rite of passage candidates came forward for a personal blessing. Enki sprinkled them with water and said spontaneous words of blessing.
The ritual team started the song of celebration: “Rise with the Fire,” by Starhawk. Everyone drummed and danced to a final energy-raising crescendo. The Ritualista and Enki moved to the gate so at the crescendo all was ready to end. The Ritualista said, “Go forth and praise the Father, and when doubt and weakness come, ask: “What would the Father do?”
As all exited the circle, Enki handed each participant an animal cracker and blessed each with a kiss. The Ritualista gave each participant a piece of string on which to hang the token amulet as a necklace.