Beginning to miss it

david hobbs · Beginning to miss it

For the first time since being chucked out of the Coven I am beginning to miss it.

Not the people or the place but the ritual and the feeling of doing something of the spirit.

Bah

laura

i am extremly curious and would love the opportunity to attend a ritual on one of the sabbats... on halloween i felt as though i should be doing something serious other than the party that was going on around me...but i didn't know what!

Taz

I know what you mean mate.
I sometimes, only sometimes mind, I get nostalgic for the Catholic church I used to take my step-sons to (long story - basically they were raised as Catholic and their Mum died when they were young so when their Dad and I met I wanted to care for them in the manner their Mum would have wanted. She was a strong Catholic so I bit the bullet and took them to mass every week for several years. I just used to quietly change bits to make it more palatable!).
It's the feeling of community I suppose and some of the rituals are so over the top that they appeal to the decadent Pagan in me

.
I still enjoy mid-night mass at Christmas......it's the feeling of upholding some kind of social tradition for me.
These days it's a bit difficult to go incognito as the tattoos (or tramp stamps - thanks Raymond) on my wrist cause a bit of Inquisition madness

.
I often work alone at the Esbats: dont know how I'd cope if I didn't have our little circle to honour the Sabbatts though.
I feel your pain.........big hugs hon.
Oh, sorry wrong bit, thought I was in the Nice Room then.

Taz

laura

Taz

Raymond

I f*ckin hate smileys!

Maybe with everything we're organising for next year we should try to include a GHE group ritual as well.

swanlady

david hobbs

I like rituals and smileys

Taz

Sounds like a good plan Raymond!

beantighe

I put a post in here the other night, but when I went to post it, the darn thing had logged me out and I lost the lot! Grrrrr!!!

Does this happen often?

Raymond

Only when you write something really interesting and sensible. Something in the software that detects a really clever and intelligent post.
It's called the Hobbs effect.
Naturally I've lost thousands of posts, Hobbs has lost one or two.

david hobbs

I have lost posts and the best way to avoid it is to use the word program and then copy it to the forum. Only if it is an over long post of course.

beantighe

Sorry, David, I have no idea what you mean - I don't know enough about computers or the terminology - completely lost, I'm afraid.

Raymond, you must be psychic, LOL! And thank you, I'll take that as a compliment!

Sometimes, if I'm expecting difficulty, I can copy a post before I've posted it, then if the site throws a wobbly and logs me out, I can come back and post it again. If it does it a second time, I've had it!

beantighe

The post I lost was about trust. When you're in a ritual situation with other people you have to be able to trust them implicitly. That's what the oft-used phrase 'perfect love and perfect trust' means.

When you're in Circle, you're 'between the worlds' and you leave all mundane, daily concerns behind. Everyone's mind must be focussed on the purpose in hand. You can't be thinking: 'I must remember to get so-and-so for tea tonight' or 'I wish so-and-so wasn't here, I can't stand him/her' because all these kinds of negative thought will become magnified in circle and create a tangible atmosphere of fragmentation and discomfort, besides inviting in all sorts of negative energy, which could have a detrimental effect for some time afterwards.

This is why most covens are very picky about whom they invite to participate in their rituals, and they usually won't invite anyone until they've got to know them well, and the invitation is mutually agreeable, because without absolute trust, the whole thing falls apart.

I've experienced this personally, so I can vouch that it's true. I've even heard horror stories of novices to ritual whose mobiles have gone off during proceedings, and have then held everything up to take the call! I think that has to be one of the worst breaches of ritual etiquette. Personally, if it were up to me, I wouldn't invite that person again until they had learned some manners and respect.

Raymond

That's very true Beany.

It's also the reason why so many covens don't make it past the first year.

Lilly