{"id":8654,"date":"2017-06-18T21:23:23","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T03:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8654"},"modified":"2017-06-18T21:23:23","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T03:23:23","slug":"what-is-wrong-with-large-scale-ritual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8654","title":{"rendered":"What Is Wrong with Large-Scale Ritual?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Maypole procession at Colorado’s Beltania festival, 2011. (Photo by Robin Vinehall.)<\/p><\/div>\n

When it comes to large-scale ritual, the traditional Wiccan circle does not scale up well. It was made for a small-group mystery religion, where twelve or thirteen people really is the maximum<\/em>.((OK, maybe up to twenty or so, but that is more than enough, especially if they are skyclad and all waving athames.))<\/p>\n

That Wiccan circle, as far as I can tell, was based on the magic circle of the ceremonial magician, designed to hold one, maybe two, possibly<\/em> three individuals\u2014but usually just one. And as many teachers will tell you, the magician’s circle was supposed to give the Bad Stuff out, whereas the Witches’ circle is supposed to keep the Good Stuff in.<\/p>\n

But like a balloon that can be inflated only so far before it pops, the magic circle seems to lose cohesion when it grows too big. Its fabric tears, and, for all I know, the Good Stuff leaks out.<\/p>\n

It may still worth with large groups as a way for a maximum number of people to have a good look at some theatrical event happening in the center. Make a son et lumi\u00e8re<\/em><\/a> production out of calling the Quarters\u2014that helps when you have a large outdoor gathering.<\/p>\n

On the negative side, I have attended large rituals where people brought folding chairs to sit in because they knew that they would wait a long time for anything to happen\u2014for the oracular priest to make it around to where they sat, for instance. It was deathly dull.<\/p>\n

Last month at the Heartland festival, held at a 160-acre site with a network of internal gravel roads, I saw a small procession passing ahead of one of the main evening rituals. I perked up at that, but the participants were more like camp criers: “Come to the ritual.”<\/p>\n

No no no no no. The procession should BE <\/strong>the ritual\u2014for most people. <\/em>That is when you bring the gods out of the temple and take them down the street. It’s interactive, and it involves the bodies of the participants. Let everyone join in! Consider what is done in India or in Catholic countries and urban neighborhoods on certain saints’ days<\/a>.((Saints, gods, what’s the difference. We are trying to raise energy.))<\/p>\n

Instead of the procession being a warm-up act, I modestly suggested to two members of the Sacred Experience Committee (in other words, the ritual producers), it should be the Main Event. Idols! Musicians! Costumes!<\/p>\n

If a more conventional ritual follows, that’s fine, but don’t expect everyone to come. But bring the procession past their campsite and entice them to join it because it is loud, colorful, and physical.<\/p>\n

I remember one New Mexico festival in the late 1980s where the rituals were pretty good\u2014maybe because the group was not too huge. But then one evening a handfasting was announced, and the campers spontaneously grabbed torches and lanterns and drums and flutes and processed behind the officiants to the site\u2014and there was more “juice” in that procession than in the official circle-style ritual.<\/p>\n

I’ve attended a few Pueblo Indian rituals since my dad used to drag me down to Zuni when I was three, and I have noticed something: The tribes don’t expect everyone to participate. The specialists\u2014the appropriate religious society or priesthood\u2014will perform both the hidden parts and the public parts\u2014dances and so on. Many people will just be spectators. The important thing is that the ritual is performed for everyone’s benefit, whether they pay close attention or are off seated on an adobe wall eating watermelon or chatting up a potential romantic partner.<\/p>\n

Likewise the old-time Pagans had used processions as a major large-group activity. Sometimes they ended, for example, at a sacrificial altar, and then the specialists took over. (Everyone ate later.) They did not make everyone sit in rows inside a temple\u2014most activity took place outside the temple. Making you stand or sit around indoors while the specialists do their thing is the Christians’ mistake.((Yes, the liturgical churches\u2014Orthodox, Catholic, fancy Anglican\u2014will give you visualization exercises etc. to do during the service, and there are postural changes\u2014sitting, standing, kneeling\u2014in some churches, but it is not what I would call movement.<\/em>))<\/p>\n

Right now, we are in the middle of summer festival season in the US and elsewhere. Tell me what you see. Are people getting away from the “Let’s just make a big ol’ circle and call the Quarters” model? There has to be something that works better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to large-scale ritual, the traditional Wiccan circle does not scale up well. It was made for a small-group mystery religion, where twelve or thirteen people really is the maximum.((OK, maybe up to twenty or so, but that is more than enough, especially if they are skyclad and all waving athames.)) That Wiccan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[24,23,208,32,5,298],"class_list":["post-8654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christianity","tag-colorado","tag-indian-tribes","tag-new-mexico","tag-paganism","tag-ritual"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-2fA","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7500,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7500","url_meta":{"origin":8654,"position":0},"title":"Someday, Pagans Will Have Harlem’s Problem Too","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been hearing of this for a while \u2014 \"spiritual tourism\" in Harlem. Although gospel music is part of the heritage and spirit of the neighbourhood, some have suggested that scenes in local churches are starting to resemble a Hollywood movie. Tourists visiting have become an issue of contention,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6332,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6332","url_meta":{"origin":8654,"position":1},"title":"Phallephoria 2014 \u2014\u00a0Honoring Dionysus in Athens","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Two things. 1. \"Phallephoria, the carrying of a phallus in procession in honor of Dionysus. For the first time after almost two thousand years, Phallephoria was celebrated in Athens.\" And that is tremendous. There is also a longer, 30-minute YouTube video Although the weather looks rainy in the video, was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Greece\"","block_context":{"text":"Greece","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=greece"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8678,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8678","url_meta":{"origin":8654,"position":2},"title":"Large-Group Ritual: Magic, Worship, or “Just What We Do”?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend in Poland sent a link to this music video, adding that it looks a lot like the Midsummer celebration in his village but needs the volunteer firefighters, more kielbasa, and more vodka, except, \"Our river\u2019s a fair bit wider, too.\" He describes the St. Nicholas Orchestra as \"Pagan-friendly,\"\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":689,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=689","url_meta":{"origin":8654,"position":3},"title":""Drawing down" at big festivals","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Dragonfest is the largest Pagan festival in Colorado (there is an SCA reference in the name, I think), set to begin August 6 this year. Usually the state's two main Pagan e-lists light up afterwards as people discuss what went right, what went wrong, whose behavior offended whom, who was\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2165,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2165","url_meta":{"origin":8654,"position":4},"title":"Why We Do Pagan Studies – 2","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"(Part 1 here) Just to continue the previous discussion, let's look at a Pagan scholar's (in both senses of the term) book, Niki Bado's Coming to the Edge of the Circle (Oxford University Press, 2005). Its subtitle is\u00a0 \"A Wiccan Initiation Ritual.\"\u00a0 But is that all that it is about?\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2165#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Coming to the Edge of the Circle: A Wiccan Initiation Ritual","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41FdQcxfVoL._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp%2CTopRight%2C12%2C-18_SH30_OU01_AA160_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7413,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7413","url_meta":{"origin":8654,"position":5},"title":"She’s Dead, She’s Female, She Must Be the Witch!","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a well-known set of standing stones in England called the Rollright Stones \u2014 actually, a dolmen plus a \"circle\" plus a larger standing stone, believed to have been erected at different times in the long Neolithic period. So they have had at least four thousand years to accrue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"archaeology\"","block_context":{"text":"archaeology","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=archaeology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.images.itv.com\/image\/file\/735927\/stream_img.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.images.itv.com\/image\/file\/735927\/stream_img.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.images.itv.com\/image\/file\/735927\/stream_img.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8654"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8660,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8654\/revisions\/8660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}