{"id":8678,"date":"2017-06-26T16:03:23","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T22:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8678"},"modified":"2019-09-02T10:06:21","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T16:06:21","slug":"large-group-ritual-magic-worship-or-just-what-we-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8678","title":{"rendered":"Large-Group Ritual: Magic, Worship, or &#8220;Just What We Do&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/k3DgbmnrOHQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>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, &#8220;Our river\u2019s a fair bit wider, too.&#8221; He describes the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mikolaje.lublin.pl\/index.php?strona=wstep&amp;jezyk=en\"> St. Nicholas Orchestra <\/a>as &#8220;Pagan-friendly,&#8221;\u00a0 and into\u00a0 the &#8220;anti-clerical stratum&#8221; of Polish folk culture. Note the procession!<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>My post from the 18th, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8654\">What Is Wrong With Large-Scale Ritual<\/a>,&#8221; got a lot of responses (thanks!) here and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Letter-from-Hardscrabble-Creek-365704387392\/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE&amp;fref=nf\">on Facebook<\/a>, but I noticed that the responses could be sorted into several categories without too much hammering and shoving.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Lots of large-scale rituals are boring, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8654#comment-27588\">and it&#8217;s time someone said so.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>#1 might be correct, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8654#comment-27596\">but <em>we<\/em> do them right.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Yes, let&#8217;s forget Wiccanesque circles and do processions instead, which is my current position. <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8654#comment-27589\">It&#8217;s about religion, not magical self-transformation.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Jim Dickinson argues that w<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8654#comment-27588\">orship and magic(k) are not incompatible at large rituals:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Relative to the other commenter\u2019s statement that we \u2018should emphasize worship over magic-working\u2019\u2026I believe ritual should be both worship and magick, as often as possible. Magick is the tool that is used to create a space in which the likelihood of spiritual experience is increased. Magick, religion and spirituality are equal parts of the process. Magick helps creates spaces (physical, mental , energetic\u2026etc.) in which spiritual experiences are fostered (against all the anti-spiritual energies in our modern worlds) and religion is the negotiated language we use to try to communicate (albeit imperfectly) to one another the essence of those mystery\/spirit experiences. The synergy of religion and magick is what humans use to try to foster those mystery, spiritual experience for one another. All three are needed for a community to advance together. And a huge part of large-scale ritual, IMHO, should be providing a community bonding component.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But there is a reason that I posted the music video above. It&#8217;s about community too. And in any community you have the 80\/20 rule, meaning that eighty percent of the people are <em>not <\/em>magical specialists and don&#8217;t want to be. They just want a little &#8220;juice&#8221; in their lives now and then, as well as a blessing on their important life moments.((When they are &#8220;hatched, matched, and dispatched,&#8221; as the Anglican vicar says.))<\/p>\n<p>In the 1980s when American Pagan festivals were newish and still somewhat small, almost everyone participated in group ritual. As the attendance grew, so did a tendency that I have noticed at big festivals for people to camp in groups, decorate their camps . . . and then just stay there. Do you want to get them out of their lawn chairs and into the (temporary autonomous) community?<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s another large-scale summer solstice ritual, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rodnover\">Russian Rodnovery<\/a> (Native Faith) this time, <a href=\"http:\/\/video.lefigaro.fr\/figaro\/video\/russie-les-paiens-celebrent-le-solstice-d-ete\/5482823141001\/\">via the French newspaper <em>Le Figaro<\/em>:<\/a><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/players.brightcove.net\/610043537001\/Hkpn3htbg_default\/index.html?videoId=5482823141001\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There is a circle again\u2014it is hard to say how big it is or how long the circle ritual lasted. Children are involved, and there is movement, which are good signs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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, &#8220;Our river\u2019s a fair bit wider, too.&#8221; He describes the St. Nicholas Orchestra as &#8220;Pagan-friendly,&#8221;\u00a0 and into\u00a0 the &#8220;anti-clerical stratum&#8221; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5,218,298,53,6],"class_list":["post-8678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-paganism","tag-poland","tag-ritual","tag-russia","tag-wicca"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-2fY","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8654,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8654","url_meta":{"origin":8678,"position":0},"title":"What Is Wrong with Large-Scale Ritual?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Christianity\"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=christianity"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/maypole4-crystalize.jpg?w=576&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/maypole4-crystalize.jpg?w=576&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/maypole4-crystalize.jpg?w=576&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7500,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7500","url_meta":{"origin":8678,"position":1},"title":"Someday, Pagans Will Have Harlem&#8217;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":8262,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8262","url_meta":{"origin":8678,"position":2},"title":"Call for Papers: Family, Home, and Ways of Life: Living Paganisms in a Globalized World","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Information on the upcoming Family, Home, and Ways of Life: Living Paganisms in a Globalized World conference in Krakow, Poland, 24-25 March 2017, may be found at this link. Presentations may address various issues within the following (suggested) topics: Everyday life of contemporary Pagans Understanding human relationships: from till death\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":6332,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6332","url_meta":{"origin":8678,"position":3},"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":1515,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1515","url_meta":{"origin":8678,"position":4},"title":"Survey on Pagan Coming-of-Age Rituals","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Sociologist Gina Oboler has done good research in the Pagan community before\u2014I used some of her work on Pagans and environmentalism in Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America. Now she is looking at coming-of-age rituals, and if you can offer some experience-based responses, please fill\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10818,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10818","url_meta":{"origin":8678,"position":5},"title":"A Proposal for Honoring the Spirit of the Poudre River","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I had to follow Wind over Tide, \"a folk band specializing in traditional music of the British Isles and Americas with special emphasis on tales of seafaring and adventure,\" which was kind of a challenge. The evening before I was scheduled to give the keynote address at the Fort Collins\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"animism\"","block_context":{"text":"animism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=animism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/floating-biologist.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8678","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=8678"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10814,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8678\/revisions\/10814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}