Beltane with Wild Hare Protogrove

[saffronhare]

A long message, but chock-full of fun details about Wild Hare's Beltane Rite on this coming Saturday. Email or comment here with questions. I'm sure I've forgotten something.

It's at my place. Drop me an email if you need directions. Dress however you like, but do please plan not to be naked.

We'll be exploring another variation on ADF format, so any of you who were worried about who was going to do what can rest your pretty heads about it. :) Plan to arrive at 3 p.m. or as close to it as you can manage. Ritual should start by 3:30 p.m. and I expect to be finished in about an hour, plus a bit of hanging-out time afterwards. You should be free to go about your Beltane evenings by 5 p.m.

While there may be a few places where I'll ask you to do something specific for the ritual (like, hey, light this candle, will you? or read this, maybe?), we *definitely* need help with supplies and offerings. Here's what we need -- and lots of it:

fresh flowers to dress the well
phallic symbols up the whazoo (pun intended, but not literally)
sparkly and jingly things we can tie to trees for the sidhe
cakes and ale (for ourselves, and for offerings)
drums (for, er, drumming and stuff)

Please note that there will be some serious sexual metaphorgy goin' on, but nothing that involves nudity. There will be kissing of phallic symbols by those who wish to do so, and plunging said symbols into wells and chalices with exclamations and blessings, for example. I bet we'll all be snickering just a teensy bit, so judge for yourself how much you want your young ones involved. I'm sure my eldest daughter will be mortified, but I don't think she'll be scarred in any way by the experience if she chooses to take part.

And, more along the lines of "choosing your own adventure," there are parts of the ritual where we'll be dividing up into masculine and feminine. It's for magical-intentional purposes, so be prepared to choose one for yourself that day.

As always, our rituals are open to the public. But since this'll be at my house and we have limited capacity, I'd rather not market it super-hard. Feel free to pass the invitation on to people you figure might be interested.

UPDATE: Somebody cleverly posted a question about "how phallic is phallic?" on the e-list, which seemed worth answering here too.

As for phallic symbols, I'm talking mostly about representations of penises or masculine energy (as a counter to the chalices), primarily made out of natural materials. We will not be flashing actual flesh-and-blood penises or using battery-powered items.

I bet this goes unsaid, but I'm going to say it anyway: please don't bring something just because you think it'll be funny, or because it'll "totally work!" That's not quite the sentiment we're after, if you dig. Thanks. :)

Comments

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

Not that she wouldn't anyway, but really, featherynscale would squoosh her. :-)

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Well, she'd mock and sneer at me, for sure.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

I meant it metaphorically. :-)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Wait. What? Why would I do that?

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Squoosh who? In the happy fun way, or the not so happy fun way?

This thread perplexes me.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

We were just acknowledging that when people get all pointedly specific about saying "Girls on one side, boys on the other," you tend to want to squoosh or mock something, perhaps them. Whether or not Saff would get squooshed is incidental because she is highly unlikely to ever say or mean such a thing.