Fringe Imbolc

[dreaminghope]

Last night, Silver Spiral ran our first "public" ritual in quite some time. It was Fringe's Imbolc. I conclude that it went well.

The labyrinth was even more beautiful then I had imagined, thanks to Russ' help with the placement of electrical cords and everyone's help untangling the Christmas lights and crawling on the floor taping them down. I hope Cin's digital pictures came out OK so they can be posted (hint-hint). And we only lost five or so bulbs - a couple during set-up, a couple during the ritual itself, and one during clean-up - not bad, I figure, for delicate bulbs being strung out on the floor and having people walk right next to them.

The crowd was pretty small. I think we counted twenty people outside of Silver Spiral and those we had recruited to help. But it turned out to be almost the perfect size for the space involved, and it meant that the labyrinth walks didn't take forever.

The room was nice and dramatically dark for the parts where it was supposed to be, the labyrinth shone, the drums echoed beautifully, the chanting was gorgeous, and I think the energy flowed beautifully.

There were some rough spots, but nothing the participants probably really noticed. Certainly nothing that really hurt the ritual. And we all recovered nicely from some unintended dramatic pauses.

The funny thing to me is that I don't think people quite knew that the ritual was over. The problem with running an unconventional ritual is that people aren't quite sure what's going to happen next, so they are afraid to assume anything. Even when we turned on the lights, people were sort of standing there, unsure of what to do. Since we had intended to keep everyone on their toes a little by deliberately not following the normal "script", I take the still silence at the end as a sign of success, at least in that goal. No one really moved until someone who was in the ritual spotted Lisa, a late arrival, lurking in the kitchen window, squealed and sprinted out of the ritual area. Though it wasn't quite the end we had planned, it was effective!

Silver Spiral folks: Did anyone get any feedback? I would love to know what people thought of the ritual. Did they "get it"? Was it too weird and abstract? Not weird enough? If you got any feedback, good or bad, please post it so I can work the suggestions/thoughts into future rituals... I've got ideas (... be afraid, be very afraid...).

And, there was drumming and dancing and catching up with people I don't get to see very often, like Alex, the atheist doctor of philosophy who likes hanging out with Pagans, including participating in rituals, because we are more fun. So I call the evening a success.

Comments

[tareija.livejournal.com]

Dallas and I both got only positive feedback. A few people came up to us afterwards and said, "Nice ritual", and things to that effect.

Ah, the squealing... I was so embarassed about that. Oh well. I don't think anyone minded except me.

[dreamhope.livejournal.com]

Don't be embarassed! I certainly didn't mind, and if you hadn't have done it, I don't know how we would have broken the group's confused trance.

[estrellada.livejournal.com]

Dude, I missed out. Must go next time.

[breklor.livejournal.com]

I quite liked your rit :) If I had one major criticism it would be that I think some people need to learn to project, but it was generally well done! The use of drumming was very effective. The labyrinth was really beautiful. It's a shame that making it out of that plastic tubing with lights inside would have been really hideously expensive (I think - I could be wrong) because that stuff is a lot more durable.

Just think - keep this up and in a few years you'll have a Silver Spiral trad to call your own :)

[dreamhope.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the need for projection... I read your piece on the benefits of acting training for people who lead rituals and thought it was quite an inspired idea. It was a good thing the circle wasn't any bigger, or some people wouldn't have been heard at all (and I know that probably includes me... I hate speaking in public).

And I too would have loved the tubed lights... maybe if I save up, I'll be able to get some at the after-Christmas sales next year.

Thank you for the supportive words!

[breklor.livejournal.com]

Kick ass :) I really enjoyed your rit and I hope to see more!

[cinnamonsqueak.livejournal.com]

The tube lights was an original idea but we couldn't find any!!!

Was I one who needed to project? I like to know how I'm coming off. Its been a long time since I did acting. :)

[breklor.livejournal.com]

They have tube lights at Home Depot and/or Rona, and possibly other places - look up "Lighting" in the phone book. There might even be places that will rent them out...

I could clearly hear and understand all of you but in a larger crowd nearly all of you would have lost at least some words. I don't want to be too critical, because you all did a wonderful job, but this is kind of a personal campaign of mine :)

And in the meantime, pay attention to Gandalf. But tone him down a bit :)

[tareija.livejournal.com]

If I had one major criticism it would be that I think some people need to learn to project, but it was generally well done!

Hey Andrew.... am I included in this? Seriously, this a no offense zone, I would really like your feedback.

[breklor.livejournal.com]

I could hear everything that everyone was saying, but there wasn't a one of you who would not have lost at least a few words in a noisier circle.

It's not a major criticism, but as I was saying, it's my campaign right now :)

[cinnamonsqueak.livejournal.com]

everyone i talked to thought it was great. Sheryl really thought it was beautiful, everyone else seemed very positive. Craig had a good time, and so I think all in all we rocked.

[particle-man6.livejournal.com]

You guys rock! But I expect that from Dreamhope. I sometimes think that if she were given a shoe, a piece of string, a cracker, some gatorade and a candle, she could come up with an emergency rit. on the fly in 10 minutes. :)

Personally, I thought that the ritual was addressing the unconscious desire for the cold dark days to be over, already, and also to get us ready to move on with our lives. For me, the stumbles not only didn't detract from the rit., they were part of it, since stumbling in the dark for a while and concentrating on the moment (nothing like holding a flaming candle to do that!) was part of the point, at least for me. Now if you wanted to convey more than that, then I might have missed the point.

Wearing black worked for this rit, but you might use different colours for different times of the year.

Overall, I liked it. A lot. Good job, people!

So what is the Silver Spiral trad., and how does it differ from "ye olde generic pagan" trad?

[dreamhope.livejournal.com]

Thank you! You got it in terms of what we were aiming for in the ritual, which is really neat to hear.

Silver Spiral actually doesn't have a trad at this point, as we have members with Wiccan training, members with backgrounds in energy work, and members with only self-training, so we try different things depending on who is running the ritual.

That said, we tried something different with this ritual compared to "generic Pagan" rituals. Generally, "generic Pagan" still relies on Wiccan/ceremonial ritual structure. This is, roughly speaking:
- Cleanse the space and/or the participants.
- Cast the Circle.
- Call the four quarters.
- Invoke the Divine.
- Raise power to some goal.
- Undo the whole thing.

The fact that nearly every Fringe and public ritual, and probably most of the private rituals, that every Pagan has been to relies on this formula means that people always know what is coming next, so they often anticipate that next step. So, part of our theme of being in the moment was to turn the ritual structure over just enough so that people couldn't necessarily think ahead, but had to think about what was happening right in front of them.

Thank you for coming to it; it was really good to see you!