Pagan Blog Project – week 24 – L#2 – Laughter

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 Pagan Blog Project – week 24 – L#2 – Laughter

Back in the day, my dear Bishop-friend would sign his emails “laughter is the best medicine.” At the time I found it to be very appropriate for him. He’s a jolly guy with an eclectic sense of humor. And certainly he’s seen his fair share of hardship in his life, so it only made sense that laughter meant a lot to him, or in some instances, was therapeutic.To him, laughter is medicine. 

One of the best lessons I learned as a Baby Pagan was that the Gods like to laugh. They do! Certainly my foundational/training coven had its serious moments, but for the most part, we loved to get together to laugh. There was no type of humor that was off-limits, from light and campy to very dark and macabre. We loved sarcasm, puns, and even the occasional fart joke.

http://arthistory.berkeley.edu/

The Coven had a favorite story from a ritual that was from before my time. In our tradition, the High Priest and High Priestess would call God and Goddess for every ritual. How they did the invocation was up to them – let it come to them, free form, complex, simple, scripted, memorized, etc. Mostly, they just made it up on the spot, or rather, let the words come to them for what was appropriate for that moment or that ritual, or whichever words came to them through Divine Inspiration. So, in this one particular ritual, the High Priestess gave a really eloquent invocation. Really top-notch impressive When it came to the High Priest (who was very well spoken and educated) his mind went totally blank! He said he started to freak out, and the only words that came to him were those from Monty Python…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregmce/298362974/

“O Lord...

Ooh, You are so big...

So absolutely huge.

Gosh, we're all really impressed down here, I can tell You.”

http://www.metmuseum.org

So the whole Coven started laughing and said their “blessed be's” and continued the ritual, and despite the perceived “mistake”, the group said that the High Priest's “stumble” really added to the ritual. They laughed and laughed and laughed, they felt goofy and silly, but sometimes we’re just so overwhelmed by the wonder and majesty of the universe that we can't help but get a little tongue tied, especially in the middle of ritual. Well, Gosh. We’re just so impressed, I tell you what.

Also, it’s nice to not take oneself so seriously.

http://enkiisacosmicheroe.blogspot.com

So this ability to laugh during rituals is something that was instilled in me early on in my Pagan studies, and it’s something I haven’t lost. (At least, I hope not.) Gee, of all the mistakes that can be made during a ritual, I feel like I’ve made them all! I’ve caught stuff on fire, or had no fire, or spilled water, or angered the gods, or forgot all of my supplies, or spoke over someone’s part, or didn’t write a part, or skipped whole parts of the ritual, or my mind went blank, or it became overwhelmed, or someone farted, or I burped, or… anything!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baubo

And what I’ve learned is that what we do can be really serious and really solemn, yes. But we’re just humans, and humans are pretty goofy and weird, and that Deity really, truly has a sense of humor. Just look at mythology. Some of that shit is really fucking weird. So the Gods know how to laugh, and I think they like it when we laugh, too. After all, the Charge of the Goddess reminds us

“Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals.”

So don’t worry so much about fucking your stuff up. It will be okay. Just laugh, diffuse the tension, gather your thoughts, and continue on what you were doing. For realsies. Laugh at yourself sometimes, because I promise, the Gods are laughing at you, too.

Pagan Blog Project - week 19 - J – Just Dance!

Pagan Blog Project - week 19 - J#1 – Just Dance!

Oh, Thebes, nurse of Semele, crown your hair with ivy! Grow green with bryony! Redden with berries! O city, with boughs of oak and fir, come dance the dance of god! Fringe your skins of dappled fawn with tufts of twisted wool! Handle with holy care the violent wand of god! And let the dance begin! He is Bromius who runs to the mountain! To the mountain! Where the throng of women waits, driven from shuttle and loom, possessed by Dionysos!
Euripidies, The Bacchae, trans. Richmond Lattimore

Just dance!

I went to a concert recently (ARACDE FIRE) and I danced the whole time. I didn’t care how goofy I looked – a solitary fat sweaty girl in a space dress and a tiara, dancing and singing my heart out. It helped that I was in a different city (hell, a different state) and I thought “gee, I don’t know these people. I’ll never know these people. I don’t care what they think of me.” And I didn’t, and it was incredibly liberating and I had the best time ever.

I’ve been trying to dance more. I’m not very good at dancing. I’m not coordinated and I don’t have rhythm. But I really enjoy it. I really really really love dancing, actually. I love to go to dance parties and to go to concerts and to dance in my car and around the house when no one is home. I try to dance more and more every week, and one day when I have time and money (ha) I hope to take swing dance lessons with my husband so we can learn how to dance for realsies.

Dancing was never really on my radar until I went to a Midsummer ritual a few years ago, with a locally famous circle dance teacher in attendance. We spent hours outside in the heat and with the mosquitoes, dancing to the Cosmos. And while there were about a dozen of us, we were all too busy dancing for ourselves and for our Gods that it didn’t matter how goofy we all might have looked. No one was watching us because we were too busy focusing on ourselves, trying to get the moves right.

When I’m facilitating rituals that involve movement or chanting, I try to reiterate this – that we aren’t doing the ritual for each other, we’re singing or dancing for Deity. It doesn’t matter how bad we think we sound – Deity is just glad that we’re singing and dancing and chanting and sending them love and devotion and energy. And if it’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that the Cosmos have a sense of humor, so even if we look or feel a bit goofy, it’s okay. The Goddess loves to laugh, especially when we are laughing at ourselves.

It’s hard to get into this mindset. Believe me, I know. After years of occasionally crippling social anxiety, it’s taken a lifetime to work up to this point, where I can sing and dance for Deity, that I can have fun with my voice and with my body. But certain Deities who I have been working with in recent years really want their devotees to do these things, so in my love to Them, I’ve been trying to put forth the extra effort. (Which is admittedly much easier when I’m by myself or in Priestess-Mode...)

Dancing can be a lot of fun, and ritually, it does a lot, too. It raises energy on many levels. Your body gets hot and sweaty and that raises physical energy. Your raise your voice as you sing or shout or chant, which is the energy of physical vibrations in the air. You push toward your comfort zones, which can be an act of sacrifice or devotion. It’s like telling the Gods “this makes me kind of uncomfortable but I love you so much I’m gonna push through it.” It’s an emotional exercise, pushing through the anxiety of dancing or on a less-traumatic level, having fun! The emotions of fun and ecstasy create energy, and that energy can be sent out to the universe! It takes mental energy to focus on dance moves, or even mental energy to allow your mind to let go a bit. All of these energies combine to create magical energy, especially if dancing within a magical circle or ritualized setting.

I recognize that dancing isn’t for everyone, but I do feel like most have a lot to gain by dancing a bit, if just around the house or while you’re in the car or at a nightclub or even in your dreams. Dancing might be a bit awkward at first, but the more you do it, the more joy you’ll feel, and the more the Universe will be celebrated. And the more magic you’ll create with your mind, body, and spirit.