About Ritual

 

Ritual Protocol

     For those organizing and conducting a ritual

  • Written outline of the ritual with participants defined if possible to be presented to council at the business meeting two months prior to scheduled date of the ritual.
  • If for any reason you cannot facilitate your ritual, please give as much advance notice as possible, to arrange for an alternate circle
  • You should not include nudity in your ritual; all rituals at CUUPS are open rituals.
  • The evening of the ritual, please present an introduction, to explain behavior you expect of participants, as well as specify the purpose of the ritual to them.
  • Please do not plan any sexually explicit elements to your ritual. No sexual simulations, either.
  • Notify the advertising coordinator in accordance with Advertising Committee protocols prior to ritual to allow for printing of flyers and posters, and the distribution of them.
  • If you are planning to smudge, please announce the substance you are smudging with, and smudge outside the church building.
  • There should be no illegal substances in the circle. If a participant has a problem with alcohol, they should abstain, but planner should be able to include adult beverage if desired.
  • Nothing but symbolic sacrifices should be offered in ritual.
  • No body fluids.
  • If for any reason there are names, dreams, wishes written down, you must make sure that they are burned in circle, or otherwise disposed of that evening, to assure participant’s privacy, and to complete the ritual in a proper manner or they should be handed back to participants to take home.
  • Arrange for assistance (i.e. implements, quadrants, etc.) ahead of time, not the evening of the ritual.
  • If energy is to be raised, please have a plan of how you are going to accomplish this, and what you are going to do with it after it is raised.
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    Ritual Etiquette

        For those attending ritual

  • If you are not going to participate (even passively) in the actual ritual, please do not enter the sacred area. What happens in circle, stays in circle.
  • Please arrive for ritual clean and sober. If you are ill, please stay home and get better.
  • Please do not talk in the circle, unless allowed to do so, and save all unsolicited questions for after ritual.
  • Please, this is a sacred moment, no photos.
  • Please do not touch ritual items unless permitted to do so. Sometimes ritual implements are charged, and touching will disturb the energy that has been instilled in the implement.
  • Please ask the facilitator of the ritual if children are permitted in circle. If your children are allowed in circle, and become disruptive, please remove them, or someone else will.
  • Be respectful of different paths/cultures presented in circle. Remember, we need not think alike to love alike.
  • Ground and center before going into circle. Take a few minutes prior to entering the sacred space to remember why you are there, and meditate on the "reason for the season."
  • The rituals of CUUPS are open rituals, and are therefore clothing mandatory.
  • If you must, for any reason, leave circle, please quietly ask one of the hosts to cut you a door. DO NOT RE-ENTER THE CIRCLE. In preparation, please take care of personal hygiene matters prior to entering circle. Please leave all watches, cell phones, pagers, and electronic devices out of circle, unless permitted by the facilitator. If you plan to remove your shoes, please do so prior to entering circle.
  • If you are late to ritual, please do not enter circle – entering circle will disturb the energies that have been drawn down.
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