Teaching Ritual Performance

1.   Keep a journal of your work directing five rituals, at least two of which must be ADF High Day rituals and all of which must include five or more total celebrants who have been assigned parts. Submit an essay in which you describe how you directed the celebrants in the following ritual performance elements, and what you learned over the period you journaled. (600 words minimum for essay)

In our grove there were two primary liturgists, myself and another member.  I started the process of keeping this journal prior to Beltane 2017 and continued through Imbolc 2018, during which time I wrote and lead six separate rituals for our grove.  Whenever I wrote our rituals, I tried to be sure to get them completed as early as possible to give people the opportunity to familiarize themselves with their individual parts and rehearse them as needed. 

Prior to the ritual, the script would be reviewed by the officers, and then sent to those that had a part to begin to practice.  Included in those scripts are stage directions that indicate when offerings should be made, what actions we use, and what songs we will sing.  These directions help those who may be doing a part for the first time understand what their role is.   We were unable to hold in person rehearsals because our grove was spread out over several hundred miles, making meeting times nearly impossible. However, despite this challenge we regularly had five to seven people who were willing and able to take on any role in our rituals.

During this time period, we had rites ranging from 15 to 30 attendees and celebrated many different cultures, including Norse, Hittite, Roman, Celtic, and Greek pantheons.  Additionally, we regularly had new attendees at our rites, so at the beginning of the ritual itself we included a section that included who we were, what we would be celebrating, and a brief description of the Core Order itself to give people an idea of what to expect. 

Intentional Movement

            We structured our ritual space so that everyone was lined up in a half circle facing the altar.  Each person who had a part was directed to step forward into the circle, toward the altar, when it was time to perform their part.  Doing so allowed the attendees to know who was speaking and helped focus their attention appropriately.  Additionally, those who had offerings to make were given stage directions both in their script and in our meeting prior to the rituals as to the appropriate time and place to make their offerings.  By having the celebrants move intentionally leading up to their part, we effectively helped draw the attention of the attendees to the correct person and helped guide them through the rite without confusion as to who was talking or what was happening.

            If we have someone new doing a part, such as opening the gates, I tried to meet with them to discuss potential movement and gestures that can be utilized to show the symbolism and help build energy.  Ultimately, they are allowed to use whatever motion they felt worked best for them.

Internalized Text

In our grove, we did not require that everyone “memorize” their ritual part, and members were allowed to use ritual scripts if they were more comfortable doing so.  However, for those that did have an interest in going without a script, they were highly encouraged to internalize the text instead of memorizing it.  They were told that what they said did not have to match the script exactly and they were free to speak from their hearts in their parts.  Additionally, we also gave people the opportunity to write their own ritual part instead of having something written for them to make internalization seem more natural for them.

There have been special times, such as a person who has chosen to open the gates, that they decided they wanted to be free from a script.  I met with them via Google Hangouts to review their parts as written a few times, then gave them the opportunity to speak from their heart and try to hit the key points in the actual speech.  While occasionally people were nervous, with the support of our grove things always worked out well. 

Vocal Projection

The ritual space for our rites was the green space outside of a local metaphysical store.  While this gave us great exposure, it was also a high traffic area so there were times that the ritual space itself could seem quite loud.  In addition to stepping into the circle to draw attention, celebrants were told to project their voices, speaking in a loud and powerful voice while not yelling.  We also try to keep in contact with each other and use subtle hand signals for someone to know they need to speak up more in the moment.  I’ve even made the suggestion that some celebrants should try to make the passing cars hear their spoken words to increase projection for quieter members.

Diction

Diction and clear speech is very important to a ritual.  Because or space can be loud, mumbling would mean that the words may be lost completely.  This explanation is also gone over when we are discussing vocal projection in the ritual overview. Additionally, we take the time to review pronunciation of specific cultural words that people may stumble over or feel less confident speaking to help with diction for their parts.

Use of ritual space

As I mentioned previously, our altar is set up at one end of our ritual space.  We use the same set up for all of our rituals so both the attendees and celebrants are familiar with the space itself.  The regular attendees are staged through the procession so they can guide the new people both in how we line up and the songs that we may be singing.  Additionally, if someone new was opening the gates they were given guidance on how to interact with the Fire, Well, and Tree specifically in their movement and gestures to help guide the energy and focus of the participants.

Use of Props

For our grove, there are a few props that make a regular appearance in our rites.  Our grove has a set of jars that are used for offerings. The celebrants are given their jar(s) prior to the start of the rite and told where to make the offerings and where to place the jar once they have finished.  This consistency makes clean up easier and helps make our performance look more cohesive. 

There are also situations where there are additional props, such as our Samhain ritual, where individual attendees are encouraged to bring memorabilia of their loved ones to place on the altar.  During our pre-ritual briefing, attendees are told to bring their items with them and place them on the altar before finding their space.  Many people bring photos or items from their loved ones.  It gives our attendees a deeper connection to the ritual itself, which can be quite moving.  Additionally, our grove always supplies additional offerings for people to use during the praise offerings of the ritual for people who may have a desire to make an unexpected offering.  We specifically mention this during the ritual itself as well so that everyone, even new attendees, know they are welcome to use the items. 
What I Learned:

I have been one of only two liturgists for my grove for the past five years.  Tracking this information over the course of nearly a year shows me that there are some things we do very well, such as explaining movements and when actions should be done, but there are definitely some items that we could do better, such as internalizing the text.  Because we explore a different hearth culture each high day and live so far apart this continues to be a challenge.  However, despite that, I’m proud of my grove. We have moved from only me doing the entire ritual to having a number of people that desire to have a part, which is definitely a positive change in my opinion.

2.   Write an essay describing how you selected celebrants for ritual parts in the above 5 ritual performances and reflect upon your selections following each ritual performed. (minimum 200 words)

We run a very democratic group, allowing people to select which parts they would like to perform for each ritual, if they want to take a part at all.  We even give them the option to write their own part if they would like, although most often my grove mates preferred that I write their parts for them.  Our grove has a somewhat unique situation where our members are spread out over a several hundred mile radius, so getting together for an evening of rehearsals isn’t really an option.  Instead, we would hold meetings via Google Hangout to hammer out details and explain pronunciation and other potential issues.  Then, prior to our public rituals, participants are asked to arrive early, both to help with set up and to again review the script for any last-minute questions or concerns.  By allowing people to select their own parts, they’re given the opportunity to select a part they are comfortable with. 

For those people who do not select a specific part, but instead just volunteer to take a part, I take into consideration their ritual experience and comfort with public ritual.  Those who are more experienced are often given bigger roles, including those that may require some energy work, such as working with the waters of life or opening the gates.  Someone who is new is often given a smaller part, such as calling a single Kindred until we are more familiar with their skills and their comfort level in ritual.  Overall, this process has worked well for our group and allows us to keep a consistent number of people participating, while still allowing new people the opportunity to join in as well.