Rules:Ceremonies

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Introduction to Ceremonies

written by Aurenous Olaf Mericavil

Introduction

A ceremony is a simple process of asking the aid of a Prion, what less civilised people think of as Gods.

It is understood by this point that your studies will have covered the basics of Power, the interaction of the spheres, and the differences between the wills of the gods (Good, Neutral, Evil) and the powers of the Prions, coming as they do from the primary spheres (Nature, Life, Good, Evil, Balance). Having had this basic grounding, you may now couple that with the knowledge of your chosen prion, and within the realms, history, and sphere of influence of the prion be able to produce a ceremony that can call upon their favour and grace.

A ceremony has five stages, The Address, The Praise, The Request, The Sacrifice, The Thanks. These stages here are laid out separately for ease of discussion, though in a real ceremony you may flow from one to the other, and back again. Particularly in the case of The Address and The Praise, these two in particular are sections that you will find yourself repeating. You are calling upon your Prion, and they need to hear you above the noise of others. This can be particularly important if your ceremony opposes another ceremony happening at the same time. Similarly, you may find that you move between The Request and The Sacrifice. The only exception is The Thanks, which, while lengthy, is often only required the once.

The Address.

This section is where an acolyte should name their Prion. This should be done using their full name and titles, and include any world-based and personal accolades for the Prion.

I call upon sacred Dana, Prion of Tea and Biscuits. They who offered hospitality for guests, for those who have had a good day, those that have had a bad day, and those who have had a shock or a fright. I give you thanks, Dana, for your bounty in my time I'd darkness, your hospitality brought me joy and made everything look a little better.

This section should be complete, and include the way in which you came to know your Prion. Remember that this should be positive about your connection with your Prion, frame difficulties as times is growth and learning, struggles as obstacles that have helped you to know your Prion better. It is often worth remembering here any chastisement by your prion, whether spent or unspent. They will know you by this, and it will keep you mindful of the sacrifices that are to come. Forgetting a chastisement, even a spent one, can make you seem haughty instead of humble. The chastisement itself is a chance for you to show your Prion what you have learned in their name.

This section can be as long or as short as you like. Be aware that in more powerful ceremonies it may be necessary to expand the address, and you may need to revisit it. It is helpful to have an opening memorised, or written down that you can expand on. Name the Prion, using their multitude of names. Each prion will have titles that they payer, and in the case of dual-power prions, call the are most relevant to your request. Where there is a list of names consider repeating the names. Here it is worth remembering the mystical power of numbers. Prime numbers above one seem to be most effective.a

The Praise

It is only fair and right that we offer praise to our chosen Prion. There is a reason that we have chosen our prion, and they have, in their wisdom and power, given us a share of their power, and invited us to take part in their mission in the world.

This praise can take the form of song, or chant. Experienced Acolytes often have their own that they have written, or comissioned from the various scribes and bards about Orin Rakatha. I have gathered a selection of those that I have heard used, with various effect. Many songs will make passable chants, and many poems can be given a simple tune.

It is possible to include instruments, and even to pay a bard or two to aid with the singing if you so require, though that will be more about personal flavour, than desire from the Prion. The prion cares not about the delivery, though mark that you deliver it with scinecrity, but rather on the focus of the heart. A song delivered by the most tone-deaf singer, yet delivered with deep an abiding intent will be better recieved than the best bard who has only come to sing for coin.

For example, this could be sung or chanted directed at a Prion.

((OOC Note: The idea here is to say away from religious songs (eg hymns). This is meant to be fun, and we have no wish to insult anyone's religious practice. The intent here it so show how songs about love, and poems about love can be repurposed to make passable chants or songs that work in a fantasy setting without insulting anyone. It can be sometimes be hard to avoid illusions of religious devotion in older poems, so please use with caution. If in doubt, please ask!)

Come What May

(Prion’s Name) I Never knew I could feel like this

Like I’ve never seen the sky before I want to vanish inside your power

Every day I´m loving you more and more Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings

Telling me to give you everything

Seasons may change, winter to spring

But I love you until the end of time

(Omit if Chanted) Come what may

Come what may I will love you until my dying day

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place

Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace

Suddenly my life doesn´t seem such a waste It all revolves around you And there´s no mountain too high

No river too wide

(Omit if Chanted) Sing out this song

I´ll be there by your side Storm clouds may gather

And stars may collide But I love you until the end of time

Oh, come what may, come what may I will love you, I will love you

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place

(Tune: Come What May, Ewan McGregor, Nicole Kidman)

My First, My Last, My Everything

Ahh, the first, my last, my everything

And the answer to all my dreams

You're my sun, my moon, my guiding star

My kind of wonderful, that's what you are

I know there's only, only one like you

There's no way, they could have made two

You're all I'm living for

Your love I'll keep for evermore

You're the first, you're the last, my everything

In you, I've found so many things

A love so new only you could bring

Can't you see if you

You make me feel this way

You're like a first morning dew

On a brand new day

I see so many ways that I

Can love you, 'til the day I die

You're my reality, yet I'm lost in a dream

You're the first, the last, my everything

I know there's only, only one like you

There's no way they could have made two

(Name of Prion) you're my reality But I'm lost in a dream

You're the first, you're the last, my everything

You and me Just you and me

Ya you are the first, the last

My everything

[My First, My Last, My Everything, Barry White]

Every Breath I Take

This one works well for the darker Prions, who may not wish such simple praise.

Every breath I take

And every move I make

Every bond I break, every step I take

I'll be watching me

Every single day

And every word I say

Every game I play, every night I stay

You’ll be watching me

Oh, can't you see?

You belong to me

How my poor heart aches

With every step you take

Every move you make

And every vow you break

Every smile you fake, every claim you stake

I'll be watching you

Since you've gone, I've been lost without a trace

I dream at night, I can only see your face

I look around, but it's you I can't replace

I feel so cold, and I long for your embrace

I keep crying, (Name of Prion, Name of Prion), please

Oh, can't you see?

You belong to me

How my poor heart aches

With every step you take

Every move you make

And every vow you break E

very smile you fake, every claim you stake

I'll be watching you

Every move I make, every step I take

You’ll be watching me.

You’ll be watching me.

(Police, Every Breath You Take)

Sorry

Sometimes you need something that reaches a little darker than the above. This could also be used as a way of seeking contrition from a prion.

You might kill me with desire Wind me tighter than a wire It's something that you do to me

I run away like mercury

And I know you think it's rough

When you're tryna patch us up

And I say, "[Name of Prion], what is love?"

You just say I drink too much

Maybe I'm defective

Or maybe I'm dumb

I'm sorry, so sorry for what I've done

Maybe I'm bad natured

Or maybe I'm young

I'm sorry, so sorry for what I've done

And on the shirt that I wear

Pick the thorns out of my hair

I broke your heart so carelessly

But made the pieces part of me

And now it hurts what we've become

'Cause you taught me how to love

It's me who taught you how to stop

And you just say I drink too much

Maybe I'm defective

Or maybe I'm dumb

I'm sorry, so sorry for what I've done

Maybe I'm bad natured

Or maybe I'm young

I'm sorry, so sorry for what I've done

I've waited for this

I'm ready for it

I've waited for this

I'm ready for it

I've been waiting so long

I've waited for this

I'm ready for it

I've waited for this

I'm ready for it

I've been waiting so long

Maybe I'm defective

Or maybe I'm dumb

I'm sorry, so sorry for what I've done

Maybe I'm bad natured

Or maybe I'm young

I'm sorry, so sorry for what I've done

[Sorry, by Nothing But Thieves]

Clothes of Heaven

While the above have the meter of song, you may find yourself in need of some form of praise that fills a gap between the two.

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:[My Prion]

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

[Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven” by W.B. Yeats]

I wish I could remember the first day

I wish I could remember that first day,

First hour, first moment of your meeting me,

If bright or dim the season, it might be

Summer or Winter for aught I can say;

So unrecorded did it slip away,

So blind was I to see and to foresee,

So dull to mark the budding of my tree

That would not blossom yet for many a May.

If only I could recollect it, such

A day of days! I let it come and go

As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;

It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;

If only now I could recall that touch,

First touch of heart in heart – Did one but know!

[I wish I could remember that first day” by Christina Rossetti]

The Summer Day

A chant or offering perhaps suitable for one following the nature sphere

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean —

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down —

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

["The Summer Day, by Mary Oliver]

Conqueror Wormd

This one is easily adapted for Death, or Nature, depending on your want.

Lo! ’t is a gala night

  Within the lonesome latter years!  

An angel throng, bewinged, bedight

  In veils, and drowned in tears,  

Sit in a theatre, to see

  A play of hopes and fears,

While the orchestra breathes fitfully  

  The music of the spheres.

Mimes, in the form of Prions on high,  

  Mutter and mumble low,

And hither and thither fly—

  Mere puppets they, who come and go  

At bidding of vast formless things

  That shift the scenery to and fro,

Flapping from out their Condor wings

  Invisible Wo!

That motley drama—oh, be sure  

  It shall not be forgot!

With its Phantom chased for evermore  

  By a crowd that seize it not,

Through a circle that ever returneth in  

  To the self-same spot,

And much of Madness, and more of Sin,  

  And Horror the soul of the plot.

But see, amid the mimic rout,

  A crawling shape intrude!

A blood-red thing that writhes from out  

  The scenic solitude!

It writhes!—it writhes!—with mortal pangs  

The mimes become its food,

And seraphs sob at vermin fangs

  In human gore imbued.

Out—out are the lights—out all!  

  And, over each quivering form,

The curtain, a funeral pall,

  Comes down with the rush of a storm,  

While the Luxtem, all pallid and wan,  

  Uprising, unveiling, affirm

That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”  

  And its hero, the Conqueror Worm.

The Request

There is much ink (and blood) spilled on whether The Request or The Sacrifice should come first. It is perhaps best to think of them as a single combined section. The Request outlines precisely what it is that you are requesting, and that, in it's main, will outline the what sacrifices and acolyte may need to make.

State your request. state it with respect, and address your prion by name and with their relevant title. State your request clearly, and succinctly. If your request requires context, remember that you are drawing the prions attention to the context, not telling them what's going. Do not take lack of action for lack of knowledge. Remember, the Prion sees all things, and specificity helps the context of the request.

The Sacrifice

Sacrifice has three parts, sacrifice of power, of wealth, and of devotion. Each ceremony will require different levels of each, but all must be present. These three are the Sacrifice of Power, the Sacrifice of Wealth, and the Sacrifice of Elevation.

Sacrifice of Power

Here a priest uses their Prion-gifted magick to form the band with their pPrion. This is offered freely, and without expectation of return. This is particularly important in ceremonies where acolytes of multiple spheres are interacting to achieve a goal.

Sacrifice of Wealth,

Here the wealth must be pleasing to the prion, and be in harmony with the request. Here, again, prime numbers over 1 should be your guide as to amount, and often more can produce a favourable response from a Prion who has found the ceremony thus for lack-luster, or the request is complex one.

Sacrifice of Elevation

This sacrifice can be the most difficult. It is in this section that sacrifices of magical items, limbs, people, and dedication to stricter following of a prions tenants go. It may seem that each ceremony may then be extracting a bigger and bigger sacrifice of devotion, however an imaginative cleric can find ways of linking the ceremony to the sacrifice.

For example, a ceremony to defeat an ancient evil may contain the devotion that the cleric will ensure the evil is defeated or die trying. This would be a fine devotion and eminent by practical, with the consequences outlined and obvious.

The sacrifice of elevation can be future tense-that the acolyte will raise 20 commodities for the poor; share of alcohol; give up cake for a year. Be careful to not save off things that you would not miss-if you do not drink, offering sobriety is not an act of devotion. It is important here that this is taken seriously, with the intention of making an active difference to the Prion. Many of the temples of Orin Rakatha were built by an acolyte seeking to achieve a difficult ceremony.

The Negotiation

This is not a formal part of the ceremony, but it is an experience that many have had. A Prion may desire your ceremony to secede, but your sacrifice may be lacking.

In these instances it's not unheard of for the Prion to seek greater sacrifices, or even a specific item offered in another ceremony to grant the request. It is rare here that you will speak directly with the Prion, but rather you will get perhaps a sense that your sacrifice has not yet reached the mark. Do not, in this instance, seek to simply 'add one' to 'get over the line'. Explore what you have already done, and consider where you can increase your sacrifice. It may be that you have offered much wealth, but little in the way of elevation, or power.

The Thanks

As the ceremony ends, it behoves us to offer thanks to the Prions that attended our request: whether it was granted or not. This respectful thanks should be at least as long as the request offered, and it is sensible that this praise is vociferous and with gusto. It is helpful here to recall hymns of praise as thanks, as well as to voice your own specific thanks based on the granted request.

A formal Ceremony ends with all present bowing to the centre. In ceremonies with many acolytes, take it in turns so that each can offer their complete thanks, and bow at the end of your thanks, then join in with others for a final bow to signify the end of the ceremony.

A Note on Ceremonies

A ceremony can be held in any suitably-created space. Orin Rakatha itself is considered to be hallowed land, though you may find that ceremonies are easier if held near relevant places in the world. The site of a great battle may please a Prion of honour, a graveyard may please a Prion of death, a forrest a prion of nature. That said, any non-corrupted land will work.

To create a space for your ceremony, you must mark the place out as prepared. This should be a circle, edged with something visible to ensure that mortals do not cross it. This can be done with rope, or cloaks, chalk or stones. Walking the circle and offering prayer to a Prion is enough to set this apart, but remember that once you leave the circle will be broken and you will need to start again. An acolyte will feel the sense of connection once the location has been suitably prepared. This barrier of power will protect those within from most dangers, but only while the ceremony continues.

Ceremonies held in time of danger can include a chant for hallowed ground. This will petition the deity for protection during the Ceremony. This offers powerful protection, though this protection has limits -not because the deity has limits, but because it is only as powerful as can be channelled by the priests chanting the hallowed ground.

The benefits of Ceremonies.

• A Boon: A specific power, support or blessing

• A Vision: A vision can help a priest be guided by their god in times of uncertainty. Vision can be clear and direct, but they are rare. Most often they are emotions, or cryptic pictures to be interpreted by the priest.

• Healings: Deities can offer healings for injuries. In extreme cases, even rare diseases and curses.

• Resuscitations - In ancient times truly devout acolytes could resurrect worthy people in ceremonies.

This is just a small list - the limits of ceremonies are often in the limits of the imaginations of the acolytes.