Practice makes perfect we hope

A Soror (Sister) and I did a walk-thur of the ritual today that we plan on doing at this June Open Full Moon ritual. It was not our first walk-thur for this ritual, and will not be the last. This is the most practice I have done for a ritual in ages (ignoring the daily work and Grade rituals which get a lot of stage time).

Of course, I worry that it is going to be a huge disaster because we have practiced so much. A part of that worry comes from dealing with some Wiccans that can put on a good ritual despite creating it a couple of hours before the performance. Another part of worry comes from the fact that I like to get as close to a deadline as I can before writing anything.

(That last part may just be a bad habit.)

But this ritual really needed to be practiced first. It is not a simple ritual. The very fact that I am mixing Wicca with Golden Dawn material means that I have to rehearse the ritual, and weed out the parts that do not work or are too complicated. Or rather the parts that are not neccessary to the center of the ritual which is the lecture and astrological diagram.

It is the use of the diagram, and lecture to explain it, that makes the practice so neccessary. The ritual script is still in a state of flux as I revise it. The tightrope I am walking is how to present an advanced idea without boring the audience to death.

How advanced an idea? Well, you can put it together from publically available stuff. It is just that your average Wiccan has not looked at the idea because it falls outside of their tradition.

Of course, I can hear the accusation already that I am trying to New Age up Golden Dawn. Or maybe it is Wiccanning Golden Dawn. Either that or I am breaking my secrecy oaths.  Oh whatever the accusation is...I am just going to roll my eyes.

I am a Wiccan who just happens to be a Golden Dawn member. My personal practice has the two traditions living in harmony, and actually benefiting from the co-existence. And that is the whole point of the June OFM, as in the previous years, that a Wiccan can benefit from Golden Dawn training. Or at least, the ones that are serious about working magic as well as worshipping the divine Lord and Lady. The June OFM is more likely to scare off potential members than it is to attract them.

As for my secrecy oaths, unless you were present and actually know what I swore to keep secret, don't assume that you know when I break my secrecy oaths.

And yes, I am tired after the walk-thur...and I really should not read certain writers before doing my own work.

(I will write more about the June Open Full Moon ritual as preparations continue. Just 40 more days to go.)