Cauldron Farm (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cauldronfarm) wrote,@ 2008-03-07 01:29:00 |
|
Asphodel's Beltane gathering is Friday May 2nd to Sunday May 4th. Every year, we ask a different couple to be our Green Man and May Queen. This is a powerful act of magic, and we place certain restrictions on who may take on these roles. Unfortunately, those restrictions exclude most of our members so every year we recruit a new Green Man and May Queen for our Maypole ritual.
The Green Man and May Queen must be:
- A happy couple. You needn't have any formal or legally binding commitment between you, but you must be in a loving and mutually fulfilling romantic relationship. You do not need to be monogamous, but only one May Queen and one Green Man will be in the ritual.
- Male & Female. You needn't be heterosexual, but the Green Man must be biologically male and content in the male role, and the May Queen must be biologically female and content in the female role. We love, honor and celebrate people of all gender expressions and sexual orientations, and welcome their participation in many ways, but we can not be flexible on this point.
- Fertile. You needn't be trying to get pregnant, but you must have the theoretical potential of creating children between you at some point in time. Birth control (including long term hormonal birth control) is fine, but irreversible sterilization is not. The May Queen may not be infertile or past menopause. The Green Man may not be sterile or impotent. Neither may have a deep and abiding aversion to children or childbearing.
- Adult. For religious reasons, both must be past puberty. For legal reasons, both must be past 18 years of age.
- Willing to have sex. We ask that the Green Man and May Queen have sex with each other sometime after the ritual, in the privacy of their own tent. We'll take your word for it. There will be no audience of any kind and it need not follow any special ritual format, but it ought to include the sort of activity that has the theoretical potential for making babies. If they do not wish to get pregnant, we strongly encourage the careful use of reliable birth control, as we have found that this ritual can be strong fertility magic. If they do wish to get pregnant, we offer them the highest blessings!
- Pagan. Under a fairly loose definition of Pagan. We do not care how much experience you have or what tradition you follow, or if you follow any specific tradition at all. This could well be the first public ritual you've ever attended. All we ask is that both of you have some real belief in the power of the ritual, and take the roles seriously.
- In the Ritual. Sounds obvious, but the Green Man & May Queen must be able to give us a firm commitment to actually show up, on time, on Saturday May 3rd for the afternoon Maypole ritual and the preceding activities. They do not have a speaking part, unless they want one. One of them simply chases the other around the Maypole. It doesn't matter who chases who, so long as someone gets caught!
- New. We try to have a new couple every year, so at this time we will not consider a couple who has already done this role at one of our previous Beltane gatherings. We will consider couples where one person has participated with a different partner.
That is it! You can wear whatever you like, within reason, or we can provide you with something suitable. You get free admission to the event. You do not need to stay for the entire weekend, only for Saturday morning & afternoon. You do not need to be a member of Asphodel or have previously attended our events. If this sounds like something you would like to do, please contact Raven at cauldronfarm@hotmail.com or call 978-928-4198.
-- Joshua
