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Oh yes, and back to the question I missed:
Can you talk more about how your group structures this, Ember?
Okay, so once again, I'm in multiple groups, and can only tell you my own experience [insert appropriate disclaimer here]
My experience of the structure of posession rituals in our Heathen context (casually called "God Parties", though I prefer to avoid the word "party" in this context, since it tends to lead to bad impressions).
There are two major Heathen Posessory events held by Hrafnar each year. One for Odin in January, which lately has been more of an All-thing, and one in May focused on the Vanir. I run a group called the Vanic Conspiracy that holds much smaller Vanic devotionals about four times a year. Both the VC and Hrafnar have some other events that allow for, but do not require the physical presence of our gods. And then also Seidhjallr (and, I'm sure other Seidh groups) encounter gods posessessing the seer in the chair if a question is asked along those lines.
For the larger Posessory-focused events, there's a fair amount of structure as Heathen things go. The Host sets the boundaries both ahead of time in the wording of the invitation and explanation, and during the ritual by setting space, announcing things, asking who wants to avoid trance, pointing out who the warders are, and leading the schedule of invocations. There may or may not be a designated singer to lead the music, or a designated medium to get the ball rolling for each deity called.
The warding team confers ahead of time as to who intends to stay completely grounded and who of the more experienced switch-hitters may take turns being in trance for a shorter time before being brought out for their warder shift. If the crowd is large enough to warrant it, specific plans are made to establish who has the ultimate say in the warding team (this person must be someone who stays grounded the whole time), and what areas each of the warders will be focusing on (god wrangling, human wrangling, kitchen guarding, whatever else needs doing.)
Once the preliminary information has been passed amongst the parties involved, and the total newbies and those with sensitivities have been brought to the attention of the warding team, the Host begins the process of the ritual itself. This generally involves setting space, and then welcoming each god to join us in turn by invoking them with words, poetry, and/or galdr, and then having the group sing songs. Whoever finds themselves compelled by the presence of that deity will generally take on regalia indicating this. Anybody the wranglers or more experienced mediums see wavering will be handled appropriately - encouraged and assisted if they are up for trance, or helped to stay grounded if they're not.
Once everyone has been thoroughly invoked, there's usually a period of time where they can all mingle with eachother and the humans, answering questions, making deals, and generally being happy we're all together.
And then, when things begin to wind down, the warders go about letting each of the gods still present that we are on the Last Round (that is, of drinks). That's when we remind them to please take any harms - and all the alcohol - away when They leave. When it's time to go, the warders go around again helping anyone who hasn't yet grounded out to release, with key words like "The Hour Grows Late", drinks of water, salt or sour salt, removing regalia, and otherwise going about returning each of the mediums to their Full Self.
Then, once everybody is back and human again, it's time to thank all the gods for having come to bless us, and close up the space.
After that, everyone is encouraged to stay and debrief, drink lots of non-alcoholic liquid, and eat protien or complex carbohydrates as needed.
For smaller events like we hold in the Vanic Conspiracy, we have experimented a bit with the details. We're a bit less formal with the series of steps, but it all comes out about the same. Sometimes we pass a horn and commune with each deity quietly instead of singing as a group for the invocation phase, but ultimately the process is about the same.
For Oracular Seidh, only the seer who is active in the chair should be doing any kind of posessory work. The Guide is in charge of the ritual, and the warding team is focused on the space and the participants rather than the Seer as a medium.
For trance-allowing rituals where the trance is not the focus, the gods may come settle on those who work with Them closely either during the ritual, or in general, but if They detract from the intentional focus of the event, that is treated as a problem to be solved by the warding types. Peer pressure both between humans and between gods tends to prevent issues in this area - Frigga does not appreciate it when Hospitality is abused, and Freya does not appreciate it when a Ritual is disrupted for no good reason. That's usually not formally set up, though - it generally doesn't need to be.
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In the Umbanda house what the Mama says is always the final word. As she tells us, "No Mama, no Floor, NO TRANCE." That said, she does have methods and ways of running things that are usually fairly consistant, and people she delegates specific tasks to as a matter of course.
As a general rule the music is nearly constant, and everyone but Senior Mediums and folks with known Head Spirits are brought back to Self before we move on to calling the next power (e.g. an Oxossi-head may be allowed to stay out for specifically Oxossi while others are brought back out of trance after we finish singing those songs, but that same Oxossi-head would generally be brought out of trance for Oxun before we moved on to calling Yemaya even if she never works with Yemaya.) The flexibility of this rule depends on the needs of the occasion, the relationship between the power we just finished calling and the power we're about to call, the number of available mediums and warders on the floor, and the track record of behavior when that power has been called in the past. Again, the final say is always Mama's.
Anybody who isn't actively in trance is essentially helping ward. We tend to have a few people who are specifically never going out who do more warding, as well as some experienced switch-hitters who are more warding focused when they aren't in trance, and a couple of designated warders.
Since in many ways the ritual is driven by the music, a lot of the structure is manifested in the operations of the Chorus. We have designated lead singers (of which I am one) and drummers to keep the music flowing as constantly as possible, and there is no long phase of discussion without music for a Bembe. There is sometimes such a phase during a more focused Devotional that is held for only one or a few powers at a time, rather than a longer, more complex list. And at a Devotional there is usually a no-music phase called Consulto where requests to speak with specific powers may be made, and a medium who works strongly with that power will bring them down for a private conversation. At that time, only designated mediums, as chosen by the Mama, may be in trance. All others are brought out of trance and grounded out with water and cues.
In none of these settings is it ever up to a posessed horse to decide the course of the ritual. Requests for more time or a change of how something is handled can be - and often are - made. But the decision to go ahead and do something like that is always up to a human authority whose job is to keep track of all the variables, not just that one Power's agenda. If Mama is not actively holding the floor, she has specifically delegated the task to a grounded individual of her choice.
And of course, all of these guidelines are subject to change if the Mama sees reason to implement something better.
--Ember-- |
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