What are the criteria in use for discerning that it is Time for you to seek out or set up an intentionally-entered-into ordeal?
For my own Ordeals I have come to understand that yes a certain set will come find me and others must be shaped in response to need. A chunk of that need is the desire to offer up a devotional act requiring epic effort which will place me fully into a sacred context. In my value system elaborate and beautiful rituals grown from sincere intent have an honored place. I feel the internal desire to set aside a piece of my life & comfort and dedicate it to Those I hold sacred. In this form it is a pilgrimage. It's also in this space that I feel fully manifested as a complete being in Union.
The another primary motivator for an Ordeal for me is to create artifacts of power and these are purely necessity driven. I might need a token to give a person I care about for safe travel or to pay a debt.
The third category for me is to clear some obstacle or transform. I use the Ordeal to strip away all of my pretense and to ground myself in the absolute truth of my being. Extreme pain willingly undertaken in a sacred context can offer up precious insights into what is a core value.
On a 1-10 scale of intensity not every Ordeal is a full volume 10. My water fasts for example I count as a form around a 3 depending on the length. Upon reflection I can honestly say the 10's have been Deity/circumstance administered directly.
Is it the need to be challenged and to offer up that struggle? This might be something akin to laboring for a time in the garden, the need to give service or to honor something through effort.
Is it the desire to journey somewhere sacred and the act is a means to shift your consciousness?
Is it the need to be 'broken down' to your core level and rebuilt?
Is the need to earn some favor or power by trading the coin offered by your Ordeal?
If one is a service top, or facilitator of ordeal ritual work, what should one look for in the subject who is asking for this work?
I'm very cautious about people being drawn to Ordeals out of the desire to prove themselves to some standard that really isn't a healthy part of their life. Consider the difference between a person who wants to prove they can run a marathon versus someone who wants to prove they can out drink the bartender. So I talk about intent and what they wish to accomplish.
I've had a few conversations with people who talked about being blocked, or stagnating, needing to prove or learn who they are. I've had a few about straight up guilt & sin and needing to repay debts. Maybe they want to reclaim something lost, maybe they want to lose or get rid of something, whatever it is they need to be willing to talk to me about it.
What I look for is someone who has thought a lot about their intent. They may have trouble expressing to another person what that intent is at first but the people I chose to work with understand that this is where we need to start from. Where are they now and where do they wish and need to get to.
Only a deep need and desire will sustain someone through a profound Ordeal and IMO the largest part of what an Ordeal facilitator does is help anchor and reaffirm that focus. The entire ritual (complex or simple) needs to be shaped around that intent.
For myself someone has to be willing to show up and talk to me about it (a lot) knowing nothing is going to happen immediately. They have to be open to my safety requirements even if that means the ritual isn't exactly what they had in mind. They have to be willing to abide by my decisions about how extreme it is going to get and I have to trust they will adhere to any requirements I set them. They also need to accept that I will be doing divination about them and possibly asking for confirmation divination from other people. They may also have to accept that for their intent the process maybe drawn out over a period of time and be willing to commit to the process.
So in nutshell I look for willingness to communicate, work, invest, respect the safety requirements, and respect the sacredness of the ritual we are collectively undertaking. |
