RITUALS
Adult Affirmation of Path:
AAOP
This is an opportunity for adults to acknowledge (to themselves and to the greater community) their dedication to the Pagan/Wiccan Path. Exploring the lessons of Inanna and Erishkagal, this ritual takes the form of an outer-and inner-journey through which participants confront and explore the reasons for their choice of Path.
Pre-registration required. The number of participants is limited to 25.
Youth Rite of Passage:
YROP
Since time immemorial children have endured special rites of passage to show that they have grown from childhood to being a more responsible member of the community.
Every year at the Spring Mysteries Festival, the Aquarian Tabernacle Church offers an opportunity for our children to experience a rite of passage from being a child to a young adult.
This ritual provides our youth with some basic tools for being a pagan young adult. The only requirements are that the child be at least 13 years of age, willing to participate and have parental approval.
Alade Mystai - Parade
to the Sea
Gather in Apollo’s Theater dressed in your finest (and warmest). The priests and priestesses will lead us in making our offerings and purifying ourselves for the Mysteries on Saturday, just as the ancient Greeks did.
We will be sacrificing flowers, and, rather than the traditional live piglet, a small piglet-shaped token made of flour and salt—so don’t eat them! The trip down and back up the hill is a joyous parade.
Bring your drums, rattle and other musical or rhythm instruments and make a joyous noise! If you have a mobility issue and can alert us ahead of time before the Parade to the Sea or the Drama starts, we can arrange transportation for you.
Shrine Visits
At this time, those Olympians featured in our mysteries will have shrines in their honor. After the Parade to the Sea, you will have an opportunity to visit the priests and priestesses of these deities in their shrines.
These priests and priestesses will be invoked, and holding the energy of the Olympians, giving you a rare opportuity to speak with Diety face to face, ask questions, and get direct answers.
You may also choose to dedicate yourself to one of them for the duration of the festival or for a Year-and-a-Day. Do not miss this beautiful, and healing experience.
The Mysteries Ritual Drama & the Mysteries Initiation Rites
The Mysteries are concerned with the secrets the Goddess Demeter gave to humanity at the city of Eleusis in ancient Greece. Since no written records of the content of these rites exist and no oral descriptions were handed down save only fragments in vague and general terms, we recreate these initiatory rites anew annually based on the little factual material that exists, the conjectures and discoveries of modern scholars and our own intuitive feelings, to fit the needs of modern Pagans.
We know that revelations were made through the use of certain ritualized things heard, done, tasted and seen. Sorry, by custom and ancient Greek law, we can say no more!
First and Second Level Initiation Rites
These rites begin with the Lesser Mysteries, which in turn are broken into two parts. The first is before lunch, the setting of the scene in Apollo’s Theater. The conclusion is afterwards, including a journey to the Telesterion or Temple of Mysteries.
Mystai means “those who have not seen,” and Epoptes means “those who have seen,” so only those who have participated in the Lesser Mysteries before will be able to participate in the Greater Mysteries. If this is your first year, You will receive a white bracelet. Keep it as your proof of your initiation into the Lesser Mysteries.
The Greater Mysteries
These mysteries are reserved for those who have experienced the Lesser Mysteries in a previous year. As it was then, so it is now. You will hear and see things about which I may say no more, lest I risk the eternal wrath of the Gods.
In Eleusis during the more than 2,000 years the Mysteries were conducted, to speak of these secrets meant death under Grecian law. In keeping with this tradition of personal experience, we ask that you, too, speak not of them to anyone who has not yet experienced these Mysteries personally. You will receive a red bracelet. Keep it as your proof of your initiation into the Greater Mysteries.
