Wedding and ministerial stuff...

[rowangolightly]

I just received in the mail yesterday my official ministerial license and three blank certificates for upcoming ceremonies. I also ordered a book on Handfastings and Wedding Rituals. Some of it is too 'Lady Pixie Fairy-Dust'ish for me but it does have some nice stuff and lots of ideas.
This "Hymn to Hera" was one of the bits that I found in this book. I really don't keep with calling on particular deities myself, under the 'be careful of what you ask for' premise but this is lovely.


Keeper of promises,
Maker of vows.
Queen of the Heavens,
Queenof clasped hands
And clasped hearts
Look down on us with benevolence.
Bless this our union
And teachus that a binding
Can mean freedom.

Nice. I like that.

And this; a reflection on the actual taking of vows. I can agree that I felt this way during the Handfasting and expect to feel this way again during the wedding...like important stuff was being done. I wish everybody would take promise-making that seriously.

The vows are actually the most important part of the entire ritual, as they are the public affirmation of the couple's intent, spoken in tehir own voices. Without the vows, there is no surety that the marriage is real. I know that for myself, actually speaking the vow - making the promise in front of all those people - was a belly-dropping experience. This is it, this is for real, my body responded, and the blood roared in my ears. We had done it; we had pledged in front of all those people and it was Done. It is a magical promise, made in front of the gods, with all the weight of a geas (a magically binding oath-spell). Even those who are not religious and don't see marriage as anything other than a secular arrangement sometimes find themselves having a spiritual experience in the middle of their weddings.

Yep.

And I may add to this later. Right now I have a garden to go dig about in.

Comments

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Yep, I think that's the trick....to be committed to keeping working. Anybody who doesn't think that relationships take constant work is kidding themselves.