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Mar. 26th, 2007 10:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badstarFor two and a half years now I've been involved with the grove. I've attended every ritual and almost every other gathering that's taken place. There's been one aspect that I've really appreciated from the beginning, but lately I've been having mixed feelings.
That is humor and silliness. This isn't to say that I no longer appreciate them, and the fact that this religion allows such possibility for humor. I'm starting to feel somewhat of an aversion to humor in ritual. I don't know why.
I've said this before...not here, but in conversations with some people. I think I'm a bit of a ritual junkie. I like writing ritual, leading them, just being part of them in general. It's a very sad thing me when I don't feel like I can be part for whatever reason. Imbolc was one of those.
As I've said, silliness is the other thing. The farther I go along, the less interested I am in silly rituals or silliness in ritual. I start to feel like I'm missing something. Sometimes I find it distracting but more than that, I think it's just not the type of religious experience that I need.
Why has this suddenly become an issue? I don't know. Well, it's not so sudden really. It's been creeping up on my mind from time to time for some months now. But...why? Have I suddenly reached a point where I'm past a general desire or need for humor in ritual? Is it related to the nature of the god I worship? (That brings to mind another thought for another musing...) Likely some combination of things. I'm not particularly worried about the why's. I just need to figure out how I'm going to work with/around this. There is the obvious celebrating of rituals on my own, but solitary ritual does not fill the same need as group ritual for me. One thing I've been thinking of and even talking about for some time is organizing rituals for festivals other than the 8 neopagan days. It's not like there aren't plenty to pick from.
That said, adapting Thargelia to ADF format is an interesting process. I think it will be a very good ritual. I didn't get to post my notes to the grove forum today like I had planned to, but I can do that tomorrow evening in between working on the other computer (The XP machine, the one that just got working again last night, apparently is missing some file now and has decided to take a memory dump every time I attempt to turn it on. Computers hate me, it's official.)
In other news, I've found out that the client at work is talking about taking some of us up to Massachusetts to visit one of their offices and may end up using some of us as backup field techs when people are deployed to install some of the more major equipment. I've also been finding that it seems that they are going to trust a lot more to our judgement than giving us crazy regulations for every little thing we do like most other clients seem to do. I've met two people from the company so far and I really like them, especially the guy that's in this week, he's the supervisors for the level two techs up in Massachusetts. Very cool, very laid back, very "ask anything you want to know, tell me how I can help you guys learn this stuff." Actually started out this morning with "Well, I've got a ton of stuff that I can throw at you this week, but seriously, what do you want to cover?" The client hasn't given us a lot of stuff yet because they're asking for feedback on what we want and need. So far, everything we've asked for, as far as I can tell- especially when it comes to information- has been given or is in the process of being found out. Except that I still don't have my computer in the training room. However, I'm a bit hopeful...the company used to have a tradition of every training class having a meeting with the company founder/president. This meeting was a chance to ask anything (the only question that remained unanswered was his salary), express any concerns and problems, and talk a bit. Very infomal and laid back. This ended when he resigned and went to work elsewhere in the wake of Apple going south. The company was acquired by an investment group some time before that, and after that particular president left (he was president of the larger company that was formed also), someone in another office became president. The current VP of finance is the same guy who was VP of finance before the acquisition took place and he's also now the site director. So Steve, the site director/VP of finance has carried on that tradition and my training class had just that meeting today. One of my coworkers, also without a computer, decided to air that particular complaint to Steve who expressed some worry about this and made a point of writing it down in his little book (Yes, I actually saw this written down, I was sitting right next to him as he did so.)
And another coworker has decided that he's going to teach me to speak Portuguese.
Time to sleep.
That is humor and silliness. This isn't to say that I no longer appreciate them, and the fact that this religion allows such possibility for humor. I'm starting to feel somewhat of an aversion to humor in ritual. I don't know why.
I've said this before...not here, but in conversations with some people. I think I'm a bit of a ritual junkie. I like writing ritual, leading them, just being part of them in general. It's a very sad thing me when I don't feel like I can be part for whatever reason. Imbolc was one of those.
As I've said, silliness is the other thing. The farther I go along, the less interested I am in silly rituals or silliness in ritual. I start to feel like I'm missing something. Sometimes I find it distracting but more than that, I think it's just not the type of religious experience that I need.
Why has this suddenly become an issue? I don't know. Well, it's not so sudden really. It's been creeping up on my mind from time to time for some months now. But...why? Have I suddenly reached a point where I'm past a general desire or need for humor in ritual? Is it related to the nature of the god I worship? (That brings to mind another thought for another musing...) Likely some combination of things. I'm not particularly worried about the why's. I just need to figure out how I'm going to work with/around this. There is the obvious celebrating of rituals on my own, but solitary ritual does not fill the same need as group ritual for me. One thing I've been thinking of and even talking about for some time is organizing rituals for festivals other than the 8 neopagan days. It's not like there aren't plenty to pick from.
That said, adapting Thargelia to ADF format is an interesting process. I think it will be a very good ritual. I didn't get to post my notes to the grove forum today like I had planned to, but I can do that tomorrow evening in between working on the other computer (The XP machine, the one that just got working again last night, apparently is missing some file now and has decided to take a memory dump every time I attempt to turn it on. Computers hate me, it's official.)
In other news, I've found out that the client at work is talking about taking some of us up to Massachusetts to visit one of their offices and may end up using some of us as backup field techs when people are deployed to install some of the more major equipment. I've also been finding that it seems that they are going to trust a lot more to our judgement than giving us crazy regulations for every little thing we do like most other clients seem to do. I've met two people from the company so far and I really like them, especially the guy that's in this week, he's the supervisors for the level two techs up in Massachusetts. Very cool, very laid back, very "ask anything you want to know, tell me how I can help you guys learn this stuff." Actually started out this morning with "Well, I've got a ton of stuff that I can throw at you this week, but seriously, what do you want to cover?" The client hasn't given us a lot of stuff yet because they're asking for feedback on what we want and need. So far, everything we've asked for, as far as I can tell- especially when it comes to information- has been given or is in the process of being found out. Except that I still don't have my computer in the training room. However, I'm a bit hopeful...the company used to have a tradition of every training class having a meeting with the company founder/president. This meeting was a chance to ask anything (the only question that remained unanswered was his salary), express any concerns and problems, and talk a bit. Very infomal and laid back. This ended when he resigned and went to work elsewhere in the wake of Apple going south. The company was acquired by an investment group some time before that, and after that particular president left (he was president of the larger company that was formed also), someone in another office became president. The current VP of finance is the same guy who was VP of finance before the acquisition took place and he's also now the site director. So Steve, the site director/VP of finance has carried on that tradition and my training class had just that meeting today. One of my coworkers, also without a computer, decided to air that particular complaint to Steve who expressed some worry about this and made a point of writing it down in his little book (Yes, I actually saw this written down, I was sitting right next to him as he did so.)
And another coworker has decided that he's going to teach me to speak Portuguese.
Time to sleep.
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-27 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-27 12:21 pm (UTC)I felt the same way after a while, when I was still a practicing Wiccan. Actually it was possibly one of the major things that turned me off of the coven I was in at the time – they just got really silly. Now, I'm a silly person. I get silly all the time. Except during a ritual – to me, I think part of how I define a religious experience involves awe, which generally doesn't involve humor. The rest of my life is permeated with humor, and I guess I need 'serious time' to have balance. Maybe others are the other way around, I don't know – could be a personality thing. I guess I'm fine with some ritual humor if it's a time I expect it, but at other times I might actually feel offended, if it felt inappropriate or distracting.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-27 12:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-27 01:42 pm (UTC)I think the issue is one of focus- humor can disrupt our focus if that is not the intention. And showing respect to the Kindreds. I think if people are making jokes a lot in a ritual intended to be serious they are not in the right frame of mind. You may want to have a discussion in your grove about the reasons people are there- are they there to party, for social purposes mainly or to worship and connect with others?
This is one of the reasons I think I would have problems with a larger grove, it's harder for people to be on the same wavelength.
Of course if the ritual goes wrong, it's natural for people to laugh...which is why ritual rehearsals are always a good idea! Our religions should be *fun* and at times playful, but that's not all they are.
The other thing is, with public ritual you have the potential for the grove members to be making "in-jokes" that make others feel excluded.
Re: the "ritual junkie" comment, if you aren't already in it, you should consider joining the Liturgist Guild.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-27 03:25 pm (UTC)I understand that. The humor and silliness isn't always problematic for me (for example, as part of our spring equinox, two of our members performed the Lorax...it was awesome and completely appropriate and not at all problematic for me.) but more often than not...it is.
And I am a member of the liturgists guild :-)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-27 03:48 pm (UTC)Are you saying there was silliness at Imbolc? I tried very hard not to allow silliness in the rite.
I feel mirth and laughter are needed in some aspects, but some people do go a little far. I wonder if it's a way of coping with the solemnity of the moment.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-27 05:49 pm (UTC)Maybe it is a coping mechanism. I can see it for some anyway.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-27 10:39 pm (UTC)*hugs*