Rites of Worship: A Neopagan Approach - Softcover

Isaac Bonewits has led public rituals in the Berkeley, California hills, in Unitarian Universalist chapels and gardens, at the American Stonehenge during a total eclipse of the sun, and at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC, with groups ranging from dozens to thousands of participants.

Liturgies: The Good, the Bad, and the Annoying

It’s another Sunday morning at the Little Church on the Corner. The minister has just finished his sermon and everyone is valiantly trying to stifle yawns. The choir begins to sing and everyone joins in on the hymn they always sing after the sermon. It’s an old and comforting tune, but the choir director’s daughter is singing off-key again. Only a few more minutes and you’ll be able to escape...

It’s a beautiful summer night with a full moon shining overhead. In a hidden clearing in the middle of the woods, a dozen naked men and women are dancing on either side of you in the moonlight. Everyone whirls around the bonfire, singing and chanting the praises of the Moon Goddess and the Horned God of the Woods. The priest begins to invoke the power of the Goddess into the body of the priestess. Soon the Lady Herself will speak to Her people, and the dancing and feasting will go on for hours. Laughing as you whirl, you wish it would go on forever...

It’s the regular 10:00 a.m. Mass at St. Paul’s. The priest is going through the usual motions, using the modern vernacular version of the ceremony. You stand, you sit, and you kneel, along with everyone else, while the priest drones his way along. Whatever happened to the mystery of the Mass, the magic? You find yourself filled with a mixture of boredom, nostalgia, and vague anger...

It’s Sunday again, this time at the local Unitarian Universalist Church. The minister’s been lecturing for some time now, and it’s all very interesting, but the giggling kids in the Religious Education room across the hall seem to be having a lot more fun. The opening music tape was nice, and the music committee finally agreed upon some hymns that folks will sing without argument, but none of the songs have much soul. People are fidgeting, waiting for the service to end so they can get to the coffee and cookies. A whoop from across the hall makes it definite—the kids are having a great time. You wonder if maybe you should volunteer to help with R.E. next season...

It’s almost sunrise on the morning of the Summer Solstice. A long line of women and men in white robes are leading a colorfully dressed congregation down to the lakeside. They gather in a circle and some of them begin to play harps, flutes, and drums. Soon a chant of praise to the Earth Mother begins, with voices joining in an old folk harmony that raises goose bumps on your skin. Offerings of flowers, cornmeal, beer, and poetry are made to the spirits of the woods and the lake, to the ancestors, and to the Old Gods. The clergy start a call and response chant between themselves and the congregation, ending just as the sun rises over the pines. You feel as if you are a part of something very ancient yet always new, as your body, mind, and heart join in singing a song of joy and praise...

Why this Book?

This book has been in progress for many years, sparked by my early and subsequent ex-periences in attending and observing large group public religious rituals, of faiths both mainstream and minority. I saw just how wonderful some of them could be and how awful they usually were.

As a young Roman Catholic altar boy I was astonished to see how the exact same words and motions (strictly controlled by the Church) could be utterly boring or totally electrifying, depending upon which priest was performing them. I also noticed this personal factor at the Protestant Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Neopagan rituals I later attended. Eventually I realized that the structure of the rituals—their liturgical design—helped or impeded their clergy’s efforts, along with many other elements.

My studies of comparative religious beliefs and practices among ancient, "primitive," and modern spiritual groups, both mainstream and minority, along with over thirty-five years of experience creating, attending, and leading ceremonies as a Neopagan priest and magician, have clarified for me what the major factors are that affect the design, preparation, and performance of effective public worship rituals or "liturgies." In this work I hope to share the fruits of these years of research and experimentation.

This book is intended to make people familiar with the most important theoretical and practical aspects of creating public worship rituals with genuine power and predictable results. Although my focus is on Neopagan ceremonies, most of what I have to say will be applicable to the liturgies being created and modified by a wide variety of other liberal religious traditions.

I expect most members of the Neopagan community will enjoy reading this book, since Neopagans will eagerly devour (and strenuously debate) any text that deals with improving their religious practice. Members of the women’s spirituality movements, Earth-centered religious movements, and many New Age spiritual groups may find this work a challenge to their current methods and theories, yet may benefit from incorporating into their practice the basic ideas presented.

Large parts of this book will appeal to people who belong to magical, metaphysical, and religious groups with traditions of liberal intellectual interests, such as Theosophists, Rosicrucians, Freemasons, Liberal Catholics, and Eco-Catholics, as well as to members of the New Thought, Religious Science, and Unity movements. Even liturgists from the moderate religious mainstream will find a few new ideas in these pages, no matter how annoying my historical and theological opinions might be to them. Unitarian Universalists, especially the members of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS), may find herein many of the missing pieces of their liturgical puzzles.