So.
First of all, there is the question of whether the main reason for
worship is the magical effects upon the world, and in such case how.
Consider these examples:
A, Every woman in the village goes to celebrate the death and rebirth
of Corn Boy. As a result, all heads of the households
learn/recover/whatever the Bless Crops ritual. The next day, all
their husbands go out and plow the fields, and the women perform the
Bless Crops rituals. As a result, the village has taken a large step
to avoid famine this year.
B, All the members of the Bull Man warrior society meet at night and perform the rites of Bull Man. During ceremonial combat they kill the broos which turn, and touched by the Rage of Bull Man they all learn/recover/whatever the spells of Face Chaos and Bullrage. One month later chaos fiends appear in the Big Forest. All the Bull Man warriors and other warriors walk out in the Big Forest. First the Bull Men makes their non-bullish brethren staunch enough to Face Chaos and hold the flanks, then they call up the Bullrage and charge. The Evil Chaos Fiends (tm) are chopped into very small bits and the Horrible Threat is gone.
Then consider these variants:
A1, Every woman in the village goes to celebrate the death and rebirth
of Corn Boy. As a result, the lands of the village are blessed and
will remain fertile, and there will be one less problem for the corn
sown by their men the next day after plowing the fields. If the
rituals had failed, then the fertility of the village woul not have
been assured. This failure can be due to ineptitude, the efforts of
enemies, geases broken during the preceding year, or bad luck (aka
Trickster). Some cunning women, including the priestess and her
helpers, have accquired magical powers thorugh their ties to the
Godess. They may, for instance, bless the fields of their husbands in
special rituals so that they give _even more_ than usual. Such things
are, however, "cream on the coffee", something extra.
B1, All the members of the Bull Man warrior society meet at night and perform the rites of Bull Man. During ceremonial combat they kill the broos which turn, and as a result no horrible chaos manifestation will appear that year (normally....), and if it does, it will be a weak one. If the ritual fails, horrible things can happen. Reasons for failure are the same as for A1, above. And similarily to A1, certain warriors among the Bull Men, including the Bull Warchief, have horrible magical powers, most important the Bullrage, and also the ability to make those warriors not-of-the-Bull immune to the fear-bringing sight and stench of chaos.
Do you need to quantify the effect of the great rituals as spells (or even RunePower, which I'm not sure I like, but that varies with the day of the week)? Or do we just need to say that people which do not sacrifice to Issaries get more troubles when travelling? That if the High Holy Day of Ernalda is a catastrophe, there surely will be a crop failure this year (unless Something Is Done, with the PC's being the ones which have to do it)?
That Rune Magic/Runepower is only "cream on the coffee" for VIP's (like PC's and their Main Adversaries, or the main characters of Gloranthan novellas)?
Now, about Pantheon Initiation. This is how I would run it at this day of the week on this hour.
People initiate to single cults, but most people initiate to the main cults of their culture (eg, Orlanth or Ernalda). These cults follow divine beings that are part of almost every myth in the cultural portfolio, if only as observers. Game-mechanically, they give access to the spells of all associated deities. On a roleplaying level, they provide you with an idea of what is "normal" in your culture, and what is "different" but "acceptable". (I like ""-marks).
In the rites of your community, you can act the part of anyone associated with your god (up to and including Bad Guys like the Emperor and Raglagnar). However, the more knowledgable of the deity in question you are, the better you are at impersonating him in the rites. In the sorriest communities, the only Ty Kora Tek representative you have is an old crone, an intiate of Ernalda, which knows Bless Grave (and the secrets and lore necessary to achieve the ritual knowledge). In the Great Temple of the Tribe, you may have a full priestess of the Crone-godess. Initiation into that cult, ie learning to view the world from that deity's view, is a very important step.
The accquisition of "worthiness" for a certain deity may be good or bad for your status outside those particular rites. Becoming a worthy Trickster increases the efficiency on all levels of many Orlanthi ceremonies, but a worthy Trickster is usually a pain in the ass. Most people think the village fool is enough. Suggesting that you are willing to become a Very Worthy Raglagnar is like, uh, saying that "I'll go out and rape enough people to start a public outrage so that the police gets more resources to prevent rapes" today. Ie, a Bad Idea. Usually, when you need someone Really Worthy as an enemy in some special ceremony, you summon your enemy (and some high-ranking associate of the god will appear - like a Broo Chieftain if you want a Raglagnar.)
Erik Sieurin, who does not think that giving something a name explains it, but who is fully aware it gives him Power over it, and thus names as much as possible, making his memory a muddle.
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