Women's initiation

From: Pam Carlson <carlsonp_at_wolfenet.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 23:52:02 -0700


Jane -

Maybe David Dunham could help you find the initiation stuff on his site. Frankly, I haven't been to it or any other game related sites in 6 months or more.... the downside of having an archaic computer.

> So to run this with your players, you need a really good map of the clan
lands
> (which you probably want anyway) and a degree in geology. Hmm. Anyone got
a
> quick & dirty (sorry!) "describe geological features of area" system?

By 'local earth spirits", I meant more the plethora of "domestic" spirits, rather than the spirit of every rock, tree, hillock, or brook. "Domestic" spirits would be spirits of the hearth, fields, crops, storage cellars, wells, and animals. Women would also deal with the clan's guardian ancestors. In SFC games these have appeared as an old Ty Kora Tek woman on the edges of a clan Tula (who exists only in the Other World), to the myriad of ancestor ghosts bound into the wall surrounding an Esrolain village. Women also propitiate he Lady of the Wild, who is always resentful of those who take her land and put it under the plow. Basically, I believe that the women usually deal with these small spirits; as a rule men deal only with the storm spirits. But it is certainly the women who would be most likely to know how to contact the spirit of a rock, hillock, or brook, if the clan decided it was necessary.

> Ah. So when he said something like "we all know", he was using the word
"we" in an
> extremely limited sense.

Does this surprise you?;-)

> The three Fertile Earth ones are easy to assign to seasons,
> but I'm unsure how to handle the Malign Earth ladies.
> In any case, we have six goddesses and only five seasons, so one per
season won't
> work.

I'm not sure each of the six goddesses need a season. And why only six? Why not add Kero Fin, or the local river goddess if the clan is on a river, or the local mountain goddess for a clan living in Boldhome, etc? I was thinking more of the general themes of the year: birth, growth, harvest//bounty, death, lost in darkness//pact with other (Orlanth), rebirth. I believe a clan would substitute which ever goddess(es) are most important to them for that theme. Some of the six might not even have a part, or may be lumped together with others. Maran Gor and Babeester Gor are probably rare outside of Tarsh. Elsewhere they could simply be lumped together as the Taking Aspect of the Goddess, and might even need a special quest to be contacted. There is also the possibility that each girl occasionally encounters a different aspect of the goddess, according to her predispositions or her wyrd.

You don''t have to have every spirit in the valley mapped out. Just give them a few spirit examples. (See Enclosure II for the Theya story - which mentions some of the spirits found on a farmstead.) THe most important thing for running initiations inti the spirit/god world for PC's is to establish:

  1. the presence of oodles of spirits - get them thinking "a spirit in every pot"
  2. that there are rituals, both common and spectacular, for contacting or controlling them
  3. the goddess is a many-splendored concept, with an aspect for just about every need -
  4. these aspects can be contacted/drawn upon with the right mindset and sacrifice (i.e., produce, grain, beer, blood, animals, and even, rarely, humans.)

> You don't make someone part of a group by taking them away from it [for a
long time].

Precisely. But also remember, with initatory rituals, there is often a big sense of gender-specific mystery, and jealously guarded secrets. Somethimes they HAVE to be secret, for the magic to work right! (Frex, many cultures don't appreciate photos taken of their sacred sites, and some won't even let outsiders go there.) Play up the mystery!

Pam


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