Re: Ernalda the Sensualist

From: KYER, JEFFREY <jeff.kyer_at_cgi.ca>
Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2001 08:46:32 -0500


Please not, John, that Greg's address is Greg_at_glorantha.com!

John Hughes wrote:
>
> ERNALDA, SEX and MARRIAGE
>
> Chris and Joerg have been discussing Ernalda.
>
> > If you want a deity for female sexual experimentation, I'd look for a
> > not so childish version of Voria. When you look into it closely, flowers
> > are a plant's sexual organs, and Voria has them all over...
>
> While within the bounds of possibility, I'd be careful with this. Voria is
> traditionally a childhood goddess, and we know that sex is taboo before
> initiation. Women's initiation occurs after menache.

From what I am reading in Storm Tribe, apparently women join the Healer cult before they becoime mothers....

And then the Allmother cult when they are mothers...

I still liked the Rotina-The-Prom-Queen image. =)  

> I've personally been expanding Roitina the Dancing Ceremonialist to fill
> this role. Earlier this year I posted an essay on Heortling courtship and
> marriage to the Hero Wars list - the original version is available in the HW
> files section at y-groups.
> Jeff Kyer and I have also expanded and refined the original for the Issaries
> site. Here's our (new) section on the Deities of Courtship and Marriage

Heh! Thanks for the kudos?

Jeff  

> ***
> Sex is easy, marriage is hard, and the gods
> bless the sworn bond."
> -King Heort.
>
> In Ernaldan Initiation, women of the clan experience the many lovers of
> Ernalda, the Power, Esrola, the Body, and Maran, the Action. They learn the
> wisdom and secrets of the ways of women with men.
>
> In Orlanthi Initiation, men of the clan experience the youthful adventures
> of Orlanth as well as the courtship and marriage of Orlanth and Ernalda in
> the Storm Age. They receive a glimpse of the joys of married life, and also
> of the struggle. They learn how peace was made between men and women.
>
> Orlanth and Ernalda offer guidance and example to men and women through
> every stage of their life, and various Aspects of the deities provide models
> and inspiration for men and women involved with romance, marriage and
> courtship. New initiates may be drawn to these Aspects as they prepare for
> adult life.
>
> Rotina the Dancer draws the clan together; she is a young aspect of Ernalda
> the Queen. She dances to the songs of Sereni and Dragarsi the Bard, and she
> teaches such dances to the clan. Rotina brought the Threshing Dance, the
> Cider Dance, the Square Dance, and the lithesome Maiden's Dance that
> enchants young men with gentle swayings and covert glances. It was also
> Rotina who, in the Greater Darkness, made stuffy Elmal burn bright with
> embarrassment with her rollicking Skirt-lifting Dance. Most young women
> learn her stories and dances, and worship for a time before moving to other,
> more assertive Aspects. Rotina teaches pride, tact and lust for life.
>
> Esrola is the fertility of the fields and animals. Worshippers understand
> the secrets of fertility and virility, and the wisdoms for attracting a
> mate. Goose Girl is often the cult of the youngest worshippers; the more
> valuable cattle and other livestock subcults being entrusted to more
> experienced women.
>
> Esrola the Healer is often the Aspect of choice for more venturesome women
> who are not willing to forgo their traditional roles. Many will join Enfara
> the Supporter or Brevara the Medic in their youth. Travelling as members of
> the fyrd or clan warband, they have opportunities to meet men of other clans
> not accorded their stay-at-stead sisters. And they can participate in battle
> and see the bravery and prowess of the menfolk first-hand.
>
> The Aspects of Ernalda The Lifegiver are more for the settled woman,
> especially Mahome and Orane the Mother. Yet Vela the Matchmaker is of great
> importance to everyone involved in courtship. Her priestesses are consulted
> by those seeking match or marriage, whether it be for love or for the
> strength of the clan. Marriage is, after all, a joining of clans as much as
> a joining of individuals. No one can make you do anything, but with the help
> of Vela, your kinfolk can be very, very persuasive. Vela is the love
> nurtured by kin and community, not the destructive passion of the demon
> Uleria.
>
> Menfolk seem to change the Aspect of their worship more readily than women.
> Most married men are initiates of Orlanth The Farmer, but in their youth
> they follow Orlanth Adventurous. He embodies the Great God in his youth - a
> fitting Aspect for a young man exploring the ways of love. Once settled, men
> turn to Durec or Orlanthcarl to become good providers for their families.
>
> Orlanth Adventurous provides many outlets for a young man to show his worth,
> and a few bear special mention. Destor The Adventurer is a wanderer, He
> embodies the God as he travelled without the encumbrance of home, family or
> even clan! Seeing new places means going to new clans and going to new clans
> means meeting womenfolk who are not your cousins. One day you will find your
> Ernalda. And there is much pleasure along the way...
>
> Niskis the Lover is the Aspect most suited for passionate love. However, his
> followers are hardly material for good husbands: they are nicknamed "stray
> cats". Excelling at seduction, they enjoy a reputation as exquisite lovers.
> A woman (even a married one) may dally with such a man, but Niskissi are
> generally considered hopeless at formal courtship. Followers of Orlanth's
> brother Yinkin are also known for their sensuality and lovemaking prowess.
>
> Orlanth Thunderous embodies Orlanth as the virile rain, but it is not
> usually a young man's Aspect. Most followers will be already married. It is
> a dangerous thing to have a man with such powers without the governance and
> cold counsel of hearth, home and harstings.
>
> ****
> >And since Ernalda the Healer subcults are for unmarried women, with
> > Enferalda singled out as seductress of Orlanth, there seem to be some
> > such aspects.
>
> Not exactly the seductress. Enferalda (Ernalda in disguise) flirted with
> Orlanth to test his faithfullness to the marriage bond. Ernalda seems to be
> constantly testing Orlanth, not only in their courtship. :)
>
> > > I would assume that before marraige, Heortling women can sleep with
> > > whomever they want,
>
> Indeed. Though circumspectly for the most part, to avoid complications when
> formal courtship begins.
>
> Here's an example of one woman's experience from the essay, a example that
> is typical but hardly exclusive - Kandreya is a rich young woman from an
> influential clan, and is more aware of the political and economic aspects of
> courtship than most young women. Because of this, she is particularly
> cautious and calculating.
>
> ****
>
> Post Initiation
>
> As she grows into womanhood, Kandreya learns the secrets of wealth,
> fertility and lust from her mother, female kin and elders. Accompanied by
> her brothers, she begins to journey beyond her stead, perhaps visiting
> married sisters in other clans or attending tribal rituals. She learns to
> evaluate young men in a cold though honest way, as well as thrilling to the
> occasional discrete dalliance or infatuation. Kandreya begins to assess the
> relative wealth and prestige of neighbouring clans.
>
> Late Adolescence
>
> Kandreya does her best to ensure that her family and hearth are in harmony,
> and spend lots of time with her female cousins discussing the merits of
> menfolk in neighbouring clans. She encourages flirting and male advances but
> is careful in her response. She may take lovers discretely. In doing so,
> Kandreya learns the lessons of Ernalda's courtship, and how to direct men to
> each of the six directions. If she decides to take an adventuring path, she
> may entrust her fertility to a priestess for a number of years.
>
> Young Adulthood
>
> Kandreya will have realistically assessed five or six potential suitors, a
> mix of well-established older men (widowers or divorcees) and promising
> young men only a few years older than herself. She is looking to a long-term
> match, so will closely examine her potential suitors' clans and tribes,
> assessing their wyrd for the next ten or twenty years. Going to her father
> and uncles, she will then allow them to 'persuade' her that these six men
> should be given serious consideration, for the sake of her bloodline. She
> will then 'grudgingly' agree to her elders insistence that she accept these
> men as suitors. The suitors will be then encouraged, either directly or
> through the exhortation and advice of Kandreya's kin, to attend and begin to
> seriously court her.
>
> Has Kandreya chosen wisely? Will any of her chosen attend? Will she show too
> much favour to the one she secretly dreams of? Will she make the right
> choice? Might she be forced to take a difficult or low status match? These
> are trying times!
>
> > > I'm not exactly sure what the rules for Heortling women are in
> > > regards to having lovers once in marraige, but I'm sure that the
> > > social restrictions that do apply are distinct so as to preserve
> > > the family and the happiness of the married couple.
>
> Adultery is usually a big no-no, and a cause for divorce and considerable
> loss of status if made public. Marriage is a sacred bond
>
> >
> > While we're at the subject, what is the attitude towards sex with thrall
> > women? Ernalda once was a thrall, and quite certainly had her encounters
> > with various courtiers or servants of the Emperor.
>
> IMO, while a thrall may be property (and only a minority of clans take
> thralls!) adultery is still adultery. In my draft of the TR law codes, I
> included fines for laying with a thrall, for one-off sex while married, and
> for unneccessary visits to a body priestess. While this is not official, if
> such laws do exist they give the aggrieved party recourse to a variety of
> lesser responses than immediate divorce, and also allow a bloodline to take
> action even if the aggreived party does not.
>
> Cheers
>
> John
>
> ______________________________________________________
> nysalor_at_primus.com.au John Hughes
>
> The subject of wizards and sex is a complicated one,
> but as has already been indicated it does, in essence,
> boil down to this: when it comes to wine, women and song,
> wizards are allowed to get drunk and croon as
> much as they like.
>
> -Terry Pratchett, Sourcery.


End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #287


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