Rev. Kim, Rev. Reanna Marie, Marylynn, and First Elder Rev. Bitterwind
(who attends PURE Sanctuary) brought a camera with them to record the
event this year.
Above: Rev. Reanna and Lady Bitterwind of PURE Sanctuary Temple gather
water for the Lustration from the Vermilion river. Each year the members
of PURE Sanctuary Temple acquire and Bless the sacred water used in the
ceremony of Lustration.
It was on the banks
of the Vermilion river that the Correllian Tradition began and grew to
maturity, so whenever possible the water used in the Lustration is taken
from the Vermilion as a tribute to the Ancestors, although we have also
on occasion used water from other rivers, notably the Kankakee.
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Above: Rev. Reanna Marie, Rev. Kim Reffet, and Arch Priestess Bitterwind
take part in the Blessing of the Lustral Water.
Rev. Reanna and Lady
Bitterwind drew the water from the river in blue pots. Then with Rev.
Kim they joined to Bless the water, and make a thank offering to the
river.
Once it had been Blessed and the offering made, the water was placed
into a special glass bottle prepared for it. Lady Bitterwind had
ornamented this bottle with brass leaves and butterflies.
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Above: Rev. Reanna Marie takes part in the
Blessing of the water. |
Above: Marylynn, Rev. Kim Reffet, and Arch Priestess Bitterwind put a
final Blessing on the Lustral Water in its specially decorated
container.
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After
the Blessing ceremony Marylynn collected river stones from the bank.
These stones were to be Blessed at the altar during the Lustration, and
then given out to people as talismans.
Below: Marylynn collects stones from the bank of the Vermilion river
which will be Blessed during the Lustration ceremony.
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This Lustration was very special, because it was the first Lustration to
be held at our new building in Hoopeston, Illinois. Affectionately known
as the Elephant, this huge building serves us in a multitude of ways: as
the home campus of Witchschool.com, Hoopeston
Books and Gifts, Selu Witan Shrine, and the temporary quarters of the Correll
Mother Temple. It is a very large building, and it needs a lot of work
-but it is eminently suited to our needs.
Above: The main entrance of the Elephant Building, Hoopeston, Illinois
People were
coming from several states to attend the Lustration, including
Washington DC, Ohio, and Michigan, as well as Illinois itself. People
began to arriving Thursday, the largest number being present on Sunday
for the actual Lustration ceremony.
Our out-of-town guests included Rev. Janet Schmidt and her husband Rev.
Rick Schmidt of Thousand Mirrors Temple in Belleville, Illinois: Rev.
Mark Crewson, Rev. Sapphire Star, and Diane from Sacred Arts Witan
Shrine in Washington, DC: Rev. Casey Carraher, Vicky, and Kylie from
Akasha Temple in Kankakee, Illinois: and Rev. Mike McBride of Sacred
Realm Shrine in Saulte St. Marie, Michigan.
The weekend had a full schedule of events covering both Saturday and
Sunday. The schedule is reproduced below:
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Schedule of
Events for Lustration Weekend
April 17 - 18, Year 4 Aquarius
Saturday Morning c. 9 AM
Continental breakfast and social time.
Saturday Afternoon c. 1 PM
Saturday afternoon a series of workshops will be offered, including "Paganism: Lifestyle or Hobby?" "Requirements for the
Three Degrees of Priesthood" and "Nature and purposes of the Lustration." There is a workshop
fee of $20 to attend the Saturday afternoon workshops.
Saturday Night c. 7 PM
Saturday night real-time Initiatory confirmations will be offered
through the Witan Council, by pre-arrangement through ruthann@akashtatemple.com.
Both First and Second Degree Initiatory Confirmations will be performed.
Saturday Night c. 10 PM
The final event for Saturday is the Deeming of new Temples. All
prospective new Correllian Temples must first spend one year as a Witan Shrine
before becoming eligible for Deeming. Deeming must be done in person (with the
exception of Shrines located outside of the continental United States, though even
then in-person Deeming is preferable if possible), and so we are currently
in the process of setting up as many Deeming occasions as possible.
Sunday c. 9 AM
Continental breakfast and social time.
Sunday c. noon
Sunday at noon will be the Lustration ceremony itself. Celebrated by the
Mother Temple the Lustration of the Ancestors honors the Ancestors and
invokes their blessing upon the Tradition.
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Above:
Rev. Janet Schmidt Head of Thousand Mirrors Temple, Rev. Don Lewis, Rev.
Ruthann Amarteifio, and Rev. Rick Schmidt. |
Saturday morning began with the Second Degree initiation of Rev. Janet
Schmidt of Thousand Mirrors Temple, followed by the First Degree
initiation of Rev. Rick Schmidt, also of Thousand Mirrors.
Rev. Janet is very active in the Tradition. She has been with us for
some years, and is studying toward her Third Degree with Lady Ruthann.
Rev. Janet serves as Moderator for many of our E-lists, ensuring that
they run smoothly. Last year Rev. Janet was awarded the Order of Orpheus
for her services to the Tradition.
Thousand Mirrors is a dynamic Temple which hosts many activities in the
Belleville, Illinois area.
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Saturday afternoon we offered a number of lectures, including: "Paganism,
Lifestyle or Hobby?" which discusses the challenges of the
Pagan lifestyle in the contemporary world: "Requirements
for the Three Degrees of Priesthood" which discusses the
requirements for and duties of the various levels of Correllian Clergy:
and "The Nature and Purposes of the
Lustration" which discusses the origins of the Lustration
ceremony, how it developed, and why we regard it as being so important.
After dinner Saturday we began the initiatory confirmation ceremony. The
Correllian Tradition recognizes self-performed initiations, but we
encourage all of our members to follow this with a real-time initiation
whenever possible. To facilitate this we hold initiatory confirmation
ceremonies for people who have already had their self-initiation but are
having it confirmed by a real-time ceremony. We do this at every
Lustration and other occasions besides.
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We regard our self-initiations as being by attunement, the attunement
being activated by Keys in the ceremony. However we none-the-less feel
that the real-time initiatory experience is important and encourage all
of our people to have it.
The initiatory confirmation ceremonies held at the Lustrations often
involve many people, and may last for several hours. It is not uncommon
for this ritual to last for three hours, and some have stretched to four
hours. Needless to say this can be somewhat exhausting for the presiding
Clergy.
At this Lustration's initiatory confirmation we had four Second Degrees,
two First Degrees, and four Dedications.
After the initiatory confirmations we broke for refreshments and some
social time.
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Above:
"Death Shall Have No Dominion" an artwork by Correllian First
Elder Lady Bitterwind
which stands to the left of the Great Altar of the Mother Temple, on the
upper floor of the Elephant Building. Lady Bitterwind is a prolific
artist who has donated many artworks to the Mother Temple.
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We
came together around 11 PM for the Temple Deeming. Aspiring Correllian
Temples must first spend approximately one year as a Witan Shrine before
being Deemed for full Temple status.
Arch Priestess Ruthann serves as Templar Grand Deemstress. At each
Deeming Lady Ruthann is joined by two other Deemsters, specially chosen
for the occasion.
Witan Shrines which have become eligible for Deeming must make a
presentation to the Deemster's Court. The Witan Shrine's records are
examined, and questions are posed regarding its projects, experiences,
and worthiness for Temple status.
At this Lustration only one Witan Shrine was approved for Temple status:
Triple Goddess, located in Wheaton, Illinois, and headed by Rev.
Karen Plioplys.
After a good nights rest we reconvened Sunday morning to prepare for the
Lustration ceremony itself, which was to be held at noon.
As noon approached First Elder Bitterwind and the members of PURE
Sanctuary arrived with the Lustral Water. Many other people were
arriving as well, since the Lustration proper is always the most heavily
attended part of the weekend.
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The
Temple space had been specially decorated for the ceremony, and we
busied ourselves with the finishing touches.
Diane of Sacred Arts had brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers for the
altar -it was decided to use these flowers in the Ancestor offering
which is part of the Spring Lustration.
Right:
The great altar of the Mother Temple with some of the items used in the
ritual. At center is the vase of flowers given by Diane of Sacred Arts
Witan Shrine for the Ancestor offering. At left is Rev. Don's staff, the
gift of the Correllians of Africa, at right are the bronze incense
burner which belonged to the Blv. Mable, former First Priestess of the
Tradition, and the carnival glass situla given by Lady Bitterwind and
used in the cleansing of the Temple. Behind the altar can be seen
"Big Wheel's Turning" an artwork by Lady Bitterwind
representing the processes of the universe. |
Again the eminent First Priestess Lady Krystel was unable to take part
in the Lustration, so the excellent Arch Priestess Ruthann stood in for
her.
We began with the slow and rhythmic dance of the Temple dancers, who had
been organized and trained by Rev. Casey Carraher of Akasha
Temple.
Rev. Casey led the way in his accustomed role as Guardian, bearing the
ceremonial sword, and issued the challenge which begins each Lustration
and starts the process of cleansing the Temple space.
Next the beautiful, white-clad dancers came, circling the ritual space
with winding steps and elegant movements. As the dance progressed, the
youngest dancers formed an honor guard at the Temple entrance, blessing
the celebrants as they processed in.
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When everyone had assembled the ritual began with the cleansing and
Blessing of the Circle. Then the Higher Selves of the First Priesthood
were invoked.
Now the Sword was presented and the Circle cast.
Next the Staff was presented, and the Quarters were called with the
invocation of the Seventy Gods. This long invocation calls upon seventy
Divinities Who are are meant to represent all Deities, stressing the
Nativist universalism inherent in the Correllian Tradition.
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Above:
Another artwork by Lady Bitterwind
which stands on the right of the
Great Altar.
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Nativism, as envisioned by Blv. Caroline High Correll, is the idea that
the indigenous religions of the world are kin to one another, having
more in common than divides them. This is a guiding vision of
Correllianism.
The invocation of the Seventy Gods ends with the invocation of Goddess
and God as such. This is followed by the Great Rite and the Combined
Charge.
Rev. Mark, Rev. Sapphire, and Diane from Sacred Arts Witan Shrine recite
the Combined Charge of Goddess and God, and enact the Great Rite
symbolizing the union of Spirit and Matter, Deity in the Universe.
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First Elder Lady Bitterwind now comes forward, with her Herald Rev. Kim
Reffet. They bear the Great Book, wrapped in its purple velvet mantle.
In this book are inscribed the names of all Correllians living and in
Spirit. The Great Book is Blessed by the First Priesthood.
Now the Elder's Herald, Rev. Kim, invokes the Beloved Ancestors, who are
the focus of this Lustration. Offerings of flowers and incense are made
to the Ancestors to show our love for them.
Left:
Rev. Kim Reffet Head of PURE Sanctuary Temple serving as Elder's Herald
with First Elder Lady Bitterwind.
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Next the Ancestors are invoked into the First Priestess, who acts as
Grand Oracle of the Tradition. As stated, Arch Priestess Ruthann took
the First Priestess' part for this ritual and brought through the oracle
of the Ancestors.
Arch Priestess Bitterwind now brings forward the Lustral water, in the
antique glass cauldron used for the purpose, and proffers it to the
Oracle.
Then, Arch Priestess Ruthann channeled the Blessing of the Ancestors
into the Lustral Water, using a sacred crystal to direct the
energy.
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Above: A group photo after the ritual. L to
R: Aaron, girl dancer, Vicky, boy dancer, Diane from Sacred Arts Witan
Shrine, Rev. Janet Schmidt Head of Thousand Mirrors Temple, Rev.
Sapphire Star Co-Head of Sacred Arts Witan Shrine, Rev. Don Lewis, Rev.
Ruthann Amarteifio, Rev. Aine Massie Head of Crystalline Star Temple,
Rev. Virginia Powell from Selu Witan Shrine, Rev. Rick Schmidt of
Thousand Mirrors Temple, Rev. Jason Mycroft of Selu Witan Shrine, Rev.
Mike McBride of Sacred Realm Personal Shrine, Rev. Dawn from Selu Witan
Shrine, Rev. Mark Crewson Head of Sacred Arts Witan Shrine. Front Row:
Rev. Kim Reffet Head of PURE Sanctuary Temple, Marylynn from PURE
Sanctuary Temple, Rev. Karen Plioplys Head of Triple Goddess Temple, and
Rev. Casey Carraher, Cadet Priest of Akasha Temple.
Arch Priestess Bitterwind takes the Lustral Water, which has been
hallowed by the Ancestor's Blessing to the center of the Circle for the
act of Lustration. One by one the Guardians of each Quarter come to her.
Under the guidance of the Arch Priestess, the Quarter Guardians use a
goose feather fan to asperge their respective Quarter, dispersing the
Blessing of the Ancestors unto all the Correllians of that Quarter. In
this way the energies of the Blessing are sent out to all the
Correllians of the world.
When the last Quarter Guardian has returned to place, the Chalice is
presented, and the toast is offered using the water Blessed earlier
during the Great Rite.
Finally, thanks are given, and the rite is ended.
As always, the Lustration was a wonderful experience, and we are very
grateful to all those who came and whose energies and efforts made it
such a special weekend. Many Blessings to all!
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