LUSTRATION OF THE LIVING

17 November Year 2 Aquarius




Above: Priestesses taking part in the Lustration of the Living, 
at PURE Sanctuary Temple in Westville, Illinois.

Ritual Participants

Guardian                                              Basil Winterbourne
Maiden                                  Sherry "Sherbear" Hubbard
Eastern Guardian                                       Rev. Paedusis
Eastern Maiden                                                              Liz
Southern Guardian                         Rev. Becci Penry, HP
Southern Maiden                                         Reanna Marie
Western Guardian              Rev. Ruthann Amarteifio, HP
Western Maiden                                   Meghan Thomson
Northern Guardian                            Rev. Green Owl, HP
Northern Maiden                                              Kim Reffett
First Elder                 Rt. Rev. V. L. Bitterwind, HP, CCE
First Priestess   M. Rev. Krystel High-Correll, HP, CCE
First Priest                        M. Rev. Don Lewis, HP, CCE
Each year the Correll Mother Temple holds two important ceremonies known as Lustrations: The Lustration of the Ancestors in the Spring, and the Lustration of the Living in the Fall. The purpose of these ceremonies is to bless the membership of the Tradition, and strengthen the ties between the Tradition's living members and the Ancestors.

A Lustration is a ceremony of purification and blessing, usually carried out with specially blessed water.

In the past the Lustrations have been done in Closed Court, attended mainly by the physical descendants of the Tradition's founders. In Year 1 Aquarius however the First Priesthood and Council of Elders (CCE) decided that it was necessary for the Lustrations to be done in Open Court, attended by as many members of the Tradition as possible, in the conviction that this will strengthen the effect of the blessing upon the entire Tradition. 
This was the first Lustration of the Living to be done in Open Court, and it was decided to hold it at the Temple of the PURE Sanctuary in Westville, Illinois. PURE Sanctuary is headed by REV. Becci Penry, HP. Although ritual has been done in this space for several years, it has only recently become the official home of PURE Sanctuary, and Lady Becci worked very hard to redecorate the space in time for the ceremony.

Left: Just before the ceremony begins Lady Becci, already in full regalia, brings additional lighting in the form of metallic-finished globe candles.

As you will see in the photos below the globe candles added a perfect finishing  touch to the ceremony.

Ceremony participants stand at the Temple door, awaiting the start of the rite. Visible are Sherry Hubbard acting as Maiden Priestess Pro Tem, Rev. Paedusis, and Rev. Ruthann Amarteifio, HP.

Rev. Paedusis is one of the longest-serving Mentors at Witchschool.com. Sherry also serves at Witchschool.com as a Teen Peer Counselor.

Lady Ruthann is the Founding Head of Akasha Temple and past President of the Chicago Pagan Community Conference.
Basil Winterbourne, Cadet Priest of the Temple of Akasha, acting as Temple Guardian, is the first to enter the Temple. Here he raises the ceremonial sword and makes a formal  challenge, banishing all negativity and officially beginning the Lustration ceremony.
Once the room is purified, the sword is plunged into a cauldron of earth at the base of the Temple's Poteau Mitan, or central pillar. As the other participants enter the Guardian chants:

"Darkness: Light
Herself: Himself
Oneself: Forever"

The Poteau Mitan symbolizes the Axis of the Universe, expressed through the Seven Planes of Existence. It is also sometimes termed the Tree of Life. 

Ritual participants ranged along the south end of the Temple sanctuary include Chuck Farina from Akasha Temple, Liz a student of Rev. Paedusis who came all the way from from Ohio to attend the Lustration, Rev. Paedusis herself, Rev. Becci Penry of PURE Sanctuary, Rhiannon, and Basil Winterbourne from Akasha.

The Maiden Priestess Pro Tem, Sherry Hubbard, invokes the Higher Self of First Priestess Lady Krystel. From the left the First Priest looks on, while to the right are Lady Ruthann of Akasha (Having a quick glance down at her Order of Service), Meghan Thomson, Lady Bitterwind (holding the purple-wrapped Book of Life), Kim Reffett, and Lady Green Owl. The Poteau Mitan is visible to the left, as is the pentagram rug laid out on the floor the ritual space.

Lady Krystel raises her wand to invoke the Eastern Quarter. The First Priestess invokes the Quarter, and the Gods, lands, and peoples of the Quarter: then the First Priest follows by calling forth a number of Gods representing the Quarter. All together the Gods invoked number 70, thus this part of the ritual is called "The Invocation of the Seventy Gods." The representative of the Quarter (in this case the Quarter Guardian) then gives a blessing in the name of the Quarter, which is extended to the whole of the Tradition.
Addressed as Elisi, or Grandmother, Lady Krystel receives the Blessing of the South as described above. (Lord Don is just out of camera range.)

Five altars stand in the PURE Sanctuary, one for each of the Four Quarters and a fifth for Spirit. The largest of these is the South altar visible just behind Lady Becci, set into an alcove whose walls are painted white (right wall), red (back wall), and black (left wall, not visible). The smallest of the altars is the center or Spirit altar, seen at lower right at the base of the Poteau Mitan.

Seventeen representative Gods are invoked for each Quarter together with "all Who are with" Them. This makes a total of sixty eight Deities called by name, the final two of the "Seventy Gods" being transcendent Goddess and God.

Here the First Priestess Lady Krystel has already invoked the Goddess and the First Priest Lord Don now invokes the God.

"The Invocation of the Seventy Gods" is used only in the most important Correllian rituals, and is an aspect of the Correllian practice of calling together and bestriding all realities at once, creating a Nexus Point. It is the vantage of this Nexus Point which is referred to by the phrase (used when the First Priesthood align to their Higher Selves) "We are the One Who is the Nine: We are the millions of Souls Who are the Billions of Lives..."

Lady Krystel holds the Chalice aloft prior to its being blessed by Great Rite. Moments later Lady Becci and Basil Winterbourne (standing in for John Penry, who was ill) will read the joint Charge of the Goddess and God, and consecrate the Chalice with the Athame.
Lady Ruthann (left) of the Temple of Akasha, and First Elder Lady Bitterwind, listen enrapt to the joint Charge of the Goddess and God. In the joint Charge, designed by Lady Becci, Priestess and Priest recite the Charges of the Goddess and God (respectively) simultaneously, alternating a few lines at a time.

Although the Charge of the God is quite modern, the Charge of the Goddess has seen many recensions including the most famous recension by Doreen Valiente. Its first appearance in print however was as the Charge of Aradia in Leland's Aradia, published in 1599 Pisces (1899 AD).

Blessing the Book of Life. The Book of Life is the membership roll of the Correllian Tradition. In it are the names of all Correllians living and in Spirit. When the Book of Life is blessed (in each Lustration) all those within its pages are blessed as well.

Here Maiden Priestess Sherry Hubbard has brought forth the new pages to be added to the Book, listing members who have entered the Tradition since the previous Lustration of the Living. First Elder Lady Bitterwind has brought forward the Book itself. The new pages are blessed and added to the Book, which is then blessed itself. Later the Book of Life will be the asperged to carry the blessing of the Ancestors to all of those listed within its pages.

The First Priest Lord Don channels the message of the Ancestors for the Tradition. This years message spoke of growth in the Tradition and changes in the world and the need to maintain balance.

When the message is complete the First Elder Lady Bitterwind will bring forth the cauldron of the Lustration, filled with the waters of the holy Vermillion river: grasping the sacred Ulunsuti crystal the First Priest will channel the blessing of the Holy Ancestors into the water, which is then used to asperge all present, and the Four Quarters together with (symbolically) all Their Gods, lands, and people including all of the Correllians in each of the Four Directions.