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us will grow!
When they are finished, they salute the High Priestess, who stands up and acknowledges their salutes. Holding the
child aloft with both hands, she addresses them:
The Goddess Demeter welcomes her sons. Lead in now the 'Protectors of life.
The Kouretes of the North says:
Demeter brought forth Pluto, and kindly was the birth of him whose way is on the sea and all over the earth. Happy,
happy is the mortal who thus meets him as he goes. For his hands are full of blessings, and his treasure overflows.
The Kouretes approaches the child, sprinkling barley and wheat at the Goddess's feet, and throwing them at the sky as
feeding the birds. The Kouretes of the South says:
But the Child was hunted much too soon. Angry flew the news that Demeter's son will one day inherit the bountiful
earth, and the new Gods seized him and tried to cause him harm. They searched for him under every bush, saying
"Baby, baby, don't cry."
The Kouretes act out the scene. They encircle the Goddess, holding their shields aloft. The Goddess approaches each
corner with the baby, hiding him under her clothing. She shouts NO! to each corner as the appropriate Kouretes tries to
take the child from her.
To accompany this, drums and cymbals should be played, and the Kouretes of the watchtowers should get into playing
the "villains," shouting things like "Give me the child, and I will eat it right away!" or "Give me the child, and I will
send it to war!" or "Give me the child, and I will make it toil and toil and toil!" or "Give me the child, and I will make
it sick with poisons!"
After one such round, the Goddess Demeter returns to her throne and calls on the powers to help:
Come, o Dithyramb, flowers of me, come, my children, come! Come, o Kouretes, come o Bacchoi, come, Bromios,
come. And coming with thee, bring the holy hours of the holy spring!
The new Kouretes take the child gently from Demeter, saying:
Demeter, Earth Mother, all life originates from thee, Semele, gift giver, bringer up of wealth and kin. We protect thee
from malice and destruction of mind and body. The sacred child is well with us. We thunder^ur shields above!
They place the child on the ground, on a piece of silk, and begin the dance that looks like a wardance, imitating the
defense they would put up if any danger approached. Here imagination can reign: sword dances of ethnic origin, wand
dances, and leaps over the child and each other. While they are so occupied, the older Kouretes are placing toys into
the child's reach: the cone for fertility, the rhombos (or Bull-Roarer) to invoke the rain, and the golden apples of
Aphrodite for health and happiness.
The young Kouretes are preoccupied until it is too late. The old ones have taken the child and mimicked tearing him
limb from limb.
To demonstrate this, the child is smeared with white gypsum and pitch, like the grownups, and Demeter receives him
again, hiding him under the silk. She says:
The most important shortcoming of sons is hubris, excessive pride. Vigilance must be where there was mirth alone.
file:///X|/B2DvD_1008____Wisdom_Ancient/The_Holy_Book_of_Women's_Mysteries/pp%20104-305.txt[8/19/2009 6:46:19 PM]
The new Kouretes says: "We hear you, Holy Mother!" Demeter says:
An important thing to remember is that rebirth comes through understanding of the heart.
The new Kouretes says: "We pledge ourselves to you, Holy Mother!"
Kouretes: "To be a Kouretes you must treasure life and the carriers of life, women."
Youth: "I have searched my heart. I pledge myself to life and the carriers of life, women."
Kouretes: "To be a Kouretes you must cooperate with your brothers. Pan is not violent. Pan is grace, songs and
creativity." The rhombos is now twirled, the drums now drum, the silk is removed and the child is whole again! The
Kouretes now lift the child on their shields and sing the ancient song of spring:
lo, Kouros, Most Great, I give thee hail! Kronios, Lord of all that is wet and gleaming, thou art come at the head of
your sacred priests! To (place of the ceremony) for a year and a day, oh, march and rejoice in the dance and song that
we make to thee with harps and pipes mingled together, and sing as we come to a stand at your well-fenced altar. For
here the shielded Nurturers took thee, a child immortal, from Rhea, and with noise and beating feet, hid thee away.
Death powers found thee, and lured you away, and tore you limb from limb with your mother's body bedecked in pain,
until you were all over the earth. But She of eternal force made you whole again by the dawn of all dawns.
And vigilance is bidden to us now,
And love is bidden to us now,
And honor is bidden to us now.
And the Horai began to be fruitful year by year, and Dikte to possess mankind, and all wild, living things were held
about by wealth-loving peace!
To us, leap for. full jars, and leap for fleecy flocks, and leap for fields of fruit, and for hives, bring increase! Leap for
our cities, and leap for our seaborne ships, and leap for our young citizens, and for goodly Themis, justice for all!
After this ritual ends, the Kouretes kiss the Goddess on the cheek, and she kisses them back. The four elders thank the
spirits for participating in the rite, and sound the gong. The last words are from Demeter. She says:
/ know you now as children no more; the Nurturers are sacred, effective, and beloved by the gods.
Acceptance of Matriarchal Manhood: Modern Ritual
You most likely don't have a temple for the Goddess in your neighborhood. What to do? Mother and son need a new
form of bonding as young man and mother. This relationship is the basis of our society. If this is a positive experience,
fewer men will hate women. Today, all puberty rituals are done by men for men, without women participating. They
perform a "separation from the mother'' ritual, not a young men's pledge as responsible adults to create and protect life.
They misunderstand the acceptance of manhood, as if to be a man simply means rejecting his origins. Manhood means
acceptance of responsibility for Life. This has to be done with a woman who represents the Force of Life. Cutting
women out of manhood rituals is like presenting apples without ever honoring the tree that brought them forth. The tree
and the apple forever have a deep connection of continuity. In matriarchal rituals this is remembered again.
Time: During March after a New Moon.
Place: Indoors or outdoors. Since there is an honoring feast connected with
it, use your common sense and you will know where.
Celebrants: Mother and her son, family and friends, affinity group, tribe.
The group forms a circle and harmonizes with a deep humming, without straining, just like a beehive. Then the mother
picks up her censer and goes around in the circle from the inside, smiling, welcoming the assembled friends. She has
an opportunity to purify everybody with the mixture of fire, air and earth in the burner, as she lets the smoke enfold
them. She puts down her censer. Everyone pays attention to her.
Mother:
We are gathered together here today in the name of Life. I want to present my son (name) to the community. He is
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