Northern Cougars Clan and Coven
Clergy Services: Rites of Passage
Any questions, requests or comments can be sent to: northern.cougars@gmail.com
~ Back to BFC: Northern Cougars Home ~ Back to Northern Cougars Services ~
~ Handfasting ~ Wiccaning ~ Adulthood ~
~ Croning/Saging ~ Funerary Crossing Over ~
~ Separation ~
~ Dedication / Initiation Rites ~
Black Forest is a clergy training organization. As clergy, Northern Cougars offers the design and performance of rituals to celebrate rites of passage: Wiccaning/baby-blessing, puberty/entry into adulthood, handfasting, eldering/croning and crossing over. It also offers assistance with workshops and seminars, guest lectures and discussion groups, as well as the performance of house/business/personal cleansings and blessings. Although Northern Cougars practices a Celtic tradition of Paganism, we will readily custom design a ritual to suit your personal preferences and celebratory practice.
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From this day forward, you shall
not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter, and my arms will be your
home.
In perfect love and in perfect trust.
Handfasting is a sacred and joyous event. It is a marriage rite that has been practiced by Pagans, Druids, Witches and Shamans for centuries. Handfasting symbolizes the beginning of trial marriage, typically lasting a year and a day. This ritual today can be used to symbolize that year and a day, much like a formal engagement, or can now be performed as the wedding ceremony. If the proper measures are taken, it can be a legal marriage ceremony.
Handfastings can be performed for heterosexual or same sex couples. Love is love. It does not discriminate for religion, race, or gender.
Handfasting is related to an old Celtic ceremony, in which the couple's hands are ritualistically tied together, hence the phrase "tying the knot".
The base fee is $100 for the simple performance of the Handfasting ritual, with one or two members of Northern Cougars leading. Another option is to pay $200 which will include 6 monthly one-hour ritual planning and marriage counseling sessions and the ceremony.
A Handfasting requires minimum 3 months notification before we perform the ceremony. As well, the couple has to have been in a serious relationship for at least one year.
Please be aware that supplies for the ritual, extra planning, counseling sessions, and legalization cost extra.
At this time, we recommend that the couple handle their legal union through the Court House of their state or province. This allows the complete freedom for their spiritual ceremony afterwards. We are in the process of understanding the various legal requirements to perform legal weddings in the future. So for a legal ceremony through us, we ask that you please be patient as the laws vary from province to province across Canada.
SAMPLE HANDFASTING RITUAL
Wiccaning / Naming / Baby Blessing Rites
A new baby is like the beginning of all things -
wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities.
We all deserve to be called what we want to be called.
A Wiccaning is a ceremony to welcome new life into this world. It is the time to name the child before the divine and the community and to bless the child for the future. At this time, god/goddess parents are named to safeguard the child's future should anything happen to the parents.
A Wiccaning may also be performed for someone who is older and wishes to be blessed with a new name before the divine and their community. It is important to understand that this is not a dedication or initiation ritual. It is the blessing of a human being with a name.
A base fee is to cover transportation and supplies. Ritual will happen wherever the family chooses and will include a certificate. The fee might vary depending on the supplies and complexity of the ritual. It is usually a courtesy to make a donation to the coven for their service. Suggested donation is $25 per coven member involved.
If you wish there to be legal papers for the god/goddess parents legal guardianship should anything happen to the family, please notify us as we will need to look into the legal requirements which may vary from province to province across Canada.
SAMPLE BABY BLESSING RITUAL ~ SAMPLE ADULT NAMING RITUAL
Adulthood Rites (First Menses or Womanhood Rites AND Rites of Manhood)
(seeking good quotes for this stage of life)
Puberty or adulthood rites mark the time a girl or a boy reaches a stage of adult maturity. This may be done in one or two stages, one to mark the physical maturity and one to mark the psychological maturity (or legal age of majority). These rites are gender specific and attending members may only be of that same gender except for the parents. For example, all the women in the family may attend a girls rite of woman, but the father may be the only male representative. This is the same for the manhood rites. All the men of the family may attend the manhood rite, but only the mother may be the only female representative. A rite for age of majority may be celebrated with both genders in attendance or not as the new adult chooses.
Adulthood rites are designed to educate and to celebrate the youth in this time of transition.
A one-hour meeting session (suggested donation of $20) is required beforehand to discuss how to handle this rite and tailor it to the young adult. A base fee is to cover transportation and supplies. Ritual will happen wherever the family chooses. The fee might vary depending on the supplies and complexity of the ritual. It is usually a courtesy to make a donation to the coven for their service. Suggested donation is $25 per coven member involved.
SAMPLE FIRST MENSES RITE ~ SAMPLE RITE OF MANHOOD
SAMPLE AGE OF MAJORITY RITE
With age comes wisdom...
Eldering rites are sometimes called Croning or Saging rites and mark old age and wisdom. This is done for women experiencing or just past menopause or for men who have reached a relative equivalent stage in their lives. Elders are such important people in our lives. They have lived and loved and learned. They can teach us from their own experiences.
Contemporary society seems to no longer respect or venerate people in this stage, opting instead to hide them in old age or retirement homes. BFC Northern Cougars wishes to re-awaken the beauty and greatness of this stage of life and to inspire the younger generations to honor its elders through rites and rituals that celebrate them!
A one-hour meeting session (suggested donation of $20) is required beforehand to discuss how to handle this rite and tailor it to your needs. A base fee is to cover transportation and supplies. Ritual will happen wherever the family chooses. The fee might vary depending on the supplies and complexity of the ritual. It is usually a courtesy to make a donation to the coven for their service. Suggested donation is $25 per coven member involved.
SAMPLE CRONING RITE
Funerary Crossing Over Rites & Services
Death is but one more change in
the cycle of life.
We are born, we live, we grow old and we die, and then we are born again.
We cross the veil from where we watch and guide our loved ones.
It is not the end... but the beginning of another journey.
This is often a difficult time for the dying and the family of the recently deceased. Rituals provide closure and help heal the hearts of their loss. Rites for crossing over help the spirit of the recently deceased cross from this world beyond the veil and onto their next great adventure. In these rituals, we honor the deeds and life of the deceased person, we celebrate them. We also provide an opportunity for the living to say goodbye.
The first meeting and one post rite counseling session are free. A base fee is to cover transportation and supplies. Ritual will happen wherever the family chooses. The fee might vary depending on the supplies and complexity of the ritual. It is usually a courtesy to make a donation to the coven for their service. Suggested donation is $25 per coven member involved.
When the family is ready, any of the members may contact us to help them set up an ancestral shrine in their homes for the deceased. This is usually about one to three lunar months after the actual ritual, but may also be on the one year anniversary of the death.
SAMPLE CROSSING OVER RITE
Separation is a newer rite of passage to mark the ending of a union. This is a rite that may be performed by the couple separating peaceably or by one individual in need of closure.
A base fee is to cover transportation and supplies. Ritual will happen wherever the family chooses and will include a certificate. The fee might vary depending on the supplies and complexity of the ritual. It is usually a courtesy to make a donation to the coven for their service. Suggested donation is $25 per coven member involved.
This is a spiritual rite. All legal aspects of separation must be handled through the legal services of your province as they vary from province to province across Canada. We will provide some assistance in helping you find the right resources and support to take legal action, however our main focus is the spiritual aspect of this stage in your life.
SAMPLE SEPARATION RITE
Finally, there are the spiritual rites of dedication and initiation. These terms are often synonymous and used to identify a ritual that marks the beginning of a new spiritual path. We will assist people in this rite for themselves, but will not dedicate nor initiate them into our coven or into Black Forest.
A dedication is a commitment of time and of self to an endeavor, to a purpose, and/or to a person or divine spirit. This is usually for a year and a day.
An initiation is the commitment to follow a particular spiritual path in your life. This usually follows dedication when you are more sure of your choices. It is defined as the ceremony that formally brings one into a group, such as a coven. It is a pledge to be part of something more and to swear vows within that tradition.
Some excellent articles on the difference can be found here:
A one-hour meeting session (suggested donation of $20) is required beforehand to discuss how to handle this rite and tailor it to your needs. A base fee is to cover transportation and supplies. Ritual will happen wherever the family chooses. The fee might vary depending on the supplies and complexity of the ritual. It is usually a courtesy to make a donation to the coven for their service. Suggested donation is $25 per coven member involved. Although, usually, only the meeting session is necessary as we encourage you to perform your own self-dedication and your own self-initiation rites.
If you wish to be dedicated and initiated as a member of Black Forest, please return to the Home Page for BFC and read the FAQ's, Application pages and Outer Court program.
SAMPLE SELF-DEDICATION RITE
Any questions, requests or comments can be sent to: northern.cougars@gmail.com
©2008 BFC: Northern Cougars
