Contents
Starting at 3rd Level and every Level thereafter you are required to have sex with your initiator as part of your initiation. Duties of a Priest/ess Now that you have become a Priest/ess, lets talk a little about your duties. In the Traditional Wiccan paradigm, once you become a 3rd degree, you are supposed to hive off and start your own Coven. So no Coven ever has more than two 3rd degrees, one of each gender. That's not the way we operate. In a Pod of the 1st Church of Polyamory, your goal is to attain a Pod where everyone is the same Level. So instead of being the clergy person who ministers to a congregation of laity, You should seek to be an equal in a Pod full of Adepts. As a Priest/ess, you are required to serve as High Priest/ess when it is your turn. Everyone who has attained at least 3rd level MUST serve a term as High Priestess or High Priest when it is their turn. People who have not yet attained 3rd Level may also serve as High Priest/ess if it is their will to do so. As a Priest/ess, you are also required to travel up to 100 miles (200 Kilometers) to perform 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level initiations for other Pods and may travel further if the hosting Pod pays your traveling expenses. Rites of a Priest/ess As a Priest/ess, you are now entitled to perform marriages in the 1st Church of Polyamory uniting any two or more consenting adults in ceremony that honors the Primary (spousal) bond between them. As a Priest/ess, you are also now empowered to perform 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Level initiations. As a Priest/ess, your Pod is now allowed to possess up to 2 copies of the 1st and 2nd Level initiations and 1 copy of the 3rd Level initiation. These Initiations may not be copied for any reason, except by 6th Level members. Preparing for 4th Level Since your are now a Priest/ess, you may want to make a study of counseling and conflict resolution techniques. Also you should court and form a Primary (spousal) bond with a member of your Pod who is has attained at least 3rd or 4th level. Sometimes people will strike an alliance and artificially form this bond in order to fulfil a requirement. This may not work. In order to complete the 4th Level Initiation, the candidates have to have the familiarity and intimacy with each other that being in an ongoing sexualove relationship brings. Once you have a Pod that have all reached at least 3rd level. You may want to dispense with the after ritual orgies some of the time. The purpose of having post ritual orgies is to weed out the people who are not really interested in being a member of the 1st Church of Polyamory. Some people will say that they are interested in polyamory, but in truth, are afraid to live it. Such people will not keep coming to our rituals because the orgies disturb them even though they are not required to participate. There will be other people who are genuinely interested in polyamory but are careful in their procession into it. They won't participate in the post ritual orgies, but they will keep coming to rituals, ask for initiations, participate in rituals, serve as officer of the Pod, train for 3rd Level and be initiated. Such people should be encouraged and not pressured. What do you do when a relationship ends? Well, that depends a lot on how amicably it ends. When a Secondary or Primary relationship ends, it can lead to a lot of tension in a Pod. The people involved need to ask themselves how permanent this break up is. Can they participate with this person/s in ritual? In the Solar Rites? Can she be High Priestess when this other person is High Priest? If the answer to these questions is no. Then one of them should hive off and form a new Pod. The remaining Pod members then, will have to choose which of the 2 Pods they wish to be a member of. Break ups do not cause anyone to lose a Level. Nor can they cause a Pod to lose its' status as a full fledged Pod. Dealing with single men What do you do if your Pod is attracting mostly single men? Firstly, you need to be able to differentiate between lonely men and true seekers who are currently single men. You should limit the number of single men in your pod so that there is never more that one extra single man. Extra women are usually less of a problem because female bisexuality is considered more exceptible by both genders. What if you are a single man trying to start a Pod and are attracting other single men to your Pod? This is not a problem. Let up to 3 single men into your Pod. Build a close friendship between you and become each other's secondary lovers so that you don't have sexual pressure building up. You will find that there are women who would like to have group sex with 2 or 3 men. And these women will be attracted to a group of bi-men who can share her without competition. Let couples and women join your all-male Pod until the gender balance is closer to equal. Primary (spousal) Bonding Ceremony In the 1st Church of Polyamory, Primary (spousal) bonds may be formed for 5 different durations. Gaean marriages last for a single day and are usually performed by the people involved without any clergy or witnesses. Mercurial Marriages last for a single week and like Gaean marriages, they are usually performed by the people involved without any clergy or witnesses. Lunar Marriages last for a single month. They are often formed between a High Priest and High Priestess who were not involved on a Primary level prior to their installation as officers. Solar Marriages last for a single year. All of the preceding forms of marriage are renewable and often a couple will renew their marriage for longer and longer terms. Perpetual Marriages last until the bonded people wish to end it. These are all different as each couple, Vee, triad, or more usually write their own ceremony. However, this is just one example used by a couple: The ritual area is banished in the usual manner with the couple splitting the initial banishing and closings between them. The Bride calls East and West and the Groom calls South and North. High Priest: We are here today to celebrate, to witness, to bless, and to receive the blessing of (Bride) and (Groom) handfasting. Together they weave their commitment with trust, support, and with fidelity. It is a commitment based in love, in affection, and in an instinctive bonding between two people. This bonding is of the physical body, is of the human personality, and is of the inner, spiritual being. High Priestess: (To the couple) Marriage is the most intense of human relationships wherein the partners act as mirrors for one another. Where you sow or expect hurt, misunderstanding, rejection or isolation, so you will find it in each other. But where you sow or expect love, trust, generosity, support, and affection, so you will find these qualities in one another. Know that when you love each other perfectly, you will have grown to loving all life perfectly. High Priestess: Who comes to be joined together in the presence of the Goddess? What is thy name, O Man? Groom: My name is _____ High Priest: Who comes to be joined together in the presence of the God? What is thy name, O Woman? Bride: My name is _____ High Priestess: (Bride) and (Groom), we greet you with joy. Handfasting HP joins the couple's hands while HPS fastens cord around their wrists. HP: As your hands are joined with this cord, know it is your will to be united and to love and cherish one another through all lifetimes. Exchange of Vows High Priestess: Unity is balance, and balance is unity. Hear then and understand. She picks up the Staff and continues: High Priestess: The staff that I hold is the symbol of Air. Know and remember that this is the element of Life, of intelligence, of the inspiration, which moves us onwards. By this wand of Air, we bring to your Handfasting the power of Mind. She lays down the staff. The High Priest picks up the candle and says: The candle that I hold is the symbol of Fire. Know and remember that this is the element of Light, of energy, of the vigor, which runs through our veins. By this candle of Fire, we bring to your Handfasting the power of Will. He lays down the candle. The High Priestess picks up the chalice and says: The chalice that I hold is the symbol of Water. Know and remember that this is the element of Love, of growth, of the fruitfulness of the Great Mother. By this chalice of Water, we bring to your Handfasting the power of Desire. She lays down the chalice. The High Priest picks up the athame' and says: The athame' that I hold is the symbol of Earth. Know and remember that this is the element of Law, of endurance, of the understanding, which cannot be shaken. By this athame of Earth, we bring to your Handfasting the power of the Steadfast. High Priest: Golden Aphrodite cometh not as the virgin, the victim, but as the Awakener, the Desirous One. As outer space she calls, and the All-Father commences the courtship. She awakeneth Him to desire, and the worlds are created. How powerful is she, golden Aphrodite, the awakener of manhood! High Priestess: But all these things are one thing. All the goddesses are one goddess, and we call her Isis, the All-woman, in whose nature all natural things are found; virgin and desirous by turn; giver of life and bringer-in of death. She is the cause of all creation, for she awakeneth the desire of the All-Father, and for her sake He createth. Likewise, the wise call all women Isis. High Priest: In the face of every woman, let man look for the features of the Great Goddess, watching her phases through the flow and return of the tides to which his soul answereth; listening for her call. High Priestess: O daughter of Isis, adore the Goddess, and in her name give the call that awakens and rejoices. So shalt thou be blessed of the Goddess and live with the fullness of life. Let the Bride show forth the Goddess to him who loves her. Let her assume the crown of the underworld. Let her arise all glorious and golden from the sea of the primordial and call unto him to come forth, to come to her. Let her do these things in the name of the Goddess and she shall be even as the Goddess unto him; for the Goddess will speak through her. All-powerful shall she be on the Inner, as crowned Persephone; and all-powerful on the Outer, as golden Aphrodite. So shall she be a priestess in the eyes of the worshipper of the Goddess, who by his faith and dedication shall find the Goddess in her. For the rite of Isis is life, and that which is done as a rite shall show forth in life. By the rite is the Goddess drawn down to her worshippers; her power enters into them, and they become the substance of the sacrament. High Priest (to the Bride): Say after me: By seed and root, by bud and stem, by leaf and flower and fruit, by life and love, in the name of the Goddess, I, (Bride), take thee, (Groom), to my hand, my heart and my spirit, at the setting of the sun and the rising of the stars. Nor shall death part us; for in the fullness of time we shall be born again at the same time and in the same place as each other; and we shall meet, and know, and remember, and love again. The bride repeats each phrase after the High Priest, then places the ring on the groom's finger. High Priestess (to the Groom): Say after me: By seed and root, by bud and stem, by leaf and flower and fruit, by life and love, in the name of the Goddess, I, (Groom), take thee, (Bride), to my hand, my heart and my spirit, at the setting of the sun and the rising of the stars. Nor shall death part us; for in the fullness of time we shall be born again at the same time and in the same place as each other; and we shall meet, and know, and remember, and love again. The groom repeats each phrase after the High Priestess, then places the ring on the bride's finger. Watersharing Bride: Water is the connecting link between All things. As a symbol of the strengthening of this interconnectedness, (Groom) and I will share Water. We have already become Watersiblings. Today we Grow even Closer. From Water did we arise and to Water we shall return. May you Never Thirst. The couple shares water. Blessing High Priestess: Let the sun and the moon and the stars, and these our brothers and sisters, bear witness; that (Bride) and (Groom) have been joined together in the sight of the God and the Goddess. And may the God and the Goddess bless them, as we do ourselves. All: So mote it be! High Priest: Gloria Patri et Matri et Filio et Filiae et Spiritui Sancto externo et Spiritui Sancto interno ut erat est erit in saecula Saeculorum sex in uno per nomen Septem in uno Ararita. Upon all that this day unite with Love under Will let fall success; May strength and skill unite to bring forth Ecstasy, and beauty answer beauty. All: So mote it be! The Wedding couple instead of the High Priestess and High Priest then performs the Great Rite. Requirements for 4th Level 4th Level candidates should be: 1) Prepared to have sex with their initiator as part of their initiation. 2) Has been 3rd Level for at least one year. 3) Be more familiar with the 1st and 2nd level material than they were at their 3rd Level initiation. 4) Have formed a Primary (spousal) bond with someone who has already attained 4th Level. (if necessary, two 3rd Level candidates may use each other to fulfil this requirement)
1st church of polyamory Web Sites
Main Page - 1st Church of Polyamory
Pods (local congregations or families)
The First Level teachings: Part One
2nd Level Teachings
4th Level Teachings
So you want to start a Pod?
