Nepeos Forms and Techniques
Many different forms of Birth Perfectionings and/or
Nepeos Rites of Passage have been Celebrated within the Garden of Life
Temple context, but three main systems have received most of the Work.
One pattern, that was developed first could be called an Element Blessing
form, a very similar form could be called the Chakra Blessing form, the
third, based on predynastic Ægyptian roots, could be called the Child
Lotus form. These will be detailed below, other forms will be explicated
as the information jells in our gestalt consciousness.
Element Blessing Form
In this Form, a robe, in a single symbolically significant
colour is made or acquired by the parents, usually approximately twice
the height of the Child from neck to toes (symbolizing the child's need
for nurturance), with or without wings, halos or other accoutrement. The
parents ask somewhere between 4 and 7 people to perform the Element Blessings,
depending on whether they are going to use the 4 element pattern (Earth,
Fire, Air, Water), 5 element pattern (Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Spirit),
7 element pattern (Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Spirit, Æther, Stone
or Metal), or other. When the Perfectioning is Celebrated in Circle, the
Officiants are spaced appropriately around the Circle. The parents carry
the Child around to each station and the Child is blessed by each Officiant
in a manner appropriate to that station. After this is finished the parents
take the Child to the main altar (however that has been determined), where
the Child is held up and "Hail the Crowned and Conquering Child" is proclaimed,
with "So Mote It Be"s and other affirmations responding.
Chakra Blessing Form
This form is the same as the Element Blessing Form
except that a Chakra pattern is substituted and the patterning consists
of an Officiant performing Blessings related to each of the 7 (or other
system) Chakras.
Child Lotus Form
In the original pattern, the Child was taken to the
Nile as soon as practical after birth, and passed through a semicircle
of Priestesses, from as many Traditions as possible, finally to the GrandMother
(or someone filling that role) who encased the Child in a Lotus robe, and
passed the Child through a slit in a Golden Veil, held by Priestesses of
the Two Lands, to the Mother who stood on the Land. After this all retired
to the home of the parents for a feast and conviviality. We ordinarily
use a swimming pool and pass the Child through a semicircle of the assembled
Celebrants, with each Blessing the Child.
Other notes coming soon!
Shriekback Singing Form
Roan's perfectioning in this realm was witnessed at
the Lake Lavon retreat,
May Day celebration, 1998. It reads like a classic
Clue game... In the
Pyramid room, wearing a diaper and squirming. Happy
and interested she was
when Emily and Melissa sang the Cradle Song while
I cried. When she first
was able to speak this is the song she would ask for.
I sing it to her
still, it is our cradle song. amys
Cradle Song
Sing a cradle-song now, as the light fades around
us
And you breathe like the ocean, lying small in my
arms
See it all in a moment - you so young and unclouded
Shining bright as a lion - feel the motion of time
As the world rolls away from the sun.
I can feel your life burning - unlived moments within
you
Further than I can see...
May the fire be your friend and the sea rock you gently,
May the moon light your way - till the wind sets you
free
I remember your face as you cried for the first time
The cold air of the world and the fierce light of
day
And the cruel separation in a world washed with tears;
Numbed with pain to unfeeling - May you hold to your
truth
As you walk the dark night of unreason
The stone walls which surround us - may your spirit
fly round them
Like the wind from the sea...
May the fire be your friend and the sea rock you gently,
May the moon light your way - till the wind sets you
free
May you never know hunger: may you love with a full
heart -
The light stay in your eyes...
May the fire be your friend and the sea rock you gently,
May the moon light your way - till the wind sets you
free
May the fire be your friend and the sea rock you gently,
May the moon light your way - till the wind sets you
free
- Big Night Music - Shriekback
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