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[vaxjedi]

More Details on the Rapture. I hope to have some of this in place by either the next full moon or May 1. If you have any comments, feel free to post them.



Rapture Holy Days

There are three sorts of holy days in the Rapture tradition: the bosamyel (full moons), the seltuxil (yearly holy days) and the seluzhal (personal holy days).

bosamyel
The bosamyel (singular bosamye) are full moon celebrations, dedicated to the rememberence and reverance of 'shaladal, the Jade Goddess. Within 48 hours of the full moon, the Raptured should prepare a ceremony of some sort. This can be done alone or in groups. The required elements of the ceremony vary depending on if it is a solitary or group ritual.

seltuxil
The seltuxil (singular seltuxi) are holy days that occur every year at specific dates. These are intended to be communal celebrations and you should seek out others to celebrate them with. The people you celebrate with don't have to be part of the Raptured tradition, nor do you even have to inform them of the holy day. These holy days are to remind you of your connection to the world in general and how to share these things with others. What is important is your observation of the holy day and the internalization of its meaning and intent. However, if you cannot find others to celebrate with or it would be a problem in some way, then solitary observance or ritual is just fine. There are four seltuxil, described below

'yarek - 'yarek is the Winter Solstice, the time of the sun at its weakest. This is a time of rest and family. The energy of life is at its lowest at this point, and we remember our families and clans at this point as where we fall back on when all is dark and cold.

'borek - This is the time of the Great Sun, the Summer Solstice. This is a day where the sun and the life it gives is at its strongest, a time for celebrating things that are bright and warm. This is a day to do things, to make promises, to accomplish resolutions. This day we remember that we are alive and that life is strong. (as a note, in the Southern hemisphere, the dates of yarek and borek are swapped)

'etazhiat - 'etazhiat is Beltaine, the day of rebirth, to remind yourself why we live and that life is good. This is a day of joy and celebration, where you do things you enjoy with people you enjoy. Take the day off from work if you can, do something fun. This is the rememberence of joy and the resurrection of 'ezexom, the Ember Man, to bring him forth from the shadows with joy and happiness and mirth.

'tobom - This is Samhaim, the day of rememberance. This is the day we morun the losses of the year and remember those who have passed back into deepest shadow. We commemorate their memory on this day.

seluzhal
The seluzhal (singular seluzh) are the days of commemoration that are personal to you that happen yearly. They commemorate the sacredness of the individual's life. There are a few of these that are standard, they are listed below. However, if you attach significance to an event or day, you can make it a seluzh. How you celebrate it is up to you.

gazhoxe - This is someone's birthday. This day is all about them, a time to celebrate the continuity of their own life.

selwaso - This is a wedding anniversary, a day to commemorate a marriage and union of

sir - This day is 6 months after the person's gazhoxe. This is a day of silence, a day to be by themselves. This day the person should be by themselves for as much of the day as possible, engaging in quiet, contemplative activities. This is a day to connect with one's own spirituality and a good day to focus on your own personal growth.

Comments

[toilteanas.livejournal.com]

"'etazhiat - 'etazhiat is Beltaine, the day of rebirth, to remind yourself why we live and that life is good. This is a day of joy and celebration, where you do things you enjoy with people you enjoy. Take the day off from work if you can, do something fun. This is the rememberence of joy and the resurrection of 'ezexom, the Ember Man, to bring him forth from the shadows with joy and happiness and mirth."

This is our wedding anniversary!

[vaxjedi]

And the next day is my birthday ;)

What do you think of it all?

[kyril.livejournal.com]

I'd been thinking recently about calendars; the folks I'm working with focus on the cross-quarter days, but have recently added another for the dark of the year--much more like your sir but at the time of 'yarek. With more draw to explore the Darkness, of course.

Meanwhile, I feel like 'etazhiat falls too late on your calendar, at least as a celebration of the world being reborn/awakening from its winter slumber. I feel the need to celebrate this when it feels like "spring has sprung", which tends to come sometime near the spring equinox. The rebirth of the God feels kinda lame, like any newborn there's not much power until later--it's his resurgence in springtime that calls to me. And the Goddess's, at the same time. And the young God and Goddess going at it like bunnies. But at this stage they're the young lovers; the serious procreation aspects seem to wait until Beltaine.

And of course, at harvest time I definitely celebrate the sacrifice of what you would call 'ezexom, the Ember Man. I get a more agrarian flavor (John Barleycorn), so this celebration is "lit" around the time of Lunasa, and slowly tapers off until or past the equinox. I'm not sure if you celebrate his death at 'tobom; you don't seem to mention it.

[vaxjedi]

Well, the rebirth of the Ember Man is a specific sort of thing. I guess rebirth is the wrong term - 'ezexom never really dies. He simply dies down to embers, so that we can use him to re-ignite ourselfs again as a ward against the darkness. He doesn't come back into the world a a child, but fully as an adult. He can be re-ignited any time. But 'etazhiat is the day of the year where we remember to do it with friends.

Honestly, I have very little connection to the passage of the seasons. I'm just not agrarian at all - maybe it comes from growing up in a desert where there isn't much change between the seasons. I know the cycle of the God in relation to the cycle of the year. But that's not the story in the Rapture tradition. Beltaine is about celebrating life, and Samhain is about remembering the dead.

The solstices are the next for me and are specifically the high and low points of the power of the sun - which is one of the basic elements in my elemental system. They aren't connected to the other yearly holy days in this tradition. They aren't holidays for 'ezexom. He's a being of fire, and sun and fire, while similar, are distinct in the Rapture tradition.

[kyril.livejournal.com]

I don't expect your system to be at all agriculturally based--quite far from it, in fact, I expect it to be quite urban and humano-centric, much more so than mine. I'm not even 100% sure why I pick up on Lunasa at harvest time, it's just when I feel it.

I guess we're more or less in agreement about the Ember Man thing--the rekindling is the thing. Whether he dies down all the way or just to embers isn't a big issue, and both of us are focused on the rekindling. I have seasonal events to hang that on, whereas

Sorry I didn't get this the first time

[kyril.livejournal.com]

I know the cycle of the God in relation to the cycle of the year.

I know of several. There's also this Oak King/Holly King thing where each slays the other at midsummer/midwinter. But that's not at all what I feel.

Do Beltaine and Samhain feel to you to be tied to that point in the year, or is it more for synergy with other pagan traditions that you've scheduled a comparable celebration at that time? It feels, at least at first blush, that except for the solar peak/nadir, your holidays are much more tied to the seasons of the heart (which are individual and personal) than to any particular season of the planet. You talk about how Samhain and Beltaine are times set aside to, or when you make a point to, celebrate certain things, not about why you picked those times. They're good times, most of pagandom agrees with both and even Christians are on board for the other, and I'm not at all saying that's a bad time to celebrate them.

There's value in scheduling them so you don't forget and so you can share them with others. Just don't forget to/that you can celebrate them at other times, too, whether that's shared or solitary, when it feels right or needful.

Re: Sorry I didn't get this the first time

[vaxjedi]

Well, they feel someone tied to those dates to me, as those are the standard pagan holidays that have resonated most for me.

Yeah, they are set aside to make a point to commemorate these things and to do so with friends and community. The point of the yearly holidays is that they are community days - times where you do these things with others. You shouldn't forget to celebrte in the rest of the year.

[aint2nuts.livejournal.com]

I found your journal through metaquotes. Interesting. I added you. Hope you don't mind.

[vaxjedi]

no problem. I hope you find it amusing :)

[oceansedge.livejournal.com]

For me I find that a lot of the holy days at least as they're traditionally celebrated just don't ring true..... for instance... Fall always arrives here a full month before Mabon, I can smell it in the air (for lack of a better word. The same is true in the spring...