One of the major difficulties in worshipping a modern, New World manifestation of an ancient goddess is the lack of a continuous religious tradition. We have some historical documentation of how She was worshipped in places like Greece and Rome, but much of the cultural meaning is irrelevant or even abhorrent to Americans today. That leaves a bit of a gap to fill and quite a quandary in terms of planning ceremonies for Our Lady.
Interestingly, though, there is one tradition that seems to be fairly analogous between ancient Greece and the modern United States- burning meat. The ancient form of this ritual was called “hecatomb”, meaning essentially “one hundred cattle”. The modern form of this ritual is called “barbecuing” or “grilling”.
Mind you, I doubt that most Americans today would view their fire+meat activities as a ceremony for Our Lady, let alone a sacrifice to Her. Yet, here in the U.S. the three dates when we feel the most social pressure to engage in barbecue-type picnics are festivals quite appropriate to Her worship- Memorial Day (Athena Promachos – “First in Battle”), Independence Day (Athena Laossoos – “Rallier of Nations”), and Labor Day (Athena Ergane – “The Worker”). I find the synchronicities a little too pat to think them mere coincidence.
Okay, so fire+meat is pretty much a given. I’m pretty sure that we aren’t going to be slaughtering a hundred head of cattle in front of the whole town anytime soon. So, in developing a modern liturgy, we will need to consider not just scale but the availability of materials. In the Greek hecatomb, priests typically burned long bones, fat, and hides- things that were readily available because the cattle were slain on the spot. Most Americans would have trouble finding an uncured cowhide, and few supermarkets carry whole bovine femurs or large sheets of suet.
On top of this comes the issue of fire. Unfortunately, here in the States, outdoor fires are increasingly heavily regulated, meaning that the size and scope of our sacrificial fires would often be limited. Worse, in many areas the only sites available for fire ceremonies for Our Lady would be public picnic areas. It’s a little hard to erect and hold sacred space when surrounded by errant frisbees and poorly-thrown footballs, let alone self-righteous interlopers.
Another issue (unrelated to fire+meat) is the shape of a gathering. Many in West seem to think that all non-Abrahamic rituals need to take place in a circle, yet we don’t see a lot of that in Classical worship of Our Lady, nor in the practices of those modern institutions most closely identified with Her. If anything, something more akin to a military formation is probably more appropriate.
Music might be a good idea, but most of the American songs that reference Her also call out to an unnamed deity, generally assumed to be Yah by virtue of His cultural dominance in the West. Since I haven’t seen much evidence that He had much to do with our Republic, I’d prefer to steer clear of those. That means having to compose new hymns and teaching them to people.
Then there comes the problem of democratizing the ceremony to just the appropriate level that it honors Her message of responsibility and empowerment while allowing the ceremony to work. I think one of the keys will be having two or more “tiers” of ceremony- not just a “high holy” ritual but a “friends and family” rite that people can perform at home.
Hmm, I’ve rambled on enough. I need to noodle a bit more.
