ritual regalia

[saint dreya]

for every high day and festival, the members of my grove who will be performing in the ritual and/or the play traditionally wear robes. this makes sense as it creates a sort of ambiance and atmosphere for the visitors and contributes to the purpose of the ritual. that and it seems most just like dressing up. some members not directly participating, as well as some visitors, occasionally dress up themselves, either in their hearth culture's traditional wear, medieval wear, or rennaisance wear.

once, i asked one of my fellow grovies why he 'robed up' when he wasn't a celebrant, and he said 'it makes the day feel more special'. i do understand this concept, and have recently begun looking for my own robes (gotta love those tax returns). amazingly, i found a site that sells fairly inexpensive robes, as well as some other specific clothing.

my questions to the population here are;

do you set aside certain things to wear specifically for/that are limited to rituals/rites/spiritual purposes/etc? if yes, what?

how important is it to you to have robes/clothes/jewelry/accesories that you only wear for ritual or spiritual purposes?

do you donn them for solitary practices? public rituals? both? neither?

do you feel pressure (those who attend public pagan gatherings) to devote money and items to have your own ritual regalia?

*side note, here is the site, and this is what i'm actually looking at.*  

[Aya Azura]

how important is it to you to have robes/clothes/jewelry/accesories that you only wear for ritual or spiritual purposes?

I think it is important to me, because you're going to worship the divine, so you want to wear something special to them, and also, it shows how hard you're trying to make the day more special to you as well by wearing something you only wear on Sabbats.
do you donn them for solitary practices? public rituals? both? neither?
I think you can wear them for both. Or have different robes for each. Doesn't matter to me, as long as I wear something that I don't wear everyday, because it taints the specialness, and it's full of day to day energies all mixed up.
do you feel pressure (those who attend public pagan gatherings) to devote money and items to have your own ritual regalia?

Not really, because when I get initiated...or maybe after my dedication, I plan to make a robe for myself. I feel like if I put more of my energy into it, it would mean something more to me, as well as the Gods, as a gift to myself, and to them also.  

[Pelta]

phoenix shadowwolf

do you set aside certain things to wear specifically for/that are limited to rituals/rites/spiritual purposes/etc? if yes, what?

I did when I was studying Ceremonial magic that required it. Even then I didn't have full robe. It's a plain, comfortable but very pretty cream white dress. It fits me very well. I'm kinda annoyed about it now though because I don't practise ceremonial magic any more and I want to wear the dress. But I don't want to wear it out in public just in case I do decide to give CM another go. So basically I now have a very pretty, totally useless dress. wink

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how important is it to you to have robes/clothes/jewelry/accesories that you only wear for ritual or spiritual purposes?

Not in the slightest. It's all psychodrama anyway - I prefer to try to work without crutches. Besides, (and this is the same argument I use against working skyclad) if you're in a dangerous situation you're not going to be able to throw on your special robes just to put up a simple shield. It's just not practical.

I am a believer of wearing stones and jewellry for certain purposes though. Does that count?

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do you feel pressure (those who attend public pagan gatherings) to devote money and items to have your own ritual regalia?

Nope. Isn't that just bordering on vanity anyway? "Look! My athame's bigger than yours!" *snrk* Anyway, people who are worried about those sort of things are forgetting that 'magic comes from within.' But then again my path uses a total minimum of tools so I've never felt like I needed any ritual regalia in the first place.

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*side note, here is the site, and this is what i'm actually looking at.*

Very pretty. 3nodding Looks like it'd be fun to wear to a Renfaire too. Are you supposed to get something in any particular style?  

[saint dreya]

missmagpie

I am a believer of wearing stones and jewellry for certain purposes though. Does that count?

kind of. do you mean wearing stones and jewelry for talismans or amulets?

missmagpie

Are you supposed to get something in any particular style?

not perticularly, no. i just want to be accurate to the hearth culture that i'm trying to incorporate into my practices. mostly, this is generally what is worn, minus the black bottom...but i wonder if that is included on the robe or not...i'll probably ask some of my grovies as well as the webmistress of this site.  

[Pelta]

phoenix shadowwolf

missmagpie

I am a believer of wearing stones and jewellry for certain purposes though. Does that count?

kind of. do you mean wearing stones and jewelry for talismans or amulets?

Stones that do things when I want them to. Like sunstone or moldavite. So I guess they are amulets then. The difference I would point out between that and ritual clothing though is that the stones have natural energy. Most energy in ritual garb is created by the user and put into it through association.

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missmagpie

Are you supposed to get something in any particular style?

not perticularly, no. i just want to be accurate to the hearth culture that i'm trying to incorporate into my practices. mostly, this is generally what is worn, minus the black bottom...but i wonder if that is included on the robe or not...i'll probably ask some of my grovies as well as the webmistress of this site.

That's awful expensive for a nightgown! xp I can see why people would wear it though. I guess it looks venerable. I personally prefer the one you linked to earlier. More interesting. I found a site on making your own robes ages ago that looked pretty good. If you want I could try to find it again. No promises though because I haven't a clue where I saw it linked to.  

[saint dreya]

missmagpie

That's awful expensive for a nightgown! xp I can see why people would wear it though. I guess it looks venerable. I personally prefer the one you linked to earlier. More interesting. I found a site on making your own robes ages ago that looked pretty good. If you want I could try to find it again. No promises though because I haven't a clue where I saw it linked to.

i prefer the other one as well (aesthetically, historically, and economically). i'll have to talk with a couple of people to see if i could wear that, especially after i complete the dedicant's program, when i am a celebrant. as well as to figure out the color.

if anything, i'm sure the site to make your own robe might help others. if it happens to pop up, by all means post away. but don't worry if you can't find it...

maybe i'll post a few more links for stuff like jewelry and such. we've already got a thread for tools.  

[PhantomPhoenix0]

I dont really have access to rituals, so at the moment, no. In the future, when I move out, I want to try and get or make (or get someone to make) an outfit similar to what the Norse wore back in the Viking Age.  

[TatteredAngel]

If I'm doing something that's very important to me, or where I feel like I need a particular sense of focus, I'll dress up. I don't have specific clothes set aside for this, just things that suit me at the moment. It's mostly got to do with creating that sense of otherness, which dressup has always done for me better than flickering candles and incense and whatnot.  

[PhantomPhoenix0]

Just realised I missed most of the questions up there sweatdrop . Ill awnser the rest for the sake of discussion:

how important is it to you to have robes/clothes/jewelry/accesories that you only wear for ritual or spiritual purposes?
Not really important. Id worship in anything from a tux, to street clothes, to my birthday suit 3nodding (not for spiritual reasons, just lack of avaliable clothing).

do you donn them for solitary practices? public rituals? both? neither?
As I said in my previous post, I dont really conduct rituals (solitary or public), but I'll awnser as if I was out of the house. It's a theory of mine that since alot of the information is lost on the original practice of the Norse faith (I mean ritual structure, prayers, etc.), if you try to act and dress like them alot, you begin to get in their heads, and gain more knowledge about the faith as a whole. Imagine the SCA, but for religious purposes.

*shrug* Its a theory. Ill let you guys know how it goes.  

[saint dreya]

PhantomPhoenix0

if you try to act and dress like them alot, you begin to get in their heads, and gain more knowledge about the faith as a whole. Imagine the SCA, but for religious purposes.

i hadn't quite thought of it that way...makes more sense now than ever then if i choose to invest in a robe/ritual clothing that it might be better to get the first article i pointed out...

*sidenote, the same site apparently also sells an SCA East Kingdom approved fencing doublet.  

[Ezinu]

i like to practice "skyclad" sometimes thats only how ever when the clothing are feeling to contrictive for me and they also sometimes distract me when meditating i find it hard enought o consentrate on one single thing or clear my mind for that matter without having itchy clothing to distract me.
Other then skyclad i dont realy have anything special to wear I try to have clean clothes but thats about it but i do have a piece of jewlery i like to wear its a leather pouch that hangs around my neck with sertant stones in it ( i trade them out for other stones depending apon the reason like if im out drinking i try to have one that promotes healthy liver function and kidny and good luck because we all know what can happen when people get drunk)  

[Shavis]

Often I find myself dancing about skyclad, singing the Warsongs of my Master....
But for ritual I find it best to just wear something comfortable and respectful. Something with meaning is alwaysnice but depending on your relationship with your God/Goddess it's not always necessary.  

[TeaDidikai]

I am in love with Holy Clothing.com (even if the way they name their outfits is annoying).

I do dress for a number of different rituals and ceremonies- but, one must take into account the nature of having "awakened" clothing to an animist.  

[EternalHearts]

I don't dress up in anthing fancy when I perform ritual. The ancient greeks wore regular clothes for day-to-day ritual. For public festivals, they wore nicer clothes, kinda like "sunday best." There are some Hellenics that wear ancient clothing for various reasons, but I personally see no reasin for it. If I were to go to attend a ritual with others, I would make sure to be more presentable than on a day-to-daybasis, but probably nothing fancier than what I'd wear to work.  

[TeaDidikai]

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