Wolves And Whips: Lupercalia Celebration Is A Modern Twist On An Ancient Ritual
Courtesy of http://cernunnoscircle.blogspot.com
In Ancient Rome, Lupercalia, observed February 13 through 15, was a festival where rites associated with fertility were performed. Gods typically believed to be associated with Lupercalia variously may include: Faunus (Pan), Lupercus, Juno, Mars, Romulus & Remus.
The outlines of the actual ritual included two teams of Luperci who would run a footrace, ending at the Lupercal - the cave on the Palatine Hill where Romulus and Remus were supposedly suckled by the Lupa (the she-wolf that was sent by Mars). In a shrine within this cave, Priests sacrificed a goat and a dog (it is likely that the dog stood in for an earlier wolf sacrifice) then mixed the blood together and marked the foreheads of the Luperci with it. The blood was then wiped from their foreheads with wool saturated in milk and there was then "ritual laughter." The sacrificed goat's skin was then divided and given to the various luperci to wear as loinclothes while other parts were made into thongs (februa) which were then used in a further run around the city's bounds, during which the luperci flogged anyone they encountered on the way. This practice was held to be lucky and to promote fertility.
This second piece to the celebration should be set for 15 February
Items Needed:
Altar draped in white wool (or linen) cloth and topped with goatskin
Chalice
Athame (Ceremonial Knife)
Ceremonial Bell
Ceremonial Bowl
Container of Red Wine
Receptacle of pure honey
Woolen cloth
2 Leather covered batons
5 - 10 light goatskin or leather floggers (februa)
Grain crackers or cakes
This part of the Lupercalia celebration necessarily requires the return of the 10-20 brothers who participated in the Lottery celebration held the day before. The Leader known as Jack Valentine takes on the role of functionary in this event and is called simply Valentine.
He greets the Luperci clothed in a linen garment and sandaled but is otherwise naked. The brothers are asked to attend in loincloths (preferably made of sueded goatskin or hide). They may arrive sandaled but their footwear must be removed before the race. The race and flogging pieces of the ritual are most effective done outside after dark by fire light but may be done in day light as well.
The men who have been divided at the Lottery into two “Luperci”- red and white (based from the number and tag designation they received at the Valentine gifting) are now to be formed into “teams” of runners. The Luperci “teams” will participate in a relay race to be run around a set course - in effect, a sacred boundary of some kind - to see who will be awarded dominance in the subsequent actions of the ritual. The leather-covered batons are to be used for the race. The “team” which wins will receive special privileges according to their earned station.
The race is begun when Valentine rings the ceremonial bell.
Upon completion of the race and when all have gathered again, Valentine disrobes and makes a thanks offering of honey to Lupercus, the Lupa, Romulus and Remus and Faunus.
We offer our gift to the Gods,
We come from the cave to light
The Gods have blessed our race
We ask they bless our gathering
We offer our thanks to the Gods
He pours the red wine (which for the traditional purposes of this ceremony represents blood) into the Chalice and places the wool cloth in the bowl of collected semen harvested from the Lottery gathering. Valentine recites again saying:
In olden days of Roman ways
Conceiving that beauty with time sways
Worshippers lined up along the wintry street
To be whipped by naked boys in bare feet
At Lupercal’s erotic charades
In olden days of memory’s face
Luperci ran a wild and rampant race
Til Gelasius banned these crusades
Yet ancient carnal desire still parades
At Lupercal’s erotic charades
In olden days the Gods be praised
The chance for pleasure a lottery pays
Of lustful actions that stain the sheets
Fertile fortune by the goatskin's beat
At Lupercal’s erotic charades…
The athame is dipped in the wine and moving deosil, the blade is touched to each man's forehead as he comes to the altar. The red stain is then wiped off his face using the wool cloth, which has by now been saturated with semen. Therefore the man then becomes marked (for scent and pheromone) with the combined essence of his brothers. Valentine then sprinkles each goatskin flogger laying on the altar with the wine and then swabs them with semen using the cloth consecrating and charging them.
Ritual laughter follows this per the ancient tradition. It is the part of the ritual that is foolproof, because even if one has to fake laughing, the effort to do so will probably be laughable in and of itself, thus the requirement of it will be accomplished. It is an intended merriment meant for all participating.
The winning Luperci “team” then receives their first privilege. Jack presents each winner with one of the consecrated goatskin floggers from the altar. The men of the losing Luperci “team” remove their loincloths and stand naked before the altar. Valentine then says:
One for good luck, two for great
Three for long life, four thwarts fate;
Five against poison, six against fire;
Seven is steadfast, eight doesn't tire;
Nine for better, ten's the best;
With eleven and twelve, you've passed the test.
At the end of this verse the members of the winning team chase after the members of the losing team flogging them on the buttocks (or other body parts if the participant presents). All flogging is to be light and should typically be seen as symbolic in nature. Care should be taken. However, if the men of your Circle are more BDSM oriented the flogging exercise can be of a more strenuous nature as may be determined before the ceremony.
Then “R” and “W” couples reassemble and the group may proceed indoors at this point if desired. Valentine comes carrying the bowl of semen to each winner and taking up a handful, swabs and strokes the winner’s penis to erection using the mixed seed from his hand. The member from each couple who is from the losing Luperci then serves his partner from the winning team. The losing partner will fellate his mate feeding from the semen Valentine has placed on his penis.
He then offers himself for “ceremonial breeding” which must be done "coitus more ferarum" ("sex by the custom of beasts" or “doggy-style”) in keeping with the canine element of the proceedings. (Note: Condoms should be available, lambskin preferably)
After the teams have "breed", Valentine closes saying as follows:
Romulus and Remus Lords of wolves,
From time immemorial men have gathered in groups,
Hunted in each other's company, have loved and lusted.
Romulus and Remus, you founded Rome thousands of years ago,
You who were suckled on the milk of Lupa and knew the ways of Lupercus,
Faunus called his sacred company, we are your loyal friends.
We have become as a pack of wolves full of hunger,
Give us celerity like canines on the trail, we are of the blood
We are the brotherhood of wolves each one bound to the others.
We have been strengthened here to assure our virility,
Give us prowess in our efforts and satisfaction in our desires
Let your call beckon us onwards always with a lust for resolution
We go into the world asking Romulus and Remus to guide us,
Lupercus to protect us and Faunus to teach us through our lives
Until our breath stops, our blood does not flow and our seed runs dry.
AVE VIVE ROMULUS, REMUS, LUPERCUS & FAUNUS
Finally, the remaining semen and honey - which has been mixed together by Valentine and is to be served on the grain crackers - and wine is to be consumed by all the men of the Circle and one more round of laughter is had by all!...
Submitted by: Bhàlantainus of Suffolk
Sourced from: Philipus ‘04
DISCLAIMER: It is known that the internalization/ingestion of semen can result in the transmission of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), including HIV. As with all rituals posted here, individual considerations are to be employed and alterations to protocols may be necessary.
The outlines of the actual ritual included two teams of Luperci who would run a footrace, ending at the Lupercal - the cave on the Palatine Hill where Romulus and Remus were supposedly suckled by the Lupa (the she-wolf that was sent by Mars). In a shrine within this cave, Priests sacrificed a goat and a dog (it is likely that the dog stood in for an earlier wolf sacrifice) then mixed the blood together and marked the foreheads of the Luperci with it. The blood was then wiped from their foreheads with wool saturated in milk and there was then "ritual laughter." The sacrificed goat's skin was then divided and given to the various luperci to wear as loinclothes while other parts were made into thongs (februa) which were then used in a further run around the city's bounds, during which the luperci flogged anyone they encountered on the way. This practice was held to be lucky and to promote fertility.
This second piece to the celebration should be set for 15 February
Items Needed:
Altar draped in white wool (or linen) cloth and topped with goatskin
Chalice
Athame (Ceremonial Knife)
Ceremonial Bell
Ceremonial Bowl
Container of Red Wine
Receptacle of pure honey
Woolen cloth
2 Leather covered batons
5 - 10 light goatskin or leather floggers (februa)
Grain crackers or cakes
This part of the Lupercalia celebration necessarily requires the return of the 10-20 brothers who participated in the Lottery celebration held the day before. The Leader known as Jack Valentine takes on the role of functionary in this event and is called simply Valentine.
He greets the Luperci clothed in a linen garment and sandaled but is otherwise naked. The brothers are asked to attend in loincloths (preferably made of sueded goatskin or hide). They may arrive sandaled but their footwear must be removed before the race. The race and flogging pieces of the ritual are most effective done outside after dark by fire light but may be done in day light as well.
The men who have been divided at the Lottery into two “Luperci”- red and white (based from the number and tag designation they received at the Valentine gifting) are now to be formed into “teams” of runners. The Luperci “teams” will participate in a relay race to be run around a set course - in effect, a sacred boundary of some kind - to see who will be awarded dominance in the subsequent actions of the ritual. The leather-covered batons are to be used for the race. The “team” which wins will receive special privileges according to their earned station.
The race is begun when Valentine rings the ceremonial bell.
Upon completion of the race and when all have gathered again, Valentine disrobes and makes a thanks offering of honey to Lupercus, the Lupa, Romulus and Remus and Faunus.
We offer our gift to the Gods,
We come from the cave to light
The Gods have blessed our race
We ask they bless our gathering
We offer our thanks to the Gods
He pours the red wine (which for the traditional purposes of this ceremony represents blood) into the Chalice and places the wool cloth in the bowl of collected semen harvested from the Lottery gathering. Valentine recites again saying:In olden days of Roman ways
Conceiving that beauty with time sways
Worshippers lined up along the wintry street
To be whipped by naked boys in bare feet
At Lupercal’s erotic charades
In olden days of memory’s face
Luperci ran a wild and rampant race
Til Gelasius banned these crusades
Yet ancient carnal desire still parades
At Lupercal’s erotic charades
In olden days the Gods be praised
The chance for pleasure a lottery pays
Of lustful actions that stain the sheets
Fertile fortune by the goatskin's beat
At Lupercal’s erotic charades…
The athame is dipped in the wine and moving deosil, the blade is touched to each man's forehead as he comes to the altar. The red stain is then wiped off his face using the wool cloth, which has by now been saturated with semen. Therefore the man then becomes marked (for scent and pheromone) with the combined essence of his brothers. Valentine then sprinkles each goatskin flogger laying on the altar with the wine and then swabs them with semen using the cloth consecrating and charging them.
Ritual laughter follows this per the ancient tradition. It is the part of the ritual that is foolproof, because even if one has to fake laughing, the effort to do so will probably be laughable in and of itself, thus the requirement of it will be accomplished. It is an intended merriment meant for all participating.
The winning Luperci “team” then receives their first privilege. Jack presents each winner with one of the consecrated goatskin floggers from the altar. The men of the losing Luperci “team” remove their loincloths and stand naked before the altar. Valentine then says:
One for good luck, two for great
Three for long life, four thwarts fate;
Five against poison, six against fire;
Seven is steadfast, eight doesn't tire;
Nine for better, ten's the best;
With eleven and twelve, you've passed the test.
At the end of this verse the members of the winning team chase after the members of the losing team flogging them on the buttocks (or other body parts if the participant presents). All flogging is to be light and should typically be seen as symbolic in nature. Care should be taken. However, if the men of your Circle are more BDSM oriented the flogging exercise can be of a more strenuous nature as may be determined before the ceremony.
Then “R” and “W” couples reassemble and the group may proceed indoors at this point if desired. Valentine comes carrying the bowl of semen to each winner and taking up a handful, swabs and strokes the winner’s penis to erection using the mixed seed from his hand. The member from each couple who is from the losing Luperci then serves his partner from the winning team. The losing partner will fellate his mate feeding from the semen Valentine has placed on his penis.
He then offers himself for “ceremonial breeding” which must be done "coitus more ferarum" ("sex by the custom of beasts" or “doggy-style”) in keeping with the canine element of the proceedings. (Note: Condoms should be available, lambskin preferably)
After the teams have "breed", Valentine closes saying as follows:
Romulus and Remus Lords of wolves,
From time immemorial men have gathered in groups,
Hunted in each other's company, have loved and lusted.
Romulus and Remus, you founded Rome thousands of years ago,
You who were suckled on the milk of Lupa and knew the ways of Lupercus,
Faunus called his sacred company, we are your loyal friends.
We have become as a pack of wolves full of hunger,
Give us celerity like canines on the trail, we are of the blood
We are the brotherhood of wolves each one bound to the others.
We have been strengthened here to assure our virility,
Give us prowess in our efforts and satisfaction in our desires
Let your call beckon us onwards always with a lust for resolution
We go into the world asking Romulus and Remus to guide us,
Lupercus to protect us and Faunus to teach us through our lives
Until our breath stops, our blood does not flow and our seed runs dry.
AVE VIVE ROMULUS, REMUS, LUPERCUS & FAUNUS
Finally, the remaining semen and honey - which has been mixed together by Valentine and is to be served on the grain crackers - and wine is to be consumed by all the men of the Circle and one more round of laughter is had by all!...
Submitted by: Bhàlantainus of Suffolk
Sourced from: Philipus ‘04
DISCLAIMER: It is known that the internalization/ingestion of semen can result in the transmission of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), including HIV. As with all rituals posted here, individual considerations are to be employed and alterations to protocols may be necessary.
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