Autumnal Equinox (attn: CotC)

[Chris Wooding]

Tonight the sky shows us the waning crescent of September, the Harvest Moon. It shines upon an old church where one person inside is waiting. Chris Wooding stands in the middle of the Temple of the Woven Circle, waiting for his fellow Acolytes to arrive. Dana Blaszanyik , the Maiden, Nao Zhong ( MissMafia ), the new arrival. And the Hierophant, David Silver . The ritual room is lit by five sources of dimmed light standing equally divided across the space.

Upon entering everyone sees that there is a pentagram on the floor, in front of Chris, which is made of blood. On each point stands a different object. The upper point which is closest to Chris has incense smoking on it. Following are a bowl of water, a red burning candle, three rocks half lying in sand, and a mirror with several different feathers laying on it. In the middle of the five pointed star lays a large silver plate, with several things on it. One of them is a silver chalice. Just behind his feet was a piece of black cloth on the wooden floor. Three other of such pieces were laying on the ground around the pentagram, obviously meant to sit on. It would have been perfect if one more would be there, but the Vala was already happy with every acolyte there was next to himself.

Whenever someone enters the Temple Chris gestures to one of the places to seat, remaining silent. He is wearing simple grey clothes, tending to be longer and wider than he would usually wear.

[David Silver]

David enters, his clothes are bright and cheerful, oranges and yellows and greens, presenting a cacophany of color. He has a smile on his face, and seems to be in good spirits. As he walks, he seems to be patting something in his pocket, but what exactly it is is difficult to say. He looks over the pentagram that the Vala had set up, and the seating, before nodding in approval.

3-4-5 is a strong setup, though very hierarchical in focus. I wonder what Chris is going to do for this evening. Ruining a ritual with a power coup would not be wise at all. Hopefully Chris understands that. Though he needs a new quest.

He sits down at the seat of Earth and Water, and sits still as he focuses his mind on the ritual.

[Chris Wooding]

'Thank you all for coming here tonight.' Chris lifts his head to look at his fellow Acolytes, his expression shows the concentration he's in. 'We are here for the celebration of the Autumn Equinox, I, you Vala, shall lead us through this ritual, with the approval of our most respected Hierophant Silver.' Due to the recent suspicions of going above David Silver, Chris wants to make clear who is still their spiritual leader. 'During the Summer we suffered from the power of the sun, lived with the burden of short nights. In time of longer days we mourned for those who we’ve lost. But this is a time of balance, during the Autumn day and night are equally divided, this Equinox is sacred to our Mothers and Fathers. In the time of balance we think back to the time of mourning, but we also look forward to the more promising nights. We can thank our Protector that we are yet walking among this Earth. The Earth given by the Crone.'


He sits down on the piece of cloth, a movement causing the smoke to make a sudden movement towards the others.

'The Earth that makes our existence worthy, we life from its fruits, for also humans can be alive thanks to the fertile soil beneath our feet. But we cannot only take from the Crone, we need to give back to be able to receive. We must live in balance, now sow the seeds to harvest in times of need. We will offer our most precious gift, sacrifice the fluid of life, our blood, to begin this ritual of Thanksgiving. That the Crone may hear our prayers, accept our offers…

Chris moves his upper body to lean forward with his hand hanging above the middle of the pentagram. He takes a knife and slices in his own palm, then after a second he makes the blood flow out of his wound, while it's dripping in the chalice.

'Hereby I give my own Blood to show my Faith in the Crone.'

The Vala firmly takes the blade to then hand the knife over to David.

[David Silver]

David takes up the knife and chalice, and raises them in supplication.

"Blood is life, and as I sit, in the Seat of Water, the bringer of life, and Earth, the builder of life, I am humbled by the gift of the Goddess. I joyfully offer up my Blood to the Crone."

David slits his wrist, the blood falling in ponderous drops into the chalice to mix with Chris', before he passes the blade and chalice to Bogdana.

[Chris Wooding]

When Nao gives back the knife and chalice Chris sends her a slight smile, trying to soothe her somehow. After the short look he turns his attention back to all of them. The one Autumnal Equinox Chris had witnessed before had taken a lot more hours than he planned to sit here this evening, yet the Vala wanted to use all of the most important parts of the ritual.

He places the knife back on the large plate but holds the chalice with blood, in such a manner that the inscribed pentagram was visible for all the others. 'We have now united our blood to one sacrifice, created a union of all elements. Smoke symbolizing our spirit, a beacon of faith, then the soothing powers of water, with the earth which grants us life and strength, followed by fire that guides us with its light but also reminds us of the dangers in this life and then air, bringing enlightening winds, proves us the limitless possibilities of our existence.' When speaking of air Chris rises to his feet, bows his head to the chalice and then steps back to turn towards the altar standing in the back of the old church.

There they notice a bowl with red fruits. 'We offer our blood to the Crone, the Mother of all aspects.' It looks like Chris sprinkles the blood over the fruits, but in truth he adds it to other blood already under the bowl. He shortly kneels before the altar and then takes the plate from the altar, with the bowl standing on the middle of it. He returns to the Circle, walking very cautious. He sits down on the cloth and holds the plate with the bowl of blood soaked fruits in front of him. He lowers it to the ground and takes a blood orange in his hands.

'May we harvest our faith like we will harvest this bloodied fruits.' And he places the fruit on his mouth, sucking all the blood out of it. It tastes sweet like the fruit, but everyone notices slices and realizes the pulp had actually absorbed real blood.

[Chris Wooding]

Triple Vinculum, now 100% off!!!

Well no, there has been some confusion, because my English is not always as good and clear as I wish it to be.

But because of potential Vinculum I made Chris sprinkle the blood only on the lower plate, to mix with the blood that doesn't stand in contact with the actual bowl with fruits.

So we have a bowl filled with bloodied fruits, standing on a plate with a low pool of blood, partially animal blood mixed with the offered blood of the Circle. So the chance of Vinculum is exactly zero.