2024-25 ritual arc & dates
Ritual intention for 2024-2025:
We move from acceptance of the status quo to explore outside our comfort zone, in the face of uncertainty and feelings of helplessness, to find our allies in action. Through creativity, pleasure, and magic, we empower each other, and achieve agency and sustainability.
Ritual Calendar for the year (review of anticipated events, dates, and themes channeled at Lammas we will use to explore each spoke of the Wheel):*
9/28/24, Autumn Equinox: “Status Quo” [Making a difference, Being present, Enjoying each other, Noticing non-human kin // Contending with: Turning away, Allowing things to be normalized.]
11/2/24, Samhain: “Outside your comfort zone” [Fucking around and finding out, Holding a hand, Forgiveness (Ancestors, Death), Making meaning, Facing the hard things // Contending with: Mortality, Judgement, Pardoning]
12/14/24, Winter Solstice: “Still point”: [Nothing, Empathy, Gardening, Rediscovering, Saying the hard things // Contending with: Having patience with self, Apathy and numbness, the feeling of falling into a dark canyon]
2/1/25, Imbolc: “Finding Allies” [Sharing power, Healing, Rediscovering, Being proud of yourself, Erasing the hard things // Contending with: Selfishness, Isolation, Not enough faith in (Our)Self(ves)]
3/22/25, Spring Equinox: “Now What?” [Living happily, Holding a hand, Pleasure, Noticing non-human kin, Doing the hard things // Contending with: Turning away, Distraction, Isolation]
5/3/25, Beltane: “Sustainability” [Dancing, Gardening, Making meaning, Fucking the hard things // Contending with: Overwhelm, The Grind™]
For every ritual: Creativity, Magic as an ally, Listening to each other, Admitting pleasure, Enjoying each other, Relationship to the Earth and all living beings, Collective action, Making an impact // Contending with: Feeling helpless in the face of war, genocide, global warming, etc., Giving a lot + receiving little, Transphobia, Racism/white supremacy, Doom-scrolling
*All dates and locations are subject to change.
The Judgment of Paris
There was a grand celebration when Thetis and Peleus were married. Every God and Goddess was invited– Apollo, Zeus, Aphrodite, the Graces, Athena, Hera, and many more besides joyfully attended. Their glow radiated out in blessings to the couple. But Eris, goddess of discord, had to hear about the party second hand– she was not invited. This enraged her– everyone else in her family was there, why couldn’t she be? She thought about storming the grounds and wreaking havoc until her anger was worn out. How dare any of them?
But Eris knew there were more subtle ways to exact revenge. She would leave the boorish antics to gods like Ares. Instead she took an apple of the Hesperides – the eternal-life giving fruit sacred to the gods – and wrote upon it the message “For the fairest.” She threw this apple into the wedding party, where Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite all read the message, thinking the apple was for them.
As these three goddesses reached for the apple, they became enraged with one another, each believing themselves to be the fairest. None of the three would give it up. Zeus thought about what to do, and decided one of the three must be named “fairest” in a beauty contest. He knew well enough not to judge any of these powerful goddesses himself, so instead he gave the task to a Trojan prince named Paris, who was out tending to his flocks at the time.
On the day of the contest, each goddess presented themselves as beautifully as they could, but knew beauty was not enough. Each took Paris aside in turn, offering him a boon. Athena offered to give him great wisdom in battle and make him the savior of his city. Hera offered to expand his empire throughout all of Asia. Aphrodite offered him the love of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world– and before she had stopped talking he gave her the apple, naming her the fairest.
Upon receiving the apple, Aphrodite flaunted her prize, mocking her competitors. She aided Paris as he built ships to sail from Troy to Sparta, where she made Helen fall in love with Paris. Paris told Helen of the many treasures and monuments of his city, and the urge to see them took her. She sailed off with him, leaving her weeping daughter and husband behind. Thus, the actions were set in motion that began the Trojan War.
Why this myth, right now?
The RPC was presented with a few different stories that could make a good arc for this year, and after reviewing them all decided to go with something completely different. So, why this, now? Why a story that at its core is about men judging women and it causing problems?
In the grander study of this myth, it is said that Zeus was plotting the whole time to create a situation that would start the Trojan War and end the Age of Heroes, essentially to keep humankind in their place. He may have had a hand in disinviting Eris to the wedding, knowing that the discord she would bring in retaliation would eventually ignite in the war he needed. Like Zeus, there are forces in our world right now playing long games to try and keep alive a hierarchy that most of us would rather see change. The garden of Hesperides, where the golden apples grow, was his wedding gift from Hera– so it may be by his power that Eris was able to take an apple from the garden in the first place. Like Zeus, there are powers in this world that will oppress people and then give them “opportunities” to get something they want, while serving a system they maybe don’t actually want to be a part of. In other words, when we ask who is pulling the strings and why, this myth resonates with us.
Looking at the goddess Eris and her actions in this tale, we also recognize something in how our society/overculture tries to organize itself: We can often pretend discord doesn’t exist where it really does to keep the illusion of order. In that process, people are left behind or ignored. In throwing the apple into the wedding party, Eris already knows that there are people in that party who maybe need proof that they really are the “fairest,” and will fight for that recognition. She doesn’t have to be invited into the wedding party, she is already there in the hearts of the goddesses who end up arguing. She is likely in the hearts of everyone present at the wedding, if they are truly honest with themselves. This RPC wants to ask questions this year like: What happens when we acknowledge discord and confusion instead of ignoring them to keep an appearance of order? When can discord be a tool used to support unjust systems, and when can it be used to bring about justice? How can right-sized power help us say what needs to be said and act how we need to act, even when other people don’t want to hear it?
Looking at Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite: These goddesses all have a claim to power and dominion over a lot of amazing things. When we read this myth, we believe they know they’re being put into an unfair and undignified situation. Why should a mortal man be allowed to decide which goddess, eons old, is the most fair? In a society where beauty equals power and is considered proof of virtue, it makes sense that these goddesses want to win the contest and are willing to bribe Paris to do so– and that the losers are then pretty bitter. Stories like this are still relevant today though: people who aren’t cisgendered, wealthy, white men often have to do things for their power to be recognized that are undignified and unfair. They are often told that the power they hold is fragile and can fall apart easily. There is a version of this myth in a board book form for children called “Please Share, Aphrodite,” by Joan Holub and Leslie Patricelli. In that version of the tale, the goddesses do have a contest of sorts where the prize is a caramel apple, but when Aphrodite wins, Athena and Hera both realize their gifts are pretty cool anyway and go off to play together. Aphrodite quickly realizes that even though she won the contest, it’s better to have friends, and asks to join their games. This RPC wants to ask questions this year like: What happens when we honor each others’ gifts? Can we create new systems where people can feel empowered without having to participate in humiliating systems to “prove” themselves? How can we share power and find joy in that, in a world that might want to divide us instead? We think maybe these goddesses deserve a little more agency in this story than they are initially given, and that finding ways to do that might help us, too, to better navigate a world that often wants us to believe our grip on power is tenuous at best.
Finally, we come to the characters of Paris and Helen.
Zac’s favorite version of Paris is the one in the occultist Ithell Colquhoun’s painting of “The Judgment of Paris.” This version seems to know that he has a burden placed on his shoulders that he is not prepared for. In the classic myth, he accepts his duty without question, is happy with his decision, and in the process brings about the ruin of his own home. There is something in his character that speaks of the entitlement of male privilege, and how patriarchal systems can destroy the men who uphold them. This feels alive today.
Helen meanwhile is under Aphrodite’s influence to fall in love with Paris, but what truly makes her leave her husband and daughter isn’t necessarily Paris himself (although she does think he's pretty gorgeous). Paris offers her an opportunity to see new lands and experience historical legacies that she has not yet gotten to know– going with him allows her to expand her mind. We believe her own quest to discover and nurture her passions is important, and that sometimes it’s worth the risk of upsetting the balance of our lives to more fully realize ourselves. Sometimes it’s unavoidable that other people are hurt and confused in that process, and it is something we must recognize is a part of growth.
Final thoughts:
We believe there is a lot of good magic to explore in this myth that lines up well with the themes our community brought to our Lammas ritual. There are many devotees of Eris, Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena in our community, who can strengthen their relationship to these mysterious ones by exploring this myth– but that even our members who don’t have a relationship with them can take something valuable from the magic we can weave together in this framework.
We tried in this writeup to give some good ideas of what we are after with this arc, but are aware we might have missed something important that you may be yearning to explore in your magic this year. If you would like to help weave this magic and make sure your perspective is a part of it, RPC is still accepting new members.