Witchcraft 101: Marriage

Marriage is of specific importance to Pagans, due to the depth of the ritual undergone. We previously covered the pagan afterlife, with all the souls sort of bopping around together. Those linked by blood can find each other as family, however how to find a life partner? This is where the ritual of marriage came in.

The actual ritual calls upon the living, the deceased ancestors, nature and the particular deities of the couple.  This means that the  union will be recognised universally, in both this life and the afterlife.  The act of handbinding also acts to bind the two souls together. 

However, marriage made a lot more sense. For instance, after the initial ceremony, the couple is given a honey-moon, where for one lunar cycle they did not have to work, and instead they were given all the food and mead they could use. The mead of course, is why it is called honey, and the lunar cycle is the moon component.  The couple must then stay together for the entire year, no matter what spats etc occur.  They must do all they can to keep the relationship together.  After the year ends, they can choose  to stay together, or they may separate and the marriage is deemed null and void. However they MUST stay together for the year.