(^126) A Wiccan Bible
The Second Rite of Handfasting
The second Rite of Handfasting is a legal marriage. If conducted under barbaric
marriage laws (laws which restrict consensual sexuality), then instead of the permission
of those barbaric communities to be wed, a varar of equally legal binding nature should
be devised. I am told that in many areas such barbarism is combated with something
called a domestic partner agreement. In short, if you are a couple of different sex you
should combine the second Rite of Handfasting with the legalities of marriage. If you
are a same-sex couple or if the marriage involves more than two people and you live in
a barbaric community (one that will not let you be legally wed), you should enter into a
legally binding agreement similar to the binds of a legal marriage.
In an ideal world, the legal portion of this Rite might not be necessary. Frankly, I
am disturbed by governments that regulate religious rites. However, if a Wiccan mar-
riage is to command the same respect as any other marriage in the greater community,
it should be just as subject to government authority as any other. In fusing matters of
law and religion, the legally binding part of the union can be conducted as a part of the
rite itself or it can be performed beforehand. In my view, it should not be performed
after the second rite of hand fasting because I have seen too many people show disre-
spect for this rite by not following threw with that step. If the legal union is performed
before the Rite of Handfasting, it can be a simple matter or grand. Thus, there is no
encouragement in Wicca to deny family even when they refuse to attend the hand
fasting out of religious intolerance. Remember, Wicca was never intended as a tool to
break up families. If you should find yourself at odds, then be bigger than their bigotry
and have it both ways. After all, if you are truly Wiccan then their Creator is your
Creator as well.
The Third Rite of Handfasting and the Rite of Handparting
Because Wicca sees all things with a beginning, a middle, and an end, the third Rite
of Handfasting is either a Rite of Handparting or a deathbed promise to continue lov-
ing the partner who is leaving this world. The intent is the same in both, that the
marriage is coming to an end and that the two should part as friends, welcoming re-
union if it should come again.
Handparting is a divorce. The spirit here is to acknowledge that it has indeed been
more than a year and a day from the second handfasting, but that love did not stay. The
spirit of the Rite is that although the union has parted, they do so as friends and should
they desire union once again, it is welcome. This is also a rite in which the community is
told that although the couple tried, their union is dissolved.
As Handfasting, this is a deathbed promise, something entered into only if death
seems near. The spirit of the rite is that although a very real parting is in the near
future, the couple does not want the end of their marriage to be the end of their union.
That they will continue on into the next life and welcome reunion should it occur in
accordance with free will. But it is also a handparting, one that tells the other that once
death has caused an end to the marriage, the varar is released.
o WB Chap 07.p65 126 7/11/2003, 5:52 PM
barré
(Barré)
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