EverQuest Wiccan Handfasting Ceremony

This is the ceremony I did in EverQuest as Isolde Whitehands, for two friends who wanted their characters to be married in a Wiccan handfasting ceremony. It's culled from several different sources, noted at the bottom. Xircon, the bride, afterwards was kind enough to say that it was the wedding she wished she could've gotten in real life...and to be incredibly immodest, me too. I tweaked it in one spot to reflect the game's mythology, but other than that, it's something I'd use for a real handfasting.

EverQuest Handfasting Ritual

PRIEST(ESS): May the place of this rite be consecrated before the Gods. We gather here in a ritual of love. There are two here who would be wed, BRIDE and GROOM. [BRIDE and GROOM step forward toward PRIEST(ESS).]

These two who are joined in love now have the desire to make their bond a matter of record, so that their friends and the society in which they live may witness it, and lend to them the support of their hearts and minds.

Diana and Adonis, Ishtar and Tammuz, Freya and Odin, Ceridwen and Cernunos...by these and other names in other worlds are divine lovers known. Under the skies and on the face of Norrath, I call upon Erollisi Marr and Karana to bless this union!

[PRIEST(ESS) takes up incense from the altar and holds it towards the East.] Be here with us, Powers of Air! With your clever fingers, tie close the bonds between these two!

[PRIEST(ESS) takes up a red candle from the altar and holds it towards the South.] Be with us here, Powers of Fire! Give their love and passion your all-consuming ardor!

[PRIEST(ESS) takes up a chalice filled with water from the altar and holds it towards the West.] Be with us here, Powers of Water! Give them the deepest of love and grant them your wisdom!

[PRIEST(ESS) takes up a crystal from the altar and holds it towards the North.] Be with us here, Powers of Earth! Let your strength and constancy be theirs as long as they desire to remain together!

Loving Goddess, mighty God, give to these before us, we do ask, your love & protection! So Mote It Be!

Up until this moment you have been separate in thought, word and action. As this cord binds together your hands, so do your lives become joined. [PRIEST(ESS) takes up a cord from the altar and ties together GROOM'S left and BRIDE'S right hands.]

GROOM, you bring the energy of yang, active, bright, logical and hard. I bid you blend these energies with BRIDE'S to make your lives together whole. Wield this blade as a symbol of your love. [PRIEST(ESS) takes up a blade from the altar and puts it in GROOM'S right hand.]

BRIDE, you bring the energy of yin, dark, intuitive, flowing and soft. I bid you blend these energies with GROOM'S to make your lives together whole. Take this cup as a symbol of your love. [PRIEST(ESS) takes the chalice from the altar and puts it in BRIDE'S left hand.]

GROOM: I pledge my blade, as I pledge my soul, ever to your service. Like this blade my love for you will be strong and enduring, so that our lives together will always be protected. Accept it, my beloved, and with it all that is mine also becomes yours. Even if our paths should later diverge, yet I will always be your true friend, to love you and lend you aid and protection. By seed and root, by bud and stem, by leaf and flower and fruit, by life and love, in the name of all the Goddesses and Gods, I, GROOM, take you, BRIDE, to my hand, my heart, and my spirit.

BRIDE: I pledge this chalice, as I pledge my soul, ever to your service. As from this cup, my love for you will pour forth so that our lives together will be nourished. Accept it, my beloved, and with it all that is mine also becomes yours. Even if our paths should later diverge, yet I will always be your true friend, to love you and lend you aid and protection. By seed and root, by bud and stem, by leaf and flower and fruit, by life and love, in the name of all the Goddesses and Gods, I, BRIDE, take you, GROOM, to my hand, my heart, and my spirit.
[GROOM dips the blade into the chalice.]

PRIEST(ESS): Yin and yang, female and male, dark and light...neither has meaning without the other, but out of their eternal interplay the universe is born. [PRIEST(ESS) takes the blade and chalice and puts them on the altar.]

This bond I draw between you; though you are parted in mind or in body, there will be a call in the core of you, one to the other, to which nothing and no one else will answer. By the secrets of earth and water is this bond woven, unbreakable, irrevocable. By the law that created fire and wind is this bond written in your souls. [PRIEST(ESS) unties the cord that binds BRIDE'S and GROOM'S hands and places it on the altar. PRIEST(ESS) takes up a wand off the altar, upon which are the couple's rings.] Your vows have been made before Goddess, God, Elemental Powers and friends. These rings, like your vows, are without beginning or end. They are the physical representation of your promises to each other's spirits. [BRIDE takes GROOM'S ring from the wand and places it on his finger. GROOM takes BRIDE'S ring from the wand and places it on her finger.]

Above you are the stars, below you are the stones. As time passes, remember — like a star should your love be constant, like the earth should your love be firm. Have no fear, and let not the ways or words of the unenlightened give you unease, for the Gods are with you, now and always! I now proclaim you husband and wife! Thus are your hands fasted, the two are one. The work of joy is done, and yet begun!

[BRIDE and GROOM kiss.]

BRIDE: Powers of Earth, we thank you for your guidance. For your strength, we will always be thankful.

GROOM: Powers of Air, we thank you for your knowledge. For your inspiration, we will always be thankful.

Powers of Fire, we thank you for your passion. For your spark, we will always be thankful.

BRIDE: Powers of Water we thank you for your wisdom. For your love, we will always be thankful.

PRIEST(ESS): Loving Goddess, mighty God, we thank you for the blessing of your love that you rain down upon us, for we are your children.

Now our circle is open, but unbroken. Merry did we meet, merry do we part, and merry meet again!

Handfasting by She-Wolf - Litha Issue, http://www.newavalon.com/issue2/handfst.html • Broken, New Avalon re-formatted their site.

Pagan Handfasting Ceremony I, http://www.darkcastle.net/pagan/handfasting1.htm

Tailltean marriage, http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/1318/marriage.htm

HANDFASTING - FULL CEREMONIAL FORM, http://www.witchery.com/handfst1.html

Handfasting Ceremony, http://pages.ivillage.com/misc/atemlos/HF.html • Broken, user doesn't seem to have an iVillage page anymore.

RITE OF HANDFASTING from Joy Williams, ftp://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/religion/neopagan/Rituals/Bonding/wedding1.gz

Pagan Wedding Posting from Mechelle Jeneene Haga, ftp://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/religion/neopagan/Rituals/Bonding/wedding2.gz