Welcome to Gaia! ::

You are correct in your interpretation of skyclad. Wearing the sky, indeed.

I'll pull out something nice or themed if I'm doing ritual as part of a group, but by myself, I don't usually dress up.

I have a robe made specifically for rituals with my coven, but the guy that made it had to go away for a while, so I doubt I'll see it for a long while sweatdrop

As for skyclad... um... do what you like, but I'm not one to go naked when I have the choice not to sweatdrop

All of this stuff sounds nice...If I ever get around to casting spells and going Wiccan, I'll set aside some cool clothes...as soon as I move out of my parents' house, because I'm sure they'd think that what I'm doing is ridiculous, since we're all athiests (although half of the rest of my family is Christian, and the other half is Buddhist). But all this stuff sounds fun.

Personally I don't think there's a difference with going skyclad or wearing clothing. It just has to do with whatever makes you feel closer to the big guys up there^. Personally I like to go skyclad when ever I can for spell work, and wear clothing when its not appropriate or when it would just make me really uncomfortable. Like at school, ah I can just imagine it.

"...Why aren't you wearing any clothes...?"
"Spell work of course."
"Must you take all of it off?"
"Is there any other way?"
"B-but in math class?!"
"I want good luck on a test, so sue me."

Like I said, I like it better in the buff, but it isn't necessary for me to do my work. Just so long as I connect, and the energy flows, I could be wearing a pink bunny suit and it wouldn't matter for me.

LOL That was beautiful.

Completely understandable. My door locks, thanks to my handywoman skills, and my room mates know that if the door is shut, you knock first. Privacy would be a huge contributing factor.

I've practically always worn robes for ritual- the only time I'm skyclad is in the purification bath (which would be rather messy with robes^_~). But I've been to Pagan gatherings in the SouthEastern region of the United States and there are some folks who are so into skyclad that they pretty much remain that way for the entire 3-4 day gathering. I think that Arcane prefers skyclad for ritual, and I'm hoping that he'll post here because we really need some more people to represent for the group.^_^

I guess you could say that I'm all about the robes. I had originally written a lengthy description of each set of robes I've owned in the past and present, but then looked back and realized how long I'd been rambling on about something which people probably don't really care about. redface But at any rate, I'm working on a theory. Most of the folks whom I've heard talking about skyclad do it- at least in part- because they say that clothing interferes with the flow of energy. Others who go robed cite the benefit of using ritual clothing as another means of channelling or programing that energy (and/or the subconscious mind). I love to compare magical energy to electricity, so that started me thinking about using wires to conduct electrical energy- the friction caused as the current passes through the metal tends to slow it down, you lose some of the power which you put into the wire because of this. However, using the wire also helps you to route that energy in certain ways. I think that those who go without robes do it in order to avoid the friction which is caused as the energy flows- first into, and through, the robes. They rely on other techniques for routing the energy, which they clearly believe are more efficient conductors. Those who use robes like that technique for routing the energy- it's a matter of preference. Personally, I like robes, but I read this thread right before my evening rite last night and it started me thinking about the subject- so I decided to take my teacher's suggestion from several years back and I went into ritual nude. Just to see if it really did feel different.^_~

The first change that I noticed was in the selection of offerings. I'd offered my gods a choice between water and wine libations at the beginning of my preparations, and after much deliberation They'd chosen the water. The moment that I decided to go with a nude ritual I heard Them in my head, "Oh, then it will have to be the wine!" I've a couple of theories as to why this may have happened.^_^ Hwt-Hrw (a.k.a. Hathor), the patron of feminine beauty and fertility is also known as the Lady of Drunkenness. She also has mythical connections to both of my Two Ladies- Skhmt because Hwt-Hrw was said to have turned into Skhmt when Her blood-lust took over and Bast because one version of the myths says that when the Distant Goddess (Who is sometimes identified with Skhmt-Tfnt after Her blood bath) returned to Egypt, She bathed in the Nile to wash away the blood and rage and emerged as Bast. The other possibility is that my gods decided that the entertainment value of watching me perform ritual naked would be enhanced even further by alcohol.^_~

I've never really had much contact with Hwt-Hrw before last night, but I knew of Her connections and I had some Hwt-Hrw incense which I decided to use for this ritual. I'd also read about temple dancers and women of professions sacred to Hwt-Hrw being portrayed as nude with lots of jewelry, so I decided to still wear ritual jewelry.

The ritual went well- I don't know if I can say that it went particularly better or worse than it normally does, but even though I made my offerings to the usual selection of deities and did not include Hwt-Hrw more than simply using Her incense, I did get one indication of Her presence which was actually rather amusing.^_^ It was during the time right after the ritual where I was tasting the offerings before going out to pick up Arcane- in Kemetic ritual, the deity partakes of the spiritual essence of the offering, thus leaving a kind of spiritual void in the food, which is filled as the offering retains a small portion of that deity's presence or essence. So we consume the offerings after ritual, as a kind of communion- to take that deity's being into ourselves. In rituals like tonight's, I can't drink all of that wine so I just take a sip from each deity's portion so that I can commune with all of Them in this way. When I took my first drink from Skhmt's cup, I heard the unmistakable sound of a chorus of cattle lowing. In an apartment in downtown San Francisco, if you can hear cows then you know that something's up.^_~ At first, I was like- "What the hell...? Cows?" There were a lot of them, too, lol! Then I remembered the cow as Hwt-Hrw's sacred animal- when I stopped drinking, the cows stopped lowing. I put down the glass and picked up Bast's goblet, and when I raised it to my lips and began to drink I heard the cows again! It was hysterical, seriously- though it may have been one of those things where you just had to have been there.^_^ The only other time that I've experienced something like this was when I attended a Skhmt saq at a New Year's festival, and right before She showed up I heard a lion's roar- in a little town house in suburban Pacifica.^_^

Wow, Weben, I wish I had something that stirring to report from my skyclad experiment! I've never made as strong a connection to deity as you have, but I have with other entities like the elements or the dragons I've started to work with with the exception of when I got my tattoo. Since I won't be doing that again any time soon, nor is it condusive to ritual work, I'll have to find new ways of connecting, and I think that skyclad is going to be one of those ways. I find it heightens my awareness of my surrounds, perhaps because I'm paranoid of my room mates forgetting to knock, but I'm definately more alert and intuned.

I'm also of the belief that skyclad isn't going to be a necessary part of all of my magical workings; this last experiment was part of a combined cleansing, purification and binding, and it worked wonderfully! I intended to strip and burn away all of the negativity I was experiencing, and being skyclad just seemd appropriate.

It's also nice when I take the time on a Friday night to meditate with Aphrodite, a part of my newly begun beauty regiment. For me, it simply seems as though clothes would impede the process, but I can see their necessity in other instances. They do offer an extra bit of protection, both physically and mentally, which would be undoubtedly reassuring is some instances.