Nudity in ritual

[Sanguina Cruenta]

There might be one of these already but I wanted to phrase the question in a particular way. I'm keen for a good, thorough, deep discussion on nudity in ritual.

Those of you who are "naked in your rites", please describe the nature of your nudity and your reasons for being nude. You may want to discuss the extent to which you are nude (do you wear jewellery? shoes? hair accessories?), how you feel in ritual when you are nude, how you feel when you are wearing clothes (or accessories or other) in ritual, how important it is to you, whether it is an element of a tradition or religion's requirements or a personal thing.... and so on. (Those are just ideas, but I am interested in a great deal of detail.)

Those who don't remove clothing in ritual, if you want to join in the discussion, mention why you don't and whether or not you've tried ritual without clothing, how you felt while doing so, how you feel when clothed, whether it is a requirement for you to be clothed in ritual.... things like that.  

[too2sweet]

I prefer to be naked during rituals, though sometimes I may wear a wrap of some sort as well - especially if I'm outside (peeping neighbors and all xd ) It's a mix of comfort and tradition, plus less likely to set myself on fire if I'm not wearing anything.

I generally keep my wedding ring on, and I have an ankh ring that was my mother's that I always wear, so I don't usually take that off either. I have a crystal necklace, that has stones for each chakra in it, that I sometimes wear in ritual, but other than that I don't really wear much jewelry either.  

[kyndryana3]

When I am doing ritual on my own, I might be naked. I have not done ritual with other people while naked, we are always clothed. I do normally pick my clothing for the day with the days activities in mind, more so for ritual, where I try to dress for the meaning behind the ritual.

I really don't take my wedding band off for anything, and I almost always put on a necklace and one of my other rings as well. Sometimes I will have earrings and/or a bracelet. I rarely do more than one of each. I will pick what feels right for me to wear. I have a couple of pentacle necklaces and rings (one ring which I have worn now for pretty much the past five months since I got it), but often for ritual I'll wear something I don't wear every day.

For me, being nude in ritual is one way of stepping outside myself. Since I don't wander around nude in my everyday life, the simple act of being nude sets that time apart. I also get the same effect from wearing a dress, being that I rarely wear dresses. Both of these get me into a similar mindset, though on opposite ends of the spectrum. When 'dressed up' I am more likely to be thinking along more formal and elaborate ritual styles. When nude, I will tend toward more basic and tool-less ways. I find myself drawn to one or the other at different times, and they both work for me.

When I first started the concept of skyclad was mentioned in almost every book, sometimes with very practical reasons (making everyone equal, stepping out of your everyday life, standing bare before the Gods) and sometimes with dubious ones (several suggested that the cloth would restrict energy flow which I don't find to be true). While I didn't end up with nudity as one of my core practices, it does still have a place in my practice as I see fit.

The biggest problem I have found with being nude in ritual is that I tend to run cold to begin with, and hubby likes the house colder than I prefer, so being nude I have to have plenty of candles lit or I am freezing. I don't do much work outside, but where we are at now there is no outdoor privacy at all, so being nude outside is not an option.  

[Morgandria]

Sanguina Cruenta

Those of you who are "naked in your rites", please describe the nature of your nudity and your reasons for being nude. You may want to discuss the extent to which you are nude (do you wear jewellery? shoes? hair accessories?), how you feel in ritual when you are nude, how you feel when you are wearing clothes (or accessories or other) in ritual, how important it is to you, whether it is an element of a tradition or religion's requirements or a personal thing.... and so on. (Those are just ideas, but I am interested in a great deal of detail.)

I'm not going to talk about the majority of what I practice at coven. Das ist verboten. (Well, kinda.)

I fear my reasons for nudity in my personal practices is absolutely boring:
I hate wearing clothes.

I think that's it, really. I wear clothes when I have to, where I have to. And when I don't, I don't. Generally speaking, the only time I wear clothing at home is if I'm cold, or I have guests.

If I'm guesting at another coven or group, I do my best to dress in accordance with their customs. I generally dress, if I have to, for comfort and ease of movement, as well. Coven-wise, there are restrictions on certain colours. If I’m not practicing BTW, I don’t tend to stress about it. I do prefer particular colours: black, grey, brown, blue, and green. Sometimes red. I’ll probably never wear pastels. Or yellow.

Hair is always worn down and loose for coven. At home I prefer to have it up in a ponytail or braid. I hate having my hair in my face. I have very long hair on top, but a shaved undercut that I tend to keep quite short; it’s practical and cooler in the summer. I keep it shaved at the behest of one of my deities.

At coven, I might put some eyeliner on occasionally, maybe some shadow. Sometimes I attend rituals that require henna on hands and feet. That’s about it. At home, I go bare because my skin is a sensitive nightmare and cosmetics just make it worse.

I make jewelry for a living, so I always have a million things here and there. Some are specific regalia for specific deities - they don’t get worn outside specific rites, and live on their respective shrines. My BTW regalia has its’ own box, and I don’t wear it outside BTW ritual either.

All my other jewelry (the stuff that isn’t regalia) I wear whenever I like - some of it has been in and out of ritual, or worn for witchcraft. I like the idea of being able to carry some of those sacred energies into the mundane world with me when I need them. Sometimes I do this to charge a piece, and then I give them as gifts to friends or family.  

[iKillCaustic]

I personally wish I could be nude in ritual more often, but I hate the cold and because my room is all the way up the other end of the house I don't really do much nude work in the Winter (I still live with my family and I don't think they'd appreciate having me wandering around naked).

When I do practise naked, I will wear a necklace appropriate to the context of the ritual and occasionally I put feathers of flowers in my hair. I always keep my cloak on hand though just in case I get cold (which sadly enough happens quite quickly with me).

Until I am specifically asked by a deity whether they like me practising like this or not, I guess I will just continue doing what I'm already doing...and hoping for warmer weather...  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Thanks for your responses, everyone! I held ritual the other day and wondered in doing so why being naked felt so important. Along with my glasses, I feel compelled to shed clothing in ritual and I haven't really thought about why that might be in any detail. It's something I'm musing over, and I'm loving all your responses.

Morg, I'd never expect you to detail coven practices you felt at all uncomfortable about discussing. wink But actually just preferring to be naked is interesting, because I've felt more and more happy that way myself in recent years. In summer especially I can't wait until everyone's gone to bed so I can take off all my clothes, and it's one of the reasons I wish I had my own place. I can feel perfectly comfortable in clothes but being naked often feels more pleasant.  

[kyndryana3]

I forgot about glasses. I do sometimes feel moved to remove mine for rituals. My sight is good enough close up that I can still read if needed, but anything beyond arms reach is fuzzy. There are times though, where I just feel the need to take a break from them (since I wear them from pretty much waking up until going to bed). It is interesting to me though, I have rarely ever felt compelled to remove all jewelry.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

kyndryana3

I forgot about glasses. I do sometimes feel moved to remove mine for rituals. My sight is good enough close up that I can still read if needed, but anything beyond arms reach is fuzzy. There are times though, where I just feel the need to take a break from them (since I wear them from pretty much waking up until going to bed). It is interesting to me though, I have rarely ever felt compelled to remove all jewelry.

My vision's about the same as yours, maybe a little poorer. I think it would make group rituals difficult, being blind as a bat throughout xd  

[Dr. H. Lecter]

I haven't really decided on a tradition to follow, but as for myself, I don't see the difference. It's all just material, ultimatly clothing doesn't matter to me.

I did try a ritual in the nude, once, but found that I just didn't care for it, myself. I was able to see the symbolism of it, of course, but it seemed, pardom the pun, simple skin deep.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Dr. H. Lecter

I haven't really decided on a tradition to follow, but as for myself, I don't see the difference. It's all just material, ultimatly clothing doesn't matter to me.

I did try a ritual in the nude, once, but found that I just didn't care for it, myself. I was able to see the symbolism of it, of course, but it seemed, pardom the pun, simple skin deep.

I'm not sure whether symbolism alone is why most people do it, which is part of the reason for this thread. I know it doesn't particularly symbolize anything for me - except possibly freedom, but then that's an association I've made after I started holding ritual naked. I don't really know why I do it or why it doesn't "feel right" to hold ritual clothed.

In contrast, when I hold blót, I never do so naked (but I do remove my glasses). The naked bit is part of a particular branch of my practise, but the reasons for doing so are sort of cloudy, so I decided to ask everyone their experience. 3nodding

Thanks for your input!  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

Sanguina Cruenta

In contrast, when I hold blót, I never do so naked (but I do remove my glasses).

I'm curious. Why do you take off your glasses?  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

X-Yami-no-Ko-X

Sanguina Cruenta

In contrast, when I hold blót, I never do so naked (but I do remove my glasses).

I'm curious. Why do you take off your glasses?

I feel sort of blocked if I don't. I felt genuinely and strongly compelled to take them off the first time I tried to wear them in ritual.  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

Sanguina Cruenta

X-Yami-no-Ko-X

Sanguina Cruenta

In contrast, when I hold blót, I never do so naked (but I do remove my glasses).

I'm curious. Why do you take off your glasses?

I feel sort of blocked if I don't. I felt genuinely and strongly compelled to take them off the first time I tried to wear them in ritual.

Makes sense to me.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

X-Yami-no-Ko-X

Makes sense to me.

The weird thing is, it sort of doesn't to me. rofl I see no particular reason why transparent bits of glass in front of my eyes that help me to see would "block" the gods off from me in any way. And yet they seem to do just that.

I wonder sometimes whether loss of vision is some sort of sacrifice to "see" in other ways.  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

Sanguina Cruenta

The weird thing is, it sort of doesn't to me. rofl I see no particular reason why transparent bits of glass in front of my eyes that help me to see would "block" the gods off from me in any way. And yet they seem to do just that.

I wonder sometimes whether loss of vision is some sort of sacrifice to "see" in other ways.

That last part is what went through my mind. When a person is blind their other senses strengthen. It could be that They want you to use your other senses instead of relying completely on your eyes.

At least that's what I think. I know people get so depended on their eyes that they sometimes forget about their other senses (except maybe hearing. But that one's another that's taken for granted).