(You can look at my Esoteric page for more comments on my views on paganism.)
This is meant as a brief comment on what the handfasting
ritual means to me. It is by no means to be thought of as a
complete summary of what paganism is about. Also, this is
my interpretation. Paganism is a very personal religion,
and my views are by no means authoritive or major views.
In the outline of the ritual, you
see that we call down the four quarters (ask the spirits to come
and witness the hand-fasting), as well as calling certain
Deities down to witness it as well. So in essence, we are doing
this in view of the whole universe!
For me, the hand-fasting boils down to the place where Laam
and I say our vows in front of everybody. By having called the
quarters and deities, we have called down what can most closely
by resembled to my God. This is, to me, very humbling and I
will not be dressed up for the ceremony due to this. Rather, I
will be wearing something more simple as will Laam. (Don't
worry, we will dress up for the reception folling the ceremony).
By having designed the ritual ourselves, Laam and I have put in
a lot of symbolism in many things which we feel are relevant to
the two of us. We have the union candle, which represents us
comgin together into a new life. The calling of each quarter
will mention certain aspects which are important to us (in fact,
we will call the above-mentioned Arch-Angels, since they are
important to our beliefs). The jumping of the broom, the tying
of our hands, the symbolic great rite and the breaking of bread
and wine all emphasize the fact that we embrace our new life
together.
Another important point which I have tried to stress in the
ritual is that of balance. I am a big believer in balance, and
therefore you will see that everyone is paired in the circle;
the four quarters all have pairs and we have a priest and
priestess rather than just the priest.