Of Full Disclosure, and the Wisdom of the Ancestors
“Seriously? People have been asking you that?”
I'm talking with the mother of a boy that we'll soon be initiating into manhood. Incredibly, people have been asking her, “What will be happening at the Man-Making?”
Otherwise known as the Men's Mysteries, these are the ancient oath-bound rites by which the tribe's boys become the tribe's men. The traditional answer to this question—just possibly (so old are these things) one of humanity's oldest sayings—would be: What no man may tell, nor woman know.
“What have you been telling them?” I ask her, a little taken aback.
“I've been telling them, How the heck would I know?” she says.
There are no women at the Men's Mysteries, nor men at the Women's. Any pagan should already know this. If it's non-pagans that are doing the asking—there will be a few at the after-party, friends of the boy, and their families—they'll be getting a crash course in pagan culture.
I note that no one has been asking this question of me, the actual keeper of this Mystery for the tribe. A sudden mischief seizes me.
“You have my permission to tell them that we'll be plotting to disempower women and subvert the matriarchy,” I say, grinning.