Mating with the Priestess

CONVERSATIONS WITH A MAGE parallels the CARTER BROTHERS series. Pat DeVallera has retired from the New Orleans Police Department and convinced Lucius Carter and Lucius' wife Astrid to tell him the truth about the magic and supernatural events that surrounded the Carters in the Twentieth Century. This story follows MAGE AND SPIRIT.

WARNING: THIS EPISODE DESCRIBES A FICTIONAL PAGAN MARRIAGE RITUAL. It is not a statement of the writer's religious beliefs. It is not a treatise on any religion or philosophy. Keep telling yourself: "It's just a story. It's just a story. It's just a story."

CHAPTER 6

MATING WITH THE PRIESTESS

"You look puzzled, Pat" Lu commented.

"Uh, yeah," said the retired cop. "I'm confused about Astrid's... 'coven.'" I thought

only witches had 'covens.' The way you associate yourself with Catholics you'd think..." He didn't finish the sentence.

"We believe in the Deity of Jesus, if that's what you mean," said Lu. "Just because we were converted to The Way didn't mean we forsook the Canaanite view of worship. The Bishops of Rome used to find it useful to have someone outside their faith to do the dirty work, like I did with Reich. 'Coven' is their word."

"We call it 'The Old Way,' or 'The Sisterhood'" Astrid corrected. "The Catholic Church declared us 'witches' in the Twelfth Century."

"'Sisterhood?'" Pat replied. "No men allowed?"

"Men and women worship separately, like an Orthodox Jewish wedding" said Lu. "We only come together," he paused to chuckle as he looked at his wife, "... to watch mating couples come together."

Astrid frowned and gently elbowed him.

"I take it your wedding wasn't exactly a High Mass," said Pat, trying to ease the tension between his host and hostess.

"Boy," said Astrid. "Nothing gets by you. No, it wasn't anything like a Catholic wedding. In fact, since he had no male relatives in the Old Ways, we had twelve women for witnesses with their husbands standing behind them."

"I'm proud to say I didn't have performance anxiety" Lucius interrupted, only to be silenced by another, more forceful elbow in his ribs.

"Can you tell me about your marriage ceremony?" Pat asked.

Lu looked at Astrid. "You want to handle that one, Sweetie?"

"Well..." Astrid wasn't anxious to talk about such things with outsiders.

"I don't need to know secrets, Astrid" Pat volunteered, "an abridged version will be fine. I assume you can tell me something about it?"

"Yes" she replied. "To begin with, since I was the priestess as well as the bride, one of the other women had to officiate. I asked the oldest sister to do it."

* * * * *

The full moon and a single oil torch illuminated the white robes as the women took their places in the circle around the boulder on Cartier Plantation. Over a hundred years earlier the rock had been brought from England, at great expense, just for nights like this.

A grey haired woman stepped in and faced east as the men took their places behind their wives, back to back with the women.

From the east side of the circle Astrid approached and faced the elder sister. She wore the same white robe as the others but with flowers in her hair and Lucius' wedding ring twinkling in the moonlight.

"Who are you?" said the old woman. The question was part of the ritual. The bride had to reply.

"I am Astrid, the daughter of Naomi. I have come to fulfill the command of The I Am and His Ashera, to be fruitful and bear the children of him who will be my husband."

"Take your place, Astrid, daughter of Naomi."

Astrid opened her robe and let it drop to the ground outside the circle. Naked except for the gold ring on her left hand and the flowers in her hair, she climbed onto the stone, lay on her back and felt for the carved hollows that would hold her heels. The night breeze felt cool on her damp labia as she found the position. It felt like she was on her gynecologist's examination table. The stone was cold against her bare flesh, so she concentrated on the moon that seemed to smile at her.

Relax, old girl, she told herself silently; you're no virgin. You've officiated over these ceremonies, now it's your turn to be the bride.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lucius approach, also in a white robe but wearing a pair of deer antlers tied to his head by a tight leather hood. The two men who faced west stepped forward to symbolically block his way. One of them addressed him.

"Who are you?"

"I am Lucius, son of Julian, of the House of Jethro" the groom replied. "I have come to take Astrid to be my wife in the name of The I Am and His Ashera."

"Enter, son of Julian," said the other man. The men stepped back to their places.

Lu dropped his robe, stepped into the circle and approached Astrid who smiled at him. In the moon light his chest hair showed a glowing white, though its color was premature. He bent forward to kiss her and she took his face in both hands, running them down his neck as their lips met.

He pulled back only far enough to climb onto the boulder and position himself between Astrid's spread legs. Astrid's hands were on his shoulders as he supported himself over her. Goddess making life, she prayed silently, releasing the magic. Gently he eased his penis into her. She found the fullness surprisingly satisfying.

Their genitals were hidden from the witnesses by the shadow of his body, but Astrid's moan and the motion of Lucius hips would have been enough to convince the most skeptical that the marriage was consummated. Astrid wrapped her arms around his back to press him against her. He responded by covering her mouth with his. His thrusts were slow, rhythmic, and effective. She felt her first orgasm of the night build and sweep through her. The part of her brain that was able to think made a note to ask him if he learned this in the mirror world or some New Orleans whore house: God, she thought, he feels so-o-o good.

Lucius was feeling every bit the role of the male deer, the rutting buck taking his doe. In his passion he had forgotten the horned headdress he wore until the antlers scraped the stone over Astrid's head. He was fulfilling his own prophesy, taking her for himself, not just in the name of the goddess.

At the southern edge of the circle Jessica stood with her infant daughter tucked inside her robe, suckling her right breast. No husband stood behind her. It wasn't the first time she'd seen couples on the boulder, but this was special. Her aunt was marrying the grandfather she barely knew, the mystery man, the mage. She wondered about her own lover, Philippe, now in the other universe where Lucius had sharpened his magic for forty years. Would it be forty years before she saw Philippe again? Was there a spell in all of Astrid's books to make time fly by until they were together? Would they still love each other?

Astrid was writhing under her mage in another orgasm as he felt the pressure build. Her vagina clinched and unclenched around his penis, her nails dug into his back and her heels came to rest behind his knees. As his seed filled her womb he exhaled loudly and lay heavily over her for only a second. He pushed himself up and covered her lips with another soul-deep kiss.

The custom was that the couple should stand and walk out of the circle together, hand in hand, naked, to be wrapped in new robes by attendants. Astrid felt the night breeze again and began to compose herself to climb off the rock. She never had the opportunity, because Lucius scooped her up in his arms and carried her like an infant. Feeling secure in his powerful hands she responded by kissing his shoulder and trying to support herself with her arms around his neck. She quickly realized it wasn't necessary. She was in no danger of falling from his grasp.

Through half-closed eyes Astrid saw the attendants with their new robes approach. Lu kept walking. The attendants, two women Jessica's age, looked at each other in confusion. It took Astrid a few second to realize that Lucius wasn't finished with her: He was carrying her to the plantation house to continue.

* * * * *

As Astrid ended her story Lu realized Pat was puzzled and asked "Something you want to say, Pat?"

"Uh..." said Pat, "I don't understand God's 'Ashera?'"

"God's feminine side," said Lu.

The retired cop was more puzzled than before. "Like, the Mother, the Daughter and the Holy Ghost?"

"Mother, SON and Holy Ghost," Astrid corrected. "Like Lu said, we do believe Jesus was God, but in the Old Way only the men refer to God the Father."

"Don't strain yourself, Pat," said Lucius. "Next question?"