The Healing of Eve

Finally the 31st October arrived and we gathered for the ceremony. Eve was left in the capable hands of Ash and Willow, they bathed her and adorned her body with the sacred signs. I saw her only briefly during the day as I had much to prepare on own account but she looked calm and her simple beauty was undiminished. My main task during the day had been to supervise the preparation of the ceremonial chamber, laying it out as the Lore prescribed.

The centrally placed altar was the focal point of the room and we had had it made specially by a local carpenter. It took the form of a horizontal St Andrew's Cross, overlaid by a narrow rectangular platform. on which the Chosen One would lie, her limbs supported by the extended arms of the cross. The whole altar was raised to a height of roughly a metre from the ground, a comfortable height for the kneeling sisters during the ceremony. Rings of shining brass were securely fastened at the end of each arm of the cross, to which the wrists and ankles of the Chosen One would be tied.

At the appointed time The High Priestess led our small procession into the room. She was followed by the Chosen One, dressed in a pure white ankle length robe, escorted by Willow and then by Rowan and Aspen, Ash and I, walking in pairs. Dressed in our long ceremonial robes of deepest crimson, each of us fresh from our pre-ritual bathing, we moved silently on bare feet into the warmth of the chamber.

The Chamber was large and circular. Around its edges sat the sisters, almost the whole coven was present to witness this, perhaps the most Important ceremony we had ever conducted. They too dressed in their ceremonial robes. The chamber was illuminated by the light of many candles and their soft flickering glow, reflecting off the ancient patina of the walls, made the chamber warm and inviting. Above, the domed ceiling painted a deep midnight blue was hardly visible, but the thousands of small gold stars painted on it reflected the candle light. The effect was astonishing, it had never failed to take my breath away and tonight it looked particularly lovely. In the centre of the chamber stood the altar, covered by a cloth in the same deep blue as the dome above it, its four brass rings, freshly polished, shining in the lambent light.

Willow led the Chosen One to the altar and bade her be seated. She sat demurely at the crux of the altar with her back to the fire sign, her hands crossed in her lap and her small bare feet protruding from beneath the snow-white robe. If she was nervous at what was to come the Chosen One did not betray it. She seemed calm and resolute. She sat quite still and looked steadily ahead as we sisters arranged ourselves around her, each in our appointed position. We waited silently while the High Priestess cast the circle -- creating the sacred space in which we would perform the rite.

Having completed the preparation of the room, the High Priestess returned to join us, standing facing the Chosen One. I quietly slipped into my place behind her. She stood silently for a few moments, looking at each of us in turn before turning her steady gaze on the Chosen One. Apparently satisfied with what she saw, she broke the silence.

"Sisters let us begin."

So saying, she brought her hands up to her throat, finding the small golden clasp holding her robe in place. Loosening it, she eased the robe from her shoulders and lowered it to her waist before allowing it to fall to the floor behind her. Her naked body shone in the firelight, the flickering shadows playing over the soft curves of her limbs. I had not seen the High Priestess during the week of our preparatory fast and I was shocked. She looked almost transparent, like a wraith. The lithe body I remembered so well was painfully thin. And yet she moved with the grace of a ballet dancer and there was an indomitable spirit evident in her posture as she took a small step forward, leaving the discarded robe behind. Putting this small distance between her naked self and her discarded clothing symbolising the transition from the physical to the spiritual and, for this rite especially, the platonic to the sexual.

I looked at the Chosen One. She gazed wide-eyed at the High Priestess, her lips slightly parted, her breathing quickened. I wondered what was going through her mind. Was she mentally preparing for the crucial role she was to play in the ritual? I hoped so, but perhaps her mind was on a more earthly plane as her senses absorbed the vision of naked loveliness before her. At least it seemed so to me as she shifted her position, parting her knees slightly and curling her toes into the lush rug beneath her feet. And surely the clear outline of her nipples, newly visible through the sheer white fabric of her robe could not be the result of cold, for the room was comfortably warm. I could not blame her if her thoughts were turned to the anticipation of the pleasures to come, mine too were not confined to the spiritual plane.

The Chosen One could not take her eyes off the High Priestess. Though to my loving eyes she seemed diminished, even so she was a wonderful sight. The simple elegance of her posture, proud breasts with their delicate upturned nipples, flat stomach and neatly-trimmed triangle of dark pubic hair below was a picture of physical perfection. Her hair was tied back in a long pony-tail so the elegant curve of her neck was the more obvious and her deep, dark eyes seemed enormous set against the pale oval of her face. Her skin was virtually flawless, smooth and glowing with health, marred only by the small scar just below her belly button -- the result, I knew, of surgery to remove her appendix when she was in her teens. Far from detracting from her beauty, this slight imperfection served to emphasise it, giving her a humanity that might otherwise have been lost in the physical perfection of her body.

We sisters watched the High Priestess, waiting for her sign. When, after a few moments of stillness, the almost imperceptible nod came, we followed her example and with practiced ease, slipped out of our robes and stepped away from them, tightening the circle around the altar, increasing the intimacy of the group. The Chosen One looked around at us with the ghost of a smile on her lips. She knew the overall form the rite, of course, but we had not explained the details to her, preferring the erogenous effect of surprise to play its part in her arousal. She surely was speculating now on precise role of the six women ranged around her.

I looked around at my fellow sisters, each of us chosen specifically to celebrate this rite. We were by no means a typical cross-section of the members of our coven, we were all young, and conventionally physically attractive with our slim, well-shaped figures. Of course our appearance had been an important factor in our selection. The High Priestess looked around the circle approvingly, clearly happy with what she saw.

The High Priestess spoke the words of welcome, and the coven made their responses, then she approached the Chosen One.

"Eve, you have been Chosen for this sacred rite. Do you come willingly to this place, knowing that even at this final time of asking you may freely take a different path?

I held my breath. The chamber was completely still.

"I do," came the quietly but firmly spoken words. I breathed again, and there was palpable relief in the chamber. The High Priestess showed no sign of the enormous relief she must have felt, but approached the Altar and placing her hands the Chosen One's shoulders leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.

"Please stand, "she said and the Chosen One raised herself from the altar and stood before the High Priestess. The High Priestess kissed her on the forehead once more, then, with slender fingers began to undo the long row of buttons that held the pristine white robe together. I watched, remembering the delights that those nimble fingers had coaxed from my willing body, there in front of the fire only a few weeks ago. I felt my nipples harden and a familiar moistening between my legs, just at the memory. "Not your turn Hazel," I told myself crossly and tried to drag my thoughts back to the room.

With the final button undone, the High Priestess took the Chosen One by the shoulders and turned her round to face the fire sign. Eve stood erect, facing the congregation of sisters, arms by her side and feet together, her head held high and her unbuttoned robe slightly parted. There was palpable anticipation in the room. Silence reigned. The High Priestess spoke.

"Beloved sisters, behold Eve, our Chosen One. She offers herself this night, to us and to the Goddess, in the Great and Sacred Rite. We ask for love and blessing as we prepare her body to receive the Goddess. See now our sister, pure in body and spirit, adorned with the sacred signs and clothed by the sky."

In saying this the High Priestess took hold of Eve's robe at the shoulders, drew it down her back and away from her body. An audible gasp of admiration from the coven came, as the Chosen One was fully revealed in her simple beauty. For a second or two she appeared to me as a classical nude might have posed for a renaissance artist, upright, pale-skinned and firm breasted but there the similarity ended. The smouldering sensuality evident in the uplift of her chin, her proud breasts with their hard, protruding nipples, the tangible aura of her desire was rarely captured in the stylised artworks of ancient Greece or Rome.

Willow and Ash had excelled themselves in adorning her body. A beautiful henna tattoo curled around her breasts, traced an elegant filigree pattern across her belly, outlining her navel and coming to a point exactly at her labia. It was a work of art and must have taken hours of patient toil. It emphasised her curves to perfection.

She turned back to face the High Priestess. "You may sit down," The High Priestess spoke quietly to the Chosen One and she obeyed, seating herself at the crux of the cross. The High Priestess beckoned the celebrants forward and they took up their places, standing around the Chosen One, one sister at each arm of the cross.

The High Priestess took up her own position, lowering herself gracefully to her knees in front of Chosen One who remained seated.

"We begin the awakening with the five-fold kiss," she said and spoke the words we knew so well. Placing her hands on the Chosen One's feet, she began.

"Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways." Then, leaning forward, she kissed the feet of the Chosen one, just behind her toes, first the right and then the left.

Raising herself she reached out, placing her hands on the Chosen One's knees, saying, "Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar," and, as before, she lowered her head and gently kissed both knees. The High Priestess paused for a moment, looking round the circle. This was the moment of departure for us all, did she seek re-assurance. I nodded almost imperceptibly as her eyes held mine, not granting permission but acknowledging the burden of responsibility that was hers and encouraging her to continue. Her face was slightly flushed, perhaps it was the exertion of bending to kiss The Chosen One's feet and knees or perhaps, like me, it was the rising excitement that brought a hint of colour to her cheeks.

I could not read the High Priestess clearly but she returned to her task with her customary grace, placing her hands once more on The Chosen One's knees but now gently parting her legs and positioning herself between them she heralded the third kiss with the words, "Blessed be thy womb, without which we would not be," before bowing her head to place her lips on the tender skin of the Chosen One's belly, just above her vulva. This time she lingered a little over the kiss, inhaling deeply as if savouring the scent of the woman. The touch of her lips brought the first small gasp of pleasure from the Chosen One.

The High Priestess slowly raised her head and composed herself for a moment before nodding to Willow and Ash, who stood behind the Chosen One. Stepping forward they each took one of The Chosen One's hands and lifted them, stretching her arms out horizontally so that her breasts jutted forward towards the waiting High Priestess, their perfect pink nipples fully erect. Cupping The Chosen One's lovely breasts in her hands, the High Priestess said, "Blessed be thy breasts, formed in beauty," and, so saying, leaned forward, taking The Chosen One's right nipple into her mouth in a long, lascivious kiss. Eve groaned and jerked convulsively as the High Priestess drew her lips slowly from around the engorged nipple and circled the puckered skin of her areola with tiny kisses. Hazel and Willow held The Chosen One firmly. She was helpless to resist the soft lips and flickering tongue of the High Priestess as she sucked and teased. After a few moments the High Priestess turned her focus to The Chosen One's left breast. It was treated to the same loving attention as the right and The Chosen One's inchoate moans grew more intense as the High Priestess pleasured her, nibbling and cajoling its tender peak to new heights of sensitivity.

Finally, the fourth kiss was done. The High Priestess pulled back and surveyed her handiwork as Ash and Willow returned The Chosen One's arms to her side. She sat flushed and panting, her nipples, engorged to twice their original size, standing proud, glistening with the High Priestess' saliva.

In preparation for the final kiss the High Priestess rose to her feet. Placing her hands behind The Chosen One's head and tilting it upwards, she said quietly, "Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Names." Then their lips met in a deep, passionate embrace. They lingered over the kiss and we watched in anticipation, knowing that our part in the ceremony was about to begin.

Eventually the High Priestess broke away, the last of the fivefold kisses done. She looked more herself, her eyes shone, and her body glowed as she stood before us. Her voice, when she spoke was deep and resonant. She took the four lengths of white rope in her hands and held them out, saying over them, "I call upon the Goddess to bless these, the ropes that bind you, to preserve you from harm, to hold you fast to the earth, and to increase your pleasure." She held the ropes out to each of the signs in turn, and then passed them to the sisters.

"Come Sisters," she said, "Bind the Chosen One and let all her senses be awakened that her body be fully alive to the delights afforded by this sacred ritual."

At this, Ash and Willow took hold of The Chosen One's shoulders and gently but firmly pressed her back so that she lay on her back on the altar. Then each taking an arm and raising it above her head, they wrapped the white rope around her wrists and secured them to cross, attaching the rope to the brass rings, positioned for the purpose. Ash and Willow took up their positions, kneeling close to the altar, at the Chosen One's shoulders.

Rowan and Aspen, the lusty young twins, identical in appearance, obviously enjoying their part in the ceremony stepped forward, each taking one of the Chosen One's feet, and spreading her legs wide, laid them on the cross. Placing the rope around her ankles and looping it through the stays.

"Not too tight," the High Priestess whispered. The twins perhaps being a little over-enthusiastic, tied more carefully and then knelt by the Chosen One's firmly tethered feet.

The High Priestess looked down at the Chosen One, splayed before her. "A peach ripe for the taking", I remembered the High Priestess's words to me after we met Eve for the first time and I now saw what she meant. Stretched out before us, already aroused from the most erotic five-fold kiss I had ever heard of, let alone seen, her body cried out to be touched, its valleys and peaks explored and its pleasure centres quickened. Surely this was a temple that was worthy of the Goddess.

The High Priestess now took her place, kneeling between the Chosen One's splayed legs, her face inches from her vulva. I positioned myself in the now familiar place, directly behind the High Priestess, longing to touch the woman I adored, but patiently waiting for the sign.

The High Priestess reached out her hands and gently, oh so gently, began to stroke the Chosen One's thighs, starting at her knees and bringing her hands slowly up and around her vulva to meet just below her breasts. Then without pausing she brought her hands down, over her belly, this time, gliding over her vulva and down her inner thighs, finishing where she began.

The Chosen One sighed with pleasure and as the High Priestess repeated her movements, Ash and Willow joined in. They performed similar stroking movement but starting from the palms of the Chosen One's hands, they followed the path of her inner arm, across her chest over and around her breasts, skirting the nipple and gently returning over her neck and outer arm. Their timing was perfect, as their hands played over her breasts, the High Priestess' hands were just beneath them in a convergent movement that had three pairs of hands meeting over her heart.

Now the twins joined in. While the other sisters continued their gentle massage, they started at the knees, working down to the Chosen One's feet. Splaying her toes between their fingers and stroking the soles of her feet.

For my part, I did what I ached to do, pushing the High Priestess's knees slightly further apart I pressed by body against her, reached around to cup her breasts in my hands and kissed the back of her neck with all the outpouring of love I felt for her. I felt her nipples harden under my caress and I almost forgot myself, the desire to take those perfect buds of flesh into my mouth and make her scream with the sheer delight of it was so strong. But my reason returned, and I contented myself with a gentle stroking massage of her whole body, from the soles of her feet, up her legs and buttocks, up her back, round her neck and returning across her chest over her breasts and stomach.

This I knew the High Priestess enjoyed, we had done it many times before in 'rehearsal' so to speak, but this was somehow different. Perhaps it was the sight and sounds of the other sisters as they enjoyed the lovely body of the Chosen One. Maybe it was the Chosen One herself, who was becoming increasingly vocal as the sisters worked on her, but I was becoming more than a little aroused myself. Each time I reached around to run my hands over the High Priestess's chest my breasts pressed into her back. I was not getting as much stimulation as she was, but it was enough.

When the High Priestess reached for the bottle of oil, and we all followed her lead, it became worse. Anointing the High Priestess with oil, covering as much of her body as I could reach, meant I too was soon smothered. Now each time I pressed myself against her to slide my willing hands over the front of her body the slick skin of my breasts was treated to a brief oily massage by the muscles of her back, as she used her arms to massage oil into the Chosen One. I could not help myself, each time my hands passed over the High Priestess's buttocks, I quietly placed an oiled finger between my own legs, and just for a second, invisibly to the congregation, teased my aching clitoris.

Taking our cues from the High Priestess, the Awakening progressed into full Arousal. The High Priestess began to focus her movement more and more on the Chosen One's Yoni until she bent her head forward and began to lick her clitoris with long, lingering stokes of her tongue. Ash and Willow, their heads touching started to suckle her nipples, rolling their tongues around them. The Chosen One moaned and cried out in full voice. Rowan and Aspen, with evident glee began to fulfil the Chosen One's only revealed fantasy and appeared to want to eat her alive, starting with her toes. They licked, sucked, bit and lavished every kind of attention on her feet.