Excerpt from “Behold the Bridegrooms” written by James Broughton and performed for the wedding of James and Joel which took place on July 23rd, 1978 in Sausalito California on board the hundred-year-old ferryboat SS Vallejo belonging to the Alan Watts Society for Comparative Philosophy.
(Full text is in James Broughton’s book, Ecstasies.)
PRIEST:
Dearly beloved all,
be all loved dearly here!
Love is the free play of the Divine
and we are here to bring the Divine
freely into play.These two who stand before me
have assembled us upon this floating temple
to share in their celebration of
the deep astonishments of divine grace.
They ask to be joined sacramentally to
the enravishments of their love.Let us praise their fine audacity.
Let us praise their risk of happiness.
Let us raise our burning light to them
to enlighten their burning hearts!The Guests lift their tapers high.
Let us raise our lights even higher yet
to salute the ingenuities of the gods
who prepare our profound encounters
and conduct us to our fates.With lights thus lifted let us chant thrice
the Pleasure Mantra of the World:
Aaahhh! Aaahhh! Aaahhh!GUESTS:
Aaahhh! Aaahhh! Aaahhh!PRIEST:
Now may we lower our separate flames
and make of them one single powerful light.
Come forward, each of you in turn,
to place your candle upright in the sacred cauldron
standing at mid-center of this hall.Let each of our lights blaze together
one unified faith in the lights of love!Guests dispose their tapers
in the sand-filled bowl.
