Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1993 21:25:26 -0500 From: "Mike \"Kurgan\" Phillips" <[m s phil] at [BIRDS.WM.EDU]> Subject: Mythus: Priestesses of Juno Having already done some cataloging of Jupiter, the ever-prolific scribe turns his hand to a good choice for balancing out the adultery -- Juno, known to Greeks as Hera, Jupiter's wife, and the goddess of marriage, the home, children, and childbirth (one shared with one view of Diana). Juno was known to have a temper regarding Jupiter's little "excursions", but then again, he was finding all the nice-looking female maidens and bedding them, so it's not surprising that she would be jealous. Beware the maiden who falls to Jupiter's charms! The priestesses of Juno tend to promote marriage and fidelity, although they tend to be attracted to followers of Jupiter, especially his priests. On the whole, they are kind people, although they can have terrible tempers when they feel they are wronged. Grade I: DETECT INFIDELITY CHARM Time: Instantaneous Other Heka Costs: Area: One subject R&D: Nil Distance: Touch Other: Nil E/F/M: This brief Casting will immediately allow the priestess to determine if the subject of the Casting has been unfaithful. However, the definition of "unfaithful" is pretty subjective, and it can only be used in a marital context. If the subject honestly feels that he has done no wrong, then the detection will fail. Note that this does not convey any sort of information, other than the subject's being unfaithful, and the priestess must name a time period when weaving the Casting, so that the spell may function. LOCATE SPOUSE FORMULA Time: 1 hour Other Heka Costs: Area: One Subject R&D: Nil Distance: One mile per 10 STEEP Other: 10:1 additional hour E/F/M: This Casting allows the priestess to locate her spouse, giving her a general sense of distance and a fairly precise sense of direction. It will only work for the priestess, and then only on her own husband. The duration may be extended by one hour per 10 additional Heka spent, but may not total more than one hour per 10 STEEP possessed by the Caster. Grade II: ENCOURAGE FIDELITY CANTRIP Time: 1 AT + 1 AT per 10 STEEP Other Heka Costs: Area: One subject R&D: Nil Distance: Touch Other: Nil E/F/M: For the duration of the Casting, the subject will be subconsciously discouraged from any acts that would be interpreted as being unfaithful to his or her spouse. Though the duration is fairly short, it can be just enough to avoid the possibility of infidelity. MARITAL BLISS RITUAL Time: 1 day per 10 STEEP Other Heka Costs: Area: One couple R&D: Nil Distance: Touch Other: Nil E/F/M: This ritual will hover around the recipient for the listed duration, causing anything that reminds the subject of the good times of their marriage to remind the subject very strongly, and subtly encourages a fair amount of forgiveness to assist in smoothing things over. However, the ritual requires that both members receive it for it to work, and those who need it would not submit, and those who would submit rarely need it. With a little sibterfuge, though, the ritual could be disguised as a simple blessing of sorts, and be cast upon a troubled couple without their knowledge. Such activity is hardly precluded from priestesses of Juno! Grade III: PUNISH TRANSGRESSION FORMULA Time: Special Other Heka Costs: Area: One subject R&D: Nil Distance: Touch Other: Nil E/F/M: This is a (relatively) fast Casting, to be used in the heat of passion (or anger) against someone who has been maritally unfaithful. Ideally, the priestess should have some appropriate form of punishment in mind, something suitably vindictive and applicable. This need not be cast on the priestess' husband, but may instead be cast on the one with whom the infidelity was carried out (witness Juno's punishments of Jupiter's mortal lovers rather than doing anything directly against Jupiter). As long as the punishment is appropriate, there is not much in the way of limits on the duration of the punishment, as the priestess is asking for the wrath of her goddess to be brought to bear. Of course, the punishment must be stated at the time of casting, and misuse can cause consequences to the Priestess instead of the subject. Grade IV: AFFAIR ENLIGHTENMENT RITUAL Time: Instantaneous Other Heka Costs: Area: One subject R&D: Nil Distance: Touch Other: Nil E/F/M: This Casting allows the priestess to learn the full details of an affair that has been carried out by her husband or lover. The priestess basically will receive the equivalent to a narrative of what has gone on between the other two, and names, places, and dates are revealed as well. The one thing that must be kept in mind is that the priestess must already know that the affair is going on, otherwise the Casting returns no worthwhile information, so it is ineffective as a method of spying. Grade V: PUNISH INFIDELITY RITUAL Time: Special Other Heka Costs: Area: One subject R&D: Nil Distance: Touch Other: Nil E/F/M: This is a more potent form of Punish Transgression (q.v.), as it allows the priestess to enact retribution similar to that of the previous Casting, but there is virtually no limit to what can be done as punishment. The only requirements are that the punishment must be particularly appropriate and the infidelity must be a major issue (such as a couple married for ten years, and the husband was unfaithful for five of those, and the wife just found out). The priestess need not be personally involved in the relationship, a jilted wife or husband may come to her with the story. Of course, if you have comments, questions, insults, compliments, or whatever, feel free to write me. Additional Castings will be placed in the nascent net.pantheary, as will good information on myths associated with the deities featured so far. I'm open to suggestions as to which to cover next. I know there are many, many more left to do, and am currently wondering what would be most useful to others, having covered the ones that are of immediate use to me. Mike Phillips [m s phil] at [birds.wm.edu] Yes, I know I've done a lot of them, but can you imagine the quantity once I'm a subscriber to MMM? ;-)