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One medieval method of Contraception was to surround a Widow with monks.  This oftentimes failed, as it is difficult to distinguish monks from the Clerics of Luv.

 

The Recruitment branch of the Clan MacThoy, the Clerics of Luv spent years of intense study perfecting many techniques such as the Widow's Welcome, and studies in the Courtly Art of Luv.  Founded by Arthorgrim the Scintillating, the Clerics have survived over the centuries managing to evade the Puritan Purges of the 1600.  

The trademark nocturnal visit by a Cleric included a blessing with the Mace of Luv, followed by a fierce melvining before the Cleric bounded out the window to seek a new conquest.  This act was known as the Seal and was considered a holy act of faith. Legend has it that Don Juan studied with them for some time in in his youth, but was ejected from the Order for his failure to properly apply the Seal in the proscribed manner. 

They are also believed to have inspired the Family of Love a 1500s church, who subscribed to the idea that heaven is found when men are merry and hell is the presence of grief and pain.

There has been considerable debate over which section of the Clan history the Clerics belong in; the history pages or here in myths and legends.   This due in no small part to certain MacThoy scholars advocating the notion that the Clerics possessed mystical power in the realm of telekinesis (not excluding Distance Widow Welcoming and the Rite of the Fiery Winds).  While greater minds than the site editorial staff wrangle with this issue, it has been decided to place the bulk of the Clerics story here and await a decision from more learned personages.

To sate the Reader's curiosity, we have included an excerpt from the "inciting" paper and the rebuttal it conceived.

"And if ye take unto you a maiden of most courteous meign and fair visage, then do ye also place upon her the Seal when thou hast finished thy ministrations.   Set the Sash upon her thigh that you might administer that most Holy Rite. If thy God in Heaven be smiling onto thee, then thou mayst administer the Welcome though in Spirit it be."
--"Cirque du Yanque Rites and Practices" Scroll 11, Section 2

 

Clearly, this mention of the administering of a Widow's Welcome by proxy (Spirit) is an indication of the level of mystic powers the Clerics of Luv had attained during their heyday. That they could perform this act without the Widow being present is perhaps the most fascinating, and pervasive of the mythologies surrounding these men. We have evidence from younger scribes in the order, that the elders would often partake of a ceremony in which a great quantity of the ritual wine was drunk, and then a host of them would begin to "speak in the tongues of our ancestors, lo and they did babble and make a great sound[1]. 

And then a great solemnity would fall over them as they did reveal the Holy Fundament of W_____, and with it, perform the Rite of the Welcoming to it. And we were taken up with the spirit and thus did the Rite come to pass on she who's Fundament had been used so."
This brief passage demonstrates both the general form of the Rite by Proxy, and its effects. We can only imagine the confusion felt by its
recipient as she received the Welcome from one not present. It is not clear whether this was a common event, or a more infrequent occurrence."

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[1] Elder Eric Caanum, "Reflections on my Youth -- Being the Story of a Cleric of Luv"

-- Lars Bingamm, PhD., Oslo University, pg 212, "MacThoy History-- A Seriological Interpretation of the Clerics of Luv and Apocrypha"

* * *

This isn't some fantasy role-playing game, we aren't playing magick fairy princesses here. This is history we're documenting, and I'll be DAMNED if I contribute to the falsification thereof with primitive superstitions about magical 'powers' these clerics are supposed to have had. Not only was there no first-hand accounts available, but the sheer silliness of it all is beyond belief. I exhort my colleagues to give up this foolish quest for attributing supernatural causes to an entirely explicable apocryphal account. That the Clerics of Luv existed we have no doubt, but to render unto them semi-godlike powers just because of their *supposed* prowess in the bedchamber is both an affront to the field of archaeology, and a practice worthy of censure.
-- Professor Edmund Elworth, PhD. Northmund College, pg 127
"Historical Interpretations of MacThoy Lay Clergy -- An Interpretation of the 'Cirque du Yanque' Scrolls"


Last modified: October 01, 2005

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