Symbolism Of The Great Rite

"The Great Rite" is a sympathetic magick, to represent something a lot greater by doing a small thing.
It is a portion of a Beltane ritual, which celebrates the start of the planting session.
It is a celebration of life - most of the time symbolically done by using a chalice (as a symbol for the Goddess) and an athame (as a symbol for the God). But this rite can be performed in a multitude ways by using items which are representative for the God that can be inserted into another item to representate the Goddess (for example simply putting a flower into a vase).
This rite is very intense and powerful one, because it calls upon the masculine and the feminine energies - so the rite itself is very metaphorical.
When this rite is done, the magic
By celebrating the feminine and the masculine I can celebrate the completeness, the utility of everything.

In the Pagan and Wiccan community the Great Rite is done to celebrate the fertility at the Beltane ritual. Here the nature is celebrated and the nature really is pure fertility.
Also in the past, in the ancient ages, the Stone Ages, the Pagan community celebrated the Great Rite. Here the Great Rite was often celebrated by sexuality, but this sexuality was the celebration of life. Without sexuality no new life can be born.
So actual the Great Rite is a kind of sex magic, because the symbolic Great Rite is a magic of gender.

In my own practice I of course will celebrate Beltane, which is a celebration of life, of the beginning of the planting time. So I will also do "The Great Rite".
I will do this in a very symbolic way, because I like the idea very much and it is a very powerful rite. I think the idea of putting a seed into a pot of earth is a very nice idea, because the seed symbolizes to me the God and the masculine gender and the pot of earth symbolizes to me the Goddess and the feminine
As there are many misunderstandings about this term, which I will describe more in the next paragraph, it really is indispensable to know exactly about this term.

Many people think, when they hear "The Great Rite", that this is an actual sexual act, which is performed be the high priest and the high priestess of a coven. This may appear due to the misunderstanding of the term "skyclad", where also a lot of people do have sexual associations.
This simply is a misunderstanding of the term "The Great Rite", but it gives a wrong view on Pagans and Wiccans, where they could be seen as celebrating orgies naked in the forests.
It is not a bad or vulgar or shameful ritual, and it also has nothing to do with orgies or even black masses.
Of course maybe people may celebrate "The Great Rite" as an actual sexual ritual, but this can occure due to their personal sight of view and their personal