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THE ENVIRONMENT OF WOMEN’S INITIATION AND EXPERIENCE OF THE SACRED (ON THE MATERIAL OF PRIMITIVE SOCIETIES) // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2016. Issue 4 (10). P. 66-81

At the article women’s initiation is regarded as a hierotopical project (in the concept of hierotopy by A. Lidov). I distinguish the following main characteristics of the environment of women’s initiation: the presence of special places for the rite of initiation, the physical component of the rite, component associated with sanctification and fire, as well as special rituals that allow to separate the female initiation from other initiations. Specific features of the sacred environment of women’s initiation allow to identify the hierotopical concept of this ceremony, i.e. the creation of an environment that would facilitate the transformation of girl into a woman. However, this transformation is impossible without personal neophyte’s experience of communication with the sacred during initiation. Such an opportunity is created for several ways: through communication with those who had participated in a similar rite and now organizes it for the neophytes, through communication with the spirits of initiations, and finally through a female deity (initiation by the identification of girl with the goddess or the repetition of the rite of initiation, which was earlier performed by a female deity).

Keywords: women’s initiation, sacred space, visualization, ritual symbolism, initiation rites, primitive society, hierotopy, hierotopic project