A Tradition from the
role-playing game Mage the Ascension whose
foci revolve around stimulation. They are stereotyped as
burn-out hippies, which is only half-right.
The theurgy of the Cult deals with touching the Anand (Anand being Sanskrit for "bliss"). The Anand is the pulse of the universe, the underlying current of energy from which all things spring. Sensation, not simply pleasure, is what moves us outside ourselves, and more importantly, outside of time, where we can bask in the overwhelming power of the Anand.
Sensation, they say, pulls us out of ourselves, forces us to change. They loathe regimentation because once you do any particular activity often enough it ceases to be magickal. Ecstatic gatherings are usually just that, ecstatic. They can be anything at all, except boring that is. A Cultist of Ecstacy is just as likely to go to an orgy as they are to a religious ceremony, depending simply on what allows them the greatest amount of emotion.
The factions within the Cult are varied, as one would expect such an eclectic group to be. From the wildly cruel Aghoris to the healing Voodoo magicks of the Erzuli Jingo. The different sects agree on few (if any)issues.
The eclectic nature of the Cult of Ecstacy is its very downfall. Though there is great strength in diversity, little can be accomplished with a group so disorganized. A group of open-minded revelers they are, but a good weapon against the Technocracy they are not.