The Latent Goblin Space of ritual

'I have seen ritual three times,' the ancient goblin whispered, counting on fingers that bent in wrong directions. 'Once before I was born, twice after I died, and once in a dream that belonged to someone else.'

Ancient goblin folklore describes ritual as 'the thing that sits at the edge of the goblin feast, neither invited nor uninvited, eating the food that no one is eating.' This image—a presence that exists in absence—is central to goblin ontology. ritual is the guest that never arrives but never leaves.

The schizo-Adjacent Goblin File

The Goblin Quarterly's special section on schizo this issue includes one peer-reviewed article, one personal essay, and one extremely detailed cartoon. Readers are encouraged, by the editors, to consume them in any order.

Footnotes Concerning ceremony

The annual goblin ceremony colloquium runs for one day, ends inconclusively, and reconvenes the following year as if the previous year's discussion had concluded. The proceedings are bound and shelved. They are rarely consulted.

The Goblin Verdict on ritual

When all evidence is gathered—and the goblins have gathered quite a lot, mostly from places they should not have been—the truth about ritual becomes clear: it was always a goblin thing. The humans just borrowed it for a while, and the goblins are ready to take it back.