WARNING: The following contains SPOILERS for Yellowjackets season 2, episode 8.
Yellowjackets paid off its series' opening scene when the full cannibalism ritual was established and revealed in season 2, episode 8 — here's a breakdown and explanation of the sacrificial ritual from start to finish. Yellowjackets captured audiences' attention immediately with the series premiere depicting teen masked figures in the wilderness hunting down who would soon be known as the infamous "pit girl." After the victim fell into a tiger trap, the masked figures strung her upside down, and what was later shown was the group sitting around a fire surrounding the mysterious antler queen leader, and indulging in a greasy feast of unidentified meat.
The promise that descent into Yellowjackets kept viewers hooked through both respective seasons, but their first venture into the act happened rather unexpectedly. While the pit girl wearing Jackie's necklace ultimately foreshadowed her demise and consumption, how the team ate her went down differently than what was shown in episode 1, and made audiences question precisely how the girls devolve into hunting their own rather than just consuming their dead. In a surprising move, the origin of the ritual was revealed just before the Yellowjackets season 2 finale, showing just how the pit girl, and the rest of the victims, will meet their end.
The Queen Of Hearts Card Determines The Next Yellowjackets Victim
The first step of the sacrificial ritual sees the unlucky girl who draws the Queen of Hearts card as the victim that the wilderness has chosen to be sacrificed. Putting Lottie's Queen of Hearts vision into a whole new light, the deck of cards itself has been a part of the survivors' daily lives in a more mundane way up until this point. In Yellowjackets season 2, episode 5, it was established that the cards represent different chores that the survivors must perform, and they pick from the deck randomly to determine their duties for the day.
However, now one of the cards has an entirely new function. In the ritual, after placing offerings in the middle of the circle, one member of the group shuffles the cards and each survivor picks one from the deck. Whoever is unfortunate enough to draw the Queen of Hearts becomes the next Yellowjackets victim, and will be eaten by the rest of the group to ensure their survival. Surprisingly enough, this was foreshadowed twice in the series, with Lottie's vision, and a throwaway line in season 1 when Travis is playing solitaire. Natalie mentions to Travis as he's playing that there are "no queens in that deck."
The Next Yellowjackets Victim Wears Jackie's Necklace
After the victim has been selected, Jackie's necklace is placed around their throat to mark them. In the Yellowjackets premiere episode, the pit girl was clearly shown wearing the necklace, spurring on plenty of theories as to how and why the necklace plays a role. Many thought this indicated that Jackie was the pit girl, but that was disproved in the season 1 finale. Then came a flurry of questions about how the necklace ended up in the pit girl's possession, with conjectures like the pit girl may have stolen it, or it was the Yellowjackets' version of the Lord of the Flies conch.
As it turns out, the necklace plays a more symbolic role in the sacrificial cannibalism ritual. Since Jackie was the first girl to be eaten, and the girls are slowly believing that the wilderness is the one choosing who lives and dies, Jackie's necklace has become a moniker for the wilderness' selection. The act is essentially marking one for death, and it's important to note that once someone becomes a victim, they're no longer a person in the group's eyes, but an animal to be hunted and consumed. This is backed up by Shauna's words just before the team eats Jackie, as she thinks that Jackie "wants them to."
The Yellowjackets Hunt Their Victim
The sacrificial ritual didn't go according to plan in Yellowjackets season 2, episode 8, but based on the series premiere it seems that the hunt becomes an important part of the ritual. Once the victim has been selected and marked for death, the team must hunt down their kill. In the latest installment, Natalie was the one to draw the Queen of Hearts and don Jackie's necklace. However, when Shauna was about to slit her throat, Travis fought the other girls off and told Natalie to run. This resulted in an all-out primal chase scene as the girls made animal noises while hunting her through the woods.
Javi tried to rescue Natalie by taking her to where Javi was hiding for two months but fell through a patch of thin ice and drowned. The girls claimed Javi as their next victim instead, with Van enforcing this by saying that the wilderness had chosen. Based on the flash forward in Yellowjackets episode 1, the originally unplanned hunt becomes a staple of the sacrificial ritual. It would make sense that the cardinal entity would want to make the survivors perform a hunt for their food, rather than just killing their victim outright. As the antler queen herself said, "Does a hunt that has no violence feed anyone?"
What We Know About The Yellowjackets Cannibal Ritual
While the Yellowjackets cannibalism ritual past this point hasn't been shown yet, what happens next can be gathered from the series premiere and what happened to Jackie's body. The Yellowjackets pilot script revealed the names of some of the masked acolytes, denoting their role in the process. The names that were printed on the pilot script were "The Hunter," "Butcher," "The Overseer," and "The Shaman." Based on the preestablished roles in the survivor group and the script, Lottie is The Shaman, Shauna is the Butcher, Misty is The Overseer, and Natalie is probably The Hunter.
After the Yellowjackets victim has been hunted down, they are then killed by the Butcher (if they're not dead already) and strung upside down. Presumably, the victim is then dressed and butchered in the same way a deer would be. With the body prepared, the body is then portioned and cooked similarly to Jackie's before being presented to the rest of the group. It's a particularly harrowing and gruesome process, but nonetheless an important part of the Yellowjackets' sacrificial cannibalism ritual. It speaks, in particular, to the darkness of the entity they worship that such a shameful act should be done in such a callous and routine manner.
What Happens At The Yellowjackets' Feast
The ensuing post-ritual feast probably goes down much differently than how the girls eat Jackie in one of the most shocking moments of Yellowjackets season 2, episode 2. In the flash-forward of the series premiere, the cooked meat is presented to the Overseer (Misty) and the Shaman (Lottie) by the Butcher (Shauna). The pilot script denotes that an agreement must between the Overseer and the Shaman before the group is allowed to indulge. Once an agreement has been made, Lottie allows the team to feast on their victim. Like the rest of the food, the victim's body is rationed out — unlike the feeding frenzy that occurred with Jackie's corpse.
What wasn't realized in the premiere episode of Yellowjackets is just how large a role the wilderness entity plays in the sacrificial cannibalism ritual. It seems that Lottie must defer to the wilderness before the girls are allowed to eat, and season 2, episode 8 showed that the wilderness chooses the victim and that the team must make offerings before the cards can even be drawn. The Yellowjackets season 2 finale will sadly see Javi eaten next. However, for some reason, the adult survivors have forgone the ritual in the present, as Lottie only offers them a cup of phenobarbital to consume to satiate the wilderness' need for a sacrifice.