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Create Your Own Ritual
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One thing that has been lost in many modern religious traditions is the powerful
experience of the personal ritual. It is one thing to know a religious or spiritual
truth; it can be another to actually experience the that truth in a deep and meaningful
way. Ritual is perhaps the oldest and most successful way of bridging this gap.
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Too often today when the importance of ritual is recognized, it is seen with a sort of
superstitious awe - as something far removed from the average person and available only
through the meditation of professionals. While the sense of tradition and community that
can be invoked with these formal rituals should not be discounted, should be the personal
ritual.
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To design a ritual for yourself, first start with a goal - healing yourself, the Earth,
celebrating and event or achievement, seeking strength for the present or the future,
improving your relationship with the Divine, removing yourself (temporarily) from the
hustle and bustle of life, deepening your own spiritual understanding - any of these or a
thousand of others is fine.
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Decide what form of deity you want/need to invoke. What do you need from Her/Him/It/Them
? - healing? strength? support? a chance to experience them? to explore them? to exult
before them in your moment of achievement or seek solace in your moment of despair.
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Then, consider the physical space you will use. This can be anything from your desk to
your room to a park or a mountain retreat, depending on your ritual, your needs, and
their availability to you. If at all possible, designate a sacred space for ritual. This
can be as simple as envisioning a protected circle around you as you sit at your desk or
closing the door of a room or as elaborate as a circle physically inscribed on the Earth
or in the Air with candles or incense. The space need not be permanent - it only need
last as long as the ritual itself - but make a point of designating the space sacred with
you begin and releasing it back to the world when you are through.
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What will assist you in your invocation? Words are powerful, and will work alone -
extemporaneous prayer, recited poetry or prose - but consider trying some more physical
ritual elements in addition to (or replacement) the words. If you have little experience
with these, you may feel silly when you first start. Don't. Remember that there is a good
reason that these aids have been used by many different cultures for thousands of years -
they work. They can be an invaluable in removing you from the world of your everyday life
and involving you directly in the ritual.
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There have been many types of ritual items that have been used over the millenia -
incense, flowers, stones, food, drink, clothing - when possible, always look for
connections that are meaningful to you. There are many different reference works on
symbols that list the associations that various cultures have made with colours, scents,
and shapes over the centuries. If these work for you, fine - but don't be afraid to
designate your own meanings or to change them as appropriate. The important thing is what
meaning does it have for you?
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I,ve mention some of the more popular items here. But remember these are only starters.
It is vitally important to add your own items and make your own combinations. Ritual is
not a matter of reading "light 3 sticks of sandalwood incense and 1 blue candle" and
following the instructions. The real power of ritual comes from what you bring to it. Be
on the lookout for possibilities that will have specific meaning for you. If you notice a
particular stone, one that seems to "speak" to you in some way or that serves as a
reminder or symbol of something for you, pick it up.
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Use it in ritual - hold it in your hand as you pray or rest your incense on it. If you
are looking for strength and courage in a new business venture, try placing a business
card on the altar as you pray. if you are trying to remove emotion, influence or person
from your life, try writing the name or worn on a slip of paper, concentrating all your
feelings, entanglements, worries, and temptations on it, then burning it and watching the
connection to you float away on the smoke.
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So take some time to design and carry out a ritual, no matter how short or 'trivial'.
Have some fun with it if you like, ritual need not be serious to be meaningful. And
ritual need only to be meaningful to be effective.
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