[Note: As this Chapter is in the middle of our core text, it will contain some terms/concepts that are not familiar to the beginner. This is fine; I am asking you to read this chapter to compare/contrast it to the form of ritual lined out below. I want you to be aware of variations in form; so if you are confused by other things, either let them slide or ask questions. But we will be addressing ritual in far greater detail later.]
21st Century Wicca by Jennifer Hunter
Chapter 7: Ritual
pp. 89-106
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham
Chapter 6: Ritual and Preparation for Ritual
pp. 47-54
Drawing Down the Moon by Margaret Adler
Chapter 7: Magic and Ritual
pp. 153-175
The Witches' Circle by Maria Kay Simms
Chapter 6: Circle of the Cosmic Muse
The Order and Parts of the Ritual, pp. 107-126
Please write down what the word *ritual* means to you. Are you comfortable with the term? What rituals--religious and non-religious--do you do? Are they personally meaningful to you?
Do you celebrate different seasonal holidays? Life's rites of passage? How do you mark these? List out different holidays you celebrate, along with what you do to celebrate them. List out life's turning points that you have celebrated (yourself or those in your family), and what you did to celebrate them.
Whether celebratory or *working* in nature, ritual is at the very heart of Paganism and Wicca. It is the way we celebrate the Gods, nature, and stages of life; it is the way we tap into archetypes larger than ourselves; it is the way in which we seek to move energy in accord with our Will towards specific goals.
In it's broadest sense, ritual encompasses both celebrations (Sabbats, Esbats, and Rites of Passage) and magick (spellworking). Ritual is so important, that in this course here we've actually dedicated two Shadows to it (in our 6 part Shado structure): Celebrating Shadows (Celebratory Rituals & Ritual Construction) and Performing Shadows (Spellworking & Other Magicks).
So while we will go into great detail later on ritual, we thought it would be good at this point to write a short *Introduction to Ritual* to explain in general what ritual is and what the key parts of it are. There may be some terms that beginners will not understand; I have tried to give a brief definition where necessary. There will also be some part of the sample ritual that beginners may not understand completely; please just try to understand the symbolism. This is OK; we will be getting into all of this in much more detail later.
In Scott Cunningham's definition, we see the dual nature of ritual: "Ceremony. A specific form of movement, a manipulation of objects or inner processes designed to produce desired effects. In religion ritual is geared toward union with the Divine. In *Magick* it produces a specific state of consciousness that allows the magician to move energy toward needed goals. A Spell is a magical ritual."
Almost any act can be made sacred through intent.
Witches celebrate festival days, or Sabbats. (Good resources for the Sabbats include: Sabbats by Edain McCoy and Ancient Ways by the Campanelli's.) Depending on the tradition you choose to study there can be 4, 8 or 365 festival days per year, or any number in between. The date of observance varies according to tradition and to exact time or date of astrological occurance. Personally, I love to celebrate dates that meant something in the various cultures that I came from. Books like Seasons of the Sun by Patricia Telesco, The Witches Book of Days by Yvonne Owens et al., and The Wicca Book of Days by Gerina Dunwich can give you some wonderful ideas.
In addition to the festival days, Witches hold rituals to observe the phase of the moon (typically called an Esbat), to perform healing or divination magick (spellworking) or to mark a rite of passage. Is magick really appropriate during a celebratory ritual? That depends on many things. Within a coven there might be certain rules about when magick can and can't be performed. You might study a tradition which believes that magick is seperate from celebration and should be done seperate from a celebratory ritual. When practicing with others it is important to work within group parameters; when practicing as a solitary the rule of thumb is: if it feels right, it probably is for you.
So, what do I mean by rites of pasage? Births (seinings--presentation of the infant to the Gods), coming-of-age rituals, weddings (handfastings) and funerals are all rites of passage. The ritual is a way for you to acknowledge the event or change, celebrate it, and let yourself be affected by that change. Celebration of a Funeral? Sometimes we celebrate not the event, but instead some aspect of an event. To mark the passing of a loved one, you may celebrate that the Gods saw fit to bring this person into your life and recall the wonderful things which this person meant to you, remember all of the joy, and hope that in your next life you will, once again, be together. An excellent resource for Rites of Passage is a book by the same name by the Campanelli's.
You can also create more personal rites of passage. Finishing school, starting a new job, buying a house, child enterng school, child leaving the house, etc., are all turning points that can be celebrated through ritual.
Others' thoughts on ritual, mostly gleaned from _Drawing Down the Moon_ by Margaret Adler.....
Isaac Bonewits has defined ritual as "any ordered sequence of events or actions, including directed thoughts, especially one that is repeated in the *same* manner each time, and that is designed to produce a predictable altered state of consciousness within which certain magical or religious results may be obtained. The purpose of ritual is to put you into this altered state "within which you have access to and control over your psychic talents."
Margaret Adler: "It is important to note that when Neo-Pagans use the word *ritual*, they mean somthing far different from what most people mean. For the majority, rituals are dry, formalized, repetitive experiences. Similarly, myths have come to mean merely the quaint explanations of the *primitive mind*. From my own experience of Neo-Pagan rituals, I have come to feel that they have another purpose--to end, for a time, our sense of human alienation from nature and from each other. Accepting the idea of the *psychic sea*, and of human beings as isolated islands within that sea, we can say that, although we are always connected, our most common experience is one of estangement. Ritual seems to be one method of reintegrating individuals and groups into the cosmos, and to tie in the activities of daily life with their ever present, often forgotten, significance. It allows us to feel biological connectedness with ancestors who regulated their lives and activities according to seasonal observaces. Just as ecological theory explains how we are interrelated with all other forms of life, rituals allow us to re-create that unity in an explosive, nonabstract, gut-level way. Rituals have the power to reset the terms of our universe until we find ourselves suddenly and truly *at home*."
Sharon Devlin: "Ritual is a sacred drama in which you are both audience and participant. The purpose of it is to activate those parts of the mind that are not activated by everyday activity, the psychokinetic and telekinetic abilities, the connection between the eternal power and ourselves....We need to re-create ecstatic states where generation of energy occurs."
Z. Budapest: "The purpose of ritual is to wake up the old mind in us, to put it to work. The old ones inside us, the collective unconscious, the many lives, the divine eternal parts, the senses and parts of the brain that have been ignored. Those parts do not speak English. They do not care about television. But they do understand candlelight and colors. They do understand nature."
Vivianne Crowley (Wicca): "All rituals, sacrifices, invocations, prayers, hymns and chants have the common aim of turning our minds toward *the way up and the way down*, birth and death, and showing us their meaning in our lives to give us great knowledge and understanding of how we fit into the greater whole. By neglecting our myths and rituals we have lost the sense of the endless cyclical process of the life force which endures in the face of the changing seasons and the brief shooting star of our individual lives. We have lost touch with that part of ourselves which lives on when the body fails us and reincarnates to form another stream of human existence, or simply returns to the great ocean of being from which we all spring forth."
It is not difficult to write and perfom a ritual (we'll go fully into the mechanics of both in later Shadows). There are no hard-and-fast rules in solitary work; you can't do it wrong. Sure, a ritual may not be effective, but that is part of the learning process. If you celebrate alone, it is just you and the Gods. You'll find they have a fully developed sense of humor!
Of course, if you belong to a specific tradition or coven, they may very well have a set, prescribed way of ritual that is always used.
The form of ritual can run anywhere along the spectrum of extremely simple (lighting a candle and meditating) to extremely complex (specific words, actions, objects, etc., used/done at a prescribed time and day). But Wicca has a general outline--with beginning, middle, and end--that many rituals will follow in one form or another. This outline can be easily adapted to particular workings. To help you understand the basic parts, I will first describe the components in general, then go into greater detail as to the meaning, and finally give you an example from an Imbolc ritual from Maria Kay Simms' The Witches Circle. Here is a basic form of Wiccan Ritual...Purification of self and of the ritual space is important because it is the first part of placing yourself in a ritual consiousness. You cleanse away the dirt, negativity and stress of the world so that you are clean mentally, spiritually, and emotionally when you go before the Gods. For some the purification becomes a ritual in itself; many people have a purification ritualwhich has become a subconsious habit.
Have you ever climbed into a bath or shower to emerge some time later feeling renewed, as though all of the things which bothered you were washed down the drain with the water? The Ritual purification is like that. When purifying yourself for ritual, it is usually best to visualize the process. In your mind see the negative aspects of day to day life as being a film on your body, feel the water rinsing it away, see it being carried off of your body and spiraling down the drain.
When purifying the space that you will use for the ritual, it is much the same. Sweep the area, visualizing as you do so that you are clearing away negative energies with the dirt. Burn incense or use a fan as you visualize the air itself being cleansed and made ready for your ritual. Turn off the lights, light a candle, ring a bell, etc. Your goal is to slow down, to become aware of Divinity within and without, to set the stage for your magical act to follow.
Many rituals that you read in books or find on the Web will not specifically spell out purification. They will assume you have your own method of purifying yourself and the space.
Consecration is the next step. Once your space has been cleansed, you must consecrate it so that you may begin your workings. This step is most commonly refered to as casting the circle. Here you will create, by your will a protective magickal enclosure that will contain the energies you will work with.
Casting a circle can be done in many different ways, from simple visualization to much physical movement. You can walk around your circle, pulling up energy from the group and pushing it out to form the barrier. You can visualize it as a protective blanket surrounding the area or as a rainbow sphere. Imagine it as a sphere, so that there is a dome glowing over the space where you will work, and one beneath you, penetrating into the earth.
Again, many rituals you find out there will only say, *Cast the circle*, expecting that you already have a method of consecrating your sacred space.
Maria Kay Simms, in the Imbolc ritual, consecrates the circle in part by talking about the intention of the ritual....
HPS: We meet to turn the wheel. At Yule, winter solstice, the Sun-child was born--the infant year--heralding the end of the darkness of the old year's cycle, and the coming of the light of the new. The promise of light was born, but it was then only potential. What was born now begins to manifest. The days grow visibly longer. This is the feast of waxing light, called Imbolc in the Celtic tradition, sadred to Brigid, goddess of fire and inspiration. It is the second phase of the eightfold solar cycle, cross quarter of Aquarius the innovator, reformer, seer of the future.
And what does that mean to each of us? This is a time of initiation and of individuation. Here we experience the phase of any personal cycle when an unformed potential begins to take shape. The spark of inspiration takes flame as we mold our new beginning with a will and purpose that is uniquely our own. To do that, we must often sweep away that which no longer serves us, in order that we may focus our energy toward the increase of the new light that glows within.
This is alternately known as calling the elements or Guardians of the Watchtowers. Here you will align yourself with the elements. As Jennifer Hunter in 21st Century Wicca states, "each element has its unique energy, and you contain all five. You contain Air because you have an intellect, Fire because you have a will, Water because you have emotions, and Earth because you have a physical body. You contain Spirit because you are a magickal being with the spark of Deity in you."
When you align yourself with an element, you are simultaneously bringing it out from within you and calling it to you from the spiritual realm. Using correspondences described in later lessons, the witch begins by calling the first element to protect or watch the circle. Moving in a clockwise manner each of the elements are called and the circle is formed. When the witch arrives at the point at which s/he began the circle is complete.
East: O Air, I call to the Easter tower
Stir fresh new winds of mental power.
Sweep clear our minds of past debris
Blow forth new thoughts of clarity.
Guardian of the Eastern sphere
Now we seek your presence here.
Come, East, come! Be here this night!
South: O Fire, I call to the Southern tower
Burn bright the flames of spirit power.
Charge us with your energy
Inspired will, intensity.
Guardian of the Southern sphere
Now we seek your presence here.
Come, South, come! Be here this night!
West: O Water, I call to the Western tower
Wash into our souls with waves of power.
Cleanse and help us, let us know
Our path of truth within your flow.
Guardian of the Western sphere
Now we seek your presence here.
Come, West, come! Be here this night!
North: O Earth, I call to the Norther tower
Protect us with your strength and power.
As your seedlings sprout, we see and know
How our new plans must form and grow.
Guardian of the Northern sphere
Now we seek your presence here.
Come, North, come! Be here this night!
As with the elements, the God and Goddess are already present. But through invocation, you are going to bring them out from within you and make yourself aware of their existance outside of yourself. It is a welcoming, not a summoning.
When you begin the invocation process, you may do this in many ways, you should know the names by which you wish to address the God and Goddess in the circle. Some witches choose a particular pantheon, and a specific Lord and Lady, and never change them. Others simply call on the Lord and the Lady. Or you may simply call on a general aspect of the Gods, like the Maiden or the Dying God. However you choose to do this, there is no single right way.
The invocation is that part of the ritual where you pay your respects to the Gods and the elements. It is here that your ritual becomes religion. You will speak to your Gods at this point, thank them for their presence in your life, share with them your joys, and really solidify your relationship with them. With time the presence of the Gods in your circle will be like the presence of an old and very dear friend.
HPS: Lord of Light, you who embody the vibrant energy of God within--I call your spirit to this rite. You who were Sun reborn at Yule, now come forth in the bright hopes of youth. Fill this your priest with light, and through him shine, to touch your light and kindle hope within us all. As it is willed, so mote it be.
HP: O bright Goddess of Fire and inspiration, hopes are high in this season, but incomplete without you. O Mother of Life, who called me forth from the darkness, I now call you to this celebration of increased light. Fill this your preistess wit the wisdom of your spirt, and through her touch the Goddess within us all. As it is willed, so mote it be.
The actual celebration or working is the next phase. You have gone to all the trouble of cleansing yourself and your workspace, consecrating a circle (something which may feel a little silly until you've gotten some practice), and of invoking the elements and the God and Goddess.
Here are some ideas for the focus of the ritual, whether celebratory or working....
Of course any number of these can be combined, or used singly.
HPS: So here we are once again my Son, in the earliest months of your new cycle of growth. Quite a difference I see already. Your youthful energy already begins to warm me with the promise of spring. Your light grows stronger with each passing day.
HP: Yes, I have been having fun since Yule, shining brightly every day, but try as I might, I don't see anything happening yet. I thought I would set the world on fire and I can't even make winter go away.
HPS: Patience, my Son. The wheel turns slowly. Spring will come soon enough. I can see you grow with each passing day, even if you're not so sure just yet. Wonder what you'll be when you grow up this time?
HP: I'll be lots of things! I'm going to be something special for everyone here, the energy charge that help their plans take form. Tell her, everybody. What are you going to do this year, (name)...how about you?
This is completely improvised. HP asks for plans. HPS expresses doubts about possible challenges that could get in the way of them, until HP interrupts:
We're never going to get anything moving if we keep worrying about old stuff. Let's just build the light!
HPS: You are right, my Son, this is the time to build the light. It is the time when the darkness, the past must be banished, let go, when visiouns of our new ideals and goals may now crystallize into visible form--indiviual and uniquely, for each of you, your own--a bright new light within you, that with our love and inspiration, you will nurture into healthy growth that you will eventually share with others.
HPs take God/Goddess candles, and with them, light a green candle in the center of a cauldron.
HPS: As we share our light with you [HP passes out candles] and lead you in the spiral dance, take this light and add it to your own. Raise the cone of your own power to create your life and to inspire the new growth that now begins. When you feel inner readiness, plant your candle-seed within the earth. When I call our "Now," focus the energy into My cauldron for a new burst for all the seeds of new life sown.
Song for raising energy while dancing around the altar:
Turn, turn, wheel of the year
Winter be gone, let spring be here
Fire bright, Sun's new light
Turn, turn around.
After all candles are planted, HPS continues:
Now...keep the energy flowing. Join hands and let's refocus our thoughts on sharing our hopes and our light wiht others and with the Earth, our Mother. Feel heat and light flow from hand to hand and visualize it filling the circle and expanding beyond, wherever our intent shall carry it. We will bring the censer around the circle. Each of you put a pinch of incense, along with your intent, on the ifre and direct the energy of our circle, sending it forth on the winds of air.
The Great Rite in Truth is when the High Priest has drawn down the Sun, and the High Priestess has drawn down the Moon, and then they make love using their bodies as channels for the union of the two energies. Because this is not always practical or desirable, the Great Rite in Token was invented. The ritual purpose of the Great Rite in Token is twofold: to provide focus and to bless the drink. The athame (a ritual knife) is slowly lowered into the cup/chalice. The cup is the Goddess; the athame is the God. Their energies are mixed when the athame is lowered into the drink.
Both the HP and HPS hold the chalice, and both hold the athame, one's hand over the other's. Both stand and look into each other's eyes as equals.
HP: Athame to Chalice.
HPS: Spirit to Flesh.
HP: Man to woman.
HPS: As the God and Goddess within.
All: Conjoined they bring blessedness to life.
The response is said as the HPs thrust the athame into the chalice. The athame is withdrawn, and the HPS offers the HP a drink. He then offers her a drink, and it is replaced on the altar.
Cakes and Ale are both practical and symbolic. After heavy-duty magickal workings, you will be a little hungry! Symbolically, you are taking the God and Goddess into you (as you partake of the drink blessed in the Great Rite in Token), and participating in the circle of life (seeds are planted, harvested and used to perpetuate life). And, no, it doesn't literally have to be *cakes and ale*. Cookies, bread, biscuits could substitute for cakes, and wine, juice, or water can stand in for the ale.
The cakes and beverages are blessed silently by the HPs, using their wands. They simultaneously lift their wands into the air to gather energy, and then touch them to the chalice and the plate. They then serve everyone deocil around the circle. The HP takes the chalice and offers it, saying:
May you never thirst.
The HPS offers the cakes, saying:
May you never hunger.
The recipient responds with such phrases as *Blessed Be* or *Nor you my Lady/Lord*. One cake and a small amount of the beverage in the chalice is reserved as offerings to the Gods.
Thanksgiving at the end of ritual is usually not quite as elaborate as the invocations. It is mostly a matter of thanking the deities who were present and releasing the energy raised through the ritual. You are making the transition from ritual consciouness to normal, physical consciousness. Now it is time to thank the God and Goddess for attending this ritual. You may do this in many ways, by simply thanking them and asking them to be with you in your life, or by something as elaborate as a poem that you have written as a salute and farewell.
HP: Mother of Life, of fire and inspiration, we do thank you for your love and vision, an bid you hail, farewell and Blessed Be.
HPS: Young Lord of Light and vibrant energy, we do thank you for the renewal of all our bright hopes within, and bid you hail, farewell and Blessed Be.
Similarly, the elements and thanked and released. You walk back around the circle and, using the same correspondences as before, release the guardians/elements/watchtowers.
East: You've swept away our past debris
And brought fresh winds of clarity
Power of Air, our thanks to thee
Now hail, farewell, and Blessed Be.
South: You've charged us with your energy
Inspired will, intensity
Power of Fire, our thanks to thee
Now hail, farewell, and Blessed Be.
West: You've cleansed us, healed us, helped us know
Our path of truth within your flow.
Power of Water, our thanks to thee
Now hail, farewell, and Blessed Be.
North: As your seedlings sprout, we'll see and know
How our new plans must form and grow
Power of Earth, our thanks to thee
Now hail, farewell, and Blessed Be.
Here, you walk around the circle, imagining the barrier that you created in casting the circle sinking back into earth.
Once your circle has been closed, it is common for the participants to have a small feast. In coven practice this can be a pot luck dinner. For a solitary, especially one with a family, it is frequently impractical to have some sort of elaborate feast, or even a not-so-elaborate feast, and it is perfectly acceptable to have fruit or tea and crackers instead. Whatever you decide to have, you will probably appreciate it. Ritual work can seem at times to take a lot out of you. It is always nice to spend a little time afterwards to relax and gradually step back into real life.
All join hands to repeat together the conclusion:
May all beings and elementals attracted to this rite be on their way, harming none. The circle is open but unbroken. Merry meet, merry part and merry meet again, Blessed Be!
Through ritual, we celebrate the Gods, nature, and life's turning points; we learn how to align our will with energy. Future Shadows (and many lessons) will go into further detail about everything I have written here. I hope this has whetted your appetite for more!
I would like to end with a quote from Vivianne Crowley, taken from her Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Age:
"Myth and ritual address the word of the imagination and channel it, giving it form and place. Ritual acts not as substitute for reality, but as a pattern for it. By enacting the ritual dramas of the Gods we activate these archetypes so as to make them manifest in our pyches. In enacting ritual, we are enacting a prescribed form of journey to human growth......"
Look at the personal descriptions of various celebrations you wrote in the pre-assignment. Do they have some of the elements of Wiccan ritual in them?
Search out other rituals on the Net or in books. Do they follow the outline here? How are they different? If there are differences, do you agree with them? Learn to look critically at rituals found in other sources. Do they do what they purport to do? Do the various components instruct you on the meaning of the ritual and seem to bring you closer to the the Gods, nature, or our own life cycle?
For the more experienced among us, share with us--in general--what you have done for rituals. Now I don't want to get into specifics (casting the circle, calling quarters, etc.) just yet. Rather, what are most of your rituals like? Do you have a set form that you do? What about off-the-cuff rituals?
Do some research on the function and meaning of ritual. Share what you find with us.
Document Copyright (c) 1998 Jamie Brydone-Jack
This and all related documents can be re-published only as long as no information is changed, credit is given to the author, and is provided or used without cost to others.