creating meaningful rituals

[peggyelizabeth]

As each sabbat rolls around, I find myself frustrated by the lack of resources for meaningful pantheist rituals. I Google and search MW, I read and read and I'm continually faced with rituals that cast circles I don't need, invoke gods/goddesses I don't believe in and overall leave me feeling empty.

I've strived to write my own rituals, but they fall short of my expectations. They don't encompass all that I want to express and I don't know how to fix that. I'm probably being overly critical, but I can't find the right voice to write with.

I'm not sure what my block is. I've adapted beautiful wedding ceremonies, touching baby namings, I'm even having no problems working on funeral rituals, yet for the wheel holidays I fall short.

Do others of you also fight this challenge? Is this something inherent in solitary practice? Or is it a pantheist dilemma?

gees, being Wiccan looks so easy right now...help!

[talamh]

Have you tried researching other Wheel of the Year Rituals... starting with the Gardnarian/Alexandrian ones? There is a lot in there that doesn't feel right for me, but there is alot of really lovely ritual as well. Read myths and legends in several traditions.. Celtic, Roma, Nordic, Dianic, Starhawk books. There is a lot of good stuff there and some of it should appeal to you. Figure out what you like and ask yourself why you like it. Then develope and create a ritual you feel comfortable with . Write it down. It might take several rewrites. Ask your self if you're confortabel with it... Will it work in a practical sence? Is it too elaborate for you to pull together? Is it safe?

I have always felt that ritual is visible poetry... and that it is always more important to understand what it is you are saying and to say it honestly and simply from the heart then to have things learned word perfect but recited by rote without meaning. Start with something very sinple. Do it till you ffeel comfortable.. then start addi8ng other bits that you are drawn to. It's perfectly fine to borrow ideas and certain words from other sources as long as you don't trry to claim them as your own.

Writing your own ritual is a necessary skill along the path. It takes research, soul searching, honesty and reverence. In the end, all the work comes together in a beautiful moment of grace and blessing. You make the connection with the mystery. It is a blessed path to walk.

[Lunacie]

The 8 Sabbats and the Wheel of the Year are basically Wiccan so anything you find about them is probably going to be at least Wiccan-flavored.

Have you tried googling "Pagan Rituals and Ceremonies"?

[peggyelizabeth]

I have always felt that ritual is visible poetry... and that it is always more important to understand what it is you are saying and to say it honestly and simply from the heart then to have things learned word perfect but recited by rote without meaning. Start with something very sinple. Do it till you ffeel comfortable.. then start addi8ng other bits that you are drawn to. It's perfectly fine to borrow ideas and certain words from other sources as long as you don't trry to claim them as your own.


What a beautiful way of voicing what I've been thinking without being able to put into words! Visible poetry-another way of saying dance or music...

The 8 Sabbats and the Wheel of the Year are basically Wiccan so anything you find about them is probably going to be at least Wiccan-flavored.

Have you tried googling "Pagan Rituals and Ceremonies"?

yeah, & I do know that about the Wheel, but I'm drawn to it. I'll try some different searches to see what they yield.

I also have a few books I'd like to check out, but they aren't exactly the thing that my little county library has, so that'll be spending some $ down the road.

Just as an FYI, I got a PM on this that also got me to thinking & it's not that I don't have rituals, it's that I don't feel comfortable with the formal ones I've used. Does that make sense? It's like I haven't been listening to my real inner voice telling which way to go...

[Lunacie]

Yeah, I think formal rituals are absolutely beautiful when you're part of a group, but they seem strange and stilted when I'm working alone. In fact, during the years when I was solitary I rarely did anything to honor the Sabbats other than taking notice of the change in the season. I sometimes think I should be doing more on a daily basis, having an image on the altar where I could take a minute or two to honor the Lord and Lady and ask their blessing on the day. But generally I only do something when there is a real need, then I may light the quarter candles and ask the gods for their help and wisdom.

[Tullip Troll]

practise, keep what works and lose what doesn't.

it is very hard to find rituals outhere that are not wiccan. Many don't even realize what their sharing is wiccan.

So again, practise keep what you like lose what you don't, even a poet uses an erasure before it's done.

I am a big fan of the spiral , I call on whom ever it is I need, to, or I just call on the Mother. Drumming is huge for me, I like to spend time getting into the right mind set then after doing the spiral dance, or on some occasions it's more of a belly dance. I just follow my heart and it seems to know whats next at that point.

[peggyelizabeth]

Even though I'm hearing exactly what I've been telling myself, it's nice to have you guys reassuring me that I can do this & it will happen.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday....

[Windsmith]

Absolutely, I have this problem all the time. So much of what I learned about ritual when I first started studying Paganism no longer serves me. Picking through what I can keep and figuring out how to replace the things that don't is such a long, difficult process. That's a big part of why I started keeping my Witch's Almanac. If I write down this stuff now, maybe I won't have to keep reconstructing it from the ground up every year, every time.

One thing that's helped me a lot is to start thinking about other things I can do for the "meat" of the ritual (or the tofu, for the vegetarians in the house) besides the more "traditional" Pagan (read: Wiccan) activities. So, for instance, for the Autumnal Equinox we had a ritual feast. Not a ritual that included a feast; the feast was the ritual. If there's any way my wife and I can swing it, I want to do a slumber party ritual for the Winter Solstice. Imbolc is traditionally our art holiday; in the past we've created our own art on that day, but this time we may go to a museum and make a ritual out of appreciating the art of others. I know a lot of Wiccans (and even folks from my own Pagan tradition) who would argue that these things all lack the "traditional" ritual elements and are therefore lacking or inappropriate somehow, but they speak to my wife and me. They have meaning for us. In the end, that's the only necessary measure of whether a ritual is right and good.

[Tullip Troll]

"traditional ritual"

I think is overrated, who's tradition and where did it come from, if it works for you great but for a lot of us we can't own it.

Do it your way more then twice and does it not become a ritual(your ritual)

We do ritual feasts as well.

[cheddarsox]

"traditional ritual"

I think is overrated, who's tradition and where did it come from, if it works for you great but for a lot of us we can't own it.

Do it your way more then twice and does it not become a ritual(your ritual)

We do ritual feasts as well.

Good point. Sometimes I think we don't realize how much we ARE doing, because it doesn't look like the subconcious standard. For example, I have led classes on paganism, spirituality, etc, and when I ask people if they have an altar, many say no, but when we begin to discuss it, most realize they have numerous altars, but because they don't fit the (usually wiccan) idea that is in their head, they don't even realize it.

Same with ritual. There are certain elements of ritual, and once we begin to conciously think about them, we often realize that indeed, we have ritual and create ritual, but again, they don't fit the "mold" or look like what others call ritual, so we don't identify it as such.

When I teach about ritual, I often use the parallel of having a birthday celebration...first we call everyone together, we prepare the space, this can be as elaborate as renting a room, putting up streamers, balloons, centerpieces, or as simple as saying "shhh..here she comes,lights out!". Then we state our intention...(yell surprise, say..OK everyone, let's sing happy birthday), we have ceremony...singing, blowing out candles, we "ground" often by eating or drinking, and we send everyone home, usually with a thought or goodie bag.

When we start to think of ritual in elemental form, we begin to recognize it in our lives and observances. We see the elements lining up, and it's "A Ha!"

I think that the elements of ritual are something that is built into human behavior, they play out differently depending on belief, culture, financial status, tradition, but the basic set up crosses all those boundaries.

For me, it's a ritual to go out and look at the stars, even in such a simple act, the elements are there...I grab my sleeping bag, find a spot in the yard, orient myself so I can identify some constellations and find my way around the sky, star gaze, gather up my stuff, often have a drink or snack, and go to bed.

I also write and create intentional ritual for myself and for groups, but as long as the basic elements are there the details fall into place, I just keep the basic outline in mind.

[peggyelizabeth]

When I teach about ritual, I often use the parallel of having a birthday celebration...first we call everyone together, we prepare the space, this can be as elaborate as renting a room, putting up streamers, balloons, centerpieces, or as simple as saying "shhh..here she comes,lights out!". Then we state our intention...(yell surprise, say..OK everyone, let's sing happy birthday), we have ceremony...singing, blowing out candles, we "ground" often by eating or drinking, and we send everyone home, usually with a thought or goodie bag.



YES! That's what I've been doing, but not giving myself credit for.

[airmist]

...we don't realize how much we ARE doing... we have ritual and create ritual, but ... we don't identify it as such...I think that the elements of ritual are something that is built into human behavior, they play out differently depending on belief, culture, financial status, tradition, but the basic set up crosses all those boundaries.... For me, it's a ritual to go out and look at the stars, .

I'm sorry for the blatant editing/shortening of Cheddarsox's post. But I've always thought exactly the same so I wanted to give credit to Cheddarsox for saying it.

Our lives are built around ritual. Birthday parties are always the first example I've used. Morning ritual around washing, dinner ritual, and how we sit down to a desk or begin a routine work day is all ritual that makes what we are doing identifiable and comfortable.

A formal definition: "a series of actions habitually and invariably followed by someone" copyright 2007 Oxford University Press, Oxford Compact English Dictionary

Religious ritual is also part of the definition, but the point is the habitual action and form. As Cheddarsox uses the yard and star gazing, I have ritual around my morning meditation, ritual around my outdoors greeting of tree spirits or the spirits of a place. These rituals aren't overly formal and I don't worry if they vary. But they are important to me and increase my comfort and feelings of connection.

You'll find your rituals because you care. My advice is much the same as others here have said. First, look to existing rituals and borrow whatever works for you. If it continues or evolves into something you like to repeat, you've found a ritual. But no one can give you or tell you how to do a ritual. To digress a tiny bit, that is why I left the last group of pagans I tried to connect with. They were good people, but their focus was all on "doing" their rituals right. There seemed no spirituality; it was all form no substance. It isn't the form, it's the substance.