What exactly is a Ritual?

[MoonMoth]

Blessings Everyone!

I'm fairly new and have been reading everything I can. My question is a simple one, although it may sound silly.

What constitutes a ritual? Does it have to be something elaborate, or formal from a book? Does it have to include magick?
Can daily prayers be done without ritual?

For instance, every evening I light a candle, meditate a little, write in my journal, and finish with a prayer to the Goddess. Is this ritual? In the morning I start the day with a prayer to the God without any ritual.....is this ok?

I was raised Catholic....does that explain my confusion? :)

Thanks in advance......

)0(
MoonMoth

[Lavender]

Hi Moonmoth! What you've describe is a perfect ritual. If it fulfills your needs then it's perfect. I do something similar. I feel that whatever brings you closest to your God/dess works. A ritual doesn't always have to be the big elaborate production...along with all the candles, cake & wine. There is a time & place for all that too, though. It's more meaningful when it's something you've worked out for yourself...very personalize. Also, I like to think that it's much more appreciated than taking a ritual straight out of a book...no matter how good it is.

[slvr_phoenix]

Well MoonMoth, here's how I look at it. A ritual is a collection of actions which put your body and mind into a state of harmony with what you desire. It can be to relax, or to honor a deity, or, well, anything.

A spell, on the other hand, is the collecting and sending out of energies to accomplish something.

Many people combine aspects of a ritual and a spell together, to tune themself to a harmonic state of being with the spell they wish to accomplish, to make themselves better at recieving/sending the energies for the spell. And this is probably why you're confused, because most people don't really realize that ritual and spell are actually two different acts which are just often combined for a greater result.

No, it doesn't have to be elaborite, it just has to hold meaning to you (or to the group if it's a group ritual). Yes, daily prayers can be done without any ritual. And no, it doesn't have to include magick. :)

And it sounds like you've already started with a great one. If it has meaning to you, then it's never 'wrong'. :)

[Mariposa De La Luna]

A ritual is anything you do in a certain order, it doesn't even have to be religious. If you always wake up in the morning and do things like eat breakfast, then brush your teeth,etc., in the same order every morning thats a ritual.

On religious rituals, I read an article on the purpose of them. It actually a transcript of a question and answer session. Its on Mike Nichols' page: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/7280/

Its titled "the finer points of ritual". Since you are a recovering Catholic ;) you should like it.

[Swanspirit]

SAHM , simple and clearly stated , and it has no religious or spiritual connotations ..... unless they are added and the definition is made personal by the person using it.
And Silver ,let me make a minor point here just for clarification ..... since that is your working definition, I wouldnt necesarily say most people dont know the difference ""[because most people don't really realize that ritual and spell are
actually two different acts which are just often combined for a
greater result. ]"" Generalisations that large tend to lose accuracy. A lot of people (besides me LOL) have been pagan for a very long time and have done a great deal of defining and using the word ritual and "spell" maybe a lot of people new :RuNew: to paganism dont know , and maybe you dont know that many older pagans but they might use and define it differently . I dont even usually use that word .....to describe what I do ..... You know how pagans are, especially older pagans (dont mean age here folks put your guns BACK In your holsters) ........ they dont like other pagans to do their definitions for them because we are SO INDEPENDENT ....
I would say, and I speak from experience here ..... you can use them separately and/or together ...... and that in the actual experience the definitions fall away ......
and are not the focus .......
So for someone just learning what a ritual is ..... look up several definitions and decide for yourself which one you like , or that fits etc......or suits what ever path you choose to follow .....
Love and Light
Swannie

[Astraea]

A ritual is actually something that is repeated to create a certain state of mind or state of being- an action performed in preparation for something. In your magick, a ritual is what is performed before, during, or after a spell to help you to gain the proper state of mind to create a change.
Or, a ritual is actions performed in honor of a deity, a celebration, etc. But even in this case, the ritual is creating a certain state of mind.

When we perform "spells," we are intending to create a change- we expect a manifestation of some type of change. Spells are generally quick, to the point, and goal-oriented. "Spell" can actually mean "state of mind." Considering that- a ritual can be a an action that is repeated for the purpose of creating a spell.

If you wake each morning and drink a cup of coffee, this is a morning ritual. You are drinking this cup of coffee to gain a proper state of mind to start your day.

Rituals are performed by habit and rarely out of necessity. Spells are performed out of necessity and rarely by habit.
Hope that helps!

[Kyrnnid Tyhn]

after reading the post i intended to write precisely what you said, Astraea. that's great information there.
some believe spells are rituals, rituals are spells. for me that's not so.