What exactly is ritual? Perhaps it conjures up secret moonlit gatherings with fires and magic. Sure, those can be fun too, but I’d like to talk more about everyday ritual and how we can use it to enhance our lives.
When I think of ritual, I think of setting intention and then moving energy. I find it can help me focus on what exactly I want and then manifest it, connect more intimately with spirit and the Divine Feminine, and ground/expand/heal me. Using nature and symbols, we can transcend the rational mind and tap into our deep inner wisdom and intuition.
I also think of everyday rituals, like having my morning coffee in bed while looking out the window at nature’s daily display, and my partner making his nightly herbal tea. We can use ritual to transition from one activity in our life to the next, shifting energy from work mode to home mode (and I daresay this has been more challenging given how many of us are working from home!). Seasonal rituals like putting away the snow shovels and raking out the flower beds. Things that give our lives a rhythm, some structure and familiarity.
I plan to discuss this topic much more this year with my spirit soul sister Deborah Fay as we get ready to partner up for some serious Bee Priestess magic (more to come on that soon!). The basic process for creating a ritual is to set the intention for why you are doing it. Tami Lynn Kent talks about the importance of ritual in her book “Wild Feminine”:
“Ritual is a creative movement with a specific intention. It is an invitation to the presence of the divine, using the power of symbols to establish connections with the members of a woman’s community, the sacred, or something larger than yourself. Ritual, with certain patterns or objects that are involved in its structure, is a form that holds and moves energy.”
From there, you can follow a set pattern to invoke the help of the sacred and get that energy moving. I always include nature, and will also work with the energies of the season and the moon cycle to support what I’m intending to accomplish.
More to come on ritual! In the meantime, Deb and I are offering a Full Moon ritual in less than 2 weeks, more info here: Loving Our Whole Self – Full Flower Moon Ritual w/Mandala
Blessings,
Melissa