The Importance of Ritual

"Watch your thoughts; they become your words; watch your words; they become your actions" - Lao Tzu

Taking this quote to the next step, your actions then create your life. When faced with a decision, our choice to act or not act, determines how our life moves forward. We take a certain job, we choose not to marry someone, we move to a new city. These are the big actions we take to create or recreate the conditions of our existence. 

However, no big change can happen without the many small actions that go into its creation. To get that new job you have to first update your resume. Then start looking at job boards. And so on.  Each of these tasks add up to create the path to your goal and the outcome of your intention.  

Ritual is an example of a smaller action we may utilize along the journey to our larger goal. If we have a truly holistic view of our world, then we must include both the physical and spiritual realms in our planning. When we want assistance from the Universe to support our efforts, we will call upon ritual to help get us from here to there. 

What is Ritual?

If we take the above quote and reverse it, this shows how our actions translate into thought to help us commune with spirit. Ritual is a set of deliberate thoughts and actions designed to reach beyond the physical realm. While our intuition is the connection point between the physical and spiritual realms, we facilitate that connection through the alignment of our thoughts and actions. Whether secular or non-secular, ritual helps us climb the ladder from the physical world up to the spiritual plane. 

As an example, in Vajrayana Buddhism, ritual utilizes both physical and mental activity to focus the mind and body on the prayer. In addition to the preliminary rituals of opening the space with formal offerings, lighting of candles and burning incense, etc. during certain practices involving deep concentration, one uses a physical activity (such as prayer beads or a mandala) to keep the hands active, chanting to keep the mind & body working together, and visualization to hold the mind on point. When one is hyper-focused in this way, there is no room left for distraction and the intention is clearly delivered to the deity(s) being supplicated. 

Most ritual involves three primary parts; an intention, a supplication, and an offering. The intention is what you are requesting help with. The supplication is who you are directing your intention to. The offering expresses the sincerity of your intention and is the doorway into your heart. 

Your intention can be a statement of anything you want to bring in, let go of, or cultivate in your life. The intention should be very clear and straightforward. The Universe tends to give you exactly what you ask for so make sure what you want is clearly stated. For example, if you want more aligned friends in your life, but ask for “more people”, you may find yourself in a new job dealing with a rotating cast of unhappy customers. Sure there are way more people in your life, but they aren’t who you really wanted to be engaging with. 

We supplicate dieties, saints, ancestors, angels, spirit guides, etc. to be our intermediary between the physical and spiritual realms. When working with multiple deities/beings, it is important to supplicate the correct diety/being for your intention. Asking Ares, the god of war, to help with your romantic life doesn’t make much sense. In addition, a supplication should never feel demanding, but comes from a softened heart. 

The offering is the way to soften the heart. It is an invitation to curry favor with the dieties so they will hear your intention and grant your request. The offering can be just as simple as heartfelt gratitude or as involved as cooking an elaborate meal for your departed loved one on the anniversary of their death. Standard offerings involve anything that inspires the senses - spoken words or prayer (sound), candles (sight), incense (smell), food (taste), silk cloth (touch), etc. They are a physical offering to represent our earnest longing. Any offering made should reflect your commitment to the request.

The Serenity Prayer is a lovely example of a simple ritual. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  In this case “God” is being supplicated, serenity, courage, and wisdom are the intention, and the spoken word and a tender, open heart is the offering. 

Ritual in Everyday Life

Ritual can be done on your own or with a group. It can take an hour (like in church) or just a minute. Rituals can be as complex or simple as you feel inspired to make. You can have all the bells and whistles for your altar or it can just come straight from your heart in a moment of sincerity. Just make sure you have a clear intention, are supplicating the right deity for your request (if you work with multiple), and express heartfelt gratitude. 

You can even turn daily routines into rituals. As you brush your teeth, you can express to whatever deity you hold in your heart gratitude for and a hope to maintain (for as long as possible) the health of your teeth or the ability to hold a toothbrush or whatever comes to your mind. 

Create Your Own Ritual

1. Develop an intention statement. For a successful, positive intention statement, make sure that you are not requesting that anyone change since you are only able to change yourself and that you are asking for something realistic. Winning the powerball isn’t that reasonable of an intention statement. Asking for a new source of additional income might be more attainable. Your intention statement can also just be simple or altruistic like world peace. 

2. Decide on who you will supplicate. If you are monotheistic, then your choice is pretty easy. If you work with multiple beings and guides, choose one to supplicate. If you call in all of them, the request might become confused. 

3. Choose your offerings. If you supplicate Baron Samedi, you might set out a glass of rum or for Archangel Michael you might want to set out his picture and start with his prayer. Remember that the substance of the offering comes from your heart. (P.S. - Do not ever eat or drink an offering once it has been offered! This is insulting to the deity. Make sure you toss out any food like offerings.) 

4. Set aside some time in a quiet space to create your ritual. Feel free to recite your intention or light a candle daily as a reminder.

   
   

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