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Ritual

© Myrrha

Ritual is a celebration of life and the cycles of life. Believe it or not we all engage in ritual in many aspects of our lives. Birthdays, holidays, significant events and transitions are all things that occur in our lives regularly that we take the time out to celebrate. Ritual provides healing for loss, commemoration for happy occassions and connections or continuity between the old and the new. As we move towards the new in our lives we can use the old as a springboard to get there or we can release it and be drawn to the new by ritual.

We can draw power from our rituals to stregnthen us and vitalize us to move from cycle to cycle in our lives. Of the five kinds of power Rollo May discusses in his book, Power and Innocence: A Search for the Sources of Violence, positive rituals are those that employ nutrient and integrative power. Nutrient power provides for the needs and welbeing of another; integrative power is that power used by two entities to improve the life and welbeing of both.

Healing ritual may not seem celebratory in nature, but it is. One thing that celebration does is acknowledge something. By celebrating a loss in ritual, we acknowledge it and in so doing provide the impetus for transitioning to a state of existence without what we've lost. Transitions take time, more time than our social structure, with its dearth of ritual, allows for quite often, but as we establish meaningful rituals in our lives we establish the stepping stones for life.

Ritual in a Pagan and Wikkan context celebrates the eight sabbats (seasonal), births, deaths, joinings, etc. The ancient roots from which many of our beliefs are drawn were particularly concerned with survival of the people, family, or tribe. The changing of the seasons marked the turning of the wheel. The notches for getting crops planted, harvests in, Livestock slaughtered and preserved were noted by the passing of the holidays, the dance of the earth and sun across the floor of time. Births meant the survival of the unit and thus the spirits were called to bless and protect. Deaths meant the passing of wisdom from the tribe and the entrance of a soul into another life. Joinings meant the sharing of life for the preservation of all.

Ritual provides many benefits in our day to day lives. As we create the various rites for living we empower