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Creating
Your Own Rituals: The Guidebooks
By
Carl McColman
Life is full of rituals. Most of us have a similar routine we
follow when getting ready for work or school; when paying the
bills; when washing the dog. We human beings are creatures of
habit, and so we like to follow established patterns and familiar
customs. But ritual has a spiritual, perhaps even religious, connotation.
How do customs and habits contribute to the landscape of our inner
journeys?
 Well,
there's no easy answer. Many people resist the idea of ritual
altogether, and try to keep their spiritual lives as unstructured
and freeform as possible. Others, though, seek ceremonial words
and actions to express their beliefs and experiences in meaningful
and compelling ways. A ritual is nothing more than a ceremonial
form of spiritual expression. It can be ornate or simple, highly
structured or loosey-goosey, done only once or repeated every
week or every full moon.
Those of us who grew up in traditional religions experienced ritual
as something the ministers or priests did, while the laypeople
watched (or mumbled along when appropriate). But in the innovative
and visionary world of New Age and Neopagan spirituality, anyone
who desires can create and enact their own rituals. This can be
a powerful doorway into deep and transforming spiritual experience,
but it can also be a bit overwhelming. After all, few (if any)
of us took e'Ritual 101' in college. So what resources
are available to help ordinary people create and perform meaningful
rituals?
Thankfully, a variety of books both new and old exist to help
spiritual seekers write, adapt, and enact rituals. One of the
classic books along these lines, The Art of Ritual: Creating
and Performing Ceremonies for Growth and Change, by Renee
Beck and Sydney Metrick (Celestial Arts) has
just been re-released in a beautiful new edition. This book discusses
why ritual is important, the many different areas of life where
ritual can be meaningful (such as commemorating a transition such
as graduation or puberty), and how to design your own rituals
using the symbolism of five elements: air, water, fire, earth,
and essence (spirit). Among the exercises and helpful suggestions
included in this book are ideas on how to create tools for use
in ritual and how to set up your altar (sacred shrine) where ritual
activities can take place. Written in a friendly and non-sectarian
style, it's an ideal book for anyone interested in developing
rituals without relying on a preexisting religious or dogmatic
system.
If you'd like to explore the whys and wherefores of ritual,
check out Malidoma Patrice Somé's Ritual: Power,
Healing and Community (Swan Raven & Co.). As
an African Dagara medicine man, Somé does not just hold
forth with academic theories, but offers a from-the-heart meditation
on the many ways in which spiritual ceremonies can make a difference
in our lives. Even more heady is Murry Hope's The Psychology
of Ritual (Element Books), now unfortunately out
of print but well worth tracking down. Hope explores ritual not
only from a psychological perspective, but considers its role
in terms of magic and esoteric thought as well.
Most of the books currently available on ritual do explore it
from the perspective of one particular spiritual tradition. And
the tradition that most encourages its practitioners to design
their own rituals is Neopaganism, so it's not surprising that
so many ritual books offer a Pagan perspective. One of the true
delights here is Isaac Bonewits' Rites of Worship: A
Neopagan Approach (Earth Religions Press). This
independently-published book features a plug-ugly cover, but don't
let that throw you off: for the text is a thoughtful, sensible,
at times irascible study on how Pagans can create high-quality
rituals whether for solitary use or for groups numbering in the
thousands. What especially sets this book apart is how Bonewits
(best known as the author of Real Magic) insists
on what he calls 'polytheology' - the recognition that,
at least for Pagans, the worship of more than one God (or Goddess)
is a valid spiritual option.
If you want something a little less controversial, try Deborah
Lipp's The Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth
in the Wiccan Circle (Llewellyn Publications).
Written by a Gardnerian Witch and High Priestess, this book provides
a detailed examination of the key elements of Wiccan rituals,
along with sample ceremonies and tips for creating your own. And
if you enjoy hunting for out of print books, here's one worth
searching for: Blacksun's The Spell of Making
(Eschaton), which is widely acclaimed as one of the best step-by-step
guides for creating a Pagan ritual.
Of course, I couldn't ignore my own tradition: Celtic spirituality;
and so I'll close with a hearty recommendation of Alexei
Kondratiev's masterpiece The Apple Branch: A Path
to Celtic Ritual (Citadel Press), originally published
in Ireland and now finally available in America. Although it's
scanty on practical ideas for creating rituals, it gives a wealth
of information on how to incorporate the cosmology and philosophy
of ancient Celtic lore into your modern spiritual practice. It's
a great book for considering how every element of a well-constructed
ritual can have powerful mythical and spiritual meaning.
Carl
McColman is a local teacher and professional Tarot reader. He is the
author of numerous books, including Before You Cast a Spell:
Understanding the Power of Magic.
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