Monday, April 25, 2011

Ritual Simplicity

In searching for a new Beltane Ritual to tweak, I was struck once again by the ridiculousness of some of our Rituals.  I don't think the rituals themselves are ridiculous, of course.  If I did, I wouldn't be here!  It is the utter complexity of these rituals that I find ridiculous.

When reading some of the Rituals I've found (and not just for Beltane!), I've not thought of Wicca but of the elaborate Catholic Mass.  And there really is nothing wrong with that, if you like that sort of thing.  To me, Wicca isn't supposed to be like that though.  If we call ourselves a nature religion, we need to be true to that.  Nature doesn't try to BE, it simply IS.  I think we need to take that lesson into ourselves, both in our everyday life and in practicing our craft.   It's a mistake that most new comers to Wicca make.  I made it myself.

One doesn't need to TRY to be a witch, making it complex with the hope to impress.  When we believe, we simply are.  We don't need to try.  Rituals should be an act of honoring the Gods, no matter how complex or simple.  Complexity is fine...as long as you truly want your ritual to be that way.  If inwardly you sigh with every Sabbat that comes around, lamenting having to go and get out "the GOOD candles" and the special Altar cloth, maybe you're rituals are a little too complex.  How are you honoring the Gods if you're not enjoying yourself?

The Charge of the Goddess States:

Let my worship be within the heart that rejoiceth,
for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.
Therefore, let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence with in you.

So why force ourselves to have complex ritual if we don't enjoy it?  Rituals can be done everyday, in the few minutes it takes to say a chant while watering your flowers.  Putting a little extra love in your homemade cookies for when the kids come home from school.  No matter what you do, if you put love and joy into it, it's a Ritual the Goddess will enjoy.  Dancing in a rainstorm becomes a sacred act. 

Because it is.  Or at least, it should be. 

What do you do for rituals?  Do you prefer complex or simple rituals?

Goddess Bless,

Stacy

2 comments:

  1. You know, these days since I'm doing most rituals with my daughters, I keep them simple. Cleansing the space, casting the circle, calling the elements, invoking the God/dess, and then worship and a bit of magic working. I try to do something within the circle that has the girls working with symbolism and imagery. I also want it to mean something, so I try to have some way of applying what we're doing, to real life changes we want to see.

    Then we eat and drink, thank the God/dess, thank the Elements, release the circle, and we're done.

    We don't memorize anything, and I try to write down very little. I do try to recite the shortened Wiccan Rede and the Charge of the Goddess at each of our rituals, because it's something that I want them to be familiar with. But more than anything, I want what we're doing to be meaningful. And chanting in languages we don't understand, or getting super formal doesn't do that for us.

    Great post!

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  2. Thanks, Muse Mama! It's amazing how our kids both add complexity and yet simplify our lives, haha. I'm so excited for Brianna to be old enough that I can try those things, my ideas of what I want to do is very similar to what you are doing! At the moment, Brianna just crawls around the circle, or just sits in her chair. Ridiculous baby, lol. ♥

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