the art of ritual

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the art of ritual

• Creating and Performing Ceremonies
• for Growth and Change
• from the book by Renee Beck Sydney Barbara
  Metrick

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Chapter 1understanding the role of ritual in
your life
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Ritual, a definition

• According to Webster A set form or system of
  rites, religious or otherwise the observance of
  set forms or rites, as in public worship
• Making a ceremony of an event, especially a major
  life event

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Or

• Anything you do in a habitual manner, usually
  with some established or formal action, giving
  the act a deeper meaning than it would appear to
  have on the surface.

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• Ritual provides the bridge between inner and
  outer worlds and creates a context for
  reconnecting to the seat of our souls.

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• The end results of all ritual are increased
  balance, strength, energy, and comfort.

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• The rituals handed down to us are frequently
  insufficient to address and satisfy our personal
  and spiritual needs

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POWER The ability to cause or prevent
change.
There are five kinds of power
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Exploitative

• subjects the weak to the strong with no concern
  for the needs of the weak

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Manipulative

• power over another that requires the collusion,
  collaboration, and cooperation of the weaker

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Competitive

• power against another

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Nutrient

• power used for the other to meet the needs of the
  other

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Integrative

• power used with another to build a better life
  for both

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Bringing rituals into your life empowers you

• More choices
• Gain perspective on changes
• Increased grasp of relatedness
• Greater sense of balance
• Traditions

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When traditional ceremonies no longer hold the
sacred, it is necessary for people to expand and
deepen existing ritual or create new ones that
specifically and clearly address the needs of the
time.
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Meaningful rituals for life events can also lend
a structure to your consciousness that in turn
increases the meaning in your daily life.
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The journey into Self

• To deepen your experience of life
• Connect with the sacred
• Improve yourself, your relationships, and your
  world

• 30 minutes each day for self-work a quiet time
  for you to get to know yourself better and
  reconnect with your idea of Spirit

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Rituals An Integral Part of Nature and Our
Daily Lives
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The Purpose of Ritual

• Something done in the physical world that is
  related to the higher worlds
• Done to increase balance and connection

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• An enactment of a myth the myth of our
  lives, the images of ourselves in the world
  and our connection to the world

• Visualization and actualization

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The 4 Functions of Mythology

• Mystical a state of wonder, from Universal to
  personal

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• Cosmological the mystery which helps us
  understand our world

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• Sociological verifies, nurtures and preserves
  our beliefs and customs

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• Psychological a guide and support to people
  throughout their entire lives.

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The Relevance of Ritual

• Mindfulness of being
• Being the creative composer of ones own life

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• Forms a connection not only with our own
  unconsciousness but with the collective
  unconsciousness of our ancestors
• Stands out against the routine of life
• Shifts the focus from the minutiae of life to the
  grander plan of life

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• Directed energy causes change. To have
  integrity, we must recognize that our choices
  bring about consequences, and that we cannot
  escape the responsibility for the consequences,
  not because they are imposed by some external
  authority, but because they are inherent in the
  choices themselves.
• Starhawk, Dreaming the Dark

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• choices bring about consequences because they
  are inherent in the choices

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The Power of Ritual

• Opens the door to a state of timelessness, an
  altered state of perception

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• This altered state then helps us be receptive to
  other patterns of association and modes of
  thought that lead to problem solving

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• Leads us to the feeling of majesty and a grander
  level of experience

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• Creating and using ritual to assist us through
  change gives us the power to handle that change,
  even if it seems overwhelming or too full of
  emotion to be controlled by will alone.

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• Ritual gives us a way to contain, accept,
  control the intensity and dosage the change
  we are experiencing.

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The Need for Ritual

• We go through our transitions alone, with
  private symbolsso we feel disconnected
• We want to find balance in both the spiritual
  and global sense

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• Those not involved with a traditional religion
  can have life-affirming rituals that they are
  comfortable with
• Those in traditional religions can gain a
  greater understanding of the rituals they do
  have

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• Both groups then bring this awareness of the
  sacred in life event rituals to their daily
  life, creating a greater awareness of the sacred
  in all of life.

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Chapter 2myth, history and symbol
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