Understanding and Using Ritual

Most often, when you hear Pagans talking about rituals they will be discussing a particular rite, a set of ritual practices or forms that a practitioner of magic steps through toward an end goal of working magick. There are other rituals that are spoken of less often, either because the rituals are more private, containing hidden knowledge and practices of a specific group or because the rituals themselves are so commonly understood within the group that practitioners simply assume the initiate has a knowledge of them. Every culture has rituals, no matter if it is a national culture or religious culture. In this, the Pagan community is and Pagans are no different.

One rudimentary challenge of merging into a culture is discovering the kinds of rituals practiced and then incorporating these rituals into your own life. Part of the difficulty entering into a pagan spiritual community is that so many of the rituals in practice are personal, individualized, with the ritual life between individuals and groups of Pagans lacking the uniformity that is found in cultures which have less of a history in secrecy or of persecution. It then becomes important to understand the role or roles that Ritual itself plays within the community. What purpose is ritual given? How is ritual observed? What constitutes a ritual? What forms do rituals take? How do individuals within the community approach and observe ritual practices differently? Why do people need rituals?

A second and sometimes more challenging goal becomes learning to create your own rituals.

Tonight's Circle and discussion focus will be on "Understanding and Using Ritual" and is being held as an introduction to a course in Ritual Creation for the magickal practitioner.