It was hot and bright day out, the kind of day that perfectly fits the Summer Solstice. It was close to noon. I got up from my computer and started collecting the materials I needed for my impromptu Solstice day ritual.
It had been a little while since I had done a proper magical ritual. I cast spells and do workings, but I don’t always add the formal ritual to those workings. But it had been awhile and I felt a deep longing for ritual burn with me. Today deserved something formalized for the sake of what I was calling in and for myself.
I pulled out a box of crayons and a small square piece of paper. I grabbed my rod, my drum and its beater and I went outside to my backyard.
I set everything on the ground other than my rod. I paced a circle calling in the directions, elements and spirits. I got close to the ground and called in mama. I raised my rod to the sky and called in the cosmos. I called in the Sun in all its forms and names that I know.
After setting the space and the time, I sat on the ground and I colored my own representation of the sun. Once I was done, I stood up and held my little sun to the sky and asked THE Sun if it would grant a bit of its light so I could keep that light for the winter Solstice to help the sun begin its journey back from the long night. Then I beat a drum as I walked in a circle and I did an impromptu chant as an offering to the sun.
I closed the ritual and thanked the spirits, the sun, the land and then I put my drawing into my ritual box. And afterwards I thought to myself, I really needed this.
Why we need ritual
I talk a lot about practical magic. I’ve developed my fair share of practical magic techniques and for the most part they don’t require ritual. They require focused attention, and ritual can be one way to accomplish that, but there are other ways as well.
Yet there is something to ritual that is essential to the lived experience of being a human. Ritual gets us out of our heads, into our bodies, and connected to something deeper and wider than all of us.
I don’t do formal ritual all of the time. I reserve it for specific occasions or when it feels called for. I can’t deny though how it lands in me. There’s a reason we crave ritual, in general. Ritual provides meaning and connection in a world that often feels disconnected.
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What stops people from doing ritual
I think what stops people from doing ritual is the perception that ritual is complicated. And certainly it can be complicated, but it doesn’t have to be.
I didn’t get dressed in a fancy outfit or pull out a bunch of ritual bling for my solstice ritual. I brought exactly what I needed and nothing more. And I brought one other essential element: My presence.
When I do a ritual, the phone stays out of the circle. When I do a ritual, the focus is on the ritual itself and whoever I’m doing the ritual with. I give myself over to the ritual and that creates the magic of the ritual.
The effect it has on my body and being is really fascinating because there is this felt sense of relaxation that comes through as I do the ritual. The ritual creates an intimate connection between myself and what is called in. There is presence and energy that lands through the entire space of the ritual.
The next time you decide to incorporate ritual into your magic, keep it simple. The focus isn’t on all the objects. It’s on using what’s needed to make the contact come alive. Every gesture, every word, and every tool serves the purpose of ritual. Anything that doesn’t serve the purpose is extraneous and unneeded.
Conclusion
I beat the drum and I came up with words in the moment praising both the sun and the dark. The words weren’t planned. I just knew they were the right words. I let the ritual work through me and I trusted what it brought me.
It brought me to the Sun. It brought me to the Dark. It brought me to the union of all things and in the process it brought me to myself. The best rituals do that. They bring you back to the self that you didn’t even know you were out of touch with.