Ceremony and Ritual

Ceremony and Ritual

As I prepare for a ceremony and ritual for November 11 – 11, I thought I would write this little blurb about symbolism and ritual. While speaking about this topic I always get tinges of doubt whispering: “this information is going to bring forward peoples fear of satanic rituals and dark magic- be careful how you word things.” I become hyper aware of the sensitivity and stigma of rituals in our society. It seems we are walking a fine line and one misstep means certain corruption by soul snatching demons that we may as well not even bother. I am writing this piece to say that magic, ceremony and rituals is our birthright and magic only becomes dark when we go against our nature, not the other way around. Ultimately what has happened is the common people have stopped doing rituals but the very wealthy and powerful have not. The church, for example, does rituals on the regular and ironically is the biggest proponent of terrifying people into not doing their own. Of course it is their rituals, their ceremony that are safe. Anything else is demonic or satanic. Often times their ceremonies are held in the throws of guilt and insecurity, the personal power of those participating is surrendered to a select few who are apparently closer to the divine than they are. How can this be the basis of a healthy and empowering ritual? What kind of beings or energy is being honored and called upon in that type of ceremony? It makes me wonder: Secret societies, churches, royalty, the extremely wealthy all do rituals and are hugely powerful and influential. The “common people” are encouraged through fear-based memes to not do any rituals except for the ones given to us by the people mentioned above. It makes me wonder…isn’t it about time we took our rituals back? I think so.

The most powerful and effective way to manifest and connect spiritual and mental intentions into our 3d experience is through ceremonies and rituals. They are the vehicles through which we combine intention, action, and gratitude to bring forward what we need in our lives. Ancients have known this since the beginning of time and we are now rediscovering their power.

Some key components to solid ceremonies, rituals and magic are:

Symbols.

Naturally, symbols are the way in which our higher-selves communicate with us. It is also a powerful way we can connect with our higher self. Symbols are straight to the point and powerful in their meaning compared to language. It also doesn’t hurt to mention that symbols and archetypes are the basis for language.

When we receive higher information or spiritual information it is rarely in third dimensional English or any usual terrestrial way. It is usually through images and symbols that we receive such messages, especially if one has strong clairvoyance. All divination methods including Tarot use symbology to communicate spiritual information. This is because symbols and archetypes represent basic root concepts. They are a more pure form of communication, as they cannot easily be skewed or misunderstood like words. It is on this principal that we communicate with spirit.

The specific mixtures of symbols help communicate not only to the spirit world what we are trying to manifest but also to our own consciousness. Spending time relaying your intentions into symbols also provides the opportunity for you to narrow down what you are needing to focus on in your life. It is a processing mechanism of sorts. Symbols help simplify your mental and emotional intentions so you can magnetically attract new situations as well as digest your current situation. The best part about working with symbols is your true intention will always be communicated even if you don’t choose the “right” symbol. At the end of the day symbols are just tools to help generate connection and understanding.

Nature

Nature is the embodiment of archetypes which translate to the base frequencies of information that give symbols their meaning. Nature, for the most part, comes directly from source energy and is a direct expression of source. Gaia’s consciousness contains so much purity that the life forms with a more subtle consciousness’ (plants, animals, minerals) maintain their direct representation of the divine.

Nature itself is symbolic, and each aspect of this earth contains symbolism and archetypes that can be harnessed to help you manifest as well as gain insight. For example the oak tree (a very magical tree for druids) has a very powerful emanation of strength emotionally, mentally and physically. Using this trees’ medicine helps bring forward your own inner courage and strength. It does this because it is an embodiment of specific frequencies that we recognize as courage and strength. The act of having it in our bio-energetic field especially with ceremony and intention allows us to draw from it and remember our own strength. Similar to a cold log beside a log engulfed in flames, the cold log will eventually begin burning as well. To simplify it we are catching, or re-tuning ourselves with the nature around us. As nature and people are from the same creator we can energetically connect with each other to draw balance into our lives. Oak trees naturally express these frequencies of strength as an embodiment of Gaia and help hold her balance, and they are also there to help us remember ours. When we begin to understand the innate symbols in the nature around us, we can actually use its energy in rituals and ceremonies to help us manifest. This is why ancient religions were nature oriented. They remembered that nature was an extremely pure expression, the divine, and that honoring and staying connected meant they would stay connected to the divine. This also illustrates the importance of honoring the plants, minerals, animals, water and other forms of subtle consciousness’ out there.

Rituals

“Ritual: A detailed method of procedure faithfully or regularly followed”
-thefreedictionary.com

Upon researching “ritual” it became even clearer to me that the word “ritual” had lost its true root and meaning for humanity. The definition of ritual in our many dictionaries is synonymous with religion, potentially leading people to believe that there is no ritual outside of organized religion.

In reality rituals are ancient and have been used by people before organized religion spread across our globe. It is high time we re-define the word ritual and bring it back to its original roots: Rituals are acts that ground specific frequencies in your life (bio-energetic field) with the intention that you can focus your creative energies towards a desired outcome. It is the sacred combination of action, intent and symbolism that creates an alchemical process in within your system. This alchemical process is what we know as “magic” and when we hold rituals we become powerful magicians, alchemists and sorcerers.

Rituals Create Focus

Many times it seems as though life happens to us or that we have little control over the events that occur in our lives. What we don’t realize is that we are not passive in our experience here, not in the least. When we’re stuck in situations that we do not like it is usually because we have not set serious intentions and followed through with honest actions. When we don’t set our intentions and follow through we end up having the experiences that our current paradigm supports, which is the exact paradigm you are trying to shift. This lack of intention and action is not a matter of laziness, or even fear necessarily, but many times happens due to lack of focus. One way to help you focus and ground your intentions is through rituals, which are actions done with a specific intention keeping the power of spiritual energy in mind. All matter is manifested downward from spiritual energy so by bringing all of these aspects together we are able to manifest and bring more consciousness into the world we are creating. Rituals join your intent with actions, which allows your conscious mind to open up to new manifestations and change.

The action in rituals joins the non-physical with the physical.

The action element of the ritual is extremely powerful; it takes the unseen elements of spirit matter and thought, and grounds them. It is the point of balance between the “idealist” and the “doer”. Without action your consciousness will not make the connection that your intention is valid. Spiritual and mental energy needs a grounding pad, and action or physically doing something in connection with said energy provides that grounding. Once the energy has been grounded you have created a channel for that intention energy to manifest in the physical. Beyond that it also sends an important message to your higher-self that you are conscious, open, and aware. Often times a deeper connection with ones higher-self and stronger psychic abilities are gained through this process as true magic, as manifesting is completely in line with the heart and higher-self.

Ceremonies

Ceremony:

a) “a formal act or ritual, often set by custom or tradition, performed in observation of an event or anniversary”
b) “a courteous gesture or act”
c) “ceremonial observances or gestures collectively”

Ceremonies are slightly separate than rituals, but in the same breath arguably the same. I view rituals as an act of connection and gratitude in order to ground specific frequencies into your life, where as ceremonies are rituals that include the recognition of an event. For example I would call a full moon ritual a ceremony as we are recognizing the specific energy of the moon and harnessing it. I would also consider a birthday or numerological gateway (such as 11:11:11) more of a ceremony as there is a level of reverence involved in a ceremony that a ritual does not need to have. I also feel that ceremonies include more than one person, often a gathering of sorts, even a compounding of energy.

The Heart of the Ritual

Ultimately no matter how we differentiate them (or not) the most important point is that we hold ceremony and rituals of our own creating from our hearts. Heart energy is the key to every ritual or ceremony done, without the hearts integrity and deep knowledge the ritual will have little power. In fact it is the lack of heart consciousness that distorts the magic of rituals and turns it “black.” It is balanced love, emotion and passion of the heart that breathes color into our lives and brings the ultimate power to our rituals.

In closing:

Magic is manifesting, Symbols are the language of magic, Nature is symbols personified or given life, and the heart is the compass of all magic. Create ritual, hold ceremony and allow the magic.