The dictionary states ritual is –
a way of doing something in which the same actions are done in the same way every time.
And –
a fixed set of actions and words, especially as part of a religious ceremony.
The way we get up every morning, or get ready for bed in the evening, are rituals. Even to how we cut and prepare our food, we all have a certain way we do this, watch the next time you visit a friend and observe the order they prepare even just a cup of tea, is it exactly as you would do it?
So why do we get ourselves so fearful about rituals, when actually we are doing them all the time?
This may stem from fear of getting it wrong and being ‘told off’ in front of a group. I have been fortunate to make mistakes whilst in a supportive group, so have not experienced this. When I’ve messed up, I say so and do the corrected version – unless it is something to do with pronunciation, in which case it may still not be perfect!
At Kitchen Witch, one of the frequent stumbling blocks appears to be in relation to rituals, even those to be done alone. We are most frequently our worst critic, with our ego constantly giving negative self-talk! Do our rituals have to be perfect all the time? No, we are human, in fact in some countries everything has to be made with a flaw, however tiny, as only their deities can be perfect.
Rachel’s book The Art of Ritual is full of information about how to perform rituals, as well as giving examples.
I say examples, because as she says, make it your own, adapt what is there. Unless I am in a group, where we are sharing the openings, closings, etc., I am better with something simple to get into the right frame of mind for the work I intend to be doing, saying/reading pages of calls as a solitary rite doesn’t work for me.
At KW HQ we have noticed that one of the queries that comes up regularly is about rituals. We already have an assortment recorded on both the coven YouTube channel – www.youtube.com/@KitchenWitchSchool
And on Rachel’s - www.youtube.com/@RachelPattersonwitchauthor
We are going to add more, taking them from Rachel’s books, doing them as written, or demonstrating how you can adapt them for yourself. Our hope is that doing more blogs and recordings of different types of ritual will be helpful anyone struggling to feel more relaxed about doing them. If you have any specific rituals, you would like us to cover, please let us know in the comments.
In the meantime, keep an eye on our blog posts and YouTube channel.
For more information and ideas, all of Rachel’s books but especially -
The Art of Ritual
Curative Magic
Witchcraft into the Wilds
A Witch for Every Season: Spells, Rituals, Festivals & Magic
You can watch a recording of a chat about this here