What a ritual is, and isn’t
A ritual is a purposeful, ceremonial performance, making the present moment sacred.
Rituals follow symbolic, yet often arbitrary rules. They allow for us to come into harmony within ourselves, in connection amongst each other, and to present to the fullness and beauty of living.
The results of performing certain rituals can provide grounding, clarity, gratitude, healing, energy, and so much more that each human needs to live fully and optimally. Rituals serve as a way to adapt and adjust to the social, emotional, and physical shifts in our environment.
These are called Rituals of the Profane, affecting the realm of time, space, and cause and effect.
And for those who believe in ethereal transcendent realms, Rituals of the Sacred are practiced to express what is sacred, and have access to these planes of Ultimate Reality.
In short, rituals are tools, both for the practical and rational human, as well as for the spiritual human. (Neither are mutually exclusive)
WhichRitual primarily serves to present Rituals of the Profane,
but also includes Rituals of the Sacred.
What a ritual isn’t: “coffee”
A ritual is not a ritual because it is done repeatedly, like drink coffee every morning. That’s a habit, an addictive one. A ritual is also different from a routine, which is often mindless, where we’re on autopilot, and is part of a regular procedure, rather than a special reason.
A ritual with coffee, would be that we honor a protocol;
taking the same steps
in the same order
present and focusing on each step intently
most often on a rhythmic time cycle
It could be that we pause for a moment before putting the cup to our lips, to offer a thought or intention for what our day could bring about, what specifically the energy from the coffee bean will transform through us and into the world, and giving gratitude for all of the people involved in making this cup of coffee possible.
RITUAL ORIGINS
The origin of rituals is believed to go back to Totemic (Animal Symbolic) Clans. All religions have been built around rituals to help transfer wisdom through generations and create communion. Ritual is also found in magic, which developed as a stage before the concept of religion.
It is believed that the source of ritual and religion was based in sacrifice. Letting go of something valuable as an act of surrender. Or as an act of initiation, crossing a threshold into a more elevated way of being.
They were developed as a symbolic expression of social relations, status, or the role of individuals in a society. Ritual is also described as referring to a transcendent, numinous (spiritual) reality, and to the ultimate values of a community.
All holidays are rituals, from birthdays, New Year’s, Christmas, Hanukkah, Shabbat, Halloween, Dio de Los Muertos and the many others that fill up our calendars.
Most western holidays are secular, and often commoditized evolutions of rituals based on deeply religious or occult practices.
In Modern Life
There’s a growing movement where attention is being placed on wellness. How we feed and move our bodies, attain levels of mindfulness and gratitude in each moment, finding silence and listening to the voice within, and so forth.
The western world is finally starting to catch up to these often deeper-rooted practices, experiencing the benefits. Although capitalism is seeking to sell us cures to our woes, tapping into the western world’s programming, where we expect we can consume our way to having our problems solved.
