Structure of a Basic Ritual and Spell

Introduction

The most important thing for me when I’m performing a ritual is keeping an open mind and heart. I try to allow fluid communication between me and the universe, which means that I don’t usually follow a set ritual layout. I don’t have a series of step by step instructions complete with a rhyme that I repeat whilst I light certain candles in a certain order, etc etc. I try to feel what’s right for the purpose of the ritual because, of course, each ritual has a different goal. I don’t believe in deities or I don’t believe in human representatives of immortals – maybe there are groups of energy out there that can help in a certain task but I’ve never really bonded with any of them. I also find it hard to believe that they have a likeness of us – this is what I mean when I say on my ‘About’ page that I manifest my worship into a God and Goddess model for familiarity. I don’t think they would actually be a Male and a Female human looking creature of some sort – more of just opposite energies (similar to the Yin and Yang concept).
So this layout is extremely basic. Hopefully I can get into the habit of actually documenting more of my specific rituals and spells.
NOTE: I use the words ‘ritual’ ‘spell’ and ‘praying’ interchangeably. I can do a ritual without doing a spell but I can’t do a spell without doing a ritual or praying and usually a ritual always includes praying of some kind.

Beginning

I get together all the things I’ll need for the ritual or spell – usually this includes my god and goddess statues, candles/incense, lighter/matches and something to help me focus on the purpose of the ritual. This could include stones, sticks, feathers, tarot/oracle cards, flowers, personal items, paper, etc.
I also usually have some water, some food and my Meditation flower essences (White Chestnut, Wild Oat, Clematis, Cerato and Heather) close at hand. I have these things close by because I’m a dreamer and if I don’t ground myself well after the practice I can start feeling quite out of sorts – it’s a blessing as well as a curse. It makes it easy for me to slip into ritual and spellwork but not so easy for me to come back out again or to even be that productive in my day to day life.

Here’s an example of a structure of a ritual – this one isn’t my usual but it’s got all the basic elements.

Usually I’ll have the God on the left, Goddess on the right and the incense/candle in the middle with the point of focus around the center. Where I put the point of focus object usually changes depending on if I’m using other things for the ritual (such as a wand, pentacle, cauldron, herbs, burning of paper, etc). I tend to make it look balanced and pretty – that’s the Libran coming out in me.

Body

Once I’m set up I meditate – I pay attention to my breathing and strengthen my personal boundaries. Usually this involves visualisation techniques which for me include roots extending from my tail bone/spine into the Earth, which I then use to neutralise my thoughts and feelings (negative into the Earth and positive into me). I also use this connection to strengthen my boundaries – this is called by a few different names and everyone sees (or imagines) it differently. I refer to it as my aura but it’s also my ‘bubble’ and it’s where my presence is outside of my body in space – my ‘personal space’. I do this so that I know where to come back to and to know that while I’m off having a journey my body is safe inside a strong barrier.
Whilst I do this I’m simultaneously sending out a ‘Hello? I’m here’ signal to anything that would like to communicate.
NOTE: I think it’s important to establish a boundary before talking to anything so make sure your boundary is bright and strong enough for things to come in only if you invite them.

Once I am happy with the state of my boundaries I will carry out the spell or ritual (Here is some examples of spells and rituals that I do) and here is where it varies. Sometimes I will light incense and carry out the spell imagining that the smoke is sending off my wishes to the universe, sometimes I will only imagine that once I’ve blown out a candle with the smoke off the wick – this depends on the purpose of the spell/ritual. Sometimes I will wear certain clothes or other objects to enhance communication with particular animal totems or other beings or sometimes I will just use a feather, a photo, an oracle card, etc as the focus object. Sometimes I will write what it was I want to achieve down but only if the words come to me easily. Again, hopefully I can try to document more of my rituals and spellwork.
Another great example of ritual would be my yoga practice. Some of the time it’s just exercise but a majority of the time it’s a spiritual event for me and I begin the same way I would any other ritual or spell.

End

The end is usually marked by a feeling of completion or the incense running out (but I have been known to light another incense stick or cone). At this point I blow out the candle and meditate again – strengthening my boundaries and so forth. I drink some water, have a little to eat and move around. I also find it useful to consciously identify objects (that’s a blue towel, I can hear a piano playing, etc). It’s also good habit to say thank you to whoever or whatever you were dealing with – I must admit I haven’t been all that good with offerings because I even forget to eat myself (see what I mean about being a dreamer!). I do try to leave some food out for the local birds because they usually accompany me but I don’t too often because I don’t want them depending on it. If I haven’t done the ritual or spell away from an altar space, I will leave the altar set up usually this includes spells or rituals to attract wealth, if it’s a ritual for the turning of the wheel or if I’ve done a spell for someone.

Goals for the Future
+ Try to hash out a basic structure to write in my journal.
+ Have two way communication with my animal totem eg. meditate with it specifically in mind and ask if it wants/needs anything, make some offerings to it specifically.
+ Come up with a more solid way to honor the God and Goddess. A short invocation at the beginning or end? Or maybe try to incorporate them into celebrations more. Leave offerings regularly.
+ Research some Aboriginal deities and see if any resonate with me.

Surya Namaskara A (Sun Salutation A) – Jan 2013

Just thought I would document my yoga progress – admittedly I’ve gotten worse in terms of how far I can go in the postures since I’ve stopped going to a regular class. I’m hoping that will change the more I do it.

This is the postures required in the Sun Salutation – I normally start off with this whenever I practice yoga so I thought these poses would be the most accurate representation of my progress. Basically, I will take more photos at the end of the year and will hopefully see some different 🙂

The Beginning of a Yogi

I’ve been practicing yoga for about 4 years – I’m 21, so that seems like a really long time to me.

One summer about 5 years ago my parents got obsessed with trying to lose weight (this happened quite a lot – the obsessions as well as the weight loss thing) and we all signed up to a gym that had just opened up down the road. I’d never been to a ‘proper’ gym so this was an exciting thing for me and it was where I attended my first yoga class. Looking back on it now it wasn’t ‘real yoga’ – the class was called Body Balance and it was more about physical fitness.

The next couple of years I practiced on and off at different yoga schools – and at this stage I only went to specific yoga schools because they seemed a lot more ‘professional’ so to speak. I also moved a lot so it was hard for me to have a regular practice.

My first ‘proper yoga school’ was run by a lady named Jacqui in a community center about 10 minutes drive from my house. It was there I learnt how to properly meditate – she had this amazing voice that just lulled you into another world. I still don’t know how she did it but I always felt amazing after one of her classes. Unfortunately I moved and stopped attending but I guess she was the one who introduced me to ‘the real yoga’.

When I moved into my current place of residence, finding a yoga school and practicing regularly was my main goal. By this stage I’d figured out that yoga was important in maintaining some peace in my life but I still hadn’t worked out just how important it was to my sanity. The Central Coast Yoga School was the first place I tried and I fell in love with it straight away. The best thing about it would definitely have to be the teachers.

Cathryn’s style is soft and gentle – I’ve attended some of her classes that were really hard but there was always an underlying element of quiet contentment in her classes. Peter taught me discipline and self love – he got books out and showed us the way the muscles were meant to stretch and showed us on his own body how to do certain poses properly so you don’t hurt yourself. To cut a long story short they were the ones who made me fall in love with yoga and I believe they’ve inspired me to become a yoga teacher myself.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had the money to go back to practicing there regularly. I’m not sure how I feel about this – I’m disappointed because I was practicing 3 times a week and it was really doing wonders for my health and well being but on the other hand I feel like it’s a great opportunity to start living yoga.
I was making excuses for a while there about being lazy with my health regime. I’d always thought that one day I’d stop attending classes and start doing my own practice (I’d even have my own little special space to practice in) so one day I just thought ‘why can’t I do that now?’

So that’s what I’ve been working on; living yoga. It’s sure as hell not easy, especially for someone like me who is possibly the best procrastinator in the world. However, if I’ve learnt anything from yoga it is to just be happy with where you’re at no matter where it is because that’s where you are meant to be. I may not be able to set aside a whole hour for my practice but I have been practicing everyday and that’s something I’m proud of.

“Once the seed is planted, it has to be tended daily, nurtured, and watered through the discipline of regular practice. As a result of devoted practice, insights sprout from within, and an understanding of the tree of yoga begins to grow. The eight limbs become the tools with which to work the soil but only if students follow the correct practice method will the tree grow to maturity.”
– John Scott Ashtanga Yoga