A ritual is a set of thoughts and movements geared to a single purpose. For example, many people have a morning ritual that includes a shower, choosing what clothes to wear, eating breakfast, and brushing their teeth (hopefully)—all this to prepare themselves for the day’s activities. Rituals can become fond memories, something to hang on to when the going gets tough. For example, my husband often talks about his grandmother and her morning ritual—toast with a bit of jelly, a cup of tea, and the crossword puzzle in the paper. Remembering a ritual like this gives us security that all is right with the world (or at least it was when the event oc-curred). In religion, when you attend a ritual, you are combining a set of actions with the thoughts of God and spirituality. When you or your parents attend a church service, you are in essence taking part in the rituals of that faith. In Wicca, rather than saying, “I’m going to church today,” we say, “I’m attending ritual,” or “I’m going to circle”—here, the words “ritual” and “circle” mean the same thing.
One part of ritual observed by most Wiccans is that of alternating joy and reverence in the circle. This technique—one moment light and amusing, the next solemn and thoughtful—gives balance to the proceedings. As a solitary, this balance isn’t as obvious, as there isn’t a group to dance with, or someone to make an amusing comment. For the solitary, inserting something he or she likes to do (singing, playing a musical instrument, even finding levity in one’s own errors) can be akin to the mirth portion that one might experience in a group ritual. I know one solitary who spends about an hour taping songs to match portions of his ritual. One may be light, like a Celtic jig, followed by something that is a bit quieter and thought provoking. Not all groups, especially those that are particularly stuffy in their proceedings, allow laughter within the circle environment; therefore, if it is your first time visiting a group ritual, it’s best to watch the others and follow their lead. Even if there is laughter and some of the members speak out with a joke or two, it is best if you remain silent at least the first time you attend because your humor may come at the wrong time without you realizing it. Hey, don’t get all huffy on me—it can happen. At least if you read it here, you are forewarned.
Ritual Bath
When studying various magickal traditions, past and present, we find a common denominator in the ritual or cleansing bath often performed by practitioners before spellcasting or ceremony. The bath (or shower, if for some reason a bath isn’t possible) is a process of cleansing body, mind, and spirit before walking into sacred space.
Supplies: Scented soap to cleanse the body and hair; sponge or washcloth; a clean white towel; two white votive candles in holders; scented oil or perfume; clean clothing to put on after the bath or a clean robe. You can also mix cleansing herbs, put them in a coffee filter and staple it shut, then add this magickal packet to the bath water.
Instructions: The bath should not be so hot that you become ill, but it should be warm enough that you can at least soak for ten minutes. Draw a banishing pentagram with your finger over the water. Light the votive candles; be very careful of fire hazards, and keep them away from shower curtains. Turn out the bathroom lights. Say a prayer before you enter the water, asking Spirit to cleanse body, mind, and soul. Relax in the water. Close your eyes and allow all the frustrations of the day to seep out of your body. Take three deep breaths, imagining that as you exhale you are pushing negativity away from you and removing all blocks. Meditate for at least five minutes on issues you would like to cleanse from your life. Don’t stress over them, just work on letting these things go. Open your eyes and cleanse your body with the soap and sponge, visualizing that, as you are washing your body, you are also cleansing your mind and spirit. Don’t forget to wash your hair. Rinse body thoroughly. Leave tub and pat dry. Say a prayer of thanks as you put on your clothes/ robe. Watch as the water drains from the tub, visualizing that all the negativity in your life is going down the drain with the water. Turn on the bathroom lights. Extinguish the candles. Clean out the tub, removing any oils, herbs, or other dirt deposits.
Ritual Clothing
When I was a kid, folks wore their “Sunday best” to church. Ritual attire included nice shoes, a good dress (or pants and shirts for the boys), a Sunday hat and Sunday gloves (okay, so I’m showing my wrinkles). The minister wore a robe (so you could tell him apart from the rest of the men). Dads wore suits. Moms were dressy. People had special clothing for baptism and confirmation. This, for that era and in that religion, was ritual dress.
In the Wiccan community today, there is no standard dress code, although different traditions may have guidelines. For example, black robes for initiations and elevations, and white robes for funerals. The idea of changing from street clothes to ritual garb is both psychological and practical; moving from daily life to the spiritual life through the act of altering one’s attire touches on the psyche and wearing clothing that is cleansed and consecrated (after your spiritual bath) ensures that you won’t carry any excess negativity into the circle. Where some groups require that you wear special cords and jewelry, other groups insist that all be equal within the circle environment and only the high priest/ priestess may wear something different or unusual. There are groups where rank is not an issue and everyone wears what they like, or all wear the same color but in different styles, and therefore you really have no idea what rank anyone is. Then there are groups where individuals of different elevations wear matching colors indicative of their status. As robes are not always practical, there are also magickal people who may wear something different or special for ritual, but it doesn’t flap around and threaten to snare every candle flame in the room. Finally, there are those that don’t wear anything at all, called skyclad. Although prominent in Gardner’s time due to his influence, skyclad has fallen out of favor in most Wiccan groups. Like other Wiccan magickal tools, robes, cords, vestments, and jewelry should be cleaned frequently, then cleansed, consecrated, and blessed before use.
Ritual Structure
Wiccans perform rituals for two basic reasons:
• Acts of honor.
• Working magick.
Acts of honor include wiccanings (baptism), handfastings (marriages), crossings (funerals), dedications, initiations, and elevations in one’s group, and the eight High Holy Days (called sabbats).
Working magick might include healing circles,36 esbats, training classes, and spellcasting.
Just like other religions have prayer books and formats on how to conduct their services, Wiccans also have a vast collection of rituals from which they can draw ideas. When they find a ritual they like, they often write it down in their own Book of Shadows (BOS) (see Part 2). However, with today’s standards in copyright protection, many teachers are training their students to write their own rituals, using a basic ritual outline and building from there.
There are two main ritual formats, structured and spontaneous. A structured ritual is one that is preplanned and written out in a step-by-step procedure that the seeker can follow while doing the ritual. These structured rituals also include prep work—what supplies are needed, a statement of purpose, the best timing for performance, and so on. A spontaneous ritual follows basic ritual structure (see page 23); however, songs, poems, or other work comes from the heart, and a written format is unnecessary. Although this book does not cover Craft group government in-depth, you do need to know that covens often have standard rituals that they have chosen to perform on a repetitive basis, especially when celebrating acts of honor. For example, all dedication, initiation, and elevation rituals might follow the same format and structure, no matter how many times they are performed. The repetition of these ceremonies ensures that everyone is on the same page, which helps to solidify the group mind and builds an unbroken line of energy from the earliest initiate to the most recent. This line of energy is called lineage, and many initiated Crafters are required to know their lineage, or who has gone before them, by heart, back to the individual who began the tradition.
In this book, you will find several rituals, including rites of passage like belly blessing for pregnant mothers, wiccaning, teen rite of passage, the crossing, graduation ceremony, esbat, sabbat, and spellcasting, and so on. In the Seeker Ceremonies section, you will find the teen seeker ceremony and the self-dedication ceremony. If you already have Teen Witch, then the teen seeker ceremony isn’t new to you; however, to ensure this book is complete, I have reprinted it below. Also, the dedication ceremony provided here is a bit different than the one given in To Ride a Silver Broomstick.