Ritual and the Self

[Lehnah]

Firstly, let me appologise for this lengthy post. Secondly, I don't claim to have huge amounts of knowledge, so bare with me.

For the last two to two and a half years I've been practicing pagansim. After a lot of research and reading it felt 'right' to me. However, over the last few months I've been able to experience the physical aspects of pagansim as it wasn't possible for me previously due to where I live. Although I experianced several “proper” rituals and have done many more on my own at home, I have to be honest and say that it just doesn't ring true for me. It doesn't feel honest or meaningful at all. To be bluntly honest it feels like a lot of prancing and carrying on just to make a show. I'm not trying to belittle these things for those whom it DOES work for, it's simply for me personaly it doesn't do anything.

And this is where I hit the crux of my problem. A lot of the beliefs of paganism I do agree with. That a greater power – be it gods or simply universal powe, I haven't yet decided – created existance and that this power is balanced (eg; female/ male). However, traditional ritual doesn't work for me.

Personaly, when it comes to ritual, I much prefer to simply sit and meditate rather than set up an alter and cast circle etc. I guess, in a sense, I myself am the alter and everything comes from the self with no external tools being needed. I feel that tools get in the way and a more direct connection is something I prefer. I don't feel the need to chant or cast circle. I raise energy and feel the energy of the world around me, but I don't feel that I need an athame or an alter. I do light candles and incence, but that's about all.

So, my question is, by discarding all the tools, not circle casting, etc, is this act of ritual still a pagan ritual? This is something I've been wondering for some time. It's been playing heavily on me as to if paganism is indeed the right path for me, but if it isn't I've no idea where to turn or even where to start to look for the right path. I appologise if this sounds like a very “fluffy bunny” question, but I'm out of ideas of where to look so I thought I'd ask here as there are some very knowledgable people on these forums.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Vinayaka]

We find a similar conundrum within Hinduism. Is all the ritual really necessary? If it doesn't do anything for you, then why do it? For me, and I can't speak for all Hindus, and certainly not pagans, it is an individual's right to interpret what works for them. We have daily temple goes, daily ritualists in home, and those who do very little rite at all, perhaps none. So for us, the advice would be 'go with what you FEEL. But I'm not sure how much variance there is within paganism.

BTW, the only reason I looked at responded to this post was the term 'Self' as we have that too, especially in the mystical lineages.

 

[horizon_mj1]

I agree with Vinayaka on the fact of "an individual's right to interpret what works for them", but IMO a ritual needs to be personal; as personal as your relationship with what or whom you are performing the ritual for. I know there are several books of rituals that can be done for various purposes, but isn't that a bit impersonal? Meditation is excellent no matter what religion you are. Maybe if after some time of meditation, when finished ask yourself when you personally feel a ritual should be done (maybe this will help). One thing to remember, the relationship you have with your beliefs/deities/deity/etc. is up to you alone. No one tells you how to have a relationship with your parents (o.k., well maybe they do, but at least there isn't a book about it or is there?) when you are born, the same should to an extent be applied here (IMO).

 

[Vorinn]

For me, the reason for formal ritual is to get myself into the right mindset, no more and no less. I personally find that casting a circle and using the tools helps put me in a mental space for worship. If you don't need that, then that's fine. Meditation without tools and formal ritual is a perfectly good way to connect with the gods. As you say, everything does come from within ultimately.

It seems like a lot of the introductory books about Paganism get really hung up on tools. Tools can be helpful, but they are really, really not the main point.

I'm not really big on saying "you can't be Pagan if you..." and I don't think most Pagans are either. You might not be able to belong to certain Pagan traditions (traditional Wicca comes to mind), but it doesn't sound like that's what you're aiming for anyway.

 

[Mata]

Firstly, let me appologise for this lengthy post. Secondly, I don't claim to have huge amounts of knowledge, so bare with me.

For the last two to two and a half years I've been practicing pagansim. After a lot of research and reading it felt 'right' to me. However, over the last few months I've been able to experience the physical aspects of pagansim as it wasn't possible for me previously due to where I live. Although I experianced several “proper” rituals and have done many more on my own at home, I have to be honest and say that it just doesn't ring true for me. It doesn't feel honest or meaningful at all. To be bluntly honest it feels like a lot of prancing and carrying on just to make a show. I'm not trying to belittle these things for those whom it DOES work for, it's simply for me personaly it doesn't do anything.

And this is where I hit the crux of my problem. A lot of the beliefs of paganism I do agree with. That a greater power – be it gods or simply universal powe, I haven't yet decided – created existance and that this power is balanced (eg; female/ male). However, traditional ritual doesn't work for me.

Personaly, when it comes to ritual, I much prefer to simply sit and meditate rather than set up an alter and cast circle etc. I guess, in a sense, I myself am the alter and everything comes from the self with no external tools being needed. I feel that tools get in the way and a more direct connection is something I prefer. I don't feel the need to chant or cast circle. I raise energy and feel the energy of the world around me, but I don't feel that I need an athame or an alter. I do light candles and incence, but that's about all.

So, my question is, by discarding all the tools, not circle casting, etc, is this act of ritual still a pagan ritual? This is something I've been wondering for some time. It's been playing heavily on me as to if paganism is indeed the right path for me, but if it isn't I've no idea where to turn or even where to start to look for the right path. I appologise if this sounds like a very “fluffy bunny” question, but I'm out of ideas of where to look so I thought I'd ask here as there are some very knowledgable people on these forums.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

You seem to be confusing paganism in general with a more Wiccan-esque form of pagan religion.

You don't need to do any rituals or believe anything to be "pagan". As long as you're not a member of one of the 3 main monotheist religions and their offsets; you're effectively pagan, more or less.

But yeah, you really don't have to perform any rituals if you don't want to. Unless your religion specifically tells you to. If you follow a general form of neo-paganism, you can just do your own thing. That's a lot of the appeal of neo-paganism in that it has no centralized dogma or even basic belief (perhaps beyond the sacredness of nature and a more cyclical view of things).

So, feel free to drop the rituals if they don't work for you. Unless you belong to a particular branch of pagan religion, such as Kemetic religion, which is, a lot of the time, focused on a more ritualized POV.

I hope that helps. It's rather late here, so if it sounds like I am saying 5 things at once, you'll know why

 

[Tom Terrific]

Dr. Strange, I sympathize.

I've been walking this path since 1990, and for much of that time I experienced a lot of tension between what was standard and what I felt to be true. I agonized over this a great deal, but in the end followed my heart.

I have not done much ritual for most of my time as a Pagan/Witch. Instead, I have practiced devotion to the Goddess. The results have been beyond anything I once imagined.

In recent months, I have felt my "spiritual progress" (for lack of a better term) speeding up dramatically -- and, suddenly, I am feeling an attraction to ritual again. Why?

I think ritual can be an outgrowth of personal feeling, devotion or commitment rather than simply following some religious prescription blindly. Ritual is a language -- not something to be mastered, but more like a sailboat in which you cruise the spiritual seas. You can be an expert sailor or a beginner; the boat still floats. As you become a better sailor -- i.e., as the language becomes more and more a part of you -- you should find that it's more meaningful and more effective.

But that may lie in the future for you, as it has for me. For many years, I haven't done formal rituals, not to speak of. Lately, my heart has been so full that I find I am attracted to doing them again, simply as a vehicle for expressing what I feel. My advice is, do what works for you, and don't be distraught if what everyone else is doing (or seems to be doing) doesn't work for you. Do what does. Religion means "relinking," and its meaning and purpose is divine intimacy. Whatever fosters that for you is what you need to do.

The Christians also have "high church" and "low church." Hinduism covers such a gamut of religious expression that I fancy they must have all degrees of ritual, from very involved to virtually none at all; but I don't know.

Hope this helps.

 

[Lehnah]

Thanks so much for your post, Tom. I really appreciated that!