How To Create Rituals For Daily Life
One of my first and most formative college classes was called “Myth and Ritual.”
I chose this class specifically because I didn’t personally enjoy either (and that’s always the perfect reason to learn more, I think).
I entered the class with the general opinion that RITUAL practice distracts us from real connection: to ourselves, to Spirit.
(You might notice the similarity between my opinion and the history of denominations in the Christian Church: following the split from Catholicism, then Lutheranism - there have been fewer and fewer “repeat after me” rituals in the Church.)
But, my professor held a different perspective (or several).
The purpose of RITUAL practice is often to signify a change from the everyday experience, he said.
This happens with “coming of age” rituals, holiday traditions, marriage ceremonies, baptisms (all sacred ceremonies you find within different religions and spiritual traditions).
But this also happens with things like bedtime prayers, journaling practice, and morning routines.
Because, put simply: a RITUAL is something you do in patterned intervals to mark an important change.
From waking up to starting the day.
From working to playing.
From alone time to family time.
From summer to fall.
From winter to spring.
From Thanksgiving to Christmas+Hanukkah.
From Lent to Easter.
And a RITUAL might be something you do once every year or every day. It can be elaborate or simple (the choice is yours).
But the purpose is to signify (to you and to everyone around you) that what you’re doing now holds a different importance, a higher frequency, a special energy.
What you’re doing now is Sacred.
And this is important! Because my belief is that we’re Sacred beings, our lives hold Sacred importance!
Why can’t more of what we do be bathed in ritual?
Why can’t we ritualize seemingly unimportant, mundane parts of everyday life?
Why can’t we create rituals outside the ones passed along?
We can. And my opinion is that we should.
Ritualize the simple things we do everyday to support our Becoming, the small actions or inactions we do on purpose, because this is what creates POSSIBILITY.
For ourselves and for our world.
There are lots of ways to do this! There are lots of variations of “how to create RITUAL” to support your sacred becoming (and no one-size-fits-all).
For me, it’s a cyclical unraveling of forever asking, “What will support me right now? And now?”
My best advice, though? Just get started. Then you have something to digest, change, and/or add onto.
xx, alycia buenger
