Intentional and Habitual Rituals
As you celebrate the solstice, Yule, Christmas, the full moon, New Year’s, or whatever else is coming up, consider which of your rituals are habitual and which are intentional.
Then consider why.
Is it time for a refresh? A recommitment? A rethink?
Ritual can be a complicated concept when you dig into its nuances, but in short, it’s a specific way of doing something that has been deemed to be “right” in some way.
Most of us probably think of invocations and hand movements, candles and incense, or maybe even holy garments. But brushing your teeth every night before bed can be a ritual if you do it the same way: spreading the just-right amount of toothpaste; wetting the brush; making concerted up and down movements, 15 seconds at a time per front quadrant; 15 seconds per backside quadrant; spit; rinse; a quick scrub of the palate and another for the tongue; spit and rinse again; and tap it against the sink before putting the toothbrush back just so. It might be a good habit, but it’s also a ritual.
You don’t have to follow the exact same pattern for something to be a ritual, but there can be a fear that we didn’t do it right when there’s a change. Those of us who work with ritual magic might worry that we’ve said the wrong word we hastily scribbled down or that we’ve broken the magical circle we created by stepping in and out of it. Have we? That’s a conversation for you and your magical practice. But while you’re in conversation, it’s worth asking what you’re doing and why.
For many years, I used the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram as a clearing ritual before starting every reading. But then a Jewish tarot-reading friend of mine asked why I used it if I didn’t particularly care about the Tree of Life. They also asked whether I was concerned that the traditions from which I learned it (Qabalah) had co-opted it from Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah), and many practitioners of that era were, frankly, antisemitic. I didn’t have a good answer other than that I knew it worked for me. It was a functional ritual.
But the issues raised weighed on my mind, and I started to doubt the ritual.
Doubting a ritual can completely undermine its effectiveness, especially if you (as I) believe that the ritual is usually just a tool for focusing your own energies. I mean, what’s the point of a ritual in which you don’t have faith? You’re just crossing your fingers and hoping that the spirits, angels, Record Keepers, and whatever else you’re invoking are dumb enough to not care that you don’t believe in them? How has that worked out for you?
I ended up revamping the ritual for my own purposes, following a similar pattern but making it my own. Some might say that’s hubris. A ritual practiced by thousands of people over two hundred (or more) years carries with it the energy and intentions of all those who came before. But parts of it were hollow, and I didn’t feel good about it for multiple reasons. So now I have a ritual that feels in the spirit of the original design without what I found problematic.
Magic rituals are an extreme example, but the same rule applies to everyday rituals and seasonal observances. (Not to mention that many a modern magical practitioner will tell you that it’s the way to go for all magic rituals too.) Make your rituals yours.
So sometime before you prepare a ritual—before a reading, before a holiday, before going to bed or starting your day, or whenever works for you—consider whether you’re doing it out of habit or if you actually have thought through what you’re doing and why.
My use of a clearing ritual before a reading could be completed without much thought: a rote rite I’ve done a thousand times. I could do it and just check it off the list as part of my normal spiritual hygiene, much like I just brush my teeth, in a way that’s generally effective, every night before bed. It’s a habit. I don’t think about why I’m doing it or what it’s doing for me. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that because it gets the job done.
However, at some point, I might want to take a moment to think through why I’m doing what I’m doing and recommit to its efficacy. Maybe I adjust the words or the motions. Maybe I cut something out. Maybe I add something. Maybe I worry about changing it, but I’m not sure why. Now that’s an interesting thread to pull.
When I want to try something new, then I’m much clearer about my intentions with ritual. Why am I bringing this ritual into this moment? What do I hope to achieve? Most of my habitual rituals start as intentional rituals, and when I stop to think about those habitual rituals, I find that many have the same intention as when I first brought them into my life. But others are just hanging on, dead skin that I have yet to slough off because I haven’t stopped to check in.
In the metaphor of dead skin and spiritual hygiene, there’s probably nothing wrong with not removing it. But it can gum up the works, impeding energetic flow, or clouding intentions. And if you don’t take care of it eventually, it might start to bother you. At the very least, it’s a waste of time.
Check in with yourself and your practices. What is it time to shed? Are you doing certain things just to do them? Or do they still have a purpose that’s helpful? And if you’re not sure, perhaps you need to reconnect with that purpose or set a clearer intention.
If you’re curious about what could be going into your intentions before a reading, you’ll love my seminar on Getting Intentional. It was part of my fall semester of tarot seminars, but you can download a recording of the three-hour workshop. A new semester of tarot, including ongoing classes, one-time seminars, and free discussion time with me, your instructor, starts on January 13.