Rituals
What is a Ritual?
Rituals bring a heightened sense of awareness and reverence of the Sacred Presence within all of life. They connect us to the sacred depth in ourselves and our ordinary life experiences. Rituals also help us to connect with all of the human family and all the natural world.
Beginning
Rituals can be simple or more elaborate. They can be done individually or in a group. To begin , they invite us to designate a space as sacred and to set an intention, such as to be grateful, to celebrate, to forgive, to grieve, to heal etc.
Middle
Rituals make use of objects of choice such as candles, rocks, art, poetry, or the use of breath, music, movement or action etc. The heart of the ritual is using these objects or actions to connect what is seemingly ordinary to the sacred. This time can also include a period of silence and / or sharing.
Ending
The ritual ends with a closing. This is a time to revisit the original intention and offer gratitude and / or a blessing for the gift of connecting with the sacred presence in all things.
Gratitude Ritual
Gratitude also plays a positive role in overcoming distress. Even during other difficult challenges we each face throughout a lifetime recognizing what we have to be thankful for fosters resilience. How do we begin to quiet ourseslves to start embracing a deeper sense of gratitude and invite a personal alchemy through a practice of gratitude?
Gratitude Ritual
Intention:
This contemplative gratitude ritual invites you to a) create spaciousness to foster a practice of gratitude, and b) to nurture personal alchemy by practicing gratitude in your daily life. While the ritual is designed for one person, it is easily adapted to include two, four or more individuals. Welcome creative possibilities.
Setting:
It is recommended to read this ritual in its entirety before creating your setting. Also, print a copy of Gratitude Ritual to have close by as a reference during your contemplative time. While a gratitude ritual can be a brief practice at any time or anywhere, an intentional setting is suggested here to create a sacred space:
- Thoughtfully consider a space in your home, your yard or garden where there is a sense of serenity and beauty.
- Choose a place where you can comfortably be seated in a chair, on a floor or on the ground, and yet have room to move around the center
- Reverently create a meaningful center. Bring to the space a center cloth, matches or a lighting implement, and a candle. Perhaps there are items that you would like to include that symbolize that for which you are clearly grateful i.e. pictures of family and friends, items or amulets symbolizing special aspects of your life journey, or elements from nature. Organize these on the center cloth placed on a small table, on the floor or on the ground. Place the candle at the center.
- Consider having a pillow available to sit on, to put your feet on, or have at your back. A soothing favorite afghan or throw may be helpful, if desired.
- Dress comfortably.
- Include a journal and pen.
- Light the center candle.
- With ease, seat yourself and begin the next steps.
Gratitude Practice:
When you are ready:
- Place your hands on your heart space, stand and walk clockwise in a contemplative manner around the center you created. When completed, be comfortably seated again. Then, slowly take in and exhale three full breaths. This helps slow heart rate, quiets the mind, and allows being more fully present.
- Next, with a soft gaze toward the center candle, reflect on how you might experience gratitude through your senses—by what you hear, see, taste, touch, and smell. Perhaps, you may even be moved by memories, emotions, intuition or a prompting in your heart. Imagine your senses germinating a deeper awareness of the transformative mystery of gratitude.
- Gently close your eyes now returning your attention to breath, and engage in a practice named “Breath of Thanks.” Plan to breathe deeply at least twelve times. With each exhale, say to yourself “thank you”—beginning with each of your senses and what they bring to awareness in these moments. Then expand your gratitude—perhaps for your safety, health, family, friends, community, global neighbors, and for what or whomever your heart brings to mind.
- Stay in this liminal space as long as it is enriching. Perhaps, you will want to continue longer with “Breath of Thanks.”
- When you are ready, freely journal about what you are experiencing, and what elements of gratitude have emerged during these moments. Writing helps you to feel gratitude in your body—not just your mind, and helps validate gratitude in a deeper way into your psyche.
- When you come to rest in your writing, put your journal and pen aside, and stand alongside the center you created.
- Raise your hands to the sky offering your gratitude as an uplifted prayer.
- Then bow your head, and give gratitude for your precious life.
- Place your hands on your heart space again, and contemplatively walk, dance or freelymove, counter-clockwise around your center.
- When you have completed your circle, bring your ritual to a close with the following poem,
Alchemist
I have come to realize one of the greatest journeys is that of moving past fear, accepting with new eyes, discovering a grander view that desires expression in and through my life. Even when my feet tremble, heart throbbing in my ears, I can still hear that inner voice urging me to trust vistas unknown… if I will just surrender. Whether it be in quietness or in chaos of uncertainty, I will again feel the one thing that will not leave me alone… a fire in my belly— An alchemist leading me on, melding me into the masterpiece of an even higher calling… if I will just surrender to the gods and drink in trust like fresh, cool water.
by Marilyn Loy Every, DMin, Tending the Fire
Daily Practice:
Pause frequently during your day to take thoughtful and deliberate breaths. With each deep breath, pay attention to your surroundings wherever you may be. Find something you truly appreciate, something that fills your heart with joy, peace and contentment. Focus on the wonder of life, and the beauty of the moment. Welcome the possibilities of alchemy.
Notes: Here are a few suggestions in follow-up to your ritual experience—ideas for gratitude- in-action:
- Journal about your experience, including what and for whom you are grateful
- Write a gratitude letter to yourself or others
- Send thankyou notes to family members and friends for whom you are grateful
- Organize and host a virtual (i.e. Zoom) “gratitude gathering”
- Identify three things you are grateful for each day
- Create a “gratitude collage”
- Take nature photos each day of what inspires gratitude in your heart.A special thank you is extended to Katia Petersen, Executive Circle Member-at-Large, for offering the concept of “Breath of Thanks.”
Marilyn Loy Every, DMin, CSL, Ritual Team Member
Honoring Nature Ritual
To be in the natural world establishing a more intense and intimate relationship with the earth community by wandering and wondering about the mysterious and marvellous gift of life.
Honoring Nature Ritual
Intention
To be in the natural world establishing a more intense and intimate relationship with the earth community by wandering and wondering about the mysterious and marvelous gift of life.
To collect natural items that can be used to create an altar or mandala on the ground/patio/table, etc.
Preparation
You are invited to bring:
- a small basket or bag to hold large foraged material and
- a small bag or container to hold smaller or more delicate items.
- a pair of scissors or pruning shears,
- a magnifying glass and
- a “willingness to be awed by the ordinary.”
Walk or drive to a place you can wander
Sacred Space
The sacred space for this ritual is the whole natural world.
Symbols
Anything that draws the wanderer as he/she wonders and wanders: leaves, grasses, pinecones, flowers, petals, branches, bark, feathers, etc.
Words/Actions/Questions
Before beginning to wander, take time to bow to honor the world, and in preparation to receive the gifts the natural world will offer. Make an intention such as “For the next (state an amount of time) I will not hike. I will be silent and attentive to my senses.” A suggestion is to wander for thirty to ninety minutes.
It is also helpful to create a threshold to cross as you begin to forage. You can create your own by simply laying a stick or making a row of rocks that you consciously cross to begin.
(The following is a wondering exercise from Morning Altars that can be adapted to whatever draws the wanderer).
- See a fallen leaf.
- Before you go toward it, approach it with curiosity.
- Did its color catch your eye?
- Does it shapes attract you?
- Where did it come from?
- To what tree does it belong?
- Exercise your fascination.
- Pick it up and hold it in your hand and ask:
- What are you? Pause and listen.
- How long have you been here? Pause and listen.
- How does is it communicating with you?
- Through detail. Describe it
- Through color? Describe it.
- Through texture? Describe it.
- In what ways does it inspire you?
- Does it want to collaborate with you?
Take a moment.
Imagine making more beauty with it (making your altar/mandala).
Continue in this manner, collecting those things that draw you, always remembering to give something before taking , a thank you, a song, a conscious sigh, etc…
Sharing/Creating
When the time for wandering is up, the wanderer can let a place draw him/her where the ground can be cleared to create the altar/mandala. (This can also be done back home.)
Begin to lay out the foraged material. Explore shapes and patterns and how items might be fitted together, gradually creating an altar/mandala that is pleasing to you.
The altar/mandala might be created
- to release grief, doubt, panic, fear of sickness, death, etc.
- as an offering for your own life, as a celebration of a special occasion, for your family’s well-being,
- as a gift to your ancestors, whatever is uppermost in your mind and heart at the time.
Closing
Take time and over your altar/mandala to say your own words of blessing , and gratitude for the gifts of the earth community and the deepening relationship you may have experienced with the marvelous mystery of existence.
Lastly, walk away, leaving the altar/mandala as it is, maybe for other passers by to witness, maybe for weather elements to do as they wish with the creation. This can be a realization of the impermanence at the heart of all life.
Added Note:
I have found it helpful to wander and wonder for several days before attempting to create my altar/mandala carrying with me each day what has been foraged from the day before.
This ritual can easily be adapted for a family outing or a communal gathering after each have collected foraged material, taking turns adding to the altar/mandala with or without saying anything. It is helpful too, if there is more than one participant, to have someone establish a center and work out from there to add the foraged material.
Some like to take a picture of the process and the beauty created before walking away.
Lucia Leck, CSL, Sage-ing International Ritual Team Member
Household Ritual
One of the customs in a traditional Jewish household is to install a mezuzah in every entranceway to the home. Some even put them in every doorway in the house.
Household Ritual
One of the customs in a traditional Jewish household is to install a mezuzah in every entranceway to the home. Some even put them in every doorway in the house. A mezuzah is a small ornamental cylindrical or rectangular container usually around 1”X3” that is nailed to the right side of the entranceway about 6 feet off the floor. The mezuzah contains a small hand- written parchment with the most important prayer in Judaism, the “Shema” prayer. The shema is a declaration of the “Oneness” of God. “Listen Godwrestlers, YAH (breath of life) who is, is our GOD, YAH who is, is ONE: Unique – All there is.” (translated from the Hebrew by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi).
The mezuzah’s purpose is to remind us, every time that we enter or exit the house or room that the Universe is one connected Everything! God is One.
I have taken this custom and worked into my spiritual practice. A mezuzah is a kind of a mini meditation. One of my life goals is to be fully present 24-7. Quite an ambitious goal, I know, but something to strive for. I see being in the present moment as being synonymous with being in the state of Joy. I also see being fully present as synonymous with being One with God. As many of us know, meditation is sometimes a difficult task. Our minds tend to drift. Whenever I come back to the present, I smile and look at all of creation around me with Joy and gratitude, just as if I am experiencing it for the first time.
I have expanded my mezuzah practice over the years. I would like to share with you some of my experiences in hope that they will become a resource to you to develop your own reminder practices .My first expansion was to put an index card under my bathroom mirror with the word: “Breathe” on it. Every time that I looked in the mirror, I was reminded to take a deep breath and come back to the moment.
Next, I put a small amethyst crystal next to all the telephones in the house. Every time that I either took a phone call or made a call, I would see the crystal and wake up to the moment.
One day, a friend gave me a business card that said: “I am Present – This is happening Now.” Naturally, I put it under the bathroom mirror next to the “Breathe” sign. Now whenever I wash my face or brush my teeth, I try to be fully present. (except after a rough nights sleep when I can’t even see the mirror. (ha,ha).
A number of summers ago, I attended a silent retreat at the Blue Cliff monastery in New York state. This is a Buddhist retreat center started by Thich Nhat Hanh. One custom at Blue Cliff is to sound a huge gong periodically during the day. Whenever the gong sounds, everybody stops whatever they are doing and focuses on the breath as a reminder to stay or come back to the present moment. The practice is to silently say to youself: “Breathe-In, Breathe-Out, Present Moment, Wonderful moment.” It was almost surreal to witness. Gong, then life just stopped still for a few seconds. Then life just resumed as if nothing happened. I have a Buddhist friend, who sets his watch to chime on the hour, so he can continue this practice at home.
My wife has been very patient with my reminder practice and has even started some of her own. She uses aroma therapy to smell her reminders. Some of our rooms smell like roses and some smell like lavender. She uses essential oils or makes these little bags out of cheesecloth and fills them with all kinds of wonderfully smelling stuff! She also placed a basket of “Angel Cards” in our dinning room. When you walk by, you can choose a card. Your card will have a positive affirmation or quality that is yours for the day. She will also put a post-it on our bedroom mirror with a meaningful quote or saying on it.
Next, I have strategically located mini wind chimes all around the house that I can sound as I walk by to once again remind me to be “mindful.”
Another Jewish custom that I use is to put a blue thread in various locations. This practice comes from another section of the shema prayer that tells us to put a blue thread on the corners of our prayer shawls (tallis) and to look at these threads as a reminder to follow God’s commandments. I have placed blue threads on the handle of my walking stick, my bicycle handlebars, my car steering wheel and other locations that help me remember to practice mindfulness,
Besides reminding us to be present, these techniques can also serve to remind us to relax and let go of tension, anxieties and fears around this pandemic. Many things around us are currently stressful and unknown. When we do come back to the present after our minds may have wandered, it is also a wonderful opportunity to practice saying our “Gratitude’s”. Perhaps even think of all the things and people around us that we are grateful for. Hopefully, many of these ideas that I have shared can help us stay grounded, centered and balanced during this challenging times in our lives.
Marc Kronisch, CSL
A Sacred Settling Ritual
May I open my heart to love and compassion. My mind-body to presence and the mystery.
A Sacred Settling Ritual
The Intention:
May I open my heart to love and compassion. My mind-body to presence and the mystery.
The Practice:
Find a place in or outside your home you can come to for stillness and quiet. This could be a room, the corner of a room, a favorite chair, a swing. If indoors, if possible a space with a view of nature without.
Breathe – Breathe – Breathe Give yourself this quiet, this stillness daily – a time to fall deeply into your breath, a time to open to beauty, a time to know gratitude, creating for yourself an awareness of the sacred in all that is. Breathe – Breathe – Breathe This is a time on no doing, only being. Perhaps a poem that is read, or words that inspire or can be reflected on. This is a sweet and precious time this stopping, this stillness, that in turn allows you to take the next breath, the next step into your day refreshed and renewed for having gone within connecting with the deep knowing there.
Closing Blessing:
Express gratitude for this time of settling into the sacred. Blessing: May my life be a blessing to others.
Elizabeth Bell, CSL, Sage-ing International Ritual Team Lead
Bringing Ourselves to the Fire Ritual
Together we will create a sacred circle of love, blessing, and healing. Into this circle we will bring our fears and unsettledness, the gifts that have nurtured us during this time and lastly our gratitudes to the fire at the center of the circle to be transmuted to love and healing.
Bringing Ourselves to the Fire Ritual
The Intention:
May I open my heart to love and compassion.
My mind-body to presence and the mystery.
The Practice:
Find a place in or outside your home
you can come to for stillness and quiet.
This could be a room, the corner of a room,
a favorite chair, a swing.
If indoors, if possible a space with a view
of nature without.
Breathe – Breathe – Breathe
Give yourself this quiet, this stillness daily –
a time to fall deeply into your breath,
a time to open to beauty,
a time to know gratitude,
creating for yourself
an awareness of the sacred in all that is.
Breathe – Breathe – Breathe
This is a time on no doing, only being.
Perhaps a poem that is read,
or words that inspire or can be reflected on.
This is a sweet and precious time
this stopping, this stillness,
that in turn allows you to take the
next breath, the next step into your day
refreshed and renewed for having gone within
connecting with the deep knowing there.
Closing Blessing:
Express gratitude for this time of settling into the sacred.
Blessing: May my life be a blessing to others.
Elizabeth Bell, CSL, Sage-ing International Ritual Team Lead
“elders serve as conduits between the divine realm and the mundane world, making the abstract truths of spirituality accessible to the community by embodying them in their everyday behavior.”
― Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, From Age-Ing to Sage-Ing: A Profound New Vision of Growing Older
