Rituals have been with us for millennia, but many have lost their original power and have instead become almost meaningless traditions which are passed down from generation to generation. This plethora of seemingly powerless rituals has led to the common misconception that for a ritual to be effective you need to use a lot of mumbo-jumbo and expensive paraphernalia. This is simply not true! The most effective rituals do not involve any mumbo-jumbo, and as for paraphernalia, it isn’t as vital as many people think.
When all is said and done, a genuine ritual is simply a deliberate outward expression of an inner metaphysical belief. A true ritual is designed to serve as a ‘contact point’ between you and the power within so that a manifestation of spiritual power can occur.
As well explaining why most of what people believe about rituals is wrong, and how anyone can create their own ritual which works the first time they use it, in this series of posts we will present a number of ‘stand alone’ rituals which can be adapted to suit your own needs. The rituals which are included in this series are general ones which have been chosen for their simplicity and ease of use.
You will also learn how to construct your own rituals for more specific purposes, such as attracting more money, love and success into your life. Once you truly understand the power of ritual and how to use it effectively, your ability to transform your life will be dramatically increased. Instead of being a victim of circumstance, you will be a creator of circumstance!
When most people think of the word ‘ritual’, they think of the Hollywood definition. They think of groups of people wearing theatrical gowns and bowing solemnly before altars. They think of pentagrams, amulets, chalices and incantations. What these people do not understand is that rituals come in all shapes and sizes, and in most cases this theatrical stereotype simply does not fit.
Consider the person who automatically knocks on wood or throws salt over his shoulder to try and prevent bad luck from taking place. Or the way many people automatically kneel when praying in a Christian church. Or the way candles are blown out on a birthday cake after a wish has been made.
All of these are rituals. What prevents most people from recognising them as such is the fact that they are all rituals which have become traditions. The form of the rituals – the outward expressions – have been handed down from generation to generation. But the real meaning of the rituals – those qualities that gives the rituals their power – have been lost.
A ritual is, according to the dictionary, ‘a formal ceremony or custom.’ To our minds, this is not a good definition of a ritual because it only concerns itself with the outward ceremony. In reality, the most important part of a ritual is what happens in the mind and spirit of the practitioner.
What we must always be careful to remember is that rituals are not mere traditions. They are powerful tools which are only effective when used for a genuine purpose. A true ritual serves three main purposes, and these are as follows:
To Express An Inner Belief
The first purpose of a ritual is to allow the practitioner to express an inner belief or desire in a structured manner. Consider the blowing out of candles on a birthday cake. This is a tradition which is based on an ancient candle magic ritual, and its purpose is to let the practitioner make one wish. In other words, it allows him to make a deliberate declaration about what one thing he wants out of life more than any other.
Once the wish has been made, it is said that it will come true if all of the candles are blown out with one breath. Thus the whole ritual is a framework upon which the coat of inner belief and expectancy can be hung. And because belief and expectancy are two important keys to working miracles, it should come as no surprise that this particular ritual has survived more or less intact for centuries.
To Focus Energy
The second main purpose of a ritual is to help focus the spiritual energy of the practitioner. Often, focusing your spiritual energy on a specific goal or outcome can be difficult, yet focus is exactly what one must do to achieve any tangible results.
A ritual can help this focus by providing a structure and framework within which the individual can work. It gives the individual a routine or system which he can follow, helping him to focus his energies on the goal he has set for himself.
To Encourage Manifestation
The final purpose of a ritual is to help encourage the manifestation of a specified goal or desire. Manifestation is, of course, the ultimate aim of any metaphysical endeavour, so anything that can help to make it happen faster is most welcome.
Rituals encourage manifestation by giving the individual a sense of confidence that his spiritual energies have been focused correctly. This allows him to expect the results to follow once the ritual has been completed, thus unleashing the energy within and bringing about the desired result.
Rituals come in all shapes and sizes, from the extremely simply to the highly complex. The most effective rituals, however, have a number of elements in common. Our own study and experience has revealed that there are seven elements of an effective ritual. This is not to say that a ritual with only three elements is less effective, or that a ritual with ten elements is more effective – just that seven is the ideal as far as we are concerned. Metaphysical systems are not rigid, but are meant to be flexible and adapted by each individual practitioner according to his own needs and tastes. In the next post we will now discuss these elements and explain how they can be so beneficial in the working of miracles…
