Ritual in Theory and Practice
I have always sworn that the Sun would not shine upon the day, nor the Blessed Moon smile upon the night, that I would write a book on Wiccan seasonal rituals.
There are several reasons for this, the most important one being that there are so many excellent books on ritual already available –not to mention many that are less than excellent. Another entry in the field would be superfluous unless it could in some way address an aspect of ritual that others have missed.
The second reason being, that it has often seemed to me that not only do many existing books on Wicca address the issue of seasonal ritual, but almost every book on Wicca addresses seasonal ritual –indeed, many books on Wicca are nothing BUT books on seasonal rituals. Seasonal ritual is important, but it is often emphasized to such an extent that people miss the fact that ritual is only a minor part of our religion, secondary to theology and philosophy. Ritual is the outward expression of our faith, but it means less than nothing if the inner aspects of the faith are lacking.
The third reason being that all of these books on ritual sometimes cause Wiccans to mistakenly rely on written ritual “scripts” rather than on actually understanding the nature and purpose of ritual. I have seen to may rituals where the participants read beautiful words off of scripts but never actually put in any energy or feeling of their own because they are too busy trying to “get the words right.” No matter how beautifully written, the words of a ritual are not what matters: the purpose of ritual is to raise and direct energy, and if it doesn’t do this the ritual is pointless.
There are occasions when a written “script” may be necessary –but as a general rule it is best to speak extemporaneously during ritual. How do you do this? If you know generally what you want to say and the points that are important to convey, you can make up the actual words as you go.
Many people use “scripts” for ritual because they are afraid of using their own words. They fear that they will mess it up, or forget something, or stumble all over what they try to say.
Practice helps tremendously. If you practice the parts of ritual many times –say in your own private rituals, or even just for the sake of practice- they will become second nature to you. If you are nervous about doing ritual with others, practice your role privately first. Expect to be nervous the first few times you do group ritual –it will go away soon. Everyone is nervous when they begin.
Don’t expect your first group or public ritual to be perfect –it won’t be. But no one is likely to notice the imperfections unless you call attention to them. Even if they notice, they are likely to understand, as they have probably done the same thing themselves. No one is perfect, so don’t expect yourself to be. One of the greatest vices in the Wiccan community is perfectionism –we often use our perfectionism as an excuse not to do things that we want to do or that the Goddess has called us to do because we feel we can’t do them “right.” Consequently they go undone altogether –which helps no one. In reality it is better to try and have an imperfect result than to do nothing at all. When we insist on waiting for everything to be perfect before we act, as a rule nothing gets done -because perfection never comes.
You will find however that the more ritual you do, the easier it is to do and the more comfortable you are doing it. If you are nervous about doing group ritual the best cure is to do as many as possible-you will get over being nervous. As in everything else, practice makes perfect.
I hope that you find this book helpful in your practice.
May you Blessed Be,
Rev. Don Lewis-Highcorrell,
First Priest and Chancellor
Correllian Nativist Tradition