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Sprucing up Ritual
by Ares Hearthfire
One thing about being in a coven is knowing that you will
have many other people involved in your
rituals and reading out of the same
book. However, this can still be very
dry and at times boring or routine. Some groups
do not take advantage of the great possibilities that ritual awards them. Ritual is not just a time
to honor the deities, it is a time to be
creative and have fun.
In our coven, The Coven of the Sacred Chalice, all rituals
in our Book of Shadows are all unique works written by coven members. Rituals written by individuals and not copied
take a lot of work and time, but they are very
rewarding. In addition, this makes
your coven different from any other coven on
earth, plus it will make your tradition more
varied and ever growing. As long as
people have ideas, the Book of Shadows will become
Books of Shadows and you can create a history that will be interesting to track
years later.
Many people new to the coven ritual format
have trouble writing rituals. I have met
solitaries that did write their own rituals out, but when it came
down to writing a ritual to involve others they were at a loss. “It all sounds like they are saying the same
thing” one person has said to me
recently. There are several ways to make
your rituals fun and diverse.
Create a
guided meditation
Not all of your rituals need to have people talking
constantly. Sometimes
just sitting and thinking as a group can help spice things up. Meditations may
not be physically active, but they can give your mind
a workout. Simply
have everyone sit in the circle and one person can lead an exercise. You can think of yourself as trees and feel
yourselves becoming one with the earth. Or feel your bodies washed away in
water…without even being outside and being miles
from water!
Nothing can travel more than your mind! The possibilities are endless. This is a good way to break the normal
monotony of reciting lines that always seem
to be the same.
Write a
play
Anyone can do this! A
short play based on a seasonal myth is always
entertaining. It is a good way to get
those shy people in the group out of their shell a bit and everyone can
shine. Creative persons can design costumes
and the entire group can put on a play like they were in any theater. Give those old robes
a break and put on a costume. Even if you are in a coven of one gender this
is no problem!
The ancient Greeks had plays with one gender portraying another; this
should not be a drawback. It can be fun!
Once I was the only male in a coven and during
a battle with the Oak and Holly King, I played both and killed myself
with a husk of corn! I can still hear
the others laughing. Nothing is more
fun than pretending to be something else, and
this can be a great way of honoring the seasons and the deities.
Switch your
coven location
If you find that you always use the same
covenstead a change of location can be a way to spice things up. Getting some
new scenery and scents may help energize the
coven and get rid of the same old
feelings. Take in the energy of a new
location, the trees, the rocks or even someone
else’s furniture can give you new feelings to work with. You may even
notice that an old ritual feels different when
acted out in a new place. It can be a
grand experience.
Whose line
is it anyway? Ritual
Have you ever seen the show on television? Inserting something
like this can be a lot of fun during a ritual, especially during a festive
celebration. You can line up the coven members
and have them come
up with quick one liners…such as having them
each come up with the world’s worst thing to
say during a particular Sabbat or Handfasting, etc. This can be fun and spontaneous. The laughter will surely raise some
energy and spirits also.
The Mime
ritual
This ritual can be done for enjoyment
or for a specific purpose. Doing a whole
ritual in silence and letting your movements
replace any words can be thrilling.
Because your body is in constant motion
you constantly release energy. Magick
work can be greatly enhanced because of this body movement,
the silence enables you to concentrate and combined
can create an altered state of consciousness.
Rituals done in silence can also be great if any part of the ritual is
spellwork for a deaf individual or if there is a deaf individual present. Since their world is one of silence, doing a
ritual in such a way would undoubtedly make a
stronger connection to them. There are those in our community
that are deaf and it should be remembered
that they are important individuals also.
The Backwards Ritual
This is a ritual I often suggest for those that want to do
banishing rituals or work during the waning phase of the moon. I suggest that circle be opened and closed in
the correct order to maintain the sacred
space, but the actual body of the ritual itself be done in reverse. It may seem
confusing to those that never tried to work their ritual backward before, but
you are still expressing the same goals and by
doing the work in reverse will have the same
effect. Not just are you asking for something
to not exist, you are literally rewinding your request to show what you mean. It may be
silly, but you may find it refreshing once in
a while.
There are many ways to
conduct a ritual. We all know the seven
steps in putting a ritual together.
However, this does not mean that each
ritual you have must be conducted in the same
manner.
There are many things covens can do
other than chant and recite words. You can spice up your spell work, Sabbat and
Esbat gatherings and even rites of passage with just unique ideas. I am not
saying to do these types of things all the time,
indeed we all must have some
level of comfort in doing our usual fare. Just mixing
it up with something out of the ordinary can
be entertaining, fun, refreshing and will give everyone something
to talk about in the future. Do not let
your coven’s rituals get stale. Doing something
new once a year can spice up the coven and keep the excitement
about the gatherings from diminishing
for a long time to come.
Bio: Ares Hearthfire
is the cofounder of the Coven of the Sacred Chalice located in New
York City. He
has been a practicing Wiccan for over 8 years.
He works in the insurance field in his every day world. He can be e-mailed
with comments
or questions at ares@sacredchalice.com. The URL for the coven web site is
http://www.sacredchalice.com
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