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Making Magick a Habit:How to Integrate Ritual Into Your Daily Life
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It's a common misconception among witches -- especially new ones, but it isn't limited to them by any means -- that to be a "good" witch, one needs to do umpteen spells and rituals every day. Well, yes, the more you practice ritual and magick, the easier it becomes, the faster and stronger the powers come to your call. But I know too many witches who waste their energies worrying about what they "should" be doing, instead of doing what matters to them. When you speak of not integrating ritual into your life, it's important to start with the question of: what do you mean by ritual? Casting full formal circle every day is NOT required. In fact I would see doing so as a serious sign that you're obsessing. Gods, just for myself alone, setting up a formal circle takes at LEAST 25 minutes or so, then there's time spent actually DOING the ritual. Talk about not being able to have a life. I used to have a teacher who insisted that you must cast full circle just for astral pathworking, because it wasn't "safe" otherwise. (I was young, and new, and believed him.) I'd spend hours before I could even GET to the journey. On the other hand it did teach me the steps of circle casting, but sheesh! On the other hand, its nice to do a small devotional once a day. Light a candle, some incense and say hi! to everybody. Spend a few minutes feeling the energies of the world. I feel its imperative to write your own. Mouthing someone else's words never truly works. I go through periods when I do devotionals and periods when I don't. Sometimes my "devotional" is no more than taking a moment to walk out onto my balcony and just breathe the wind. One of the things to remember, in integrating a magickal life is to take it slowly. Just as doing one huge circle a day can put an enormous dent in what you can get done, doing 47 different devotionals will do the same. "Oh, man! It's 6:05 and I haven't done my 6:00 devotional yet because I'm still not finished with my 5:45 devotional. What'll I do? I know I'll be late for my 6:15 devotional too now!" Never mind trying to have a LIFE in the middle of this. Rituals are Habit-Forming Start small. Think of one thing you'd like to do. For a few ideas on purposes/times you might want to honor in your devotionals, click here. Set a time for your devotional and try to keep to it. But at the same time remember that you're human. Don't beat yourself up if this morning you woke up late for your 8:30 doctor's appointment and had to rush out without doing your devotional. The world will not come to a grinding halt, and you are not a "bad person" for having missed it. Just pick up the thread & do your devotional later on. Or just do it the next day. It takes 6 weeks to instill a habit. (Funny how Sabbats just happen to be 6 weeks apart, isn't it?) Work on your one devotional, and only that one. Perhaps even utilize the energy and timing of Sabbats to begin your devotional. When your 6 weeks are up your devotional will now be a habit, part of your life. If you wish, you can now begin to add a second devotional or habit, secure in the knowledge that you'll be more likely to follow through on both because you took it slow. And what if you can't seem to keep up with your devotional? What if you always seem to forget it? Then maybe that's not the right one for you. Instead, work on something which has more power for you. Or your schedule just won't work with it? Look carefully at your schedule. If you have to be up at 8 am for class every morning and you're NOT a morning person, then might it be better to schedule your devotional for the evening before you go to bed? Or for sunset, when you get home from work, to refresh and clear your mind of the day's doings. Sometimes we'll make a habit of a devotional for a long time and then our habit will fade. That's okay too. If it's not serving you any longer, change it. Make a new habit. Be willing to look at your habits on a regular basis (Samhain or Yule or the weeks between these is a good time for this) and release the ones that no longer serve you. Time for a Spell Another question: Is it necessary to cast a full circle to do a spell? I do quite a number of minor magicks throughout the day. I change the color of the traffic lights, I empower my herb tea to make my bronchitis go away faster. I stir love into the pasta sauce while I'm cooking, I send my mail off with a blessing, hoping that it will be well received. Once again, If I were to cast full circle for each of these I'd go mad. Now, these are little magicks that don't require circle casting. But what if you're doing something slightly larger -- maybe sending healing energy to a friend or working weather magick or charging a candle, and you feel the need to be in circle, but you don't have time for a formal ritual? One practice that helps is the instant circle. It takes but a moment to visualize yourself within a protective circle-bubble, to say a quick hello to the elements and the gods. Voila! You're in circle, go ahead and perform your spell. You can enhance this process through the use of triggers. Pick a word or a physical gesture -- a small hand gesture is often best, as you can utilize it in public without anyone knowing what you're doing. (Far more subtle than stretching your arms skyward and bellowing, "Thor, come to me!") Every time you cast a formal circle, or visualize one, utilize that word or gesture. Eventually you will get to the point where you need but speak the word or perform the gesture, and the circle will form itself around you instantaneously. Living Magick What's most important about bringing the magick into your life is to remember that every moment IS magickal. Whether you're meditating or reading your cards, or doing something more mundane, like cleaning the kitchen or working on your homework, every thought you think, every breath you take, every action is magickal because it causes change in the world. The purpose of religion is to re-link us with ourselves and the gods, and the gods in ourselves. You can do that anywhere, just by taking a moment to stop and look around you and be conscious for just a moment of what your doing, and the web that surrounds you. As I sit here, writing this, I take a moment and stop, and notice the scent of amber incense, and the hawk outside my window, riding the wind hard. The faint bleariness that tells me I need more sleep. The slight ache in my shoulders, the soft tickle of my hair against my face, and the howl and crackle of the wind against the roof. And of the words I am writing -- the way in which our minds link through time and space as I write to you -- making magick, because whether or not you agree with my words, your mind and your world expands to take them in. And in taking that moment, I become more alive -- a conscious entity, weaving the fabric of my own creation. - Lionrhod 3/31/99 |
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