Right now, we are collectively experiencing a time of complex transitions, uncertainty and unresolved wounds that have disrupted the rhythms of our lives.
Right now, we are also experiencing continuous reflection on what will sustain us and how we can conjure the practices our hearts long for through present, intentional connection.
We need ritual because ritual calls us to connect with ourselves, our communities and our desired futures with intention. When we invite ritual into our lives, we say YES to creating compelling moments of meaning, care, celebration, acceptance, intimacy and beyond—all bravely turning us toward ourselves and each other. Ritual allows us to build sacred spaces where healing feels possible. As Prentis Hemphill teaches us,
When I practice rituals, one of the first acts is an invocation: to call in spirits, energies, and beings with whom you want to work, from whom you want to learn, from whom you long for support, and with whom you want to bear witness. To invoke is to intentionally weave lines of connection and communication- re-aligning with ourselves and the environment around us. Often, through un-intentional habits or routines, or ways of being in our everyday lives we forget and disavow our relationships to our living environment.
I’ve been finding the most loving, life-giving rituals to be the ones that we dream and design for ourselves, with community, especially when they are rooted in our deepest needs and desires. When we create a shared space to honestly name our deepest desires—we can bring forth ritual possibilities that speak to our hearts because life is asking us, maybe even demanding us, to respond.
I invite us to listen to our body’s responses to these questions as we consider crafting rituals for ourselves and with community:
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What requests have been forming in my body I’ve read this blog post?
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What needs to be released for me to create and experience more loving, liberating moments?
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What has been keeping me further away from ritual? (beliefs, systems, fears, patterns)
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What is pulling me closer to ritual? (longings, dreams, body knowledge, spirit)
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How can we invite our loved ones and community groups to be a part of the process?
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How could this ritual reflect the collective dreams of our communities through the elements we see, smell, touch, taste, and hear?
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What inherent and ancestral gifts will we each hold sacred and promise to nurture as we practice?
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How will we renew our rituals and celebrate the people we are becoming?
Ritual work is liberation work. Ritual work is love work. As we welcome the creation of ritual, I believe we can find freedom and meaning in the every day, ordinary. These moments will bring us closer to witnessing what’s rising within our hearts, allowing us to courageously accept ourselves and each other over and over and over again. When we practice, may our bodies remember that being in the rhythm of ritual is a sacred, continual space that will always invite us into the deep offering of liberating love.