Pagan and Earth-based Spirituality Organization    of Christopher Newport University

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                What Are We Worshipping?

      Ritual, by definition, is simply a religious ceremony. One can imagine then, that rituals vary immensely depending on the tradition on which the ritual is based. This page is designed to give the reader an understanding of the fundamentals of ritual in the modern pagan culture. First off, what is a modern pagan? This is an area of great debate and controversy. Perhaps first, it would behoove us to establish a definition of pagan. The word pagan is derived from the Greek word paganus and was used to describe the cultures that were primarily nature worshippers and had not converted to the growing Judeo-Christian movement. Many modern pagans, also called neo-pagans, use a blend of different aspects of the various pagan traditions. Some of the most popular cultures on which modern pagans draw their beliefs from include Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Celtic, Native American, Norse, Sumerian, Babylonian, and Hindu. It is not uncommon for a modern pagan to study several different cultures, and take bits and pieces of each one and incorporate what feels right into their personal belief system. Avant-garde thinkers, such as the Swiss Psychologist Carl Jung, have made much leeway in validating such a system. He suggested that virtually all gods and goddess are simply representations of unconscious forces, which he called “archetypes”. This would account for the uncanny way in which several deities throughout different cultures follow similar myths and have virtually the same attributes. Certain themes such as the compassionate mother, the chaste huntress, the god of vegetation, the crone woman, and the god of the hunt seemed to resurface over and over throughout different cultures. Is it because these different cultures were “using” each others ideas of divinity? In some cases, yes. We know, for example, that the Romans turned to the Greeks for both their art and their religion. Could it also be, however, that all cultures, including modern ones, are under the same subconscious forces, which at the time, manifested as their concepts of the divine? The research of Carl Jung suggest, yes.    

 

                                                                   Finding a Common Format 

     With so many different culture from which to draw, how do we come up with a common format to do ritual? Believe it or not, many of the pagan traditions have several ingredients in common. One of the most fundamental and essential, is the creation of sacred space. This is serves as both an affirmation and a metaphysical change. It is an affirmation in the sense that we are establishing that the area in which we are working is now off-limits to mundane business and is a place for worship and communion with the divine! It is metaphysical in the sense that we are using our will to draw subtle energy around the area in which we are working to keep out negative forces and keep in positive ones. By negative forces, we are referring to any force that will hinder the intent of the ritual and by positive, we are referring to the energy that we intentionally raise in the ritual.  

     Another common practice seen in many cultures, is commonly referred to as “the calling of the watchtowers”, also sometimes called calling of the directions, corners or guardians. During this practice, the cardinal directions and their corresponding attributes are acknowledged and, in some respect, asked to join and guide the ritual. The “corresponding attributes” vary from culture to culture… but more on that later.

     Finally, no ritual would be complete without some sort of invoking of the divine. This might be done verbally, through the use of instruments, through meditation and a number of other methods. One might do this by focusing on a single deity, such as Diana to help battle a disease, Aphrodite to assist in love affairs, or Hecete to invoke intuition. One might choose to invoke both a male and female deity, especially common when both a priest and priestess is present. Further, one might forego calling a specific deity and simply call on the divine presence, “Great Father” and/or “Great Mother” “. This might be more comfortable and familiar to those with a Judeo-Christian background. It is also common to simply call on any number of spirits that may be in the area, or just focus on a divine presence. Remember, the divine is virtually unknowable, and the aforementioned are merely tools to help us connect or focus our intent.

 

                                                                     Other Aspects of Ritual 

     Thus far, we have established a sacred space, called the watchtowers and established a connection with the divine. What are some other things that are commonly seen in modern pagan circles? Some sort of “working activity” is commonly seen, especially when spell work, healing, or any sort of specific intent is involved. The working activity may involve drumming, chanting, dancing, burning of various objects or the telling of stories to help focus the intention. For example, in Beltane rituals, dancing around a Maypole is a commonly excepted working activity. In a healing ritual, drumming and chanting are common working activities.

     For those who are familiar with Christian religious ceremonies, the receiving of communion might seem familiar. Such a practice is common in pagan practice as well and is often referred to as libation. A food item and a drink item are blessed and passed around the circle for those involved to ingest a metaphysical representation of the divine. Most commonly, the food item is bread or fruit. This is symbolic because it is a direct representation of the harvest of the Earth. Remember that the early pagans were primarily agrarian. The drink is commonly wine, juice or milk. Milk might seem odd to use in a religious ceremony, but to the early pagans, the beginning of production of milk by the animals symbolized an important change in the seasons.

 

                                                                         What To Do in Ritual 

Preparation 

1)      Research! Understand the focus and symbolism of the ritual. Is it a Sabbatt (seasonal holiday), Esbat (lunar holiday) or neither? If it is a holiday, look online (or even in real books!) to find out what the history and common attributes of the holiday are. If we are celebrating a full moon, find out which full moon it is, and what its correspondences are.

2)      Clear your Schedule! By all means, don’t stop your daily life, but do not intentionally put yourself in situations that are going to stress you out the few hours prior to ritual. Remember, ritual requires a clear and focused mind, don’t make things harder on yourself. Believe it or not, typical things that make focusing hard in ritual is preparing for ritual! Ironic, eh? Therefore, make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to get there early so that you aren’t stressing over traffic and rushing around beforehand.

3)      Be Careful what you talk about! When I was active in a Wiccan coven, the high priest wisely had certain subjects that were off limits to talk about in the house prior to ritual. Among these involved politics and griping about the repression of other religions. It does not good to cause friction between attendees with varying viewpoints or raise negative thoughts in general before ritual. Safe the complaining for later!

4)      Finally, Ground and Center! This is a practice so common and universal, that in instant messaging between pagans it is sometimes simply referred to as “G&C”. This is usually done within the fifteen minutes before the start of ritual. It involves quieting the mind and leaving mundane thoughts behind. Only after quieting the mind, can you allow your focus to go inward to focus on the very subtle energies that you will need to feel and manipulate in ritual.

 

The Ritual 

     The following is a typical format of a ritual that one might see if they were to join P.E.S.O. for ceremony. Remember that there is relatively much room for variation. 

1)      Cast the Circle. As mentioned before, this is an affirmation and a metaphysical change that establishes a sacred space to commune with the divine.

2)      Call the Watchtowers. I said earlier that I would explain more about what I meant when I said “corresponding attributes” of the watchtowers. Again, when we call the watchtowers, we are recognizing the cardinal directions, and asking for guidance or strength from the various attributes that the directions represent. The representations vary from culture to culture. There might be some discrepancy here when attending rituals which are more influenced by one culture over another. One culture, the south might represent passion, fire and healing, while in another, it may have an entirely different association. The Occult guru and scholar Aleister Crowley (love him or hate him) made a great deal of progress in studying various cultures, both eastern and western, and trying to find the most commonly accepted attributes of each of the direction. East is most commonly associated with new beginning and the mental realm. South is passion and the spiritual realm. Water is subconscious and the emotional realm. Earth is manifestation and the physical realm. This gives us a convenient representation of the mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical body in the ritual.

3)      Calling the Divine. This is sometimes called invoking the deity or calling the god and the goddess. It is usually done by the priest and priestess, sometimes with the help of those involved through the use of drumming or chanting. It can be done verbally (through some sort of invoking speech), silently, or a number of other ways.

4)      Libation. (See explanation above)

5)      Working Activity. (See explanation above)

6)      Closing the Circle- Once the working activity is completed, we can’t just say “that’s that” and walk away. We have created a scared space, called on divine forces, and the circle must be disassembled in a respectful manner. It is often done in the reverse order in which it was constructed. Hence, we release the god and goddess. We then individually release the watchtowers, and the open the circle.

7)      Ground. Throughout the circle, you have had an amazing amount of energy flow through and, if done properly, been in a state of moving meditation. Take a moment once the circle if opened to sit on the ground and “come back to every day life”. One who does not ground after circle might feel “cloudy headed”, fidgety or tired after circle. Let the Earth take any excess energy out of you and mentally tell yourself to come back to the mundane world. The spirit world is a wonderful place to be connected with, however, it is neither practical nor advantageous to stay there in day to day life.