Life Cycle Ritual?

[MAdams90]

Hello!

I am turning 30 this year and I'm having trouble dealing with this next step in my life cycle . My therapist believes that I should create a ritual that I can perform on my birthday so that it is a more... positive event (one that doesn't circle around the whole Maiden, Mother, Crone concept as I am sort of uncomfortable with the connotations of the whole thing). She also believed that I should use this as an entrance of sorts into a regular religious practice, as I have been interested but unsure about what my first steps should be. I have attempted to do some research into preexisting rituals/ideas but haven't really had any luck. So I was wondering if anyone knew of any that could give me a starting point or just... I don't know. I feel simultaneously like I'm drowning in information and unable to find any.

I'm not entirely certain which path I want to follow (I'm really interested in Hellenism but...), but I do know that I feel drawn to Persephone and Hades.

Please excuse me if I said something rude or incorrect.

Thank you!
M

[B. de Corbin]

If it were me, I would read through a few random rituals to get kind of a sense of how one works (contemporary rituals and tradition rituals are all over the internet).

Then, I would either cut, paste, alter, improvise, and create my own. Or, I might create the whole dang thing in a way that seems right, then try it out.

I'm either case, the test would be the same: did I achieve what I wanted to acheive?

Finally, revise, edit, expand, contract, clarify, reword, or maybe begin anew.I

Best wishes!

[Shahaku]

It sounds like a cross between a dedication ritual and a rite of passage is what you're going for here.

Dedication rituals are basically rituals where you say, I'm going to do xyz for abc amount of time. I'm making this promise to work on this and asking for guidance and divine motivation to help me do it. There's a really nice one at the beginning of Christopher Penczaks Inner Temple of Witchcraft book, which is there first in his Temple series. It's a really good place to start, imo, because he doesn't adhere to a specific path, and there are good practical exercises. You could also Google dedication rituals and find something that way.

Rites of Passage are rituals tied specifically to the life cycle. Most of these are tied to the Mother, Maiden, Crone cycle. But there is a group at Pagan Spirit Gathering called Daughters of the Dark Moon, who don't feel they fit that archetype. I'm not sure exactly what they do, if they do rites of passage, but there is a Facebook page for PSG and you might be able to find a contact that way who could help. Otherwise, you can look up rites of passage rituals, find the common elements, and incorporate what feels right.

[ingridstjerne257]

Hello madams90,
Well, a dedication is serious stuff and I am glad right now that you are taking your time and asking profound questions.
Intro books might give you the gist or basic structure of a ritual but since this is about you and only you then I would say it’s entirety up to you what you’re gonna do about it. It can be as complicated or as simple as you like but heartfelt is what counts…
Since you say you are interested in Hellenism, can I recommend a book that I haven’t read yet? It is Hellenic Polytheism: A Personal Guide for Ancient Greek Practitioners by Chris Aldridge. It is on amazon, and the book preview looks good (at least to me).
You might want to differentiate between pagan and Wicca; they are different.

[Rhythm]

The celebration of a birthdays is, itself, a ritual. I mention this in order to demystify ritual, to remind us that ritual does not have to be imposing or a chore to construct. Particularly since the idea seems to be to reduce whatever stress and anxiety you're feeling - to have fun with it.

I don't celebrate my birthday, specifically, but the wife and I do celebrate anniversabirthentines day every year by inviting a random stranger to commit a minor crime in a remote location - reenacting how we met. To say that it melts away the stress of the year and contextualizes another year of growing old together in a positive light is to understate the mirth.

[MAdams90]

Thank you everyone for your input. You've all given me a lot to think about and some really great starting points. The event is in a couple of weeks now so we're just trying to tie everything together and make sure that everything that I want to be said/done is said and done.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond!

[Liath Gallese]

I hope you found something that suited your needs, as this post was more than a month ago.

For anyone else looking for something similar, back in the 90s there was a trend of Queening rituals, to celebrate a woman becoming mature, no longer a girl, but not connected to childbirth/motherhood etc. I participated in one for a friend of mine who was turning 30, no children, nor desire to have any, but who wanted to celebrate her embracing her full power. It was fantastic, and I would participate again in a heartbeat.