Ritual Questions

[GossamerB38]

Hello!

I am very new to Paganism. I have been on a spiritual journey for a couple of months, and have identified as a Pantheistic Pagan for about a week now.

I am trying to learn as much as I can about my faith, and a huge part of that for me is being able to perform rituals or say prayers.

It seems like the majority of Pagans are Wiccan, and while I do use certain aspects of Wicca in my faith, and I respect Wicca, I am not really interested in spellwork. I like the idea of using magic as a ritual, but not so much as a way to cast spells, if that makes sense at all.

So my question is, does anyone know of any rituals that don't involve magic, or if they do involve magic, that do not require tools.

Also, any good prayers?

Thanks so much! Blessed be!

[Torey]

Re: Ritual Questions

These are very broad and generic questions. Rituals that don't involve magick? There are plenty - but it depends on what you define as magick. There are rituals for grounding and centering, shielding, personal power, etc. Then there are those which are more spiritual in nature intended for communion with your interpretation of the Divine.

Prayers - to what/whom are you praying?

[GossamerB38]

Re: Ritual Questions

I don't know if there are any basic rituals, but those would be good. Grounding and centering rituals would also be nice.

As far as prayers go, I pray to the five elements, so anything along that vein would be helpful.

[Satu]

Re: Ritual Questions

The only rituals I can think of that don't involve magic are worship rituals with a Reconstructionist bent. So Kemetic, Hellenic, etc. rituals. Do you have a particular pantheon that you direct your focus towards? If so, look up Recon practices surrounding that pantheon. For example, if you like the Netjeru, you'd look into Kemeticism.

Another suggestion would be to read about puja in Hinduism. You can take the general form of the ritual without being culturally misappropriative.

If all that fails, you can make up your own ritual. Put something together that has meaning to you.

[Threshold]

Re: Ritual Questions

I'm a Pantheist, and I have an altar. Reflects the seasons, the Solar holy days which I use as pauses to make a day that focuses on spirituality. Since sometimes the every day life can get hectic and it's nice to have time set aside.

Every six weeks, on the Solar holy day, I choose a spiritual focus for the next six weeks. That is also reflected in my altar. My faith helps me have a better experience of life, so the rituals I choose are focused on things that help me grow, understand, interact with life as deeply and authentically as possible.

Sometimes I do a ritual of dedication to my next six week focus. Or I do meditations to calm me, strengthen my resolve, clear my mind of "junk", come to terms with my mortality ( I LOVE the Days of the Dead, huge holy time for me), Clarify my function in the Universe and my connectedness to things...things like that.

Because I don't believe in spirits etc I don't tend to cast circles because in Pantheism, the idea is connectedness to all rather than compartmentalizing things or keeping things out. If one believes in spirits, evil energies etc then casting a circle addresses that.

Rituals are a short cut to a certain frame of mind, and I find them helpful and meaningful to get to a state of mind to open myself spiritually and honestly.

I really like walking labyrinths, and understanding my life as a labyrinth, twists and turns and sometimes seeming quite convuluted and confusing, but ultimately always on the path, can't get lost, getting to where I am going.

Even though I am a Pantheist, I worship the Sun, not because I believe that it has some ultimate or inherent superiority to anything, but because that is just my authentic reaction to it. Even without me focusing on the reality that basically it's responsible for my being and my sustenance, it just evokes a deep and undeniable sense of worship. So I do observe the Solar holy days, and create a lot of art and prayers focused on the Sun.

I write and create a lot of my own rituals (and have written and created a lot of group rituals as well) but I google rituals too and find many that others have written very applicable and beautiful. Sometimes I have to tweak them to fit my specific faith, but lots I can use just as they are.

[GossamerB38]

Re: Ritual Questions

Thanks for all of your help!

I think making my own rituals will probably be my best bet.

I am a pantheist as well, and I totally get the whole 'connectedness' thing.

My altar is set up for each of the elements, as these are what I worship. So I think the next step would be to look up rituals and prayers connected to that.

Thanks so much!