What is a ritual and why do Witches do it? Well, ritual is basically a more physical form of prayer, for lack of a better word - it is a method for 'plugging into' the energy of the Divine. They are a very spiritual experience, and plugging into the cosmic conduit is also quite empowering. Because ritual is such a special, spiritual thing, it is often found to be more fulfilling and also more effective when the words and actions are composed by the person performing them as opposed to copying someone else's ritual verbatim. On the other hand, there are those (such as members of covens with specific traditions and rites) that follow closely rituals that have been handed down to them. Personally, I prefer to write my own - partly because I don't have a coven Book of Shadows and partly because I like to put my own touch on my rituals.

So what is a ritual specifically?

There are two basic kinds: a ritual (just plain 'ritual') is performed for a specific purpose, such as doing magick or divination; a spiritual or religious ritual is performed to commune with, experience, worship, honour or celebrate Deity. What purpose you have in doing a ritual will determine what elements you incorporate into it, which we will discuss below. Also, you will sometimes see the word 'rite' used instead or 'ritual' - they're essentially the same thing.

Composing your own ritual:

Here, I'm going to describe the process of writing a Wiccan ritual. Not all Witches use all these steps or perform them in this order - you would omit the steps that aren't necessary for your intent, and you don't have to do them in this order.

1. Decide on your intention

You need to know very clearly why you are doing the ritual and what you wish to accomplish. Are you performing a dedication ritual, seeking guidance or comfort from Deity, celebrating a sabbat or esbat, doing magick or divination? After you know this, you can construct your ritual.

2. Decide on a time

When you know what you are doing the ritual for, you can pick the most auspicious time. For example, if you wanted to perform a ritual to celebrate an esbat you would do it at the time of the Full Moon. Conversely, a ritual to honour or ask guidance from Deity can be done at any time. You should pick a time which incorporates the correct day and the correct astrological correspondences.

3. Decide which deities/entities you wish to invite to your ritual

There are some beings - i.e. the elements - that are invited to your ritual in the process of casting the magick circle, so you do not need to invite these after you have cast the circle. If you intend to work with a specific deity from a pantheon or with an angel or a dragon or something, then you'll need to decide which one/s possess energy appropriate to your intent and invite them into your circle. You'll find a guide to inviting these 'extra' entities to ritual here.

4. Choose your tools and equipment

Now that you know what you're doing and when you're doing it, collect your equipment - wand, candles, botanicals, stones, etc. Make sure they're all consecrated before you use them!

5. Plan your ritual!

Now you'll need to formulate a plan for your ritual. This doesn't necessarily mean writing out every word and every action that accompanies it, although that may be useful if you're relatively new at this or if its a complex or important ritual you're doing. Even if you've been at this for a while now, you still might like to write yourself a script (I do). In the scheme of things, it doesn't matter if you have or haven't scripted everything down to the last detail - as long as you know what you're going to do, plan as much or a little as you like. Because Shadows of Oz is a resource for beginners upwards, I'm going to go through the entire ritual writing process. :)

If you're going to script your ritual, you'll need to write invocations and consequently words of thanks/release for any entities you invite - this includes the quarters, Spirit, and any 'extra' entities you'd like to call on). You also need plan your actions, depending on what you're doing the ritual for, and the words that will go along with them. Below is the general sequence of steps in a Wiccan ritual:

- Cast the magick circle (calling the quarters, elements and Spirit is usually done within this).

- Call any 'extra' entities you have decided to work with.

- Perform your divination/dedication/holiday celebration, etc., if that's what you're intent is.

- Perform your magick, if that's what you intent is.

- Release any energy you have raised.

- Partake of your 'cakes and ale' (discussed below in 'before you do ritual').

- Thank/dismiss the deities/entities you have invited.

- Take down the circle.

- Record your ritual! Write down what you did and later, if it worked or not.

Before you do ritual:

Here are some things that you should do before you begin your ritual:

1. Pick and prepare the space

Ritual should really only be done in a place free of distractions where you feel safe - you can't keep your mind on your ritual if you're constantly wondering whether or not someone or something is going to interrupt you. You will also need to purify and prepare any space that will be used for ritual: it needs to be tidy in both the physical and astral planes. To do this, you need to physically tidy up your site and then preferably create sacred space to clean it up in the astral plane.

2. Prepare and purify yourself

You need to be physically and mentally prepared before you do any sort of ritual. This means not being in a hurry, sick, tired, angry, drunk or stoned - these things are not conducive to performing an effective ritual! Furthermore, now that you've purified your space and your equipment, you should really purify yourself before you start your ritual - this, for most Witches, means a ritual bath. When you take a ritual bath, your mind relaxes and you stop thinking about mundane, everyday things - you enter a more spiritual mindset. Many Witches add soothing bath salts/oils or herbs to their ritual bath and burn candles and incense in the bathroom to calm the mind and purify the body (if you're going to make your own herbal products for a ritual bath, make sure they're non-toxic!). You can also take a ritual shower, and use a nice-smelling soap-free body wash with some appropriate botanical extracts in it (they're everywhere these days), or even rub some herbs over your body while you shower.

Instead of a ritual bath inside in the bathroom, some Witches use other methods of calming and purifying themselves before ritual, such as sitting/standing in the light of the Full Moon, bathing in an ocean, lake or stream, standing in a strong wind and even standing out in the rain or a thunderstorm (where lightning can't strike you!).

3. Choose your ritual clothing

There are a few things you need to consider when you're deciding what to wear to your ritual. There are basically two choices - you can work in a special ritual outfit, or skyclad (naked - 'clothed by the sky'). Your ritual clothes can be anything - plain or ornately decorated, robes or jeans and a t-shirt. As long as you feel happy and comfortable in it, that's fine. If you choose to work skyclad, you need to be comfortable with that too. Not all Witches practice skyclad, and it is more common in solitary practitioners than in covens. There are reasons that Witches work skyclad - it removes a symbol of social status, celebrates the beautiful thing that is the human form, symbolises that all people are equal before the God and Goddess and allows you to be closer to the energy of others in your ritual and to the Universe itself. If you choose to work skyclad, you'll probably want to be especially careful that you won't be interrupted - that could be tricky to explain! Either way, you should feel comfortable in what you're wearing, and it needs to be suitable for the ritual environment - for example, not flammable! Whether you work skyclad or not, you can add jewellery to your ritual outfit - perhaps a piece that has sentimental value or some special symbols on it. Even if it just makes you feel good - that's what you want out of your ritual clothing, after all.

4. 'Cakes and Ale'

'Cakes and Ale' refers to the after-ritual feast - after you've done what you planned to do in your ritual, before you take down the circle, you share (traditionally) some grain-based baked goods and a drink of some sort with the people in your circle and with Deity. This is sometimes also called 'Feasting' or 'Cakes and Wine' (I've also seen 'Bread and Juice', 'Cookies and Milk' and even 'Bikkies and Booze'). 'Cakes and ale' doesn't have to literally mean sweet cakes and a bottle of some kind of brewed alcohol - it might be homemade bread and fruit juice, cookies and milk, or even a three course meal. It shouldn't be junk food! This ritual feast helps to ground any excess energy within you, beginning your return to the 'real' (mundane) world, and will satisfy the 'munchies' that ritual tends to bring on. You'll need to organise this before you begin the ritual, because it will need to be ready to go when you're ready to eat it.

After the circle has been taken down, you should always leave a small amount of both the 'cake' and 'ale' as an offering to Spirit - you can pour the 'ale' on the ground and leave the 'cake' next to it (animals and birds will eat it, but that's the idea), put it into the fire (if you lit one), or into the cauldron (to later be left outside), and so on and so forth.

Stuck for ideas?

If you're finding it difficult to write rituals - whether you're having problems with invocations, structure, whatever - there are plenty of places to get ideas. There are innumerable websites with even more pre-written rituals, Wiccan forums in which you could ask for ideas - there are even books devoted to the subject of ritual writing. I've recently come across Creating Circles and Ceremonies - Rituals for All Seasons and Reasons, by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart and Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart (those of you familiar with the history of Green Egg magazine will know of Oberon Zell-Ravenheart), which is a spectacularly good resource when writing rituals for all occasions (sabbats, esbats, handfastings, Wiccanings, etc) - the best part is I found it on the shelf of a local Angus and Robertson bookshop! If you're interested in this book, you'll find a review in my Book List.