Of RiTuAlS and Such. :D -arrow to the left- That was fun!
Posted on: May 31, 2012
Colin, Terri (mom)
Alright. So. Ritual. What is ritual? When you hear that word what does it make you think of?
For me, it has many meanings, definitions, and memories – good and bad – behind it. One of the better:
Peace,
Love,
Joy.
For as long as I can remember, whenever I left for anywhere, a friend’s house, school, camp, anywhere, my mom and I would do say, peace, love, joy. Hand motions and all. (Hey mom? Can we put in a picture here?)
Why yes, we can!
Joy is not as simple as peace & love because it is a motion. You can find a video of the motion here.
It’s a goodbye ritual, wishing you a good day, or week, or time away from home.
Ritual for me specifically, apart from my family, also goes alone with my life. I’m Wiccan, and I do rituals for esbats and sabats. Also done if I have a friend in need – never cast a spell on somebody without their permission, by the way – or for a various amount of reasons. Ritual in Wicca, is a spiritual thing, and when done with another person – I have two people I do rituals with occasionally – shows great trust and/or care for them.
Mom? Any rituals specific for you not involving me/the family?
Well, Christianity is full of rituals! Communion, baptism, even just the events of an every day Sunday. The ritual of coming together and praying. My favorite ritual? The passing of the peace and the genuine loving kindness of the hugs.
Communities always have ritual. It helps them define themselves. If we didn’t have ritual, we’d probably be inventing every day newly. There is some merit in approaching each day in a new way, but how many different ways can you wake up? The best ritual is my first cup of coffee in the morning! The loving kindness of your dad bringing me that first cup for several reasons. He is doing it out of love, I love the smell of coffee and the feel of a warm cup in my hands, and I need to take my medicine ASAP! So it is reaching emotional, spiritual, and physical health!
But not all experiences of ritual is good. Do you want to share a problematic experience?
So I used to be a part of an organization called the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls. If it’s not obvious by that name, I was not out as trans yet. So, I’m not exactly feminine. I don’t like dresses or skirts, or skinny jeans, or bows, or bluh, stereotypical female clothing. In Rainbow Girls (the abbreviation, because, g’d, who wants to say International Order of the Rainbow for Girls every time) when we did rituals from our book titled “Ritual” we had to wear floor length white dresses. Hm. So. We’re memorizing page long texts – if not longer – in old English, in several hour long rituals, while I’m in a dress. There’s also people that I wasn’t entirely fond of, or weren’t fond of me, the hierarchy of Rainbow Girls, the late hours, and weird rules that have never made sense to me. Suffice to say, Rainbow Girls was not a good experience of ritual for me. I will also say, there are most definitely people who loved Rainbows Girls and it was an amazing experience for them. For me, not so much.
I think our greatest ritual right now is crossing the bridge together. Don’t you?
Your face is a good ritual. 😛 Yah, yah, fine, whatever. It’s a good ritual. I guess, technically this thing a thing is a good ritual too.
The weather on the bridge today was cloudy. And some of our memories were too.
POKE YOUR FACE!!!!!! 😀
Views from the Bridge 
May 31, 2012 at 12:30 am
Reblogged this on Cloaked Monk's Blog and commented:
Thoughts on ritual from me & Colin.