I am enamored of rituals and enjoy creating them with my friends. I often do one for the summer and winter solstices and sometimes for Samhain (November first) and for Beltane (May day). You can do them at the obvious holiday times but also you can honor your own reason for wanting a ritual. I had a friend who always invited people over for the first time she lit her fireplace each Fall. I’ve known people who have created rituals for the ending of a relationship, or for completing a degree, for completing a course of chemo treatment. I love the idea of creating spaces in our lives that might be made just a bit more sacred by creating a ritual to surround them. Rituals can be elaborate or very simple. They can involve lots of people, a few people or just yourself.
I recently attended a free short webinar with the amazing author Day Schildkret who has written a lot about creating rituals and beautiful earth altars. He suggested this very simple ritual for beginning and ending each day;
Each evening before going to bed – wash your hands three times. Turn water on and off. Each time, identify one thing you want to let go of before you go to bed
Each morning, again wash your hands three times and identify three things you are ready to receive in the coming day.
If you want to know more about Schildkret’s work with ritual and his amazing “morning altars”, click HERE.