The Purpose of Ritual

Written By: The High Priestess

What is Ritual?

noun

A religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order. (Oxford Languages)

When engaging in one’s spirituality or religion it is important to engage in one of the most important functions and features of the practice, ritual. When you think of ritual, what comes to mind? For many it conjures images of knives, blood, painted effigies, fires, cauldrons, magic, chanting and dancing, or some type of grandiose sacrifice (thank you media). While I won’t deny that these elements exist, and that those types of rituals exist - they are only a snapshot of the concept as a whole. So what is a ritual and more specifically why does it matter to you?

Do you take a shower? Strange question, I know. When you get in the shower, do you have a set order of how you cleanse yourself? If you do, then you have a shower ritual. You turn the water on, stand in the water, grab the soap, apply the soap, rinse the soap off. That is a series of actions done in a prescribed order. A ritual. And you might shake it up with types of soap, temperature of water, unique tools of application for said soap, but this all amounts to the same actions and results. A ritual in which you cleanse yourself in water using soap.

But that’s a habit you say to yourself, something I need to do in order to be healthy and clean. If I don’t shower I will smell bad and get sick, people will notice I look gross and won’t want to be around me. So I have to shower if I want to feel and look good! It’s an important and hygienic habit, not a choice.

Exactly! An important habit that plays a vital role in your physical and mental well being. That is what a ritual is. So when you begin to imagine ritual in the religious and spiritual context, approach it with the same mentality. This is a habit you need to build for your physical and mental and spiritual health.

Ritual Engagement

Ritual’s basic functions serve to engage your physical senses and facilitate complex neurological processes that allow you to engage with the divine/other worldly/spiritual. To simplify, when you approach ritual in a spiritual or religious sense - ask yourself which of your 5 physical senses you are engaging for maximum efficacy. 

Touch - Smell - Sight - Taste - Sound

Without overcomplicating this simple introduction, the science supports that the more interactive with your senses something is the higher degree of success your brain has of translating the activity to memory. 

In Conclusion

Ritual is a fundamental practice of spiritual and religious expression. However, ritual can often feel like this large and intimidating practice that needs to be perfect in order to be correct. We see the rituals of the major religious establishments and popular spiritual expressions and we see these huge mosaics and complex, amazing experiences that we forget to zoom in on the details and appreciate that these grand designs are individually placed pieces of colored tiles first and foremost. 

Rituals can be as simple or as complex as you desire them to be. But above all other things, they should be meaningful. So if you feel like your rituals are too much or not enough, take a step back and re-visit the basic components of your ritual and why you’re doing it. Lay down colored tiles and you will have a mosaic.