When I was a li’l baby Pagan, my High Priestess was constantly tinkering with the ritual we used. It had started out as a standard Pagan Way type of script, but she kept throwing more stuff into it.
At one point, she explained that a lot of people kept the Pagan Way really light, so light, in fact, that it wasn’t very magical. People running a Pagan Way tended to be initiates who were using the Pagan Way structure as a way of training potential initiates. Since the ritual was not for initiates, they didn’t consider it “real,” so it didn’t have a lot of juicy stuff in it.
But, my teacher explained, she didn’t want to be in a ritual that wasn’t real. So she kept putting more and more juicy stuff in. No secrets, but material more resonant with what we learned from the secrets.
It should be real.
I was so profoundly influenced by that, and I still think about it to this day. It applies not just to Wicca, but to life. What we do should be real, it should count. The Pagan Way is an external, or exoteric, reflection of an internal, or esoteric, state of being. But it isn’t a fake. It isn’t a dummy. It isn’t, “let’s play the first hand without keeping score so you can learn the rules.” The Gods are real, we are real, so let’s be real.
I ageee 100% consider now that I am using the same rituals from her, that have been tinkered with by you, and also tinkered with by me. it keeps getting and better. And VERY real
I’m not sure I understand what you mean by ‘real’. Could you further explain what you mean? Are you just encouraging us to take things seriously or what???
Taking it seriously is a good way of putting it, but people should have fun too. What I mean is, treat ritual like it counts. Like the Gods are listening. Have fun, and know that the Gods are forgiving, so don’t panic if you screw up. But treat it like it matters.
I’ve met too many people who treat Pagan Way or Outer Court ritual like it’s a trial run; a dress rehearsal. Treat ritual like it’s opening night!
Yes! And I was “raised” that way, and believe that way, as well. We do PW-style sabbat rituals at a local shop, and I couldn’t believe it recently when someone asked me why we “put so much” into “just an open circle,” even though I’ve encountered that attitude before. To me, there’s no such thing as “just” any kind of circle. If I’m not going to *work* a ritual, I’m not going to bother to *do* the ritual at all.
I was asked to emergency-sub for a HPS (medical reasons) at an open ritual last year, they handed me the script, and the ritual was LAME. I sat down with the HP and said “I won’t do this unless it’s real” and quick rewrote the ritual. It kicked ass.