There are times when you may be asked to facilitate a ritual at short notice. Maybe a situation has arisen which necessitates a ritual. Perhaps the scheduled celebrant lets you down at the last minute. Whatever the circumstance, if you needed to write and perform a ritual at short notice with a disparate group of people, could you do it?

That was the basis of Mima and Thea’s ritual workshop at the Occult Conference in Glastonbury. We wanted to work with whoever came to the workshop to create a completely new ritual which we would then carry out. With only an hour for our workshop, it might seem a tall order, but if you have a strong grounding in the principles of ritual, it can be done and done well.

After a brief introductory discussion, the first step was to decide on a theme. The workshop participants decided they wanted to write a healing ritual, so every ritual element was designed with that in mind.

There are three basic stages to any ritual: opening; liminal state; closing. The ritual we created kept healing at the forefront of each stage, with all participants fully focused on sending healing to ourselves, the conference, the town, and out to the world. It was a truly beautiful experience.

What was really special about it is that it was a ritual that probably none of us would have written on our own, but collectively, we came up with something new which fitted its stated purpose perfectly. One thing everyone noted was that the rainfall at the end was particularly magickal. Something I found interesting was that the noise of the traffic outside the town hall morphed into the sound of rain, a little confirmation that we really had achieved something transformational.

Our ritual is suitable for use both for solo practitioners and with a group. Here’s the outline, which you are more than welcome to take and use yourself.

The Occult Conference 2019 Healing Ritual

Sit in a circle (if you are working with a group). Select one person to be the leader. They will decide when the time is right to move to the next stage of the ritual and will start the next stage. Everyone else will follow their lead, which means there’ll be a gradual transition from one part of the ritual to the next.

Make yourself comfortable and close your eyes.

State your purpose: “We carry out this ritual to raise healing energy, both for ourselves and for the world.”

Opening

Gently hum to raise energy. Sway from side to side. You may, if you wish, raise your arms and slowly wave them in the air.

As you do this, visualize yourself gradually transforming into a tree. Draw energy up from the ground through your roots and see branches and leaves growing out up above, reaching out to the sky. Imagine your tree is part of a protective circle, becoming a sacred forest grove for your ritual.

Liminal State

Start to vibrate ‘Oh.’ As you do, see the forest grove being filled with a beautiful green energy.

When you are ready, accept this healing into yourself and then start to send it outwards. Send it to everyone in your immediate vicinity, then further out to your town, your country, until eventually the whole world is filled with this wonderful green healing energy.

Closing

Fall silent. Gradually pull the energy back into you. Turn your attention to the forest grove you created and bring the leaves and branches down, before visualizing the roots coming back into you, all the energy you used to create sacred space returning to its rightful place.

Finally, visualise rainfall coming down on you, the water washing away the remnants of the trees, sending away the last of the healing energy you created to where it’s needed.

If you would like help with your ritual technique or would like to participate in a weekend of transformative ritual, bookings are now being taken for our next spiritual retreat. Visit the events page for further details.