I think as a society, we have become very lazy. In our haste to break free from organized religion and the patriarchy, in search of individuality and a sense of freedom, we stopped practicing and believing in the power of ritual. We stopped sharing space, pondering the energies that hold us together and honoring their power.
We do this out of fear of falling back into a pattern of a dogmatic belief system; we also do this out of respect for one another, honoring our differences allowing each of us the opportunity to contemplate and form opinions that may differ from our own. I do believe, though, that our good intentions fueled a passive nature and slow but steady giving away of our power. Our power was taken from us in the past, and it was most likely unavoidable. We did not have the choices we have today. Survival was our instinct, and it served us well – making our choice to be passive today all the more detrimental to our evolution.
Calling back our power is a conscious choice (a choice that needs to be made often). One of the ways we choose to call our power back is with ritual. Ritual is time set aside to honor yourself not only as an individual but also as your cosmic self, the significant piece to a giant puzzle. In ritual, we honor everyone and everything, all pieces big and small, all elements, all energies, every breath in and out. We honor Life. We celebrate our existence and the choice we made to be here at his time on this planet in this Galaxy. We bow to Mother Earth and Father Sun in complete humility and gratefulness. In ritual, we communicate to each other, ” I honor the light in you as the light in me.” In ritual, we bless the plants and animals that sustain our life force.
Most importantly, when we take time to practice a ritual, we allow ourselves a few moments to set our masks aside. We take the shackles from our wrists and ankles, and we unlock our hearts that we hid so well. For a few short moments, we align, and then we remember.
And when we remember… well, you tell me.