Crafting Successful Rituals

Intent:  Your intent has to be outlined clearly.  Whether in your mind or written down.  You must be steadfast in what it is your true desires are because the Universe, or, your God, will respond precisely to what it is that gives off the strongest vibration from your soul.

Sacred Space:  The next step is creating sacred space.  Sacred means clean, organized, dedicated space where all of your spiRITUAL work, prayers, affirmations and communication with your spirit helpers will take place.  It is a good idea to periodically sage or effectively cleanse your sacred space often, especially if you do a lot of spiritual work.

Alters are another sacred area that must be treated with reverence.  If you have a working OR ancestor alter, you should take care in making sure that the space is tended to, cleansed periodically and sometimes even rearranged to suit the needs of your spirit helpers.  For example, you may offer fruit, but you may be lead one week to add coffee.  Never get stuck in any one way to decorate your space or perform your ritual.  Leave room for growth.

In a few spirit paths, you may hear of people casting a circle of protection.  This simply means that a circle, usually of salt, powdered eggshell, or some other substance is cast around the subject.  Although a circle can also be visualized as light around you, this refers to the casting of a physical circle of protection.  Now, this technique usually will only work when you are performing a ritual standing still or sitting in one spot.  However for me, a lot of my rituals are what I call "wholistic rituals".  Whether I am doing vigorous African dance or slow flowing movements, I get my entire mind, body and soul involved.  Therefore my circle of protection is more astral in nature, I create it with my mind and it extends vastly beyond this Universe.

Ritual Activity:  This is where you do the main part of your ritual.  You may wish to perform a ritual any number of ways.  Naked, robed, by candlelight, in the dark, with music, with chanting....any number of goals can be reached if you experiment and find out which ritual behaviors work best for you.  Pre-ritual actions may include bathing, meditation, dancing to build energy and calling in a circle of light for protection.  Then the heart of the ritual takes place, where all of the preparation that has built into the energy is released into your desire.  Simple.

Giving Thanks (Closing): You always close your ritual or spiritual work at the end of the session.  Give thanks for your protection, give thanks for any guidance and give thanks for the results that you KNOW are heading your way.  ALWAYS send your spirit helpers back in peace and divine love light.

When A Ritual Isn't Effective

My first thought is not going to be a negative one if any ritual doesn't seem to be working.  There may be a few reasons why your ritual may seem weak.  If you are not grounded or spiritually charged, you won't have enough spiritual and physical energy.  If you are stressed out or overworked, same thing.  There may be times when you have unknown people sending bad energy, or even doing spells on you to slow you down in different areas of your life.  You may have attracted a few low vibrating energies that are energy leaches.  Don't worry. Simply stay focused, cleanse yourself again and repeat the ritual when you have found your center.