Alexandra Musser 11/2023
Reviewing Real Life Rituals by Karyl Huntley
This little book is a ‘must have’ for anyone thinking of leading any ritual. From explaining the importance of rituals as a form of alignment with the sacredness of the world around us to pointing out that human-kind is made up of the same elements as the clay and salt water that make up the land and the seas to pointing out that our bodies follow the same circadian rhythm as the seasons and the hibernating animals, to even pointing out the seasons and stages of own lives, this book shows that we are inextricably tied to ritual by our very being. It defines ritual as a ’conscious act that represents something deeper than the act itself.’
In part one, the book explains the meaning of sacred circles and describes the four sacred aspects of life – direction, element, energy, and symbol, the sacred elements of ritual and earth. Every element has a symbol and a color, which is excellent information necessary to create an immersive ritual. The right color candle and the right symbol will serve to evoke the full meaning behind the ritual. It teaches us how to create a sacred space by calling in the elements and provides exact wording for the ritual’s leader and participants. It gives us examples of types of symbols to be used and their significance or meaning. Symbols deepen the experience of ritual. For example, a ball of yarn is used to symbolize connectivity, earth or rocks are used to symbolize service on the planet, and the flame represents passion, eternality, or energy.
The section on ways to release gives us ideas as to what we can use for a release ritual – burning photos or papers, stirring water counterclockwise, burying a symbol, walking across a threshold, breaking a symbol, or burning a flame are just some ideas given. It discusses the meaning of altars, their history, and the different types of altars we can construct ourselves – advent altar, first harvest altar, blessed loved one’s altar, membership altars, and more.
Part two deals with seasonal celebration rituals. It gives us ten ritual celebrations with specific instructions, wording, and elements. Rituals are generally attributed to paganism, yet the book explains that originally, pagans were people who lived away from towns, mainly country folk. It came to mean anyone who is not who is not Christian, Jewish, or Islamic in faith. Arising from religious fear, paganism came to include cultism, barbarianism, devil worship, and idolatry. These rituals are intended to bring anyone, regardless of faith, closer to sacred seasons of our beloved earth.
Part three gives us detailed rituals for all aspects of life – blessings, coming of age, marriage, divorce, graduation, pets, memorials. It’s a fabulous resource because it covers everything imaginable in rituals, and, with so many choices, including one for getting a driver’s license, it provides plenty of inspirational material that can be modified to create a ritual nor mentioned in the book.
Part four teaches us about the wheels. The wheels are circular symbols illustrating the flow of ‘space, time and energy’, showing the different aspects of life celebrated by the rituals we’ve learned about in this book. This brief section of the book illustrates the wheels, including the Celtic cross wheel, wheel of the year, year of directions, wheel of the hero’s journey, wheel of life’s passages, and more.
Ways to use the wheel is to actually create one on the earth or the ground we stand on and place ourselves on it during the ceremony or ritual. For example, standing on the west side, we might honor the harvest, the fall season, tributes, or retirement. Standing on the west side, we might look across to the east and remind ourselves of new beginnings, or we might stand in the center and make ourselves aware of the full spectrum of possibilities around us.
This book is a great resource for understanding the meaning of rituals, their purpose, their history, and a ‘how to’ for anyone seeking to bring more meaning through ritual to any life event. It is a flexible guide that can be overlaid with religious overtones from any religion for those who might be addressing a ‘pagan-fearing’ denomination. Therefore, the Mother-Father God, Jesus, God, Allah, the Buddha, and Jewish celebrations like Passover or Hanukkah. All special days celebrate events marked with symbolism, take place during a season, and include a compass point, a place on earth, and the future coming of a new day, year, or season.