Ritual

I find myself sitting by a fire, one of the regular fires I raise to mark the full moon or the important points in the transit wheel of the year, and again my mind wanders down a familiar path...ritual. Ritual is something that I've been mulling over for years. I recently read William Ayot's book 'Re-enchanting the Forest; Meaningful Ritual in a Secular World', it was a fascinating read, using ethnographic and anthropological examples to show how ritual, which remains alive in other cultures, has been lost from our culture and that we are possibly worst for it. We had it, but we lost it, sadly the story of British culture in general. I like ritual, I'd say I'm a person who naturally ritualizes activities and looks for deeper connections. I enjoy the group events I attend with local groves, and the communal rituals up on Glastonbury Tor or at the Henges. I enjoy participating and take a lot from those events, as well as the words and practices therein. I dig the acknowledgement and affirmation of natures cycles, the natural world and our place in it. Although I want to develop rituals and practice of my own, the group ones don't always feel natural when I'm on my own. I want to create something more personal, though keep/adapt some existing aspects, maybe. Tonight under the moon, warmed by the fire and enthused by Ayot's book, I resolved to create my own personal rituals.