Developing a tiny daily ritual practice has been instrumental in my personal and spiritual growth. It is also the non-negotiable foundation of every class I've ever taught. From community participants, dark goddess cohortees, university students and even children all learning is bookended by this: --craft a daily practice that is repeatable and achievable. usually this means keeping the practice short, frontloading it first thing in the day, and ritualizing something you alre

This introduces a series on crafting simple, effective ritual practices. Ritual makes us more connected, and also sovereign. : Ritual gives us foundation, and stretches our boundaries of self so that we do not have to carry the weight of transition on our own. : Ritual brings us home to the grace of being-ness, the trust that things are in alignment because we have shown up and done our work on every level. : Ritual roots us in place and community, even if we are solitary.

Return is the third phase of an initiatory rite of passage. In myth it often includes a ceremony of homecoming, coalescence, community honoring. On return the initiate may ritually take a new name, something symbolic of the new role or work they embody after transformation. Return can be a time of mourning, grieving and celebration simultaneously. It is paradoxical, an ending and a beginning, often without a place of pause in the cycle of transformation, but still marking a d

In the midst of transition I learned to trust my ceremonial practice. I’ve been through enough now to know it is the cornerstone of reciprocal consciousness, raising my awareness of the sacred balance of offering and receiving happening in every moment. When I feel off balance, overwhelmed or afraid, I turn to ritual — ritualizing my routine, my days and encoding my prayers in symbolic action.⠀⠀