I rejected the religion offered me in youth early on. And while I haven’t found a tradition I adhere to, in my adult years, ritual enriches my world. These rituals are personal--doing something that reflects my intentions for the year on dates like my birthday, naming what I can touch and see and feel to ground myself, spending time weekly moving my body in the natural world.
Love this, thank you for sharing. Ritual plays such an important role in my life as well. Most that I practice nowadays are one's that come spontaneously, naturally, sourced from the spiritual impulses inwardly (rather than being prescribed from any outer source). It's a gift to find these and cultivate them.
I especially relate to your ritual of moving in the natural world. I am starting a garden soon. And I wonder if the rituals I build around that will be just as fruitful.
Moved out of Salvation Army upbringing and working as an SA officer in my 20s into a limbo wilderness. It was more like an unravelling; no encounter with alchemical fire, a depression rather than a profound undoing. Many years later, I find myself on the edges of British druidcraft, ritually celebrating the wheel of the year, but restless, still nomadically searching for 'home' while knowing that the journey itself is home.
Fascinating, Deryn! Not the first I've heard of those with a traditional background moving towards druidic traditions. It's interesting how many of us seem to find our ways to a relationship and spirituality of nature. May be compensatory as many modern religions don't take that into account (at least obviously).
I can relate to that restlessness, feeling untethered. I try to find 'home' in all the different ways that I define spirituality. An eclectic mixing pot, part of my inherited traditions, part something new and self-discovered, etc. Thanks for sharing.
Beautifully woven, thank you. I experienced the same through the Catholic Church and Christian school I attended which more resembled a cult. Yet I felt that in nature where I spent most my time and fantasized about witchcraft, before I knew anything of Wicca. The body knows and ritual is necessary to release, curious to see how this may evolve in our lifetime, the pull away from religions and new rituals forming in its wake.
It is so interesting how that happens, isn't it? I recall from a very early age having interest in the elements, both their deeper meaning and how we could work with them ritually. This was pre-internet, I am not even sure where the desire came from. As you said, the body knows and ritual helps release, the enactment. The threads of spiritual life have to keep evolving, whether in community or on one's own, it seems. When it doesn't, that's when all the energy seems to go out of it. It will be interesting to see how this plays out!
Yes! I was always drawn to water to an extreme and it wasn’t until I was old enough to leave the church and explore mysticism and religion on my own I learned my own chart is 80% water. Children are so much more in tune with their body as I see with my son. A PhD student on TT explored the anticipated rise in nihilism in the next two generations due to current trends of younger people leaving the church which I found quite intriguing. As well as the need for a secular or possible spiritual creation of new rituals to stave off the risk of increased s**cide rates.
I've always been drawn to water too, and then when I found out I was earth, I was really sad (I was maybe 11 years old haha). I am dominantly earth in my chart, lots of Capricorn. But I have moon in Scorpio, so maybe that's where the love of water comes from?
That hypothesis makes sense. The religious attitude of the psyche is where we draw a lot of meaning and grapple with reality (and the transcendent). When the systems fall apart, life can feel meaningless, unmoored, etc. I wonder if the rise in interests with tarot and astrology are part of the move towards a new secular spirituality. Many are finding a sense of home and depth in these practices.
I found reading this really interesting. As someone raised Catholic who works as a Catholic Music Director, and whose family is VERY religious, I find that there is a sacredness in Catholicism and Catholic Mysticism that I can't extricate from my personality or my identity. At the same time, all of my occult practices and interests take up so much of my time outside of the Church environment. I find there's this missing half of spirituality for me that I am always trying to find. If there was a temple to the Goddess or Dark Feminine, or a monthly/weekly ceremony held for Chiron or Asclepius or Venus, I would go. It's harder when you don't have a physical, designated sacred space, because then one practice is shared, and the other is in solitude. And there's something really powerful in community.
You bring up such an important point. Coming together to practice spirituality in community is something that I feel many of us (who have lost our religion or no longer feel connected to older traditions) lack. Some modern, folk, and occult practices are done with others, but not to the scale that traditional religions are. So many are left to practice on their own, which is a loss.
It's a difficult issue to reconcile. Especially if you want to weave traditional worship with something more occult or fringe. You don't quite fit into either space, ya know?
By the way, have you read The Contemplative Tarot by Brittany Muller?
I rejected the religion offered me in youth early on. And while I haven’t found a tradition I adhere to, in my adult years, ritual enriches my world. These rituals are personal--doing something that reflects my intentions for the year on dates like my birthday, naming what I can touch and see and feel to ground myself, spending time weekly moving my body in the natural world.
Thank you for sharing this story.
Love this, thank you for sharing. Ritual plays such an important role in my life as well. Most that I practice nowadays are one's that come spontaneously, naturally, sourced from the spiritual impulses inwardly (rather than being prescribed from any outer source). It's a gift to find these and cultivate them.
I especially relate to your ritual of moving in the natural world. I am starting a garden soon. And I wonder if the rituals I build around that will be just as fruitful.
Wonderful! I’ve no doubt it will.
I sure hope so! I plan to report on it here as I get deeper into gardening :)
Moved out of Salvation Army upbringing and working as an SA officer in my 20s into a limbo wilderness. It was more like an unravelling; no encounter with alchemical fire, a depression rather than a profound undoing. Many years later, I find myself on the edges of British druidcraft, ritually celebrating the wheel of the year, but restless, still nomadically searching for 'home' while knowing that the journey itself is home.
Fascinating, Deryn! Not the first I've heard of those with a traditional background moving towards druidic traditions. It's interesting how many of us seem to find our ways to a relationship and spirituality of nature. May be compensatory as many modern religions don't take that into account (at least obviously).
I can relate to that restlessness, feeling untethered. I try to find 'home' in all the different ways that I define spirituality. An eclectic mixing pot, part of my inherited traditions, part something new and self-discovered, etc. Thanks for sharing.
Beautifully woven, thank you. I experienced the same through the Catholic Church and Christian school I attended which more resembled a cult. Yet I felt that in nature where I spent most my time and fantasized about witchcraft, before I knew anything of Wicca. The body knows and ritual is necessary to release, curious to see how this may evolve in our lifetime, the pull away from religions and new rituals forming in its wake.
It is so interesting how that happens, isn't it? I recall from a very early age having interest in the elements, both their deeper meaning and how we could work with them ritually. This was pre-internet, I am not even sure where the desire came from. As you said, the body knows and ritual helps release, the enactment. The threads of spiritual life have to keep evolving, whether in community or on one's own, it seems. When it doesn't, that's when all the energy seems to go out of it. It will be interesting to see how this plays out!
Yes! I was always drawn to water to an extreme and it wasn’t until I was old enough to leave the church and explore mysticism and religion on my own I learned my own chart is 80% water. Children are so much more in tune with their body as I see with my son. A PhD student on TT explored the anticipated rise in nihilism in the next two generations due to current trends of younger people leaving the church which I found quite intriguing. As well as the need for a secular or possible spiritual creation of new rituals to stave off the risk of increased s**cide rates.
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I've always been drawn to water too, and then when I found out I was earth, I was really sad (I was maybe 11 years old haha). I am dominantly earth in my chart, lots of Capricorn. But I have moon in Scorpio, so maybe that's where the love of water comes from?
That hypothesis makes sense. The religious attitude of the psyche is where we draw a lot of meaning and grapple with reality (and the transcendent). When the systems fall apart, life can feel meaningless, unmoored, etc. I wonder if the rise in interests with tarot and astrology are part of the move towards a new secular spirituality. Many are finding a sense of home and depth in these practices.
I found reading this really interesting. As someone raised Catholic who works as a Catholic Music Director, and whose family is VERY religious, I find that there is a sacredness in Catholicism and Catholic Mysticism that I can't extricate from my personality or my identity. At the same time, all of my occult practices and interests take up so much of my time outside of the Church environment. I find there's this missing half of spirituality for me that I am always trying to find. If there was a temple to the Goddess or Dark Feminine, or a monthly/weekly ceremony held for Chiron or Asclepius or Venus, I would go. It's harder when you don't have a physical, designated sacred space, because then one practice is shared, and the other is in solitude. And there's something really powerful in community.
You bring up such an important point. Coming together to practice spirituality in community is something that I feel many of us (who have lost our religion or no longer feel connected to older traditions) lack. Some modern, folk, and occult practices are done with others, but not to the scale that traditional religions are. So many are left to practice on their own, which is a loss.
It's a difficult issue to reconcile. Especially if you want to weave traditional worship with something more occult or fringe. You don't quite fit into either space, ya know?
By the way, have you read The Contemplative Tarot by Brittany Muller?
I haven't read it but just added it to my list <3