Ritual Writing

by Monica R. A.

I have been both solitary and a covener. When working as a solitary one usually does ritual by instinct, not writing a lot of things down, which can be bad at times because sometimes wonderful ritual is lost to the winds of the Universe. When I was in a coven, and you are dealing with multiple people in ritual you need a "script" so everyone knows what they are doing and to keep things on track and coordinate the ritual parts. I've been to many open rituals and what I don't like about most of them is what I call the "audience factor." I don't like to attend a ritual where there is an imaginary line in the sand, with the HPS and HP or a small group doing the ritual and everyone else an "audience member" or a minor participant. The coven I was in was non-hierarchal which meant no HPS/HP and that each person had an active part of ritual to play. Sometimes we would rotate in leading ritual but no one was relegated to "audience." After the coven separated, I became even more convinced in the validity non-hierarchal groups. Is it tricky? Yes. Does someone invariably feel that one person or another is trying to take control?--sometimes--but usually those people are the insecure ones. They sit back contribute little and then have a fit if someone rises to the occasion. In life, there are people who are born leaders and there are followers, it is the nature of people and of animals. In hierarchal groups, the secret is to give each person their chance to lead, to shine. When referring to circles, groups, and covens, I don't really like using the word "leader," I like the word "facilitator." So a non-hierarchal group can have one or multiple facilitators without jeopardizing the non-hierarchal nature of a group. For a non-hierarchal group to work successfully, I believe all members must play an active role in ritual, this gives each member a unique and personal experience to have during ritual and to take home with them afterwards. If you are considering starting a non-hierarchal group it may be difficult to find already written, "canned," rituals so be prepared to write they from scratch, but I believe that makes them much more personal and magickal because your energy went into writing and choosing the words and actions.

Well, I thought I'd give this covenspace a try.  Don't know much about it but the set up seemed very easy.   I thought this might be nice because I always feel I need to edit myself on my Space because I have a mixed group of friends on there and I'm not out of the proverbial broomcloset to many.  So here I thought I'd be able to let my hair down and talk witch with my like-minded peeps!  : )