Can you live as a Pagan without all of the attendant ritual?

Merrie Meet

The title of this piece comes from an interesting question that surfaced early this morning.  My life as a Pagan does not necessarily follow what some may call the “orthodox” route.  I spend very little time performing ritual work although I revere and hold space in honour of the various Gods and Goddesses

When asked I am more than happy to conduct Handfasting Ceremonies in as elaborate or simple a style as the couple want and / or require having performed both - calling the corners for one couple, not for the other, blessing the wine for one not for the other.

Personally in my own way I tend more towards Wicca than other facets of the pagan belief system . I also am very much aware that there many people walking the pagan path who are far more knowledgeable than me.

That said, I believe that the spirit of the lore “an it harm none, do what thou wilt” is very much upheld whichever way one tends to practice their belief.

Paganism is considered to be the fastest growing religion in the UK and it is becoming “on trend” to visit Glastonbury, Stonehenge or similar sites at the Summer Solstice and at Beltane.

But it is more than that, it is about Magick (the old spelling); it is about nature and natural law; it is about hearing the dawn chorus and it is also about seeing flowers taking root and blooming in what we would probably consider impossible circumstances.

Paganism is about being in tune with the energies of things that exsist in the seen and unseen world around us.  It is about taking off your shoes and socks and walking around barefoot, feeling the earth beneath your feet – it is also about being grounded in the present moment.

We follow the cycle of the year and within that cycle are contained the different seasons.  Each one of those seasons is great in its own right! 

Through celebrating the various festivals during the year we begin to appreciate the changes in the way the earth behaves and through following the seasons we can learn to appreciate and be thankful for the here and now instead of continually wishing our lives away.

Hand in hand with the above a large number of pagan people use the Tarot cards as a way to encourage thinking in different ways.  If you are feeling undecided about something then holding that question in your mind and pulling a random card from a Tarot deck can be a great way to focus your thinking.

If, like me, you believe that we are responsible for creating our own reality, then if follows that you must acknowledge the value of intent.  We create with our minds as well as with our physical bodies.  

Simply put “Intention is the belief that you can make anything happen by the power of thought” so, if you want to heal the planet or to make a move to a new location set your intent and go out and make it happen.  Intent is not just positive thinking because you cannot go and stand by your garden and say “there’s no weeds, there’s no weeds” over and over expecting the weeds to simply disappear.  You will have to take actions that align with your intent to make things happen”

There is something else that needs consideration – a law that states “whatever you put out into The Universe will be returned to you threefold” or put more simply “The Law of Return”.  The law applies to both good and bad so is it vital that you take great care of what you send out and if you are one of those people who send out “bad” vibes to people then perhaps you had better “watch out”

So now I think it is time to go back to my original question Can we really live as a Pagan without all of the attendant ritual? 

Personally I do not think that all the rituals are an essential part of every day life but I do believe that there are times where ceremony and ritual have a very important place in Pagan life

I hope that you have enjoyed this article and I would like to acknowledge Lee Kynaston for his article in The Telegraph as being a source of some of the information contained in this post.

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Blessed Be