Religion
5 Ways Rituals Help Guide You Through Transitions
Celebrating the power of the passage.
Posted September 7, 2011 Reviewed by Jessica Schrader
You may be wondering what rituals have to do with change and transition, since many of us think of ritual as something primarily connected to religion. While this is true, ritual goes well beyond the prayers and ceremonies usually associated with religion.
When you set a clear intention and are fully engaged on every level—spiritually, emotionally, physically, and psychologically—all rituals are meaningful. In other words, when they're "alive" for you personally, rituals connect you to something larger than yourself.
While most of us connect with change and transition on an intellectual level (since the process of moving through change is often logical, practical, and linear), the better approach might include both practical and creative elements. So while we seek practical solutions, we also want to give credence and voice to the intuitive, imaginative parts of our self, and to the process of change itself.
Rituals are symbolic enactments that represent what change really means to you personally and as such, are powerful tools that help transform you through transition. So here are five significant ways to think about how rituals can help you creatively move through change and transition.
Rituals awaken that which is eternal within you and show you how your individual life is part of a much grander design. Rituals connect you with nature and the seasons. The ongoing transitions that occur in nature provide the prototype for change. By watching the constant shifts and turns in nature you can recognize your own cycles of life, your own rhythms as a human. Rituals remind you of the interconnectedness of all of life.
Rituals connect you to your ancestors and to your heritage. Their creation and performance help you to understand where you came from. As a bridge between past and future, they enable you to access, honor, and strengthen your own identity.
Rituals provide an ongoing way to structure your life. They help you find and define the patterns and cycles in your individual life that might otherwise appear to be random happenings if viewed separately. The ritual process provides a sense of stability and continuity amidst the ever-changing, hectic and often chaotic world in which we all live. Rituals engender a sense of healing calm and a feeling of trust in life's flow and forward movement.
Rituals remove you from the ordinary flow of life and place you in sacred space. It is outside the realm of ordinary space and time that rituals create their magic through the mystical language of symbolic reenactment.
Rituals carry you into deeper levels of consciousness. By engaging all of your senses through the creative use of ritual elements inherent in the process, you're able to bypass the intellect in favor of your intuitive, instinctive knowing. Rituals help you balance the work of your outer and inner lives and allow for the full expression of your soul and spirit.
Rituals give meaning to your journey and a sense of purpose to your life. Rituals provide you with a sense of renewal. They offer a time-out from your everyday routine, habitual existence. In ritual you have the opportunity to rest, replenish, and restore your self on your journey through life.
The ongoing creation and performance of rituals prepares you for the next stages of life, helping you to reevaluate your journey thus far and to reaffirm that the path you're traveling is the right one for you.
Rituals that mark "rites of passage"—major transitional turning points—help you "connect the dots." The classic rite of passage is a universal structuring device existing within virtually every culture. Major life events that honor changes in status or identity within any given society are marked by the three-fold process of separation, transition, and incorporation. You separate from the familiar, transition through unknown territory, and return, transformed by the process.
While all rituals have the potential to transport you to that timeless place, rites of passage have the unique power to transform. So transformative are rites of passage that even a single one can divide one's life into "before and after." And successive passage rites for life transitions can help organize and define one's entire life.
By creating and performing personally expressive rituals for your self you move freely into your own spiritual life, taking charge of marking and honoring the transitions, the special moments in your life that you find significant, in ways you find personally meaningful. Rituals are tools that give you the freedom to take responsibility for the direction and purpose of your life.