“People need Rituals.
In today’s modern Western culture of progress and perpetual striving, the reflective
qualities of religion, meditation, and ritual reside in the margins of our
daily living. Yet many Western psyches yearn for a deeper experience with life
and its mysteries. Despite the dominance of a material and scientific
world-view, on a personal level, people still crave something more beautiful
and meaningful than what materiality and the analytics of logic can offer.”
These opening words of my book, Tending the Soul with Healing Ritual explain exactly why I wrote
the book. I grew up in a conservative Christian family, and even though I was
devout, I also found a lot of what was being taught from the pulpit lacking a
broader perspective and relevance to my life and my own philosophical
observations. In college, I gained exposure to a wide range of perspectives,
especially those argumentative against the belief-based traditions of my
heritage. The more I learned, the more confused I became.
This triggered a search, a quest, if you will for my own
sort of “Middle Way.” I began looking for deeper & broader wisdom that
could help me cultivate a life-design balanced between extremes: one that
benefitted from both reasonable rationality and empowering spirituality. My
love of literature and writing led me into old stories, and in the study of
myths I discovered that I was making a study of myself, as well as all humanity.
My studies have taken many turns and exposed me to many
viewpoints, some of those ideas, like those of the shamanic culture in Peru and
certain other Native American cultures, especially spoke to me. I would never
suggest a return to the old days and the old ways, such that we forfeit the
benefits we’ve gained from today’s panoramic view of cultures and philosophies.
Yet, by rediscovering the jewels of perennial traditions, we can enlighten and
enrich our existential dilemma with beauty, wisdom, and reason for being.
One of these jewels is the practice of Ritual. When I say
ritual, I suspect you’re imagining something totally benign like tailgating
parties or Thanksgiving dinner, or else something horror movie sinister with black
robes and virgins on a central stone. It’s true that some traditional rituals,
even ones practiced today are extremely harsh by modern standards. However, the
jewel of healing Rituals (which I capitalize to distinguish as a high form) is
more than some scripted act or idea. It is a vehicle for change. When we
perform Ritual, we soften our mental and physical patterns so that inner and
outer shifts can occur. Emotional and physical healing can be found when we
relax our bodies and minds such that the very patterns of our being are
influenced. Mystics have understood this metaphysically for millennia. Science
is now making headway in identifying what the sages of the ages have tried to
hand down.
This book is mostly a how-to book for creating personal
rituals for your needs. Part One of the book provides some introductory theory
about the whys and hows of Ritual. Especially important is how to create effective
and safe rituals. Part Two offers a set of rituals that can be practiced in
your home and yard or in other natural settings. For me, Ritual is a way of
stepping into my prayers, animating them so that my whole self—body, mind, and
soul—are aligned in one effort for healing and divine support.
