How to Write a Ritual
What is the purpose of the ritual?
Are you crafting a ritual for meditation? A spell? A sabbat? A lunar phase? The first part to writing a ritual is what type of ritual youβre wanting to write.
What do you want to include in a ritual?
Something that I always incorporate in my rituals is a shielding and meditative portion. I find that meditation and shielding is incredibly important to my ritual work, particularly if youβre working with deities or spirits.
Determine time, place, etc.
Determining the time, place, location, and so forth, of a ritual is incredibly important. When writing rituals, I also like to take into consideration day of the week, the weather, phase of the moon, and even the time. All of these can factor into the power and the energy of the ritual.
Cleansing and Protection
One of the most important factors, at least to me, is cleansing. I never, ever do a ritual without cleansing beforehand because I donβt know what kind of energy Iβll be bringing to the ritual. Cleansing is a good way of ridding myself of energy that wonβt benefit me throughout my ritual.
Some practitioners (myself included) also like to cast circles prior to starting the ritual. If youβre unsure of how to cast a circle, hereβs a pretty good video of protection (just be aware that the OP is a Wiccan and that does inform their craft!) OR hereβs a great post by @themori-witch about warding! Reasons to ward can include the energy spilling out into an unprotected space (i.e. if you live in an apartment) and helps really focus the energy, or at least thatβs my experience. Every witchβs experience is different!
Invoking/Summoning Entities and Using Energy
Some rituals will invoke or summon various entities (i.e. ancestors, guardians, elements, etc.). Determine prior to your ritual what kind of entity youβll be invoking or summoning and determining that will help focus the energy of your ritual.
The same thing goes for what kind of energy youβll be using. When I used to practice with a grove of Druids, we would invoke a lot of Norse divine energy and that energy is radically different compared to fey/fairy energy or even celestial/planetary energy. Determining how youβll use this energy will help you figure out how youβll raise your energy, which will help focus it. For example, when I work with Apollon in a solar ritual, I find that singing or dancing really helps focus that energy since he is a creative god.
Ritual Components
Decide on which components youβll use in your ritual. This can include things like athames, candles, incense, poppets, animals, oils, herbs, etc.
Dissolving Protection/Circles and Resolution
Once your ritual is complete, youβll want to take down the protections and also release the entities that youβve invited. This is the perfect opportunity to provide an offering to the entities you worked with since entities ought to be thanked for their participation. Dissolving protections and circles also refers to cleaning up the mundane part of the ritual (i.e. disposing of cups or plates, etc.)
