Ten Questions to Ask When Planning A Ritual

1. What is the Purpose of the Ritual?

Why am I doing this, what do we wish to accomplish, and what is the problem we wish to solve, etc. Answers can be anything from the removal or nuclear weapons to simply having a good time. This dictates the theme.

2. What time is it?

What time of the year, season, moon cycle, day or night, time of your life, time in a group’s life (i.e. initiation, closing, etc.) or what time in a succession of rituals (such as planetary […], which may go in a certain order)?

3. Who is it for, and who will take part?

This encompasses number of people, level of experience, age, physical capabilities, children, all women, all men, mixed, closed intimate circle, large public circle, large public ritual, or anything in between.

4. Who (or What) do we wish to influence?

This is slightly different from #1, and may also be skipped, as in the purpose of simply having a good time. If our purpose is to remove nuclear weapons, we may wish to influence politicians in Washington, or we may wish to influence families in the neighborhood to inspire them to write letters to congressmen.

5. Where will it be held?

Indoors, outdoors, in a home, temple, classroom, etc. It is integral to know where the ritual will be held, as this affects all manner of logistics regarding the ritual and its format, setup, arrival time, and more.

6. How long should it last?

This related to #2 and #5, for outdoor, nighttime rituals may need to be shorter than others. It also must take into consideration who will be there- i.e. children cannot sit through long rituals. Subroutines of the ritual should also be planned (i.e. casting the circle: 5 minutes, invocations: 10 minutes, etc).

7. What do we have to work with?

If it’s outdoors on a full Moon, you have the time and the place to work with, and whatever elements they invoke. A mountaintop gives you one thing, an ocean another. What tools do you have in the way of invocations, skills, people, robes, dances, chants, etc? Sort through what you have from your Book of Shadows (if you have one) and lay out all the things that are appropriate. You may not use them all but you can sort and order them later when the skeleton comes into play.

8. What will be the main techniques?

Meditation, dancing, chanting, healing, drinking, walking, drumming, etc. Which is most appropriate to the purpose and theme?

9. How do you microcosmically symbolize what you wish to work?

If you wish to cross the abyss, how can you represent that in the ritual? If you wish to open people’s hearts, how can that be symbolized in a subliminal way?

10. What should be on the Altar(s)?

This comes out of the symbolism of #9. If you are working on Air, then you would have feathers and incense. Conversely, if you are working on Earth, you might have crystals or plants.

By this time, if these questions have been asked and answered, a general threat should start to come through. Be creative. Look for narrative threads, and how one part can flow into another naturally and gracefully while feeding the central theme and purpose that was chosen. Once the theme becomes clear and you know what you have to work with, these answers can be fed into the liturgical structure outline to create the actual ceremony. It is far more important however, that the ritual works on a gut level, than actually having every little thing in place. Give yourself full rein for experimentation, and know that there is no one true right and only way.