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{"id":379,"date":"2010-08-07T22:48:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-07T22:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/08\/ecstatic-ritual\/"},"modified":"2010-08-07T22:48:00","modified_gmt":"2010-08-07T22:48:00","slug":"ecstatic-ritual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/08\/ecstatic-ritual.html","title":{"rendered":"Ecstatic Ritual"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One of the items on the House of Danu<\/a> Gorsedd agenda that caught my attention was the workshop on ecstatic ritual.\u00a0 I consider myself a good ritualist, but the rituals I compose and present tend to be introspective, worshipful, and\/or celebratory.\u00a0 E<\/span>cstatic ritual is one of my weak points\u2026 quite possibly because ecstasy requires giving up control, and that is something I find very difficult to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thorn Coyle<\/a> led the workshop and the Lughnasadh ritual the next day.\u00a0 She said she was trying to cover in two hours what she normally covers in a full weekend.\u00a0 That\u2019s simply not possible, but I learned \u2013 and experienced \u2013 a lot in a short period of time.<\/span><\/p>\n

I took a few notes.\u00a0 The first was that good ritual connects with us on three levels:\u00a0 the animal level (intuition, emotion), the human level (intellect) and the divine level (gods and goddesses).\u00a0 It requires that everyone is fully present and contributing.\u00a0 And it requires something to get people energized:\u00a0 chanting, drumming, dancing, toning, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t overemphasize the importance of having everyone engaged.\u00a0 Not only does this add to the overall energy of the working, it helps minimize distractions.\u00a0 Knowing that there are no distractions and that everyone is taking things seriously makes it easier to turn loose of some of that control and let the gods come through.\u00a0 If you can see that everyone is singing and dancing and getting into the ritual, you\u2019ll be less worried about looking stupid \u2013 you\u2019re more confident that others understand what you\u2019re doing and why.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I can\u2019t overemphasize the importance of getting everyone energized \u2013 that\u2019s what enables a shift in consciousness (classical occult definition of magic:\u00a0 a change in consciousness in conformance with the will).\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

This is real, first-hand religion.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t some academic speculation on the implication of the nature of God, this is (and was) a direct experience of God\/dess.\u00a0 Or in this case, the direct experience of a specific god:\u00a0 Lugh<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

It was one of the strongest religious experiences I\u2019ve ever had.\u00a0 And it wasn\u2019t just some spiritual high (though it was most certainly that!) \u2013 it contained real wisdom and real direction and some real answers to some very real questions I\u2019ve been struggling with.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to Lugh for speaking to me.\u00a0 Thanks to Thorn for facilitating the experience.\u00a0 And thanks to everyone at the Gorsedd for participating and for creating an environment where I felt safe enough to lower the shields and let the magic flow.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"