Online Rituals as One Means Toward Solidarity: Part Two

My hope to finish this two part blog post tomorrow turned into many days due to increased seizures, a new job, and life in general. I want to get back to the blog and interacting with all of you wonderful readers.

During my involvement with Shikhena Mountainwater, my husband, Michael, and I started the Elodrym. It was a group for people who practiced magic and considered themselves mages. We had gatherings online and in person.

An online ritual requires a person to be able to type and focus their energy. Members were encouraged to use incense or candles in their personal space. Then we applied astral projection and astral temple techniques to meet in a similar imaged location. Moonspells rituals had taught me how to lead these online gatherings. The obvious difficulty with an online chat ritual in the 90s was that when people were instructed to close their eyes and meditate, there wasn’t really a way to notify each person at the same time to open their eyes. There were a few times we had to wait for fifteen minutes while someone was caught in a hypnotic state and I wasn’t there in person to gently touch them or for them to hear my voice.

Today rituals don’t have to be prerecorded as they are by the Unitarian Universalists or restricted to typing. Rituals in Google+ conferences or Skype bring an even greater sense of contact through visual and audio communication. As each element, spirit, or deity is called the Internet circle is more vibrant with the emotions in a person’s voice and their physical expressions and gestures.

Online ritual doesn’t replace the comforts from human touch and it never will. But it can offer a sense of Pagan or magical community and solidarity to people who otherwise wouldn’t have one due to location or disability. As technology continues to improve so will these rituals.