Ritual and Reconstruction

This brings us up against some interesting questions about rituals: who does them, what they mean, and what they accomplish.

Some people seem to regard rituals as a kind of tool or device, to be operated carefully according to specific instructions, to achieve some specific goal of interaction with the gods. As in making a soufflé, the recipe has to be carried out just right, or the result will be ruined. This attitude is most visible in those who believe in Operant Magic, although I catch a whiff of this in a lot of other people, too, especially when a ritual is underway.

As I observe my Reconstructionist friends, their emphasis seems to be on continuity. As when playing Mozart, one wants a faithful presentation of notes on the page, which are then to be played accordingly, because, after all, that's Mozart. By dealing in the genuine article, they say, one is more likely to recreate a mindset that fits best with our gods. Any invention was done a long time ago, and is now properly out of our hands. Their discourse reminds me of Catholics who will only attend a Mass in Latin. For some people, that kind of thing is especially important.

For myself, it is important to carry out ritual according to the script, but the script doesn't have to be from the Viking Age. Good ritual functions as a communication and a remembrance. I'm talking to my friends of the Aesir and Vanir, and taking time to deliberately remember things that are important. As an entry point to those tasks, the Hammer Rite suits me just fine. I won't be surprised if Heathens are still doing it a long time from now, maybe even at holiday parties put on by their grandchildren.

I'm sure there are other reasons for doing rituals. As I wrote here at Patheos in "The Rules of Modern Heathenry," there is room in our community for a lot of diversity in what we do and why we do it. With care and mutual respect, this will make us all stronger.

As for the Hammer Rite, I have a hypothesis, and perhaps someone non-Heathen and non-Pagan reading this will have an opportunity to test it.

I think there's something innately appealing and even useful about opening a rite by facing in four directions and addressing each of them. Such rites exist in Ásatrú and in Wicca, although with different details and intentions. Similar practices are shown in movies I've seen about Native American practices. Whether these Indian rituals are genuine or were made up for the movies is almost beside the point, as my point is made either way: somebody thought it was important to do this.

My hypothesis is that the Four Directions ritual pattern is statistically likely to occur when people are creating religious rituals. To test this, ask a group of otherwise-unprepared persons to put themselves in mind of some generic Earth-centered reverence, and then invent a short ritual to create a context for that reverence. My claim is that, in a group of two or three dozen ritual inventors, something resembling the Four Directions pattern will occur at least once, and more likely several times. Be sure not to let the participants see each other performing their rituals until they have documented them. If you manage to carry out this experiment, please let me know the results.

Hail Thor, and all the Aesir and Vanir!