Tips for Living Wicca: Follow Through Your Rituals

Ever been to a ritual (or performed a ritual) that opened with beautiful invocations, inspiring observances, went on to powerful divinations/works of magic/meditation-- and then the end of the ritual just kind of falls flat? 

It's like someone's thinking,  "Whew, I'm tired now; I did the important stuff, so let me say a really quick bye-bye to the Gods and Elements and let the circle just collapse-- the circle is open, yay! Time for the pot luck!"

I think it's a bad idea in general; first off, it feels kind of rude. Not properly bidding farewell to the deities or any forces and spirits you've invoked is kind of like being the host who hurries the guests out of the door as soon as dinner is over. 

Aside from being rude, it kind of leaves a lot of energies hanging in the air. It also doesn't give yourself proper time to wind down from ritual consciousness and come back to the natural world.

There are signs that you could be rushing the ending of your ritual:
- you're half out of it, kind of dazed and confused for a while after rituals.
- you've got tons of nervous energy and you feel like you're hyped up on too much caffeine
- the ritual area is left with energy feeling heavy, thick, confusing
- unusual things happen in the ritual area for long after the ritual is done

My Tip for You Today: Work on your follow-through when it comes to rituals. 

Have a closing that's balanced with your opening. For example, if you spent 10 minutes calling the quarters at the opening of the ritual, it should take approximately the same amount of time bidding them farewell and sending them away. If you made three passes to cast the circle, make three passes to draw it up and release it. If you took the time for a flowery invocation to invite your deities, take the time to properly thank them and bid them farewell.

Just as it takes you time to get into ritual consciousness, to invoke, to build energy, etc., it takes time to let everything get back to normal. Don't rush that process. 

Go over the closing of your current ritual format, or of the rituals you most commonly perform, and assess whether your closing balances out your opening. If not, rewrite it. 

In the coming months, as you perform your ritual, put as much time and attention into the closing as you do the opening. See if that balancing makes you feel any different. 

Do you feel your rituals are balanced?