This essay is an edited excerpt from the Introduction to the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion
Ritual is often described as “sacred space”. I understand that to mean “awareness of the space as sacred”. All space is sacred, what shifts is our awareness – awareness of the depth of spacetime, all things and all beings. I understand “sacred awareness” as an awareness of deep relationship and identity with the very cosmic dynamics that create and sustain the Universe; or an awareness of what is involved in the depth of each moment, each thing, each being. Ritual is a space and time given to expression, contemplation and nurturance of that depth … or at least something of it. Ritual may be both an expression of deep inner truths – perceived relationship to self, Earth and Cosmos, as well as being a mode of teaching and drawing forth deeper participation.
Essentially, as I understand it, ritual is a way of entering into the depth of the present moment … what is deeply present right here and now, a way of entering deep space and deep time, which is not somewhere else but is right here. Every-thing, and every moment, has Depth – more depth than we usually allow ourselves to contemplate, let alone comprehend. This book, this paper, this ink, the chair, the floor – each has a history and connections that go back, all the way back to Origins. This moment you experience now, in its particular configuration, place, people present, subtle feelings, thoughts, and propensity towards certain directions or outcomes, has a depth – many histories and choices that go back … ultimately all the way back to the beginning. Great Origin is present at every point of Space and Time – right here. In ritual we are plugging our awareness into something of that.
In this Holy Context then – in this mindframe of knowing connection, everything one does is a participation in the creation of the Cosmos: for the tribal indigenous woman, perhaps the weaving of a basket; for you, perhaps preparing a meal. It is possible to regain this sense, to come to feel that the way one breathes makes a difference – that with it, you co-create the present and the future, and you may even be a blessing on the past. In every moment we receive the co-creation, the work, of innumerable beings, of innumerable moments, and innumerable interactions of the elements, in everything we touch … and so are we touched by them. The local is our touchstone to the Cosmos – it is not separate. Ritual may be a way into this awareness, into strengthening it.
Starhawk says that “to do ritual, you must be willing to be transformed in some way”[i], because that is its very nature, that is, it is “trans-forming”. Ritual can be as simple as having a cup of tea or reading a poem, or high drama like classical theatre or a rave concert; in either case it is “time out” – entering another realm, to a greater or lesser degree. As with having a cup of tea, it is done with the expectation of rejuvenation/renewal. Humans actually do ritual all the time. Starhawk notes that “ritual is the way culture enacts and affirms its values”[ii]. But this enactment and affirmation is usually unconscious, and thus the participants remain unaware of what is actually being activated; for example, going to the pub or bar is a popular sanctioned ritual – time out, imbibing “spirit”. And whereas once, the ancestors used to sit around the fireplace and tell the cosmic stories; now most often humans sit around the TV in the modern cave, and the story that is told is that the world is a collection of objects to be consumed[iii]. As ritual is done consciously more often, we become aware of the symbols and myths that we live and can choose more consciously the tools with which we shape our lives. Ritual at its best is the art form of a living cosmology.
Ritual is actually “doing”, not just theorizing. We can talk about our personal and cultural disconnection endlessly, but we need to actually change our minds. Ritual can be an enabling practice – a catalyst/practice for personal and cultural change. It is not just talking about eating the pear, it is eating the pear. It is not just talking about sitting on the cushion (meditating), it is sitting on the cushion. It is a cultural practice wherein we tell a story/stories about what we believe to be so most deeply, about who and what we are. Ritual can be a place for practicing a new language, a new way of speaking, or “spelling” – a place for practicing “matristic storytelling”[iv] if you like, that is, for telling stories of the Mother, of Earth and Cosmos as if She were alive and sentient. We can “play like we know it”, so that we may come to know it[v]. Ritual then is a form of social action.
I find it useful to describe ritual using and extending Ken Wilber’s words to describe a “transpersonal practice” that is needed for real change: as one that discloses “a deeper self (I or Buddha) in a deeper community (We or Sangha) expressing a deeper truth (It or Dharma)”[vi]. It discloses a deeper beautiful self (the “I”/Virgin/Buddha), in a deeper relational community (the “We”/Mother/Sangha), expressing a deeper transformative truth (the “It”/Old One/Dharma)”. This is the “unitive body”, the “microcosmos” that Charlene Spretnak refers to[vii].
According to Swimme, the Universe is one huge celebration – expanding, exuberantly rushing away from a center with news of that center … an urgent unfolding of being[viii]. Thus, he says, “Self-expression is the primary sacrament of the universe. Whatever you feel deeply demands to be given form and released”[ix]. He describes this innate dynamic of celebration as a “generosity of being” that “insists upon song and dance”. Ritual must be a space where something deep in the self is free to be expressed – a space free of judgement and coercion – a space felt to be “safe” which allows and invites individual uniqueness, while affirming community.
Since ritual is an opportunity to give voice to deeper places in ourselves, forms of communication are used that the dreamer, the emotional, the body, can comprehend, such as music, drama, simulation, dance, chanting, singing[x]. These forms enable the entering of a level of consciousness that is there all the time, but that is not usually expressed or acknowledged. We enter a realm that is “out of time”, which is commonly said to be not the “real” world, but it is more organic/indigenous, and at least as real as the tick-tock world. It is a place “between the worlds”, wherein we may put our hands on the very core of our lives, touch whatever it is that we feel our existence is about, and thus touch the possibility of re-creating and renewing ourselves.
NOTES:
[i] Starhawk. Truth or Dare, p.100.
[ii] Starhawk. Truth or Dare, p.98.
[iii] Brian Swimme, The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos , p.8-20.
[iv] A term used by Gloria Feman Orenstein in The Reflowering of the Goddess.
[v] As Dr. Susan Murphy described it to me in conversation.
[vi] Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything, p.306-307.
[vii] Charlene Spretnak, States of Grace, p.145.
[viii] Brian Swimme, The Universe is a Green Dragon, p.144-145.
[ix] Brian Swimme, The Universe is a Green Dragon, p.147.
[x] Starhawk, The Spiral Dance, p.36.
REFERENCES:
Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005.
Orenstein, Feman Gloria. The Reflowering of the Goddess. New York: Pergamon Press, 1990.
Spretnak, Charlene. States of Grace: The Recovery of Meaning in the Postmodern Age. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993.
Starhawk, The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. NY: Harper and Row, 1999.
________ Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and Mystery.
SF: Harper and Row, 1990.
Wilber, Ken. A Brief History of Everything. Massachusetts: Shambhala, 1996.
Swimme, Brian. The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos. New York: Orbis, 1996.
_____________ The Universe is a Green Dragon. Santa Fe: Bear & Co., 1984.