From Rituals to Symbols

[icymist]

ituals find their place in every aspect of our daily life. Some of these rituals are derived out of our patterned behavior (mindless routine) but many of them are consciously contrived. Each ritual system will have its own governing factors, which determine its nature, format and objective. This article mainly focuses on those rituals largely concerned with non-secular ideology.

What is a Spiritual ritual?
A spiritual ritual is a prescribed routine that will often involve gestures, words and objects, designed to influence transcendental entities and/or forces on behalf of the performers’ goals, interests and beliefs.<1> These rituals can be elaborate functions comprising of smaller individual rites or they can be as simple as a short prayer. Whatever the complexity, the real power lies in the performers’ belief. For without this, the ritual is just an empty script.

Some examples of non-secular or transcendental concepts:

Inernal: psyche, mind, spirit, chi, soul, inner self, life force...
External: deities, gods, cosmic force, universal energy, higher power, destiny, karma, fate...
Both: the all, universal energy

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