Ritual
Feral meaning:
"one that has escaped from domestication and returned, partly or wholly, to its wild state"
Xtian meaning: "christian,
the x comes from latin and is the latin letter for christ, i.e. x-tian means christ-tian or christian."
I was in a focus group who tried to make up a new kind of service. I think we made one or two successfully attempts before deciding it was too much effort and so went back to the standard service. I look back now and see with hindsight that we didn't really have a clue what we were doing because no one really understood the essence of ritual for themselves. Not one of us had thought about the purpose of ritual. We'd let the church do that for us. So rushing head long into creating a ritual was bound to be flawed and become too much effort.
Now, I can just do ritual without too much thought because I have internalized the why's and wherefore's. I realize ritual comes from within and is not something imposed from a comity. I have few main points which structure a ritual. These are mainly working with the cardinal points, the elements, welcoming a deity (Christ), blessing cakes and wine, and vocalizing the purpose of the ritual.
Ritual should be fluid, be meaningful and leave a lasting impression. But sometimes preplanning, gathering /sourcing items, research is required. Do as needed, not as thought to be right!
