Rayne’s Ritual Way
Ritual: Solitary vs. Group
It is important to find balance in our lives, and in our practice. It doesn’t really matter what sect or tradition you come from there will be times when you will have to do a working alone, and times when you can work within a group. Both experiences are very different experiences that advise everyone to partake in. Coming from a small (VERY) small eastern Texas town I found it very difficult to find like-minded individuals that were actually serious about Witchcraft. Wicca and Witchcraft, both, have been very integral parts of my life, and I always found it extremely disheartening to meet a new Witch and listen to the complete asinine misconceptions I have fought for years to break free of projected into the universe.
So for a very large part of my life I worked as solitary Witch holding private workings, rituals, spells, Sabbat and Esbat rituals alone. Though lonely at times it offers a sense of freedom, you’re the only person there; I’ve learned that you truly get a larger understanding and reverence for your practice if you discover it alone. Unlike some of the Abrahamic religions as a Witch most of us don’t have a dogma telling us how to behave. Thusly, the beauty and sometimes agony of being a Witch presents itself. I suppose one of the biggest pros to me about working solitary is you are utterly free. It is only you, your spirit, and the Goddess and God.
Interestingly enough I prayed that the Goddess would send someone to me that would be serious about their faith, and their practice. That’s when I met my best friend Aaron. Now we were only two people mind you, but the determination and energy that two connected people set on a common goal can create is phenomenal! And that’s really when I first started experiencing work within a group. Though working within a group can present a lot of very interesting complications. For instance Aaron, and I were doing a Beltane a year ago, we had really just started the circle was cast, and we were in the middle of invoking the quarters. Being that I am more of a fire and air person I always invoke the East, and The south, Aaron takes the West and North. So there I was at the Southern point of the circle eyes closed, hands embracing the sky, and patiently waiting for Aaron to start his part of the invocation. And I wait… Finally after a minute or two of silence I turn around to find Aaron doing some other miscellaneous thing around the altar. Now I don’t know if anyone else has had this problem before, but I was a little perplexed. I asked him why he didn’t invoke the elements after I did, and he responded “I’m not really in a vocal mood today. So I invoked them in my mind.” This presented a type of problem for me. Because I am a very vocal person even when my rituals are solitary do I rarely not speak. And I didn’t want to disrespect my best friend by telling him to do it again out loud, and so I closed my eyes and said a few words, to remedy the emptiness I felt from the other two elements. So it comes to the invocation of Deity. Aaron usually does the Goddess, and I invoke the God, and we both invoke Spirit to watch over our circle. Again eyes closed, hands in the air, waiting for him to start, and he never does. I didn’t really know what to do. It was the first time in our Magical relationship together that I had a problem with something he did in our circle. So I close my eyes again do a small invocation to the Goddess and carry on to invoke the God. Moral of the story: I would say very consistently Pagans can be VERY different people, we all have our preferences on how we like things done, and most of us are open to change and exploration. And later after the ritual we talked and I explained why I had a problem with it, and from that moment on everything has been fine. I’m not at a University here in Texas, and an active member of the Pagan Student Fellowship. We have group meetings every Tuesday, host Sabbat, and Esbat rituals, and help each other out with different workings. It is absolutely AMAZING. The beautiful thing about groups are that everyone there sees Divinity in a different way, and from that difference comes changes to our own perception of Magic. I’ve learned things from my Pagan friends that I’ve never thought of, ways to do ritual that I had never pondered.
So I implore you if you ever get the chance attend a group ritual test it out see if you like it. But you don’t really know what you’re missing until you try it.