Basic Ritual Structure

Pick up any “Wicca 101” book and you’ll find at least one section on rituals in each one. I have two shelves full of Wicca books at home, which means I have dozens of sections on rituals. Authors are pretty good at giving ideas for different Sabbats, and perhaps a few of their favorite invocations. In the early days of my Wiccan practice I would snag bits and pieces of different ritual scripts from different books to put together my own rituals. And while that worked, it didn’t really help me understand why this piece went there and that piece went somewhere else. Authors are not very good at explaining the mechanics of ritual structure. The basic structure, or outline, of a Wiccan ritual is actually pretty simple. It can include, but not be limited to, purifying your area, creating sacred space through casting a circle, calling the Elemental Quarters, calling the Gods, celebrating a holiday, raising energy for spell work, sharing Cakes and Ale, dismantling your circle, and releasing the powers called. I know that sounds a little complicated, and many of you may not be familiar with the terms. We’ll take it step-by-step in the order I normally use when I write ritual. Be aware that some folks will do things slightly differently. That’s the beauty of a lot of Wiccan practice: the freedom to experiment and individualize. Step 1: Purifying your Space. A fancy title that means you get out the Endust and the vacuum and clean up the area you intend you use. If you have a permanent altar set up in your home, it makes this step a little easier, though you still may have to dust. You can also burn sage or another sort of purifying incense to clean the energies of the area. I prefer Dragon’s Blood incense to sage, as sage has a woody smell when it burns. If you can’t find an incense blend that is specifically for purifying a space, any scent you enjoy will do. Why do we take the time to clean? It helps clear out the “mundane” energies of the area, for starters. If you’re using your dining room table as an altar, how magical will you feel if the other end of the table has dirty dinner plates and stacks of mail? Cleaning the area and burning the incense will help shift your mindset towards ritual. Many people also take time to purify themselves, too, by showering or soaking in an herb-filled bath. It isn’t necessary, but it might help you to turn your focus away from the ordinary. This is the same reason folks wear special clothing in ritual. It’s all to get you into the ritual mindset. Step 2: Setting up your Altar Now that your space is cleaned, you can set up your altar. I like to put down a cloth to protect my table from wax and other debris. You can choose a cloth with a color or pattern that matches the season, or one that matches the intent of your working, or just a color or pattern you like. Or don’t use a cloth at all. The tools you’ll set out will vary from ritual to ritual. The basics I always use are candles for the God and Goddess, symbols of the God and Goddess (I have a small “Green Man” plaque and a clay Goddess statue), salt in a bowl, a chalice of water, incense in a holder, a feather, a votive candle in a holder, various stones and gems, and my athame. The God and Goddess candles and symbols are there for obvious reasons. The salt and stones represent the element of Earth, the water is Water, the incense and feather are Air, and the candle is Fire. I place the Earth symbols towards the north of the altar, the Air in the east, Fire in the south, and Water in the west. Why do I represent the elements on my altar? My magical space is a microcosm of the universe. All four elements are present in the universe; therefore they are present in my space. The association of these symbols to directions is inherited from other magical systems. Feel free to move these elements around the altar if the placements suggested don’t feel right to you. For example, if a large body of water is to your north, you may wish to place Water on the north of your altar. Don’t forget to include any other tools or decorations you might need while you’re setting up, such as flowers, spell ingredients, snacks and a drink for Cakes and Ale, a lighter or matches, a candle snuffer, etc. Take the time now to be sure everything is ready so you don’t have to interrupt what you’re doing later to go hunting for matches in the kitchen junk drawer or thread in the sewing basket. Step 3: Creating your Sacred Space There are several sub-steps here: casting the circle, calling the Elemental Powers, and calling the Gods. There are many different ways to accomplish each and different orders you can put these sub-steps in. I call the Elements, then the Gods, and then I finish casting the circle, but other folks cast their circle first, then they invite everyone in. And others will call the Elements, cast the circle, the call the Gods. There’s no wrong way to do this, just ways that feel more natural than others. I call the Elements first because I want to use their energies to help me cast the circle. Starting in the East and progressing clockwise around the circle, I ask the Powers of each Element to be with me and lend their energies to my working, lighting a candle set at each point. You can also call these the Guardians of each Element, the Watchtowers, the Guardians of the Watchtowers, or something else. Here’s my general “all purpose” Quarter Call: Hail, Guardians of the East, Powers of Air and Inspiration. Be with me now, lend your energy to my rite. So mote it be! Hail, Guardians of the South, Powers of Fire and Passion. Be with me now, lend your energy to my rite. So mote it be! Hail, Guardians of the West, Powers of Water and Emotion. Be with me now, lend your energy to my rite. So mote it be! Hail, Guardians of the North, Powers of Earth and Strength. Be with me now, lend your energy to my rite. So mote it be! The attributes I give to each Element (Inspiration, Passion, Emotion, and Strength, respectively) are the standard associations you’ll see in most books. I’ll discuss these correspondences further in another essay, as they really merit their own separate treatment. After I’ve called the Elements (or the Quarters), I begin to create my sacred space. I bless the elemental representations on my altar. I mix salt into the water, and light the incense, blending the elemental energies together. At this point, I’ll light the God and Goddess candles on the altar and ask my chosen deities to be present. Then I’ll cast my circle. There are tons of different ways to cast a circle, which will also be discussed in another essay. The easiest way for those new to ritual, I think, is the way I did things when I was new (and still do today, on occasion). I take the salt/water mixture and walk clockwise around the circle, sprinkling droplets off my fingers. Returning to the altar, I pick up the incense and the feather, and walk the circle again, wafting the incense smoke with the feather. While doing this, I visualize that my water droplets and smoke are building a physical circle. I then walk around a third time with my athame, visualizing a stream of energy coming out of the athame and into the circle, drawing it one last time. Then the circle is complete and I move on to my ritual. All these complicated steps are necessary to create our sacred space. We call the elements to bring these energies to us. We call the Gods because we honor them. We cast the circle to erect a protective container around ourselves. In this manner, we can create sacred space anywhere at any time. Step 4: The Fun Stuff Now that we’ve created our sacred space, we can focus on the intent of the ritual: celebrating a Sabbat, doing spellwork, etc. At my coven’s monthly moon rituals, we'll often do guided meditations here, do short activities (at Yule we made suet cakes for the birds), and raise energy for whatever the coveners have a need. (I’ll cover raising energy in another essay!) If you’ve raised energy for any reason, you’ll want to consider adding Cakes and Ale to this portion of your ritual. Cakes and Ale is a fancy term for a small snack to help you ground. I’ve had drinks ranging from wine to soda to fruit juice and snacks ranging from fruit to cookies to chocolate candies. Drinking and eating helps you shift your focus from raising energy to grounding energy. It also helps you replenish yourself, especially if you feel weak or dizzy after raising energy. The blessing of the Cakes and Ale, prior to eating, is usually a symbolic version of the Great Rite (one of the Wiccan Core Beliefs), where the God mates with the Godddess through the symbolism of plunging the athame into the chalice of drink. Including Cakes and Ale at the end of the working portion of your ritual will help bring things to a close. Step 5: Dismantling your Ritual Space This is done roughly in the order you cast your circle. Some folks will do it strictly in reverse, and others will alter it. I don’t do things in strict reverse order myself. I’ll dismiss the Gods, extinguish anything burning on the altar, dismiss the Elements, and then finish taking down my circle. This is the way I first learned to do it, and it feels rather natural to me. I let the VIP guests go home first, then everyone else, and then I clean house. My method of dismissing the Quarters is very similar to the invocation earlier in the essay, except now we’re going to go around the circle counter-clockwise, starting in the North: Hail and farewell, Guardians of the North. Thank you for being here tonight. Stay if you like, go if you must. So mote it be! I won’t print the rest. Just substitute the appropriate Element in as you move around the circle. Taking down the circle is a bit simpler than creating it. If you used the method above, casting the final time around with your athame, then walk the circle counter-clockwise, visualizing all that energy being pulled back into the athame. Or you can simply visualize your circle dissolving, spreading the concentrated energies back out into the universe. Step 6: Clean up and Relax! Take down your altar and put away your tools. Dispose of any trash, used spell components, or offerings to the Gods appropriately. Have yourself a nice big meal to finish grounding fully, and relax. For more ideas on rituals and ritual outlines, I suggest checking out Scott Cunningham’s “Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner” and “Living Wicca”, Starhawk’s “Spiral Dance”, Patricia Telesco’s “Your Book of Shadows”, and Deborah Lipp’s “The Elements of Ritual”.