May you find a living rite for your becoming Beloved.
May this rite carry you down to the deepest place
and the whole long way through, then carry you
up and out beyond where mind can barely go -
right into the grasp of love pulling you through.
Is there a such a thing as ‘ritual’ intelligence ? What kind of wisdom is needed to create rites with this ‘carrying’ power?
Can we find a living rite of passage for life crises where there is suffering and danger – and yet great potential for soul journeying ?
I love these questions and have lived with them for a long time. I have , as long as I can remember, lived a life shaped by ritual of many kinds – every day ritual, personal and private healing ritual, public and formal social and religious rituals and the more hidden soul rites of the heart for soul journeying.
Two years ago I began to write a poetic piece describing a rite of passage that slowly seemed to show itself to me in dreams and deep reflection throughout the ending of my marriage . This rite seemed to have a life of its own and slowly ‘wrote itself’ into a shape and form. With two trusted and wise souls this deeply personal soul rite was eventually performed . It proved to be one that had most extraordinary ‘carrying’ power . It was indeed a living rite that lives on as a memory that I keep returning to.
While this experience is still fresh and alive I am inspired to write some working notes on healing ritual - here in this Magdala dialogues blog. Perhaps I could call this series ‘ Magdala Rites’ . That has a good ring of truth to it.