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Today, the popular conception of the word ritual has come to conjure up images of indigenous (native) peoples spending their time and resources performing quaint, albeit beautiful, ceremonies that do not seem to benefit them. Others may think of the dry litany of words recited by rote in houses of worship, or the mysterious incantations of witches. Like so many other aspects of modern life, ritual does not so much need a new definition as it needs to recapture the essence of its original meaning.

The indigenous peoples are not wasting their time when performing traditional ceremonies, they are re-affirming their connection to the natural world. The litany heard in our houses of worship was originally designed to re-affirm the faith and to awaken the religious experience in the participants. Witches' chants use words and practices descended from the earliest days of The Goddess, though changed and sometimes distorted as a result of past persecutions.

The practice of rituals is as old as the worship of The Goddess, Herself. It is likely that the first examples of rituals evolved from our earliest ancestors' first acknowledgement of The Goddess and Her powers of Creation, Preservation, and Death. Once The Goddess was identified, it was natural for them to contact Her through ritual.

It was only logical for people in those days to project onto The Goddess a focus that mirrored their own concerns. Offerings of food and other valuables may have been done to show Her what they needed to get in return. They assumed that in order to receive what was desired, they must honor The Goddess and keep Her in their thoughts. Rituals were the natural manifestation of this desire.

The various offerings, prayers, songs, stories, and any other ritual techniques that were employed before the occurrence of fortunate events were duly noted and used again and again. The most successful of these rituals and myths became a basic part of all religions, and have survived until this day in a surprising number of secular customs as well.

Release that pain!		Willpower