Ritual Planning Process

Wild Maine Witchcamp Ritual Planning Process

Hi beloved Witches! You, yes, you, are invited to plan evening rituals at Wild Maine Witchcamp. Even if you think you have no opinions, even if you aren’t sure what’s appropriate, even if you think you have no expertise. Even if you aren’t sure you will stay up late enough to participate! You are part of camp and whatever emerges from your presence will help us have the ritual best suited to this moment.
Our process will feel at least a bit familiar to you if you have used consensus to make decisions in groups before. If not, don’t worry! Our trusty facilitators will provide guidance. And below is a handy step-by-step guide.
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Outline
Be there on time
Craft the Intention (30 minutes)
Brainstorm Ritual Techniques (10 minutes)
Outline the Ritual (15 minutes)
Assign Roles (5 minutes)
Prepare and Recruit
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. . . And in detail:
Be there on time
This process creates a ritual in only one hour! It is absolutely okay to quietly join late, but the process will not rewind to catch you up.
Craft the Intention
A facilitator will lead the group in a meditation to encourage what is sometimes called dropped and open attention. From this point of connection, we begin to say words and phrases that will inspire our ritual intention. Someone will scribe these words on a big piece of paper, likely clumping similar things together. At some point, a facilitator will ask for someone to try at an intention in sentence form. This process takes half of our time because it is the heart of the ritual. Everything else will flow easily from this once we write it. That said, it’s okay if the intention we have to work from isn’t perfect- the people who heard all of the ideas are the same people who will craft the ritual.
Brainstorm Ritual Techniques
What kinds of ritual activities will support this intention? What is available? What might work? Who should we invoke? Remember, this is a brainstorm, so it’s not time to argue for or against ideas- let’s just get a healthy list on the wall.
Outline the Ritual
Again, similar ideas can get clumped together and a ritual outline that supports the intention will emerge.
Assign Roles
Someone will be needed to make each bit of the ritual go. Volunteer where you feel confident, ask for mentoring where you feel marginally ready, or just prepare to participate as someone who now knows the intention and the flow. If you had a brilliant vision for an activity or a station, you might volunteer to flesh it out and recruit helpers in the intervening time.
Prepare and Recruit
Between the end of the meeting and the ritual, there may be a lot of preparation to do. If your good friends and lovers skipped the planning meeting, remember to nudge them toward the roles they can best fill. Folks may need to prepare the space, prepare music, prepare for aspecting, prepare meditations, or many other tasks.
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Tips
  • Listen! Refrain from saying something similar to what has already been said, unless you think it wasn’t heard.
  • Try to stay present with the part of the planning process we are in, without jumping back or forward.
  • We craft each ritual for a specific intention- it doesn’t have to fix everything that’s going on in the world.
  • Remember that we are creating a ritual for the group’s journey through the week, and not for any one individual. But also remember that what you need might be what other people need, too.
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and a reminder:
It’s okay to skip these meetings (or anything at Witchcamp) and just enjoy participating in the rituals that emerge. But collaborating builds the skills of our whole community and allows the most diverse ideas to inspire our magic. Thank you for your participation, at whatever level!
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