Behind the Scenes: New Moon Ritual
Sometimes we forget that social media is a heavily curated space. You generally see the best take, or the result of hours of editing and mixing. When witches or pagans share their experiences they tend to be the most revelatory or transcendent, or the spells that exceeded all expectations. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, mind you, I just think it can set up unrealistic expectations for others, especially folks new to witchcraft or paganism. And, when their own spells, rituals, or experiences don’t work out it can lead to a sense of defeatism.
To that end, I decided no to just skip this month’s New Moon Dream Ritual, but to share that it was a total flop. Some of that is probably due to some formulaic tweaking which did not have the intended results. Before I can talk about what I changed, however, we have to talk about what the ritual is and how it came to be.
Ritual: “Sunlight Is The Best Disinfectant” Summer Solstice Ritual
As I’m writing this, misinformation and disinformation are flooding social media as part of a coordinated global campaign to undermine democracy and fully rupture any attempt at consensus reality. In the midst of the 2024 general election, one party is helmed by an actual insurrectionist who has a 50/50 shot at reclaiming power and establishing a theocratic autocracy in the United States, all of which is enabled by members of that party spewing outright lies without any meaningful pushback. Every week we seem to uncover yet another example of right-wing billionaires buying votes on the Supreme Court.
The ritual outlined below builds upon this idea and weaves in the energy of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, with the goal of dragging these lies and liars into the stark light of the sun. This ritual harnesses the powerful solar energy of this time of the year to shine a spotlight on their corruption. This ritual calls in the purifying flames of the sun to burn away the darkness to expose their machinations.
Ritual: Queer Ancestor Dance Party 2022
To kick off Pride Month 2022 I decided to revisit the Queer Ancestor Dance Party ritual I posted last year. This ritual was inspired by an impromptu ecstatic ritual I found myself in last year, involving my old Queer Ancestor Shrine and some good dancing music. I spent some time designing a formal dance party ritual with appropriate boundaries and safeguards, and shared it with the internet in 2021.
I’ve continued adding to the playlist and have decided to provide an updated link!
Ritual: Queer Ancestor Dance Party
For Pride Month 2021 I decided to write down and share something that I frequently do on my own as a way to recharge and connect with my Queer Ancestors. I am talking about hosting a Queer Ancestor Dance Party!
Ritual: Cleansing Salt/Herb Shower Scrub
Those who follow me on Twitter may recall a thread I posted a few weeks ago about messages that were channeling me to work through my impostor syndrome. Writing and sharing ritual is a first tentative step in that direction and it challenges two things that I get very anxious talking about - providing rituals or spellwork ideas for folks, and my disabled identity. Whenever I think about writing up a ritual to share I always doubt whether it is good enough, if it is “too basic”, and I tell myself there are probably hundreds like it already posted online or in books so what value is this adding? And when it comes to disability for years I’ve grappled with the internal ableism of not feeling “really disabled” and like claiming that term is somehow wrong, even though I do have physical limitations due to my arm and mobility issues when I’m experiencing a flare up (not to mention the mental health aspect when my depression/anxiety are severe.)
Ritual: Cane Blessing
I realized over the holiday break that a lot of my craft centers and celebrates my marginalized identity as a queer person but this was yet another space where I was distancing or ignoring another identity that is increasingly central to my world experiences: being a disabled person.
Ritual: Storytelling As Healing
Storytelling has become an increasingly important part of my practice. It is a way that I connect with, call forth, and honor ancestors. There is power in being remembered and, when it comes to Queer Ancestors, power in having the lessons in your life shared with the next generation.
Ritual: Remembering The Queer Dead
Twenty-two years ago Matthew Shepard was tortured in a field outside Laramie, Wyoming and left for dead for because he was a gay man. He died six days later, and his death sparked a monumental shift in how the country viewed the LGBTQ+ community. Two years ago, on October 26th, I was able to attend the interment ceremony where Matthew was finally given a permanent resting place in the Washington National Cathedral, and that experience was a wholly transformative experience for me as a gay man and as a queer witch.
Ritual: Healing and Strength for Marginalized Communities
After the attack on Pulse a poem began making the rounds online that really stuck with me. Over the last month or so I’ve found this poem floating into my conscious mind more frequently without really realizing why. A few weeks ago I turned to Google to find the entire poem and, upon reading it, I realized what my Queer Ancestors were trying to tell me.
Ritual: Protection For Whistleblowers And Activists
I don’t know who else has an unhealthy obsession with current events - which might end up being it’s own post in regards to boundaries and protecting your energy - but I can’t seem to stop checking Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. for the latest news about the creeping authoritarianism overtaking the United States. One of the more recent discussions has been the directive from the current administration requiring hospitals to send data related to COVID to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) instead of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as has been the norm. If the history of this administration is any indication, let alone their determination to downplay this pandemic, we have every reason to worry about the suppression or manipulation of data related to infections or deaths from COVID to fit a political narrative to help with the President’s reelection.