Ritual Working 101 - "Intention"

Welcome to Multiple Magic's Ritual 101 series. This series will cover some basics of the ritual working of magic. Ritual work can be used for a variety of purposes, not just magical, but for the purposes of this series we will be looking only at the magical applications of ritual.

The purpose of this series is to provide a basic overview of ritual construction, the workings of the ritual itself, the tools that you may need, and how to perform your ritual safely.

This is also our first attempt at writing truly collaboratively, using a new tool that both authors are very excited about, Google Wave. So, for the first time, you'll be hearing the voices of both authors in a single article. Bear with us as we try to work out the kinks.

Intention

The first subject that we will be covering in our Ritual Magic series is intention. It is our experience that intention is the foundation upon which magic is built, so it only makes sense that we open this series with this topic.

Tanwyn: Intention is everything - a phrase that my students become quite sick of within a week of entering study with me. It's repeated so often because it is so very important. A clearly stated intention and a focused will are the driving force behind any magical working, and this is especially true of ritual magic.

Treinta: Absolutely. Focused will is *literally* everything. If you don't have focused will, you will get no result. If you posses nothing *but* a focused will, you will succeed. The sole point of ritual is to focus said will.

This focused will that we both mention is your intention. Intention answers the questions “what are we doing here in the first place?” and “what do we hope to accomplish?”. This is the key step in building a ritual. If you can't answer either of those questions, then you have nothing to build your ritual on. Once you've answered that question, then you may begin to build your ritual, holding that intention in your mind and focusing your will on making that intention come to pass. As Treinta mentions, the entire point of your ritual is to focus your will, driving towards that intended end.

Treinta: That said, there is more the development and usage of focused will than declaring it so. Often, beginners will attempt to "begin at the end" by declaring their will focused and eschewing all other considerations as "distractions." A reprehensible mistake at any time, but particularly egregious in a world where "The Secret" is considered mystical literature. Rather, tools should be used appropriately in support of the task of focusing the will. There is little to be gained by making things more difficult, or permitting hubris to inspire one to self-sabatoge.

Tanwyn: I agree that tools can be a powerful means of focusing the will - but there is also a time to leave tools behind. However, I think we're planning on covering the subject of tools in more depth at a later time.

Treinta: No, I would definitely agree that there are times to let tools go, as well. Hubris just strikes me as the main reason people abandon them too early. I plan some comments on Toolioletry, myself.

Ritual itself is used to focus the will, but sometimes tools can be used in ritual to help to focus the will. We'll be covering tools in more depth in a couple of weeks though, so stay tuned for “Tools of the Trade”, which will be coming soon.

Tanwyn: Now, back to the topic at hand: intention. It's my experience that any ritual without a clearly stated intention is at best going to fall flat. At that point, it's just empty motions. It may be pretty. It may have some emotional impact on the participants. It may even be deeply moving. However, that doesn't answer the question of why you are doing what you are doing, and without that information, it's just empty motion devoid of any true purpose, meaning or lasting power. You can't work magic that way.

Treinta: I definitely second you on the falling flat at best. I've actually reached a point where I find unfocused ritual to be angering. Time, effort, and attention are precious things, and a ritual that cannot succeed in its goals due to the lack of goals wastes all three. Some of it is crabby old mage syndrome, but these days I want maximum bang for my buck, and if the question of "what exactly are we trying to accomplish" isn't immediately apparent, I'd rather be playing Poker.

We've both been to rituals like the ones that we describe. It wasn't clear what the purpose of the ritual was, and while a group mind was established and several of the participants were deeply moved by the ritual, for us it fell flat because without a clear purpose or stated intent, it's really just another sort of mass hysteria. There's no real weight or force behind it, and nothing is really accomplished aside from perhaps some bonding between the participants and a short term emotional high.

Intention gives your ritual focus and purpose. As Tanwyn said, a clearly stated intention and a focused will are the driving force behind magic. So, this is your first step in ritual working. Answer these questions; “Why are we here?” and “What do we hope to accomplish?”.

Stayed tuned for your next step coming up in our next article: “Who, What, When, Where? (You should have already answered Why!)”