The Ritual Practice
If you'd like to connect directly with the magick of our community web established during the first session of The Gathering Path, you're invited to perform A Web of Wonder. For those who have already performed A Web of Wonder, you can spend a few moments connecting to our community web before performing the ritual below by simply visualizing and feeling your personal web-line joining with the community web - but feel free to add as little or as much ritual to this (breathwork, chanting, candle lighting, etc.) as you like.
The Breath of Hope ritual is a twist on the sort of water cleansing rituals you'll find throughout various witchcraft traditions. Cleansing through water is one of my favorite styles of rituals, but sometimes drawing a bath or a full shower ritual isn't always what is available at the moment (whether or not because we don't have time or energy). Breath of Hope is a little ritual with a lot of love, meant to draw in the cleansing and releasing qualities of water and the invigorating gifts of air which we have been exploring on our path of breath together.
The intention of the ritual is twofold: first, to cleanse away the errant energies of the day, and then to draw in and store up hope in our inner landscape. As herbal practitioners (and anyone who works to bring about healing in the world), being able to gather up, generate, and store hope in our bodies* is one of the ways our practices become sustainable. Without hope we are unable to imagine the possibility of change and it is through change that healing is able to occur. Breath of Hope is a simple ritual that can be performed regularly to support the process of cultivating hope.
Breath of Hope
You Will Need:
Water and a kettle
Tea or single herb of choice
Mug or bowl
The ritual begins by choosing the tea, whether bought, gifted or handmade, or a single plant ally to work with. While you can choose to work with a plant ally of the lungs, choose the herb(s) that you feel will support your intention of cultivating more hope in your life. You can also consider the scent of the herb when making your choice since you'll be creating an herbal steam. Take some time in the choosing, maybe even placing your hands on your chest and taking a few deep breaths, letting yourself feel your way towards your choice.
Once your herbs have been chosen, boil your water. While your water is boiling, take time to identify where it is in your life that needs more hope. It might be hope for the successful completion of a project, hope for healing relationships, hope for healing, hope for this year's harvest. It can be a very specific area of your life or something more broad, but it's best to have some boundaries around it so that your hope-seeking doesn't become overwhelming (i.e. whereas hoping for world peace might feel far too big, more hope in your ability to cultivate inner peace might be a more sustainable path).
As the water comes to a boil, place your herbs in the mug or bowl. When ready, pour the water over the herbs, saying:
The waters of life
Meet the bones of earth
Let steam arise
By air, by hearth
Being sensible with the steam, so as not to burn or scald, draw it towards you with your hands and breath. The steam carries the energy of the herb(s) within the bowl, helping to infuse your body with their healing gifts and ability to cultivate hope. As you breathe in the herb-scented steam, visualize your energy glowing like starlight or whatever color you associate with the feeling of hope. I use the word "fear" in the following chant, but feel free to replace it with another word like "doubt," "worry," "shame," or any word that describes the feeling that most hinders your ability to cultivate hope.
I breathe in hope
I let it flow
I breathe out fear
I let it go
Continue to repeat this chant, whispered or melodic, with movement or not, until the tea is ready to drink. You can continue to drink tea in meditative contemplation or perhaps drink it while performing divination or journaling.
Once you're done drinking your tea, if you can, offer the leftover herbs back directly to the earth (including to houseplants if appropriate) or compost.
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Remediation: This is one of my favorite teas for this type of ritual.
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*When I write of bodies, I am referring to them in their most expansive forms: the physical, energetic, mental, emotional, cosmic, collective, etc and so on.
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