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From the October 2007 Newsletter
MAKING SENSE OF RITUAL IN MODERN LIFE
by Ki Salmen
Recently, at my daughter's confirmation, I had several adventures which brought me to an even deeper sense of the need for fulfilling ritual work in order to create a spiritual community.
I was not too happy from the start when my daughter decided that she was going to "do what everybody does"; have church lessons every week for two years and be confirmed as a full member of the German evangelical church.
As a mother who had baptized her child several times with alternative rituals I felt more than doubtful about the procedure Laura was planning for herself. But as I had promised to everybody I consented to what I'd always been saying: that she should have her own choice once she was old enough. And so I went along with the two years of preparation for the event.
During these two years I never heard her say she experienced anything that got her in touch with spiritual belief, the sacred, or Christ or God. She sometimes mumbled that the lessons were the most boring thing on earth, but mostly she kept to herself about it. She knows my beliefs anyway and I felt a certain admiration for her; at least she never complained about the fact that she had to go to church on Sundays and to the lessons every Tuesday afternoon.
And then spirit had a lesson for me on the day of the confirmation ceremony to teach me that we live in times when a lot is possible.
12 teenagers were going to have their first communion and the little church was packed with people - one of the rare events during the year when there is not enough space for all the visitors. The children come in together with the priest, the organ plays and everybody is quite touched somehow - especially of course the mothers.
And then the priest announced that we would have the pleasure of listening to a choir because one of the kids is related to somebody who sings in this choir. All of a sudden we heard a piano playing and then we listened to a song that sounded mostly like a pop song although the words were biblical in their meaning.
Within a few seconds the atmosphere in the room really changed. People somehow got into a light mood and I had the feeling that, if this went on for a little longer, the whole congregation could have got into trance together through the rhythmic stimulation.
Of course there was not enough time for this to happen, and we know from the teachings our beloved Felicitas gave us: if there is no expectation for anything beyond the normal to happen, then it will not happen easily.
Something happened though: everybody got into a good mood, the atmosphere in the room changed and the whole ceremony was somehow lighter than usual.
One of the lessons in this for me was: spirit will find a way to do the work, sometimes quite unexpectedly.
Another lesson was: a ritual with the community where we live is better than having no rituals at all.
However unfulfilling our modern puberty-rites may be compared to what can be found in indigenous cultures, people still perform them because they have done so for generations. Even if there is not much understanding left of what this is really about, it marks a point in a young person's development - the beginning of the period of fertility, in former times it was also the beginning of work-life, and this is worth a day of feasting and celebration.
I clearly see that there is a lot of work to be done. And maybe a lot is possible if we start to bridge the gap between organized religion as people know it (because that's how things are done in this society) and the things we do when we practice Trance-Postures.
The problem I have often faced over the years - that people often get shy or evasive when I start to talk about Trance-work - can perhaps be worked on from a different angle.
When a person has an initial experience of his own, he or she is often more willing to experiment further.
The question then is: what can we do to give people the experience of "something" happening? How can I attract people and reassure them enough so that they are willing to try something for themselves - instead of handing over the responsibility to a religious expert - to a priest or the pope or who ever it is in the system they have grown up with.
In all my years of facilitating groups (including ritual work) I have learned that I have to meet people at a point in themselves where they can:
Accordingly, groups will vary in the amount and type of preparation needed before the ritual work can begin; this depends on the experience and the personalities of the group participants.
When we work with Ritual Body Postures we do have our own ritual, based on what Felicitas taught. I found that using her guidelines as a minimum helped me a lot, when confronted with the differing energies of people in group work.
Over the years I have tried a number of possible variations, some discussed with the members of our Trance community, some just, and whenever I found variations to be successful I included them into my repertoire. But to return to my first question: introducing people to Ritual Body Postures is always a new experience for me. And it is never good to rush the preparation process, because I might lose somebody on the way if I do not pay attention to where this person is at any given moment.
I have to come to terms with the fact that a lot of people are not ready to try Ritual Body Postures, because it is too frightening for them. In this case it would be very helpful to have something "easier" for them to perform. Like the choir in the little church I mentioned, singing together could be a good start. And of course dancing together often brings people to the feeling of ritual energy.
We need to try out what works best. And with patience there will come a willingness to risk more, so maybe in a decade we can suggest Ritual Body Postures to be performed in a church ceremony ........
Annette Ki Salmen
info@dream-visions.de
www.dream-visions.de
phone: 49 231 7225424
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