My daily ritual-Mary Idiagbor

The word Ritual evokes mystery, idiolatry, "of the secret cult" and the like, whenever mentioned in the mundane world. Rites and rituals abound in everyday world. I observe that my husband always like to wear his belt in an anticlockwise manner. He may not have taken note of it, but that is some kind of ritual. We invariably do a particular thing that we are used to in a given manner. We find it convenient to take a particular route to the supermarket, office, school, place of work or the church even though we may easily take another path. When you observe your daily habits, you will easily see Ritual or a kind of ceremony or rite in all that you do. It is just a question of semantics. The subconscious mind forces our body to take a defined line of action (call it habit or ritual) perhaps to conserve energy and save us disorientation.

Therefore, if the title My daily Ritual still springs up in you a kind of awe, disdain or intolerance, then save yourself the pains of completing this article.

Let me share with you therefore my newfound daily ritual. You may participate in this ritual with me at the wake of the day. I spend some quiet moments in our altar (which we prefer to call sanctum sanctorum) with my husband until one of us is prompted to lead the service for the day.

Take in three deep breaths;

Then, visualise yourself outside with the elements - the bright sunshine, wind playing softly on your bare body and feel your feet flat on the soil. I chant the vowel sound RA with arms outstretched towards the East. All these are done internally.

Usually, my husband would give the open invocation which may change daily or remain the same for several days:

God of our hearts,

God of our conception,

We thank you for the dawn of a new day,

May you fill us with your divine effulgence

Guide our path and lead us far from danger and error,

Bless all who sends us thoughts of goodwill and meet them

At their points of need;

Inspire us today and may your LIGHT fill our LIFE with LOVE.

SO MOTE IT BE.

We affirm and claim some positive statements and our favorite is taken from the CONFESSION TO MAAT, the portion that says "I am pure, I am pure, I am pure......"

We chant some mystical vowel sounds to surround us with positive energy, relax our beings and prepare us for the meditation proper.

After the meditation period which is attunement with the Celestial Sanctum, we perform some other kabalistic rituals. Though our religion is Catholicism, I usually visualize the Celestial Sanctum as a Rosicrucian temple in semi-darkness.(as shown in the photo).

One cabalistic ritual which I have started to love and conduct alone at times is facing the four quarters - East, South, West and North making a Sign and chanting a vowel sound for each in turn.

You may join me in this or form a ritual of your own. It may be Christian, Islamic or even scientific in nature. It does not really matter, so long as it brings you closer to God and nature and brings out the best in you in preparedness for the day. I do not go out to work or carry out any personal activities any day, without conducting my daily ritual.