Coming from a Catholic background and having spent time in the convent, I am obviously familiar not only with ritual, but with creating ritual.  However, when you step outside of a familiar belief system to create what is meaningful to you, in essence creating your own religion/spiritual tradition, it's hard to visualize what you want to do ritually.  I've performed a couple of rituals here and there that I've taken whole cloth from others, but I haven't really been creating my own rituals.

Fast forward to last week.  We found out that my husband's brother has cancer.  He will be having surgery next Tuesday and I want to perform a healing ritual for him.  I've been scouring the net for healing rituals or spells, and haven't come up with much that really speaks to what I want, so I have come to the point where I have to start creating my own rituals.  For those of you who have been doing this for years, you might think my hesitance is a little silly.  But coming from a Catholic background, where you are constantly warned about the importance of ritual and performing it correctly, it's a hard barrier to break through, to create your own rituals.

Anyway, I've got definite ideas about what I want to do.  This will be the first time I do a really full ritual, complete with calling of directions and casting a circle.  I've also been struggling with a deity to evoke.  Then I was reading a blog this morning talking about the history of Brigid and it struck me that she is a perfect goddess for this ritual, especially in her mother aspect.  So, I'll cast my circle and call the directions.  Then I will invoke Bridgid, cleanse my crystal and bless it, then light my candles with an invocation for healing and begin my healing chant.  I will close by thanking Bridgid and then closing the circle.  I'm still working on the details, but it's becoming pretty clear in my mind what I want to do.

This will be a new thing for me, but Cliff's illness has moved me to reach out of my comfort zone to help care for and heal him.  What better motivation is there than the need of a loved one?