The moments in which we remain silent and let ourselves be guided by our interiority put us in contact with the wisdom of the soul
One unexpected event combined with another catapulted me into 2024. It was January 3rd and I hadn’t yet realized I had my feet on the ground in the new year. I need to get my bearings, I understand. Then I sat on the yoga mat, lit a candle, took the oracle that I had received as a gift weeks earlier, recited a prayer and opened myself to receive everything that the subtle plan wanted to offer me.
I thought about just picking one card. As if my hands moved on their own, I ended up getting three. I lined them up on the small altar that I keep in my room and, with the help of the explanatory booklet, I tried to decipher what that sequence of symbols wanted to tell me. Our! The message from my unconscious cast a ray of light and I could see the terrain I would walk on in the days to come. From then on, calm and confidence became my guardians.
Transformative power
It’s amazing how a ritual simple and intuitive it can transform our internal state. The change is palpable. In my case, my mind relaxed, my abdomen loosened, and my lips stretched, bringing a sweet smile back to my face. Ugh!
“Our psyche works with symbols and the ritual is the symbol in action, in movement, a way of using metaphorical language that calms and nourishes the soul. Something very important for psychic life”, explains Cristina Balieiro, Jungian psychotherapist , coordinator of women’s clubs and author of the books The legacy of the goddessesvolumes 1 and 2 (Pólen Livros), among other titles.
Rites of passage
“Rituals can mark a new individual phase or a collective transformation, as well as signifying celebration. Through these symbolic practices and their elements, such as candles, flowers, offerings, food, songs and dances, we awaken and move psychic energy to access more subtle levels of perception”, adds Paula Diniz, body psychotherapist and Moon Mother, host of Womb Blessing, composed of guided meditations and visualizations with the aim of venerating female ancestry.
Paula considers the existence of at least four levels of reality: physical or material, mental or psychic, symbolic and spiritual or unconscious. “Since the latter has no form, we access it only through symbols. And the impulse to dedicate some of our power to daily private rituals arises from the need to connect with this unconscious level, a type of intelligence superior to that of the ego and which directs our life”, he explains.
In addition to changing our perception of ourselves and reality, helping us to change patterns, behaviors and make new choices, the transformation of psychic energy promoted by the ritual can also reverberate on a physical level, making us feel better and leading to the healing of illnesses.
Mild weather
As I was immersed in my little New Year’s Eve ritual, I felt like I had stepped through a portal. I felt like I was in another space, pulsing with a softer cadence, even though I was still in the same place. Listening to Cristina Balieiro I understood that the gesture of internalizing myself, in an environment conducive to meeting myself, made me migrate from Cronos to Kairós, that is, from the time of the clock to the compass of the soul.
“In this crazy life we lead, full of screens, information, stimuli and demands, we forget to realize it inner realityand the ritual also serves to mark this, since it favors psychological time”, says the psychotherapist.
The absence of pauses, introspection and reverence for something beyond rational understanding – a source of wisdom long known to intuition – makes for impoverished days. Because of this gap, the aridity of feeling tends to spread.
But the soul asks for help from time to time, anguished in the face of a fast, noisy, demanding world, split on the outside. “The ritual helps to calm the incessant mind and brings us closer to the deepest parts that make us up, as well as connecting us to the flow of life and what really matters”, underlines Cristina.
Daily rituals
The importance of ritual moments for the health of our being was also defended by the South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han, a critic of the frenetic and productivist contemporary society. In the book The disappearance of rituals: a typology of the present (Vozes), save the poetry of this gesture.
“Rituals transform being-in-the-world into being-at-home. They make the world a reliable place. They are in time what home is in space. They make time livable. Yes, they make it livable as home … They order time, they provide it,” says the philosopher.
Bianca Castiglione uses this “order” to stay nourished and healthy. She is an atypical mother of Bento, 7 years old, and Cora, 2 years old, as well as a therapist, facilitator and manager of social projects. There isn’t much time left. But she has learned to open clearings in her routine – even if short and punctual – to meet her deepest “I” and connect with the greatest mystery.
“Ritualizing in a simple and quick way helps me get back on track and move forward with life, to be in it, to inhabit myself. With every candle lit, with every breath, with every flower I put in the house, with every herbal bathI return to my wholeness,” he says.
Even the simplest ritual is capable of enhancing the intentions placed in it. Therefore, do not underestimate the power of a prayer, a mantra, a blessing. What matters is the size of the delivery.
By Raffaella de Campos Mello – Simple life magazine
Journalist. He needed time to curb his rationality and get closer to the subtle mysteries of existence.
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
