One thing I have learned from embracing my indigenous heritage is the need for sacred ritual in my life on a regular basis. Sacred rituals or ceremonies bridge the gap between the inner and outer worlds. Rituals help us enter into a world of archetypal understanding and bring more meaning and sacredness to our lives.

In any ritual I have ever participated in or facilitated, there two common denominators: setting a sacred intention and invoking supernatural forces. During ritual, we are literally asking for direct intervention from these Universal Forces, aka Divinity, to support our lives in a positive way.

Sacred rituals have brought me back from the brink of madness and inspired me to live more magical and graciously. Ritual allows us to take our ordinary experiences and elevate and activate them with more meaning and purpose. Basically, we infuse Holiness into our everyday experiences and our lives become even more mystical.

I can not say sacred ritual takes our problems away but like any spiritual tool they provide opportunities to uncover the deeper meaning behind our problems and, at times, solutions are revealed.

Here are three ordinary experiences that you can create sacred ritual around and welcome more meaning, mystery, and purpose into your life.

Burning Natural Incense

Many people like to burn incense sticks, cones, and herbal bundles. Sage, rosemary, and mugwort are popular herbal bundles burned in our homes for cleansing. Burning incense and herbs is an ancient ritual from many cultures around the world. Historically these rituals were used for prayer, cleansing and enhancing the vibration of an area. The next time you want to light natural incense, set a sacred intention for burning your herbs. Invoke Divinity, call upon other supernatural forces to be your allies. Ask with a grateful heart what you need. You can speak to the herbs themselves and thank them for their sacrifice and medicine.

Use Your Candles With Intention

Using candles are wonderful spiritual tools that can bring movement, motivation, and activation to our prayers and desires. Many of us have candles we light for increasing peace and calm in our atmosphere.  The next time you want to light your candle, add a  prayer about something you need or want to enhance in your life or someone else's.  The candle may have an intention already infused in it or you can infuse your own intention in your candle through prayer. Some people rub oil on their candle while they infuse it with intention. Bottom line, our sacred intent is magnified immensely with the use of candles.

Taking A Shower

Our daily act of taking a shower can be a moment of purposeful ritual. A shower uses the element of water, an element for reconciliation and cleansing. A simple but meaningful shower ritual begins by lathering your body with soap from head to toe. Let the soap represent the stress and strain of the day. As you lather your body, call out as Divinity is your witness, all the things from the day that need to be washed away. As you rinse your body, watch and feel every ounce of soap run down your body and feel the stress and strain leaving you. Watch the soap run down the drain and imagine all the stress with it. I then like to cover my body in sweet-smelling pure essential oil blends to seal in the goodness.

Rituals always end with gratitude and, more often than not, I like to journal my experience for further insight. As you can see, creating ritual is about bringing a bit more sacredness into our lives and honoring the mystery of The Divine.