Are rituals physically demanding?

[Zone]

For the past few days, I've felt really tired. I can not think of any change in my daily habits, outside of just a very simple ritual created by Scott Cunningham in his book Wicca, a guide for the solitary practitioner.

Lady of the moon, of the restless sea and vibrant earth, lord of the sun and of the wild creatures, accept this offering I place here in your honor. Grant me the wisdom to see your presence in all nature, oh great ones!

It is a slight variation of the above, I'll add bits here and there. It involves two candles, and incense. I attempt to build a circle, from what little knowledge I have of it, but that is about all there is to it. I also do a bit of meditation with visualization, but nothing else has changed significantly in my life as of late. For the past several days though, I've felt really tired, even a bit down from time to time.

I do feel a large build up of energy around myself when I do these things, and it is an overall positive experience that I find very pleasurable, but after that I just start feeling a bit tired.

[Jenny Crow]

When we cast a circle, work our ritual and eventually dismiss the circle often some of the energy we raise may stay with us so after a working it's advisable to eat something to ground us. You've probably heard of the Cakes and Ale ceremony - it's to ground us.

That excess energy can make us 'spacey' but can also wear us out if we ground ourselves. This may be what's happening to you; because normally when a ritual is done correctly it makes you feel good for days - at least it does me. Hope this helps.

[smogie_michele]

I never feel too tired afterwards, but everyone is different. If you haven't already tried cakes and ale, give it a shot. For me, I use whatever muffin, cookie or biscuit available and drink iced tea.

[Zone]

Thanks Jenny and smogie, I'll have to look up the cakes and ale ceremony. I appreciate the input, this is all new to me, I've never grounded myself or properly dismissed the circle.

[Becks]

Those are great points, and I agree that it's important to remember to close the circle.

After big work I always have a bite.

[Zone]

Thanks Becks, I was feeling exhausted yesterday.

I took a nap for three hours and still felt tired, I've just been a bit off for the past week or so. I'm not used to building up a ton of energy in myself, I mean I've always had the ability to make myself feel full of energy I just don't do it often. The effort of pushing that energy into a sphere around me, and maintaining it, are not something I am used to doing. It is weird that it has such an impact on me.

I toned it down a bit today, there is no need to push myself that much. I think I'll start eating a bit more healthy, all of this Christmas food certainly is not helping out.

[Jenny Crow]

When we cast a circle, work our ritual and eventually dismiss the circle often some of the energy we raise may stay with us so after a working it's advisable to eat something to ground us. You've probably heard of the Cakes and Ale ceremony - it's to ground us.

That excess energy can make us 'spacey' but can also wear us out if we ground ourselves. This may be what's happening to you; because normally when a ritual is done correctly it makes you feel good for days - at least it does me. Hope this helps.

I hope you realized that I meant to say - "That excess energy can make us 'spacey' but can also wear us out if we DO NOT ground ourselves."

Sorry about that

[Jenny Crow]

Thanks Jenny and smogie, I'll have to look up the cakes and ale ceremony. I appreciate the input, this is all new to me, I've never grounded myself or properly dismissed the circle.

If you've never properly dismissed the circle then you've left all that energy there to run amok It's a must to dismiss the circle properly.

[Zone]

When we cast a circle, work our ritual and eventually dismiss the circle often some of the energy we raise may stay with us so after a working it's advisable to eat something to ground us. You've probably heard of the Cakes and Ale ceremony - it's to ground us.

That excess energy can make us 'spacey' but can also wear us out if we ground ourselves. This may be what's happening to you; because normally when a ritual is done correctly it makes you feel good for days - at least it does me. Hope this helps.

I hope you realized that I meant to say - "That excess energy can make us 'spacey' but can also wear us out if we DO NOT ground ourselves."

Sorry about that

No worries, I appreciate the feedback. I feel a little silly, I think it may have been a very weak virus, I spent most of yesterday sleeping it off, and then again today I took a nap, when I awoke I found that what little fever I had accumulated in the past couple of days broke and I feel a lot better now.

[Jenny Crow]

Glad you're feeling better. However, don't forget to properly dismiss the circle from now on

[Fantasia]

While Grounding yourself is a extremely helpful first step don't forget about Earthing! Earthing is done to rid ourself of excess energy after a ritual this is that pleasurable feeling you get from building up so much energy. Because there's a build up of energy on you from raising it you can feel tired, hot, get headaches, sick etc...
Earthing is simply a act of releasing this energy after the ritual so it doesn't get all built up.

[Becks]

Curious! Is "earthing" a new term applied to grounding? How do you you understand them to be different? Your description of "earthing" is what I would define as a method of grounding.

[YanaKhan]

Curious! Is "earthing" a new term applied to grounding? How do you you understand them to be different? Your description of "earthing" is what I would define as a method of grounding.

Sounds to me like grounding, but also banishing using the earth to dissolve the leftover energy.
I just wanted to chime in and say that rituals could be exhausting for several reasons.
At first, when I started with my craft, I was using my own energy in every ritual and while I don't usually cast circles, most of my rituals were with continuous effect - like success in my job, improvement for myself, defence of the house etc. So, my point is, the spells were bleeding my energy dry and I was waking up tired after 8 hours of sleep.
Once I started getting more energy by grounding myself before rituals and banishing after, I started feeling a lot better.
But most of all, once I stopped casting 2 - 3 spells a week, it became clear to me, I was exhausting myself in order to make little changes that didn't really matter that much.
Now, I'm not saying you should stop casting or what I do would work for you, but just sharing what worked for me.

[Fantasia]

Curious! Is "earthing" a new term applied to grounding? How do you you understand them to be different? Your description of "earthing" is what I would define as a method of grounding.

Sounds to me like grounding, but also banishing using the earth to dissolve the leftover energy.
I just wanted to chime in and say that rituals could be exhausting for several reasons.
At first, when I started with my craft, I was using my own energy in every ritual and while I don't usually cast circles, most of my rituals were with continuous effect - like success in my job, improvement for myself, defence of the house etc. So, my point is, the spells were bleeding my energy dry and I was waking up tired after 8 hours of sleep.
Once I started getting more energy by grounding myself before rituals and banishing after, I started feeling a lot better.
But most of all, once I stopped casting 2 - 3 spells a week, it became clear to me, I was exhausting myself in order to make little changes that didn't really matter that much.
Now, I'm not saying you should stop casting or what I do would work for you, but just sharing what worked for me.

I'm going to use this site as a reference ( http://www.rootsofritual.net/general/gr ... centering/ ) because this is the way I was taught (by my mother) of how grounding and earthing were similar but different. From the article it states:
"Grounding is the act of mentally (and sometimes physically) linking oneself with the earth or another source of power like the moon, stars, another element, or any other natural source of energy.  By doing this, we create a circuit with our own flow of energy and that source’s."
"Earthing is the act of ridding oneself of excess energy from a working to return to their energy equilibrium.  As we discussed a moment ago, this balance of energy in the body is essential."

I hope this cleared up any confusion