Ritual Council Is Coming

In integrity with the 13 moons we sit in 13 circle cycles. This is the foundational architecture of Ritual Council.

Each cycle is three hours or thereabouts. As each circle closes, we enter into a short breathing space. A brief moment of noble silence. Roughly 30 minutes. Enough time for some personal refreshment, a toilet trip, a cup of tea, a stretch of legs, a few minutes with the sky or the trees. Just long enough that basic needs can be met, but short enough that we remain in the mystery and stay in touch with the group field. And then the drum sounds, we turn foot, head back into the candlelight and the ritual council continues.

Some may choose to sit a cycle or two out, to get some sleep outside the circle. Others may feel called to be present for each of the 13 cycles even if it means laying down and sleeping in their place at different points throughout the journey. Always, there is at least three of us meeting in the deep places. The circle holds. The field holds. The work continues, whether we are speaking, listening, resting, or simply being.

Occasionally, one of the space holders will open a cycle with an intuitive offering of a tea or concoction made from the offerings of the land. Perhaps a little mugwort to support liminality, perhaps a fire-hearted blend to wake up the bloodstream and enliven the body. These gestures are simple, but they are an old kind of love. A way of being in relationship with what is around us, and allowing that relationship to support the depth of what is unfolding within us.

Ritual Council is not something that is taught or driven. It is not about facilitation in the conventional sense. It is not about outcomes. It is about staying. Staying long enough that the surface gives way. Staying long enough that something deeper can emerge. Over time, something begins to reorganize. The nervous system settles. The edges soften. What is fragmented begins to find coherence through being witnessed, honoured, and allowed.

There is a rhythm to it. A movement between depth and space, between intensity and integration, between the individual and the collective field. We move in and out of silence, in and out of expression, in and out of the known and the unknown. And somewhere in that rhythm, something ancient begins to stir. Something that feels less like learning and more like remembering.

That’s the prayer of Ritual Council. A gather of the leaders, the well journeyed ones and the great forces of love. A gathering so deeply human it actually lives in our bone memory. A ritual of liminal leadership that sits alongside the vigils, vision quests, pilgrimages, rites of passage and medicine ceremonies in its sincerity and depth. Something many have longed for. Something real.