Invoking Cosmic Order
To make sacred is to regard with reverence,
to imbue with a quality of spirit or divinity.
The word ritual comes from the Sanskrit
word rta meaning ‘cosmic order’. Ritual
realigns you with the larger cycles of life and
invokes the sacred in what you might
otherwise view as ordinary.
Rituals invoke and honor the divine; this
sets them apart from habits. It is vital that
ritual has positive emotional meaning for both
partners; and that you both know what is
expected of you.
Rituals are not routine. Routines don’t
have emotional significance or intention, and
routines do not have the purpose of deepening
your relationship with spirit or your partner.
There are many other books that go into
great detail about increasing your sexual
powers by chanting a mantra three times
while squeezing your root chakra and
exhaling to the count of four; we just don’t
believe that connecting with the love of your
life needs to be that complicated!
Relationship magic may be simple, such as
a morning goodbye kiss dedicated to Venus
the goddess of love or might be more elaborate,
such as a weekly spa night, when you honor
each other’s inner god and goddess.
Infusing the sacred into your intimate relationships
opens the doorway to all the abundant opportunities,
unforeseen possibilities and hidden potentials the divine
offers. Your mundane routines take on new life and your
daily habits transform. Simply Sacred is a guide for making
the day-to-day reality of your relationship sacred. This
includes eating, sleeping, cleaning, fighting, and of course
it also includes sex, that wonderful and completely
human endeavor of joining bodies for the purpose of
pleasure, procreation and intimacy.
We’ve all read the magazines exhorting you to reignite
the fire in your sex life, or demanding that you learn 50
ways to drive him or her wild in bed. Self-help books
abound offering advice on everything from scheduling
dates with your partner to S&M for Dummies. It might
seem that bringing the passion back into your
relationship involves both a truckload of equipment and
complicated diagrams.
Simply Sacred offers an alternative that is both magical
and practical. Many of the materials you will need are
items that you likely already have in your house such as
sea salt, cinnamon and cardboard. The exercises are
designed to work with your already established habits:
cleaning, cooking and sleeping, and the only real change
you will be asked to make is in your perspective. The
activities in Simply Sacred are easy and fun, and range from
simple rituals to magical games and tools that are easily
incorporated into your daily routines.
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 What Was that Peacock
Simply Sacred is a resource to use right from the beginning Feather for Again?
of a relationship, or later, after the honeymoon is over. During
the post-honeymoon phase, couples dive into the shadow We use the basics of what in
work, sometimes free-falling, sometimes hanging on for dear magical circles is commonly called,
life at the edge of the relationship cliff refusing to take the ‘creating sacred space’: purifying,
leap. Your first big fight calls you down into the depths of the grounding, casting a circle, and
underworld, where you see that your ‘soul mate’ is also a real invoking elements and deity. These
human being, complete with the annoying habits you were steps are outlined in the following
hoping to do without: the embarrassing laugh or the socks on sections. In magical traditions, each
the floor. of these steps preludes the meat (or
You may realize like a dreamer awakening from a lovely tofu) of the ritual. It might be fun
dream, that there’s a person behind the romance veil, a person to play with some of the simple
you’ll interact and negotiate with on a daily basis. For some forms of each of these steps, doing
the shock is enough to make them run screaming in the other them in the order described before
direction, searching for a new partner in play, reaching once your ritual. However, when you are
again for that elusive, never-ending honeymoon. For others, pressed for time, or don’t feel like
this wake-up experience signals the beginning of a true doing more, you may want to pick
relationship, and an opportunity to grow closer as you come to one or two that feel right for you in
really know each other and your intimacy deepens. the moment. We suggest that at the
Those who decide to go deeper may come to discover that very least you do a grounding
their relationships have the potential to integrate two realities: practice before any of the longer
the magical and the mundane. Like the shaman who journeys rituals in this book. Play with the
between the worlds, you develop the ability to bridge these rituals and exercises so that they feel
parts of life, merging them at times, and also learning to leave enjoyable and resonate with you and
one to fully inhabit the other. In making sacred your everyday your partner.
routines, and inviting divinity to work with you, you literally
change your consciousness, viewing the world through new
eyes. That bleary-eyed mate who just sat across from you at
the breakfast table may soon be looking “hotter than a pepper
sprout”, ala Johhny Cash and June Carter.

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