ISSUES

A Typology of Ritual: Paradigms for

Healing and Empowerment

RADHA J. PARKER
H. SHELTON HORTON, JR.

Myth and ritual are thelceys to collective and individual cognitive consonance. Because the postmodern
cultural landscape is littered with "broken" myths,people need to learn how to birthviable symbols and
create contemporary rituals. Thisarticle examines ritualfrom theoretical, clinical, and practical perspec-
tives. Symbolic cognition and its relation to myth and ritual are discussed. A typology of ritual is
abstracted from phenomenological sources. Examples ofliberation, transformation, andcelebration rituals
are given. Elements commonly employed in ritualactivityare identified asguides to ritualconstruction.
Finally, suggestions are given concerning how to create powerful and effective personal rituals.

America's hunger for archetypal experience and wisdom is evident from the
popularity of Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth (1988) and from the
current profusion of myth-related books, projects, seminars, and therapies.
The popularity of this quest in a culture with an overwhelmingly empirical
bias corroborates the contrary, ancient perspective that the universe is made
up of stories rather than of atoms. From a religious, anthropological, and,
more recently, a psychosocial perspective, these stories are designated myths.
Myth in this sense does not connote an imaginative and therefore delusive
fable. The substance of true myth is the meaning embedded in the stories and
ritual practices that express an individual or culture's worldview or metanar-
rative. The purpose of myth, then, is not to paint an objective picture of reality,
but to express symbolically humankind's deepest self-understanding and
understanding of the world (Bultmann, 1972). Myth and ritual are the vehicles
through which the value-impregnated beliefs and ideas that we live by, and
live for, are preserved and transmitted.
Myths are indispensable. Rollo May (1991) affirmed the importance of
mythic metacognition in the introduction to his most recent work, The Cry for
Myth, when he wrote: "A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world"
(p. 15). Victor Frankl (1984) identified the need to discover an overarching

Radha J. Parker is an assistant professor of counselor education in the Department of Educational

Leadership and Counseling at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia. H. Shelton Horton,
[r., is an adjunct professor of religion and philosophy in the Department of Humanities at
Tidewater Community College, Chesapeake, Virginia, and a writer for FHC Health Systems in
Norfolk. Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to Radha J. Parker, 1732 West
48th se. Norfolk, VA 23508.

82 Counseling and Values / January 1996 / Vol. 40

meaning or logos to life as the deepest human motivation. It is not surprising
that a cry for myth has arisen in our postmodern era, marked as it is by the
deconstruction and jettisoning of many traditional social models and belief
systems.

THE MODERN REDISCOVERY OF THE POWER OF MYTH

In the late nineteenth century, Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer noted that
some neurotic symptoms have symbolic physical corollaries (e.g., a hysterical
constriction of the throat may reflect a patient's inability to "swallow" an
unendurable situation). Such observations led Freud to posit that the mind is
not a passive mirror of the external world, but an active and creative par-
ticipant in the process of perception and cognition (Jung, 1964). Freud's
recognition that the unconscious mind shapes all knowledge and ex-
perience-and that the symbolism expressed in dreams can serve as a royal
road by which one explores the unconscious-proved foundational for sub-
sequent speculation about the nature of the mind. This insight also set the
stage for a new appreciation of the power of myth, for according to Freud,
"Myths ... are of the psychological order of dreams. Myths, so to say, are
public dreams; dreams are private myths" (Campbell, 1972, p. 12).
Later exponents of what became known as depth psychology broadened
and deepened Freud's initial discovery that symbols are the language by
which the unconscious conveys meaning (Tamas, 1991).Jung rejected Freud's
method of interpreting dreams via psychosexual theory as too reductionistic,
preferring to allow the richness of dream symbolism to speak for itself.Instead of
seeing the unconscious as a mere repository of repressed trauma, competing
drives, and mechanical defense mechanisms, Jung saw the unconscious as a
dynamic microcosm filled with intelligence, purpose, and wisdom. He high-
lighted the significant fact that myth and symbol, the keys to meaning
in religion and art, were also the keys to doing the healing work of
psychotherapy (Jung, 1970). Jung viewed the imagery of mythology as a pic-
tographic representation of the powers of the psyche, and treated myth as a
powerful tool through which those powers could be identified and integrated.
Studies in a variety of disciplines, including the philosophy of science,
sociology, anthropology, analytical philosophy, and religious studies, have
suggested that all cognition is inherently metaphorical (Barbour, 1974; Fyerabend,
1988; Rorty, 1979). Like adherents of contemporary post-Jungian depth
psychology, they affirmed the vital role that symbolism plays in perception.
It is increasingly clear that symbolic cognition does not function in contrast
with or in opposition to the power of reason. Rather, imagination and sym-
bolic cognition undergird and make possible perception and even
rationality itself (Tamas, 1991). Mythopoesis (myth creating, making, or
doing) ultimately "constitutes the matrixing mode and activity for any and all
our endeavors" (Doty, 1986, p. xvii).

Counseling and Values / January 1996 / Vol. 40 83

THE THERAPEUTIC ASPECT OF RITUAL

The foremost modern-day authority on myth and ritual, Mircea Eliade (1959),
alluded to the therapeutic potency of rituals in observing that rituals create
"sacred space" and "sacred time" through which both the practitioner and the
world may be blessed. Psychotherapists Imber-Black and Roberts (1992, P: 3)
echoed Eliade's language in claiming that rituals create "protected space." For
example, the elements that constitute a child's preparation for bedtime, such
as storytelling, being tucked into bed with a beloved stuffed animal, or
repeating special goodnight phrases, constitute a ritual that nurtures the
child's inner world.
A 1992 study by Berg-Cross, Daniels, and Carr illustrated how effective
even simple rituals are in fostering wellness-in this case, in the context of
marriage. Questionnaires were given to a sample of women married 10 years
or more; women married 3 years or less; women divorced 10 years or more;
and women divorced 3 years or less. Results indicated that high ritual activity
was associated with long-term marital success and that "long-term marriages
that end in divorce are characterized by significantly less ritual activity than
long-term intact marriages" (p. 26). Examples of the kinds of rituals measured
by the questionnaires included talking together in bed before sleeping, using
special or pet names with each other, preparing meals together, having
special ways of hugging or touching, and attending seasonal religious ser-
vices together.
True ritual, then, is more than a repetitive behavior pattern. It is logocentric,
or meaning creating. Borrowing from Comstock's sociofuntionalist analysis
(1972), one might state that working rituals have the qualities of being validat-
ing, heuristic, integrative, symbolically rich, and curative. Imber-Black and
Roberts (1992) defined rituals as symbolic rites that help people do the work
of relating, changing, healing, believing, and celebrating. Rituals are increas-
ingly recognized by therapists as powerful tools that can create a window
through which the ideal can become actual, bringing renewal, transforma-
tion, community, and healing. Rituals create psychic handholds by which we
can grasp and manipulate our inner reality, for in ritual "the world as lived
and the world as imagined, fused under the agency of a single set of symbolic
forms, turns out to be the same world" (Geertz, 1973, pp. 112-113).

TYPESOF RITUAL

Rituals come in a variety of configurations. According to Imber-Black and

Roberts (1992), there are protorituals or microrituals consisting of simple ac-
tions or verbal interchanges that occur repetitively and more or less spon-
taneously. More complex daily rituals include leaving and returning rituals,
bedtime rituals, mealtime rituals, and weekend rituals. Other rituals could be
added: lovemaking rituals, fighting and reconciliation rituals, and vacation or
holiday rituals. Traditional cultural rituals include secular and nonsecular
celebrations such as baptisms, bar mitzvahs, the pledge of allegiance to the
flag, and calendar holidays, such as Thanksgiving. More intricate are life-cycle

84 Counseling and Values / January 1996/ Vol. 40

rituals such as christenings, birthdays, marriages, funerals, and retirements.
Most complex are the spontaneous rituals that we create consciously or uncon-
sciously to help us deal with personal crisis or mark major transitions in our
lives. Rituals can help us negotiate the changes connected with divorce, adoption,
pregnancy, menopause, recovery from illness, healing from betrayal, recovery
from dependency, and even the advent of death. Such rituals may be evolved
intuitively, adapted from ceremonies from other cultures, or developed from
therapy, meditation, dreamwork, or journaling (see, for example, Beck &
Metrick, 1990; Cahill & Halpern, 1992; Feinstein & Mayo, 1990; Granger,
1990).
Although exploring intercultural templates for ritual often yields rich rewards,
we feel that a caveat is also in order. Not everyone will be willing or able to
participate comfortably in rituals taken from West African shamanism, god-
dess worship, or Cabalism. Therapists must be careful to avoid approaches to
ritual therapy that are too literalistic or script driven.

rna COGNITIVE NATORE OF RITUAL

It is through ritual that we actually "do" myth, experientially opening
ourselves to the therapeutic power of mythopoetic experience. How do rituals
work? Recent cognitive research has suggested that conceptual development is
based mainly on domain specific mechanisms in addition to general-purpose
learning heuristics (Carey, 1985;Gelman & Baillargeon, 1983).This means that
our capacity to forge cognitive consonance depends partly on implicate, a
priori aptitudes or information present in the mind (Boyer, 1994; Scheffler,
1991). Boyer (1994) explained: "To put it crudely, children learn much more
than they are taught, because prior principles orient them towards certain
types of domain-specific [knowledge]" (p. 36).
The apparent reality of intuitive, domain-specific mechanisms prefigured
in Platonic and Kantian literature has prompted researchers and theorists to
consider more closely the role of intuition and symbolic cognition in under-
standing. Although the cognitive mechanisms involved in ritual appreciation
are probably the same ones active in everyday thinking, they seem to be
uniquely configured when engaged in ritual. Sperber (1975) called ritually
triggered perception "symbolic" versus "rational" cognition. Cognitively,
rituals precipitate not rational perception, but rather an intuitive "evocation"
through which we "know beyond" the information derivable from the cul-
tural and linguistic strings that constitute our social environment (Lawson &
McCauley, 1990). Living mythological symbols may be thought of as "affect
images" (Campbell, 1972, p. 89) that bypass surface analytical cognition and
talk directly to the deeper intuitive and emotional layers of intelligence.

Symbols and Symbolic Cognition

Paul Tillich's Dynamics of Faith (1957) offered a classic analysis of the nature
of symbols and the power of symbolic cognition. Tillich noted, first, that
symbols are different from signs. Unlike signs, symbols participate in the

Counseling and Values / January 1996 / Vol. 40 85

reality that they symbolize. For example, a red light or a mathematical
numeral function as signs in that they act as markers pointing to some
predetermined construct. As signs, however, they are replaceable. That is,
another agreed-on marker could be substituted without a loss of meaning. But
the situation is different with symbols, such as the American flag or a crucifix.
Both are expressively rooted in the reality that they reveal. They can only be
replaced if they become "broken" symbols, an eventuality that we discuss.
Symbols also differ from signs in that symbols are multivalent and multi-
dimensional, whereas signs are univocal and one-dimensional. Signs may be
rationally fabricated, but truly effective symbols are always products of the
personal or collective unconscious. This point is critical to an understanding
of the essential power of symbols and the metacognitive effect of myth and
ritual on the individual. Because symbols emerge from the unconscious, they
arrive already containing a manifold of coherent and complementary cogni-
tive nuances waiting to be unfolded.
Finally, symbols disclose levels of meaning that are otherwise closed to us.
Specificpaintings, poems, or musical compositions reveal truths and precipitate
types of experiences that are otherwise inaccessible. The allusive power of
symbols creates a link between alternate levels of reality in human perception
that cannot be achieved through merely linear, rational thinking (Smith,
1989).

Broken Symbols

Because true symbols emerge from the unconscious and are born rather than
invented, it is also true that they may grow old and eventually die. Symbols
(or myths) that lose their vitality and cease to resonate archetypally because
of shifts in individual or cultural ideology are designated as "broken"
(Campbell, 1988; Doty, 1986; Tillich, 1957). Regarding the example of the
American flag, although it is true that the flag is a symbol rather than a sign
and therefore cannot be replaced, its present power to function as a meaning-
ful symbol of the unity and spirit of America may vary greatly (e.g., percep-
tions of a World War II veteran and a 1960s antiwar activist may vary). The
fact that flag burning was once a serious offense but is today a misdemeanor
may suggest that, from a cultural viewpoint, the flag has become devitalized
as a symbol for some people.
Despite the degree to which the cultural landscape is littered with broken
symbols, symbols remain indispensable for us, because symbols are the way
we register meaning in our inner being. The predicament that confronts us
both culturally and individually is how to continue to avail ourselves of the
archetypal nurturance communicated through myth and ritual despite
postmodern society's positivistic antipathy to metanarrative or symbolic
knowledge. Because myth and ritual are the keys to both collective and
personal cognitive consonance, it is helpful for therapists to assist clients in
learning ways to birth viable symbols and to create contemporary rituals
appropriate to their personal needs. It is this practical consideration that the
remainder of this article seeks to address.

86 Counseling and Values / January 1996 / Vol. 40

A TYPOLOGY OF RITUAL ACTIVITY

Witmer and Sweeney (1992) and Chandler, Holden, and Kolander (1992) have
espoused the position that spirituality is at the core of wellness theory (Maher
& Hunt, 1993).This is an increasingly compelling consideration for those who
conceive of counseling and psychology as helping disciplines meant to en-
gender personal transformation (Hendricks & Weinhold, 1982;Maslow, 1971;
Peck, 1993; Tart, 1975, 1990). One of the most intriguing discoveries of the
twentieth century is how much the great world religions or "wisdom tradi-
tions" (Smith, 1989) have to teach Western psychology about the parameters
of the psyche or the soul. These traditions, including shamanism, are repositories
of the archetypal wisdom of the race. Their mythology, ritual, philosophy,
and contemplative practices arguably constitute a collection of "psychotech-
nologies" (Tart, 1975), which contain paradigms for self-transformation that
have been tested and refined over many centuries. Consequently, the findings
of phenomenologists of religion may serve as gold mines from which inspira-
tion for new theories and therapies may be quarried.
In the Judea-Christian tradition, for example, ritual activity can be seen
phenomenologically to fall broadly into three categories: (a) cursing, used
here primarily in the sense of arar [Hebrew], creating a barrier to exclude or
anathematize someone or something (Kselman, 1985); (b) blessing;and (c)wor-
ship, including the commemoration of sacred events such as the Passover or
the Last Supper. In the Asian religious tradition, as expressed in Tibetan
Buddhist tantric practice, rituals may be classified as (a) "pacifying" (zhiba)
and "subjugating" (dbang-'dus) rituals (used to overcome or eradicate disease,
enemies, or other "harmers"); (b) "expansive" (rgyas-pas) rituals (used to prolong
life, increase power, acquire possessions, or gain knowledge); and (c) "un-
common" rituals, which lead directly to liberation or enlightenment (Beyer,
1973;Horton, 1972).Finally, in the Western magical tradition, which is based
in alchemical, Cabalistic, and Hermetic models of self-transformation, there
are three main types of rituals: (a) banishing rituals, which aim at removing
harmful forces; (b) evocation or invocation rituals, which enlist the aid of
helpful forces; and (c) consecration rituals, which involve a sacred celebration
or aim at the magical transmutation of oneself or a sacred object (Bardon,
1984;Crowley, 1990).
Working from phenomenological overviews such as these, we have ex-
trapolated three prevalent foci or tributaries of ritual activity. We have chosen
to label these typologically (in order corresponding to the examples within
each of the preceding groups): liberation rituals, transformation rituals, and
celebration orcommemoration rituals. In the remaining sections of the article, we
explore these proposed categories of ritual activity. The distinguishing char-
acteristic of each category is described, and each category is illustrated with
examples from the literature of religious anthropology. Contemporary ex-
amples are offered that demonstrate how each paradigm can be used to
design personalized rituals. The names in these vignettes are fictitious to
protect client confidentiality. Finally, some of the elements or building blocks

Counseling and Values / January 1996 / Vol. 40 87

common to ritual construction are enumerated and suggestions for im-
plementing rituals are discussed.

Liberation Rituals

Liberation rituals are paradoxical in that they can use an act of destruction to
effect healing. In liberation rituals, restoration is accomplished via the sym-
bolic removal of or disengagement from obstacles to healing. Negative in-
fluences are symbolically terminated, dissipated, or "cursed," and closure is
attained. The goal of liberation rituals may therefore be regarded as release.
Because significant losses and interpersonal conflict are inevitable in life,
personal and relationship healing is often needed. Liberation rituals help
individuals release and therefore recover from trauma caused by violence,
sexual abuse, or betrayal. They enable individuals to forgive others and to
reconcile their differences. By encouraging people to relegate previous pain
to the past, healing rituals empower them to embrace the future with hope.
A biblical example of symbolically actuated deliverance may be glimpsed
in the transference of the sins of Israel to the scapegoat on the annual Day of
Atonement (Leviticus 16). After the sins of the nation were linked to the
sacrificial animal by the high priest through the laying on of hands, the scape-
goat (derived from an Arabic word meaning remove) was led into the wilder-
ness and released. In so doing, Israel freed herself from her sins by vicariously
delivering them into the hands of the demon of the wilderness, Azazel
(Greybill, 1987). Another common variation on this motif was the ritual that
followed recovery from leprosy. A leper restored to wellness was not con-
sidered truly cleansed until a living bird was taken into the countryside and
set free, symbolically carrying the evil of the disease away (Leviticus 14:6).
Contemporary examples of liberation rituals might include releasing bal-
loons after a funeral to promote acceptance of the reality of death. Another
example is a string-cutting ceremony atthe time when a divorce is made final,
as a way of facing the future and relinquishing unrealistic hopes of reconcilia-
tion. Yet another example of liberation ritual is found in meditation exer-
cises, in which cancer patients attempt to mobilize their immune systems by
visualizing cancer cells being "zapped," as in a video game (Siegel, 1986,
1990). For any such rituals to be effective, the symbolic activity must be
enacted, not just thought about. In the example of the string cutting, only as
the string is actually cut does the finality of the former spouse's absence
register at the level of the unconscious.
Vignette 1. The Mays family used a liberation ritual to restore peace after a major conflict
occurred between ll-year-old George and lo-year-old Meg. The problem arose when Meg
took George's new bicycle without his permission and accidentally crashed it into a wall.
The bicycle was badly scratched and dented and could no longer command the respect
of George's peers. To retaliate, George slipped Meg's diary out of her secret hiding place,
broke its lock, and read it to her classmates at school. This instigated a bitter battle between
the two children that seemed to have no resolution.
After all attempts to reason with the children had failed, the parents decided to try a
ritual. They asked both George and Meg to write a letter to one another, in which they
would express all their angry feelings. The parents collected the written letters and asked
the children if they wanted to make up and feel better. After they both enthusiastically

88 Counseling and Values / January 1996/ Vol. 40

 affirmed that they did, the parents had the children step outside. On the patio, the parents
carefully placed both letters in a large metal garbage can. They gave Meg and George
tiny bottles of gasoline and invited them to pour the gasoline on the letters. When this
was done, the father threw a match into the can and the letters blazed. After the fire had
burned out, the children were allowed to scoop up the ashes and cast them into the river
that flowed by their home. The children's angry feelings floated away with the ashes.

Transformation Rituals

Eliade (1958)defined initiation rituals as symbolic performances designed to

produce a decisive alteration in the religious and social status of the person
being initiated. Traditionally, it was through such rites of passage that boys
became men and girls became women. Such rituals served as the doorway to
kinship, marriage, authority, tribal membership, and transcendence. At its
highest, initiation fosters a "second birth" through which death is overcome
and one's humanity is "completed" (Eliade, 1959, p. 187).
Transformation rituals are rituals of formation or rites of passage. Through
them, something new is birthed, affirmed, blessed, and empowered. In trans-
formation rituals, the elements of initiation and blessing are coupled. These
two elements go together naturally and necessarily, as do birth and nur-
turance. Transformation rituals not only announce that changes are occur-
ring, they also bring about their occurrence. Research has suggested, for
example, that in societies that have public rituals to mark a young person's
coming of age, the transition through adolescence is much less difficult than
in cultures in which there is no universal agreement on when adulthood is
reached (Elkind, 1984;Lefrancois, 1986).Such rituals empower individuals to
make a clear transition from adolescent dependency to adult responsibility.
A traditional Sioux transformation ritual is Hunkapi, the "making of
relatives" associated in the modern imagination with blood-brotherhood. The
two persons who wish to become joined must first perform a sacrificial act to
demonstrate the seriousness of their intention. They may cut themselves, fast,
or give away some prized possession. Then they symbolically establish their
unity by mixing their blood together, or by being bound together with a cord.
As a result, a new sibling relationship is created that will nourish and sustain
both partrers throughout life (McCaa,1990).
A contemporary need that can be met by the use of transformation rituals is
creating a sense of family unity among members of newly formed blended
families.
Vignette 2. Frank and Jill invested much thought in customizing their wedding ceremony.
It was the second marriage for both, and they wanted to heal some of the trauma that
had occurred in their families as a result of their divorces, while also creating a sense of
dignity and newness about their own midlife union. Frank and Jill decided to create
closure with Frank's 12-year-old son, Nat, by ritually incorporating the boy into the
wedding ceremony.
Jill and Frank had their wedding outdoors inside a large ceremonial circle. After they
had exchanged vows and rings at the center and had been pronounced husband and wife,
they returned to the entrance of the circle, where they were met by Nat. Frank removed
from his pocket a ring (which Nat had chosen) and handed it to Jill, announcing that they
were giving Nat the ring as a sign that their circle of love would always include him.
Frank then held Nat's left hand and Jill took Nat's right hand and slipped the ring on

Counseling and Values / January 1996 / Vol. 40 89

 Nat's finger, saying, "Just as you are flesh of Frank's flesh naturally by birth, I adopt you
as my son, flesh of my flesh. Our marriage covenant with each other is also a covenant
with you." The three then faced the assembled crowd and Frank announced, "Today we
are one family."
Although the wedding party had briefly rehearsed this exchange, profound and unex-
pected feelings of love and acceptance were released in the context of the living ritual.
The tableau dissolved into hugs and tears, including many among the wedding party and
guests as well. The bond among Jill, Nat, and Frank was palpably and permanently
deepened.

Celebration or Commemoration Rituals

Celebratory or commemorative observances are the types of events we most

readily identify as rituals. These include forms of religious worship, anniver-
saries, birthdays, and local cultural holidays. Commemoration rituals are
distinguishable from transition rituals in that the former are cyclic. For ex-
ample, a wedding is a transition ritual; an anniversary is a commemorative
ritual. The former is about getting married; it solemnizes the conversion from
singleness to a life of commonality. The latter is about staying married; it
celebrates the "story" of the entity that carne into being as the result of the
wedding.
Commemoration rituals are innately like religious observances in that they
are worship rituals. The term worship, however, should be understood in the
original sense of appreciating the "worth-ship" of something. In commemoration
rituals something valuable is preserved or honored through remembrance or
celebration. Eliade (1959, p. 68) defined mythic time as "reversible" time. In
mythic time, the past becomes present as one participates in the timeless
reality toward which the symbol points. The Roman Catholic idea of anam-
nesis (literally unforgetting) that declares that every celebration of the
Eucharist mystically participates in the single, unrepeatable sacrifice of
Christ, reflects this mythic perspective. The same is true of a couple who
celebrate their anniversary by returning to the restaurant where they courted,
by looking through photo albums, or by dancing to "their song." The couple
wants not merely to remember good times, but to directly reexperience the
spark that keeps their relationship alive. In this sense, their ultimate goal is
not mere reminiscence, but communion.
Because traditional commemorative rituals are so familiar to people, a view
of a nontraditional, contemporary example may be beneficial.
Vignette 3. The Grayson family celebrated an event that began as a tragedy. During their
annual vacation at the beach, ll-year-old Rick rushed out to bodysurf in waves that were
far too high for his parents' sense of safety. Exhibiting the rebelliousness typical of
preadolescence, Rick ignored his father's admonitions to be careful and sought out the
biggest waves. When Rick's attention shifted to a distant surfer, a large breaker caught
him off guard. Crashing over him with tremendous force, the surf swept Rick out to sea.
Watching from the shore, Mr. Grayson saw his son's distress and immediately swam
out to rescue him. After being returned safely to land, Rick was breathing but seemed to
be only partially conscious. Mr. Grayson's tremendous anxiety was relieved, however,
when Rick rallied. After regaining full consciousness, Rick pointed to his sister's ice cream
cone and then gratefully gulped it down. A year after his rescue, at the prompting of his
mother, Rick proudly surprised his father with a special anniversary bowl of ice cream
(his father's favorite, fudge ripple).

90 Counseling and Values / January 1996/ Vol. 40

 The ritual persisted into Rick's adult years. The gratitude and love it expressed helped
Rick and his father to endure the trials of adolescence and to remain close to his father
after his parents' divorce. Each observance became an opportunity for mutual forgiveness
and quietly shared affection. The annual bowl of fudge ripple ice cream became a powerful
symbol affirming the vital connection between father and son, as well as the preciousness
and fragility of life.

HELPING CLIEN1S CREATE PERSONAL RITUALS

Ritual Elements

Therapists can help clients learn to tap into the creative power of ritual by
educating them about some fundamental elements employed in ritual ac-
tivity. By imaginatively combining these elements, individuals and families
can develop personalized rituals. Three of the most important of these ele-
ments are word, name, and touch, elaborated as follows.
Word. The archaic conception of "word" is of a living, creative power.
Blessings or curses, once spoken, act autonomously (note that in the Bible,
Jacob's blessing, once given, could not be recalled; Genesis 27: 33-38).
Mythopoetically, fertility, physical strength, political success, material
prosperity, and protection all traditionally depend on the blessing of God, the
gods, parents, or ancestors.
Psychically, words are the equivalent of actions and, as such, carry great
potential for destruction or creation. For example, because words have a
tremendous influence on a person's sense of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1982), they
can be a significant factor in the development of self-concepts. Children are
particularly vulnerable to evaluative feedback (Ellis & Harper, 1975) and
desperately seek the approval of loved ones (Rogers, 1961). It is thus especially
imperative that parents speak words of blessing to children if the power of
self-acceptance is to be released in them. Silence from the parent in this regard
can be as deadly as a curse.
A traditional method of blessing, and a microritual in itself, is the use of
word pictures (Smalley & Trent, 1986). Word pictures harness the intrinsic
power of symbolism, sympathetic magic, and metaphor-the irreducible
mechanisms at the heart of religion, art, and effective communication in
general. Illustrations of word pictures and the blessings and curses that they
convey, could be multiplied endlessly. Yiddish contains many particularly color-
ful examples. The benevolence of the blessing "May you live to lead your
children and your children's children to the wedding canopy" is palpable and
nurturing. The ringing disdain of "May he grow like an onion: with his feet
in the air and his head in the ground" or "Kiss a bear under his apron" is, in
this case, delightfully acerbic, but equally effective (Matisoff, 1979). Word
pictures function by creating a symbolic link between the individual and an
everyday object with which he or she is familiar ("Like a lily among thorns is
my darling among the maidens" [Song of Songs 2:1]; see also Genesis 27:27).
Such words build understanding via the power of the imagination and
penetrate our customary defenses ("Hey, cutie" would sound insincere by
comparison.).

Counseling and Values / January 1996 / Vol. 40 91

 Here is a contemporary example. During her daughters eighth birthday
party, a mother wanted to acknowledge her child's "worth-ship" -specifically,
her quiet and cooperative nature. Knowing that her daughter enjoyed study-
ing sea animals in school, the mother praised the child by saying, "Margie is
like a dolphin. She is very intelligent and gentle, and she lives in harmony
with everyone else." To make the image even more striking, Margie's mother
had decorated her birthday cake with tiny dolphins.
Names. Name and breath are closely related from a mythopoetic perspec-
tive. Breath is equated with life. It is a mysterious power that moves within
the body during life, becomes agitated in sickness or distress, and finally
departs from the body at death. Because of the magical correspondence
traditionally assumed to exist among breath, words, and reality, names were
often considered to be the "breath-body" of that which was named. The name
of a god or a person expressed his or her essence. To know that name gave
one power to manipulate or to access that essence (Alexander, 1980).
In most archaic cultures, initiatory rites of passage climaxed in the reception
of a new name. American Indians receive a new, symbolic name after con-
ducting a vision quest; Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha after his
enlightenment; Jacob became Israel after wrestling with an angel; and Saul
became Paul after encountering Christ on the road to Damascus. In each case,
the name bearer's new name signified that he had achieved a new state of
being (Eliade, 1958). Today, when someone is promoted, he or she is often
given an honorific name-lieutenant, reverend, doctor, CEO. We acquire the
status of marriage partners by being pronounced or named "husband and
wife."
The common thread is that our names represent by proxy the essence of
who and what we are. We identify with names in such a way that their abuse
is reckoned a curse and their veneration communicates a blessing. Savvy salesper-
sons know that a person's name is the sweetest sound that he or she can hear
and, in effect a ritual, repeat it to foster trust when trying to make a sale.
Studies have shown that individuals who like their names rated higher both
in self-esteem and in self-rated social desirability (joubert, 1991). According
to Terrell, Terrell, and Taylor (1988), Black male adolescents and men with
African names scored significantly higher on self-concept scales than did
those without African names.
Clearly, the ritual and the microritual use of names is extremely potent. It is
essential that we "name" others in ways that honor and bless them. Modest
ways in which a parent can do this include naming a favorite homemade food
after a child (a "John-burger"), naming a special calendar day for him or her,
making family name 'f-shirts, or giving a child a name sign to hang on the
door of his or her room. Because the sharing of affectionate pet names has
been identified as a ritual practiced in successful, long-term marriages (Berg-
Cross et al., 1992)partners should regard this custom seriously. Secret names,
given or bestowed at moments of intense interpersonal catharsis, can recall
such peak experiences and revivify the healing insights and emotions con-
nected with them. Even commonplace honorific titles such as Father, Mother,
or Great-Grandmother can, with proper use, be invested with new meaning
and dignity.

92 Counseling and Values / January1996/ Vol. 40

 Touch. Touch is perhaps the most common way of giving and receiving
blessing. After a Muslim offers petitionary prayer (du'a) the hands are held
out in supplication, then the palms are rubbed across the face, conferring
blessing from Allah upon the supplicant. In many traditions, "laying on of
hands" is associated with healing (Mark 6:5) and blessing (Mark 10:16).
Kissing is another touch-gesture of respect, affection, and worship used
worldwide. Roman worshippers blew a kiss to the image of the deity as an act
of worship. Jews kiss the scroll of the Torah before reading it. Early Christians
exchanged the "kiss of peace" during the liturgy as a symbol of forgiveness
and concord. St. Martin reportedly healed lepers by his kiss.
Perhaps the most dramatic study of the intrinsic significance of touch was
the tragic discovery that orphans separated from their parents at the critical
age of 8 months would literally starve to death from lack of physical affection,
even if supplied with food (Spitz, 1945, 1946). In the 1950s, Harry Harlow
confirmed in experiments with rhesus monkeys that the need for warmth and
touch was as important as the need for physical nourishment (Harlow &
Zimmerman, 1959). Krieger (1970) showed that touch stimulated hemoglobin
levels and Dressler (1984) found that nursing home patients who had a pet to
touch lived longer. More specific physiological effects attributable to touch
were pinpointed by Quinn and Strelkauskas (1993), who found that therapeutic
touch caused significant immunological changes in the body. Touch affects
mood as well. According to Howard (1988), geriatric patients who are touched
have more positive attitudes and higher motivation. Hornik (1991, 1992)
found that a light touch on the upper arm by a greeter at a store increased
shoppers' shopping time, their amount of shopping, their willingness to
comply with requests, and their overall evaluation of the store.
Gurevitch (1990) analyzed touch as an expression of the essential human
need to achieve "non-distance" (p. 192). Because the body is the medium of
the self in the world, we cannot authentically know either ourselves or the
world apart from physical contact with others. The power of touch to bless is
clearly manifest in the simple but profound gesture of the mother kissing her
child's "hurt" to make it go away. We can incorporate the element of touch
into rituals in a variety of ways, ranging from handshakes to goodnight kisses.
Some creative methods of touch that families have used include standing in a
circle, holding hands, and singing a song; group hugs; laying on of hands; and
trust walks. One father always shook his young son's hand when they made
an agreement, essentially saying in a nonverbal way: "This is our contract
man-to-man, and we promise to keep our word."

Ritual Actions and Implements

Mention should also be made of customary ritual actions, which include

storytelling, eulogizing or remembering, eating and drinking, singing or
chanting, gift giving, dancing, ritualized touch, game playing, delivering
blessings or benedictions, holding ritual enactments of symbolic creation or
destruction, making pilgrimages or traveling, and engaging in prayer or
meditation.

Counseling and Values / January 1996/ Vol. 40 93

 Ritual implements take a vast assortment of forms, from the phur-pa, the
Tibetan ritual dagger, to the conventional birthday cake. In planning a ritual,
one may choose to imitate the high liturgies of the wisdom traditions by includ-
ing ritual implements representing some or all of the five senses (Sargent,
1994).Sight may be represented by a statue, picture, crystal, candle, lamp, or
any piece of iconography, art, memorabilia, or symbology. The natural
landscape or an individual may also serve as a focus for ritual intent. Hearing
may be represented by a toast, benediction, or other form of spoken blessing,
by music that is sung or played, or by the use of bells, chimes, drums, singing
bowls, or even applause. Taste is commonly represented by sacramental food
(such as the aforementioned birthday cake). Smell may be represented by
incense or flowers. Touch may be represented by holding a rosary, feather, or
wand, or through handshaking, laying on of hands, dancing, or anointing
with oil.
When helping clients to plan rituals, it is also important for counselors to
help them consider how to create a protected or sacred space in which the
ritual can occur (Beck & Metrick, 1990;Cahill & Halpern, 1992; Imber-Black &
Roberts, 1992). This assistance may consist of a ceremonial circle, a specially
decorated room, an altar, or a breakfast table. Closely conjoined with ritual
space is ritual time. The boundaries of ritual time may be connected to a
sacred calendar, an anniversary, the cycle of the seasons, or, in the case of
transition rituals, any significant need or event.
One effective way to practice demarcating and inhabiting sacred space is by
the creation of altars. One may think this is a dauntingly mystical suggestion.
In reality, however, most of us spontaneously create altars in our homes and
workplaces. The picture of the family, or of a favorite vacation spot, that sits
next to the computer in the office is a functional altar, inspiring contemplation
and providing comfort. We can consciously choose to create or embellish such
miniature theaters of symbolism, and by doing so, exercise our mythic im-
agination and enlarge our capacity for wonder.
Again, potent symbolism is the key to effective ritual, for all ritual is about
magic-that is, about psychically powerful, intuitively appropriate correspon-
dence, known as sympatheia in Greek. Such sympatheia links the voodoo doll to
the body of the intended victim. It links the red stripes on the American flag
to the blood of the patriots, and it links the wine of the Eucharist to the blood
ofChrist. Itis the bond connecting the symbol of physical light and the experience
of spiritual illumination. Sympatheia, registered in or projected from the
depths of the unconscious, is not a matter of mere rational imagination, but of
transrational recognition or creative revelation. It is therefore necessary for
clients to intuitively arrive at their own symbols, rather than to simply adopt
a preexisting script. Therapists can assist clients, however, by educating them
about the various elements that can be combined to create meaningful rituals,
and by sharing examples of personal rituals that others have developed.
The following vignette illustrates how one couple incorporated intuition in
creating a personal ritual.
Vignette 4. Seth and [olie met in graduate school in the 19705 and fell deeply in love. They
talked of marriage, but because of geography, and because both were entangled with
other partners, the relationship foundered. They separated, despite the nagging conviction

94 Counseling and Values / January 1996 / Vol. 40

 that they were soul mates, and that "this was it:' Both married other people and, after a
decade, both divorced. There had, however, been no communication between Seth and
]olie since their college days, because both had agreed that this would be too painful.
When the two met serendipitously 17 years later, they found their powerful attraction
for each other undiminished by time. Both agreed that they had unsuccessfully attempted
to recreate their relationship with other partners. Together they sought a way to create
an emotional closure that would celebrate their reunion, incorporate their past, and heal
the pain of their years of separation.
During a time of silent meditation, Seth found himself envisioning the secluded forest
stream where the couple had their final words before parting. Superimposed on this image
was the face of a clock exploding. Seth shared his vision with ]olie and suggested that
they find some way to actualize it ritually. He was stumped, however, about how to
incorporate the image of an exploding clock, a clear intuitive symbol of the abolition of
time. ]olie left the room and returned with a sword she had bought at an antique sale.
Seth enthusiastically recognized it as a perfect implement to incorporate into their libera-
tion ritual. He bought an ornate but inexpensive pocket watch, and the two made the
5-hour pilgrimage to the "sacred" stream.
After arriving, they formally asked each other's forgiveness for letting the relationship
slip away, and reaffirmed their Original commitment to the rightness of the relationship.
Then Seth waded into the middle of the shallow stream and placed the watch on a rock.
He ceremoniously smashed it to pieces with one blow of his sword, symbolically reversing
time and allowing the couple to begin life anew with their communion pristine and
unbroken. This ritual freed Seth and ]olie to bond unconditionally by affirming the
authority and authenticity of their original commitment to each other. On some level, the
pain of the years of separation and the feelings of mutual betrayal were abolished by the
symbolic sword stroke.

CONCLUSION
Though the study of ritual is a fascinating academic enterprise, the typology
in this article is primarily meant as a practical aid to foster the practice of ritual
as a performing art. The grouping of rituals we have formulated is obviously not
a rigid phenomenon. In practice the three categories will overlap, because rituals
serve more than one purpose. We believe that the typology offered can
nevertheless be helpful for those seeking to incorporate the power of symbolic
cognition into personalized rituals and events. It can serve as an inventory to
fine-tune therapeutic rituals and ensure that they are dynamic, comprehen-
sive, natural, and personally meaningful. The typology may also aid one in
making the transition from simple, spontaneous rituals to more complex,
personalized rituals. Through using the power of ritual for liberation, celebra-
tion, and transformation, we can learn ways to heal ourselves, our clients, our
families, and perhaps, in some small way, our culture as well.

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