Let’s get wild. Let’s get Primal.
Hi Beloved,
Let’s get into the actual power of ritual. The reality of this magic in the mundane.
I’m sure if you’re on this journey with me, you have some interest in magic and ritual. I do make ritual kits and host ceremonies every month. Maybe something in you sparks when you hear the word magic, or maybe the old way soothes your soul and wakes up a remembrance, or maybe the whole idea of a ritual is really freaking weird and the whole thing turns you off. Well, I’m here to tell you about the actual healing science of this magic.
In my studies at the Tantric Institute of Integrated Sexuality, I am learning all about how the old ways, shamanism, healing work, and energy work is actually pretty deeply connected to the brain and neuroscience. I learned that we have a very special part of our brain called the primal brain. This part dictates the limbic system and the cortex, our emotions and our beliefs about those emotions. Basically, this primal brain dictates how we perceive everything. And yet, we ignore it.
Our own wild primal nature has been so shut off in our world. In every other culture other than the western industrialized world, there has been set aside time where you could access and release trauma from that primal part of the brain. People would dance wildly all night, take plant medicine, shake, yell, chant, drum, dream, howl at the moon, and drop into this very primal ritualistic state of being.
Really what was happening was a deep healing from the bottom up approach, from a core level, completing stress cycles and discharging trauma from the central nervous system so that one could enjoy their daily life.
I say, now, we answer the call and bring it back.
We need to tap into this part of ourselves. It is what makes us whole. It is what makes us holy. Living a sacred life involves ritual because it helps us be present in our bodies to actually feel things, to actually be in the moment. We get so caught up in our attachment to looking pretty, being civilized, and being digestible to others that we never full let loose and release and access this primal, powerful, wild authentic self. Without this part, we can never be fully integrated human beings.
When you enter this state or ritual or trance, you become totally surrendered to sensation. It is liberating, it is freeing, and it is so deeply healing.
So whether you’re doing a new or full moon ceremony, or you are honoring your own cycle, or you’re doing a womb-clearing and ceremoniously letting go of past-lovers, or you have a magical morning and nighttime routine, or your make up routine or meal prepping becomes a ritual — get into it. Our primal brains heal from symbols, colors, and ritual. There is a reason why this stuff is so ancient and powerful — it works.
Make your rituals. Lose yourself in sensation. Feel. Heal. Be alive, as you are, in all your primal raging etheric glory.
Here’s to blending the mythic and the scientific. I wrote a piece this week about good ol’ fashion shame, something that can come up when you are truly entering into the spiritual path. The not-so-comfortable feelings that pop up when you are healing up and growing. I get pretty vulnerable with this one, so I hope it reminds you that we are all in this together. You can read that on the blog if you are feelin’ it.