The Power of Presence in Ritual

“Despite modernity’s extreme valorization of ideas, explanations, of rationalization in all matters, the fact is that mutual bodily presence through symbol and ritual is what people fold into when ‘words fail,'” says Bruce Morrill, author of Divine Worship and Human Healing: Liturgical Theology at the Margins of Life and Death.

Theoretical constructs can inform and guide our rationale, processes and spiritual motivations for ritual and symbolic acts as we partner with careseekers. Reviewing these can lead you to deconstruct and reframe these theories for your chaplaincy context.

Ritual Studies: Practicing the Craft

“In order to make up our minds we must know how to feel about things; and to know how we feel about things we need the public images of sentiment that only ritual, myth, and art can provide”. --Clifford Geertz

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Rituals are important to human life — even when they seem meaningless

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with anthropologist Dimitris Xygalatas about his new book, Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living. Consider possibilities for your caregiving conversations. 

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‍Towards a Framework for Professional Ritual Making in  Postsecular Contexts

Joanna Wojtkowiak (PhD) is a professor specializing in rituals, grief, loss and meaning in life at the University of Humanistic Studies, The Netherlands. She discusses the meaning of emerging rituals in spiritual care for birth and death.

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‍Transforming Personal Care Through Ritual in Assisted Living 

This article discusses the key concepts that support the introduction of ritual into long-term care facilities. It provides  a chaplain ritual ‘‘toolkit,‘‘ of self-care,for assisted living residents: moving into their new homes/rooms.

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Designing Personal Grief Rituals: An Analysis of Symbolic Objects and Actions

This report asks practical questions to ten psychotherapists with expertise in grief rituals. Which are the main types of grief rituals and their functions?  What are the symbolic objects used in different types of grief rituals and their values?  What are the symbolic actions used in different types of grief rituals and their values? 

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The Flexibility Hypothesis of Healing 

The flexibility hypothesis suggests that cognitive and emotional flexibility are represented, elicited, and enacted through multiple modalities in healing rituals. Healing practices may induce these states of cognitive and emotional flexibility through specific symbolic interventions we term ‘‘flexibility primers’’ that can include images, metaphors, music, and other media.

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