Modified Rituals for All Bodies

As a person living with multiple chronic illnesses, witchcraft and Wiccan ritual as it's prescribed to us feels tone deaf at best and incompatible with my practice. My body is different from most witches I know, as most of the witches I know are able-bodied and neurotypical. I have POTS, endometriosis, autism, bipolar disorder and PTSD. My body's movements are limited and often in pain. My brain is an oh-so-sensitive flower that finds so many mundane activities overwhelming. Wicca 101 books usually don't include alternatives to magickal actions such as casting circles, raising energy or divination. It is frustrating and ableist, and ableism is not something I want to be reminded of in my practice and studies.

Over time, I've accumulated magickal strategies that assist me in conducting ritual and other occultist activities comfortably. I suggest you do the same tailored to your own unique needs. My concerns regarding ritualistic limitations include back pain, sensory overload, fatigue, mental health issues and other symptoms that are common in a multitude of chronic illnesses. So I hope that the strategies I provide below can be of some help to my fellow disabled practitioners.

• Build a mini altar (or two) in your Book of Shadows to use as an alternative to your actual altar so you can do ritual from bed. I have different pages for different types of energy/magick I'm inviting, and each page is decorated with corresponding symbols, colors and images.

• If you can, use your voice as a means of cleansing negative energy from a space. I love to sing and chant to do this: no tools required!

• Cast a circle using an energy ball or white light visualization while staying seated. No walking, spine contorting or arm swinging necessary.

• Keep a pillow and/or blanket by your altar and take naps halfway through the ritual if you are starting to feel burnt out by raising energy.

• You can also use a pillow and blanket to change positions and meditate or pray in a lying down position if you are experiencing back pain. Sitting against a wall may work as well!

• Keep bookmarks or page markers in your Book of Shadows to mark the important pages you use or read every day or for every ritual so that it's super easy to find it.

• Give yourself hours or even days to perform divinatory work, like reading tarot cards for yourself or others. Psychic exercises such as these burn me out quickly, which blocks my intuition and makes me feel sick. Don't feel bad about how long it takes - you don't want to hurt yourself or give a shitty reading

• Use sources outside of yourself to raise energy during ritual, such as crystals, deities, herbs or the power of your guides.

• Do a visualization at the end of ritual to help refill your cup and reground before returning to mundane life.

• If you feel spacy, dizzy or disassociated after meditation, take a moment to move your head from side to side, noticing the colors and the objects in the room. Say them out loud. Notice the temperature and texture of your clothes against your skin.

• Keep food and water by your altar to keep you energized. Set this up before ritual so you don't have to get up in the middle of it.

• For those of us with shaky hands and/or a history of self harm, rip or douse things in vinegar that you might normally burn in a banishment ritual.

• If you have nerve or muscle movement issues, use stick lighters instead of the regular ones for maximum control.

• Skip the altar cloth so clean-up is easier. I find peeling wax off of or sweeping up ash from a wooden table or a clear surface is so much less of a headache than trying to keep up with keeping a piece of fabric clean. It absorbs everything, and emptying/rearranging my altar to put it in the wash takes so much energy.

• Skip the athame or boline entirely if you're worried about cutting yourself due to muscle movement issues and/or self harm tendencies. Replace it with another object that symbolizes a cutting tool for you.

• Don't believe the story that showing up to ritual or the cards during moments of emotional instability or distress is bad for your magick. That's bullshit. Our magick is meant to heal ourselves and be one with the universe and our personal power. It's not less powerful if we are going through pain. Don't sanitize your magickal experience or forego using it when you need it the most!

• Work with dark goddesses, especially crone archetypes. I find that it's much easier for me to relate to goddesses that aren't all about fertility and nature. I connect deeply with dark goddesses like The Morrigan and Hecate because they embrace death, the shadow, war, and other "ugly" stuff that resonates more with my life and practice. They are great allies in ritual (and otherwise) for those of us who experience immense mental health issues, pain and grief.

If you can't manage to show up to your altar or your practice in any way one day or week, do not beat yourself up about it. It's all a part of your healing process and personal spiritual experience. Trust in your magick and your body. You are not a bad witch if you don't regularly perform ritual or read the tarot every day. Listen to your body, and only do what feels good. Witchcraft is for outsiders and wounded healers like us, and it's OK to modify how we practice it.