The Power of Circle Rituals as a Tool for Clarity and Confidence


Ritual is a way to bring the sacred into the mundane and manifest your deepest desires.

When women gather in circle, magic happens. If you’ve been in one, you know exactly what I’m talking about, and if not, let me explain.

Centuries ago, it was common for women to come together in circle to support one another in birth, take it easy together during their menstrual cycle, cook and sew together, take care of one another’s children, and share stories of inspiration and triumph. Women thrived in that nurturing, connective environment where you could lean on a village sister in times of trouble and dance with a sister in times of celebration.

Over the course of history with secularization and industrialization, women lost touch with the ancient art of circling and forgot the power of the feminine.

But it’s come full circle, pun intended.

Stories of triumph both collectively and personally have rippled out, touching women on all parts of the globe, creating a worldwide thirst for circle once again.

Stories like Leymah Gbowee’s in her book Mighty Be Our Powers where she gathered the women in Liberia to come together in circle to protest and end a war that had ripped their country to shreds.

Or stories like mine where I spoke every week of wanting a baby and found myself pregnant within weeks of sharing that deep longing within my womb.

What may have felt like a dream or fantasy suddenly becomes real within the collective intention of the circle.

There’s something that speeds the process up and makes the magic become tangible: it’s called ritual.

What is ritual

According to the dictionary, RITUAL is a solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.

Rituals have been performed for centuries across all religions, cultures and traditions to bring the sacred into the mundane and manifest good fortune.

A ritual can be as simple as saying a prayer every morning at the same time in front of an altar. It can be used to bring mindfulness into your day and can bring more clarity, intentionality and presence to any area of your life.

Ritual is a way of bringing the sacred into the mundane.
It is a portal to call forth the divine.
It creates a threshold to step into something new.
It supports you in manifesting an intention.
Ritual puts magic into motion.

How ritual is used in circle

Circle itself is one big ritual filled with tiny rituals. When a woman’s circle has a spiritual intention deliberated with an altar in the middle, it becomes a sacred ceremony from the moment women enter the space to the time they leave.

The setting of the altar becomes a ritual.
The opening invocation.
The sharing with a talking stick.

When the circle becomes a space for healing, then ritual is a natural agent for transformation. After years of being disconnected from the feminine within ourselves and the sisterhood, women have some major healing to do when they sit in circle.

This is when the real magic occurs. That moment when a woman cries as she shares a dark secret from the past and receives unconditional love instead of judgment, feeling a sense of belonging for the first time. Or when someone doesn’t have enough money to get herself to circle and when she admits her shame story, has five women offering to go out of their way to pick her up.

A ritual can give a woman the courage to speak her truth, create a portal for her to step more fully into her power, or support her in claiming her self-worth.

Ritual is a passageway from the depths of the shadows into the light. It’s a stepping stone through the gate of self-doubt into confidence and clarity.

Coming out of the darkness and into the light

In a women’s circle I co-led with Laura Swan, we played with four archetypal energies of feminine leadership: the high priestess, queen, mother and wise woman.

Archetypes are universal, mythic characters that reside within the collective unconscious of all women. According to archetypal psychology, all of these energies are within you regardless of your age, life experience, or personality. When we activate the different archetypal energies in circle through ritual, we enhance and encourage their particular qualities within us.

To express and embody the high priestess, we went through a ritual to embrace her shadow to fully claim Her power. I was taken aback by how powerful it was for me, even as the facilitator. It just goes to show how powerful ritual is in sacred circle.

“Rage. Control. Impatience. I embrace you as I step fully into my power.”

I took the hand of my shadow and walked with her to the threshold.

While these may be the parts of me I want to discard and release, I choose to fully own them, to lift the veil and cast light on the darkness I have been enshrouded in.

I felt the pain of the past two weeks move like a thick ball up my chest into my throat. The virus I caught. The clogged duct in my breast. The frustration I felt in having to surrender.

I crossed the threshold, stepping into the ring of truth and spoke, tears welling up.

“I surrender to be the conduit of the Goddess to speak through me.”

I thought the high priestess was my trump card. But every strength has its shadow. I now humbly bow down and lay my ego at her feet, feeling lighter and freer like a snake who’s shed her skin. Ready to let go of any preconceived ideas of what’s next, in full surrender for Goddess’s sake.

One by one, the women performed the ritual. Some visibly shaking. Some crying. The ritual was potent in its own way for each woman. Some claimed it was the most powerful healing experience of their lives. Some said it felt like the end of the beginning; a final step through a transition.

While these rituals are powerful in the circle because of the safe container held sacred by the facilitators, they ripple out far wider than the confines of that room.

Rituals are no joke. They bring forth our power, strength and vulnerability — that is, when we honor and hold the process as sacred.

The truth is, circle is life. There is no separation. It’s all a reflection and mirror of what’s real. And rituals help us merge the magic with reality, inviting us into what’s being called forth for our highest.

Share Your Story

What is your favorite circle ritual? Have you manifested something special through ritual … please add your story of triumph and celebration!

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