One of the aspects of creating a ritual or spell that is often overlooked has to do with questions of structure and politeness to those spirits, guides, ancestors and Beings whom you invite to be a part of said sacred convocation.
It's a lot like creating code, actually: you have to make sure that you open and close with the same attention to detail so that you don't weaken your ties to the energies with whom you wish to collaborate on an ongoing basis.
Example: you want to do a burning bowl ceremony to release what no longer serves you and to invite new Beauty and manifestation in your life. You create your circle, and offer a multiplicity of offerings to please the senses of those in the Great Beyond whom you hope will carry on this work for you in the realms which you can not enter alone. Let us say you invite, Isis, Gaia, your great-grandmother's spirit and a few Elementals of your choice. You light fire, burn incense and cedar (a well-known spirit food), and add singing, sacred breath, and a few cookies on the altar.
You do your various rounds of thanks, offerings (such as the aforementioned songs), requests, and then you are almost done.
Now is the critical part: you must also close the circle, or your ritual will be incomplete and collapse like a souffle that has lost its oomph.
You have to open and close with the same attention to detail.
You wouldn't dream of forgetting to say 'goodbye' and 'thank you' to guests in your home - so don't forget to thank and send off those same entities you have brought into your circle. To do otherwise is super rude! And they will learn to ignore your requests in the future if you continue to be a clumsy hostess. (LOL)
So - just like in HTML - you must include both opening and closing actions for your spell, ceremony, or ritual to be complete and also pleasing.
I taught metaphysics with a group I co-founded, the Morro Bay Metaphysicians, for several years and still occasionally guest teach. I have a couple of podcasts up with this same info at greater length on YouTube. I am in the midst of a major global eco-activism project, Yes 2 Earth Now, which is a DIY art & comedy campaign to save the planet.
Tobey Crockett PhD
http://www.tobeycrockett.com
Yes2EarthNow.org
