It begins at bead 1, 2, 3… turning, evolving into a chant.
Peace within me. Peace within me. Peace within me.
I weave my spell through my field, through my being. I magnetize it. I focus, which creates receptors for my intentions. I forget, and then I return. Integrating as I go. This is a ritual I have grown to adore. It delivers me to myself.
Ritual is a very important thing in the lives of humans. The term “ritual” can conjure all sorts of associations, for in the field of what it means, there are many widely varied uses and intentions. I am often referring to various meanings within this field, and today what I point to is the practices we have, or can have, that help us to come into deepest alignment with our true selves, and with that - our truest purpose.
In this context, ritual is the bridge between the intangibles and the tangible, or how we might experience things in our ordinary1 reality. Between the spiritual realm and the physical realm. Between our desires and manifesting them. Between wanting to have or be or act or experience and actualizing it. Ritual pulls it towards you, into the tangible realm.
Even if you are a person who does not have the diagnosis of ADHD, you might’ve noticed that we live in a world that can still create the experience of it for you. Social media, smartphones, texting, even just the speed of our tech – the instant gratification of how things are for us feeds into creating patterns and then habits in our day-to-day that encourage multi-tasking and processing a whole lot of information – even though I submit that multitasking is not a thing we are capable of, nor are we meant to be. What we are meant to be and do is to BE PRESENT. We can be present to many things at once but the doing, the tasking – not so much. Dwelling in the past is folly - it can hallmark depression and regret, stagnation and then seemingly insurmountable blockages. Fixating on the future bypasses the only empowerment opportunities we ever have, in the Now. It brews anxiety, impatience, reaction versus response, and a finite perspective.
There are ways for us to access the gifts of the past and the gifts of the future in the now-moment. Being a sacred witness to all that unfolds, for example – is profoundly dot-connecting and posture inspiring.
Our portal to power is in presence, always – for any and all power. And ritual is trying to create those present moments that intentionally connect the things that matter to you in the ethers into your very present moments in the cadence of your life.
As life quickens and we happen upon intense initiatory experiences, quite easily we can become overwhelmed forgetting how to swim or that our bodies naturally float. I think this is a frequent predicament, part of human-ing, to be honest – because when we give ourselves to growth and evolution and welcome depth and wholeness, there are things to heal, lessons to integrate, shifts, …honings.
For me personally, one of the tenets of being a mystic, a mage, of being shamanic is living the lessons and heeding the guidance of my helping spirits. What I have gleaned in doing so is how ritual fosters resilience, supports on-going healing and catalyzes integration. I am also finding that it may just be a profound key in how to come back to focus in an ADHD world, or an ADHD mind — to reign oneself in when overwhelm looms.
Over the past months, I have been preparing for a healing event. I was guided to hold space for all-of-the emotions, the fears and anxieties, the unknowns — a considerable challenge for my body and personal microcosm. And to do so, to support myself in doing so, I used ritual.
My mala practice was the salient and numinous ritual that resourced me. To steady myself I wove the simplicity of calm, calm, calm, whilst sitting in the midst of vivid imagination portrayals and what-ifs. I called upon equanimity — and at times it was surrender. Bringing me into this simplicity were my words at each bead. Cool to the touch, a familiar weight in my hands, graceful motion and momentary pause — it all brought me into more graspable focus, into a posture I could embody while the fires were igniting all around me.
Expanding and leaning into ritual with my mala beads has played a vital role for my physical, emotional and spiritual preparation and it continues to now be significant with my ongoing healing.
It was one tangible step, in the present, in the Now. Both actionable in the moment and bringing my intentions to fruition, to encompass me.
As I was able to do this - swimming in a muddled sea of feels, the hopes began to rise as well, the gratitudes and the appreciations. I don’t mean to bypass the feat that was, but it is just referential in this writing. Holding space for all parts of myself while lifting up my desires, gave me the equanimity and higher perspective that I really needed – that was to lead me through this beautiful journey.
I reached for my mala with expectant joy after a time. The ritual buffs off all that is extraneous to a person and reveals the authentic gem, the true self – and that feels really good. It feels empowering to be aligned with your truth.
My mala beads were kept close, the special rock in my otter pocket. I found that sometimes it was as if they were worry beads – taking away my worries as I would speak an intention to myself, sometimes aloud - the 108 times. Sometimes my mind would wander between beads and then would return again to my voice uttering the mantra. Sometimes I would feel the in-roads to me growing tendrils from the mantra, from my spoken intentions — extending from it, through my bead and into me. Sometimes I had very human, left-brain doubts, but just kept going.
These doubts can be so present in our humanness no matter how much belief we have cultivated in our lives. In the face of fear – many may throw the baby out with the bathwater, but it is learning to stay steady with both that has taught me so much.
NUMEROLOGY
From the traditions of the mala, we learn that the beads are an opportunity to count prayers – as they are pre-strung, one can be present with each bead and each utterance of their mantra. Mantra, by the way, means “sacred utterance”.
We learn that 108 is a sacred number, thought to be the number of times that it takes to attune oneself with the mantra intention. There is a lot of juiciness in the numerology of it all – the significance of 9s, the 1, the 8, and the 0 – from the cultures of India and also from many other cultures including the Norse pantheon with the 9 realms and many other deeper nuances.
Through my lens, 9 is a power number, the 1 symbolizes oneness, the 8 conjures infinity and the 0 represents the unbroken circle, and maybe even the circle of the mala beads.
The magic wove, the spell of intention happened. Sometimes I would have such impatience for how I needed to get on with other things in-that-moment, but I learned how to know that it was just going to be a few more beads. That I could be present for a few more beads. The roundness, the presence of each crystal between my fingers, the weight of the mala in my hands – it returned me to being grounded with it. That very tangible object, power filled, each bead like a liminal space, each bead a bridge to what I uttered.
And I would complete it - always having expanded my present moment, my presence and my access to my intentions.
Sometimes I would be in awe of how I managed to do it. I can show such impatience at inopportune times. But there is a magical path woven into the ancient ritual of using prayer beads, mala, rosary, counting beads - however we call them.
Forget fidget spinners. This is the focus tool. It enables you to become present to what you most desire, even in the freneticism that can persist.
This built with time, an attunement to the magic as I leaned in more and more to my mala practice. I began treasuring the access it could, and was, giving to me. That I was giving to me. Empowerment blossomed.
Mala is a word that means garland. It comes from the traditions of India and the way that it has been suggested that I learn it, from the guidance of my helping allies, is to more widely see it — by honoring the wisdom and grace of garlands as with Hawaiian leis and also crowns of roses, which historically led to rosary beads2.
They are considered to be a sacred power object, imbued with connection to the divine — like bead-sized portals to truth and empowerment. This inspires partnership with your mala and mala practice.
There are intentions behind each part of the mala as well. Helping to teach us, to actualize, to disseminate our magic into the realities where we live. There are ways to hold and ways to count using them.
Selecting or making a mala is a deeply personal process. When I have made mala, I have been drawn to crystal beads that are of the earth mother and for me, represent the elemental qualities and my own spiritual leanings. This empowers my intentions as I use them.
But it is in its simplicity that the ritual has won me. With its fundamental familiarity – holding a small circular bead between your fingers, like a marble, forming a mudra with your fingers really, there is grace inspired by intention, there is true presence drawn forth. Simple relatability in communing with it — that can reach you in the most complex of times.
The mala is a potent and sacred practice and gift to yourself.
Even with particular reverence for the thousands of years of historical practice of this ritual, for that beauty and power — mala ritual is still accessible and personally customizable. Having traveled along the pathways of ancient tradition, it reaches you — where you are, as a sacred tool and a deeply intimate practice with intention at its foundation. It is between you and your desires, you and whatever you consider to be your divinity, your truth. And it most certainly helps to successfully elevate those desires.
The day of, a few hours before surgery – I was buoyed by the mantra “Healthy Body. Calm Mind. Strong Spirit.” 108 times. I felt put together. Held. Aligned and ready. All of the emotions were still swimming around me - because that is part of being human. But they were holding space now, for the version of me that was put together and prepared.
I found that as I partnered with them, they helped to gather my power, calling in support and resourcing, acknowledging and aligning, merging. This garland gateway brings the strength and the clarity to lift up what matters most.
Hi, I am Melissa — a Spirit Medicine Coach, Healing Practitioner & Alchemist. But at the heart of it all, I am Mystic & Mage.
More about my work can be found at spiritmedicine-lifecoaching.com
I am excited to be offering an in-person workshop that includes making mala (with those special crystal beads) as well as shamanic guided journeys helping to bring you into resonance with your desires and with a mantra for them as well as to imbue your mala with spiritual power. See Garden Gate Alchemy for more information on this catalyzing in-person workshop, as well as for more offerings like this. The hallmark of Garden Gate Alchemy is combining ritual with shamanic guided journeys to help bring the intangible into tangibility – in community, in person.
The next Garland Gateway: Making Connection with Mala & Mantra Workshop is on Sunday, August 11th from 9 to 12:30pm Pacific Time. Signup details are at the link above.
Hope you enjoy the short shares, podcast style here. They sort of dance around life, experiences throughout my time here on this planet, and the work I do.
music included on recording3
“ordinary reality” is a term used to refer to the world of form, or our sense of reality as opposed to “non-ordinary reality” — where we journey into
Turns out that the rosary is not exclusively Christian, but actually may have roots in pagan prayer counting rituals and was one of the more interesting adopts by the religion – likely to help enroll people into Christianity from their ancestral practices. There are many references to it being a religious tradition now but also to it being un-biblical and anti-Christian, It is a really fascinating history. For more on this topic, I recommend this book: Perdita Finn and Clark Strand, The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary(Spiegel & Grau, 2019)
Byron Metcalf, "A Warning From The Elders," Shaman's Heart II, Sounds True, 2013, MP3 & Wychazel, "Spirit Journey," Shaman, New World Music, 2018, MP3
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