2012 Thing on Thursday #5

Two weeks ago, our poll asked about the most important elements of ritual liturgy, and last week’s dug into methods of “giving thanks.”  The second most popular method, after spoken words of gratitude, was making offerings or libations.  This suggests that naturalists continue to align fairly closely with other Pagans in terms of preferred ritual activities, which may or may not be surprising.

This week, let’s continue this line of inquiry by looking at trance and meditation in ritual.

Both “trance” and “meditation” admit of many definitions and variations, so please interpret these as you will.  The point here is not to analyze a concept but to poll opinion on a broad category of ritual practices.

Again, diversity will no doubt be especially great for this question, and the poll can’t hope to cover all possible answers, so please share your ideas and methods in the comments.

By the way, if interested, you can find a number of meditation practices on our “Resources” page, or by clicking the “meditation” tag in the sidebar.

Please choose as many as strongly appeal to you.

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

About Thing on Thursday

This post is part of a series of councils on matters vital to the future.  The name represents both the generic term for, you know, a thingie, as well as the Old Norse term for a council of elders: a Thing.

Each week from the Autumn Equinox until the Winter Solstice, Thing on Thursday explores a new controversy.  Participation is open to all – the more minds that come together, the better.  Those who have been vocal in the comments are as welcome as those quiet-but-devoted readers who have yet to venture a word.  We value all constructive opinions.

There are only a few rules:

• be constructive – this is a council, so treat it as such
• be respectful – no rants or flames

Comments will be taken into consideration as we determine the new direction of Humanistic Paganism.

So please make your voice heard in the comments!