Ritual

Here are some varied examples of events and themes from past rituals we have created:

• Conscious uncoupling/divorce
• Family estrangement
• Gender transition
• The start of a new relationship (business, friendship or romantic)
• Failing a university class
• Coming of age
• University graduation
• The loss of a job
• Blessingways (for impending birth)
• Loss of a friend
• Big astrological moments (e.g., Saturn Return)
• The passing of a pet
• Healing from gender-based violence
• Intentional pregnancy release/abortion

Of course, we’ve also done many of the classics, including birthdays, weddings, and funerals. We are especially interested in the power of ritual in experiences of disenfranchised grief, rites of passage, celebrating unconventional successes, and life transitions—the kind of grief and celebration that doesn’t always have a place in some modern societies.

Many people today are disconnected from ritual and ceremony due to the impacts of historical and ongoing colonization, which has disrupted traditional cultural practices, severed ancestral knowledge, and imposed dominant religious and legal structures that suppress Indigenous and earth-based spiritualities. 

Colonization often involved the forced assimilation of entire communities, banning sacred ceremonies, criminalizing Indigenous spiritual leaders, and replacing communal rituals with Western institutions that prioritized individualism over collective experience. As a result, many peoples have lost access to the ceremonies that once marked life’s transitions, honored the land, and provided deep spiritual connection. This disconnection is further reinforced by capitalist and modern industrial societies, which often devalue slow, intentional, and community-centered practices in favor of productivity, efficiency, and consumer-driven celebrations. 

However, there is a growing movement of people seeking to reclaim ancestral rituals, create new forms of ceremony, and reconnect with the sacred in ways that honor both history and contemporary identity. Conflict Witch exists to support that movement.