E.1 - Day Break

Intentions: dream-keeping, rising, embracing solar energy

This Ritual for Rising is intended to be a first-thing-in-the-morning ritual, but it can be performed anytime. Preferably, it is performed right after you have woken up. While I understand that people have different schedules, this is done mostly to help the Earthly Rites align with our internal Circadian Rhythm, which is one of many ways that our own physiology has evolved to sync up with nature’s rhythms. I know it can be hard these days, but try to do this rite before you look at your phone, go online, or otherwise engage with the outer world.

• Journal

This part of the ritual won’t be needed every morning, but when it is relevant, first thing in the morning is when it is needed.

Record anything you can remember from your dreams in your journal. The memory will never be clearer than it is in the moment you first wake up. Whether you can only conjure a few keywords or an entire narrative, write down everything you can remember, and add the day’s date. Our dreams can offer profound glimpses of the deepest parts of our own psyche — and sometimes they are simply entertaining!

Remembering and recording dreams helps us strengthen our ability to recollect them, and being able to review them with a timeline allows us to see patterns in the themes and symbols that appear in our dreams. If you are interested in psychic work, this is also a wonderful way to grow your intuition.

Awaken and stand. Turn and face the rising Sun.

If you like, spread your arms out, or over your head, like a flower turning towards the Sun to absorb the solar energy. Stretch as wide as you can to get your blood flowing and let the Sun in.

Say aloud:

Night fades,
Day begins,
I turn to face the Sun.

Star of the Earth, teach me to rise:
teach me to stand tall and grow,
to walk this Earthly Path with courage,
and to always return to my guiding light.

Take a moment to meditate on the Sun. Even if it’s cloudy out, close your eyes and visualize its golden energy filling your heart and radiating out from there to spread warmth through your entire body.

Take as much time as you like here. When you are done, get started on your day!

• Add a Sun Salutation, like this one from the Urmi Yoga Academy. You can do as many repetitions as you like to make this ritual longer or shorter.

• Record yourself saying the incantation aloud, and use it as your alarm if you need a little extra help getting out of bed.

• Especially if you don’t have a window, try getting a sunrise alarm clock that will slowly fill your room with light during this ritual.

• Call upon a solar deity by name to lend their energy to this ritual.

• Need a little extra focus to organize your day? Take a moment with your journal or another planner after this ritual to figure out your To Do list for the day.