LONDON — A ritual can be anything, a little habit or a pattern — like reading in the morning or a midday stretch — that can create balance or a feeling of safety within a person’s day.
However, often at times, those rituals are not necessarily working, but add more pressure.
“I just wanted to create something where people could dive in and follow the whole thing through or just give them a bit more pleasure in getting enjoyment from the day or self care. Instead of it being so ritualistically intense, making it much more ritualistically fun,” says Emma Lucy Knowles, an author and practicing healer, clairvoyant and crystal whisperer.
Her new book, “Your Ritual Year: 52 Weeks of Magical Living,” out Dec. 28, sets out to take some of that pressure off with guidance on ritualistic practices.
The book contains 52 rituals, each one advised to be followed for each week of the year. Despite that, Knowles describes the book as a “spiritual cookbook” where one can tune into their self and, based on that, flip through the pages to find the ritual for the week that resonates the most with them.
“Your year can start anytime, you can decide anytime. You can do as much of this or as little. It’s about giving people that encouragement,” Knowles explains.
Essentially, it is built like a wheel or an endless spiral where like a circle — cue the cover illustration — instead of blocks, one is able to move forward from the ways that no longer serve them.
The book contains different series of rituals that readers can perform, from “chakra,” “protection,” “connectivity,” to Knowles’ favorite, the burning ritual, which is powerful in connecting to spirit and grounding the energy down.
To carry out some of these rituals, Knowles suggests the incorporation of different props.
“You’ve got these tools that take you into that energy that can almost ignite that key within you,” she explains, listing items such as crystals or candles, “which have a power that allows them to open up a sacred space.”
Having worked with energy for more than two decades, the launch of the book is an undeniable pinch-me moment for Knowles.
It is her fifth book to date and the second book published this year.
“For me, everything I do is about connecting people with who they are, then that will then heighten the connection they have with the rest of the world and with their relationship with the rest of the world and with other people,” says Knowles.
