The Role of Ritual in Community
How Ritual Reshaped My Perspective On Almost Everything
by Rev. Ansgar Odinson
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This year on 6/6/2026 we celebrated as a congregation. It was an excuse to get together, have award ceremonies, feast, frolic, and of course, perform rituals. While I had officiated a couple weddings since being ordained, these would be my first gender affirmations and unbpatisms. When the sun finally set it was time.
I approached the black wood podium adorned with gothic hardware, lit ceremonial candles and incense, and alighted the Baphomet oil lamp which sat on the altar. I approached and took my place with confidence. I beckoned the participants to the altar and performed the ceremonies I had written, confidence still unwavering. At the end there were tearful hugs and joy among the participants, and the ashes of their dead name and assigned gender were placed in a necklace to keep.
With my performance now complete, my mind was free to wander. Immediately my mind seized on every slipped syllable, every stutter, and every flubbed word, real or imagined. I was stuck in my head thinking only about what mistakes I made, what mistakes I might have made, and what I needed to work on to not be so bad at what I was doing. I dove further and further down the rabbit hole of my own self condemnation. In a moment, I was pulled back to the here and now when one of the participants of the gender affirmation approached me. He looked down at the trinket now placed around his neck as he fondled it lovingly and said, “I just wish my coworkers would get it. I wish this worked on them. You would think the beard would be a clue.”
We had a very long conversation about his experiences. A sort of vent session I would call it. Toward the end he expressed what a truly special moment the ritual was for him. He left my company saying that it was a day he would not soon forget. In the coming days, several of the other participants had similar beautiful and grateful words for me. Each of them expressing gratitude for the ritual experience, and glowing about how special it was to them. One of the participants even hand made a special pillow for her necklace to sit in a place of honor when not worn. Yet another expressed love and appreciation for, in their words, all that I do for the congregation.
And I found, I was grateful to them as well. It dawned on me how much trust they must have to allow me to be part of such a personal expression. It was an honor I could not and will not take for granted. In the wake of this joy, gratuity, and outpouring of love, I was left to reflect on the experience. It is one that has changed my entire perspective on what ritual can be, what it is to care for our community, and especially those within it who are vulnerable. In my reflecting I came to realize that the ritual was not just about a cathartic expression of rejecting an assigned identity. The ritual was also about fellowship. It was about being surrounded by people who might not be going through the same thing or even completely understand, but still together create a space that is both safe and positively affirming. A space that celebrates the parts of them they normally have to guard.
Caring for our community is not just about being there. It is not just about being kind. It’s about proactively and actively creating environments where our congregants can escape the day to day cruelties that build, fester, and grind at our souls. To care for our congregation is to create spaces where people can let their guard down and feel safe living their truth.
And my congregation has let me know over and over, in not so many words, that I have somehow stumbled my way into being a part of creating exactly that. And what’s more, in doing so I had found that they were also caring for me. The joy and catharsis my performance could bring to them was in turn nurturing my own vulnerabilities. This was not something that I as a minister was doing for them. It was something we were doing together. And THAT was a powerful revelation that has sent echoes throughout how I think about ritual, community, the congregation, TST, my Satanism, and even what a healthy society can look like.
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