Our Mythos - Meta Rituals

Church of Burn's Meta-Rituals

Alongside engaging in distinct, time-determinate actions—such as our money-burning rituals—Church of Burn operates within larger-scale ‘meta-rituals’. Meta-rituals create a web of interconnected magical actions, forming a living topology that shapes and influences every aspect of our work.

We often tend not to talk about meta-rituals publicly - or sometimes even privately - so as to discourage reactions to the meta-ritual’s ‘representation’ in words, speech or images. An exception to this can be found in ‘Looking Back’ - a meta-ritual of prophecy based around the future burning of a £20 note. Details of this divination are available to subscribers to The Vestry.

Generally though, if we believe that Ritual itself has power - or connects to a power beyond our comprehension - then we must trust in the sacred value of the action itself. In a sense, guiding principles, mission statements, and constitutions can be thought of as the clothes worn by meta-rituals. A profound commitment to the ‘how’ of living. Our meta-rituals tend not to define the ‘what’ - albeit if they do define the ‘what’ it’s invariably mundane and seemingly inconsequential.

Instead the focus is almost exclusively on ‘how’ the action is performed - with intent, honour, playfulness, goodwill etc. It is a joy to live in this way because ultimately it is the quality of our actions which connects us to The Great Consciousness. Quality is to the sacred as quantity is to the profane. Our material needs must be met for our bodies to thrive but our spiritual development depends on the virtues we employ in the pursuit of those ends.