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The Ritual of SeasonsĬelebrate each season with the fresh produce of the season. Trees, flowers on the terrace, sunshine, rain, moon in the sky … quiet your mind, focus on your breath, feel the existence of trees, plants, or flowers and feel the beauty of it and simply appreciate being here. If you are in a city or in the office, you can find a piece of nature around you. Thank you, universe.” This act of appreciation elevates our energy frequency and connects us to the realm of the divine. Thank you, everyone, who was involved in bringing this to me. This little phrase means something like, “I humbly accept and receive. In Japanese, we have the expression itadakimasu, which is used before the meal and also when we receive something. Make a habit of expressing appreciation throughout a day. We can express ourselves without using these harmful words. We tune into the lower vibration by using harmful words. Refrain from using harmful words or speaking ill of others. This is something very simple, but we tend to forget it. As you bring an offering, sit still or stand still, put your palms together, close your eyes, and focus on your breath for a few seconds or as long as you can. If you are not into making such an altar, be creative! Plants or flowers in the house can be your spot to connect to the divine. Make it an altar and bring an offering of water or light a candle in the morning. You may have a spot with candles and crystals in a corner of your room. In this case, make the package fresh each day. You can also carry a small amount of salt wrapped in cling film, in the same way you might carry a crystal or amulet. Sprinkling salt or placing a cone of salt, morishio, at the entrance purifies the energy coming into your home. They cleanse the six senses and enhance overall wellbeing.

I have developed them while living in Europe, removed from the Shinto shrines of Japan. Here are my daily rituals of Shinto purification. The purification ritual with salt welcomes a higher frequency of energy, wellbeing, and prosperity. Salt, especially, is widely used in spiritual purification in Japan since ancient times. Salt, water, fire, and sake are used for the purification rituals. Not only through the rituals, but also in daily situations, as we try to refrain from judgement, train our eyes to see the truth, and keep our heart pure. To follow Shinto is to live as pure as possible, as in a pure state of kami. Once we are pure, we invite kami, the divine, to us, to be with us daily in our house, our office, wherever our life evolves. With daily practices, family rituals, and seasonal ceremonies, we purify ourselves. The ritual of purification is called harae. As we live, we experience impurity, kegare, through our six sensory organs-eyes, ears, nose, mouth, body, mind. To keep this pureness-in this world, in this lifetime-is our main mission. In Shinto’s principles, when we are born, we come to this world with purity, as a child of kami, like in a state of kami, the divine spirit.

At home, my mother and grandmother taught me the daily rituals for our family’s wellbeing and prosperity. I assisted the priest in performing ceremonies at the shrine.

Since I was a child, I served as miko, a shrine maiden at the season’s ceremonies. Over generations, my family was involved in running our local Shinto shrine in Wakayama. Its rituals and practices can be a tool to enhance our modern life. It continues to deeply influence the Japanese way of life, but the philosophy of Shinto is universal and eternal. Shinto is an ancient life philosophy and religion (although not in the Western sense). Shinto can be a beautiful solution, a way to give our minds a break and tune into a state of peace. OUR MIND CAN BECOME overloaded and overstimulated, disconnected from our body, heart, and soul, creating fear, anxiety, and separation.