Rituals and celebrations

Creativity and the arts Spirituality and transcendence

Altered states Drugs and psychedelics Mindfulness and meditation Prayer and contemplation Rituals and celebrations Sacred places Spirituality and religion Symbols and myth The irrational and uncanny Transcendent experience Visions and mysticism Wonder and the sublime

LatestPopular

A group of people in white attire and backpacks walk along a wooden path through green fields under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

idea

More radical and practical than Stoicism – discover Shugendō

As they train for their own deaths, Japan’s mountain priests develop a form of acceptance that goes beyond the Stoics

by Tim Bunting

Ancient Chinese painting of a funeral scene with mourners in white robes around a deceased person on a raised platform.

Rituals and celebrations

idea

Rituals create community by translating our love into action

For the Confucian Xunzi, love and gratitude are not just feelings in response to events but possibilities for social action

by Curie Virág

A couple with reflective glasses in a blurry, overexposed setting with curtains and chairs, an orange-yellow tint.

Drugs and psychedelics

guide

How to have a safe psychedelic trip

A psychedelic experience can be deeply rewarding, but also carries real risks. Here’s how to avoid a bad trip

by Christian Jarrett

Photo of a woman submerged to the neck in a natural hot spring, with mountains and mist in the background, creating a serene atmospheric scene.

Photography

film

One photo per day for more than a year, exploring how rituals affect memory

Directed by Scott Thrift

An elderly man sitting in a dimly lit wooden confession booth in a stone church, with a purple curtain behind him.

Ethics

idea

Why won’t the sin wash away? When thinking ethically goes awry

Is scrupulously thinking about morality in everyday life as pathological as the meticulous, repetitive behaviours of OCD?

by Jesse Summers

Black and white photo of seagulls flying over a calm sea with distant hills in the background.

Rituals and celebrations

idea

Mourning is a leap to freedom, inviting new dreams of living

Mourning is a leap in the dark, but not into darkness. It’s a leap to freedom that invites us to dream of living once more

by Alexander Hirsch

Man in blue suit sitting on steps, holding a coffee cup and reading a book, with a brown leather bag beside him, in sunlight next to a white wall.

Rituals and celebrations

guide

How to set yourself free with ritual

For a life of harmonious ease, find the rhythm in the everyday: make your world your temple and submit to its sacred ritual

by Alan Jay Levinovitz

Black-and-white photo of two judokas; one is throwing the other who is airborne with legs up, set against a wooden background.

Sports and games

film

Softness controls hardness – a fighter’s gentle approach to life

Directed by Josef Reeve

A close-up of hands holding papers with handwritten notes, coin purses, and a pen, set on a wooden surface with grass in the background.

Sports and games

idea

For players of fafi, dream interpretation is a vital skill

The fafi lottery game in South Africa requires the careful interpretation of dreams and the waking world around you

by Brittany Birberick

Bas-relief sculpture depicting the three most important figures of the Eleusianian Mysteries: the goddess of agriculture and abundance Demeter, her daughter Persephone, queen of the Underworld, and the Eleusinian hero Triptolemus, in what appears to be a rite. Triptolemus stands in the centre, the two goddesses stand either side.

Rituals and celebrations

idea

For Plato, rationalists and mystics can walk the same path

Why did such a keen proponent of reason turn to the Eleusinian Mysteries to explain his ideas about knowledge?

by Sam Woodward

Sepia-toned, blurred image of a woman in a dark dress with a white blouse, sitting outdoors on a cloudy day, hands clasped on her lap.

Grief

guide

How to express your grief

The initial shock might be over. But you need time and space to ‘ride the wave’ of grief if you are to find a sense of peace

by Sue Morris

A person with a head covering climbs a rope ladder surrounded by bees in a mountainous area with smoke in the background.

Values and beliefs

film

A sacred dream sends one man on the perilous trail of toxic honey in Nepal

Directed by Ben Knight