I am a big fan of adaptation. I have always felt that if something didn't work for you, then you just had to adjust it until you found a way that did work. Or if you didn't have the exact supplies listed, then you found substitutes. I definitely felt this way about timing, I almost never did rituals on the exact date, moon phase, planetary hour or any of the other specific times that were suggested for different rituals.
I feel that the essence of a practice, the heart of it if you will, is more important than the details. I would rather do something, and perhaps it isn't just right, than try to wait for everything to be perfect and not ever actually get it done.
I sometimes wonder if we don't adapt our spiritual practice more because we don't feel that deep drive, that NEED to do the things we do. We want to do them, we may feel a deep peace and a great sense of connection when we do, and in part of our brain we know that these things are necessary to our whole Self, but it's not the same level of need that we feel in other areas of our lives, or that perhaps our ancestors felt.
I think that many of us view our spiritual life from a symbolic standpoint instead of a literal one. We don't approach our rituals as if they were vital to life continuing on. We don't feel that missing an observance will stop the sun from rising in the morning, or prevent rains from watering our crops (and therefor leaving us with not enough food to get through the winter). We may work towards abundance or joy or to increase the blessings in our lives, but we don't feel that if we don't then we will not have our basic needs met.
Interestingly enough, I think that people are more likely to use adaptation in things that feed those kinds of basic needs. If you have an emergency and you think you won't be able to make rent this month, or you get sick and aren't sure how you will make it to work, then you will do anything in your power to try to make it right, including using whatever tools and supplies you have on hand and making something up if necessary.
Some people think of it in terms of low and high magic: with low being practical every day applications and high magic being more spiritual and highly ritualized actions. The more ritualized something is, the less people seem to think they can adapt it. If you are doing a simple charm to find a parking spot, it is like it is easier to make changes than an elaborate ritual to honor the turning of the seasons that has every step laid out in detail.
I have seen and heard of some amazing adaptations. Many of which are the children of necessity. If you are in a dorm room and are not allowed to have lit flames, how do you honor fire? What do you do instead of burning that piece of paper that you were supposed to burn? If you live in the city, what do you do for rituals that suggest walking out into the woods and sitting with a tree? How do you adjust if you don't have access to a natural stream when you are supposed to release something into running water?
I think these types of adaptations are what helps our practice grown and thrive and evolve with our modern lives. When we start thinking of our spiritual practice as absolutely necessary, as something that we would literally wither away and die without, then we start looking for ways to figure out how to do things instead of feeling like we can't do something if we don't meet all the requirements.
I recently hurt my hand. I did something to my thumb (sprained or strained or otherwise angered), and it's been a month now and it's not doing much better. It's on the same arm that I have nerve issues. I just got a brace for it, so that hopefully it will get the rest it needs and start to mend. I definitely find that if I'm not forced to change my ways, I will forget and keep doing things the way I always have. But the brace makes it to where I can't do some things the same way (not only does it hold my thumb rigid, it also restricts movement on my wrist, so bending that hand isn't happening much).
And while wearing the brace, I physically can't do things that I used to do. It's not easy to wash, so I am figuring out ways to do things like wash the coffee pot in the morning using only one hand. I've had to adjust how I type to accommodate it (which is actually not as bad as some of the other adjustments I've had to make). Getting dressed is still extremely hard (really, you don't realize exactly how vital your thumbs are until you can't use one...it's my left thumb and I'm right handed which you would think would make it easier, but I tend to prefer to do a lot of my heavy lifting with my left hand so my right hand can stay free for other things).
But what I appreciate is not only does it force me to remember that my hand is hurt and needs to be allowed to heal, it also definitely forces me to start learning how to do the things I always do in a new way. This is something I've sort of done all my life. I was fascinated with survival stories when I was young, and someone is always injured in those, so when I was learning how to swim, I practiced swimming and treading water in all kinds of crazy ways: with only my arms, with only my legs, with only one side of my body.
I think that when we only know how to do things one way, any setback completely throws us off. We find ourselves floundering and then we have a choice: sink or swim. We either give up because our normal way of doing things won't work, or we adapt and come up with some new way to do things.
One thing I think helps develop this ability to adapt is to keep challenging yourself. Think of situations where you might not be able to do things the way you normally do. How would you practice if you couldn't use any fire? What would your rituals look like if you had to avoid anything with a strong scent? If there is a tool you always use, what could use use instead?
An exercise I find fun is to pick a grouping of random things, and a situation and figure out how you would use those things to get yourself out of the situation. Picking 'whatever is in my pockets' or 'the things that are in my car' are great starts. The situation might be that you need to be protected or perhaps you need to get a message to someone. Start with simple situations and common items...but as you become more familiar with the exercise, start having fun with it...get crazy! What would you do if you wanted to get in contact with the kid who used to sit behind you in 4th grade English class if all you have is a piece of beef jerky, a broken shoe lace, the receipt from your morning cup of coffee and plastic grocery bag with a hole in it?
Another thing I think is important is to recognize that even though our spiritual life may seem like an 'extra' that it is very vital to our being. It is one of those things that feel subtle, and sometimes feels like it can be set aside or put on hold, but it spreads out and touches all aspects of our lives. When we are spiritually unfulfilled, it effects everything else, it makes us cranky, makes us restless, effects our health and changes how we deal with other people. We need to really look for these invisible threads, and seek out all the ways in which our spiritual life touches everything else we do.
And once we notice it, start finding ways to adapt! If you don't have time for big rituals....what can you do? Are there ways to use the time you already have, time when you are doing other things, and turn those things into observations that serve as rituals? Washing is one thing I do double duty on all the time. Of course we wash things throughout our day, from hands to dishes to our bodies. But we can take that time, do the physical actions and shift our focus and turn it into a moment of releasing, of cleansing or of tending our personal body-temple.
If you don't have money for supplies, look at what you have around you and what you can reuse or what you can make for yourself. When I started, my ritual knife was a pocket knife my dad had given me. Later I used a kitchen knife for a while. I have used kitchen herbs for ages, working with a very limited cupboard of choices. I use stones I find outside all the time.
If you don't have people to work with, start thinking outside the box. I know many of us would love to find that group of people who share our exact beliefs, who walk the same path that we do. But sometimes, when looking for that particular match, we overlook many other options that would be very rewarding! I don't practice with people who share my path. I share rituals with friends who are Pagan but with very different spiritual practices. I also share spiritual time with people who aren't Pagan at all, but are woman or Goddess oriented. I am in several intentional creativity groups, which work through art to find a spiritual connection...and many of those people have very different spiritual beliefs from me! But I find so much from each of them, that I wouldn't have if I had been trying to hold out for a Norse aligned group that matched my own tendencies.
I don't think we need to wait for life to force us to find a new way. I think we can light the fire inside ourselves and highlight the need that dwells within. We can practice putting ourselves in situations where we are forced to do things differently. And by creating new ways of doing things, we bring more spirituality into our lives!
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