Roleplaying is something that has been a part of my life since childhood..back when it was 'playing pretend.' I've always loved the idea of being someone different, of stepping into a world that is not my own, and of seeing where the story takes me.
I also feel that roleplaying often gets a bad reputation. It's fine for kids, or it's okay as a hobby, but that's all it is: a game (often for younger people that you are expected to grow out of). And yet, roleplaying has so many benefits, and can be adapted to so many different areas of your life...and spirituality is definitely one of them!
Now, I know there is a bit of a stigma with crossing roleplaying with spirituality, especially as many people who don't understand Paganism or witchcraft assume we are all 'playing pretend.' But at some point, we have to stop letting ignorant people dictate how we practice, especially when many of those people who are going to be extremely judgmental aren't going to listen with an open mind to what we actually do, they are just going to believe their own preconceived notions of our practice....so what we do is really up to us!
I also don't think that using tools like roleplaying makes someone more susceptible to loosing touch with reality, even when it overlaps with other areas of your life. I get just as drawn into stories in books, tv and movies, and I have never had a problem knowing the difference between my actual life and any story-life I may be imagining (even when I use the story-life to explore things that I'm struggling with in my actual life...more on that in a bit).
It may surprise many people to realize that some of what we already do, especially with guided meditation, is a very basic form of roleplaying. When we work with a guided meditation, especially one that has us interacting with things or having choices that lead to different visualized actions, we are engaging in rules-light roleplaying!
Now, for everyone who isn't familiar with tabletop roleplaying games (the ones with rules and dice, like Dungeons and Dragons), roleplaying games come in all levels of rules, from very light (where everything is story driven....much like visualization), to rule heavy (where every action you take has rules and parameters that determine how well you perform said action). And all levels of roleplaying can be used spiritually, with a little bit of forethought.
We'll start with the very rule light versions, which as I mentioned are basically visualization. The great thing about this style of roleplaying is it requires very little preparation or supplies. You often are playing the 'role' of yourself, so you don't even have to think about how to act, you just do what you would do in a given situation.
The power of these types of visualizations is that you can give yourself different scenarios and practice what you might do in different circumstances. This is great work to do alongside traditional spellwork, like if you are wanting to get a new job, you can do a spell to find a great new job, but you can also roleplay out (through visualization) callbacks, your job interviews and even your first day at the new job! Using roleplay like this helps you calm any worries or anxiety you might have (especially if you get social anxiety), because you can practice the different things you need to do, and prepare for unlikely situations (like the interviewer asking you questions that throw you off). By practicing through roleplaying, you become more confident and this will show through when you actually get that phone call or go in for the interview.
And that leads us to the next version of roleplaying, where you are actually tweaking your own role a bit. I think of this as Me+, in that I'm mostly being myself....just with qualities I wish I had more of. So, if I am nervous and insecure about doing tarot readings for other people, I can think of the readings as roleplaying sessions, but instead of being myself when I do readings for other people, I am "Me, the professional tarot reader!" You can also create a whole persona for yourself, like a new character, that is who you want to be as a tarot reader, and that becomes the character you play whenever you do readings.
It's almost like a mind hack. By taking on a character, you can step outside of your insecurities and become someone who is skilled and confident at the task you are trying to accomplish. You can use this for any thing you need to do, whether it is taking a leading role in a ritual or helping babysit your cousins.
One nice little trick for this is to really think about who the character is you are going to be, and find something you can wear (clothing, jewelry, makeup) that will help you anchor that character. You might have a particular ring that you wear as a tarot professional, or a shirt that the great babysitter wears. Reserving those items for times when you are taking on the role of that character helps you stay in character and makes it easier for you to remember to embody them.
Now the next step, in adding more rules to your roleplay, is to actually work with statistics and rules for success. Now before I get into this, I need to talk a little bit about gamification. Gamification is simply turning non-game activities into a game of sorts. One of the reasons why people enjoy playing games so much is they get direct feedback and rewards for doing actions (often actions that might not be so fun on their own).
If you think about a video game, maybe you need to chop some trees down for wood. If the entire game was just clicking on a tree enough times to get wood....and nothing more....most people wouldn't play the game, as it's not fun. But, if you gather enough wood and now you can build a sword or a house or turn it in to a shopkeeper for some gold, now it is motivation. It's no longer about chopping the wood, it's about the prize at the end.
We all have tasks in our lives that aren't so fun, but are necessary. And sometimes, these necessary tasks don't really have good rewards. Some do, like having a traditional job, where you put in the hours, do the work, and you get a paycheck. Others have inverse rewards, like eating healthy. For many people, eating healthy isn't the most fun (because unhealthy foods are tasty!), and the 'reward' is that you don't get sick....which isn't very tangible. These are the kinds of things that can benefit from gamification, from adding in some light rules and creating rewards!
This might sound like pretty much every motivational system out there, and it basically is, but for many people that extra window dressing of making it feel like a game creates motivation to stick with it. I worked with an exercise program that gamified working out, where you had some pretty basic exercises, but they were described in terms of a survival game, so instead of 'jogging for X minutes', you were traveling to the next town.
One of the easiest ways to gamify your life is to dress things up in different terms. Instead of drinking my morning coffee, I am brewing a potion to help revive me to life! This can be a fun way to think about basic self-care actions, so if you struggle to drink enough water in a day, assign a value to each glass of water, and some way of rewarding yourself for meeting your daily minimums. One neat way I've seen to do this to turn it into a battle, where you create a monster to fight, and each week it regains a certain number of hit points...in order to keep it at bay, you need to do your tasks to do damage to it. Remember, rewards are key, so while tracking the damage can be a mini-reward, also find something to reward yourself for defeating enough monsters in a month!
Using gamification or roleplaying can also enhance your study. I read something recently that talked about how repeating a skill during game play helped you learn it in less time (less repetitions) as compared to traditional learning. I think that when we engage our imagination, when we create these alternative worlds and characters, we are using both sides of our brain, and it is memorable, which is why it's easier to learn.
So how can you use that to help you study? I know that memorization is hard for a lot of people, and things like learning the meanings of runes (and remembering which rune goes with which meaning) can be really hard. But you could build a game around the runes, where you use the rune meaning to create some kind of spell (Isa could freeze things or Kenaz to create light), and then create a world for yourself too explore, but in order to use your spells, you need to draw the right rune (and you can totally have your notes with you!). It may sound a bit silly, but as you use your 'spells' over and over, you will start to remember what the symbols are. And you can start getting more creative as you get more familiar with the basics, so to start you might use Fehu to tell you how much something is worth, but later on you might expand your understanding and realize you can also use it to change something's worth.
The important thing is that you have fun with it! Roleplaying and gamification are all about having a good time, the goal isn't always obvious, and often the journey is worth more than the destination. Try things out, see what works for you, and when you find something you enjoy...run with it!
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