72 hours after
What to do after completing a ritual
While most books on occultism focus on rituals and their performance, little attention is given to what an occultist should do afterwards. Instructions such as ‘don’t lust for the result’ or ‘ask for a check on earth’ are often vague, with few explanations of their meaning or practical application. A ritual, like an initiation, does not end when the candles are extinguished. In fact, it should be only the beginning of the process by which the rite is brought into manifestation. For this reason, occultists must understand what to do in the 72 hours following a working, which signs to expect, how to recognise movement, and ways to avoid mistaking wishful thinking for evidence that a rite has worked. A ritual is not a dramatic appeal to invisible forces; it begins a process that must be carried beyond the altar and into the world.
To understand what happens after a ritual, it is necessary to examine something that should occur before the rite: the formulation of intention. If practitioners do not know what they want, there is no reliable way of determining whether they have obtained it, or whether circumstances are moving toward its fulfilment.
One useful method for writing a clear objective is Management by Objectives, usually shortened to MBO, which was popularised by Peter Drucker in The Practice of Management in 1954. MBO was based on the idea that people work more effectively when they understand what they are expected to achieve. Drucker’s approach responded to vague supervision, command-and-control habits, and managerial rhetoric presented as leadership. Rather than judging workers by activity, obedience, or the appearance of productivity, MBO emphasised agreed results. The manager and employee would set clear objectives together, usually linking them to the wider goals of the organisation, and would then review progress at regular intervals.
