Daily Devotion, A Basic Ritual Format.

Earlier this week, I started talking about daily devotion and ways to include the God/dess as a part of your regular routine.  One of the rituals that is widely used in ceremonial circles is Liber Resh.  As you read through it notice a few things: Yes, it is invoking the Egyptian dieties. More importantly it is a way to take a few moments throughout the day to honor the cycles around us.

Liber Resh vel Helios
sub figurâ CC

Publication in class D

1. These are the adorations to be performed by aspirants to the A∴ A∴
2. Let him greet the Sun at dawn, facing East, giving the sign of his grade. And let him say in a loudvoice:
   Hail unto Thee who art Ra in Thy rising, even unto Thee who art Ra in Thy strength, who travellest over the Heavens in Thy bark at the Uprising of the Sun.
   Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
   Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Night!
3. Also at Noon, let him greet the Sun, facing South, giving the sign of his grade. And let him say in a loud voice:
   Hail unto Thee who art Ahathoor in Thy triumphing, even unto Thee who art Ahathoor in Thy beauty, who travellest over the heavens in thy bark at the Mid-course of the Sun.
   Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
   Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Morning!
4. Also, at Sunset, let him greet the Sun, facing West, giving the sign of his grade. And let him say in a loud voice:
   Hail unto Thee who art Tum in Thy setting, even unto Thee who art Tum in Thy joy, who travellest over the Heavens in Thy bark at the Down-going of the Sun.
   Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
   Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Day!
5. Lastly, at Midnight, let him greet the Sun, facing North, giving the sign of his grade, and let him say in a loud voice:
   Hail unto thee who art Khephra in Thy hiding, even unto Thee who art Khephra in Thy silence, who travellest over the heavens in Thy bark at the Midnight Hour of the Sun.
   Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
   Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Evening.
6. And after each of these invocations thou shalt give the sign of silence, and afterward thou shalt perform the adoration that is taught thee by thy Superior. And then do thou compose Thyself to holy meditation.
7. Also it is better if in these adorations thou assume the God-form of Whom thou adorest, as if thou didst unite with Him in the adoration of That which is beyond Him.
8. Thus shalt thou ever be mindful of the Great Work which thou hast undertaken to perform, and thus shalt thou be strengthened to pursue it unto the attainment of the Stone of the Wise, the Summum Bonum, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness.

 

One of the things that I like about this ritual is that after you learn it, you can start to rework it either to different pantheons or to the elements. For example East as the place of the dawn, air, intellect, and inspirations as well as new beginning.  South for fire, the noon day Sun, courage and passion etc….

The point again, to take a few moments and deliberately honor the presence of the divine in your life.

 

Just for today, I will be greatful….  Blessed Be.

Daily Devotion The Short of It....

I wanted to take a few moments and talk about devotional practices. Getting in touch with the divine as a part of your daily practice.

There is a lot of information out there on rituals that are designed to help you connect with the Goddess and her consort and the elements. Some are incredibly elaborate while others are very basic and simplistic in their design.

One of my favorite books on spiritual devotion is Practicing The Presence of God by Brother Lawrence.  It is a very small book that breaks down devotion to a very basic, daily process.

Invite the gods into everything you do from washing dishes to peeling potatoes.

Sort of a zen approach to being mindful that each action matters. In this case, that the gods are a part of each action from our first sip of coffee in the morning, to typing on the computer, to the phone calls we make. The elements too, for that matter.

Blessed Be.

Shamanic Journeying 101

One of my facebook posts from last night talked about needing to journey between the worlds for a bit. I did and it was good, very good.

I wanted to share a bit from my book of shadows and my experience without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Cleaning the space is always a bit of the ritual for me. General organization along with making sure there is enough room to dance, do yoga, move in general and then lay or sit down with your drum or rattle. 

I then smudge the place and myself. Lately I have been using a combination of white sage, ground angelica root, and mugwort.

I ground and center. I raise energy.

Raising energy can be done in a variety of ways including the drumming/rattling being the raising of the energy itself.  However, raising energy can include anything from chanting, laughing, or movement. Whatever feels good or appropriate to the mood of the ritual do it. In my case, interpretive dance was needed last night.

If I am using physical movement like dance, I move counter clockwise if I am releasing things and clockwise if I am drawing things in.

When the energy feels right, I then ask a totem or spirit guide to assist me in the journey. Sometimes, you will already know that you need to work with a specific animal totem. More often than not, I will use an oracle deck and work with the symbolism that presents itself. Last night, for example I used the Fairy Oracle by Brian Froud other times I have used runes, or The Medicine Cards or tarot cards.

I started drumming to help assist in going into trance state and this is where you trust the imagery or words or music that you receive as the message.  There are several different methods for helping maintain trance state. Consistent sound patterns like drums or singing bowls are only a part of it but is most commonly used.

When you are done, you journal the information for future reference ground and center to return to reality.

On a more personal note, I find it rather interesting the messengers and the message the divine sends when you need it. 

Thank you…..

Blessed Be.

Personal Manifesto On Individual Ethics Make the Group...

I have a strong personal censor and critic on at the moment because of recent issues that are still in the process of resolving. It is hard to write blog posts and not be attacking to the intentional family and coven that I left. Read between the lines as you will. Essentially this is my manifesto that strong individual ethics makes a strong group.

I firmly believe that we as individuals have to be accountable to ourselves. Personal accountability and responsibility is the heart and center of good ethics. What I do and fail to do affect more than just myself. The Wiccan Rede is centered on And It Harm None Do As Thou Will….. Refusing to take accountability for your actions and how they are affecting your loved ones and the people around you constitutes as harm in my book. Forcing other people to be accountable for your own shortcomings also causes harm and is, quite frankly abusive.

There is a part in our existence where we have to be interdependent on others. We do not exist in a vacuum. I appreciate that Starhawk speaks a lot on the four laws of ecology being true for magic and living in true community.  For the sake of reference I repost Barry Commoner’s laws here:

1. Everything Is Connected to Everything Else. There is one ecosphere for all living organisms and what affects one, affects all.
2. Everything Must Go Somewhere. There is no "waste" in nature and there is no "away" to which things can be thrown.
3. Nature Knows Best. Humankind has fashioned technology to improve upon nature, but such change in a natural system is, says Commoner, "likely to be detrimental to that system"
4. There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch. Exploitation of nature will inevitably involve the conversion of resources from useful to useless forms.

When you live in intentional community or family you are choosing to be connected to that group. There has to be a balance between sharing of resources and talents. There has to be personal accountability for how you affect the group or coven as a whole. You can’t expect the universe to wait on you hand and foot because you have a title or previous experience. Even the Pope has to wipe his own ass.  If you choose to ignore how you impact your community, you are causing them harm either because there will be a lack of resources or you are harming them emotionally or spiritually because you are abusively controlling and manipulating the group.

Often in tarot readings, I will have people ask when their circumstances will change. If they will ever meet a different type of personality than the abusive so and so that they keep getting, when their finances will get better, etc etc… Essentially asking if the magic will support the change in their circumstances that they want.

Magic can only do so much at the end of the day. If you are not changing your spending habits to meet your budget, you will have financial problems. No amount of green or red candles and money drawing incense is going to change that. If you keep going after the same job type you will always be miserable in the job. If you don’t take steps to fix the issues you know are YOUR responsibility, no one will do it for you. If you don’t change you first, you will never see the change manifested outside of yourself.  The charge of the Goddess even states this. You will never find without what you don’t find within first. You can’t plant watermelon seed and expect basil to grow.  If you want basil you need to plant basil seeds. However, when there are enough individuals that change their internal process then the group changes as well.  The macrocosmic reflecting the microcosm and vice versa.  

The other issue being that there is no such thing as a free lunch.  Any type of exploitation will inevitably involve the conversion or resources from useful to useless forms. Exploitation causes physical, emotional, and spiritual harm. If you exploit your friends and family they will stop being your friends and family and refuse to share their resources (physical, emotional, or spiritual) with you.  The other piece to that is that if you keep telling them that their contribution is useless, they will take away their resources or go where they are seen as useful.  Most groups and covens fail ultimately because this point is forgotten not just in terms of spell work but group dynamic as well.

No man escapes his own wyrd. Karma is a bitch. Make sure you are being accountable and taking responsibility for your own shit first. The rest will take care of itself. Peace out.