another simple daily devotional

Lately I’ve gone through a period of very little personal spiritual practice. I’ve been wanting to get back into using my altars; I have kind of a sprawling altar on the mantle and adjacent shelves in the den, and a compact version in the kitchen. Most days I do a variation of Sigrdrifa’s prayer at my bedroom window in the morning. This seems to be my default setting for bare minimum personal spiritual practice. I have had several kinds of daily devotionals in the past, usually taking the form of ADF-lite, a simple CR ritual, or a blot/hussel. For consistent daily practice, however, none of these forms have staying power for me. Also, though my background is in Norse and Celtic hearth cultures, sometimes I don’t want to be very culturally specific. I am a squishy/soft polytheist after all, and I have embraced (my own version of) Waincraft in recent years.

So after much procrastination, I’ve come up with a new routine. It was important to me to find a spiritual routine that has a non-verbal option. There are several reasons for this:

1. While other people are at home, I’d rather not be overheard.
2. When I have a spoken daily devotional, I often end up saying the same things every day, to the point of meaninglessness.
3. There are many times I just really don’t feel like speaking.
4. Also, not feeling obligated to speak frees up my mind for deeper contemplation and also allows me to concentrate a little more on actions.

So concentrating more on actions and contemplation, I’ve come up with this sequence of events in personal daily ritual:

Altar Refreshing and Preparation

Before doing ritual, I make sure the altar surface and items on it are clean, arranged well, and dusted. Then I refresh the water bowl/cauldron. Before replacing it on the altar, I first lift it in reverence to the deity/spirit images.

Water Blessing

I dab some of the water from the water bowl on my forehead and do a clearing/grounding. I then anoint the statues on the altar with the water. If I’m drawn to saying something here, it may be “Water cleanse me.” or “The Waters of Danu flow through all.”.

Fire Blessing

I light the candle on the altar and raise it to each of the statues as I did with the water (when refreshing the altar). I then set the candle back in place, cup my hand above the flame, then touch the same hand to my forehead to receive a fire purification/blessing. Here I might say “May the fire of the gods, hallow.” or “Thunor hallow.”.

Incense (and other) Offerings

I light an incense stick or cone and circle it around each of the statues/images. I say a simple hail to each entity being honored or make a mental connection equivalent to an evocation. Occasionally, I may place other offerings in a bowl on the working surface of the altar, if I’m at the altar in the den. At this point, if I’m not rushed, (and especially if I’m at the altar in the den instead of the kitchen,) I take a little time to meditate, contemplate, and further connect to the deities/spirits/powers.

Omen (optional)

I ask for guidance (mentally or aloud) and draw a rune for the day.

Giving Thanks & Closing

I end this daily devotional with simple words or thoughts of thanks and touching the edge/feet of each statue/image in reverence. When I feel the need, I use my usual words of ending inspired by the Carmina Gadelica: “As it was, as it is, as it evermore shall be, with the ebb, with the flow, blessed be.”.

This may be the simplest daily ritual I have ever adopted that still involved the use of materials and an altar. There’s really nothing to memorize nor ways to goof it up, and though I’ve just begun to use it, the feel of it is timeless. If it inspires you too, feel free to use it.

Pagan Spirit Revival

It is difficult, at times, to be a Pagan in a monotheist society. In some areas of the U.S. (the bible belt, especially), you may feel isolated, like you’re the only Pagan in the world. You may feel a lot of pressure to conform, or even hide your beliefs. These pressures may even shake your faith. You may even begin to think it would be easier to believe in nothing at all. My fellow Pagans, I write this to remind you. May it offer hope and inspiration if ever you feel lost…

“He who wanders in the woods perceives how natural it was to pagan imagination to find gods in every deep grove and by each fountain head. Nature seems to him not to be silent but to be eager and striving to break out into music. Each tree, flower, and stone, he invests with life and character; and it is impossible that the wind which breathes so expressive a sound amid the leaves – should mean nothing.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1822

Not hearing the voices of the gods/spirits? Go into nature. Merely being in the presence of trees (forest bathing) is scientifically proven to be good for you; mentally, physically, and spiritually. So, rest assured, you benefit from just being there, without even trying. Be still and just be. Notice everything around you. The most ordinary things are magical. It’s all a matter of perspective. Mother Nature is truly amazing. The Gaia theory proposes that the earth is self-regulating; that it actively keeps conditions just right for life to persist! What a strange and wonderful thing is this we call existence.

Norse Pagans had a practice called Uti Seta, or out-sitting. They would go out and sit on a grave mound or high place to do divination, trance-work, or magic. If you don’t have the answers you seek after meditating out in nature, consult the runes. Many of us are used to the popular notion of divination being a window to our own subconscious only. Runes are, after all, Odin’s gift to us; our life-line to the gods, lest we forget.

If your modern adult mind can no longer grasp the ancient idea of a world full of gods, then think of them as “powers”; like electricity, rich life-giving ecosystems, natural forces. We know those things exist because we see, feel, experience them. According to the Gaia Theory, natural forces are working together to actively regulate the Earth’s systems to maintain life. So I find it no great leap of faith to believe that these powers, and Earth as a whole, are sentient.

And what of us, and our ancestors? Is there life beyond death? We have only to observe the cycles of nature to know our answer… day follows night, waves ebb and flow, and ebb again, and the seasons roll around in an ongoing circle. So it is with us, for we are a part of nature. Energy animates us, and energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only transformed. We are eternal. I can only think that our energies join with the powers I mentioned above, or go out further into this universe or into others. Perhaps quantum parallel universes are what the ancients knew as the Otherworld or Valhalla. Energy returns to the source, like electricity completing a circuit.

Our Pagan ancestors were not superstitious idiots. Norse people had their own devices for navigating the seas that were every bit as accurate as our modern instruments. Neither was their lore merely what it seemed on the surface. Norse myth, like their language, was is rich in metaphor and meaning. In Maria Kvilhaug’s lectures on youtube, she so eloquently explains some of these deeper meanings, along with the idea that the Norse may have had pantheistic beliefs in addition to being polytheists. In Myth and Reality – Hidden Knowledge in Old Norse Myths pt.6, she describes a near death experience that drastically changed her world view. I find it quite a convincing idea that knowledge of the gods arose from people’s near-death experiences.

Paganism is compatible with science, and science is awesome, my friend. If you understand the metaphors used in the Norse creation story, it reads more like the big bang theory (see Soundwaves and the Big Bang in the Poetic Edda). Pantheism is especially in line with science. The universe was born, not created. All that exists is related. We are all truly “star-stuff”.

“There are as many atoms in each molecule of your DNA as there are stars in the typical galaxy. This is true for dogs, and bears, and every living thing. We are, each of us, a little universe.”
– Niel deGrasse Tyson

“As above, so below. As within, so without.”
– Hermes Trismegistus

All the cells of your body are working together for your continued existence. Your consciousness, sentience, is their god. So too may it be with other powers in the universe. Don’t fall into the mind-set of the monotheist who becomes angry with his god when bad things happen. The fact that bad things happen does not disprove the existence of the gods, it only disproves the existence of omnipotent-omnibenevolent ones. We are co-creators with the gods, and I think a bit of chaos exists in the universe as well. Life is not perfect, but it is magnificent.