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November 15th. 2009 ...
 Recovering From a Bad Coven Experience
 You Are Not A Tool
 The Dangers of Virtual Reality and Magickal Life: A True Story
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 When Religious Intolerance Destroys Friendship
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 Raining Down A Different Kind of Peace

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 Why Many of Us Will Never Be Christian (No Matter How Hard We Try)
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 Love and the Use Of Magick
 Spiritual Transformation
 Follow the Yellowbrick Road: Sometimes Staying on the Path Takes a Miracle!
 The Path: A Spiritual Chautauqua

November 1st. 2009 ...
 My Magic Doesn't Work! (Because It Sometimes Doesn't)
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 The Breath and Faking It
 Coming Out Of The "Broom Closet"
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October 25th. 2009 ...
 Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone Touring East Coast USA for Samhain
 Lemon Magic
 My Black Kitty
 Autumnland: Pagan Path and Paradise
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 The Challenge of Acceptance
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October 18th. 2009 ...
 Honoring Our Elders, Leaders and Teachers
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 Soap Making 101
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 "Fusion" Magick

October 11th. 2009 ...
 Italy, Clavicles and Witchcraft
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 Horns of Gold, Horns of Red: The God as a Sacred Focus
 The Veil as Seen Through the Eyes of a Witch
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 A Celtic "Young Goodman Brown"

October 4th. 2009 ...
 What Should I Put In My Book of Shadows?
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 Your Book Of Shadows
 How I Became a Wiccan
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 My Curse
 Thoughts on Death
 Dinosaurs and Druidry

September 27th. 2009 ...
 When I Was A Christian Wiccan
 Shamanism: Seeing in the Dark
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 Past Life, Present Mission
 The Burning Times: May We Never Forget
 Ophiuchus, the 13th Constellation: A Call for Change
 Changes: Facing Them and Making Them

September 20th. 2009 ...
 How I Found My Craft Name (and Tips on Finding Yours!)
 Life Without End: Death From A Pagan Perspective
 Creating Your Reality
 My Road To Wicca
 Officiating At A Crossing Over Ceremony
 The Energy of My Beliefs
 Tree of Life in Wicca
 My Life Entwined With Death
 The Curious Case of Birds
 Who Sings Now? XVIII

September 13th. 2009 ...
 Yes Witches Can? Yes, Witches WILL!
 Coven or Solitary: Age Old Question. A Few New Answers (I Hope!)
 Organized Pagan Community: Good Idea Or Hopeless Cause?

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Article ID: 13139

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| Becoming a Daily Spiritual Practitioner

Author: Silverwolf Sanctuary
Posted: February 1st. 2009
Times Viewed: 2,442
For whatever reason, it appears that the numbers of non-practicing Pagans are growing at an exponential rate. ("Non-practicing Pagan" is defined here as persons that self-identify as Pagan but do not attend or perform rituals and have no regular routine of prayer or rites, be they group, solitary or any combination of the two.) In a recently observed conversation, a woman discovered that an acquaintance regularly panegyrizes the Divine and characterized the practice as surprisingly quaint! As if the idea of actually exercising some sort of Pagan liturgy was both amusingly antiquated and somewhat atypical. In the matter of the practicing Pagans, very often it seems that we observe ritual a mere 8 times a year. When a Sabbat comes around, candles and incense are lit, circles are cast and chants are mumbled most austerely. The individual occurrence is joyful, devout and filled with compelling intent and mysticism, but once the candles are blown out, the mundane world comes crashing down and the Divine Mysteries are packed away, only to be dusted off again when the next Sabbat rolls around.
A smaller group of practitioners, often those who represent themselves as Wiccan, also turn out for Esbats, eulogizing Full Moons 13 times a year. A seemingly trivial number of frequently considered "die hards" attend/perform ritual on the 13 New Moons as well. This means that a considerable number of people are celebrating the Divine 8 or 21, or at best 34 times a year. At the most, this is less than 3 times a month, 33% less than the standard weekly worship traditional of Christians (not including those Christians who offer nightly prayers and meal rites) . This is absolutely not meant to validate one religious practice over another, but used merely as a numerical comparative.
Considering that the average Pagan in the United States comes originally from some denomination of a Christian home, it leads to logical conclusion that they often decrease their incidence of spiritual practice upon taking up a Pagan mantle. (Please note this is only a quantitative value, not in any way qualitative.) This sporadic practice conveys an impression of vague inadequacy; it cannot be spiritually fulfilling to connect to the Earth, the God/dess, the Divine, or whatever your preferred nomenclature, only a handful of times a year. Belief dictates that there is Divinity in all things, that the Divine can be encountered every day, not just on Sabbats. It would be reasonable then to say that the quintessential goal is to find a way to commune with our sacred path on a daily basis, thus forging a more intimate and personal relationship with our spiritual beliefs, with Deity and with all the energies that we define as Divine.
There are legions of impediments that interfere with the cultivation of this individual, circadian pattern of sacrosanct observance. How exactly does one go about becoming a daily Pagan practitioner without creating some sort of every day devotional that runs the risk of becoming both routine and mundane?
The conduit to daily spirituality need not be full of complex mantras, smudging and energy intensive circle casting. The idea in and of itself is both daunting and exhausting. When recalling the amount of self, careful thought and deliberate energy that is put into merely preparing for Esbat or Sabbat rituals, it should be easy to recognize that it is preposterous to expect the same for a daily communion. (Not to mention the momentous amount of élan vital required in actually performing said ceremonies!)
Scheduling becomes another stumbling block to the daily practitioner. Modern life is hectic for almost everyone; between family activities, jobs, home and social obligations, squirreling away time to write and perform daily ritual can be nearly impossible. Who has excess hours for writing intricate, meaningful Quarter Calls and Invocations when there are carpools to catch, dinner to plan, laundry to fold and the boss on the answering machine wondering why you are late (again) to the monthly budget meeting?
Simple and poignant is clearly the way to go. However, variety is also indispensable. The risk of losing significance to iteration is very real and that pitfall is far too easy to fall into. Chant "apple, apple, apple, apple, apple…" ad nauseam. By the twentieth repetition, the sound [ap-uh l] means very little, if anything at all. Even the most eloquent, articulate, meaningful prayer or dedication can lose significance after three hundred and sixty five days of dutiful reiteration. The disillusionment associated when the transcendental turns conventional can test any faith because by association the disenchantment is in the spiritual path, not merely the specific ritual or prayer.
Instead of trying to create a daily devotional, try to make unstructured time each day to say "hello" to the Divine, to listen to your Spirit and to ground yourself. Create just a moment of timelessness and let your heart say whatever it needs to (thereby escaping the danger of meaningless rote prayers) .
Although many may find this amorphous, spontaneous approach a little daunting at first, with a little practice you can allow yourself to slip between. In that heartbeat between time, between worlds, it becomes an effortless undertaking to merely allow the commonplace to slide away. There is no need for dedicated Sacred Space if you accept that all space is sacred. No routine is necessary, no special time of day or specific occasion, those things become inconsequential … you soon learn to hear your own Spirit telling you that now is the time, here is the place.
This type of interaction can become a critical part of day-to-day spiritual existence. Perhaps one might not define this type of spiritual union as "ritual." However, meaningful communion does not have to be so specifically defined by (or limited to) circles, quarter calls, complex chanting and candle lighting. While the ceremony of formal ritual is a critical tool in Pagan practice, an unscripted, impromptu form of daily worship can be exceptionally liberating and personally gratifying. Once again in Pagan doctrine things are defined by intent and nuance, not by strictly mandated architecture and procedure.
My intent is daily joy and meaning. What's yours?
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Silverwolf Sanctuary
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