Witchvox Article

Author: Silverwolf Sanctuary
Posted: February 1st. 2009
Times Viewed: 2,525

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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