Serving the Elements: Air

Tags

air, elements, magic, pagan, ritual, witchcraft

*air is invisible but felt all around us and seen only by its influence*

Blessing of Air
May the blessings of the air be upon you,
A soft breeze to refresh you,
A strong wind to lift you up,
Great golden wings to enfold and heal you.

– blessing from a Pagan handfasting ceremony
(via The Blessing Files)

The strongest quality of air is truth.  Air is an element of intellect, of thoughts, and of the mind…whether bright and clear or dark and clouded.    In ancient Greece, the element air was sometimes associated with one’s spirit.

Scientifically speaking: What we call “air” is really our atmosphere.  Our atmosphere is mainly composed of Nitrogen (78.1%) and Oxygen (20.9%).  The remaining 1% (due to rounding, it looks like 1% with the numbers I’ve used, but really its more like 0.97%) are Argon (0.93%) and Carbon Dioxide* (0.035%), as well as even smaller amounts (in order) of Neon, Helium, Methane, Krypton, molecular Hydrogen (H₂), Nitrous Oxide, Carbon Monoxide, Xenon, Ozone, Nitrous Dioxide, Iodine, and Ammonia.  Another component of the atmosphere is, of course, water vapor (its not included in these calculations of percentage, though it makes up an average of 0.25% of the atmosphere by weight, ranging from 0.oo1%-5% locally). (source)

Our atmosphere is divided up into layers, a bit like a cake.  There’s a mnemonic to remember the 5 principle atmospheric layers–The Strong Man’s Triceps Explode (or Thoughtful Schools Manufacture Terrific Experiences…or Terrible Sun Melts Tiny Eskimo!) , which stands for (from the surface of the Earth, out) Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, Exosphere.  The atmosphere, in some ways, behaves like the oceans, in that there are tides, and currents, and waves, that move energy and molecules.

The troposphere is where weather happens–it contains about 80% of the atmosphere’s mass (including 99% of its water and other aerosols) and extends 4-12 miles above earth (the heights it reaches depends on a location’s latitude and altitude).  Nearly all weather occurs here

In the stratosphere, the coolest temperatures are found closest to Earth, and the highest temperatures are the furthest away.  Other than airplanes (people) and birds, which can fly in the lower parts of the stratosphere, bacteria is the only life form that can be found in the stratosphere.  Also, the stratosphere is quite dry, and it is home to the ozone layer, which protects us from the Sun’s UV rays.

Scientists don’t actually know much about the mesosphere, compared to the other layers of the atmosphere–its too low for satellites and too high for planes and weather balloons (between 31 and 53 miles high).  One thing we do know, though, is that it is the place where meteors burn up in the atmosphere…but its really cold, around -90 degrees C or -130 degrees F (they burn up because of friction with the gas molecules in the mesosphere).  Its also home to a couple of neat phenomena–noctilucent clouds (wispy, almost glowing clouds visible around and after sunset) and sprites (a type of lightning that occurs over thunderstorms, glows red, and is best visible from sky).

The thermosphere, in contrast to the mesosphere, is hot.  Really hot.  It increases in temperature the further from Earth one travels, and the temperature varies between night and day and what is known as the solar minimum and the solar maximum (which has to do with sunspot activity), but the average temperature range for the upper thermosphere is 500-2000 degrees C (932-3632 degress F).  Space shuttles and the International Space Station orbit Earth in the thermosphere…this is also where the aurora happens!

Lastly, we have the exosphere.  Depending on where one gets their information, it is either the last layer of Earth’s atmosphere, or the first “layer” of space…some sources actually consider “space” to start in the thermosphere (How high is space anyhow?).  Either way, this region is where the lightest elements wind up, still bound by Earth’s gravity…but tenuously.

Traditional Correspondences: East, flying, sound, yellow, mountaintops, wind-swept plains, cloudy skies, knowledge, recovering lost items, fragrant herbs and flowers, light stones (such as pumice) and transparent stones (such as mica), wind instruments, birds and winged insects, airplanes, balloons, bubbles, spring, dawn, wands (magical tool and tarot–but beware the “controversy”, in some systems swords are associated with air, and wands with fire), feathers, incense smoke, divination, concentration, visualization, wind magic

Deity Correspondences:  There really aren’t any gods of air, specifically.  There are, however, sky deities and wind deities. My “favorite” is Aeolus, the Keeper of the Winds from Greek mythology.

In the natural world, Air is associated most closely with the sky, wind, and clouds. Mountain peaks, which seem to touch the sky, are also Air. Birds of all kinds belong to this element, and hawks and eagles are especially associated with Air because they fly so very high and make their nests at such high altitudes. A stork or duck, by contrast, is a less powerful symbol of Air because, although these birds fly, they live in and near the water.

In a person, Air is associated with thought and with the intellect, corresponding in the Witches’ Pyramid to “To Know.”1 Ideas are said to come from Air, as is inspiration, a word that also means “to breathe in.” Logic and scholarship are Air functions, which is perhaps why academics are said to live in ivory towers as opposed to ivory basements. People who spend all their time thinking “have their heads in the clouds,” and if they’re “airheads,” they mistake imagination for real life and are impractical (because practicality is an Earth quality, which they lack).

The direction of Air is the East, and since the Sun rises in the east, Air is associated with the morning, with the spring (the beginning of the agricultural and astrological year), and with beginnings of all kinds. Anything that “dawns” is a thing of Air. The things in our lives that dawn, be they projects, creations, or careers, dawn with an idea. Often inspiration feels like the sunrise; a bright beginning full of promise and possibility. Since seeds are beginnings and are associated with the spring, seeds, too, belong to Air.

Deborah Lipp, The Way of Four

Getting to know air:

• Go fly a kite (made of natural materials that will biodegrade without causing damage).  But DO NOT release balloons!  They just become pollution.
• Take a hot air balloon ride
• Spend an afternoon (or morning) watching the clouds roll by
• Skydive, parasail, bungee jump, etc
• Volunteer at a bird sanctuary or wildlife refuge that rehabilitates birds
• Keep track of a nest
• Get to know your backyard birds–put up a bird feeder and pick up a field guide
• Make a set of windchimes
• Create a shrine to the four winds (or to another spirit or deity associated with air
• Plant a tree and study photosynthesis and respiration
• DO NOT collect feathers from migratory and native bird species in the US, if you would like to collect feathers, go through someone that is properly permitted
• Learn your native birds and winged insects
• Make a bee box, a bat box or a bird house (or all three!)

How I do it differently…Adapting Correspondences:

If you’ve been a reader of my my blog for awhile, it comes of no surprise that I’ve made some changes, adaptations, etc to the conventional correspondences that fit my practice and beliefs better.  I’ve mentioned many times over that I’m a big believer in witchcraft being an extension of one’s geography–that part of our job is to *grok* the forces and cycles that are native to one’s location and to work with them, forging our own relationship, rather than some formula from some book by some guy (or gal).  Now, if it just so happens that those correspondences work for you, that is awesome…and if you aren’t sure, try on the traditional correspondences for a bit, and shift them as needed for your environment.  I promise, you won’t break anything!

So, for me, air is now.  Its an end-of-summer, fall thing (hurricane season), its a North correspondence, and air, as an elemental force, reaches its peak around Samhain…

Serving Air:

Through ignorance and carelessness we have poisoned your clean air. For monetary gain we have reduced verdant forests, the lungs of our world, to barren wastes. In our craving for more we have plundered your beloved creation and driven many of our fellow creatures to extinction. Only recently have we begun to realize the dangerous future into which our current patterns of consumption and waste are driving us, especially in relation to earth’s climate. Only recently have we begun to see our need to find a wiser and better way of life, before it is too late and our choices are limited by the consequences of inaction. Lord of the Winds, in your mercy, hear our prayer.3

I pray that I may draw a lifesaving breath. This is the most important element of health, to breathe clean and unpolluted air.

(from my Prayer for Clean Air)

Plant a tree.  Stop smoking.  Plant another tree.  Drive less.  Plant a tree.  Turn off your lights and wash your clothes in cold water.  Plant a tree.  Write your representatives to support limits on air pollution by industry and fuel efficiency standards for vehicles and alternative energy.  Plant another tree.  Stop buying furniture made from rain forests.  Plant a tree.  Stop buying ANYTHING made from rain forests, unless it is ethically sourced and fairly traded in a way that supports local peoples.  Plant more trees.  Plant sea grass.  Let your lawn grow as high as you can without getting a citation.  Plant a tree.  Get rid of your lawn, and make it a certified wildlife habitat, and a place for birds and bees and butterflies.  And for goodness’ sake, plant another tree!

Read the rest of the series: Earth, Fire, Water, Intro

Pagan Blog Project: Justification

Tags

2013PBP, justify, jutification, pagan, pagan blog project

It seems to me that people have an idea that justification is a negative thing.  To some extent, I can agree–many times people feel the need to justify themselves because of someone that is actively seeking to shame them for their behavior…and in this case, justification is a negative thing.  But ultimately, (positive) justification is simply the act of demonstrating (seeking to demonstrate) that something is reasonable*.  Sometimes, demonstrating that something is reasonable (or even vital) is a good thing (or even a necessary one).

A few days ago, I came across this post in my blog reader.  At first glance, I agreed with most of it (although, having had friend killed by a drunk driver, and having grown up with an alcoholic father, I had a slight problem with the wording of number 13). But. (Because there wouldn’t be a blog post without the but.) Upon further reflection on the idea of justification over all, I have to say the idea of not having to justify one’s self ever, at all, to anyone, is a mistaken one that comes from a place of some pretty intense privilege.  I’d like to add that I am not saying that the blog post in question is advocating this, but rather that the blog post was the impetus for this line of thought.  Unfortunately, the idea of not needing to justify one’s anything seems a bit prevalent in today’s society in general, and in our Pagan communities online and off in particular.  And I sort of think that’s bullshit.

There are things that we do have to justify in life.

I can’t help but think that I would have loved that post when I was 23 and single and childless and financially answerable only to myself.  Because…for that brief moment, it was true. But.  I have commitments. I have responsibilities.  I live as part of a family and a community and a society in which my actions impact other people.  I do not live in a vacuum.  There is no such thing as living without justification when one has commitments and responsibilities.

Don’t get me wrong, we don’t have to justify everything to everyone. But in the real world, coming from a place of pragmatism, we do sometimes actually owe people reasonable explanations for things.

All of us have to justify our actions to someone (even if that is ourselves).  It does matter how much you drink, it does matter what food you eat,  it does matter what clothing you wear. I’m not saying this to shame anyone that drinks like a sailor in port after 6 months at sea, likes ice cream, has to shop at Wal-mart.  I’m just saying that every action has a consequence–for example, shopping at Wal-mart props up unfair and unethical work and manufacturing processes (but when kid needs shoes for school, and your budget is tight, it might be the only option you have).  It may not be fair that it matters, but “fair” is an entirely different discussion.

What we do affects the others around us in direct and indirect ways.

Look, when it comes to beliefs, the only person we need to justify them to is ourselves–but if we are taking that inward thing and putting it out there in word or deed, we better be able to justify its effects upon others in a way that they welcome (or at least respect).

Seeing as this is a Pagan Blog Project post, you might be wondering what exactly does all that have to do with being Pagan?

Ooh!  Glad you asked!!

1.) I don’t have to justify my beliefs to you or anyone.

2) You don’t have to justify your beliefs to me or anyone.

3) I don’t have to justify those of my practices that only affect myself and those I have a commitment to and a responsibility for to anyone but them.

4) You don’t have to justify those of your practices that only affect yourself and those you have a commitment to and a responsibility for to anyone but them.

But.  When we interact with one another, not having to justify our respective beliefs does not mean disrespecting one another over them, or being complicit in another being disrespectful of them.  When we engage in services for one another, we very much need to justify our practices and how we carry them out (including whether or not their are ethical) to those we are seeking to serve, to their satisfaction.  When our practices have the potential to cause harm or when our words have the potential to cause strife, the idea that we don’t need to justify ourselves (or attempt to do so) is selfish and self-serving.

Justifying your words or your deeds isn’t about apologizing for them (although it can be in some cases). (Positive) Justification is not about seeking approval for one’s actions (although it may be reasonable to do so in some cases, depending on whom they affect).  Justification is also not about making excuses for your decisions.  Instead, it should be about helping something make sense to someone that doesn’t understand where you are coming from or why you have made a particular choice as well as a claiming of responsibility that includes an acknowledgement of how one impacts others around them.

*An alternate definition of justify is “to prove that one is right”, but that isn’t the particular nuance I’m talking about right now–that is more in line with the “shaming” idea.

 

Serving the Elements: Earth

Tags

earth, elements, magic, pagan, witchcraft

Blessing of Earth

May the blessings of the earth be upon you,
A sheltering cave to bring you to birth and securely hold you,
The fertile soil to nourish you,
The green grass to lay soft under you.

– blessing from a Pagan handfasting ceremony

(via The Blessing Files)

Sadness of Gaia by Josephine Wall, used with permission

If Water is the element of flow, Earth is the element of deep stillness and slumbering power.  The element of caverns and fertile fields, of sandy shores and granite peaks.  Earth is the embodiment of Nature–every rock and every tree, the living landscape of life and the recycling of itself in death and in the grave.

A human being’s Earth is her body. From Earth comes solidity, stability, and commitment. We call Earth our home, both the home of all life that is Mother Earth, and the house or apartment we live in. By extension, Earth is hearth and family and all those qualities that make us feel “at home.”  To be an earthy person is to be pragmatic, realistic, and tactile. Good Earth qualities in a person make her “the salt of the earth,” but an excess of negative Earth qualities make her a “stick-in-the-mud.” Earth is that deep, solid, immobile place, both in the negative sense of stubborn and in the positive sense of patient. The Witches’ Pyramid describes this quality in the attribute “To Be Silent.”

Deborah Lipp

Scientifically Speaking:
Earth (unlike water)  is a bit of a complicated element…when it comes to “earth” from a scientific perspective.  It can refer to the planet in its entirety (either as a geological phenomenon or a ecological one), or it can refer to the solid stuff we walk on, known collectively as rocks and/or dirt.

Rocks: A rock is any naturally occurring mass of mineral matter.  All rocks fall into one of three broad categories that are based on the formation of the individual rock type.  Rocks are made  (and destroyed) in a cycle known (how’s this for complex naming systems?) as the Rock Cycle (lol).  The first type of rock, igneous rock, is made when molten rock cools and hardens, and includes granite, obsidian, basalt and pumice.  The second sort of rock is sedimentary rock, which is formed by the layering of deposited pieces of igneous, metamorphic and other sedimentary rock, as well as dead animals and plants, which make fossils.  Common types of sedimentary rock include sandstone, shale, limestone, coal and gypsum.  The third type of rock is metamorphic rock, which forms when sedimentary rock or igneous rock is heated or pressurized, and includes marble, slate and quartzite.

Dirt: Soil forms the outermost layer of our earth. It is composed of minerals (45%), organic matter (5%), water (25%), and air (25%). Soil is formed by a combination of geological, chemical, and biological processes–geology determines the rock type and mineral composition while chemical weathering, erosion and organisms such as fungi, lichen and plants (roots) break up rock to help form soil.  Developed soil forms layers called “horizons”, which make a cross-section of soil look a bit like a layer cake.  All soils have at least one horizon, but most have 3 or 4.  While the soil profile of any given location varies, the most common profile is the O-A-B-C-R profile, which is an abbreviation for the progression of horizons (Organic, A horizon–hummus, B horizon–subsoil, C horizon, Bedrock).  The different compositions of soil form various soil types, which are globally sorted into 12 orders.  In the United States alone, there are at least 70,000 soil types (though different countries have difference criteria and terminology for soil types and profiles).

World Map of the 12 Soil Orders

Etymologically Speaking…

In this worldview, the elements that made up existence were categorized quite broadly as the Classical elements of Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. Our term ‘Earth’, consequently, is derived from a much older word which meant simply ‘the ground’, or ‘the opposite of the sea’–much the way the word ‘earth’ can be used today. These early words for earth, in turn, are references to the Norse goddess Jörð, mother to Thor.

source

Traditional Correspondences:
Star Signs: Tarus, Virgo, Capricorn
Direction: North
Gender: female
Other Correspondences: cattle, pigs, goats, salt, money, winter, fruit, pregnancy, midnight, milk, preservation, fertility, stillness, pentacles (Tarot), caves, fields, bears, bulls, rabbits, lions, stones/rocks/crystals, sand/dirt/soil, seeds and grains, cabbage, potatoes and root vegetables, coins, pentacle, gnomes, goblins, root chakra, the grave
Magical Associations: fertility magic, prosperity rituals, money spells, home protections and blessing, crop/garden blessings, grounding rituals and meditations, rituals and spells for jobs or business success, dying/rebirth rituals, death rituals
Colors: Brown, Black, Greens
Deities: Geb(♂) , Gaia(♀), Emesh(♂), Enten(♂), Hou Tu(♂), Cybele(♀), Magna Mater(♀), Veles(♂), Asase Ya(♀), Asintma(♀), Daikoku-ten(♂), Ninhursag(♀), Beira(♀), Dhara(♂), Coatlicue, Erecura(♀), Proserpina(♀), Enki(♂), Persephone(♀), Demeter(♀), Diti(♀), Pachamama(♀), Ida(♀), Jörð(♀), Sif(♀), Ki(♀), Ops(♀), Prithvi(♀), Liluri(♀), Tu Di Gong(♂), Mat Zemlya(♀), Zemyna(♀), Voltumna(♂),  

Getting to Know Earth: After water, earth is probably the element I feel closest to.  Earth is what stabilizes and grounds us when we walk upon it.  It holds our energy when we need release, and recharges us when we are replete.  But not everyone is an earthy type, and even the earthiest of us can get to know Earth a little bit better.

“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world. ”

~ Michael Pollan

• Play in the garden: if you don’t have a garden, volunteer at one or plant some plants in pots.
• Try out the art of rangoli–I once read something I have never forgotten the idea of (though I don’t remember the place, and its paraphrased because the exact wording is long forgotten, lol): “our feet are sacred because they are the place where our bodies are always engaging with Earth” and discussed the use of art such as rangoli (which has the added earth connection of its primary medium being sand or flour) or even the use of rugs and floor cloths as a way to more consciously think about how our feet meet the Earth.
• Go for a hike in the woods, walk along a trail in the park, or just sit under a tree
• Learn a bit about earth science or geology–from plate tectonics to types of rocks, learn about the mechanics and the physical properties of the Earth and of earth and how they work.  I haven’t finished reading it yet, but Amazon has a free earth science high school textbook for the Kindle; and there are a number of field guides available on rocks and minerals at the library or book store.
• Make a sand castle, jump in a mud puddle or dig for earthworms
• Pick up trash at a local park or vacant lot, better yet, re-purpose the trash you collect into art (even plastic starts out as part of the earth)
• Sleep outside, just you and a sleeping bag or blanket …either as a nap, or all night long.  I don’t recommend directly in the grass though…getting to know the earth is one thing, getting to know chiggers is something else.

Alternative/Adapted Correspondences & Earth in Ritual:

In my post about water, I wrote that I believe that witchcraft is about being able to *grok* the forces and cycles that are native to one’s location and to act as a force of change.  The witchcraft I practice is an extension of geography and ecology and self…and that means that sometimes traditional correspondences get modified…and sometimes they don’t.  My correspondences for Earth mostly match that of the traditional correspondence of Earth with winter and the North, as well as other traditional correspondences.  In terms of deity, I tend to associate Earth as Gaia, but I also recognize deities such as Demeter and Persephone, as well as deities such Pomona and Floralia, as being connected with the earth.    I also consider money to be a fantastic symbol for earth, as earth’s associations have to do with fertility and growth and abundance and prosperity (while this has been an association that I have seen bother some, historically, salt itself was used as currency).  And something else (a bit random) that many people don’t think about–plastics are part of the earth element…they are manufactured from oil (which is really fossil goop) in the ground.

We can draw upon the energies of earth and of the Earth to energize ourselves and our rituals.  While earth energy can be used in any ritual, it is more suited to some types of magic and/or ritual than others.  Earth as an element works very well as a  key component of spells and rituals for prosperity and fertility, in life-cycle rituals, and in grounding in ritual and meditation.  In cooking magic, earth can be represented by milk, salt, potatoes and carrots, cabbage, grains, etc.  These foods often make good offerings to the Earth itself or to the elemental energies or spirits of earth or of the land (with the exception of salt, which isn’t usually good for the soil).  Tobacco is also often considered an acceptable offering in North America (since it was used by many Native American tribes) for land spirits.

Serving Earth: There are a number of threats facing soil specifically and land in general.  Among these are soil erosion, deforestation, soil contamination, habitat fragmentation, urban sprawl, invasive plants and animals, desertification, solid waste pollution, wetland loss (drainage), suburban expansion and loss of farmland, and loss of biodiversity.  All of these problems though, boil down to issues of land use.

Land use is one of the most striking manifestations of humans’ presence and physical impact on the planet. More fundamentally, humans have altered the global patterns and prevalence of species and ecosystems. Several recent studies confirm that human-dominated ecosystems now cover more of earth’s land surface than do natural or “wild” ecosystems. According to one estimate, more than 75 percent of the earth’s ice-free land shows evidence of alteration from human residence and activity, with less than a quarter remaining as wildland…

…Changes in land use can affect the distribution and type of land cover (such as forests, cropland and urbanized areas), the ability of ecosystems to provide valuable services that support life, and even elevation and terrain.

(source)

So, what are some things can you do, wherever you are?

• Replace a portion of your lawn with Certified Wildlife Habitat.  Talk to your local school about creating a Certified Wildlife Habitat.
• Plant a native garden and get rid of invasive plants in your landscaping (like Bradford Pears, honey suckle, and some 1500+ other species)
• Support tree planting efforts locally and globally, to help prevent desertification.
• Get involved with local ecological restoration efforts! Nearly every community has them, and often they need help.
• Compost your kitchen and yard waste, rather than sending it into the waste stream.
• Reduce, reuse and recycle.  Try to avoid falling into the “planned obsolescence” trap that companies have set up for you by thinking you just *have to have* X product. Check out the Story of Stuff.
• Eat locally.  Buy from your local farmers… especially if they grow food sustainably (sustaibably is not always organic)
• Know about where your stuff comes from and try to buy it as close to home as possible (plus it creates jobs here), and with natural materials whenever possible (for example, cotton not Lycra)
• Pick up trash when you are out and about, at the park, walking down the street, etc.

Interesting Stuff:
Salt from seawater
Plate Tectonics Animations
Hymn to Gaia
Earth Meditation Ritual
Online Gallery of Minerals
History of Salt
Tree Meditation
Wikipedia Article on Earth as a Classical Element
Supreme Pentagram Ritual of Earth

*part 2 of my Serving the Elements series*

I’m Pagan…but you already knew that, didn’t you?

Tags

#IPCOD, #pagancomingout, out of the broom closet, pagan, pagan coming out day

So…today is International Pagan Coming Out Day…and once again, its not really a big deal for me.  I’ve never been “in the broom closet” and I’ve never felt the need to hide my theological opinion (honestly, it has never occurred to me to do so, from my first reading of Drawing Down the Moon at 13…)

And that isn’t because I live in some hippie paradise.

I was raised in the Midwest in a Christian family, in a town where there’s a church on just about every block and I now live in Pat Robertson’s backyard, where proselytizing is the second most popular activity after football.  I was in the military and openly Pagan for six years…and was still promoted, several times (and I even swapped duty for holidays on occasion).  My medical records say that I’m Pagan, my VA record says that I’m Pagan, and if someone asks my religion, I’ll happily tell them that I’m Pagan.

Realistically though, most people that I encounter on a daily basis as I carry out my day probably have no clue that I’m Pagan (unless they happen to overhear my daughter singing “The Goddess Loves Me” while skipping down the street instead of the more conventional Jesus version).   To paraphrase Mrs. B’s “out” story from a while back, its not like I walk around introducing myself as “Hi, I’m Michelle and I’m Pagan!”  I don’t wear a t-shirt and my path isn’t one for which a pentacle is representative.  If someone asks what church I go to (far more common that asking “what religion are you?”), I tell them I go to a Unitarian Universalist church, because its true (and 99% of the time, they don’t actually care and are just making conversation).  If someone tells me Merry Christmas, I don’t jump down their throat, I just say thank you, because I’m more than happy to have a great December 25th even if I don’t celebrate it as a religious observance.  I don’t go out of my way to “act” Pagan, because there isn’t any such thing–Pagan is just a term that acts as a descriptor for a huge number of my religious beliefs.  Honestly, I find the idea of making my religion a production to something akin to an inappropriate PDA, which is why I try not to bring up religion in places where it doesn’t belong–like the workplace or the line at the grocery store (which can be hard for me, since I find it so very fascinating).

Really though, I’ve just found that (even in Pat and Jerry’s home turf), most normal people really *don’t* care what religion you are.   Some normal people might want to know out of curiosity, or for an intellectual discussion (exceedingly rare), or they might want to know for the purposes of figuring out what kind of holiday card to sent you, but most people really don’t care about your business that much anyhow.  And the people that *do* care, are the ones that would hate you anyway.  Because you’re white or because you’re not white, because you have long hair or short hair, because you’re fat or skinny, because you are too liberal or not liberal enough, or because you are gay or old or loud or wear white after Labor Day or are too sarcastic or something.  Because haters hate.  The dishonest ones just do it in the name of religion.

I’m not saying that the fear of things like having one’s children taken away over their religion is unrealistic or that losing one’s job for being found out as a Pagan doesn’t happen.  It does happen–it hasn’t happened to me personally, but I do know people whose Paganism has become an issue in divorce cases or that have been ostracized socially or in the workplace.    I may not have lost my job or had my kids taken away, but I still think about those things (I also happen to have faith that while the wheels of justice and karma work slowly, they do usually work)…and I’ve still experienced the little ignorant disrespects. Discrimination and bigotry happen.  I can understand why some might fear the idea of coming out publicly as a Pagan.  Being harassed for thinking and living outside the box hurts and its damaging down to the soul.

For me,  it comes down to one thing–I’d rather be hurt than hide.  

And I’ve been lucky to find that in taking the chance (though “taking a chance” never occurred to me at the time), its not that big of a deal.

A Pagan Lectio Divina

Tags

contemplatio, devotional, lectio, lectio divina, meditatio, oratio, pagan, paganism, prayer

We currently have a thread on Pagan Forum about the use of devotionals as a personal practice, which is how/why I was inspired to write this thread on my own devotional practice, which is loosely based on the Catholic Lectio Divina.

If you aren’t familiar with the term devotional, it describes a short, often daily, religious practice that is used to help an individual grow in their relationship with the Divine, which generally involves some sort of reading and/or prayer.  If you are familiar with the term from a Christian standpoint, you may have seen or read a book or magazine which often takes a Bible verse, illustrates it with someone’s story or lesson, and ends with a prayer, which is called a devotional.  Often Christian devotionals are oriented to a particular subset of Christians–either by denomination, or gender, or age, etc.  (despite these books widely being referred to as a devotional, the use of them is only one type of devotional practice).

From a Pagan perspective, the purpose of devotional practice isn’t much different, though I think we have a lot more diversity when it comes to what we consider Divine.  A polytheistic devotional practice, for example, might focus on particular individual deities or a particular pantheon, while a pantheist or even a naturalist might choose to focus something like the elements, the natural world or the universe-at-large.  Since our views of Divinity are so varied, our individual devotionals are bound to be equally diverse.  If you haven’t established a personal devotional practice, but are interested in the idea, a good Pagan introduction to the idea can be found here, and a good conversation on devotional prayers can be found here.

My devotional work follows the structure of the Lectio Divina (which means Divine Reading in Latin), though its (obviously) not about Jesus and its quite a bit less structured/more free form.  The Catholic Lectio Divina dates back to the 6th century and was developed as a monastic practice by St. Benedict, while the format that exists today was established later (more info on its history).  The Lectio Divina has four parts–Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, and Contemplatio (which translates to  reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation)…and really, the devotional structure found in contemporary (and generally non-denominational) devotionals is based in part on this form.  A good walk through of the Lectio Divina from a Catholic perspective can be found here–its an excellent description of the process in general, if you can overlook the Christian bits.*

My version of the Lectio Divina goes something like this:

• Lectio–Read/watch/listen.  Using some piece of material that speaks from the Divine to you, intake the material from a non-judgemental perspective.  Try not to assign meaning to the material, just soak in the message.  The message might come from a reading, but it could also come form a song or a clip of video or a picture.  The key here is to absorb every scrap of meaning you can wring from it, without judging it or formulating your own response to it (yet).
• Meditato–Meditation on the message (or messages).  How does it fit as an expression of Divinity, Humanity or the cosmos (or not)?  How is Divinity speaking through this message? What does it mean in terms of a message from or about your gods?  What does it mean in terms of how you go about your day, or how you live your life?
• Oratio–Conventionally, this would be where one enters into a conversation with the Divine–otherwise known as prayer.  Sometimes for this part I pray…but its more about a personal active expression of the message (it could be getting off your rear and dancing, singing, painting, writing, etc, or it could be the more conventional prayers) that is based on the message you received (which may or may not be true to the text itself).
• Contemplatio–Resting with the gods in silence (however you see them), open meditation, etc, opening your mind and heart to their wonder (or the wonder of nature/the universe/etc), and re-centering yourself in the present.

The material I use for the Lectio portion is pretty varied.  It includes everything from Bible verses (I’m a fan of Ecclesiastes 3 1-8), to the Homeric hymn to Gaia, to poetry the poem Mending Wall (by Robert Frost) to the excerpt of Mary Oliver I posted recently, to this song by Sara Thomsen, to each of the Unitarian Universalist 7 principles, to the picture at the top of the post, which is a picture of the Rose Window at Chartres Cathedral next to a cross section image of DNA often called the Rose Window.  Anything that speaks to one’s inner self or offers divine inspiration is, at least in my opinion, fair game.

What about you?  Do you have a daily practice (or at least a regularly occurring one)? What do you find inspiring on a soul level?

UPDATE: I just opened up another blog, which I *oh-so-creatively* titled Pagan Devotionals, specifically to post inspiring bits of this and that for anyone that is interested in starting their own devotional practice, whether it be reciting prayers or adorations or undertaking the Lectio Divina.

*Normally I wouldn’t have felt it necessary to point out that beneficial spiritual practices and beliefs can exist in other religions…even Christianity, and that we should keep an open mind to both the origins and intent of specific ideas as well as their modern interpretations.  But then I read (mostly via Facebook and other blogs–so if you missed the debate, count yourself lucky) some recent debate over this particular blog post (which I thought was spot on), purely over what commenters thought the specific terminology meant (and I’m pretty sure most of them only read the title anyhow).