A Day in the Life–Gandillon: polytheist and Maenad

What with the many posts about daily rituals floating around, especially at Gods Mouths 2.0, it didn’t take me long to consider it a good idea to post about my own for a couple of reasons:

• Considering this is my own blog, there isn’t a lot about my practice detailed here so far.  Over time, that will accumulate, but I should have outlined just exactly who I am and what I do already for readers and passersby.
• I’d like to be able to look back later and see what’s changed, because if there’s one consistent thing about my practice, it’s that it’s rarely consistent.

The only spiritual activities that are done on a daily basis in our house is worship to the five household gods throughout the day:

Photo Post – Moon & Sea

Although I haven’t yet written about it, my family, consisting of myself, my husband/magical partner, and my boyfriend, recently moved ourselves, and the seat of Tashrisketlin to the seacoast of Southern Maine.

When we first moved up to Maine more than two years ago, my Lady told me that I had Work to do with the sea. However, we proved unable to find a place to live near there. This was ok though, since it was still during our three years of enforced idleness, more on that in a later post.

But now, with our idleness at an end, an opportunity to move to less than a half mile from a beautiful beach just happened to crop up, and here we are.

It’s going to be a long and hopefully exciting road of learning and exploring as we work out what living by the sea will mean for us, both magically and spiritually. That too, will be a subject of posts to come. One thing we already know, is that as the sea has become a fixture in our Work and energy, so has the Moon has become a major force in our lives. After all, the interplay between the moon and sea creates the ebbs and flows that suffuse the power underlying the land all around us.

I don’t paint or draw, but I’m a rather skilled photographer and have been exploring photography as a tool for spiritual expression. The fabulous Elizabeth from Twilight & Fire was visiting last week and convinced me to take my camera gear down to the beach for the rising of the Harvest Moon, and the following photos were the result.

So hail the dance of Sea and Moon, who together form one of the great engines that drive our world.

(Photos below the fold, click to enlarge)

Describing the Indescribable

I’ve avoided and wrestled with this particular piece of writing for a few days. At first, I wasn’t going to write it, or anything related to the forthcoming topic, at all. However, that’s not quite how things work. A close friend, after I vomited emotions and words all over him, poked me lightly and said ‘you should write about this for Gods’ Mouths 2.0′. I thought about it and almost brushed it off because I really, really didn’t want to commit any of this to the page, but he said it again and then once more and I threw up my hands because I get it. I really do. I just don’t like it.

It has been an awful week. I look and feel like a wrung-out limp dishrag. In fact, a dishrag might have a little more substance than I do at the moment. I feel run-over and hollow and like I am made of swamp-flavored jello that has sat in the refrigerator a little too long. My semester has started, I’m putting in as much overtime as I can get at my paycheck job, my computer decided it no longer needed to function, and I am having a lot of unexplained medical issues. It isn’t too pretty right now.

If that wasn’t enough, I’m mired pretty deep in the midst of a fairly personal spiritual crisis and test of faith. If there is one thing I truly hate, it is when everything piles on at once.

A Day in the Life–“August Dark Moon”: Lorna Smithers, pagan Druid and bard

Submitted by Lorna Smithers.

I’m woken by my alarm clock at 6AM. Blinking open my eyes, I recall what I can of last night’s dream; horses again, another argument. I scrawl this in my journal and get up immediately, knowing the time between waking and going to work is precious. Whilst breakfasting, I observe the view from my bedroom window, greeting the grey-white clouds and light rain, buddleia, and shrubs in the garden, a pigeon on next door’s roof, and the circling sea gulls.

After this I do ritual, hailing the spirits of the cardinal directions, above, beneath, and within before lighting candles in honour of the spirits of place, ancestors, Belisama the goddess of the river Ribble and its valley, and Gwyn, my personal deity. Following a meditation in a tree stance where I ground myself between earth, sea and sky, this world and the Otherworld to which I usually journey, I often practice divination or simply commune with my gods or other guides.

Walking the Mystic’s Path: “To the mystic, Love is the air we breathe.”

Submitted by Reverend Donna M. Swindells, Fellowship of Isis

I am and have always been a mystic. Even in my old faith as a Roman Catholic, this was the path I have been on.  How can one be of that faith, and be a mystic in the Pagan pantheons?  The easiest answer is once a mystic, always a mystic.  One has to be true to your soul.  Being who I am comes at a high price, as many spiritual bloggers know.  Putting yourself out raw and uncensored in print, to friends and strangers takes courage and strength.

What is a mystic?  It is a person who knows the risk of being a fool.  To be able to give of yourself and surrender to divine love.  We who are on this path have devoted ourselves to the Gods and Goddesses.  They have touched us with the sweetest delight and pain.  Our souls burn for their presence, words and perhaps a few moments of spiritual union.

A Day in the Life–Anonymous College Student: Wiccan-flavored pagan, polytheist, and lay person

Even though it doesn’t sound like a very spectacular way to celebrate, I typically choose to approach meals and time spent with my family as more relaxing and enjoyable on this day. By approaching these activities with a certain attitude on my part, I can usually overcome whatever possible drama that may be floating around (because we’re certainly not immune to that) and actually feel a bit more relaxed and enjoyable during and afterwards. While some people may want to hold/attend a ritual on one of the sabbats, I’ve found that Lammas feels better without doing so.

I’m a solitary, so this would mean that I would have to try to carve out time to not be disturbed by my family. It’s the beginning of August, though, and I just don’t feel like doing that. I’m currently in college, but my practice sort of started (in a relaxed way) while I was still in high school. I’ve spent what feels like most of the summer alone and working on summer homework for honors/AP classes or just preparing for the next semester. Lammas is the last bit of summer vacation before I really have to kick it into gear and start to get ready for school again, so I want to spend it with my family in some sort of relaxing way.

The Work Can Get In Its Own Way

You’ll no doubt have noticed that there’s been a break in posts here on Gods’ Mouths 2.0. There are two reasons for that. First and foremost, we (Alex & Winter) it turns out are not as good at using the “schedule” feature here on WordPress as we’d thought! GM2 has gotten some great submissions over the last little while and we thought we’d gotten them set to publish automatically… but we didn’t.

Sorry about that.

“But wait Alex/Winter, you guys didn’t notice! WTF?” you may be saying, and your frustration would be completely understandable.

No, we didn’t notice. Which brings us to the topic of Work.

At Loki’s Hands, Part 4: Closer

Submitted by Myriad Hallaug Lokadis.

The following post was originally written as a contribution for 2013’s July for Loki. My devotional project in July was called At Loki’s Hands; it consists of four drawings, each representing roughly a quarter of the past year—my first year as a devotee to Loki—and how I experienced Him during that time. In the first post, Tapped, I described my first awkward forays as a newly-tapped worshipper. The following two pieces, Weaving the Net and Truceless, explore how I connected with Him on a more personal level, and the very slow, very reluctant forming of trust. The piece below is the last in the series, picking up around mid-February of this year.

My decision to submit it was inspired by the Godsmouths 2.0 project “A Day In The Life” that encourages us, the readers, to write about our everyday devotional practice. This is my account of how my devotional practice started becoming what it is today.

A Day in the Life–Elayne: mother and Wiccan priestess with Crossroads ATC

My daily practices are always in flux, as I think they are for most of us.  As we grow and learn, we drop practices that no longer serve us, and pick up new ones that do.  I am gradually returning to regular daily spiritual practice after many years of mostly being a minor kitchen witch.  I’ve made a new commitment over the past couple years to find ways to pursue my devotions while integrating my spiritual life with my busy, busy family life.

I’ve been taking T. Thorn Coyle’s Crafting a Daily Practice course this summer, looking for a more structured guide for delving deeper into my self and finding new ways to nurture my spirit.  The course has been very helpful, and I’m barely halfway through.  I look forward to finishing, and continuing to work with her book.

A Day in the Life Project going strong!

We’re getting a lot of really great submissions and we’ll be posting them at regular intervals. Keep’em coming–it’s great stuff and we’re so happy people are both enjoying it and finding meaning in reading the daily accounts of what others do!