Serving the Goddess of Love with Ferocity and Compassion
In my previous post, I discussed the need for us to adapt our spiritual practices to better address these challenging times. In this post, we will cover how to navigate changes in your practice, including examining your view of devotion and trying new things. Cultivating an adaptive spiritual practice needs to take place in the context of your life. This means that you have to leave space for the unexpected and acknowledge your need for rest.
I don’t know about you, but for me, pandemic fatigue has been kicking my butt the past few weeks. It’s hard to feel inspired when just getting through the day is difficult. I am an advocate for living, evolving, personal religion. I believe that spirituality should be applicable to modern life, and it should support us and nourish us. When our spiritual practices are no longer relevant to our circumstances, it is time for them to change.
While my personal spiritual experiences form the foundation of my religion, spiritual experiences shared with others have been some of my strongest allies against doubt.
No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, whether you are newly walking the Pagan path or if you have been wandering in the woods for a while, we all experience spiritual doubt. Some doubt is completely normal (and can even be a good thing), but sometimes it can undermine our confidence and get in the way of the spiritual experiences that we want to have. How you deal with and process spiritual doubt can strengthen your spirituality, your connection with the Divine, and your spiritual self-confidence.
In which I unexpectedly encounter the God Hermes on a work trip to Las Vegas...
As we wrap up this series on An Altar for Aphrodite, there are a few more things for us to keep in mind. The possibilities of potential altar trinkets are endless, and there are a few commonly used items that were not mentioned in the previous posts. I also want to discuss some important considerations for setting up your altar.
When constructing an altar for Aphrodite, you can honor Her through the representations of the elements and through physical offerings in your sacred space. Here are my favorite ways to honor Aphrodite with these aspects of my altar:
Whether you are just starting out with constructing your first altar or shrine to Aphrodite, or if you’re a seasoned practitioner looking for some new inspiration, here are some of my essential considerations for constructing an altar.
I led this ritual for my Pagan group on the June 2020 Full Moon last Friday. Current events have brought institutionalized racism to the front and center in the United States, while the COVID-19 pandemic still wreaks havoc on our ill-prepared country. The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd are but some of the most recent in a long history of injustice toward black Americans. BLACK LIVES MATTER.
Every time I make soup for Cerridwyn, the recipe is different. I used to have a recipe that I riffed off of, swapping out ingredients and adding or subtracting things. This most recent time, I had to completely abandon all hopes of using a recipe.
