Serving the Goddess of Love with Ferocity and Compassion
As the wheel turns toward Samhain, we begin to embrace the dark. It is a time of rest and introspection. A time of releasing and letting go. A time of death and rebirth. This is the time of year when the Goddess Cerridwyn most calls to me. This is my retelling of the Tale of Cerridwyn.
Breath is a magickal thing. It keeps us alive. It is a largely unconscious activity that we can make conscious when we concentrate on it. It’s a part of our mind-body connection, and it helps regulate our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. It can help us achieve different states of mind - including calming us down when we are panicked, upset, or anxious.
Preparation is the first element in my ritual template. This can include cleansing and purification, getting together your tools and altar, engaging your senses, and creating a ritual outline.
There is no one right way to do a ritual. Find what works for you and Aphrodite! Here I share a very general template that I use for my rituals.
I love thunderstorms. They are one of my absolute favorite things about summer. They are nourishing, cathartic, and magickal. They are a symphony of the elements, brought together in a dynamic crescendo.
One year ago, my local Pagan group held its first-ever virtual Sabbat - Beltane of 2020. At that time, we were starting to realize the gravity of what the pandemic would bring. Off-handed statements of “It will all be over in a month or two” were starting to fade as COVID-19 took the world by… Continue reading Beltane in a Pandemic – One Year Later
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.
Priestess of Aphrodite 