Toward a Meaningful Daily Practice

One of the tasks I have set for myself this year is to work on developing my daily spiritual practice.  As I wrote in my last post, I am already working on integrating activities such as meditation, yoga, and writing in my journal into my daily routine.  These activities are part of my daily spiritual practice, but I want to do more.

I want to create ritual, to give offerings, to practice divination, and to work more closely with the deities, spirits, and ancestors.  I'm not sure why I want to do these things, but it just seems important to me right now that I be doing them.

I experimented with a fairly simple weekly ritual that incorporated most of these elements last summer, but it didn't work out.  Part of the problem was that it was too easy for me to push the ritual back a day if I didn't feel like doing it on the intended day as well as to completely forget about it on the other six days.

This time, I am thinking of having three tiers of rituals: one daily, one weekly, and one for the major festivals.  The daily ritual would be part of my morning routine and because of constraints due to time, it would be very simple and short.  I do want some sort of Ogham divination to be part of this ritual as I have wanted for some time to study and learn more about Ogham.  I rather like this ritual from ADF, although it would need a few modifications.

The weekly ritual would be longer and more complex and would probably involve offering as a major component.  The ritual for festivals would be more complex still and could possibly involve a feast of some sort.  (Feasts seem strange when I'm eating alone, but I'm thinking about it.)

Any ritual that I use has to take into account certain problems that I have:

• Space - My room is very small, with no room for a permanent altar, other than the makeshift shrine sort of thing that I have built on top of my printer.  A temporary altar built on my (only) table would have to share space with my computer and printer (which could not be moved, even temporarily, as there would be no place to put them).  I will not be able to do a great deal of movement in my rituals and certainly not any processions.
• Lack of suitable outdoor space - My city is in the middle of the grasslands, meaning that there are few trees and no forests.  The result is that in any wild space (and there is some within walking distance), you will be visible from a fairly long way off to anyone who happens to look the right way.  Unless the ritual used very few props and no extravagant movements, I would probably not perform it outdoors.
• Candles and incense - Even if I wasn't already uncomfortable with using these items, I cannot anyway, because they are not permitted in my dorm (and I'm generally not the kind of person who breaks rules).  I suspect my rituals will be more focused on water than on fire (which seems fitting in this dry environment where, so often, fire is a danger and water (rain) is a blessing).  Juni at Living the Path of Mist recently discussed how the role of fire has in many ways been replaced by that of electricity, so I am wondering if I could somehow use electricity as a symbol in ritual or on an altar.

I would really appreciate your input here.  Let me and other readers know about your own daily spiritual practice, whether or not you use ritual and why, and what problems you have faced (and how you have overcome them).

Goals, Habits, and Routines

Sometimes it seems like every year, every season, and every month I am making the same goals for myself - to meditate more often, to exercise, to write and draw in my journals more frequently - and every time I end up maintaining the new habit for a few days, a few weeks, or even a few months before I inevitably get bored, or distracted, or just better at thinking up excuses.

Clearly, just telling myself that I am going to do meditate everyday or write in my journal every evening is not enough.  Which is why this year I am trying something else.  I have chosen five activities that I want to become daily habits - meditation, practicing yoga and exercising, writing a page of random thoughts every morning, sketching or drawing something, and writing in my journal.  I am keeping a record of how often each week I perform each activity.  Each day, I cross off a box indicating that I accomplished the activity, or I leave it blank if I did not.  At the end of the week, I add up the total number of days with crossed-off boxes.  The idea is that this will provide more motivation for me to stop wasting my time and actually do some of these things.

This is only the second week that I have been using this method so it is really too early to tell whether it is working or not.  One thing I do know is that I am enjoying doing these things again.  And slowly, things are settling into a routine.

After breakfast, I ease my body into the smooth, slow movements of yoga, feeling my body stretch and bend into the different postures.  I breathe slowly and listen to my breath, conscious of my feet planted firmly on the floor.  Then I do some simple strengthening exercises and feel the strain in my muscles and imagine myself becoming stronger, no longer the kind of person who is defeated by hard-to-open jars.  After my heartbeat settles back into its normal rhythm, I sit, breathe, and be.  Meditation seems easier for me than it used to be.  Perhaps I am not thinking about it as much?

After that I go to my desk, open up a composition book to a blank page and write.  I write whatever comes into my mind until the page is full.  Then I close the book without looking back at what I have written.  (The pages make good reading weeks or months later.)

Later in the day (right now it's usually before I begin preparing supper), I sit down with my sketchbook and do some kind of sketch or drawing.  Lately I've been drawing mandalas and leaves (I have a stack of old leaves from last autumn on the corner of my altar).  Before I go to bed, I write in my journal - perhaps just a few lines, or a paragraph, or half a page.

Routines are satisfying.  Structure and discipline are satisfying, and provide a framework from which one can learn and grow.  Will I be able to maintain these routines with my new method?  Probably not.  Probably I will fall away from them, and go back, and go back again, and again.  Yet hopefully, the falling away will occur less frequently, and the going back will be easier.

Science and Spirituality

The latest prompt over at Pagan Blog Prompts asked the question, "Does science play a role in your spiritual beliefs?  Does it compliment or contradict, and in what ways?"  If you're already a reader of this blog, you probably already know what my answer to the first question is.  I have written about this topic before, here and here and here, and probably in other places as well.

Yes, science does play a very important role in my spirituality.  I think I would probably identify as a scientist, as a naturalist, before I would identify as a Druid or member of any other other religion or spirituality.  As I wrote in one of those earlier posts, "I feel that science is one of the best and most fundamental ways of understanding and living in the world."

The scientific method of observing nature, making hypotheses and predictions based on those observations, and then making tests of some sort to determine whether those hypotheses are reasonable or not, is, I believe, an excellent way of understanding and learning about the world.  And it works.  Science has allowed us to see (far away galaxies) and do (modern medicine) many wonderful things.  True, science has also made possible many terrible things as well (deadlier weapons), but scientific knowledge, like all knowledge, is not inherently good or bad.

Some modern scientists have disappointed me with their negative perspectives on religion, while some religious leaders have disappointed me with their confusion of certain scientific theories with something that can be "believed" or not.  Science does not deal in belief.  Science does not deal with truth.  Truth is the province of religion, not science.  Science begins with guesses that gradually become more and more refined until they become theories that may begin to approach Truth.  If you want to go further, you have to turn to religion.  Or mathematics.  A good mathematical proof is probably as close as you can get to Truth short of a mystical experience.  Anyway.  I am rambling on.

Does science complement or contradict my spirituality?  Well, in answer to this I have to say that if any part of my spirituality or religion did contradict science, it would probably not remain part of my spirituality or religion for long.  But there's a lot of room in science.  There's a lot of things science does not know and may never know.  There's room in science for deity, and magic, and wonder.

There is so much within science that is beautiful and worthy of awe and respect: trees, stars, galaxies, subatomic particles, birds singing, DNA, the planets orbiting the Sun.  One of the most important theories in science describes how everything in the universe came from a single infinitesimal point of matter.  Another theory describes how all life on Earth is descended from a single common ancestor.  This is what we learn from science: We (humans, trees, stars, etc.) are all connected, and we all came from the same place.

Books for the Aspiring Druid

What books would you recommend to someone interested in Druidry?  I'm not looking for books specifically about Druidry, although you can mention those if you like.  Rather, I would like to know about books that are on other topics, but that you think someone interested in Druidry should read.  I would like it if you would also give the reasons why you are recommending each book.

Here are some examples:

The aspiring Druid should probably read some books on Celtic mythology.  Although modern Druidry probably has little in common with the actual practices of the ancient Celts, much of the inspiration for Druidry today comes from Celtic myths and practices.  Alwyn and Brinley Rees' Celtic Heritage seems to be fairly widely accepted.  I also like Marie-Louise Sjoestedt's Celtic Gods and Heroes.  As for the myths themselves, I like Patrick K. Ford's translation of The Mabinogi and Thomas Kinsella's translation of The Tain.  Although Lady Gregory's retellings of the Irish myths in Cuchulain of Muirthemne and Gods and Fighting Men may not be the most scholarly versions, they are still a good read.

How about some field guides?  Modern Druid is very much a nature spirituality, and one way to become more attuned to the natural environment is to begin identifying and learning about the living things that inhabit that environment.  I can't really name any specific titles, because of course you will want to choose the ones that are specific to your region.  Try to choose the most region-specific field guides as possible (such as for your specific province or state rather than for all of North America) as they will probably be more detailed and may make identification easier because they will contain less species.

Henry David Thoreau's Walden is a classic of nature writing, and is essential reading for anyone who loves nature.  I also enjoy Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, and Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard.

As the aspiring Druid begins her study of nature, she may wish to keep a journal of her discoveries, and Clare Walker Leslie's Keeping a Nature Journal may prove helpful.

Druids who want to follow a more Bardic path may want to read books on poetry and writing.  I have found The Practice of Poetry by Robin Behn and Chase Twichell, The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser, and Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin useful.  All of these books are practical than inspirational, because while I find that I have many ideas, it is more difficult for me to actually translate these ideas into poems or stories.

Finally, I would like to mention Always Coming Home, which is a unique work by Ursula K. Le Guin that provides a glimpse into the life of a people who live close to the land and whose spirituality is inseparable from the rest of their lives.  I don't think that I have ever read this book without wishing that I could live with them.

What books would you recommend to the aspiring Druid?

A New Year, New Books

Because people that I know insist on buying me Christmas gifts, I have gotten into the habit of simply telling them to buy me gift cards for Chapters, a Canadian bookstore that has stores in many cities and is online.  I usually have to order my books online, since I tend to have such eccentric tastes that I can't find the ones I want in store.  I usually order my books at the beginning of the new year.  Last year, my selection consisted mainly (with only two exceptions) of books on Celtic mythology.  This year, the selection is a bit different:

• The Idea of North by Peter Davidson - An exploration of the concept of north in legend and literature, it sounds intriguing and delightful, and is on a topic that I have always been fascinated by yet never imagined that anyone would ever write a book on.
• A Trail Through Leaves: The Journal as a Path to Place by Hannah Hinchman - I originally borrowed this book from my local library during the summer and loved it so much that I had to have my own copy.  It is about journaling, drawing, writing, nature, and observing, and I highly recommend it to anyone who reads this blog.
• A Life in Hand: Creating the Illuminated Journal by Hannah Hinchman - Another book on journaling by the same author as the previous one, I can't wait to read this one as well.
• The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke - I just discovered Clarke's (very delightful) novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in 2009 and absolutely loved it, so I am anxious to read her collection of short stories.
• Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets, and Philosophers by Leonard Koren - I have lately become interested in the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, and became interested in this book in particular after reading a quote from it in The Decorated Journal by Gwen Diehn (which I reviewed on my other blog).
• Incredible Good Fortune: New Poems by Ursula K. Le Guin - I love reading anything by Le Guin, and as a bargain book for only $2, I couldn't resist.
• Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake - I have enjoyed Blake's poetry (and that of several other Romantic poets) for quite a while, and have been wanting to read this in its entirety for some time.

I can't wait until I begin receving my new books, but until then I have several other books that I picked up at a local used bookstore: Far From the Madding Crowd and The Return of the Native, both by Thomas Hardy; The Silmarillion by Tolkien; The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart; and The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.

Reflections at the Beginning of the Year, Part Two

Being away from blogging for over two weeks leaves me with a surplus of things to write about.  My last post was already getting so long I thought I better break it into two parts.

I haven't made very many specific goals for this year, at least not yet.  One goal that I have made is to write (and possibly sketch as well) every day in my journal.  I even have a brand new notebook to use for this purpose.  I'm not exactly sure why this so important to me, but ever since I read Dorothy Wordsworth's journals in early summer of 2008, I have been becoming increasingly interested in journaling, especially if the journal contains images as well as words (although D.W.'s journals did not).  Writing every day will probably end up being more difficult than it sounds now (and that was why I eventually gave up my first daily journal), but I want to at least make the attempt once more.

My other goal is to get better at commenting on blogs.  I read many blogs and some of the posts I enjoy very much, but I do not often leave comments, because, well...I don't know.  I guess I'm just lazy.  And in normal life I'm not very good at making interesting replies in conversations either, which is probably related, but is another story...  So anyway, I want to leave comments more often (and interesting ones as well), because I feel bad that I do not, especially when people whose blogs I read leave comments here but I don't comment on their blogs.

Many of the things that I worked on (or didn't, as the case may be) in 2009, such as daily practice, poetry writing, nature awareness, and simple and mindful living, I still want to work on this year, but I am not sure what specific goals I want to set, if any.  Sometimes, perhaps, it is better not to set goals and simply to wait and see what will happen.

And I'm still not sure about this blog.  I want to write more for it, but lately I have become dissatisfied with some of the things I have been writing.  Some of them just seem so....fluffy.  I have learned a lot since I began this blog in November of 2008 and my attitude to Druidry, spirituality, and religion has changed and I'm no longer sure what my main purpose in in writing anymore.  I know I have written about this before, so I don't want to go on about it now.  But the uncertainty remains.

I just realized that I have another goal for this year.  It's rather a nerdy type of goal and may not even deserve the lofty title of "goal."  I want to own and read more books.  I currently own only about 340 books, which is down from nearly 450 in mid-2009 (I got rid of a number of books that I was no longer interested in).  I think 500 would be a better number.  Anyway, I'll have more to say about books tomorrow...

Reflections at the Beginning of the Year, Part One

First of all: why I haven't been blogging.

Back in October, my family moved from the country into the town.  The house in the country was built by my parents and they lived there for over thirty years.  It was also the house that I grew up in and have lived in for most of my life.  But many factors, such as the death of one of our cats (and a constant threat to our other cats), the continual threat of forest fires during the summer months, and the increasing difficulty of my parents to maintain the house, led to their decision to move.

The house that we have moved into in town is on the very edge of town on a quiet street.  It is almost as though the west side of the house is in the country while the east side of the house is in the town.  We actually have more birds and deer in our yard now than we did when we lived in the country.  Because I have been in university since September and have been only home for a few weekends, the past two weeks of winter holidays have been the first time that I have really been able to live in the new house.  I still miss the old house, and not only the house but also the land, the trees, the gardens, and the hills surrounding it.  It is difficult to write about.

So for the last two weeks I have been busy putting things away and organizing, not to mention spending time relaxing and NOT thinking about school.  Last semester had become fairly stressful in the final weeks and I was very glad for the break.  Many friends and relatives also came to visit during the holidays.  Time just slipped by, and I have to admit that I hardly even thought about blogging during that time.  Still, I am back now, classes are beginning tomorrow, and I hope to blog more regularly in 2010.

Oh yes, that's something else that happened: the new year.  Last year around this time, I made a series of goals to work on in 2009.  How did they work out?

• Daily meditation and prayer - Let's skip this one, shall we?  Seriously though, this is still an area I need to work on.  I did well with it for a while, and then everything went downhill.  I am wondering if I approached it in the wrong way, trying to do too much at once, thinking about it too much, and imposing too much structure on myself.
• Nature walks - I think I have done fairly well with weekly nature walks.  The snow and ice of winter slows me down a bit (I am terrified of slipping and falling on the ice) as do very cold temperatures, but overall I don't think I've done too badly.
• Art/poetry journal - Well, I am still keeping various types of art journals (see my other blog), but ever since the summer I haven't written much poetry.  I cannot say why exactly; it was probably due to an increased dissatisfaction with the poems I was writing as well as the interference of school work.  Still, I do hope to get back to writing poetry regularly sometime in the future.
• Nature awareness - My original plan was to photograph all of the species that lived on our property, but since we no longer live in the same place, I may no longer continue this project.
• Celtic studies - I think I have progressed in this area since last year.  I now consider that I have a fairly decent grounding in basic Celtic history and mythology (particularly that of Ireland).  However, Celtic studies in general are not as important to me now as they were at this time last year.
• Living more simply and mindfully - The goal that shall probably never be completed.  Probably this will always be something I need to work on.

To be continued...