Seasonal thoughts
In the last half hour, a few posts have shown up on my flist with mentions of Advent and Christmas and an email came in from the Hellenic Temple of Apollon, Zeus, and Pan about tomorrow's Panaia celebration. This has prompted some thinking during this bit of a break I'm taking from writing.
Nothing too terribly personal here, so I'm not going to flock, but I'll stick it under a cut as I think it'll get longish.
There are a lot of reasons I've been Ms. Non-Practicing Pagan lately. Part of it is just the standard stuff everyone of every path runs into: day to day life gets hectic and things fall to the wayside. Part of it is that the place I used to feel I could kind of tie all the disparate parts of my path together, my local UU church, lost its feel of "safe space" when it went all three-way-polarized between the Pagans the Christians and the Humanists. And part of it is that, knowing this, I didn't really come up with ways to tie things all together on my own. Oh, I always had a few. But clearly not enough. And another part is that my very eclectic personal pantheon is kind of ... large. Unwieldy, even. And I got ideas in my head about being required to give equal time, and that is just so not happening. Never mind that none of Them ever asked for any such thing.
I won't be going to Panaia tomorrow for a number of reasons, the main one being the lovely exam on Monday. (Am just realizing how very much is on this thing. Fluid compartments, electrolyte balance, capillary dynamics, organization of the nervous system, how nerve impulses are generated, and the organization of the skeletal system. Eek!) But I've looked over the ritual and I think I have an idea for something I might do on my own.
I really miss Advent. It used to be my favorite season. All the reflectiveness of Lent and little or none of the obligatory fasting and giving up of stuff and associated guilt. For awhile, I observed the time between Samhain and Yule as "The Fallows" of the year in a similar way that I used to observe Advent, but that, as many other practices, fell by the wayside. I may just have a wreath this year, though it'd be a bit different. I had brief thoughts about having a candle for each Deity I look to but quickly ditched that idea in favor of fire safety. Maybe a single votive in the center. Maybe my lotus tealight candle-holder. Something simple that I can light and spend five minutes a day meditating with. This would also involve cleaning off my altar, which is long overdue anyway.
The feast of Kwan Yin's Renunciation might have made a more sensible renewal point than Panaia, but if I wait for Her next major holy day, that won't be until next March. So, yeah, pine wreath tomorrow. Start now and start simple.
And now back to writing. I've managed a goodish chunk today, but nowhere near as much as I want/need to.
Nothing too terribly personal here, so I'm not going to flock, but I'll stick it under a cut as I think it'll get longish.
There are a lot of reasons I've been Ms. Non-Practicing Pagan lately. Part of it is just the standard stuff everyone of every path runs into: day to day life gets hectic and things fall to the wayside. Part of it is that the place I used to feel I could kind of tie all the disparate parts of my path together, my local UU church, lost its feel of "safe space" when it went all three-way-polarized between the Pagans the Christians and the Humanists. And part of it is that, knowing this, I didn't really come up with ways to tie things all together on my own. Oh, I always had a few. But clearly not enough. And another part is that my very eclectic personal pantheon is kind of ... large. Unwieldy, even. And I got ideas in my head about being required to give equal time, and that is just so not happening. Never mind that none of Them ever asked for any such thing.
I won't be going to Panaia tomorrow for a number of reasons, the main one being the lovely exam on Monday. (Am just realizing how very much is on this thing. Fluid compartments, electrolyte balance, capillary dynamics, organization of the nervous system, how nerve impulses are generated, and the organization of the skeletal system. Eek!) But I've looked over the ritual and I think I have an idea for something I might do on my own.
I really miss Advent. It used to be my favorite season. All the reflectiveness of Lent and little or none of the obligatory fasting and giving up of stuff and associated guilt. For awhile, I observed the time between Samhain and Yule as "The Fallows" of the year in a similar way that I used to observe Advent, but that, as many other practices, fell by the wayside. I may just have a wreath this year, though it'd be a bit different. I had brief thoughts about having a candle for each Deity I look to but quickly ditched that idea in favor of fire safety. Maybe a single votive in the center. Maybe my lotus tealight candle-holder. Something simple that I can light and spend five minutes a day meditating with. This would also involve cleaning off my altar, which is long overdue anyway.
The feast of Kwan Yin's Renunciation might have made a more sensible renewal point than Panaia, but if I wait for Her next major holy day, that won't be until next March. So, yeah, pine wreath tomorrow. Start now and start simple.
And now back to writing. I've managed a goodish chunk today, but nowhere near as much as I want/need to.