One of the reasons I started this blog was because I was feeling really stagnant in my spirituality. I used to just celebrate the Sabbats with my Circle. Then I moved away for a year and didn’t really celebrate them much at all. I am really trying to find a way to live as a Pagan rather than just be like one of those Christians who goes to church on just Easter and Christmas. I am back, but moved a bit far to make it to every Circle, though I am close enough to attend some of them now.
Anyway, what I really want to do is make Paganism a daily habit and a family identity, now that my son is 15 months old. Now is the time to start new habits and traditions because my son will grow up thinking that this is the way things have always been because he won’t remember a time when they weren’t! My religion was always very internalized. It doesn’t help that I have to hide it at work, so my practice has almost always been in my mind and my heart. It’s difficult to do this with any religion that one converts to because one must start from scratch and learn to start incorporating new traditions. At least with the book religions, there is a set way of doing things. One thing I like about eclectic Paganism is that you can pick and choose what you like. The down-side is I have to pick and choose how to practice. There are a number of things that I need to do:
- a grace or blessing for food (I wanted something relatively short and simple that rhymes, but haven’t found one that really resonates with me yet)
- create holiday traditions
- find some sort of meaningful daily practice that ties into my religion
- find or make some Pagan decor
- decorate for each holiday
- make decorations for each holiday
- find a way of explaining each holiday to my family and friends and find a way for them to celebrate it with us if they choose (and if appropriate)
- change language from Christian to Pagan (like instead of “oh my God” replace it with “oh my Goddess”, ‘Jesus Christ” can become “Odin’s balls”, etc.)
- find some Pagan-friendly children’s books to read to my son
I really like writing this blog because it gives me the opportunity to reexamine my beliefs. I have been focusing on book reviews and Sabbats lately. I love going through my books and rating them based on their usefulness to me! I also love doing each of the Sabbat posts! It’s really starting to give me some more ideas for how to celebrate each Sabbat. I have some ideas for the future too! Once I’m done with the Sabbats, I will move onto the Esbats. Then I will continue onto different deities, ritual tools, spells, and rituals. Oddly enough, out of all of those, I am least familiar with the deities. It’s probably because I see all of the deities around the world as just aspects of one Goddess and one God who, in turn, are just the male and female aspects of one energy/deity/being. As such, I really haven’t researched many of their identities or lore. Ugh, so much to do, so little time!
Anyway, I would love to hear any suggestions you have for ways to incorporate Paganism into daily practice, please leave a comment! Also, if there’s some content you would like to see on here, please comment and let me know!