To Walk a Pagan Path: Practical Spirituality for Every Day (5 page)

You might find yourself doing this every day, and spend-

ing half an hour or more at your altar rather than just fif-

teen minutes. However when life becomes complicated, you

should strive to the best of your ability to honor the sacred

time—those fifteen minutes each week—that you have set

aside for your gods and your ancestors. By creating sacred

time you ensure that your spirituality remains a part of your

routine throughout the most chaotic periods of your life.

However simple this commitment may seem, there may

be an occasional week when even that is impossible. You

have to make a sudden trip to the emergency room, either

for yourself or for somebody else. Or you discover that your

basement has flooded. There are things that can disrupt even

the easiest commitment. When something like this happens,

attend to the problem but make your sacred time the next

highest priority. If you put it off any longer than absolutely necessary, you diminish its worth.

Step 4: Sacralize Daily Activities

You have connected with your gods and your ancestors.

You have created a sacred space—an altar—where you can

approach them, and have set aside sacred time to do so. When

you have done all of this, the time has come for your next

action, which is to expand your spiritual awareness beyond the

altar and more fully into your life.

This is the goal of Hal Sidu. Holistic tradition entreats us

to integrate our spirituality with the rest of our lives. Just as your physical body is sustained by the air you take into your

lungs throughout the day, your spiritual body is sustained by

the mindful actions you take to sacralize your daily activities.

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These simple actions will help you connect with Spirit from

the moment you awaken until you go to sleep in the evening.

The third chapter of this book is devoted to the daily rit-

uals that every Pagan can use to integrate his or her spiri-

tuality into a daily routine. Your personal routine, however,

is unique to yourself, and for this reason you should strive

to develop unique ways to sacralize the activities in your

own life. Hopefully the suggestions in the third chapter will

inspire you to do just that.

As a writer, for example, I spend much of my day sitting

at my computer. More often than not this routine begins

with a fresh cup of coffee. The coffee helps wake up my

body, and the act of writing itself stimulates my mind, but

what of my spirit? I want to bring my entire being into the

process of writing; to integrate my body, mind and spirit. To

do this, I set aside a moment for prayer, saying:

“Woden, World Wanderer,

Let my words be true,

That they might bring honor to my folk

and to the elder ways.

Ic bidde the nu.”

The last line is pronounced “eech biddeh they noo” and is

Old English for “I ask you now.” Woden, if you are not famil-

iar with Saxon tradition, is a god of inspiration and magic.

His name gave us our word for the fourth day of the week,

Wednesday (Woden’s Day).

You can see here how this little ritual is unique to my

own daily routine. It takes the form of a prayer because that

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reflects my spirituality. A Wiccan author might do something

similar by casting a quick, simple spell. I direct the prayer

to Woden and finish this with an Old English expression

because I am a Saxon Pagan. A Gallic Pagan writer would

more likely direct his or her own prayer to Ogmios, a Celt-

ic god of eloquence who was worshipped throughout Gaul.

And of course the purpose of the ritual itself is directly relat-ed to my profession as a writer. Saxon Pagans who work as

salespeople, or nurses or research scientists would devise

entirely different rituals more appropriate for their respective lifestyles.

Your unique rites to sacralize daily activities need not

be limited to your work. In the following chapters we will

explore a variety of ways to re-connect with the earth, and all of them involve imbuing otherwise mundane activities with

a sacred mindfulness. Whatever hobbies you might have—

jogging, playing a musical instrument, art, keeping tropical

fish—can be sacralized.

Tropical fish, you say? Well, why not? Whenever we inter-

act with other creatures we connect more with the earth, so

sacralize your tropical fish hobby! For a Hellenic Pagan, an

aquarium can be a place to commune and speak with the

naiads (water nymphs). A Roman Pagan might offer a prayer

to Volturnus, god of the waters, as he feeds his fish. A Welsh

Pagan with a saltwater aquarium could do the same, pray-

ing instead to Dylan Eil Ton. Exactly what you do and which

spirits you connect with will of course depend on your spiri-

tual focus. You could go so far as to decorate your aquarium

with a theme that reflects your spiritual path.

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Or do you play a musical instrument? Before you play,

ask Apollo or Hathor or the Muses for inspiration. Give an

offering as you ask for inspiration. Integrate your passion for music with your spiritual life. Let your private performance

be
your offering when you come before your gods. The effort you invest in a musical performance is as worthy as the effort

you would invest in any other offering.

Any worthwhile pursuit can be a sacred act.

Step 5: Observe Regular Húsles

As a Saxon Pagan, I observe a
húsel
once each month near the full of the moon. Húsel is an Old English word meaning

“sacrifice”, and is simply a more formal offering usually given to a specific spirit. Some Saxons call this a faining, which simply means a celebration. Whatever your path, there is proba-

bly a similar custom of formal worship, although it will have

a different name and be observed in a different way. For the

Wiccan this time of worship is known as an esbat. For an

Ásatrúar it is a blót. On the day after the new moon, Hellen-

ic Pagans give offerings to the Agathos Daemon, a spirit of

good fortune.

It might be argued that these are all different kinds of ritu-

al, and that is true, but they share several defining traits. They are more formal than a person’s ordinary devotionals, they

recur at specific times (often monthly) and they are often more likely to be observed with a group rather than by yourself.

Húsles, esbats, blóts and other similarly recurring obser-

vances further ensure our connection with Spirit. (For the

sake of convenience I am going to use the term húsel here,

because húsles are what I celebrate and it is the term I am

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most comfortable with. Feel free to substitute whatever

recurring observance is appropriate for your own spiritual

path.) To understand the importance of this deeper connec-

tion, think of how you interact with your friends and close

relatives. On a daily basis you may only connect with friends

by an occasional phone call or email, but periodically you get

together to share quality time. The húsel is the quality time

you spend with your gods, your ancestors and with the indig-

enous spirits around you.

The húsel also takes much longer than a personal devo-

tion. If celebrated with a group—and, at least for Saxon

Pagans, this is the desired way to do it—the ritual itself is

usually preceded or followed by feasting and fellowship. It is

not unusual for a húsel to go on for hours, throughout the

day and well into the evening. The recurring observances of

some other Pagan paths may not be quite as extensive, but

they almost always require more time than the average per-

son spends at his or her altar on a typical day.

Observing regular húsles (or esbats or blóts or druid

moons) is similar to the other steps you have taken to this

point in that you are establishing a new habit. Setting aside

time for our gods is not an instinctive behavior. Setting aside time is a pattern we must develop and nurture, whether it is

the sacred time we are creating for our daily devotions, or

whether it is the time we devote to a húsel.

Step 6: Observe the Holy Tides

The majority of Pagans today celebrate or at least recog-

nize eight seasonal holidays spaced equidistant, or nearly so,

throughout the year. This Neo-Pagan calendar originated

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with the religion of Wicca, but is now accepted by Pagans

from many different paths. In the next chapter we will exam-

ine the Neo-Pagan calendar and how you can adapt it to your

own needs and environment.

Also called the “wheel of the year”, the high days or

holy tides of the Neo-Pagan calendar are Imbolc (February

1st), the Spring Equinox (March 21st), Beltane (May 1st), the

Summer Solstice ( June 21st), Lughnasadh (August 1st), the

Autumn Equinox (September 21st), Halloween (October

31st) and the Winter Solstice (December 21st). The names

and dates often vary from one group of Pagans to another.

You may be among those Pagans who observe a different

annual calendar. There is certainly nothing wrong with this.

None of the Paleo-Pagan religions celebrated all eight of the

holidays recognized by contemporary Pagans, and there is no

reason why you need to do so. If you are comfortable with

the Neo-Pagan wheel of the year, then of course stick with

that, but there is nothing inherently wrong with following a

different sacred calendar.

The important thing is not what calendar you follow, but

that you consistently observe the holy tides—the holidays—

of that calendar. By doing so you touch the earth, attuning

yourself to the seasonal changes occurring around you.

In the next chapter we will look at how you can adapt a

sacred calendar to your own environment, and how you can

make the holy tides more meaningful and fulfilling.

Step 7: Find Your Folk

Every step you have taken so far has been or could be a sol-

itary action. You have had complete control over each one.

You decided where and when you would make the effort to

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connect with Spirit. You alone designed your sacred space,

and designated a sacred time to consistently maintain your

connection with your gods and ancestors. You have sacral-

ized your daily actions, observed consistent húsles (or esbats, or druid moons) and holy tides. You may have done some of

this with other people, but it was entirely your choice to take action. For this seventh step, however, there is an element of

chance. Depending on your circumstances, months or even a

few years might pass before you cross paths with people who

you would want to weave your destiny with.

There are Pagans who remain “solitary” throughout their

lives, eschewing any outward, communal spiritual expres-

sion. Humans, however, are social, tribal creatures, and

the overwhelming majority of us are happier when we can

share our life experiences with others. It is a rare person who enjoys spending New Year’s Eve alone, or looks forward to

eating a Cornish game hen by himself on Thanksgiving Day.

Our celebrations, whether secular or spiritual, are more ful-

filling when we are joined with others of like mind.

For Saxon Pagans, this social collective is often called an

inhíred
, which is an Old English word meaning “household”.

Followers of Ásatrú have similar tribal units known as
kindreds
. A Hellenic Pagan is more likely to call his or her group a
demos
. Just as with the húsel or esbat, whether you call it an inhíred or a demos is not important here. These Pagan tribes

vary a lot superficially, but they all (ideally) provide social support for their individual members.

The tribe may even be a nuclear family: mom, dad and

the kids. More often, however, it will be an extended “family

of choice”, comprised of people who are not all genetically

related. One such group may consist of two nuclear families

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and several other adult members, while another group may

consist of five unrelated persons. What all of the members

do share is a common world view.

I cannot overemphasize the value of the tribe. Pagan holy

tides are no different than any other holidays; they can be lone-ly times if we have nobody to share them with. When I am

unsure of a course of action, I can rely on my fellow gesithas

(the oathed members of my inhíred) to give honest but gentle

advice. When one of us needs help, the rest of us are there for him or her. We celebrate a húsel together every month, and

gather for holiday celebrations like any other family.

Because the tribe can become so very important in your

life, it is equally important that you find the right people to enter into such a relationship with. This is where the element