Getting in Touch with the Gods

All to often, we have an inspiring meeting with the Divine, with the Gods, in ritual, on a special day, and get smashed out of it during the grey, dull days of everyday work that follow. One antidote to that is to spend a short, special moment every day where we can meet with our Gods. That can be quite informal and spontaneous, but what I propose today is to create a five-minute ritual that is easy to perform every day. It should be a ritual that is easy to perform and that is fitting for you and your Gods. In the following paragraphs, I will give you an idea for potential elements for such a ritual.

- Preparation: Do something to prepare yourself for the fact that you are entering into a sacred moment. One possibility would be to wash your hands and face, symbolically washing away your daily stress. Another possibility would be to change into special clothes, remove your shoes or wear a special item like a scarf or a piece of jewellery. Just do not make it too complex.
In addition to all the above: take some deep, calm breaths and let your mind come to rest.
- Offering: Give an offering to your Gods. The nature of that offering can very greatly, from libations to incense to food to dancing for them, or singing, or a lot of other things. It will also depend, of course, on the nature of the Gods the offering is meant for, so it would be a good idea to do some research.
- Sing a chant, or a song that helps you to feel a connection to the deities. There are a number of well-known chants, and you can find a lot of them on the net, for example here or here. Of course, you can also write your own. Whatever you choose, sing it yourself, do not just play it back.
- Think up a ritual gesture of blessing. An elaborate example of what I mean is the fivefold kiss. Create something simple that can be used as a self-blessing.
- Talk to your Gods. Speak of the things you want to speak about, but listen for their comments and answers.
- Meditate on a symbol of your Gods. That can be either a stature or picture of the God, or a symbol, such as a cat for Bastet, or lightning for Zeus.
- Calm yourself and listen. After some deep breaths, just calm your mind and let your thoughts go. Pay them no attention. Just... listen.
- Completion: A final part is necessary to close the ritual. One possibility is to stand up an thank the Gods for their presence. What works best for me is if there is a connection to the opening part of the ritual, so that the two parts frame the whole ritual. So if you started by putting on special clothing, end by removing it. If you started with lighting a candle, snuff it now.

Do not make your ritual overly complex, or include too many elements. Instead, keep it short and simple. You want to be able to do it every day.

Now, here is an example of what I often do:
For preparation, I sit down cross-legged in front of my altar and calm my mind by taking some deep breaths. Then, I light a short stick of incense. I give the incense to the Gods as an offering, drawing a spiral with it and speaking: “Lord and Lady, thanks for your presence. I offer this incense for your pleasure.” before placing it in a bowl of sand.
The next part varies. Most of the time, I do a short meditation, either on a symbol, or just trying to be calm and listen, or a chant. For closure, I stand up and use a gesture Dianne Sylvan described in (I think) “The Circle Within”: tracing a pentagram over yourself, linking the edges to the elements and the Gods.

The possibilities for such a ritual are huge. Experiment with it, and try different ideas, until you find something that works for you.

Prayer to the earth

After getting up in the morning, before you do anything else, go outside. Bring a cup of water with you. Go to a place where you can stand barefoot on the earth, your garden or a nearby park, or somewhere in the wilderness. Do a grounding exercise, and connect to that earth beneath you. Become aware of the air around you, the winds, the sounds that reach you. Take the cup of water, and take a sip from it. Then, pour the rest on the ground, meditating on the live giving qualities of water. Turn towards the sun, and feel its warmth, its heat, reach you. Be aware of the fire that is necessary for life. Enjoy standing there, in the centre of the four elements. Speak a short prayer to thank for the life-giving qualities of each of the elements, of the Earth.
Then, go back inside for breakfast or whatever you do to start the day. Repeat this little exercise over the day as often as you like. Try to do it at least thrice: morning, during the day, and in the evening.

Prayer

The most common and easiest way of contacting divine Beings is prayer: talking to them, confident that they will hear you, but expecting no immediate answer. Basically, there are two different forms of prayer: formal vs. informal. Formal prayer is something that is said or done always the same way. An example would be saying grace at meals and using the same sentences every time. Doing it this way helps to build ritual, a sense of continuity, a sacred framework for life. At its best, formal prayer helps to express our feelings towards the Gods in a short amount of time. At its worst, it ends up an empty routine, something that is done but does not mean anything to us any more. If that is the case, it is a better choice to use informal prayer.
In what I term informal, or free, prayer, no ritual is followed or defined sentences are spoken. Instead, you contemplate what is in your heart, you think about your Gods, and you speak to them freely. (Of course, it is also possible to combine some formal elements like opening and closing statements with a free part in between.) The advantage is that you actually think about your life and share it with your Gods. The danger is that it grows to be more and more about you, and less about the Gods.
Another way to characterise prayers is for their intended purpose. Typical situations for prayers are when you either want to ask the Gods for something or when you want to thank them for something. It is of course possible to use prayers written by others[1]. However, even if you want to perform more formal prayers, my recommendation is to use ones you write for yourself. Alternatively, you can look for prayers specifically addressing the Gods you want to address, using either antique or modern texts.
This week, I want you to look up or create and say some prayers: one for saying grace at meals, one for greeting the Gods in the morning, one for thanking them in the evening. If you find another situation you want to include, do that.
I would appreciate it very much if you would post any prayers you like to share in the comments to this entry, and I will hopefully do the same of the week. If you took them from a different website or a book, please post a link or reference instead; respect other people's copyright.

[1] For examples take a look at beliefnet or look into the "book of pagan prayer" (Ceisiwr Serith, A book of pagan prayer. Red Wheel/Weiser, 2002)

The beginning

Here we go: today the one year course for coming into contact with the divine daily starts! We will start slowly through the first weeks, with some very, very basic exercises. The important first step is to create a habit of doing something daily. So this week, we will start with prayer. There are a lot of reasons to speak a prayer, and it will not take much time. If possible, you should free some time – perhaps in the morning, before leaving for work, or in the evening, once the active part of the day is over. Think about this carefully – it is easiest to build a habit if you do it every day at the same time, so you should pick a time you can probably keep free most of the time. But if this is not possible on every day, no problem. You can still say a prayer – or more than one, if you want to – some time during the day, in a break, when a sunbeam touches and warms you, when you hear the song of a bird, when you feel the need for it.
I am excited about this course finally starting. Welcome to anyone reading this post, and if you are interested in a series of thoughts, insights, exercises and meditations about getting into contact with the Divine, I certainly hope you will check back every now and again. I will post weekly, probably some time during the weekend.

Hail and welcome, everyone!