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#212905 09/27/05 01:32 PM
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Skyrah Offline OP
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Hope I'm not getting too personal here! I'm ever the curious one and since I'm seeking my place in my path, it helps to learn what others do, especially since I'm solitary. (don't know many around here who are Pagan). So, on to my questions:

I'm curious, for those of you who practice regularly, how often do you cast a circle for a ritual?
Do you cast a "traditional circle?"
If not, what do you do to incorporate your spirituality into your life?

Many thanks
BB
~Skyrah

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#212906 09/27/05 02:15 PM
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Sometimes I do cast circles, sometimes I don't. Depends on the time and place and purpose of what I'm doing.

As far as what I do to incorporate my spirituality into my life, I keep altars, I am mindful of the moon, I try and regularly get out and interact with nature (i live in the city of San Francisco), and I also make the effort to interact with elements of the pagan community even though I am solitary myself. I find local groups that have big rituals for things like Samhain and I go to the PantheaCon event in February, which is a big "all" pagan convention held in San Jose.

#212907 10/05/05 02:04 AM
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I cast a fairly trad circle on the full of the moon ... That is the one day you are sure to find me on the beach or the river ... Somewhere near water ... Sometimes clothed ... Sometimes skyclad ... (A sad site, being a poorly shapen, 50 year olde, balding male)... Nature and I see eye to eye usually ... My animal friends keep me company (They are not of the domestic types) ... My alter and library are in plain view ... My beliefs are known to alll who know me ... I even get along well with a few lay ministers ... A Baptist and a Presbeterian (sp?) ...


"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them" ...
... John Bernard Books ... The Shootist ... 1970 ...
#212908 08/15/06 09:41 AM
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I suspect that I was like most people in the beginning - you read a book and followed the instructions given to the letter.

I wonder how many people have been put off about a part of their spirituality that they wanted to explore, but then found all these "rules" that must be followed.

For example, they wanted to set up a personal altar in their home, so they started looking on the net, in books, etc. about that. And found:

1. You must obtain or make God and Goddess statues. . . Feminine energy on the left of the altar and masculine energy on the right.

Ok, do I seriously think the Gods are gonna let me assign them a space on the altar, then get in it and stay there? Someone else might. I don't. I put my statues, stones, etc., where I want them on the altar. Sometimes I use statues, but mostly I don't. Statues of deities are more useful to me in meditating on the aspects and energies associated with any deity through the deity's mythology.

2. You must use a bell to call, stir and/or summon deities, spirits, faeries and/or elemental energies.

I used a bell very briefly at the beginning of ritual, and found it to be a very jarring, nerve wracking noise, completely out of place in the spiritual tone of ritual for me. One of my Wiccan friends suggested a gong in the bell's place. I much prefer my rattle, made about 15 years ago by a Native American tribe outside of New Mexico. It is very helpful to me in getting into light trance also.

3. When creating sacred space, you must proceed three times clockwise (in the northern hemisphere) with the representations of the four elements, in a given order.

I use sage (sometimes sage and cedar) smudging to consecrate my sacred space, and I smudge till I know it's clear of negative energy and fully protected. How do I know? I just know - no particular number. It's kind of like how many times do you shuffle the tarot deck before it's right?

4. You must use prescribed words to begin and end a ritual, as well as to worship. (The implication for me in that "must" is that if you don't, the Gods won't listen and you just showed them you are not serious.)

I talk from the heart - out loud. Sometimes I sing, sometimes I chant. I cannot imagine myself saying, "So mote it be," and I don't personally believe that the Gods only understand old English, although they undoubtedly understand it better than I do. There are also times during ritual when I am silent, and I know the Gods hear what is in my heart.

5. Your altar must face the east - no wait, another book says the north. But it really depends on what tradition you have adopted.

I am the altar - no matter where I am. I have no specified tradition - I use in ritual what works and has meaning for me.

I have two physical locations for altars I use during ritual, one indoors and one in my garden, and they both face east, which is for me the direction of beginnings - the direction in which the sun and the moon rise, heralding the beginning of a new day and a new night, both of which have wondrous and awesome energies.


While I think what we read about ritual is very important information, I think it's even more important that our rituals are crafted from the heart, and that we understand why we do we as do - what meaning does it have for us as individuals?


Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. Mark Twain
#212909 08/27/06 04:37 AM
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Very well said, sharpchick.

I think that when you're learning & finding your own path, it's good to look at various traditions, how they do things, & ask yourself, "Why do they do this in this particular way?" Look at the symbolism & see if it means something to you.

I also think some degree of "formal" ritual on a regular basis is good for inspiration & staying grounded in your beliefs; but that's my personal preference. It doesn't have to be often, but a monthly full moon observance of some kind, for example, helps me keep myself in tune with natural forces & my place in the universe.


Imagination is intelligence with an erection.--Victor Hugo
#212910 08/27/06 10:43 AM
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Shark
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Very well put, Sharpchick and articulatekitten!

Traditions can be a framework- a guide- but the core of these beliefs for me is working from the heart.

One of the things I adore about Earth-Based/Pagan belief is that it allows us real freedom from a building, a person or a group telling us what our connection with Goddess/Spirit/God//Creator should be.
It allows us to create our own sacred space - no matter where we are.

Merrily... <img src="/images/graemlins/rolling.gif" alt="" />


Well behaved women rarely make history.....
#212911 08/27/06 11:53 AM
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And the sacred space can take many forms also. . .

I work as a professional advocate for people with disabilities. The four person team I direct conducts civil investigations of abuse and neglect in institutions housing people with disabilities in my state.

Twice now in the last two years, we have encountered adolescent and teenaged youth (both with diagnosed psychiatric illnesses for which they are being treated) who have come up to me or another team member to ask us why they are being denied the right to practice their religion in the same manner as Christians.

You guessed it - in both cases, the teens were Wiccan and so were their families. Although the staff in both the institutions wouldn't come right out and admit it, they were denying the youths freedom of religious expression because they themselves were ignorant of and feared Wicca. The professed reason for the denial was that the kids wanted to set up altars and in locked down facilities, they couldn't have access to athames, wands and lighted candles. (They also were not being allowed to read books about Wicca and keep their BOS with them - they had been confiscated and read by staff.)

Synchronicity abounds in my life. . .where else would those kids have been likely to have met a witch, even though neither they nor the institutional staff knew it?

I brought my books and my Well Worn Path oracle deck to the facilities and showed the staff and the kids how an altar can be set up, using the cards - no sharps, no flames. I also (with the kids' written permission) took possession of their BOS and returned them to people the kids designated until they are released.

Then, I gave the staff from each facility one week to designate someone who would educate him/herself about Wicca, before I referred this to our attorneys for litigation under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).

As my daddy told me from the time I was knee high to a grasshopper, "If you see a good fight, get in it."


Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. Mark Twain
#212912 08/30/06 07:32 PM
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Shark
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wow....that is so wonderful that you are able to implement change like that for those young people!


Well behaved women rarely make history.....
#212913 08/31/06 01:00 AM
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HAIL SHARPCHIK, YOU'RE RIGHT ON THE MONEY HONEY, RITUAL IS A MIND THING, THOUGHT IS THE POWER, NATURE THE GOD, WORSHIP IS A WAY OF LIFE BASED ON LOVING ALL THAT IS, TOLERATING IGNORANCE WHILE GETTING NOT INVOLVED, OBSERVING WITHOUT EMOTION OTHER WAYS OF BEING, SHARING WITH ANY QUESTING SOUL YOUR IDEA OF SEEING. <img src="/images/graemlins/viking.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/tut.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/beamedup.gif" alt="" />


??

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