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February 20 Practical Heathen...that's me :)
No, not a rant this time, just an observation about my own practice and understanding.
I have to keep my alter in my room as the house is not mine and I share it with others. I also have a queen sized bed, which makes my room very crowded. Add in for bookcases, dresser and stereo and well, you get the idea: space is at a premium.
I've managed to get a little altar along my wall, but the only place it would fit was on the East wall, which is fine...until I tried to lay my tools out according to the directions they correspond too (Pent=North, Atheme=East). This resulted with my having to reach OVER top of may cast iron cauldron and beautiful blown glass chalice in order to get anything else. It was awkward to say the least. There was also a disquiet feeling in the back of my head about the lay out.
Correspondances are great, but it wasn't a practical use of my working space. So I forgot all about correspondences and instead just set things out as best suited my ends and my limited working space. So the pent went on top (east), the atheme was on the right of it (south), the wand was right inform of me (west) and the cauldron and chalice ended up to the left of the pent (north).
Does this create some amount of cognitive dissonance for me since I'm going against generally accepted principles of how an altar should be put together? Not in the least.
As I said, correspondences are great, but my tools don't stop having power or working just because they aren't place in the right way.
So now I have a comfortable working space where I'm not always worrying about knocking something over.
All the rules and pomp have their place, but sometimes, you just have to go with what's practical. February 08 Good enoughYup, I haven't updated in a while and I'm coming back with a rant. Deal with it.
I am sick and tired of people trying to do just enough to get by on their so call spiritual path. it's yet another symptom of our society of mediocrity. It's "good enough" to read a book and declare yourself Wiccan. It's "good enough" to dress in viking garb, have a booze up and call yourself Asatru. It's "good enough" to sit back and wait for the gods to present you with mind blowing cosmic revelations.
And of course if anyone disagrees, well they're are just fascist poo-poo heads.
A spiritual path is WORK, yet time and again, I see people trying to claim the the minimum effort is all you need. Bullshit. Absolute and utter bullshit. A lot of the time one's path ISN'T comfortable, lot of the time it DOES require sacrifice of time and effort. It's not a hobby, not something done in one's spare time. It's who you ARE. It's about the growth of self and growth comes with challenge and discomfort, but the rewards are many.
If you not up to it, fine, but stop trying to water down the beliefs of others to fit into your comfort zone. It's sad and pathetic. |
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