Looking around, I find that a lot of the practicing Pagans that I know celebrate ritual a mere 8 times a year.  When a Sabbat comes around candles and incense are lit, circles are cast and chants are mumbled most solemnly.  A smaller group of practitioners also turn out for Esbats, some for Full Moons 13 times a year, and those that could be considered more “die hard” that hold ritual on the 13 New Moons as well.  This means that people are celebrating the divine 8 or 21 or 34 times a year. 

 

I wonder how others view this, for in my mind it is not spiritually fulfilling to connect to the Earth only a handful of times a year. My belief has always been that there is divinity in all things; hence my goal is to find a way to commune daily with my sacred path. How does one go about becoming a daily spiritual practitioner without creating some sort of every day ritual that runs the risk of becoming both routine and mundane?

 

I expect that the conduit to daily spirituality need not be full of complex mantras, smudging and energy intensive circle casting. The idea in and of itself is both daunting and exhausting. When I think of the amount of self, careful thought and deliberate energy that I put into merely creating Esbat or Sabbat rituals, I recognize that it is impossible to expect the same for a daily communion.  (Not to mention the energy required to perform said ceremonies!)

 

I am aware that simple is that way to go. However, I also feel that variety is indispensable. I remember as a kid at Catholic school each morning we recited, in perfect angelic unison the Lord’s Prayer. Pounded repeatedly into my head, I still remember the words… Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name… In Catholicism, this is supposed to be the most profound expression of devotion.  Yet after delivering the prayer morning after morning, the words soon lost their meaning to me. The risk of losing significance to repetition is very real and I refuse to fall into that pitfall.

 

Lately I have been trying to make time each day to “say hello” to the divine and ground myself. I create for myself a moment of timelessness and let my heart say whatever it needs to (thereby escaping the danger of meaningless rote prayers). It is a little hard to explain, but I allow myself to slip between, and in that space it is easy to allow the commonplace to slide away. I have no routine, no special time of day or specific place, those things are unimportant… usually I just know that now is the time.

 

Needless to say, I am finding that this daily interaction is becoming a critical part of my existence. It is so meaningful to me, that I wonder if those other Pagans who practice only a few times a year are doing it as well.  Perhaps they do not define this type of spiritual union as “ritual.” I however, do. Ritual does not have to be so specifically defined with circles and quarter calls. Once again in the Pagan theology things are defined by intent.

 

My intent is daily joy and meaning. What’s yours?