Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Contentment

Although the exhilaration has subsided a bit, the contentment seems to have increased.  I have been studying a lot more, focusing more on crafts and hope very soon to put more energy into housework.  The energy is returning but I still suffer from debilitating pain and fatigue.  With the weather changes here (50 degrees and rain today) the pain has been an issue, especially where sleep is concerned.

I'm sure I don't "do" things the way other Hellenic polytheists do things.  I know I don't adhere to the way the ancients practiced their religion because I'm not an ancient and I believe the gods evolve with the rest of the world.  Doesn't mean things from the past aren't valuable and a great way to do things.  It just means that I don't believe the gods expect us to stay stagnant, frozen in a particular time frame. Still, I study the ancient ways because it's beneficial to understanding the gods.  And the people who first worshiped them.

My daily rituals aren't particularly impressive.  Lighting a candle on the kitchen shrine to Hestia with some incense in the morning with a prayer or two to the goddess.  In the evening at my altar with prayers to the gods in general and specifically to whatever god I feel I should give my attention to.  I haven't, at this stage, brought forth many requests.  I feel differently about supplications now than I did as a Christian.  I just don't feel like the gods are there to get me out of the messes I made myself.  It's my responsibility to fix things.  I do ask for their guidance and whatever strength they might offer up but overcoming bad decisions or mistakes is my responsibility.

After lighting the candles and incense (I have two candles...one for the Olympians and one for the Chthonic gods) I like to read the Iliad out loud.  Just two pages a night.  And I pick up a book or two to study while in the afterglow of time spent with the gods.  I have a couple from the library, several on my Kindle that I got free,  Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica and Burkert's Greek Religions.  I don't read in every book every night but I do read something every night.

I'm definitely settling in comfortably and a lot of the things that bothered me before don't seem to bother me anymore.  I do avoid discussions that tend to denigrate my particularly liberal stance on things.  I realize that a lot of Hellenic polytheists are more conservative than I am, but again...not a reconstructionist.  I walk my own path with the gods.

But now it's time to get ready to go pick up my meds at the pharmacy and get the shopping done. And then more knitting tonight on socks I'm knitting for my aunt's granddaughter-in-law.

BB

2 comments:

  1. This weather is making everyone sick or in massive pain. I can handle all the weather just not in 2 friggin days. Take care lady.

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    1. Thanks. You, too! I'm still achy and might just crawl back into bed today and knit or read.

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