These are small, simple, and almost set to auto-pilot somewhere in the hard wiring of my brain. So every day and common that I don't really think about them anymore but never miss them. They are also practices that I never really gave much thought to. I was simply mused into doing them and so, I do them.
The first, and probably most vague in my mind, is my urge to wash my hands about 30 times a day. Sounds like a nice, healthy practice right? Especially during flu season. But I don't do it because I'm afraid of microscopic bugs or because my hands get dirty a lot. I do it simply because of the cleansing� I get from the running water. I do it because it washes away negativity in a kind of sympathetic magic for the things I get myself into on a daily basis. It calms me, relaxes me, and helps me to ground out and wash my hands of� anything I simply don't want to be carrying with me into the future.
A second grounding technique that one might catch me doing quite often is going outside, kneeling down, and placing my palms on the earth. As soon as my skin comes into contact with the earth I can feel the pulse of the world. The pulse travels up my arms and right into my gut. Then, without any will or effort from me what so ever the flow reverses and out it goes taking whatever it wants to take with it. Most of the time I feel refreshed and calm after such an experience. Other times, I feel like I want to lay right down there in the grass and simply fall asleep.
When I'm not looking for grounding but energy or musings, when I want to be calm and dreamy, I will inevitably find myself someplace high up. Perched on a high tree limb, setting on the roof over looking the gardens, and sometimes when I just need a quick dose I simply go upstairs and zone out through an open window for a while. A good deal of the titles that pop into my head for writing articles, my one-liners, and more poetic notes often come from someplace a lot higher than my girlfriend would like me to be.
I do most of my writing after dark. But even throughout the day you wont find me without a spiral bound notebook somewhere close at hand. Pen and paper are literally the coffee and cigarettes of any good writer. We just can't go long without them. But day or night, if I am getting into writing, it's a sure bet that I have a candle burning in front of my while I'm doing it. The primal energy that emanates off of a simple candle flame is a powerful thing. It gives me a focal point and perhaps even a scrying tool when I get lost in thought.
These are just a few examples of how elemental magic is woven into my daily routine. Rituals in their own right but rituals that are powerful and effective only because of their simplicity. These are the crayons that color a pagan lifestyle.
Beyond the elemental there is also another practice that I do every single night before going to bed. Now, my bedroom is so unlike any other room in the house it boarders on being a place that is not really part of the house at all but somewhere in-between the house and someplace else. Even though I have never quite been able to grasp where that someplace else is exactly.
The room is set up through and through to be someplace special. The main reason for that is because my alter to Hera is located in there. And, just like every other practice in my pagan life, this alter is no where near the book shelf style set up that you may often see examples of in pictures. Unlike many other self proclaimed practicing pagans and wiccans I know of, this alter is actually used for a lot more than baffling visitors (especially since no one ever really sees it except Courtney) and collecting dust. Mine gets used every single night, ritual not included.
Unlike many people I have my standard gear� that I wear every day which includes my wrist bands, my pentacle necklace, a chain that my son gave me for father's day, and on rare occasions “The Eye of Hera� itself that was mentioned in previous articles and adventures. There are two alter plates on Hera's alter where this things are returned every single night.
Whenever I decide to go to bed or simply just hide away in my room, I step before the alter and before my Goddess, take off all of the gear, and return them to their own resting place. What Hera does with them while I'm sound asleep is her business. I simply adopted a ritual that came to me completely out of no where one evening after I created the alter and have held to the nightly practice ever since.
The by the book ritualized practices you see today are often so complicated and time consuming that they are simply unrealistic and do more harm than good. Sure there is a time and place to put on a good show for your patron deities. But I like to think that those times are on the sabots and not meant for an everyday pagan lifestyle. Life is complicated enough on its own without us inventing new complications to further fuck up our day. Simplicity is an extremely rare and powerful thing because it is often from the heart when it happens. So, keep it simple. The Gods will respect you for that a lot sooner than they will all the showboating.
