When I started writing this post, I wanted to use the title “The Secret of Daily Devotion”. Then I realized that I was not going to tell you a secret, nor something completely new. In fact, I am pretty sure that you’ve already heard what I’m going to say. Probably more than once and from different practitioners. It is not just a matter of plagiarism among spiritual writers. The reason why many people are telling you to do the same thing is because it works. It really works and I am here to prove it to you.
Long time ago, when I started my practice and devotion, I wanted to do it all. I spent a fortune buying candles, incense, oils, mirrors, crystals, oracles, altar decorations… whatever was mentioned in one of the (too) many books I was reading ended up in my paraphernalia collection and I did the same with rituals. I had rituals for everything: from purifying myself during the shower to cleaning the house, from blessing the offerings to prepare tea… and I wanted to keep all of them as part of my daily devotional routine. What happened is simple: I felt overwhelmed, I started removing things from a way too crowded (and quite dusty) shrine, I dropped a large number of rituals (feeling horribly guilty) and I started thinking about giving up the whole idea of following a regular devotional practice. But instead of quitting, I decide to start over again and…
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Keeping it simple is the real key to start and keep a daily devotion. It may sounds quite superficial but creating a daily devotion is like creating a new habit. You need to start slow, procede with baby steps and keep it sustainable. If it becomes an impossible burden, taking away too much time and energies, you will not be able to keep on.
Am I telling you that you don’t need time, tools, spells…in your spiritual, devotional, magickal life? NO. Am I telling you that you can have a very simple, easy to follow, basic (and not expensive) daily devotion and then add the extra ritual/spell/ceremony/meditation… when you need of it? Absolutely YES. And I am telling you that this is the key to include a daily devotion (or any practice) in your daily routine without big effort.
Let’s see how you can do it.
First - let’s be clear - what is a “devotion”? If you look up in the dictionary you will read: "religious worship or belief, or prayer and other acts of religious worship". Basically, a devotion is everything you do to worship your deity and it may be as simple as a prayer. No need to follow complex rituals.
Let’s go through common questions now:
1 - Where should you do your devotion?
At your shrine/altar. To me, a printed image of the deity with a little candle or incense in front of it, on a clean shelf, is enough to be considered as a proper devotional space. No need for statues, elaborate decorations or distracting tools if you are not celebrating ceremonies or crafting spells.
2 - When should you do the daily devotion?
Early in the morning or later in the evening are the best options. Unless your daily schedule is always very regular and you are sure 100% that you will have time (and will) and no one will disturb you during the day, choose to do your daily devotion before starting your day or just before going to bed when you know you can make time for it. Bonus point: doing it at the same time every day helps you in creating the good habit.
3 - How long should it take?
5 minutes are more than enough but you can dedicate to daily devotion more time if you have it. You can also adapt your devotional practice to the time you actually have on a daily basis but, at least at the beginning, I really recommend you to keep it fixed in order to create the habit.
4 - What should you do as a daily devotion?
Start with lighting a candle
then focus on your image
say a prayer or chant an hymn (always the same if you are at the beginning of your spiritual journey)
If you fancy it, burn some incense or add a little food offering
If you have a bit more time you can do a short meditation.
That’s all. In this way you can start building a meaningful connection with your deity, offering your time and prayers every day and not just on specific occasions. Nothing more is required on a daily basis. Consistency is the key.
Wouldn’t it be boring and alienating doing the same devotion day after day?
No, the point of keeping the devotion simple and fixed, especially at the beginning, is not to get you through it without even realizing it. You should focus on every word and action but to do so, you need something simple and short, something you can work on with time. Wasting your time and energies trying to figure out what to say or how to do it, is the best way to stop doing your devotion as soon as you are tired or you are running late. Once you are familiar and comfortable with the basic version, then you can always change it, adding an invocation, changing the prayer or the hymn every time it feels right for you, but always knowing that, if you don’t have much energy or time, you can go back to the basics.
What if I fail and skip the daily devotion?
You simply start back again from the basic. Unless your daily devotion is part of a more complex arcana - and I doubt you would be reading this post then - you don’t need to do anything special. Just apologize and go back to "work". You can do it!
This is my experience and how I managed to create a sustainable daily devotion. What do you think about it? Did you follow another method? Are you still struggling? Let me know in the comments!
Benedizioni
Sara
Comentarios