Finding the Spiritual in the Everyday

Finding the spiritual side of everyday life can feel like a monumental task. How, you may ask, can sweeping the balcony or driving to work be a spiritual act? How could watching a tv program have spiritual meaning?  Such mundane, seemingly unimportant acts can be transformed into spiritual acts if you set the intention to make them so.  For example, playing with your cat or dog can be just play and a good time, or it can be turned into a good time and a communion with Air and the Maiden Goddess (Air for the laughter that moves air through the body; the Maiden because Air is the element of the East, Her quarter, and playfulness is a quality of the Maiden).  What matters is that you set the intention, however briefly, to make the mundane act a spiritual one.  Awareness of the action is important.  Otherwise, it may make you feel good, but it likely wouldn’t have the same impact.

It’s even possible to find spiritual significance in something like a television show.  Believe it or not (and I can’t believe I’m admitting to this, but I am, so don’t laugh), I found a spiritual truth in a key episode of the British show “Doctor Who.”  It was the episode in which Rose, the Doctor’s companion, says “I create myself.”  I had watched that episode so many times, and nothing particularly spiritual or enlightening struck me about that scene.  And then I watched it after a particular class one evening and BAM! everything just clicked into place and I felt this bubble within expand until it filled all of me and burst, and for a moment the lesson resonated and felt so right.  The lesson I had been trying to understand from class, which had never truly made sense before, just all of a sudden clicked within me. I realized that, like this character in a tv show said, I create myself.  I make myself into the person I want to be.  I am the universe and the universe is me.  There’s more than just that, but it’s rather lengthy, and I don’t want to bore anyone with it.  Suffice to say, I found deep truths in an episode of science fiction.  I’m sure there are people out there who have found deep meaning in episodes of “Star Trek,” or “Stargate SG-1″ or “Avatar”.  It’s easier to spot if you’re paying attention, but sometimes they really can just sneak up on you when you’re ready to hear the message.  The same goes for movies.

Back to more mundane tasks.  Anything to do with cleaning–washing dishes, laundry, scrubbing floors or carpets, sweeping, spring cleaning, etc.–can be viewed as a cleansing act of not only the physical environment, but the inner environment as well.  Set the intention that when you clean or wash or scrub or sweep away the dirt, you are also cleaning out your spirit, and the energetic “dirt” from this spiritual cleansing is expelled from you and your space when you take out the trash or let the water drain when you’re done cleaning.

Cleaning is probably the easiest of the mundane tasks to turn into a spiritual activity.  But what about something like driving to work?  Or cooking a meal?  Well, commuting can be turned into an exercise in patience and goodwill toward others, which, depending on your driving habits, may be a challenge.  Cooking is an excellent way to acknowledge the earth and create a connection to the food you put in your body.  I don’t particularly enjoy cooking for myself, but I do like cooking for others.  I’ve noticed that when I cooked the food while in a good mood, it tends to taste much better than it would if I cooked while in a bad mood.  I pay attention when I’m cooking now, and pay attention most of the time to what’s going on my plate and into my body.

Once you start thinking of ways to make your days more magical, it gets easier to see how just about any activity in the average day can be turned into something that has spiritual significance.  This is especially freeing for those who are still in the closet and/or living with family that is not open to Pagan practices.  It’s easier to keep to spiritual practices if you can turn them into everyday actions that wouldn’t tip off unyielding family members.  This can also be good practice for those who are out of the closet as well.  Seeing the magic or spiritual side in the mundane opens the eyes to a whole new magical world in which anything and everything can have significance.

Changing Paths

I recently gave advice to a Tumblr user who was asking for advice on how to find what path they should follow.  The current religious path was not working for this person, and they knew Paganism was the right direction to go, but was having trouble figuring out which Pagan path worked best for them.  My advice was based off my own experience when discovering Pagansim: research as much as possible about the different paths, run Google searches for Pagan paths to find those they maybe hadn’t heard of before, and as the research progresses, narrow down the options by listening to what feels the most right.

For me, I had been in a similar situation back then.  I knew Paganism was my path, but I wasn’t sure which branch would be best for me.  Would it be Asatru?  Heathenism?  Wicca?  Alexandrian or Gardnerian Wicca?  Eclectic?  Or just general Pagan?  Some of the paths I ruled out pretty quickly after reading up on them, and others I needed to do more in depth research with books and blogs to narrow things down.  Searchers now have a much greater advantage using the Internet than I did in my search.  10 years ago there were so fewer blogs and resources available online than there are now, and fewer books and other resources, especially in my area.

This discussion has gotten me thinking, though.  What if you know you need to change, but you don’t have any idea of which direction to follow?  To use myself as an example, I feel I need a change from my current format, but I don’t know where to change to.  The particular path I’ve followed for two years no longer inspires or excites me, it no longer lights a fire within, and I know I need to leave this path in favor of a new one . . . but what is the new path?  I know for certain it’s still within Paganism, but none of the paths I know of truly call to me.  Once I leave the path I’m on, I feel like I’ll be in limbo, and that’s an uncomfortable thought.  So I’ve been avoiding the decision, but I can avoid it no longer.  I have to change, come what may.

But if the Tumblr user had posed that kind of question instead of the original question, what advice could I have given?  “Follow your intuition” or “follow your heart” sound trite and inadequate.  “Research other paths” doesn’t seem helpful in this situation either.

Nearly everyone is faced with a decision like this at some point or other.  It may be a big decision, it may be a little decision, it may be a monumental decision; but decisions like this are part of life.  In the end, it seems we have to choose the way that gives us the most happiness.  I couldn’t remain on a path that caused me undue pain or hardship, or one which made me unhappy, or which allowed me to coast without being challenged.  So I suppose the advice I would give to myself–and anyone else in this situation–is to find the path that most excites your soul, that makes you feel good about you and your life.  Find a path that makes you happy.  And if one doesn’t present itself, then be patient.  It will find you, or you will find it, eventually.

 

 

Vegetarianism and Paganism

A growing misconception seems to be taking hold both within and outside of the Pagan community.  This misconception is that in order to be a “real” Pagan, or a “true” Wiccan, then you must be a vegetarian/vegan.  This is grossly incorrect, and I have personally seen the effects of this misconception among Pagans.  I witnessed the trouble one young woman went through for being Pagan and a meat-eater.  She was verbally attacked over the Internet and so many harmful, hurtful, foul names were hurled at her that I ached for her pain.  And all because she had decided to share the fact that she is no longer a vegetarian because her body couldn’t maintain that lifestyle. The attacks on her were sickening, disappointing, and shocking, and made me ashamed to call myself a Pagan because those attackers also claimed to be Pagan and actively used Paganism as the argument in their attacks.

Vegetarianism and veganism and any other diet choice is a personal choice.  It is not a mandated part of Paganism that a human cannot eat meat.  In the traditions of Paganism I am aware of (which range from Asatru to Wicca to Heathenism [and some Native American traditions]), denial of meat is not a rule.  It is not a principle of these traditions that any member must not eat any animal.  Some may say that members may only eat animals killed in an honorable fashion and in a way that utilizes all the useful parts of the animal.  But no tradition I can think of bans meat as a food.

To be honest, I can think of no tradition that would do so.  To do so would put into place a rule that would not only potentially cause harm to a member, but also disrupt a natural balance.  What would happen if a member were to join, become a vegetarian, but then find that their body cannot sustain that way of life?  Is that member then kicked out?  That hardly seems very respectful or loving.  As for a natural balance being kicked out of place, well, our bodies are designed to eat meat.  It is natural to eat meat.  Eating meat does not make a person an unnatural creature.

I doubt that the gods (whichever ones you work with) would really care what you had for dinner last night.  I doubt they would truly care whether you ate prime rib or had a salad.  In my admittedly limited experience, the gods don’t give a damn about that sort of thing.  They do care that you are healthy and able to work with them in a healthy manner.  Out bodies are complex and affect all parts of life–if your body is unhealthy, how do you expect to have a healthy relationship with the gods?  For example, you can’t exactly participate in a ritual if you have the stomach flu, and if you’ve gone about nutrition in the wrong way and deprived yourself of nutrients by ignoring what your particular body requires, then you do yourself a disservice as well as the gods.

Vegetarianism and veganism are not bad things.  But those kinds of lifestyles are not for everyone.  Not everyone can physically maintain it, even when taking supplements and vitamins to compensate for the lack of meat.  I have a friend who was vegetarian for many years, but even this very problem caught up with her.  She wishes she was still a vegetarian, but her body simply could not keep itself healthy despite her best efforts to maintain the lifestyle properly.

Most paths of Paganism include the ideas of respecting yourself and respecting the natural world.  If you are respecting yourself and your body, and what your body needs, then (to be blunt) what the hell does it matter what you eat?  Even better is if you can eat meat in a way that respects the natural world.  The meat you consume once belonged to a living, breathing, moving creature, a creature that gave its life to feed yours.  We all owe a debt to the animals who give their lives for us, yet few of us pause to think about this.  My advice is to either 1) learn how to hunt and hunt your own meat so that you are assured that nothing goes to waste and the kill is honorable, or 2) buy organically from a meat co-op, the farmer’s market, or a similar setup.  Again, you are assured that nothing is wasted and the kill is an honorable one.

My personal view is that if humans weren’t meant to eat meat, we wouldn’t have canine teeth–teeth specifically meant for tearing.  That being said, I also think there are right ways and wrong ways to go about meat consumption.  The meat packing industry is cruel and inhumane.  But hunting and swift kills, and honoring the spirit of the animal who has given his life to sustain yours, is acceptable and humane.  A quick kill with honor, and not wasting the gift given to you, is far more humane than the meat industry today.

The horrors of the meat industry should be a motivator to bring about change.  It does not mean anyone necessarily has to become a vegetarian.  Being Pagan and eating meat is not a crime, nor is it wrong.  Eating meat does not make me less of a Pagan, and the same is true for those who choose not to consume meat.  It is a personal choice, and no one should be attacked for making a choice that speaks to their own soul.

Happy Memorial Day

Today in the US is Memorial Day.  While the holiday has become overly commercialized with sales, sales, SALES, it is still a day to remember those who have fallen in service to the country, no matter what their position.  It is a day to thank those who currently serve for the sacrifices they have made and the duties they have taken on so that we do not have to.

How many of us have held a gun?  How many of us have shot at another human being?  How many of us have been in or near a war zone and heard the terrifying sounds of battle?  We are privileged in this country in that we no longer have a draft and there is no mandatory service for all citizens.  It is a choice to join the armed forces.  For many of us, we choose not to join.  But there are those who do choose to fight and serve, to protect, to try and make the world safer for those they leave behind at home, and some make the sacrifice of their lives.

I, for one, and grateful that there is no mandatory service and no draft.  I could not live the life of a soldier, physically or emotionally.  And I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to watch my younger brothers go off to war if there were a draft or, again, mandatory service.  These thoughts make me appreciate all the more the sacrifices that soldiers and their families make every day.

In the past decade, Pagans serving in the military has gained more prominence as the questions of Pagan military chaplains and Pagan symbols on headstones have arisen.  We did win the right to display Pagan symbols for fallen Pagan soldiers on their headstones if they so wished, and Pagans are gaining more permissions within the military to further their spiritual practices.

For more reading about Paganism in the military, here are some links to good articles and websites:

• “Honoring Our Pagan Fallen on Memorial Day,” Jason Pitzl-Waters at The Wild Hunt.
• The Pagan Institute Report–a bit outdated, but holds some good information from previous years.
• “The Pentagon and the Pentacle,” Carl McColman, Beliefnet 2010.
• “An It Harm None: Pagans, the Military, and the C.O. Question,” Stefani E. Barner, Llewellyn articles.
• Warriors and Kin, a website devoted specifically to Pagans serving in the military.

Medicine and Healing

Conventional medicine is used by the majority of people in this country.  However, some people completely shun conventional medicine (i.e., doctors, hospitals, pills of any kind, etc.) in favor of holistic healing and natural medicine.  Others make an attempt to combine the two.

I lean more toward the third option of combining the two.  My personal choice is that conventional medicine and alternative medicine both have their place, and both have benefits and drawbacks.  That’s the position I choose for myself.

I do personally know some people who shun modern medicine, usually from a sense of great distrust.  The recent upheavals in the economy and health care industry likely have not helped matters at all.  And that’s fine for them to make that choice.  If they don’t want to see a doctor, I certainly will not force them or condemn them for the choice.  I may not agree, but it’s not my life, so I don’t have to.  However, I do take issue with those people who choose to not see a doctor for themselves but make the same choice for children who cannot make the choice for themselves or for elders who are old enough to make the choice, but may not be in a position to get themselves to the doctor without aid.

There is something to be said for not using modern medicine.  Modern medicine largely seems to consist of drugs and overmedication, which causes problems when it comes to viruses, for example.  There is also a danger with prescription medicine abuse.  That being said, herbs used for medicinal purposes can sometimes pose similar problems in that they can be used improperly, overused, and even abused, though that last is more difficult to do with herbs.

I understand the desire to not want to mess with modern medicine and operate only from alternative/complementary medicines.  A relative of mine does that.  She never goes to a doctor; doesn’t trust them.  And I have used alternative medicine options such as chiropractors, hypnotism, energy and color therapy, etc.

For me, the alternative-only approach doesn’t work.  It’s not something I would recommend.  I have migraines, for one, and I have yet to find an approach that takes care of them completely.  Usually I have to combine solutions.  In addition, birth control is a necessity for me in order to get through a cycle without ripping my uterus from my body.  Probably more information than you wanted to know–sorry–but it’s the truth, and it’s the biggest example I can think of for why modern medicine is required in my life.

As for those people who never go near complementary medicine, they could be missing out on something beneficial.  What falls under complementary medicine?  In many states, massage, acupuncture, chiropractors, reiki, herbal treatment and supplements, Eastern treatments and energy therapies, color therapy, hypnotism, and more fall under the label “alternative or complementary medicine.”  Massage can be great to help you relax, if you don’t mind strangers touching you (I mind, so massage doesn’t work that great for me).  Reiki and herbal treatments can sometimes be beneficial, depending on what you’re using them for.  But going the no-alternatives approach, those people could be ignoring possible beneficial therapies that can complement the conventional approach.

I also have relatives who would never be caught dead at an acupuncturist or chiropractor.

So that’s just my brief expression of opinion on the matter.  I can see both sides of the arguments for or against modern and complementary medicines.  When people ask me for advice, I usually tell them to go to a doctor first and go to alternative medicines second, especially if it’s an emergency or a life-or-death situation.

A short description of alternative medicine from the NIH: here.