Next Thargelia isn't until May 17-19, 2021. In 2020, I used a ritual outline, and I'm uploading it today so it has enough time for Google's crawlers to find it in time for people frantically searching for a ritual outline next year. Some Background As I said in a previous post, my ritual outlines tend … Continue reading A Complete Thargelia Ritual
Tag: modern practice
Linking Out to a Few Blog Posts I read, With Some Added Comments
While I rarely ever post link roundups, there are a few posts floating around the blogosphere this week that I think are worthwhile shares (especially now that I'm making an effort to be quieter). First, John Beckett wrote "What to Do When You Make a Mistake in Ritual." It is a useful post because we … Continue reading Linking Out to a Few Blog Posts I read, With Some Added Comments
A quick post on a meditation tool
Something I have started doing over the past few days is religiously relevant (and based on stuff I'm reading/have read in Plato and Proclus), so I will briefly share it here before continuing on with my day. Meditation is useful for calming the mind, and having a calm mind is an asset during religious ritual. … Continue reading A quick post on a meditation tool
Prayers for (Other) People
A reflection on praying for specific other people (and groups of people) after reading an Orphic hymn.
Eumenideia 699.3
The Eumenideia starts at sundown on 20 February this year (27 Anthesterion). Before I get meandering, here are the basics: Make some cakes. They can have many humps; they can be smooth on top. It depends on whether you are working with something that holds its shape. I steam soft rice cakes and drizzle honey … Continue reading Eumenideia 699.3
Drying Rosemary for Purification Water
Back when I wrote some basic guidance on how to do no-frills worship (and a follow-up one on doing quick worship), I said that one could easily buy rosemary to make purification water. I had occasion to buy a lot of fresh rosemary, and these are 6-8" sticks. Fresh rosemary leaves — some in bloom … Continue reading Drying Rosemary for Purification Water
An Etiquette of Crowns, Floral and Verdant
At the beginning of Plato’s Republic, specifically at 328b-c, the elderly Cephalus is wearing a wreath upon his head because he had just finished offering divine sacrifices in the courtyard. In addition to generic ritual wreaths, ones that use specific materials — laurel, bay, rosemary, olive, oak, and so on — have been used for millennia … Continue reading An Etiquette of Crowns, Floral and Verdant
Slowing Down
This post is about self-care, and how we do (or don't) keep it up. On Saturday, I watched the film Aniara with my GF, a scifi horror piece about a marooned passenger ship. It's a fabulous film, but one of the side effects of a film that is that good (and about what it is … Continue reading Slowing Down
Uncovering
I got to thinking about veiling, binding one’s hair, and modesty, and then about a cluster of other issues that arboresced from there. This post is a product of that.