Anthesterion

Looking ahead, this is going to be a busy month!!  On top of my regular devotional days, there's two 3 day blocks of events.

 

The first... this week over the Noumenia, I'm taking a camping trip with my two dearest and most spiritual friends.  We have no specific rituals planned, but simply being out in nature for a while will be nice.  For certain, I would like to build a shrine to the nymphs and try to commune with them.  Other than that, and ringing in the Noumenia and reaffirming commitments, I just planning on being open to any spontaneous experiences or encounters.  If we have time we may drive more northward to search for amanitas.  

 

Then there's the Anthesteria... I'm working on the actual dates, so I'm pushing my celebration of those three days back to the full moon and the day before and after.  I haven't really attempted something like this before.  The idea is both exciting and intimidating. 

 

I'm still planning what I'd like to do for Anthesteria - but after reading Otto's Dionysos, I'm suddenly rather taken with the idea of both making a mask for the god and integrating that into my rituals. 

 

The Aiora (swinging festival) really intrigues me.  Even as an adult I would readily admit that I enjoy going swinging.  There was a night perhaps a year and a half ago, where a solo walk ended up with me spontaneously swinging in an empty park.  My life was on the threshold of a lot of change at the time, and the act of it felt very significant, though I didn't know why.  I just remember swinging, looking at the moon, and both crying and feeling inexplicably joyful at the same time.  That people might have once approached the act in a spiritual sense never even occurred to me before, but makes sense.  I'm looking forward to this.

 

So, so far, it looks like the first day will be creative (mask making) and celebratory (flowers and feasting).  Second day, the more intense work including the Aiora and some form of the sacred rite in the evening (trance and mind-altering substances likely).  Third day, offerings to the dead and hymns to Hermes, perhaps a trip to the cemetery.  Smudging and cleansing at the end of the day seems appropriate.

 

I'm working on Valentine's Day, but maybe I'll still try to fit in something extra with Aphrodite.  I know a lot of people who dislike the holiday.  Myself, I've loved ALL holidays since I was a kid.  And one that's dedicated to love?  How can that be bad?  In my opinion, if you let yourself get bogged down by the commercialism then you have no one but yourself to blame.  It's not the responsibility of commercial industries to keep the sacred in our holy days, it's our own.  (End rant.)  I'm sure my parents were an influence here too.  I never saw Valentine's Day as solely for romantic love, partly because they always got my siblings and I our own individual cards (and candy, naturally) expressing their love for each of us as individuals.   

 

There's other projects and miscellany and goals, but those are the big ones!

Picking up the Thread, Again

Noumenia was on Monday.  I smudged my apartment, poured out libations of milk and honey to the gods, read an Orphic hymn and meditated for a little while.  I also stated my renewed commitment to my spiritual path before the gods.  No epiphanies or fireworks, not that I was expecting any, and yet I felt invigorated by it - it all felt good and right - and I was able to do this even on a work day.


I've been paying more attention to omens and synchronicities.  Recently, I saw a crow on an adjacent building in my complex - the first I've ever seen in the city.  If there was any doubt about it being a crow and not some other large black bird, the ruckus it was making was telling enough!  And then a few days later, I saw a coyote in broad daylight by the library.  Both trickster spirits.  I thought the crow was reminding me about the role of a trickster in my life, and now I'm wondering if maybe that role is not just present through others but maybe something I'm meant to embody *for* others as well?  This has been on my mind -- the role of a modern shaman to shake up people's perceptions of the everyday.  I'm still contemplating this, although a conversation with a friend gave me one possible idea.  I'm still working on this so don't wish to say too much, except that it will incorporate art, divination, poetry and trickstering (I'm trying to find a better word, I promise.)  I'd love to be part of those groups who do random theatrical stunts in public, crowded settings -- how much more Dionysian can you get??  I'm not nearly outgoing enough to do something like that on my own, however.  (Or am I?)


There have been other synchronicities -- a friend quoting a part of a book discussing the eidelon and the daemon on the 2nd day of the lunar month which is dedicated to the Agathos Daemon.  This was very timely, as I was trying to integrate my intuitive idea of the daemon as the higher self with only the vaguest of references on the net to go on, usually referring to it as a god, guardian or ancestral spirit.  This quote specifically names the daemon as the higher self, which I took to mean I was on the right track. 
 
Things I have planned:  a devotional day each for Aphrodite, The Muses, and Dionysos.  (An idea I borrowed from Sannion because it resonates with me strongly.)  I also plan to include a pilgrimage out of the city each month, whether in conjunction with a devotional day, other festival, or on its own.  This month I'm planning to combine it with my Dionysos day and I'm very excited about it.  I'm also planning on doing something intense to take avantage of the combined solstice/eclipse energy on the 21st.  The Haloa (a festival for Dionysos and Demeter) falls on New Year's Eve... I'm not sure yet what I will do for the beginning of the day, but it will end up with drinking and dancing at a local venue hosting a masquarade, burlesque show and rockabilly band.  


On top of that, I'm trying to incorporate daily prayer and meditation as much as possible.  This is harder to do during my work week of 12 hour shifts.  But I know it's simply a matter of habit, priority and not letting myself sleep in til the last minute -- the daily commitment is going to be hardest for me. 


It occurs to me that it's ironic I chose December as the month to renew my spiritual commitments, as busy as the month is on its own!  But, "chose" isn't the right word, any more than "fate" or "necessity"... it just is and it's right.