Well, my 7 day ritual ended with a fizzle. The practical demands of modern living came crashing into my religious intentions. Yesterday, our fridge went out and I had to cook about 6 meals to save the food. I decided that Fate wanted me to feast and not fast. Moving food into ice, buying a new fridge, and getting ready for an inconvenient visit by family this weekend, and heightened work demands was all too much, and I called off... Read more
Today is Day 6 of my Descensus Averni ritual. I have to admit, I passed out last night without doing the ritual. I think fasting and then gorging myself afterwards took its toll on me. I have debated whether to break my fast before or after the ritual. I’m not sure which would be more effective. If I wait, I am concerned that my anticipation of eating will distract me. But if I break it before, I won’t have the... Read more
Last night I poured out my heart in prayer to the Goddess. I’ve been Pagan for seven years, and I have never really prayed like that. I have offered rote prayers, poetic prayers, but I have never just talked to Her. I told her that I was uncertain about the purpose of what I was doing. I told her I was disappointed that I had not had more spiritual fireworks since becoming Pagan. That I am looking for a transformative... Read more
I mentioned earlier that I attended my first ADF ritual about a week ago. After the disappointment of the Wiccan ritual with Janet Stewart and Gavin Bone, the ADF ritual was a relief. As I understand, the ADF ritual was kind of a mess compared to their usual rites. A storm forced them to move to a new location, only five people showed up, and the leader of the grove could not make it due to flooding. But I enjoyed... Read more
I led my family in a Mid-Summer ritual this past Saturday. It went off well, except for a brief rainstorm that delayed the culminating fire sacrifice, and a little bit of irreverence from my youngest during the reverent part of the event. The Prelude was the chant “Force of Nature” by Thorn Coyle and Sharon Knight: Hail to the summer sky, blazing fierce immortal eye. Hail to the fire, burning in the earth. Hail to the wind that blows alive... Read more
So I am wondering now what the purpose of my Descensus Averni ritual is. I am not experiencing any altered states of consciousness during the ritual. Of course, I didn’t the first time, years ago, either. I came across this quote by Joseph Campbell in his Masks of God: Primitive Mythology: “When the will of the individual to his own immortality has been extinguished—as it is in rites such as these—through an effective realization of the immortality of being itself... Read more
I drew a 5-card Tarot spread on the first night of this ritual, using the Vertigo Tarot. I only use the major arcana and I cast them in a five card cross pattern: the left arm is the past, the center is the present, and the right art is the future. The top arm represents the macrocosm (the gods) and the bottom arm represents the microcosm (mortals). I also don’t use all the traditional interpretations for the tarot. My interpretations... Read more
Seek not, my soul, the life of the immortals; but enjoy to the full the resources that are within thy reach. — Pindar Last night, before I did my ritual, I felt strongly compelled to watch Darren Aronofsky’s movie, “The Fountain”, again. It’s my favorite movie and is almost a religious experience for me to watch it. One part stuck with me; it’s actually the theme of the whole movie: “death as an act of creation”. (Here are some stills... Read more
I did not actually begin fasting until today, but this morning I woke up with a very clear flash of a quote from the Gospel of Eve, quoted by Joesph Campbell in The Hero With a Thousand Faces: “I stood on a loftly mountain and saw a gigantic man and another a dwarf; and I heard as it were a voice of thunder, and drew nigh for to hear; and He spake unto me and said: I am thou, and... Read more
This time of the year is about climaxes for me. It is the hottest time of the year here (on average). The sun is still bright and the days long. But it won’t last forever, of course. So I have an idea for a personal ritual which I am going to call a “Descensus Averni” ritual. “Descensus Averni” is Latin for descent to hell. It is a common pagan motif. It is described well by Joseph Campbell in one of... Read more
The Allergic Pagan
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