Monday kicks off a new year, and that means new year’s resolutions are on people’s minds. Even if you don’t make new year’s resolutions, you are still seeing them mentioned on social media and TV commercials.
One of my favorite social media memes about new years resolutions talks about making fun ones, instead of always trying to make serious ones such as trying new foods or being silly. I like this sentiment because setting deep, often difficult goals puts a lot of pressure on ourselves, on top of the daily struggles. Then, if we don’t follow through with them, feelings of guilt or failure trickle in.
There are some worthy resolutions out there, that hopefully don’t add to our stress and anxiety. One of those resolutions is enhancing your Paganism or your spiritual practice next year.
One of the Ways That You Can Enhance Your Paganism in 2024 is to Establish A Regular Practice
There is nothing wrong with being a solitary practitioner. I often say that we are all solitary practitioners in between our group events. Our Wiccan church meets once a month for rituals, along with some social events scattered in. But for the rest of the month when we are not together, we are all practicing our spiritual paths alone, at home. Nothing is ever going to take the place of the devotions, offerings and rituals you do on a regular basis with your spirit team. But there is nothing quite like performing a ritual or doing magick with a group of people. The amount and type of energy raised during these group rituals is different than what most of us can do alone. And there is a place, and a need, for both types of practice in our lives.
Most teachers will advise you that starting a regular spiritual practice is the best way to not only get started on your path, but to deepen your practice. This sounds very basic and very easy. It is basic. It is the foundation to your spiritual practice. It is not necessarily easy.
To establish a regular spiritual practice, you have find out what works for you. And that usually involves asking a lot of questions of yourself and being honest with the answers.
- How often can you make offerings?
- When can you spend time at your altar?
- Do you like to pray? If so, how often can you do it?
- Is making offerings/attending your altar/praying something you can do on a regular basis?
- How often can you work this into your schedule in a week?
Our spiritual practices aren’t supposed to stress us out. So don’t try to create a schedule or routine that you know you can’t stick to. Make it easy on yourself, at least in the beginning. If you want to add more time to your practice, you can later. But don’t set yourself up for failure by trying to do things too often or at times that you know you won’t do it.
I’m not a morning person. I’m really just not a wake up person. No matter what time I get up, if it’s 7 AM or 11 AM, I ideally would like an hour or so to wake up and wrap my head around the day. Now, I don’t get that time on workdays because I’m not a morning person and I know I am not going to get up early enough to have some “come to reality” time before getting ready. It would not make sense for me to set up a spiritual practice that required me to get up earlier than I do or go upstairs to my altar in the mornings. I know, I tried that for about 3 months. It did not work out.
Although I used to be a night owl, I’m not really one of those anymore either. Maybe I’m just that perpetually exhausted pigeon like on that meme. My nighttime routine is pretty set in stone, and I do not want to change it.
So when do I have time to make offerings and tend my altar? On Thursdays. Thursdays are my work from home days. The days where I write my blog posts and my newspaper columns, and hopefully work on other things like my degree classes that I teach. My altar is in my office so it’s highly convenient. And since Odin is one of my primary deities, it’s nice to have him close by when I’m trying to wordsmith.
I want to be one of the Pagans who has a daily spiritual practice with prayers to my gods, even if I don’t make offerings. But I’m not one of those people. And the more I try to be something I am not (at least at the moment) the harder I set myself up to fail. One day I aspire to be like John Beckett or Belladonna Laveau in their daily Pagan practices. But I am not either of them, my life is very different from theirs, and there is no point in trying to compare myself to them. Don’t get Instagram envy from those spiritual accounts you follow and try to copy someone else because you think it’s a better way to be Pagan. Be your own Pagan, your own way and at your own pace. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
One of the Ways That You Can Enhance Your Paganism in 2024 is to Get Involved in Your Pagan Community
While there is nothing wrong with having a solitary practice, I am a big advocate for being a part of a group. Whether your location has a smattering of smaller covens, open Pagan churches like those in the Aquarian Tabernacle Church, or a thriving Pagan community full of different Pagans with varying groups I encourage you to get out and make friends.
Community
Most Pagans today were raised Christian or in a non-religious household. Very few Pagans (that I have been made aware of) can honestly claim their parents were Pagans and raised them in the Pagan tradition. If you were part of a church in your previous life, there’s a chance that church group was part of your social network. You had friends you met in church. You all had church experiences to bond over. The social aspect of church often nourished you, as it was supposed to.
Nowadays, so many Pagans feel like this social aspect of Paganism does not exist, at least not on a regular basis. A coven group, or church group, or even the Pagan community at large can help fill in this social gap.
If we were mostly raised Christian or non-religious, there is a strong chance that our families do not understand or want to understand our religious beliefs and practices. But your fellow Pagans can understand. They want to talk about it and be a part of it with you.
When Pagans get together in groups to worship, have ritual and do magick, we come together for a common goal. That doesn’t mean we all believe the exact same thing or worship the exact same gods. No group is going to match your personal beliefs exactly. That’s not the point. The point of an organized, Pagan group is to help support each other on our paths, to help everyone find the divine of their hearts and to work together to do the good work that has been laid upon us by the gods. I work with the Norse and Egyptian pantheons mainly. My husband works with Cernunnos and Kuan Yin. There’s not a lot of overlap there, but when we work together, we make magick.
Community is very important for those of us on the fringes of society. But it is not the only way to enhance your Paganism.
Knowledge and Experience
Working with a group of like-minded Pagans is one of the best ways (in my opinion) to grow your magick. Your regular, routine solo practice will also greatly improve your ability to meditate, commune with your guides and manipulate energy. You can absolutely learn from websites, books, or online classes. But magick – and Paganism – is something that you learn by doing. There is only so much you can do alone. Working with a group can open your eyes to new concepts and experiences you cannot have alone.
In the past, my coven – our core group that existed before we became a legal 501(c)(3) church – would get together every week to learn about topics, practice energy work and craft. Not everything we did was memorable or groundbreaking. But I remember the time we created a coven astral space together. We would take turns adding decorations or moving things in our astral space to see if the others noticed. Once, we spent some time learning about shielding and how to see and feel each other’s energetic shields. We had so much fun being together, learning together and experimenting. Yes, you can do all of this, to an extent, on your own. But it becomes so much more challenging and exciting when you have others to do it with.
Many Pagan churches also offer in depth classes that you will not find at your local metaphysical store. At my store, The Broom Closet, we offer workshops, meditations, and sound baths. But these are all geared towards the middle ground if you will – not overly religious because not everyone coming is religious or Pagan. I can teach energy work classes without bringing religion or gods into it. But if you want a deeper education about Wicca, magick and the gods you’ll have to join one of our church classes.
My church, The Fellowship of Avalon – ATC, is not the only church to offer these in-depth classes. Wiccan groups have been offering degree systems since Gerald Gardner organized the religion in the 1950s. The degree system is made up of 3 degrees – each with its own level of responsibility and obligations to the group, as well as the religion. These classes are voluntary for anyone who wants to learn more about Wicca and how to serve in their specific group. For those who have felt the call to serve as clergy, these degree classes are mandatory, along with mentored clergy training afterwards. You can take one class or all three if you are interested. You are never going to stop learning, but these degree classes can give you a serious and needed foundation for growing your own practice and beliefs.
If you have a group of people you trust and have built relationships with, you can explore energy work and magick together. Some workings just take more energy than one person has. Think of Operation Cone of Power in World War II. Maybe your goal isn’t as lofty as defeating Hitler, but your group can still combine its energy to manifest something amazing that you could not do alone.
Security
For the last few years, many of us have been getting messages from the gods about the war and the tower times. We’ve been encouraged to find or create safe spaces for fellow Pagans. We’ve been warned that the political climate around us was going to get worse before it got better. Those of us that have been keeping an eye on politics in this country feel that once the white Christian nationalism that is destroying America moves on from the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities, Pagans are on their list of enemies to be eradicated. Paganism and its open-mindedness does not fit in with their assault weapon and flag worshipping, heteronormative program.
We are going to need each other. We are going to need groups for our safety and survival. One of the perks of being a member of my Wiccan church is the religious protection it offers. For now anyways. You can say, if ever discriminated against, that you are part of a religious group and have strongly held religious beliefs. This can be important in the South, where conservatism and white Christian nationalism seem to reign supreme. It can also be important if you live in a state that is at-will employment state such as Tennessee. Technically even an at-will employer cannot fire someone for things like sex, age, race, religion or disability. However I know from experience there is often a workaround excuse to fire someone for these things without actually saying that is why they were fired.
I am not trying to scare you into joining a Pagan group. But there are benefits to it that you may not know you need, until you need it. Besides, then you have magickal friends who may come to bat for you if the need arises.
As we get ready to open the door on 2024, I encourage all of you to take this journey with me to deepen our Paganism. Let’s get serious about building relationships with our ancestors, gods and local spirits. Let us band together to fight the good fight. And let us worship together, do magick together, and create memories and experiences to help us through the dark times. We talk about being the light at this time of year. We are all of the light, and each of us shines in our own way. But no one can see our light if we don’t get out and share it with the world. I hope to see your light this coming year.
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