PANTHEON
I recently had the good fortune to be asked to teach a class for a group of folks heavily invested in deepening their spirituality and bettering their service to their Gods. One of the things that people were most interested in during my lecture series was the subject of ascetic practices. Part of the interest lay in the fact that pretty much nothing is needed to engage in these practices and part of the interest stemmed from the fact that in every religion the world over, the self-same practices crop up again and again and again. Some modern mystics, Northern Tradition shamans, call this body of practices the Ascetic’s Path. They are one of many ways to open oneself to the Gods, to create the necessary mindset of receptivity and while these practices may not work for everyone (in fact, if , as you read, every atom of your being rebels against the idea of incorporating these practices into your devotional or magical work, then it’s probably NOT the road for you), for some, they are a powerful tool in the erstwhile spiritual toolbox.
So just what do we mean when we use the term “Ascetic’s Path”? Well, this path is one of eight methods – called the Eight Fold Path – of practice that may be used for achieving an altered state, increasing one’s sensitivity to energy, and for making oneself more receptive to the Gods. The actual eight ‘paths’ are occasionally debated in various traditions but ascetic practices are always among them. These practices not only benefit a person spiritually, but may also be used to achieve specific results magically.
Ascetic practices include but are not limited to fasting, disciplined meditation, a regimen of internal and external cleansings, sensory deprivation, paring down of one’s possessions, and voluntary celibacy (which I already discussed here in a previous article). To the American mind, this body of practices is most often associated with medieval Christianity, and particularly summed up in their religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. And while it’s true that Christianity as a tradition did at that time, emphasize asceticism in its adherents, it’s important to note that nothing about ascetic practices is particularly Christian, or Buddhist, or Muslim, or Pagan, or anything else. They are tools, pure and simple and they’ve been found in religious life at least as far back as the early Roman Empire, if not further.(1) In the Eastern world, they were very likely known and practiced well before that.
The keywords for this particular path are discipline, purification and paring down. It’s all about going inward to open to the Gods (or to open yourself magically). The focus of this type of work is very much on the body and may seem, at first glance, unfairly harsh. The purpose is not, however, to punish the body and the motivation doesn’t stem from any belief (or shouldn’t stem from any belief) that the body is shameful or sinful. Raven Kaldera in his book “Wightridden” writes: “its purpose is not to work the soul up into a state of high vibration in order to blast it open, but to work it downwards into a place of utter stillness and silence, so that it may open gently and slowly.” (Kaldera, p. 165). As Mr. Kaldera further notes, it’s certainly not about instant gratification. It is about the slow stretching of one’s spiritual and magical muscles. And this is done, not by indulging the body, but by mastering its hungers so that they no longer provide any type of blockage or distraction to one’s spiritual development. The physical body is our primary interface with the world and the way in which we experience everything, including our spirituality. Ascetic practices hone and shape if not the body itself, our way of utilizing it as a spiritual tool. In a way, it’s about learning to honor the body as it is, about “coming to terms with limitations and restrictions” and learning to use them as tools. (Kaldera, p. 166).
The particular beauty of this path is that it requires nothing external to the self. To do it well, in fact, is to embrace a deep, abiding and mindful interiority of practice that brings with it a discipline that will aid the practitioner in all aspects of life, not just spiritual or magical work. Discipline, while largely denigrated in modern culture, is a gift that we can give to ourselves, one that lays the foundation for future excellence in the Work and in our daily work. Because of the three-fold emphasis on discipline, purification and paring down, this path is an extremely accessible one. It doesn’t take a lot of money or fancy tools, or hard to find books. It only takes the will to begin and persevere.
Beginning with discipline, the first step on this path involves committing to regular practice. One little discussed aspect of ascetic work, is that of ongoing, regular devotional and prayer work. These things attune the mind and heart to the Gods. Setting time aside daily for prayer and meditation, and striving to be mindful of the presence and blessings of the Gods throughout the day is an excellent way to incorporate elements of this path into one’s regular practice. One thing that everyone can do is to devote time each day to establishing a gratitude practice. The ascetic’s path isn’t just about disciplining the body. That, in fact, is secondary to the real work of disciplining the mind and soul. It’s all about the grueling, never-ending work of self-examining and awareness. A gentle, non-threatening and useful place to begin is to examine your life for those things you are grateful for, those experiences, people and blessings that you feel enrich your life. We’re physical beings and our spirituality is expressed through a physical medium and it’s important to honor that in the body of those things with which we are blessed. I know of one woman, so dedicated to this practice, that every night as part of her meditations she examines her day and writes down three, four, half a dozen things that she’s grateful for from that day alone. It’s made her far more mindful in both her spirituality and her interactions with others and that, is part and parcel of what this path is all about.
The second key to the ascetic’s path is simplicity. Essentially, strive to clutter your life as little as possible. This means embracing a radical honesty with oneself, in one’s relationships. It means stepping out of the consumer culture that so defines us as a nation. It means being mindful not only about one’s purchases but also about how one utilizes one’s resources and budgets one’s money. It also means being consciously mindful about how one’s purchases affect the environment. This whole path is about developing an exquisite mindfulness that can sometimes be exhausting, painful but always spiritually rewarding. So clean your house. Go through your closets and donate your old clothes to goodwill or a comparable charity. Go through your possessions and decide what you no longer need and donate it to charity or give it to friends. Clutter is the enemy in this path. We spend so much of our lives ensnared in the ceaseless clutter of noise, possessions and the external pressure to buy more possessions that it can be very difficult to find room for anything else, very difficult to hear that still, small voice within calling us to something better, to BE better. Fuensanta Plaza, co-author of: “Root, Stone, and Bone” says it best:
“It’s important to clear the clutter, of the mind even more than one’s space, because that internal clutter, that mental clutter stands between us and the Gods. Part of the reason it’s important to have an uncluttered living space is because it helps to have an uncluttered soul. As without, so within. As the living space, so the soul.”
–Fuensanta Plaza
This path, more than any other (in my opinion) teaches a person to reach for something beyond his or her own desires.(2) So clean your house, go through your possessions, learn to budget and discipline your spending habits. This isn’t saying don’t treat yourself, but be mindful about where and how you spend your money. This is the practice of mindful consumption.
Now the above two practices are something that pretty much everyone can do. There are, however, other practices involved in this path that may not appeal to everyone. For those who feel called to them, however, they are extremely effective and useful techniques.
Fasting
The most common ascetic practice is that of fasting.(3) This is perhaps the most obvious of the practices in that the physical emptying mirrors the internal emptying. Fasting can be a difficult practice, especially at first, yet it is very, very powerful. I personally have a love/hate relationship with fasting. I’ve used it for cleansing both physically and spiritually, for shaking loose my spirit’s hold on the physical body, for extended trance work and for the sheer discipline alone. It’s incredibly effective and at the same time physically, emotionally and even psychologically grueling. Food is the most fundamental of nourishers and in our culture of physical abundance, where food is a highly charged part of our social experience, it can carry an enormous amount of psychological and emotional weight…weight one may not even realize until suddenly the food is removed and even worse: forbidden. The very process of being emptied brings with it an immense vulnerability. Emotional (and energy) blocks and shields just crumble as the body’s energy pathways are opened by virtue of the act of consciously stripping away. Fasting is not just an exercise in spiritual discipline but an exercise in utter and complete vulnerability as well.
There are many ways to fast. One may choose to forego anything but water. This is, for me, the most difficult. One may omit certain foods (like meat and sweets) for an extended period of time. This is a minor fast, but also very useful. One may choose to eat only one meal a day. One may abstain from all solid food. For someone just starting out with the process of fasting, I recommend fasting only one day and slowly working yourself up to more. How one fasts is less important than how one goes into and comes out of the fast itself. Fasting is very hard on the body, this goes without saying. Suddenly breaking a fast can have problematic and unpleasant effects. However long you choose to fast, you should take that same amount of time to ease out of the fast, starting first back on broth and juices and working up to solid food. I personally recommend doing the same to go into a fast…take a couple of days to slowly decrease your food intake, going from solid foods to liquids to the complete fast. The important thing is to break it slowly, easing back onto solid food.
Isolation/Sensory Deprivation
I’ve written about the benefits of silent fasting in this column before so I shall not do more than touch upon the subject now. Part and parcel of the Ascetic’s Path is removing oneself from the distractions of the outside world in order to better focus one’s attention on the internal process of cleaning out and paring down. Isolation is a powerful thing. We live in a world where we are always plugged in: ipods, blackberries, computers, cell phones, beepers. Engaging in this body of practices means choosing to step out of that fast-paced, constantly connected lifestyle for however long or short a time. It means giving up the computer, the cell phone and other devices, the tv, radio, ipod. It means committing a set amount of time to one’s devotional work sans all outside distractions. I often recommend taking a weekend and a journal and allowing yourself only the journal and your prayers and nothing else. For some, it is a welcome respite from the sturm and drang of the external world, for others, it is absolutely maddening. For everyone, it can be very enlightening.
Some people take this a step further and meditate veiled, with ears plugged and eyes covered. This is a modern means of recreating the Norse practice of utiseta or sitting out, where one meditations in isolation covered by a thick cloak, cut off from the external world, seeking wisdom from the Gods and ancestors. Developing a relationship with silence, which has its own voice, its own rhythms and patterns and pull, can dramatically increase one’s sensitivity to that which is unseen: be it magical energy or the presence of the Gods. It readies the mind and heart and spirit and deepens one’s receptive potential.
Cleansings
One of the most important aspects of the Ascetic’s Path is that of personal cleansing. Purification, purification, purification on every possible level from cleaning your house, to devoting yourself to a regiment of cleansing baths, to taking herbal mixtures internally to cleanse is an indispensable part of this body of techniques. While the taking of internal cleansing teas is a bit beyond the scope of this article (I recommend speaking to a qualified herbalist about which herbs and tisanes can safely be used for internal cleansing; there are many), there are numerous ways to perform external magical/ritual/spiritual cleansings. The old saying “cleanliness is next to godliness” has something to it where the Ascetic’s Path is concerned!
My absolute favorite cleansing bath is a beer bath. It sounds strange, but it completely cleanses the aura (and I mean completely). One adds a bottle of dark beer to one’s bath and immerses oneself completely. I first learned of it from my grandmother as a German folk custom, but I later came across almost the same bath in Mickaharic’s “Spiritual Cleansing” (he adds salt). Regardless of where it comes from, it’s a fantastic cleansing technique. Another basic cleansing bath is a cup of apple cider vinegar and a handful of salt added to the tub. If you don’t have a bathtub, you can still do cleansing baths. Mix the liquids up, or, if you’re using a combination of herbs, make a strong infusion from the herbs, then stand in the shower and pour it over your head. This is actually the more traditional way (in hoodoo at least) of taking cleansing baths. There are hundreds of bath recipes and I recommend picking up a copy of Catherine Yronwode’s “Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic.” She offers detailed correspondences in the back of the book, which list herbs by function. Any combination of purification and cleansing herbs can be added to the bath. Truly though, salt works just as well. Simply bathing mindfully: consciously visualizing all the psychic and emotional gunk we inevitably pick up during the day washing away as the water flows over you, is a good way to begin incorporating cleansing into your practice. This is an old, old idea. There was a specific class of priests in ancient Egypt called web or webet (feminine form) priests. Their function was purification and cleansing and they were required to bath FOUR times a day. Cleanliness is next to godliness indeed!
Far from abrogating the importance of the body, the Ascetic’s Path incorporates our physicality into its practice as a key point. The body is a partner in this work, the lens through which one is able to focus one’s awareness and hone and deepen one’s spiritual and magical senses. Just as with a martial art, steady, regular discipline develops the soul memory just like performing kata regularly develops the body’s memory. The key is focus, mindfulness and above all else, consistency.
“God gives gifts where He finds the vessel empty enough to receive them.”
—C.S. Lewis
Notes:
- A Comparative Study of the Ascetic Ideal, by Jeffrey Conrad accessed February 10 at http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~epf/1995/ascetic.html
- I’ll stress again that desire isn’t bad in and of itself; unfocused, undisciplined, unexamined desire however, can be problematic. One of the eight paths is the path of the flesh, of sacred sexuality. This path is, in many ways, the opposite pole from the Ascetic’s path. Neither one is better than the other. They’re tools, pure and simple. Not every path works well for every person. People are different and respond to different tools and techniques. Embracing one path is no reason to denigrate the others.
- Please check with your physician before engaging in strenuous fasting practices. Fasting can be very hard on the body and people with certain medical conditions, particularly diabetes and hypoglycemia should not fast.
Sources:
Cannon, Dale, (1996). Six Ways of Being Religious. CA: Wadsworth, Publishing Company.
A Comparative Study of the Ascetic Ideal, by Jeffrey Conrad accessed February 10 at http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~epf/1995/ascetic.html
Kaldera, Raven, (2007). Wightridden: Paths of Northern Tradition Shamanism. MA: Asphodel Press.
Mickaharic, Draja, (1982). Spiritual Cleansing. ME: Weiser Books.
An expanded version of this article was originally published in “Pangaia” magazine in 2008.
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