Week 8: Meditation and Mental Training

Related to Requirement: #6 – Mental Training
Required Reading:

• Our Own Druidry, p. 93 - 99 (Druid Mental Training) 

Optional Resources:

• Meditation for the Type A Personality by Jenni Hunt
• Basic Meditation by Brenda Stumpp
• "Letting the World Slip Away" by Ladytoad
• "Laughing Meditation" by Brandon Newberg
• "An Anywhere Devotional" by Brandon Newberg
• "Dual Trad Daily Devotionals" by Tanrinia
• Sacred Fire, Holy Well by Ian Corrigan, p. 71-81;
• Training the Mind: Techniques of Trance and Meditation CD by Ian Corrigan;
• The Solitary Druid by Rev. Skip Ellison, p. 40-45

Personal Choices:

• A Short Devotional Rite
• A Daily Morning Bathroom Devotional and Meditation
• A Morning Devotional
• An ADF Nine Virtues Bead Devotional
• Mindful Knitting: Inviting Contemplative Practice to the Craft by Tara Jon Manning

I've been expecting this to be a hard part of working on DP, and so far, I'm not seeing anything that changes my mind about that.

I do think switching back and forth between the Anywhere Devotional and meditation will work well for me. Well, as long as i can resist setting my house on fire.  However, the second go run through Saturday morning was much better than the one last Wednesday.  So it might just take practice.

I'm investigating a new (to me?) form of divination for the devotionals.  I'm not looking to replace the more traditional forms of Rune or Ogham reading, however, those are both a bit more than I can manage on short notice.  Particularly since I don't have a good set of runes made up yet.  I'm keeping those for formal occasions and will switch over to runes more often when I have a set made up.

Somewhere, I read about iPod (or music?) divination. Essentially, when you reach the part of your rite where you would normally do your standard divination technique, you put your mp3 player/ full library/ iPod/ phone/ whatever you listen to music on and have handy on full random and the first song that plays is your answer.  In my head, while this is easier to cheat/ force the answer you  want (you do get to choose what songs are available), you can do that with runes/ ogham/ tarot too.  Anymore, your phone is going to be as closely attuned to you as any tarot deck.  Most people (certainly I) have my phone with me at all times, normally in my pocket. At any rate, this works for me for right now and is likely to be more convenient in the mornings.

I am going to put together a string of prayer beads. Or rather, a physical representation of the Core Order of Ritual so I have an easier time keeping track of where I am. I know what i want to use for Earth Mother, Gatekeeper, and Noble Ones, I just need to find beads that both visually and texturally represent the other beings and steps.  I have a feeling this is just going to involve wandering into a beading store and seeing what i can find.

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The weather is finally turning nice enough that I can be outside without it hurting.  I like this A LOT. I've got a bunch of outside projects to do (like... setting the back fence back upright.) so I should be able to spend my assigned hour outside this week.  And probably for the next several months as well.

I had every intention of spending this last weekend working on my review for my IE book.  Instead, I went car shopping with my sister and her partner, antiquing with my parents, split a few bottles of wine with my best friends, lunch for Gma's birthday, and then watching my cat terrorizing my mom's chickens while discussing home improvements and which need to happen regardless of divorce settlement and which need to wait.  Not a whole lot of time to sit down and write.

I also still need to finish up the Maitag rite.  I know which deities go where I think, so now just the plug and chug part.  I should be able to get that done... this week?  Maybe?  I really wish March wasn't so busy. Because I also need to find a weekend to make runes before Maitag. 

I'm publishing this before I freakout more about time and not enough and plans.

Library Building

I'm starting to gather sources and other information regarding my chosen Hearth culture.  It looks like I might have to re-build a great deal of my library from scratch, so this will be a living document that will likely be updated as I discover new books and purchase others.

Wanted
Currently owned

The Recommending Reading List for DP   

Indo-European Studies:

• The Myth of Matriarchal PreHistory (DP approved)
• Comparative Mythology
• A History of Pagan Europe

Norse Mythology sources:  

• The Prose Edda
• The Poetic Edda
• The Heimskringla (Chronicle of the Kings of Norway)
• The Volsung Saga
• Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (DP approved)
• Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs
• 
  

General Mythology sources: 

• Legends and Sagas at Sacred Texts.com.  Site also has sources for just about anything else you could possibly want for mythology/ religion/ ancient wisdom/ etc.  Looks like it'd be a good way to waste a couple days.

Modern Paganism:

• Drawing Down the Moon (DP approved)
• The Druidry Handbook

Meditation/ Mental Discipline:

• Mindful Knitting: Inviting Contemplative Practice to the Craft

Divination/ Omens

• Futhark
• The Runes Workbook
• Ogam: weaving Word Wisdom
• 
  

Week 7: Creating the Home Shrine

Related to Requirement: #4 – Home Shrine
Required Reading:

• Our Own Druidry: p. 91 - 96 (Personal Work) 86-100

Optional Reading:

• "Placement of the Home Shrine" by Rev. Michael J Dangler 
• "Creating the Desire for Worship" by Rev. Michael J Dangler 
• "Takin' It All Home" by Kami Landy
• Sacred Fire, Holy Well by Ian Corrigan, p. 69-70; 
• The Solitary Druid by Rev. Skip Ellison, p. 38-40  

Personal Reading:

• "Creating a Home Shrine" by Julian Greene

I've had a home shrine for several years now, but I've never really been happy with it.  I like being able to have space to actually create charms and whatnot on my altar and, particularly once my now ex and I combined altars, there was no room for much of anything, let alone oils and beads and cording and mortar/ pestle and all the other necessary supplies.  Accordingly, I'm pretty much starting over on altar organization.  

I have a wooden bowl to use as a Well.  A stone oil lamp for the Fire (not the company I got mine from, but same style).  Several incense burners and oil diffusers.  The only thing I really need is something to act as the Tree.  I've been using a cedar branch (trimmed, de-barked, and sanded), but I have that branch for a reason and will need to find a different option.  I'm hoping now that spring is coming, I'll be able to find a house plant that is both non-toxic to cats and can withstand benign neglect.  I also want to find something else to use as offering bowls instead of either a) my mortar or b) a stacking coffee cup.  

I'll be moving my altar upstairs to my bedroom later today and will thus be able to get decent light and photos.  I might keep a mini-altar downstairs in the library using some of the duplicates that I have, but I'm not sure off hand.  Something about open flame on a bookshelf seems... bad. I like the idea of having a smaller brazier and whatnot in the kitchen while I'm cooking dinner, but counter-space is at a premium right now.  So even something as small as that could be problematic (also, see cat and curious).  

Part of me really wants to go back to using the top of my dresser as an altar instead of the tv stand that I'm currently using.  However, my dresser is rather tall, making sitting in front of it a problem and I also tend to just deposit stuff on it- socks missing mates, pocket junk, my jewelry box, borrowed books... That's not really a good habit to have for your altar.  At least the tv stand has built in storage and is small enough that the normal altar clutter is more than enough to make adding mundane junk require thought.  Yes, there is the option of just becoming a better housekeeper, but lets keep things reasonable.

Existing Altar

I got the altar moved upstairs.

Currently: stone oil lamp, cedar branch held upright in a mason jar with some sand, turned walnut bowl; basic incense burner with... some sort... of incense in it; strand of amethyst chip beads surrounding a polished piece of citron.

Inside the cabinet is incense, candles, oils, altar cloths (i try to change them out with the seasons), assorted other supplies.  I have a basket containing polished stones to use as offerings and a second (smaller) bowl containing larger stones.  It's rather a disaster, so I'm not going to post a photo of it.

Beltane Ritual Planning: Resources

This series of posts is mostly going to be for my own benefit.  Mostly a slightly more private place to stash links for writing the Maitag/ Walpurgisnacht ritual for May 1.

I realize that I'm over-thinking this and freaking out about what should be nothing.  But this is what I do.  So I'm just going to accept the whole type A personality thing about wanting plans and calendars, and ORGANIZATION.  I'm happier when things are organized, so... yeah.

• Existing ADF ritual for Maitag.  I understand the instinct to call upon gods in their native language (do gods have native languages?), but there's just too much German in this.  And it's set up for a Norse focused grove, not a pan-indo-european one.
• Solitary Fellowship Grove May 2013 ritual.  I'm not sure how useful this will be, but *shrug* i don't think it will be useless.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it will mostly be useful for my personal practice.  But more information is always better.

Heathenry festivals

• Asatru Alliance 
• Walburg: this is better known as Walpurgisnacht or May Eve. Walberg is a goddess of our folk combining some of the traits of Her better-known peers. Reflect on this day on Freya, Hel, and Frigga as the repository of the glorious dead, and you will have an idea of Wulburg?s nature. On this day pour a horn of mead upon the earth in memory of our heroes. 
• May Day: The first of May is a time of great celebration all across Europe, as the fields get greener and the flowers decorate the landscape with colorful confusion. Freya turns her kindly face to us after the night of Walburg. Celebrate the birth of Spring and the gifts of Freya on this day. 
• WizardRealm
• The festival of Walpurgis, a night both of revelry and darkness.  The nine nights of April 22 (interestingly enough, the modern festival of Earth Day) to April 30 are venerated as rememberance of the AllFather's self-sacrifice upon the World Tree Yggdrasil.  It was on the ninth night (April 30, Walpurgisnacht) that he beheld the Runes, grasped them, and ritually died for an instant.  At that moment, all the Light in the 9 worlds is extinguished, and utter Chaos reigns.  At the final stroke of midnight, the Light returns in dazzling brilliance, and the bale-fires are lit.  On Walpurgisnacht, the dead have full sway upon the earth; it is the ending night of the Wild Hunt.  May 1 is the festival of Thrimilci; the beginning of Summer.  Thrimilci is a festival of joy and fertility, much like Ostara; however, most of the Northern World is finally escaping from the snow at this time.
• Timeless Myths
• May Eve coincided with the later German Walpurgis' Night, because it marked the last day of winter. It is a German version of the Celtic Beltane's Eve (see Celtic Calendar). May Eve marked the last night that Odin hanged from Yggdrasill (the great cosmic Ash tree). Odin has a noose around his neck for nine nights, between April 22 and April 30, as a sacrifice to master the nine mighty rune spells. See Search For Wisdom. 
•  May Eve also marked the time when the spirit world roamed free on the earth's surface, while witchcraft and sorcery is the most potent at this time. After midnight, bonfires were lit to celebrate beginning of summer (May Day or May 1), which also marked the end of the Wild Hunt.
• According to Germanic and Scandinavian folklore, Walpurgis' Night marks the occasion of the witches' coven or revelry at Brocken on Harz mountains; one of the important sabbats in witches' calendar. The celebration was linked to Walpurgis or Walburga (AD 710-779), a Benedictine abbess and saint, whose feast day was held on February 25. She was sometimes confused with a pre-Christian fertility goddess named Waldborg, and also with Waluburg, a 2nd century Germanic seeress.

Food:
http://ribevikingecenter.dk/en/learn-more/food-solstice-feast.aspx
http://nvg.org.au/documents/other/vikingrecipes.pdf