Warding

With Hurricane Sandy bearing down on us, we held a ritual to ask Thor for protection. We adapted a ritual from the ADF site (http://www.adf.org/rituals/norse/general/house-warding.html) and performed it yesterday afternoon. We followed the core order of ritual (leaving out only the outdwellers portion).The offering for Thor was most of s 22-ounce homebrewed stout, minus only a small amount that we used for the waters of life.

At the end we used runes for an omen, asking three questions: What do the gods need from us during the storm? What warnings do they have for us, or preparations we have neglected? And
what blessings do they offer? The runes were: dagaz, algiz and ingwaz. Our interpretation: They need our trust; the warn us to take the storm seriously and use our knowledge of how it works to prepare; and they offer opportunities for learning and growing closer to them.

Reflecting on this inclines me to revise my essay on piety, which was essentially done. I am struck by how natural it felt to turn to Thor to petition for help regarding a major weather event. A year ago, it would have seemed like the "correct" thing to do as a practicing pagan, but I don't think it would have been as intuitive as it is now.

Pagan Every Day(?)

Teo Bishop writes compellingly here about the importance of a daily devotional practice. It's an argument I agree with, and yet find very hard to maintain.

My sense of nearness to the kindreds waxes and wanes and, perhaps unwisely, feels the farthest away when I am under stress. And I have been under stress the past few weeks, mostly due to a project at work, that has only this week mostly lifted.

I want a daily practice, or at least a weekly one. I still need to get seriously to work on developing mental discipline to fulfill the Dedicant Path requirement, but even more than that, I want to create real relationships with the kindreds. I feel that I am actually on the edge of that in a couple of cases, but my regularity is lacking.

And still, it's hard to do. It's hard to carve out a dependable time, to work around distractions, even though a simple devotional takes only 10 or 15 minutes. I do it sporadically, sometimes a couple of times in a week, sometimes only once every couple of weeks.

I frequently hear that paganism is a religion of practice more than belief, and yet, my practice falters. How does one break out of the rut?

Antlered Crown and Standing Stone

Not really an entry, just a note to point you to a free download of a new song by Damh the Bard, "Antlered Crown and Standing Stone." This is the title track of his new album, coming next month. Get it here:

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_14858534

Also, I'm proud to say that I put Damh together with Mark Helpsmeet for this wonderful two-part interview on the "Song of the Soul" podcast:

http://www.northernspiritradio.org/index.asp?command=programInfo&id=2