Sometimes you need to shake things up

Like when I get the sense my shrines are too cluttered, and Things Have Got To Go. I am terrible with cluttered shrines. I feel like it hampers the energy, and if there’s too much going on, it just ends up feeling like a place I don’t want to be. This isn’t just the case for physical clutter, but also a shrine trying to be too many things at once.

If anyone’s wondering why this is over here, and not at Per Sebek, it’s because it pertains to the druidic shrine, and my growing sense that, if I’m going to do deipnon, and noumenia, a proper household shrine is needed, and the initial isolation of a little corner of the shrine for that purpose ended up feeling too crowded with the rest of it. So something had to happen.

And yes, I know, the High Day stuff hasn’t been posted here yet. I’ve been busy. But I’ll try to get it written up tomorrow, just so my High Day collection is complete.

But I also think this is not a bad time to post about this, considering I’m in the process of setting up a ritual calendar for my druidry that’s more than just High Days, and the evolution of my shrines is entwined with that. It’s the practical side of actually doing ritual as much as it is making space for the important things. So I hope this is somewhat interesting to you, and gives you an insight into how I’m building my druidic/Hellenic practice.

Druidic shrine update

I’ve been changing up my shrine over the past month or so, and I feel like it’s time to do a proper write-up for it, since that’s part of our DP documentation anyway, and then I don’t need to worry about it. Also, I promised to post photos over at Per Sebek, so I’ll cross-post this back over there in a bit, just for anyone else who wants to see it.

I’ve spent the day setting up my DP documentation file, so I can begin getting everything ready, and adding to it as I progress. It’s not necessarily a way to procrastinate getting ready for the coming High Day, which is my least favourite 5eva, but it is after 4:30pm on a Sunday afternoon, and I am only just getting on to it. So there you go.

(Also, I have an ear infection rn that is making everything sound strange. There are bells everywhere where there should be strings or guitars and it’s weird as fuck. Also, everyone sounds tinny, and/or on helium. I mean, my hearing is clear, it’s not fuzzy or blocked, but man. I am so over this, negl.)

I have no inspiration or care for this High Day. I’ve never liked Beltane. Too heteronormative. Also, spring is the worst. I hate spring. This is my least favourite time of year, and my least favourite High Day. Although. Hmm. I might take the suggestion, from the DP manual, to mark Thargelia, the birthday of Apollon and Artemis, as a way to get away from the traditional symbolism associated with Beltane that I absolutely hate. Ooh. Might also do it on the 31st, on the eve of NaNoWriMo, and get Apollon (and Hermes)(and the Mousai?) to bless my writing efforts over the coming month. Extra special offering of rum to Hermes, I think, since it’s His story I’ll be working on. There. That sounds like a much better idea. K, brb taking out all the Beltane ranting from my drafted High Day essay. (I feel better now.) (I’ll post it here when it’s done and not full of Beltane ranting wooooo.)

(Alsoalso, hmm. If it’s nearly NaNotiem, is it also nearly Pride March tiem? Is it even still running in November? I can’t even remember. Must check that.)

Anyway. Enough of my rambling and parenthetical asides. What I actually wanted to do with this entry was post below what I’ve written up regarding my shrine for my DP file. I may edit it down further when I get closer to submitting, and perhaps revise the whole thing some more, but this is it, for now. /~1000 words later. I tried to be brief? In my defence? XD /writes too much.

Druidic shrines and first oaths

I really, really need a better camera. I hope you can at least see some of the details of the shrine as it stands. Hekate is on the left with the Well. The centre has Hermes, Hekate, and Hestia the flame. The right has Artemis, and the Tree. Also, you can see my offerings before the rite. Rose water for Hekate, bay leaves for Hermes, grains for Hestia, a bottle of rum, and a dish of olive oil for Artemis.

I will admit it has taken me about three months to get around to doing this particular exercise. I’m following the DP Through the Wheel of the Year schedule, just because I find it a more useful guide in getting the work done, even if I’m not particularly sticking to the actual schedule of getting it done week by week. I also wanted to take my time with the oath as well, because I don’t take oaths to gods lightly, and I wanted to make sure I was making an oath I could keep. I also wanted to make sure I had time to figure out how I wanted to structure the ritual itself, and how to set up the altar, as I’d rearranged it several times. But it all came together in the end, and I decided to combine the hallowing of the shrine with the oath, just because it felt right to do it that way.

I have to admit, I was a bit surprised to find myself using a Hellenic hearth for my DP. I had pencilled in Saxon when I first decided to start working on it at last, because I felt i had more ancestral connections there, and I wanted to work more with Woden and Thunor and the rest of the Saxon gods. Clearly, Hermes had other ideas. Hermes nudged me towards using a Hellenic hearth, as it happens, so I’m totally blaming Him for that decision. At least I’ll get to explore the Hellenic gods some more. I have a feeling Athena might turn up at some point, but don’t quote me on that one. I don’t think She’s watching me necessarily, but I can just feel Her on the fringes, every now and then, and I wonder about inviting Her in at some point.

I’m still figuring out a lot of what I want my devotions to look like. I’ve got a few ideas in mind for a noumenia rite, but I want to sit with that some more and decide how I want to do that. It’s not a rite that I can do on the road, so I want another option for that. But I also have a busy month of work coming up in July, so I’m willing to let it sit and simmer for a while until I know what I want to do, and how best to implement this in a way that is workable for me. I don’t mind working Monday to Friday, but it does cut into my ritual time, so I might need to devise some short and simple rites, just so I can still do them, even if it only takes ten minutes and uses some water and incense and a candle or something idk.

Anyway. Under the cut is a better detail of the shrine. I’ll post the text of the rite I did, including my oath, in another post, if anyone’s interested in seeing that.