To Walk a Pagan Path: Practical Spirituality for Every Day Read Online Free PDF

with the earth, so
    sacralize your tropical fish hobby! For a Hellenic Pagan, an
    aquarium can be a place to commune and speak with the
    naiads (water nymphs). A Roman Pagan might offer a prayer
    to Volturnus, god of the waters, as he feeds his fish. A Welsh
    Pagan with a saltwater aquarium could do the same, pray-
    ing instead to Dylan Eil Ton. Exactly what you do and which
    spirits you connect with will of course depend on your spiri-
    tual focus. You could go so far as to decorate your aquarium
    with a theme that reflects your spiritual path.
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    seven steps to a new way of living
    Or do you play a musical instrument? Before you play,
    ask Apollo or Hathor or the Muses for inspiration. Give an
    offering as you ask for inspiration. Integrate your passion for music with your spiritual life. Let your private performance
    be your offering when you come before your gods. The effort you invest in a musical performance is as worthy as the effort
    you would invest in any other offering.
    Any worthwhile pursuit can be a sacred act.
    Step 5: Observe Regular Húsles
    As a Saxon Pagan, I observe a húsel once each month near the full of the moon. Húsel is an Old English word meaning
    “sacrifice”, and is simply a more formal offering usually given to a specific spirit. Some Saxons call this a faining, which simply means a celebration. Whatever your path, there is proba-
    bly a similar custom of formal worship, although it will have
    a different name and be observed in a different way. For the
    Wiccan this time of worship is known as an esbat. For an
    Ásatrúar it is a blót. On the day after the new moon, Hellen-
    ic Pagans give offerings to the Agathos Daemon, a spirit of
    good fortune.
    It might be argued that these are all different kinds of ritu-
    al, and that is true, but they share several defining traits. They are more formal than a person’s ordinary devotionals, they
    recur at specific times (often monthly) and they are often more likely to be observed with a group rather than by yourself.
    Húsles, esbats, blóts and other similarly recurring obser-
    vances further ensure our connection with Spirit. (For the
    sake of convenience I am going to use the term húsel here,
    because húsles are what I celebrate and it is the term I am
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    seven steps to a new way of living
    most comfortable with. Feel free to substitute whatever
    recurring observance is appropriate for your own spiritual
    path.) To understand the importance of this deeper connec-
    tion, think of how you interact with your friends and close
    relatives. On a daily basis you may only connect with friends
    by an occasional phone call or email, but periodically you get
    together to share quality time. The húsel is the quality time
    you spend with your gods, your ancestors and with the indig-
    enous spirits around you.
    The húsel also takes much longer than a personal devo-
    tion. If celebrated with a group—and, at least for Saxon
    Pagans, this is the desired way to do it—the ritual itself is
    usually preceded or followed by feasting and fellowship. It is
    not unusual for a húsel to go on for hours, throughout the
    day and well into the evening. The recurring observances of
    some other Pagan paths may not be quite as extensive, but
    they almost always require more time than the average per-
    son spends at his or her altar on a typical day.
    Observing regular húsles (or esbats or blóts or druid
    moons) is similar to the other steps you have taken to this
    point in that you are establishing a new habit. Setting aside
    time for our gods is not an instinctive behavior. Setting aside time is a pattern we must develop and nurture, whether it is
    the sacred time we are creating for our daily devotions, or
    whether it is the time we devote to a húsel.
    Step 6: Observe the Holy Tides
    The majority of Pagans today celebrate or at least recog-
    nize eight seasonal holidays spaced equidistant, or nearly so,
    throughout the year. This Neo-Pagan calendar