Liturgy Practicum 1: Domestic Cult Practice in ADF, Question 4, Entry 2

Week beginning 08/21/06 - Finding My Place

The week behind me was amazingly fast-paced. It began with a mad rush to complete my work at my dayjob, involved packing and preparation for Summerland, and picking up Erien and Monika at the airport.

Through it all, though, I kept up as much practice as I could. This week, though I am not happy with it, I felt that the rush to complete things caused me to not do some things I wanted to, in particular add on meal-time devotionals or prayers.

I thought very carefully about who my "household" is, as this particular requirement is about our "domestic" practice. While I have a roommate, she doesn't seem willing to engage in these activities with me. I would like to ask in the future if she would be interested in entering into a ritual arrangement with me, but given her previous discussions of my religion, I am hesitant to bring it up.

I have also been thinking about my current morning devotional. I do not honestly feel that it is inadequate, but it is silent and so prayers, when they occur, seem to just sort of "happen" rather than occur deliberately. The outline of my current practice can be described mostly in actions:

1. Come before my altar and place my triquetra necklace in the center of the altar (if it isn't there from the evening devotional).
2. Light the three votive candles that represent fire on my altar.
3. Place my feet shoulder-length apart, and hold my hands palm up, my forearms parallel with the floor and my elbows against my sides (relaxed, not held tightly).
4. Curl my pinkie and ring-finger in toward the palm of my hand (usually not touching) and point the tips of my thumbs generally out from my hand at a comfortable angle.
5. Tilt my head back and stand for a moment in that position, opening myself mentally to the Powers.
6. Put on my necklace, reopen my mind for a moment, and extinguish the flames.

If prayer occurs, it occurs during one of those moments of being "open."

The primary difference between this and my evening devotional is that my evening devotional has me removing the necklace and placing it on the altar, rather than putting it on.

I think that this particular devotional, while it is good enough for me, is less than I could do. "Why not Excellence?" I suppose, is what is nagging at me here. I would like to take the time over the next week (presuming my life slows down a bit more) to re-think this devotional and where I am in it.

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