Devotion, One Season In

 

Hello, dear readers!

The equinox has passed, which means that I am into the second quarter of my personal theme of the year. I have shared a little bit of detail about my work in the first quarter in the Discord associated with my Patreon (if you support my Patreon, you have the option of also joining the discord server through that, by linking your Discord and Patreon accounts), for those who may be interested. For this second quarter, however, I probably won't share as much in the way of specifics.

Deity relationships are quite personal, and I have found so far that I am most comfortable talking about them with folks who I am close to in community, and not so much on the general internet. I am someone who has various circles of community - followers online who I might not know at all; Patreon supporters who I have a chance to get to know a little more personally through more regular chatting, but still might not know well; community in my tradition, who I work with regularly online or in person and know quite well; and close friends. As such, there are different groups of people with whom I share different things. As this is a general internet space, I will stick to general practice, as I always have.

I wanted to share here the list of associations I've come up with for myself to work toward figuring out or creating for myself with each deity. I may not check every box for each one, but this has been a fun way for me to explore these relationships. When we search online we might commonly find information about deities such as the animals, plants, food and beverages, and areas of influence associated with each one. Some of the things on my list are those types of things, and others go beyond that. I can look up some of these things online as a starting point, but there is also the step of actually utilizing them, or, or finding substitutions and alternatives where the info online might not work for my personal practice and what I have available.

Let's get to the list, and then I'll share more of my thoughts about the process so far!

2024 Personal Practice Theme: Devotion

Hello, dear readers,

Reclaiming Tradition communities often work with an annual theme or story, around which to structure the work of the year in ritual, skill shares, and so on. Not everything has to fit the theme, but it's a way to help guide things and explore a certain area over a given time period. Years ago, I also began working with a personal intention for the year, based on ideas shared by T. Thorn Coyle, who wrote about choosing intentions rather than making new year "resolutions." I have done a yearly intention on and off for about eight years now -- about as long as I've been involved in Reclaiming.

Now I'm part of multiple Reclaiming communities, which will have different themes and intentions for 2024. But aside from all this, I have gotten a nudge from the Universe to have a personal theme. It is kind of also an intention, but it is a broader theme for my work of the year. And, it is a sneaky one for my indecisive and ADHD focus issues, because it is a theme that gets to change focus every few months!

The theme is...

Deepening Devotion to Deities

If you've been following all of my content that I've ever shared, anywhere, over the past few years (I really doubt most people fall into this category lol), then you might know that the topic of devotion has been a big question for me for a while.

Read on to hear more about the path that lead me here, and what I'm planning for this themed work. Maybe you want to do something similar, maybe not for the year, but in general at any point in your practice!