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Author Topic: Spiritual "Down Time"?  (Read 2937 times)

AlisonLeighLilly

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Spiritual "Down Time"?
« on: August 09, 2011, 09:44:38 pm »
It seems like this time of year - between Lughnasadh and the autumnal equinox  -always ends up leaving me feeling "burnt out," literally and metaphorically, from the summer's activities.  Sometimes I just want to take some time out to "be spiritual" without all the bells and whistles of ritual, altered/meditative states of consciousness and all those usual and various spiritual practices.

So I'm wondering - what do other people do when they need some spiritual down time? What activities rejuvenate and replenish you spiritually when you're feeling maxed out on energy and need to recharge? Do you find it more difficult to connect with your gods or your sense of the sacred when you don't have enough energy or focus for your usual rituals and practices? What do you do to stay in touch when that happens?

--Ali

Nyktipolos

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Re: Spiritual "Down Time"?
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2011, 10:21:52 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;11863


 
I think it's a common thing actually, especially if you're throwing yourself head-first in doing a lot of spiritual work. One person I know has her down-time in the summer and her up-time in the winter (when a lot of her festivals and spirits become much more active). Another person I know sort of has a reverse, although she does spiritual work year-round, during the winter time it is much more home-bound, while during the summer she does much more outside work. So er.. maybe not the same thing. :)

Personally I don't have one at the moment, although I do consider the winter months as my "up-time". I suspect I could figure it out more if I did more outward practices. :)
"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." - Sarah Williams
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AlisonLeighLilly

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Re: Spiritual "Down Time"?
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2011, 10:44:35 am »
Quote from: Nyktipolos;11868
I think it's a common thing actually, especially if you're throwing yourself head-first in doing a lot of spiritual work. One person I know has her down-time in the summer and her up-time in the winter (when a lot of her festivals and spirits become much more active). Another person I know sort of has a reverse, although she does spiritual work year-round, during the winter time it is much more home-bound, while during the summer she does much more outside work. So er.. maybe not the same thing. :)

Personally I don't have one at the moment, although I do consider the winter months as my "up-time". I suspect I could figure it out more if I did more outward practices. :)

 
It just occurred to me that maybe these cycles of activity and rest have some astrological influence as well. I have a kind of annual rhythm where I seem to gain momentum around the time of the solstices and then ride that wave for a while, before reaching a point where I'm wiped out and need to recover (usually in the time after Lughnasadh/Imbolc leading up to the equinoxes). That's reflected in my chart where I have some planet pile-ups going on in Gemini and Sagittarius. Hmmm.... I also have a chart that's heavily weighted towards fire and air, so it would make sense that the warmer months leave me feeling especially exhausted (after an especially "up" time), whereas in the winter that's mitigated somewhat.

I'd be really interested to see what your friends have in their charts - I wonder if this is just a coincidence or if it's actually correlated somehow.

But thinking about it did give me an idea: If there is some astrological stuff going on, then maybe it would help to supplement all the fire and air energy with some earth and water. (In the colder half of the year, my "peak" is followed by some coasting time through earth and water signs where I don't have any planets, which might also explain why winter burnt-out doesn't seem to affect me as much.)

So - water and earth ideas? Maybe a weekend of camping on the shores of a gorgeous mountain lake? Ah, I wish.... I'll have to think about this some more.

--Ali

Jenett

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Re: Spiritual "Down Time"?
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2011, 07:13:18 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;11863

So I'm wondering - what do other people do when they need some spiritual down time? What activities rejuvenate and replenish you spiritually when you're feeling maxed out on energy and need to recharge? Do you find it more difficult to connect with your gods or your sense of the sacred when you don't have enough energy or focus for your usual rituals and practices? What do you do to stay in touch when that happens?


One thing to think about is if there are seasonal cycles in other parts of your life - for example, as someone who worked for 10 years at a school (with summers off), summer has long been the slow lazy relaxing time when my schedule goes wandering away. And in contrast, fall and winter have been the incredibly busy times of my life.

The new job is still in an educational setting, but I'm working year round, and I'm going to be interested to see how that changes. (Obviously, things are a lot quieter over the summer, but there's still the ebb and flow of student calendars, even though I'm going to work every day.)

In general, when I hit the ebb stages, I look for ways that don't take a lot of attention to keep in touch with spirituality (beyond whatever group or community commitments I have, of course.)  PLaylists, taking some time to take a deep breath when I walk outside, before I get on with my day, reading stuff that's spiritually intriguing (but not necessarily a lot of formal work, that kind of thing.)
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alexmegami

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Re: Spiritual "Down Time"?
« Reply #4 on: August 10, 2011, 11:41:53 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;11976
I also have a chart that's heavily weighted towards fire and air, so it would make sense that the warmer months leave me feeling especially exhausted (after an especially "up" time), whereas in the winter that's mitigated somewhat.

(snip)

But thinking about it did give me an idea: If there is some astrological stuff going on, then maybe it would help to supplement all the fire and air energy with some earth and water. (In the colder half of the year, my "peak" is followed by some coasting time through earth and water signs where I don't have any planets, which might also explain why winter burnt-out doesn't seem to affect me as much.)

 
Interesting. While I have a fairly even spread of signs (4 earth, 4 fire, 4 air, 2 water), I have a ton of Mutable signs (3 cardinal, 2 fixed, 9 mutable).

By that theory, I should have higher energy in Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces (so late May-June, late August-September, late November-December, late February-March). I would say the first three are so (I tend to get more energy when summer or at least warmer weather shows up finally, right around my birthday, and leading up to Christmas), but not so much with the cold rainy days of Pisces (although one of my SOs is a Pisces, so there's that).

Interestingly, I don't feel that I'm an especially mutable personality, for all that Mutable energy hanging around...

I get my most burnout in the winter months, but that also might be SAD, low cold tolerance, and/or insufficient vitamin D for my poor Canadian self. :P

sora131500

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Re: Spiritual "Down Time"?
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2011, 04:37:37 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;11863
It seems like this time of year - between Lughnasadh and the autumnal equinox  -always ends up leaving me feeling "burnt out," literally and metaphorically, from the summer's activities.  Sometimes I just want to take some time out to "be spiritual" without all the bells and whistles of ritual, altered/meditative states of consciousness and all those usual and various spiritual practices.

So I'm wondering - what do other people do when they need some spiritual down time? What activities rejuvenate and replenish you spiritually when you're feeling maxed out on energy and need to recharge? Do you find it more difficult to connect with your gods or your sense of the sacred when you don't have enough energy or focus for your usual rituals and practices? What do you do to stay in touch when that happens?

--Ali


I was actually looking for something like this :) Thanks for making this post :)

Love and Light <3

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