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Author Topic: Minimalist Structures  (Read 1555 times)

EclecticWheel

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Minimalist Structures
« on: March 27, 2019, 08:53:22 pm »
So, I am trying to find the words to express this well so that I can get some advice.

I am accustomed to structure in my religious practices both in my communal tradition and in my personal path.

I have arrived at a place in which I have decided that I am going to incorporate Hellenic powers into my personal practices.  (If anyone should wish to know how I did that I could explain better in a PM.)  The problem is that I need a structure for it because I don't want to mix the personal path I created with its cycles with Hellenic powers -- it wouldn't be wrong, per se, but it wouldn't work for many reasons, and I'm not going to do it that way.

I want to worship the Hellenic powers separately from my personal cycles.  I have been investigating reconstructionist calendars and calendars based on the more common Wheel of the Year, and I'm just not feeling that is right for me.  Not feeling it at all.

While I am accustomed to structure, I am not inflexible.  I am perfectly happy with communicating and honoring the other Powers I venerate and cooperate with  in informal ways, too.  And I'm thinking that maybe I need a side of my spirituality that is more free and spontaneous and personalized to balance out the structure and personal cycles I am used to.

I mean, these cycles change from day to day, liturgical season to season, and on certain holy days, and that's not even counting my communal path which also is very structured.  So maybe I need another side to my spirituality that is more free form, and I would like to explore that option with the Hellenic deities.

It's not that I'm shunning all structure because I will need a basic framework, and I'm working that out.  For daily rituals I'm perfectly happy to use some reconstructionist rites that I have.  I'm mainly thinking about the calendar -- I need a calendar, but a minimalist one. 

In the link below there is a calendar that someone has constructed for their own path which also requires minimal structure, and I'm thinking I might adapt that one to my purposes.  I'll just have to figure out how to incorporate the gods into it.  It might even be able to provide a structure for some of my more spontaneous devotions that I do related to my personal ritual cycles anyway.

I'm just wondering if anyone else takes a minimalist approach to ritual and especially calendars.  How does that work for you, and do you have any advice for me as I take on this endeavor?
My personal moral code:

Love wisely, and do what thou wilt.

EclecticWheel

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Re: Minimalist Structures
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2019, 08:54:52 pm »
So, I am trying to find the words to express this well so that I can get some advice.

I am accustomed to structure in my religious practices both in my communal tradition and in my personal path.

I have arrived at a place in which I have decided that I am going to incorporate Hellenic powers into my personal practices.  (If anyone should wish to know how I did that I could explain better in a PM.)  The problem is that I need a structure for it because I don't want to mix the personal path I created with its cycles with Hellenic powers -- it wouldn't be wrong, per se, but it wouldn't work for many reasons, and I'm not going to do it that way.

I want to worship the Hellenic powers separately from my personal cycles.  I have been investigating reconstructionist calendars and calendars based on the more common Wheel of the Year, and I'm just not feeling that is right for me.  Not feeling it at all.

While I am accustomed to structure, I am not inflexible.  I am perfectly happy with communicating and honoring the other Powers I venerate and cooperate with  in informal ways, too.  And I'm thinking that maybe I need a side of my spirituality that is more free and spontaneous and personalized to balance out the structure and personal cycles I am used to.

I mean, these cycles change from day to day, liturgical season to season, and on certain holy days, and that's not even counting my communal path which also is very structured.  So maybe I need another side to my spirituality that is more free form, and I would like to explore that option with the Hellenic deities.

It's not that I'm shunning all structure because I will need a basic framework, and I'm working that out.  For daily rituals I'm perfectly happy to use some reconstructionist rites that I have.  I'm mainly thinking about the calendar -- I need a calendar, but a minimalist one. 

In the link below there is a calendar that someone has constructed for their own path which also requires minimal structure, and I'm thinking I might adapt that one to my purposes.  I'll just have to figure out how to incorporate the gods into it.  It might even be able to provide a structure for some of my more spontaneous devotions that I do related to my personal ritual cycles anyway.

I'm just wondering if anyone else takes a minimalist approach to ritual and especially calendars.  How does that work for you, and do you have any advice for me as I take on this endeavor?

I want to come back and add that I have prayed to select deities about this endeavor.  The promptings I've received indicate that this is the direction I need to go in as far as I can ascertain.  So I am considering what the Powers think of all this.  From there I'll just have to go with experimentation and see how they respond.
My personal moral code:

Love wisely, and do what thou wilt.

EclecticWheel

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Re: Minimalist Structures
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2019, 08:57:58 pm »
In the link below there is a calendar that someone has constructed for their own path which also requires minimal structure, and I'm thinking I might adapt that one to my purposes.  I'll just have to figure out how to incorporate the gods into it.  It might even be able to provide a structure for some of my more spontaneous devotions that I do related to my personal ritual cycles anyway.

I forgot the link.  Here it is:

http://paganbloggers.com/chaospaganism/blog/2017/07/19/the-calendar-chaotica-a-more-in-depth-look/
My personal moral code:

Love wisely, and do what thou wilt.

EclecticWheel

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Re: Minimalist Structures
« Reply #3 on: March 29, 2019, 03:18:43 pm »
So, I am trying to find the words to express this well so that I can get some advice.

I am accustomed to structure in my religious practices both in my communal tradition and in my personal path.

I have arrived at a place in which I have decided that I am going to incorporate Hellenic powers into my personal practices.  (If anyone should wish to know how I did that I could explain better in a PM.)  The problem is that I need a structure for it because I don't want to mix the personal path I created with its cycles with Hellenic powers -- it wouldn't be wrong, per se, but it wouldn't work for many reasons, and I'm not going to do it that way.

I want to worship the Hellenic powers separately from my personal cycles.  I have been investigating reconstructionist calendars and calendars based on the more common Wheel of the Year, and I'm just not feeling that is right for me.  Not feeling it at all.

While I am accustomed to structure, I am not inflexible.  I am perfectly happy with communicating and honoring the other Powers I venerate and cooperate with  in informal ways, too.  And I'm thinking that maybe I need a side of my spirituality that is more free and spontaneous and personalized to balance out the structure and personal cycles I am used to.

I mean, these cycles change from day to day, liturgical season to season, and on certain holy days, and that's not even counting my communal path which also is very structured.  So maybe I need another side to my spirituality that is more free form, and I would like to explore that option with the Hellenic deities.

It's not that I'm shunning all structure because I will need a basic framework, and I'm working that out.  For daily rituals I'm perfectly happy to use some reconstructionist rites that I have.  I'm mainly thinking about the calendar -- I need a calendar, but a minimalist one. 

In the link below there is a calendar that someone has constructed for their own path which also requires minimal structure, and I'm thinking I might adapt that one to my purposes.  I'll just have to figure out how to incorporate the gods into it.  It might even be able to provide a structure for some of my more spontaneous devotions that I do related to my personal ritual cycles anyway.

I'm just wondering if anyone else takes a minimalist approach to ritual and especially calendars.  How does that work for you, and do you have any advice for me as I take on this endeavor?

I may have found a way forward.

In my personal worship I already follow the Christian calendar, but the themes and associations are re-interpreted on a more personal, individual level, so I went through my writings for those various seasons and holy days and began compiling some very general associations such as darkness, light, rent in pieces, and so forth.

The first day of each season will begin with a ritual associated with the themes, and depending on which gods I am drawn to work with and which themes apply I will honor that god or gods on that day and focus on them through that season, so for the season associated with being rent in pieces Dionysus could be worshiped for instance.

I am in the process of naming the seasons to fit with the themes, and I will have to decide on when the dates fall.  The season associated with light which is based on Christmas could fall on December 21st for example.  Some of the names and themes from the calendar I linked went well with what I came up with when I was re-interpreting (my already reinterpreted!) religious calendar.

Although the calendar I am working on is completely new and based on associations I've made that are important to me for worship itself I don't mind following the basic formats for offering sacrifice that I've already read about.  I already have access to lots of prayers to various gods which helps a lot in getting started, so for the first day of each season appropriate prayers and hymns can be offered to the god based on that god's characteristics and myths.

I'm not exactly sure this calendar is turning out to be minimalist like I was first asking about when I was trying to get some ideas flowing, but that's okay.  For household worship the basic reconstructionist formats I've found seem to be fine, but I just Could Not relate to a calendar based on Athens.

What I'm working on will be new, but with a familiar flavor that I can relate to based on the months I'm already used to, and even some of the seasons will take on at least some themes of the predominant seasons being celebrated around me.  In other words what I'm trying to accomplish is a ritual calendar based on my own locality and culture, something that I can relate to and that is also fitting for worship.

All of this came to me yesterday while I was pondering the topic in an excited agitated state.  I was so frustrated with the options I was finding.  I didn't want to use the Wheel of the Year, either.  I just don't relate to that cycle very well at all with its themes and associations.

I kept ranting aloud, and my inner dialogue voice kept saying, "Just do something new!" and "Just do it" but I didn't know how to go about it.  So I think this is the way forward.  Thanks for reading!
My personal moral code:

Love wisely, and do what thou wilt.

arete

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Re: Minimalist Structures
« Reply #4 on: March 31, 2019, 05:15:38 pm »
So, I am trying to find the words to express this well so that I can get some advice.

I am accustomed to structure in my religious practices both in my communal tradition and in my personal path.

I have arrived at a place in which I have decided that I am going to incorporate Hellenic powers into my personal practices.  (If anyone should wish to know how I did that I could explain better in a PM.)  The problem is that I need a structure for it because I don't want to mix the personal path I created with its cycles with Hellenic powers -- it wouldn't be wrong, per se, but it wouldn't work for many reasons, and I'm not going to do it that way.

I want to worship the Hellenic powers separately from my personal cycles.  I have been investigating reconstructionist calendars and calendars based on the more common Wheel of the Year, and I'm just not feeling that is right for me.  Not feeling it at all.

While I am accustomed to structure, I am not inflexible.  I am perfectly happy with communicating and honoring the other Powers I venerate and cooperate with  in informal ways, too.  And I'm thinking that maybe I need a side of my spirituality that is more free and spontaneous and personalized to balance out the structure and personal cycles I am used to.

I mean, these cycles change from day to day, liturgical season to season, and on certain holy days, and that's not even counting my communal path which also is very structured.  So maybe I need another side to my spirituality that is more free form, and I would like to explore that option with the Hellenic deities.

It's not that I'm shunning all structure because I will need a basic framework, and I'm working that out.  For daily rituals I'm perfectly happy to use some reconstructionist rites that I have.  I'm mainly thinking about the calendar -- I need a calendar, but a minimalist one. 

In the link below there is a calendar that someone has constructed for their own path which also requires minimal structure, and I'm thinking I might adapt that one to my purposes.  I'll just have to figure out how to incorporate the gods into it.  It might even be able to provide a structure for some of my more spontaneous devotions that I do related to my personal ritual cycles anyway.

I'm just wondering if anyone else takes a minimalist approach to ritual and especially calendars.  How does that work for you, and do you have any advice for me as I take on this endeavor?
Have you tried to use astrology/astronomy in the calendar? The 12 Olympians are associated with the signs.  :)

EclecticWheel

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Re: Minimalist Structures
« Reply #5 on: March 31, 2019, 05:35:24 pm »
Have you tried to use astrology/astronomy in the calendar? The 12 Olympians are associated with the signs.  :)

Thank you for the suggestion.  I am honoring one Olympian a month but still researching the signs.

For the main calendar I'm just observing the gods I'm drawn to.  I'm currently working out that part -- which gods for which seasons.  I've decided on some already.
My personal moral code:

Love wisely, and do what thou wilt.

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