30 Days of Deity Devotion: Day 9

Balance of Body, Mind and Spirit

As I mentioned back on Day 4 of 30 DODD, performing devotion to a goddess like Artemis requires embodied practices, in my humble opinion. She is into physical pursuits; though not competitive sports like many of the other Olympian deities. This is not the sort of Goddess who lounges around the house.

"Callimachus made frequent reference to Artemis' skill with the bow in his hymns to her: 'whose study is the bow and the shooting of hares and the spacious dance and sport upon the mountains'." *

How can one perform devotion to Artemis solely in one's living room? Surely, there are times when this is all that is possible. I doubt that Artemis, or any deity for that matter, would spurn any prayers in this overstimulated digital age. But this cannot be the sum of one's life, again, in my opinion.

This would be like worshipping Ares while holding the ideal of pacifism. Or perhaps an aquaphobic devotee of Poseidon. Does not compute! Artemis is all about the wilderness. Go outside and seek Her there. Feel Her with you when you draw your bow. Know She is watching when you hunt your prey. Follow Her footsteps as you climb the mountains. This is the way to know Artemis.

The ancient Greeks also believed in the balance of body, mind and spirit. So far as I know, they pioneered the concept of holism - treating the whole being. Early physician philosophers like Hippocrates and Galen** wrote extensively about this concept. They believed that preserving health was even more important than treating disease, but it went beyond that. To be a good and whole person, one must strengthen the body with exercise, exercise the mind with learning and enliven the spirit with music***.

This idea strikes a deep and powerful chord with me, especially in light of my martial path. Eastern martial arts philosophers have the same idea - that to be a warrior or complete martial artist, one must of course have a strong body. But more than that, one must learn about the world and the arts as well.

Looking back at my life so far, I'd have to say that this is what I've been up to the whole time. There's been a whole lot of studying history, philosophy and random topics. A whole lot of training my body. A whole lot of music. A whole lot of expanding my consciousness with spiritual practices.

Certainly this was my intention when I finally got to study martial arts. I got really into the philosophy, studying the Book of Five Rings, the Art of War and classics of that nature. My goal was to become a complete warrior, capable with a variety of techniques, weapons and strategy, but also skilled in intellectual and artistic pursuits.

But recently…I realized that life and relationships have gotten me off track at times. This cannot be. Especially in light of my recent ordination, I need to stay on top of this. I need to be in good shape. I need to make time to backpack and do some mountaineering. I need to not only practice self-care, I also need to set a good example for others.

Artemis deserves no less of her priestess.


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*Artemis: Virgin Goddess of the Sun and Moon, Sorita D'Este; Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis

**Galen Class II - On the Preservation of Hygiene
 
***Plato's Republic makes many references to this, saying that one must study gymnastics (physical exercise), hunting, philosophy, music, general intellectual learning and the virtues of justice, wisdom, temperance and courage. Please note that Plato's Republic was written after the peak of Artemis worship, but his work was based on earlier philosophers and was not a new idea.

In the Most Unlikely of Places: Freecell

If you've never played it, Freecell is a form of solitaire, except all the cards are spread out, face up, in vertical columns. You have four open "cells" at the top, which are used to shift cards around. The goal is the same as solitaire - untangle all 52 cards and pile them up by suit and number, in order.

It’s also a pretty powerful spiritual practice.      

Freecell is teaching me to work with what I have in front of me. The game has many moves, some of which seem like progress, and some that seem like backtracking. It’s not linear. I cannot simply do what I’d like to do. The card I want is buried beneath three cards for which I have no use. I have to deal with a chaotic and seemingly arbitrary jumble. Each tiny step leading me further along my circuitous route…just like life.

Just like real life, there are no jokers, no get out of jail free cards. There’s just raw material and a little bit of wiggle room. You have to shift it around until the chaos is transformed into order. If you fail? That’s it…or you can hit retry. That too, might be like real life, but none of us really know that answer. But back to Freecell.

The game has a certain flow, yet it’s also balanced by longer termed strategy than simply putting a card anywhere it can fit. Looking ahead a few moves, that’s the key. But then, one can easily overbalance in this direction and take on too much. Unbridled ambition doesn’t work in Freecell. It tends to just eat up your free cells and leave you a crucial one move away from perfection.

It’s also showing me how it doesn’t matter if I can see where my step will land. The most unlikely moves can sometimes lead to the most brilliant streak of flowing, easy scores. It seems like such a bad idea, but I have to do something. So I take a chance…and then, eureka!

Freecell reveals my blind spots. I never knew it, but sometimes I am dyslexic with numbers or colors. I think I'm seeing clearly, but the reality is different. How like life, how like Yoga!

Sidebar: a Yoga teacher I studied with recently told me that asana (yoga poses) reveals imbalance and asana corrects imbalance.

Koans everywhere!

Anyhoo. I find that I make a lot of mistakes. I think I’m on a roll, maybe I’m just a wee bit too excited about that fact and BOOM! Saw the color wrong, went too fast or overlooked one crucial thing. At other times, frustration will lead me to act recklessly. 

I also find that I’m capable of some brilliant flow. I get into a fugue state and it becomes effortless. One move leads to the next in a harmonious rhythm. It feels the same as when I'm in an altered state creating artwork, when my martial arts mojo is strong or when I'm paddling well on a river. Flow is a whole other topic…I'll write more about that later.

To sum up, it's helping me:

1. Use what I have.
2. Take one step at a time.
3. Look a few moves ahead.
4. Balance effort and non-effort.
5. Learn from blind spots.
6. Flow.
7. Trust.

Lately, things have been tumultuous in my life. There is a lot of intensive transformation going on. I have been playing a lot of Freecell, and I've been taking a lot of steps to manifest my dreams. 

Give it a try, and as always, tell me about your experience! Are there any mundane seeming things you use as a spiritual practice?

Financial Security: A Spiritual Journey

Historically, I have not had a great relationship with money. In younger years, I would say things like “I hate money” or “money is the root of all evil”. At that time, I would do the minimum necessary to keep the logistics of my financial life going, always with a certain grimace of distaste. As an artist and a healer, I’ve always wished that I could not have to deal with money, and get paid in things like chickens, vegetables or crafts. Or hugs! Somehow, money seemed dirty and not suited to the purity of my pursuits.

These days, I have realized that money is just energy in a neutral form. It’s neither positive or negative in its own right.

I also had to face the fact that my career, while altruistic, is just as worthy of earning me a decent living as anyone else’s. More than that, people benefit from and value things more when they pay for the service provided to them! Most importantly, I have valuable skills and deserve to be compensated for them.

So earning money is a good thing[i]. Having my financial affairs in order is a good thing. I’ve been working on it for some time now, but now is the time to build a cushion of savings[ii]. Earlier this year, I saw an image on facebook of the 52 Week Savings Challenge. Either I didn’t feel like I had enough money to save at the time, or I just lost it in the shuffle.

Then I came across a blog post on witchesandpagans.com – Pagan Savings Challenge. [insert tire squealing sound]

Now this is interesting. This author took the 52 Week Savings Challenge and added in a spiritual component: save money as a way to raise energy to work your spell or as an offering.

Sound familiar? The Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge sucked me in the same way.

Really, both of these challenges are about the same thing: understanding that every act, no matter how seemingly mundane, is magical and part of your spiritual practice. There is no separation between the spiritual and the everyday.

In fact, the everyday, mundane details of living are perhaps even more important than our perceived spiritual or religious acts. For what does it matter if we have fancy altars if we don’t have food? How is it helpful to throw an elaborate ritual if you haven’t paid the bills? Everything has to be in balance for an organism to function properly.

I have studied Buddhism for a long time, but only now am I starting to understand this concept. The mundane details of life represent thousands of choices a day. What will the sum of your choices look like? Will it reflect an attitude of love and beauty? Or will it look slapdash, scattered and cluttered? More and more, I make choices that reflect love, order and beauty.

But I digress - back to saving money. The 52 Week Savings Challenge plan is that you save an increasing amount each week. If you follow that plan, you’ll end up with $1378 at the end of the year.

Since I’m self-employed, my income fluctuates. My plan is to save whatever amount I can each week. So if one week I can’t save at all, it will be balanced out by another week when I saved more than the plan. Also, I’d like to contribute more to the plan than it calls for overall so that I can reach a goal of $2000. I am putting the money in my general savings account, but to be sure that I don’t touch this particular money, I am also keeping an Excel spreadsheet of my contributions and the running total.

I also came into the challenge on Week 7, so I contributed $30 – enough to cover the previous weeks ($28) rounded up to an even number.  As of Sunday, I am current with 9 weeks of contributions.

The Pagan Savings Challenge suggests setting an intention for this money. What will it be used for, or will it be used at all? My intention is to have a safety cushion, so this money will not be used. This is an experiment for me. Can I, as an entrepreneur still in the startup phase of her business, save this much money without using it? What will this do to my cash flow during the year? Is this workable? Do I need a separate fund for emergencies? Where will this exercise take me?

In an ideal world, I would have all my bills paid on time, a cushion of savings for use in only dire emergencies, a savings fund for large unplanned expenses[iii], money allocated for large planned expenses and a comfortable margin of excess funds in my checking account. I would also have some type of IRA or investments for my elderhood[iv].

Looks like I answered my own questions. The 52 Week/Pagan Savings Challenge 2014 will be my Step 1 to the above picture of financial stability[v].

Goddess and God, aid me in this financial endeavor. Help me to build self-discipline to lay the foundation for a secure and stable future. Bless me with a thriving business and financial abundance. I am grateful for all of the abundance and blessings that you have already granted and for those already on their way to me. So mote it be!

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[i] In moderation. I do believe that the desire for money in excess of what you actually need is a serious illness that is creating a huge problem in the world today.

[ii] Again, as it happens, but that’s another story.

[iii] Vehicle breakdowns, emergency room visit, etc.

[iv] I have no plans to retire and do nothing at some arbitrary age – that way lies early decrepitude! But most likely, I will slow down somewhat…or so I’m told. At some point, I’d also like to save money to pay for my funerary expenses. I know it’s a long way away, but I want my affairs in order warrior style. I could go tomorrow, and I want to be ready for that. Stay tuned for another post about estate planning, yet another project on my list.

[v] It all goes well. Plan may have to be adjusted as I go.

Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge

While doing some blog networking, I came across the Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge over on Pagan Health and Fitness. What a great idea - a spiritually focused fitness challenge to get us through the dark winter months! 

This challenge comes at a perfect time for me. Though I love winter weather, the winter months are always the most personally challenging ones for me. The days are short. Holiday stress gets me down. Year end professional organization fees, taxes and other recurring expenses loom. Family dramas ensue. Business is often a bit slower. And did I mention that the days are short? 

Yes, even a Yoga instructor, outdoor guide, backpacker and adventurer like me has tough days! I find that having goals and some form of structure helps me get through rough patches. I have an ongoing Yoga practice, spiritual community, a personal spiritual practice and plenty of active hobbies. But I like the idea of having a little boost. A bit of extra motivation. What better way than to join this challenge and tell all of you about it? 

Besides all of the good reasons to do this challenge, I really liked the author's ideas about balancing health using the five elements. As a follower of an Earth-based spiritual path, balance and the elements are integral part of my worldview.

One thing I see a lot of New Age or Pagan practitioners do is to focus on their spiritual practice while ignoring their health, home life and/or financial situation. In my opinion as a holistic health practitioner, this is a risky proposition. How can you meditate if your body hurts? How can you live a life of abundance if you don't have your finances in order? How can you have positive relationships when your emotional baggage is not sorted out? Balance. Balance is key. Each element of our lives must be reasonably healthy and in balance with the others for everything to work harmoniously.

So here we go. The challenge ends March 19. Between now and then I will post once a week on Sundays to report out on my experiences. After the challenge ends, I won't stop my practices - this is life, daily practice! As the Yoga sutras say "this practice becomes well-grounded when continued with reverent devotion and without interruption over a long period of time."

Traditional Goals and Plan

Weight

Good thing yoga pants are stretchy. I haven't weighed myself in years, but I can tell that I have put on a few eggnog and pasta pounds over the holidays. My goal is to fit into my smallest clothes comfortably.

Fitness

My goal is to be in good enough shape to begin teaching martial arts again. To be fit enough to backpack for a week at a time again. To be fit enough to do handstand pushups. My plan is to continue with Yoga and hiking, then add in martial arts training routines - all several times a week. Also, be better about my knee rehab exercises. My knees are fine when I'm in good shape, but I have patellar tracking syndrome. That just means that I have to keep my quadriceps balanced in order to have good knee health. I get slack about it sometimes. Also, more archery.

Diet

My goal is to eat clean 90% of the time. I eat pretty healthy most of the time, but certainly was off track over the holidays. It's gotten better again now, but I need to stay on top of it. To me, this means: plenty of fruits & vegetables, avoid processed foods, lots of water, low amounts of dairy, reasonable portions of healthy meats, very low sugar and plenty of whole grains. I will save splurging on snack food, rich food, sugary drinks and desserts for holiday celebrations and one day a week of reasonable cheating. I will pack healthy snacks to stave off any low blood sugar incidents.

5 Elements Goals

Air

Air rules the intellect, communication and of course, breathing. My plan is to practice pranayama (yogic breathing exercises) every day, to continue my intellectual studies and set healthy personal & work boundaries. I will also incorporate more chanting into my practice.

Fire

Fire rules strength, passion, will and the creative force (qi, ki, prana). My plan is to continue my daily Yoga practice, and also attend at least one challenging weekly group class. I will exercise my creativity with writing, art and music. I will play music in public once each month. I will continue to pursue my passions with gusto!

Water

Water rules the emotions and our intuition. My plan is to listen to my intuition, honor and accept my emotions, honor the yogic principles, continue my personal healing work and of course, stay well hydrated. I also pledge to spend more time on the water this year!

Earth

Earth rules our bodies. To me, honoring the element of Earth is caring for the temple of my body each and every day. That means getting enough sleep, eating mindfully, wearing fun clothes that make me feel good, practicing safe body mechanics while working, receiving regular massage therapy, and getting routine healthcare. I also have a goal of incorporating more Ayurvedic daily practices into my regime (more on that later).

Spirit

Spirit is the element that binds everything together. Spirit is the energy that animates us and connects all beings to one another. My plan is to continue my spiritual practice and to continue to integrate a spiritual awareness into all aspects of life. I will continue my daily practices of Yoga, meditation, gratitude and morning devotionals.

So there you have it. Looking at the list, it seems pretty ambitious. On the other hand, it also looks a lot like my normal life! Care to join me, anyone?