"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so." - Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
In this age of the smartphone, I no longer wear a watch. Even before the smartphone, I haven't always worn one. Oh, I remember having a swatch back in the day. And I have a bit of a fascination with diving timepieces. Though thinking back, I was most fascinated with the idea of knowing what time it was in the different areas dear to my heart. And of course, the phases of the moon. But really, my goal in life is to live in such a way that I don't have to know what time it is.
My happiest times are timeless. When I am lucky enough to have the time to go backpacking, my sense of time is in harmony with nature. I get up when it becomes light, I eat when I'm hungry, I rest when I'm tired, and I make camp when there are two fists of sun left in the sky. When it gets dark, I make a fire. Sometimes I go to bed early, and other times, I stay up to watch the stars and spin out speculative ideas, dreams, plans and other such malarkey.
My real life at this point is quite scheduled. Each year, as I build my business, it becomes more and more regimented. The two weekdays that used to be my "free time" have even been encroached upon. In fact, this year, I'm working to reign my schedule back in. I need to spend my time on the most productive work activities and leave myself ample unstructured time. This unstructured time is rarely spent in idleness; mostly, it ends up being used for business administration, neglected housework, writing or artwork.
Meditation and Yoga are what allow me to do the things that I do. The practice of meditation, especially, acts as a reset button for the nervous system. It breaks the stress cycle by giving us the experience of timelessness. I think it also works because we are withdrawing our senses from the outside world, but that's my own theory.
This year, I'm also going to start turning off and putting away my phone. I've always been a believer in setting healthy boundaries. Keeping defined office hours has always been a goal of mine. The reality, though, is that I have gotten sucked in to our instant gratification, always on, instant response culture. I've been known to work all night, to stay up late and get up early to work. This has definitely been to my detriment. I've been battling fatigue and burnout for some time now, and I'm taking action to correct this situation. This weekend, for example, I have put a moratorium on work and social media.
So timelessness in my daily life is meditation, keeping office hours, limiting screen time and spending plenty of time outdoors.
In ritual…this is an interesting question. I've never given any thought to how I use time in ritual. Generally, I focus more on what needs to happen in sacred space, rather than how long it takes. My experience has been that it all works out. When I enter ritual headspace, things flow in the timeless time of the Gods. I don't think about it, or plan it.
I do like to celebrate full moons and sabbats close to their astronomical time. I think there is a special magic in celebrating the moment AT the moment. That's one of my goals for my spiritual practice, actually. I want to arrange my life in such a way that I *can* celebrate celestial events at their actual times, up to and including the ones that happen at inconvenient times like dawn or in the middle of the night. Accomplishing this form of observance will entail:
- Advance planning - what will I observe, and when does it happen? (atlas or calendar, website, app)
- Take all Sabbat days off from work (I'd like to take full moons too, but…I do have to work at some point)
- Schedule a late morning after night observances
So here we have a high priestess who is most comfortable in the timelessness of nature, who paradoxically also is interested in observing the exact moments of celestial events. One foot in each world, so to speak. That actually does make sense for me.
I'm a half-breed in so many ways. A starry-eyed mystic with a logical, organized mind. An artist and poet who firmly believes in the scientific method. A lover of nature who thrives on endless unmeasured days who wants to study the movement of the heavens by night. Fitting.
That is my magic - I have one foot in each world. I can drop into the timeless mind of ritual consciousness, and I also have a day planner.
