Ritual Attire

The power of symbols, ritual tools, jewelry, masks and clothing is well known among all types of practitioners of magic. When we alter our appearance, it helps us to alter our consciousness in preparation for ritual or magical work. As we grow in experience, we learn that these things are not necessary. We are able to make magic in out in public, with no tools, and in our everyday clothing.

Ritual clothing, in particular, serves another function as well. In addition to helping to alter our own state of consciousness, it also affects the people around us. When we assume a leadership role, whether it be in teaching, leading ritual or providing spiritual services, it helps when we pay attention to our image. Like it or lump it, human beings care about and respond to how we look.

Pagans are pretty accepting – we don’t expect you to look like some Californian mass-media ideal of beauty. But presenting yourself well is still valuable. Take the time to bathe, apply scented oils, arrange your hair, put on spiritual jewelry and wear attractive clothing. Of course adjust this list to what fits you; the goal is to show through your appearance that you care for yourself. Practicing good posture helps too. People will have more confidence in you and give more weight to your words.

Contemporary Paganism being an ever-evolving community, we have a lot of options. We can use scholarship to look to the past and recreate what might have been. Others choose to wear some form of Christian-esque vestments (def: a robe of ceremony or office), which seems pretty smart, considering that most Americans are raised with some form of Christianity and thus automatically associate those types of garments with spiritual authority. Some go with the ubiquitous hooded robe common among witches and Druids. Yet others choose historical garments from the culture of their pantheon (for example, Heathens who wear Norse-style t-tunics).

In my opinion, what’s important is finding your own authentic image. Find something that speaks to your soul and makes you feel powerful, beautiful and sacred. Note my usage of the word authentic. It’s important to be aware of the trap that image-consciousness can create: it can be a way to get stuck with excessive ego or caught up in fantastical delusions. Keep it real, gang.

So as an Ordained Priestess, a shaman, a Yoga and martial arts teacher, what do I wear? Good question. That’s really a project in process. I’ve been through a lot of image evolutions in my mundane and spiritual life. You can really see the progress of my personal and spiritual development in those changes. Thank Goddess my close friends are supportive, that’s all I can say.

Early in my pagan career, I started with an undyed cotton robe based on a choir robe pattern. I still have it in storage, and I don’t feel beautiful when I wear it. I do feel humble and earthy, which feelings have their time and place. If I had had it with me, I would likely have worn it to my recent initiation, for example. A couple of winters ago, I made myself a righteous animal print fake fur ritual robe. I seriously love this robe. It is SO warm and I feel really good wearing it, both for witchy and shamanic pursuits. Protip: include fur-lined pockets.Trust me on this. Decadent!

In my last post, I tell the story of how I chose my new vestments. I ended up settling on garments that are traditional in India: salwar kameez and dupatta. Salwar are loose pajama pants, while the kameez is a long tunic (aka the kurta, which really refers to the men’s long tunic). The dupatta is a scarf, similar to what many Americans would know as a pashmina. See left for an example. I’m planning to make my own, because I enjoy sewing. I will likely make mine from cotton in bright colors.

What I like about this Indian-style garb is that it’s feminine, functional and street-friendly. I love a ritual robe, but I’m a very embodied person. I might feel the need to do some Yoga at a moment’s notice, get my groove on with some ecstatic dancing or bust out a headstand - all of which is awfully hard to do in a robe. At the same time, these clothes make me feel beautiful and connected to the Divine. It honors my spiritual foundations in Yoga. It also allows me to be out in public without getting too many stares.

I can also wear salwar kameez to Yoga class. I could even choose to wear the tunic with regular yoga pants. I have been struggling for some time to find my look for teaching Yoga. My Yoga teacher training taught us to wear something neutral, simple and professional so that our students focus on the teaching, not on us.

This bores me to tears and makes me sad. While from a business perspective, I’d like to reach as many people as I can…I’m just not willing to be bland. I don’t think that people really want boring Yoga teachers. Why come out of the house for someone who blends into the carefully neutral, calming studio walls? I personally want someone colorful, lively and inspiring – someone who has something interesting and different to offer. No offense, but I have had my fill of tall, slim, anemic, vegetarian and deadly earnest Yoga teachers. YAWN.

On the shamanic/woodsy side of things, I have a colorful history with what I have worn. There were a lot of broomstick skirts and gypsy sort of things for a while. I also purloined my mother’s hippie clothes from the 70’s. Thank Goddess no pictures remain of the handmade deerskin vest, loincloth and knee-high sandals of my teenage years. Egads. My tastes these days are more in the medieval woodswoman/mountain woman range. Yes, I too made myself a hat from an animal skin, with the bobcat’s face on the front of my head. Sorry, vegans -it's a shaman thing!

Since I’m a huntress and devotee of Artemis and the Horned One, my plan currently is to tan the next deerskins I take and make a pair of breeches and a jerkin (basically a long vest). Maybe a hood, we’ll see. With that I’ll wear the set of knee high moccasins (with fur, beads and a hidden knife sheath) that I’m working to finish up by this fall. That means I’ll have to finish up the fancy leather gun belt I’ve been planning for years…with a pistol on one side and my antique Bowie knife on the other.  

Ah, did I not mention my warrior side? Yeah, that’s a part of me as well. Training students in martial arts again is another thing on my list, and it too requires a uniform. A simple black gi (think karate uniform) and the black belt passed on to me by my sensei will do for that. On warm days, I created a t-shirt design for me and the class to wear with gi pants. No trouble there.

So, to sum up: examine who you are and what you do. Choose ritual, spiritual and liturgical clothing accordingly. Look well groomed and put together. Embrace your own power. Be awesome. Don’t let anyone dim your light and ROCK ON. You know I will!

Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge: Weekly Update 4

The official end to this fitness challenge is in three days, so this is my final weekly post about it. Having said that, I am continuing with my challenge plan. I am going to post about my related and concurrent self-experiment with a daily Ayurvedic routine. More on that later!

Overall, I feel that my results are good. Focusing on the plan, tracking it and reviewing my progress is helpful for me. Also, re-building structure and routine in my life is helpful. With all that I have going on, it does require planning to make it all happen!

This week I committed to upping my exercise levels. I was successful with that, but Yoga and meditation were down. I was struggling with some personal and business issues, and I’m proud to say that I handled them a little bit better than I have in the past. I didn’t get very far off track with my self-care program. 

This week's results:

Fitness – Two hikes during the week. My new staff arrived (I like it, but it needs a little work) and I have practiced martial arts twice.

Diet – A pretty good week. I did throw a dinner party on Thursday and that was a major food and wine event, but I’m okay with that. We only have them every other month or so. I did eat mostly home-cooked food this week, so that was a good thing.

Air – I did very little Yoga this week, so pranayama was also low. Fail! Time to post a reminder in my workroom! I finalized some plans for environmental education classes, so that was good progress.

Fire – I just wasn’t feeling the Yoga this week. I wrote a good amount. Three days of music practice, hurray!

Water – Yet another tough emotional week. It is so challenging for me to set healthy boundaries and stand up for what I need. I am doing it, but I still feel guilty about it sometimes. I put boundaries under Air for communication in my plan, but it’s an emotional trigger for me, so I’m talking about it here in Water.

Earth - Sleep was good this week. Heard back from my doctor about lab results. My cholesterol levels are slightly elevated, and the doctor is concerned that the ratio is off. I am now taking fish oil to correct that situation. I’m also Vitamin D deficient, so I’m on a prescription-strength supplement. She also said more cardio. I decided to make a Meetup that I lead, Reflective Hike, a weekly event to further motivate me to make time for exercise.

Spirit – With all the emotional upset, it was a really spotty week for meditation and daily devotionals. I’m feeling anxious.

Link to original Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge post for those who want to catch up.

Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge: Weekly Update 3

This week I committed to rehabbing my sleep schedule, and I was successful. I did really well with my self-care routine for the majority of the week. Fitness, not so much. But most categories were really good until this weekend. I got some truly awful personal news, and I'm still reeling from it. The Track & Share app has become more and more helpful. Now I'm at the point of being able to look at a couple of weeks of graphs, and it's already instructive. Imagine the benefit of months worth of data!

Fitness - I practiced archery. The only other progress to note is that I ordered a new martial arts staff.

Diet - I did pretty well this week. Starting to see a pattern that I do ok when I have my regular routine going during the week, then it falls apart on weekends. One cheat day is ok, but two is a bit much. Will have to think about what I can do to improve this trend.

Air - I did some pranayama this week! I began a routine from Ayurvedic medicine, and it included a reminder for pranayama, so that happened a few times. Good stuff. Some communication issues this week that were very challenging. I think we chanted OM at yoga class, need to add in chanting to my daily practice.

Fire - Yoga practice was good this week. Practiced music two days. Got a few supplies for an upcoming art project. Still can't find a group Yoga class to attend. I've now researched all the options in my area and none fit my needs. I may try a class with an instructor I attended a massage class with, even though it's described as flow yoga.

Water - Another tough week emotionally, on two different fronts.

Earth - Sleep was good this week and it's amazing how much it improved my mood and energy levels. Even though I know how important sleep is, I got trapped in that harmful cycle! Went to my first doctor's appointment. Still waiting to hear about lab results, but everything was normal overall. Sad news was that I was forced to see my weight expressed in numbers. It was higher than I thought. Fresh inspiration for this challenge, let me tell you! This was the category I put my goal of Ayurvedic practices into - this is the week I began experimenting with them. I'll post about that separately next week.

Spirit - Much better week for meditation, devotionals and gratitude journal. 

Link to original Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge post for those who want to catch up.

Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge: Weekly Update 2

My second week of the Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge was just as busy as the first, but a lot more stressful and difficult on an emotional level. Like most people, high stress means less healthy methods of coping. I'm working to improve that fact, but I still have my days. More late nights, too.

How did I do this week?

Fitness - I did not get any hiking in this week. I attended a two hour Master Class in Yoga, which was challenging. I'm starting to think that I may need to schedule additional exercise on my calendar. Yoga is every morning, but the other stuff seems to take a back burner to work 100% of the time. Part of the problem is that my favorite form of exercise is hiking, which takes a long time. Now that it's warming up, I'll start my own martial arts practice again. Winter made that impossible as I didn't have enough space inside. I don't do the gym anymore, so it's a good thing that spring is almost here!

Diet - I got breakfast muffins made about halfway through the week, which was a help. But not the best week with food - there was some pizza and pasta happening.

Air - Still no pranayama, but I did pretty well with communication in general. Got some new books this week, including one on mudras. I used it already, w00t!

Fire - More daily Yoga practice this week. Sleep was still an issue. I added music practice to my daily tracking app, but I only practiced on Thursday. Will do some today!

Water - Tough week emotionally.

Earth - I got massage cupping this week for the first time. I had a strong emotional reaction to it, which is a good thing. It unblocked something or another. I also got my very first doctor's appointment scheduled since I got my new health insurance plan (thanks, Obama!). Again, it was a tough week, so I didn't do as well with self-care as I would like.

Spirit - Much better week for morning devotionals and gratitude journal, but meditation was down. I worked a lot late at night.