Prayers

The following are a few prayers that I plan to incorporate into my regular spiritual practice:

Morning Prayer

O gracious Goddess, 

O gracious God, 

Lend me health, strength, and love

During this coming day,

Assist me with the challenges ahead,

Share your divine wisdom,

Teach me to respect all things,

Remind me that the greatest power of all is love,

Blessed be

(Cunningham, 1993, Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Practitioner)

Evening Prayer

O gracious Goddess, 

O gracious God, 

I now enter the realm of dreams,

Weave now, if you will, a web of protective light around me,

Guard both my sleeping form and my spirit,

Watch over me until the sun once again rules the earth,

O gracious Goddess, 

O gracious God, 

Be with me through the night

(Cunningham, 1993, Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Practitioner)

Outdoor Prayers

Great horned God of nature, 

Green Man of the wood, 

God of the wild and free creatures of the earth, 

Consort of the great mother and protector of her gifts, 

Come to me Green Man of the wood, Lord of all living things, 

I invoke thee with love and honor 

(Magickal Moonie's Sanctuary) 

Earth Grounding

Standing with my feet flat on the ground, say the following:

“On this earth is where I stand,

Digging my roots deep in the Land,

Fill me with your energy so bright,

And fill me with your strength of might.”

Repeat three times and end with: 

“So mote it be”

Feel my energy going down into the ground. 

Bring back up the Earth’s energy.

Blog Start Up

I have attempted to start blogging a few times over the past several years, but without much success. I think part of the reason for my lack of success is that I had incomplete motives. My first blog was based on my professional vocation, adult higher education. I liked the lofty idea of sharing my thoughts and conversing with those with similar interests. So I created the blog and produced an introduction to the blog theme, andragogy. This was a brief (boring) academic essay that may have been interesting to someone without any knowledge of the topic but not to anyone within the field.

So I eagerly waited for people to see my blog and for me to be inspired to write some other “fascinating” pieces. Neither of these things came to be. I quickly realized that I had not developed the habit of writing for reflection or opinion. Additionally, I was not involved in any other blogging activity, such as reading other blogs. I think my main motive was to demonstrate my “knowledge” in the field of adult education. This effort quickly died on the vine as soon as it started about five years ago.

Things have changed a lot since then. I have become much more familiar with social media such as Twitter, YouTube, and Google+. In addition to that I have become fascinated with Paganism and Wicca. For the past six months I have been voraciously reading books on the topic and I have joined a few Pagan/Wiccan communities in Google+, followed a few people on Twitter who self-identify as either Pagan or Wiccan or witches, and I have watched and subscribed to several YouTube channels of this type. Many of those in the Google+ Pagan communities have blogs that I have enjoyed following and reading.

Because I am a little better versed in the world of social media than I was when I made my first blogging attempt, I think now is a good time to try again. My purpose for this blog is to have a place where I can develop and benefit from reflective writing. I hope to blog about my journey into Paganism as well as other things such as my obsession with all things “70s”; I am a hopeless nostalgic. Additionally, I hope to learn from and connect with other bloggers.

I have just started a weeklong “staycation” during which my goal is to write one post a day, whether or not I feel super inspired. This is my first post. After my staycation, I will revise my writing goal, but it will be important to have a goal of some kind in order to cultivate this new discipline.