Practice: Day 2

Moon in Purva Phalguni + Day 2 Waning

Today, I’ve been contemplating Ritual. Why 40 Days? Why make a sadhana (practice) formal?

I’m asked those questions and I’ve asked those question.

Here’s the thing…

Everything is spiritual.

Once upon a time, my practice led me to this understanding. I find the most ordinary and disgusting things spiritual these days. This understanding is often not embodied, and more often wishful thinking or some sort of excuse for not taking to a practice.

I’m often sharing about the masculine and feminine polarities, Shiva and Shakti. In an overly-masculinized culture, we tend to fall into a polarity of being overly ritualized or completely discarding Ritual and Reverence.

Today, I’ll use the example of the container of Practice and why you might consider taking on a Ritual.

Ritual is Containment. The structure is 40 Days. It has a theme, Honoring Ancestors. This is the masculine, having a boundary and containment. However, it is not The Practice. It is just the bones.

What happens within the container, the structure, is the feminine, the power, the Shakti...the Reverence.

Without containment and structure, energy is ungrounded, uncontained and unable to be directed to something useful. Irreverent.

How much longer will you be too busy to fully enter into your own life?
-Octavia Raheem from Gather

Journal Prompt: Oohh…that lands hard. Spend sometime reflecting upon this quote from Octavia and yesterday’s prompt as well. A practice of reflection, quiet, dedication is enough.