About Daily Devotion

When I started writing this post, I wanted to use the title “The Secret of Daily Devotion”. Then I realized that it is not really a secret, nor something new. In fact, I am pretty sure that you’ve already heard what I’m going to say more than once and from different practitioners. It is not a matter of plagiarism among spiritual writers. The reason why many people are telling you to do the same thing is because it works. For sure, it worked for me and I was struggling a lot.

Long time ago, when I started my practice and devotion, I wanted to do it all. I spent a fortune buying candles, incense, oils, mirrors, crystals, oracle decks, altar decorations… whatever was mentioned in one of the (too many) books I was reading ended up in my paraphernalia collection and I did the same with rituals. I had rituals for everything: from purifying myself to cleaning the house, from blessing the offerings to prepare tea… and I wanted to keep all of them as part of my daily devotional routine. What happened then is simple: I felt overwhelmed so I started removing things from a way too crowded (and quite dusty) shrine; I dropped a large number of rituals (feeling horribly guilty) and I started thinking about giving up the whole idea of following a regular devotional practice. Instead of quitting, I decided to start over, following this advice:

KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Keeping it simple was, for me, the real key to be consistent with my daily devotion. It may sounds superficial but creating a daily devotion is like creating a new habit. You need to start slow, procede with baby steps and keep it sustainable. If it becomes an impossible burden, taking away too much time and energies maybe in an already busy schedule, you will not be able to really commit to it, at least at the beginning.

Am I telling you that you don’t need time, tools, spells… in your spiritual, devotional, magickal life? NO. Am I telling you that you can have a very simple, easy to follow, basic (and not expensive) daily devotion and then add the extra ritual/spell/ceremony/meditation… when you need of it? YES. Understanding this really helped me in creating a sustainable daily routine, something I've been able to follow for years. Obivously,

I don't think this is the only way to achieve this goal, but since it worked for me, I believe it may be helpful for other devotees too so I am sharing with you what I did.

What I did

First, I tried to understand clearly what “devotion” mean. If you look up in the dictionary you will read: "religious worship or belief, or prayer and other acts of religious worship". Basically, a devotion is everything you do to worship your deity and it may be as simple as a prayer. No need to follow complex rituals. Said so I decided:

Where?

At my shrine/altar. To me, a printed image of Hekate with a little candle or incense in front of it, on a clean shelf, is enough to be considered as a proper devotional space. I don't need statues, elaborate decorations or many tools if I am not celebrating ceremonies or crafting spells but of course, if you prefer something fancier, you can add everything you want! Just remember to keep the shrine/altar clean and fresh.

When?

I usually do my daily devotion first thing early in the morning or, if I really cannot do it, late in the evening, before going to bed. If you struggle being consistent because you don't remember or you often end up with unplanned, last minute commitments... I highly recommend you to do the same. Unless your daily schedule is always very regular and you are 100% sure that you will have time (and will) during the day, try to follow my advice and do your daily devotion before starting your day or just before going to sleep, when you know you can make time for it. Bonus point: doing it every day at the same time should help you in creating the good habit.

Duration

My "basic" daily devotional routine takes about 5 minutes but you can dedicate to it more time if you want/can. You can also adapt your practice, spending more or less time doing it, according to the time you actually have day by day. In general, especially at the beginning, it is recommended to keep it fixed, in order to create the habit but sometimes it feels nice to follow your instinct and be more creative. Just keep a very easy practice at your fingertip so you will not have any excuse when you are in a rush or you lack of inspiration.

What I do in my practice

• I start lighting a candle

• I focus on my image of Hekate

• I say a prayer or chant an hymn

• I burn some incense or I make a little food offering

• Bonus: if I have more time I do a short meditation.

That’s all. This very simple daily devotion to Hekate really helped me in creating a meaningful connection and a strong bond with Her. I believe that offering my time and prayers to Her every day instead of making a big ritual in specific occasions has been the turning point in my spiritual life and consistency has been the key.

A friend practitioner once asked me if it is not alienating or boring to do the same thing every day, over over again. To me the answer is no. First of all, in my experience, keeping the devotion simple and fixed is not a way to go through it in auto-pilot, without realizing it. I still focus on every word and action but knowing what I am going to do and having my prayers or hymns ready, avoid me to waste time and energies trying to figure out what to do, especially when I feel tired or I am running late. Second, now that I am comfortable and familiar with my "basic" devotion, I like to change the prayers, the hymn, the offering....

This is my experience and how I managed to create a sustainable daily devotion. What did you do to create yours? Did you follow another method? Are you still struggling? Let me know in the comments!

Benedizioni

Sara Vervain

TB - Sanctuary of Hekate Potnia Theron