I sing my prayers
Feb. 26th, 2012 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athenagreyThe spiritual nomads are considering prayer this week. Prayer is one of those words that I had all but ceded to the Abrahamic traditions. Maybe its time I reclaimed the word and made it mine.
You see, I really do pray.
Before you picture Athena on her knees next to her bed...no...just no.
Sometime prayer comes when I'm sitting on the living room floor, leaning back against the frame of a chair, sipping tea from a mug. This is a calm and comfortable place for a quiet dialogue with the Goddess. We talk as Mother and daughter. This is a very contemplative time. We talk about all sorts of things, mostly about values and how to live life.
If it's a prayer for a purpose, then I pray like a witch, casting a close circle to keep the focus, making a formal invitation to the Goddess to join this dialogue. Magic is a deeply focused prayer, asking that I be open to some kind of change, some kind of solution, or that we can make something right for others. This prayer is real work, filled with intense visualization.
I include drawing down the Moon as a form of prayer. This is my way of prayer for deep insight. I have been blessed with some moments that were truly divine, like the flash of insight, one full moon, where She showed me the tiny sparks of light, all over the world, each one the candle of a woman who was in prayer with Her that very moment. Then She opened our hearts and let our energy mix. It was a moment of grace. Ever since that moment, I have been able to reach out to my goddess sisters around the world and rekindle that connection.
But mostly, I sing my prayers. I am a kirtan junkie. I chant the sacred names, Gods and Goddess alike. Years ago, I stayed after yoga class one night for my first kirtan. I didn't know the meaning of what I chanted, but it didn't matter. I was uplifted by the experience, surrounded by waves of energy. I remember the day Bhavani joked with us, asking what could be better than spending a day singing, "God, God, Goddess God?" There isn't much better than that for me. Bhakti yoga is my bliss.
As I'm writing this, I'm softly singing along with Krishna Das, "Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya." Deva Premal translates this mantra as "Salutations to the Indweller who is omnipresent, omnipotent, immortal and divine." My personal interpretation is "I honor the Divine spirit within."
You see, I really do pray.
Before you picture Athena on her knees next to her bed...no...just no.
Sometime prayer comes when I'm sitting on the living room floor, leaning back against the frame of a chair, sipping tea from a mug. This is a calm and comfortable place for a quiet dialogue with the Goddess. We talk as Mother and daughter. This is a very contemplative time. We talk about all sorts of things, mostly about values and how to live life.
If it's a prayer for a purpose, then I pray like a witch, casting a close circle to keep the focus, making a formal invitation to the Goddess to join this dialogue. Magic is a deeply focused prayer, asking that I be open to some kind of change, some kind of solution, or that we can make something right for others. This prayer is real work, filled with intense visualization.
I include drawing down the Moon as a form of prayer. This is my way of prayer for deep insight. I have been blessed with some moments that were truly divine, like the flash of insight, one full moon, where She showed me the tiny sparks of light, all over the world, each one the candle of a woman who was in prayer with Her that very moment. Then She opened our hearts and let our energy mix. It was a moment of grace. Ever since that moment, I have been able to reach out to my goddess sisters around the world and rekindle that connection.
But mostly, I sing my prayers. I am a kirtan junkie. I chant the sacred names, Gods and Goddess alike. Years ago, I stayed after yoga class one night for my first kirtan. I didn't know the meaning of what I chanted, but it didn't matter. I was uplifted by the experience, surrounded by waves of energy. I remember the day Bhavani joked with us, asking what could be better than spending a day singing, "God, God, Goddess God?" There isn't much better than that for me. Bhakti yoga is my bliss.
As I'm writing this, I'm softly singing along with Krishna Das, "Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya." Deva Premal translates this mantra as "Salutations to the Indweller who is omnipresent, omnipotent, immortal and divine." My personal interpretation is "I honor the Divine spirit within."
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Date: 2012-02-26 11:20 pm (UTC)Blessings
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Date: 2012-02-28 12:29 am (UTC)