So many Gods, so little time...

In Feri Tradition, God Herself is seen as the Mother of all beings. She is the fabric of life, matter and energy, consciousness and desire. I have my most intimate spiritual relationship with the Star Goddess and although I don’t think She is actually a big woman in the sky, I see Her as a Goddess in order to have a relationship with Her. It is my view that as long as I have a good, strong relationship with the Star Goddess then all other spiritual relationships are secondary.

However, I love the specifics of the Star Goddess, the manifestations of Her that are more specialised. I love the mythology of the different Gods and Goddesses, who I see as fractals of the Star Goddess. So, while they are manifestations of the Star Goddess, they are independent beings (not just ‘facets’ of Her) and therefore I can have relationships with them as well.

My Feri relationships at the moment are mainly with the Blue God and Melek Taus. However, I love having a relationship with Ganesh (even though I think I’m quite neglectful…) and I am exploring Santería to see how I can have relationships with Elegua and my crowning Orisha, if I ever find out who it is.

This huge mish-mash of different Gods and Spirits can be quite confusing, and while there is no cohesion in it, I don’t see anything wrong with it. My relationships with my family are different to my relationships with friends, coworkers, pupils etc. Although my foundational practices are all done within the container of the Feri Tradition, I see nothing wrong with working with different Gods and the Orishas. However, I just hope I don’t culturally appropriate them more than they have been appropriated already…

KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid

It's been a very long time since my last post. Travelling round Europe, moving into a new apartment and starting a new job have generally not been conducive to keeping a regular blog. However, I'm back! I honestly have missed keeping up this blog, and I appreciate having an online community.

Generally speaking, my life feels very full at the moment, but not in the way I want it to be. My job takes up a lot of my time and it feels as if I do little else. My daily Feri practice has consequently suffered. I leave the house around 7.25 to get to work on time, so I have to get up pretty early (as I have mentioned in my blog previously). However, my intention to do it is still there, but sometimes sleep wins out. Ah well!!

I think my problem is that I am a very harsh personal critic. I set myself high standards and I berate myself when I fail to meet them. After discussing my personal practice with my teachers at the weekend, I realised I'm trying to cram too much into my practice. It feels as if I do a full ritual every day! My teacher Brighde made the point that she doesn't phone all of her family every day, so why would you call on every God and Guardian every day?

Soooo....another revision of my personal practice. I have decided to focus on key foundational practices and be open to a fluid interpretation of personal practice, as and when rites are 'revealed' to me. My foundational practices are as follows: Star Goddess prayer, kala, ha and flower prayers, heart alignment and sitting practice.

We'll see how it goes.