One thing I’ve been hearing a lot among my friends and found family is that it’s become increasingly difficult to maintain a spiritual practice. In my case, it feels like an ennui that’s lasted way longer than usual, and way longer than it has any right to.
Anyone else?
It’s been hard to keep up with regular devotions and offerings, let alone any actual spellcraft. It’s not even that I don’t want to, I just don’t have the energy. (To be fair, I haven’t felt like I’ve had the energy for much else, either.) I just feel uninspired. Flat. I want to do things in principle, but that’s about it.
The trouble is, I feel like it’s also like that thing where sunlight, hydration, healthy food, and exercise help improve mental health, but mental health is also a massive roadblock to doing basically any of those things. Maybe the only way out is through. Maybe the remedy is to brute-force it.
My Handsome Assistant and I did host a wonderful liturgy writing workshop led by a friend, which was honestly a great experience. It helped kind of shift some of that sense of stagnation and bring back at least a little inspiration, which I feel like was instrumental in even seeing this problem for what it is, let alone starting to do anything about it.
Honestly, I feel like part of it is just the social and political climate in my country. Right now, everything seems geared to drain us all of any spark on a mental, physical, and even metaphysical level. (I could get into some fairly woo-woo theories about witchcraft, politics, and the most vocal religious group in the US, but I’ll spare you all. I am generally not given to conspiracy theories, but I’ve decided to craft this artisanal, small-batch crackpot idea as a treat for me.)
So, what am I doing about it?
Well, for one, I’m lowering my standards. I have a tendency to go all-in when I’ve got the energy, then find that the routines I’ve set up for myself are completely unsupportable on a day-to-day basis. All it means is that I end up doing less overall than if I just did the bare minimum, with a bonus side of self-deprecation for not being able to keep up.
For two, I’m using a rather delightful, slightly silly tool: the Spark Magic box. I haven’t used it in a while, and I feel like this is a good time to start again. I’ve actually been kicking around the idea of doing a series of posts on which “matches” I draw, and how I follow their prompts. It may be something that isn’t of interest to anyone but me, but I think it might be useful, nonetheless.
For three, I’m essentially forcing myself to do a daily personal divination. This isn’t something I’ve ever made a habit — I’ve found that divination works best for me when it’s a little more “zoomed out.” Like, a week at best. Pulling a card or three every day, whether it’s from a traditional tarot or oracle deck, has never really been all that useful to me. Still, in this case, it’s not about what the cards (or Ogham, or runes, or dice, or coin…) actually say. It’s about creating the environment and sitting down to do it.
Has anyone else felt this way lately? If so, how are you coping?
Marble Crow 