My Journey along the Dedicant Path

Piety, the beginning of a discussion

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:30:57 GMT

Piety is one the nine virtues, that I will begin a self directed discussion on. According to Merriam Webster, (yes the the dictionary folks) Piety has these meanings;

Main Entry: pi·e·ty <input ... >
Pronunciation: \ˈpī-ə-tē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural pi·e·ties
Etymology: French pieté piety, pity, from Old French, from Latin pietat-, pietas, from pius dutiful, pious
Date: 1579

1 : the quality or state of being pious: as a : fidelity to natural obligations (as to parents) b : dutifulness in religion : devoutness
2 : an act inspired by piety
3 : a conventional belief or standard : orthodoxy

Well that's fantastic, but what, at this very moment in time is my understanding of this virtue. To me, Piety is getting up every morning, and having my daily conversation with the Kindreds, in the form of my devotionals. To me, Piety is continuing to honor the ancestors, the Gods, and the Nature spirits, through all phases of life, even if I am depressed, or too manic. Making time, not taking time to honor those is piety.

Now a word of caution this brief paragraph is just what the virtue of piety means to me today, at this very moment. I am sure in my continued study, my understanding of Piety will deepen, and I will add more to this entry.

Mental Discipline Training, 09/11/2009

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:28:01 GMT

Actual date of recorded meditation: Feb 11th, 2009

Today marks the official start of working on my mental discipline training through meditation. Tonight I chose to meditate in Savasana. Asana, translated means "pose", and Savasana is corpse pose. This pose is usally practiced after doing a series of asanas to quiet and focus your mind.
I enjoy practicing Pranayama, which is a practice that you work with your breath. I find it a bit easier to quiet my mind with pranayama, thus helping me to meditate more effectivly. Some days it is easy for me to sink into a meditative state, other times not. I had trouble tonight though. I attempted to use imagery in conjunction with my breath, but my mind was far to busy to saty focused. I believe that I will set a goal to work on holding one image for a short period of time. I think that exercise might help me towards a goal of being able to quiet my mind.

Samhain: 2009 High Day essay

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:26:18 GMT

High Day Ritual Essay: Samhain 2009

“As the evening crept upon us, we began our ritual…” Samhain, or known to the mundane world as Halloween, is a very important celebration to the ancient celts, and the modern followers. A New Year celebration, a time to honor our ancestors, and a time to reap the benefits of the final harvests, those are what is important to me about Samhain.

Our grove chose to celebrate on November 1^st this year; at a great park we have called River Legacy Park. We chose a spot in the middle of an open field, with a lone oak tree standing there. We opened the gates, and gave offerings to Callieach and Donn, and those who where outside our workings. Our seer took an omen, and the gods had accepted out sacrifices.

I know at this time of year, the veil is thin between the worlds, and I offered general sacrifice to my ancestors that I did not know, but I know, the ancestor that I am closest too, my Grandmother, she is with me, so time was defiantly spent with her in meditation. The harvests of this year have been especially grand, due to my business taking off, and things just generally looking amazing! Samhain 2009, excellent.

The begining of my Dedicant Path

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:16:49 GMT

Well, I finally have done it! I got my act together and joined Ar nDraiocht Fein, (known as ADF from here on out.) I have had an interest in ADF before, when I was living back in upstate NY, (where I was born) but didn't have the ability to join at that time.
Well fast forward about 5 years or so, and I end up in Arlington, TX. I met some cool pagan folks and became involved as my life allowed me too. Two of these people were Troy and Emily, and Troy, (he's probably reading this!) joined ADF, and expressed interest in starting a protogrove. I decided to jump aboard, this something that had interested me for some time, and is definitely a step in the right direction for me spirituality .
To speak of what my interests and hobbies are, is a twenty five year long story that is still in the process of being written, and I have to explain that background story for it all to make sense. I was born in Syracuse, NY, and grew up in a small town southeast of the city, called Cazenovia. My mom was the bread winner for the familiy, and my dad worked our land, with my help of course! Well the best a small child could do... We had about an acre of land solely devoted to Gardens. We had a potato garden, green bean garden, Squash garden, the list goes on. We were pretty self sufficient, my house was heated with a big ole' woodstove, so we cut all of our own firewood, mostly from the 5 acres will lived on. I credit my love of the outdoors to my dad, I was always outside with him, helping him move firewood from the piles to the seasoning stacks, pulling weeds in the garden, and coming out covered in soil. So lets fast forward a bit, Still living in NY, time to go to college, where do I pick to go? SUNY Morrisville! I have my Associates of Applied Science in Natural Resources Conservation, and by the end of that degree, was accepted to continue onto my BS at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Well I must be off for now, my stomach is rumbling for lunch.... more to come later!