Category Archives: Spirituality

Last night I sat down to write, but the inner muse had other plans for me. I felt the need or desire to pray so I started looking through my books for resources. I have a mixture of spiritual books. On the so-called normal spectrum, I have a Catholic bible, Christian based devotionals and prayer books. On the eastern spectrum, I have Buddhism, Taoist, and Yoga books. Then on the so-called fringe of society, I have my pagan books from magick and herbs to pagan lore and history to specific cultures such as the Romans and Celtics.

After glancing through my books, the one that caught my eye was the Celtic Devotional: Daily Prayers and Blessings written by Caitlin Matthews. If you are interested in the Celtic lore and are tired of half the pagan fluff out there, then you might enjoy this book. The author organizes the book by season with suggested activities and morning/evening devotionals. For example during Beltane or the summer months, she suggests that you walk and meditate outdoors for at least half an hour daily. While I may not walk every day, I do get out and tend to my garden (which is another one of her suggested activities for the summer months). What makes her book stand out of the crowd from my other devotional books is that she beautifully weaves Celtic based prayer with along with areas for you to insert your own personal prayers. She also had a solar/lunar question for you to ponder on for each day of the month.

So with my devotional book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, I sat down for some spiritual time away from the distractions of my pc. To me, spiritual time is an essential element of my life. Without it, I start to feel like I am losing myself as silly as it might sound.

During the devotion, I started to realize that I didn’t really have a sacred spot in my home dedicated to just the spiritual element of my life. I do have mini altars set up throughout my home, but they are intergraded into other parts of my life. And while I do believe that you should be able to pray just about any where, I also realize that it helps the mind to focus and center if you create a sacred spot devoted just to that activity. For example, wouldn’t you feel weird going to church if they had computers set up everywhere? Well, I take that back on second thought my boyfriend would probably love it. Seriously though, it is difficult to center one’s thoughts for spiritual time and prayer if you are busy surfing the web even if it is spiritual sites. Considering that we have a computer in both of our main living areas, I decided that the best spot would be our bedroom.

I partially think that I have been intuitively designing a spiritual spot on our bedroom in the back of my mind for awhile now. In the past couple of weeks, I have placed all of our spiritual books and our apothecary in there. Since most of our spiritual items were already in the bedroom, it didn’t take a lot of work to finish arranging the area. I lit some candles and incense to add some ambiance. I also filled my oil diffuser with purity oil to cleanse the room. As I prepared to bless the room, the cats got excited and came to see what I was doing. They both enjoy the spiritual element. Brian even took a second away from his computer to come see what I was doing.

I probably spent a good two hours just focused on the spiritual element last night, and it felt really good. I even made a list of prayer ideas (aka the ways I communicate with god): gardening, lighting candles/incense, Celtic devotional, blessing the path prayer, stretching/yoga, pastel journal, walking, dancing, tea time. While this list is not complete, it does give you an idea that I embrace my spiritual as an active part of my life. Personally, I think it is important for people to embrace their spirituality and have the ability to communicate to God in whatever way they feel comfortable in doing. God is all around us, and all you have to do is open the door.

A couple weeks ago, I came across a book by Frances Bernstein, Ph.D. (a creditable author who is a professor in ancient history and archaeology and also an authority on ancient Rome). Her masterpiece is titled, “Classical Living: Reconnecting with the Rituals of Ancient Rome. Myths, Gods, Goddesses, Celebrations, and Rites for Every Month of the Year”. Finally, within the pages of this book, an ancient culture called out to me, the Romans. Their culture integrated ritual, prayer, and myth into their daily lives. There was no separation of church and state. Everything in life weaved together as one.

A god, a goddess resides within each of us. When the spirit arouses us, we radiate with an inner glow–an aura. It is this sacred spirit that plants the seeds of all we are and all we do. This sacred spirit is our inspiration.
~ Ovid, “Fasti” 6.3

Part of Rome’s greatness grew out of its ability to conquer others and establishing colonies. As they conquered, they copied and borrowed from many various cultures. However, they also modified them so they appeared distinctly Roman. Two of the cultures that influenced their religion was the Etruscans to the North and the Greeks, who settled in Southern Italy. These influences explain for the reason why you encounter similar deities with different names. For example, the Greeks have the goddess of love, Aphrodite, and the Romans have Venus.

The Roman honored their deities publicly at the temple through prayer, rituals, and offerings. In ancient Rome, religious life and secular life was intimately intertwined. Statues, altars, and small shrines would be found in public buildings and assembly halls.

The Romans also worshiped before family shrines, called lararia. In the Roman world, the home was a spiritual center and in most ancient times the hearth was the first altar. Women tended these family shrines, cleaning and decorating them to ensure family deities were honored properly. By custom, three times a month, the Kalends (new moon), the Nones, and the Ides (full moon), women decorated the hearth and the shrines with fresh flowers, woven garlands, and wreaths. (Bernstein 3-4)

The spirits and deities honored within the Roman home included the Penates, the Lares, and Genius and Juno. The Penates were the guardian forces of the pantry–ones that protected the food supply. The family Lares, very special guardian spirits, were honored by each family to protect health and welfare. The guiding spirits and procreative forces that ensured the continuity of the family were the Genius and the Juno–the male and female spirits of the father and mother. (Bernstein 4)

The Roman religious life was structured by their calendar. It charted the rituals and rites to various deities, noting days of festivals, days of family celebrations, and days to honor the gods and goddesses. The sacred calendar follows the season. To live in harmony with this yearly cycle meant honoring the deities with rites and rituals appropriate to each season, and it is these rites that make up the sacred calendar. (Bernstein 5)

The oldest sacred calendars were all lunar–based not upon the earth’s path around the sun, but on the monthly cycle of the moon. (Bernstein 5)

Today, close to twenty calendars from the ancient Roman world survived and most date from the first centuries of the common era, after Julius Caesar changed the calendar from a lunar to a solar one in 46 bc. In fact, it is Caesar’s calendar, with some modifications, that is our calendar today. (Bernstein 5)

If anything, the Romans had a practical attitude to religion, which perhaps explains why they had difficulty in taking to the idea of a single, all-seeing, all-powerful god. Their religion was not based on any central belief, but on a mixture of fragmented rituals, superstitions, and traditions, which they collected over the years from a number of sources. I guess this is why they call out to me. They treat religion and spiritual in many of the same ways I do.

Additional Resources on Ancient Rome

An extremely valuable source on ancient rome is the Fasti by the Roman author Ovid, who lived at the beginning of the Common Era. This colorful narrative on Roman religion follows the religious year citing ritual and myth related to the monthly cycle.

Another source of information can be found on the web: Lacus Curtius: Into the Roman World

What ancient culture calls out to you?