My Shrine (August 2011)

I removed the images from the photographs to protect privacy

So I've updated and moved my shrine. The previous location was too easy to overlook and became something of a cat highway.

On the left is a statue of The Morrigan by Maxine Miller, on the right a statue by Neil Sims of Kernunnos (I know how typical am I with The Morrigan and Kernunnos? I admit The Kernunnos statue appealed to me on aesthetics almost solely whereas The Morrigan felt more..firm? Either way I resisted both but feel like I'm behaving like a petulant 13 year old hipster in doing so, thus, the embracing shall commence!).

The tree in the center is a brass tree I inherited from my mother. The candle holder is salt with a homemade beeswax votive. The incense holder/storage box/burner was a gift from my brother. The three small bowls are stone and used to hold offerings to the Kindreds. The goblet is green and brown onyx. Above the photos is an incomplete representation of the Druid Sigil. I say incomplete because I prefer the version with vines around the circular 'wreath' of the symbol.

In future I'd like to add the vines I see as 'missing'. Perhaps in tandem with the achivement of goals along this journey. I also need to add a photograph of my father as well as my baby nephew. I've thought about an altar cloth, something to mark the seasons or the upcoming High Day but for now at least I find it easier to keep clean and organized without one. I also hope to clear out the items in the chest supporting the shrine to store my incense and other offerings. Right now everything is a bit scattered around my room and work area in the back of the house. It bothers me that it's scattered not sure why, I kinda feel like it all ought to be centralized, neat and organized. Hmm.

I've also found that putting it in the new location has made me more aware, more mindful, and helped give me the boot in the butt to start some kind of dailyish practice. So far it consists of kneeling, lighting incense and praying - in VERY broad terms - to the Ancient Ones, the Noble Ones, and the Shining Ones.

I've also been diagnosed with a hole in my left eardrum and since that's probably been ongoing since June and according to my GP my right ear 'looks weird' (really not what you want to hear in an exam) I have an appointment with a specialist early next month, all of which leads me to this - I am hopeful that my continued semi effective rarely documented attempts at meditation will improve once the persistent ringing is addressed. I have no idea if any treatment or recovery is possible but at least I know it's not just in my head.

So, here's hoping I will be diligent in continuing my evening prayers and can get a handle on meditation. Maybe then I'll feel ready for my first Oath?

The Virtues - Final Thoughts

That title is a lie, these aren't actually 'final' and they shouldn't be. What they *are* is a selection of my thoughts as of now, that is my current conclusions. I hope and expect that my feelings and thoughts regarding them will be reevaluated, amended, and considered anew over time. If nothing else I still need to write my essay, something I am holding off on until I am closer to turning in a completed packet, largely because I expect my additional studies will color my perceptions and conclusions.

What strikes me most immediately is how intertwined and dependent each of the virtues are. Integrity is useless without courage and wisdom. Piety is just a word without wisdom and vision. So on and so forth. No virtue can stand on its own, and the one virtue that draws upon all equally is fertility, it requires courage, integrity, wisdom, vision, hospitality, perseverance and even moderation.

To create and become an industrious sensuous person decisions must be tempered with integrity which requires vision, courage, and wisdom. Teaching and sharing fertility with others requires courage, hospitality and perseverance. Finally, to be a fertile person also requires moderation lest that impulse to create, to share, to embrace the sensuous joy in life overwhelm or distract one from duties and responsibilities. No virtue stands alone but highest among these is fertility.

The Nine Virtues - Moderation

Dictionary Definition

noun

1. The quality of being moderate;  restraint; avoidance of extremes or excesses; temperance.

2. The act of moderating.

3. Moderations, British . the first public examinations at Oxford University for the B.A. degree in mathematics or in classics.

Idiom

4. In moderation, without excess; moderately; temperately: to drink in moderation.
Dictionary.com

ADF Definition

Cultivating one's appetites so that one is neither a slave to them nor driven to ill health (mental or physical) through excess or deficiency  
Dedicant Manual .mobi Version Downloaded 6.15.11

My Understanding

Moderation doesn't function on the premise of denial, rather it is the process of seeking satiation without excess. Whether this is regarding food and drink, work, school, friendships etc is irrelevant it is about meeting a goal or filling a need without deprivation or excess. In practical day to day life this could be manifest in not taking the extra helping, leaving a little dinner on your plate, taking a walk, not overdoing it at work so that you're too tired to be civil to your family, maintaining a balance and satisfaction with life by appreciating all aspects of it without ruining or damaging those aspects or yourself through over-indulgence, or, distorting the aspect and damaging yourself through pointless deprivation. 

The Nine Virtues - Hospitality

Dictionary Definition

noun, plural -ties.

1. The friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers.

2. The quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.
Dictionary.com 

ADF Definition

Acting as both gracious host and appreciative guest, involving benevolence, friendliness, humor and the honoring of a gift for a gift.
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My Understanding

I appreciate that the ADF definition includes the duty of a guest regarding hospitality. The dictionary definition implies a one sided perception. Hospitality is a pact between guest and host to treat one another with integrity, wisdom, and piety. Hospitality applies between two persons and between persons and the Kindreds. It is hospitality that feeds into and defines - broadly - the concept of Ghosti. 

The Nine Virtues - Perseverance

Dictionary Definition

noun

1. Steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

2. Theology . continuance in a state of grace to the end, leading to eternal salvation.
Dictionary.com

 ADF Definition

Drive, the motivation to pursue goals even when that pursuit becomes difficult. 
Dedicant Manual .mobi Version Downloaded 6.15.11

My Understanding

This is a pretty straight forward definition for me, literally continuing in a course of action against obstacles, influences, and other difficulties standing in the way. However, what perseverance is not is such success against reasonable objections, concerns, and difficulties.

For  example, perseverance would be something like changing a tire in the driving rain and getting to work on time when your workplace is understaffed and you might be coming down with a cold. Perseverance is not continuing in the face of wise counsel against action, pursuing a goal out of pride or stubbornness, etc. Again another virtue comes into play here, namely wisdom as well as integrity and vision. Wisdom, integrity, and vision should inform and guide a person's actions, correct action is in line with perseverance but foolish, selfish, or destructive action is absolutely not.

The Nine Virtues - Integrity

Dictionary Definition

Noun

1. Adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

2. The state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.

3. A sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition: the integrity of a ship's hull.
Dictionary.com

ADF Definition

Honor; being true to one's self and to others, involving oath-keeping, honesty, fairness, respect and self-confidence.
Dedicant Manual .mobi Version Downloaded 6.15.11

My Understanding 

When I hear the word integrity I think of the USAF core values:

Integrity First

Excellence In All We Do

Service Before Self

All through basic training, technical school, first term airman orientation, every time I was up for review...these phrases dogged me for five years. Even now I can recite them by heart and I've been separated for 5 years and honorably discharged for about 4 years*. 

I'm not really complaining, these are good values, admirable. But my understanding of integrity is intrinsically tied to them as well. 

Integrity, to me, once again ties into courage and perseverance, depending upon circumstances even hospitality and wisdom. Integrity is correct moral action at all times. A person of integrity will be respected, admired, even trusted more so than the average person or an outsider. This is someone whose opinions and word are trusted almost beyond reproach because they have had opportunity in the past to demonstrate courage and wisdom.

* I was active for four years then went to the reserve for one year.

The Nine Virtues - Courage

Dictionary Definition

noun

1. The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

Obsolete

2. The heart as the source of emotion.

Idiom

3. Have the courage of one's convictions, to act in accordance with one's beliefs, especially in spite of criticism.

Dictionary.com

ADF Definition

The ability to act appropriately in the face of adversity.
Dedicant Manual .mobi Version Downloaded 6.15.11

My Understanding

 Courage and bravery are often used as synonyms, to me courage is right action in the face of adversity while bravery is feeling afraid but taking action in spite of that fear. It is a subtle but distinct difference. Adversity may include fear but not always and not necessarily the same sort of fear one faces regarding bravery. We refer to the bravery of warriors and heroes in regard to physical fear or fear of failure, the sort of fear that regards immediate threats. Courage, on the other hand, is right action in the face of adversity. Whether this is right action in the name of social justice – defending gay marriage and by doing so risking the wrath or censure of your community or employer – or right action in the face of something as straight forward as defying a cruel person.

Just defiance would be another way of describing courage; defiance towards immoral action and thinking by right action, leading by example, establishing an alternative by becoming the alternative.

Note: I’ve just discovered A Virtuous Life:TheNine Virtues of ADF (Study packet for DP Requirement 1) Compiled by Michael J Dangler. I’ve read through the opening and have found it quite useful and will be incorporating it into these posts and my final essays. I believe it’s only accessible via a member’s login to the ADF site.