Tips for Daily Practice and Ritual

Okay so I have basically decided to write about things I should do on a daily basis to communicate with my Gods. Now this can also be done weekly, monthly or on those special Pagan Holidays, with a group or alone. It can be elaborate or very simple. You can add to them or take away. You can meld these ideas into your own pantheons and daily practices. But the idea here is to create a list of neat ideas that can be used for private practice and to help promote that consistent daily practice (which has already been established that I need). Some tips I have used already, some ideas I plan to use, some ideas will require ritual space, a shrine, or nothing but a little of imagination and fore thought! Rituals involve three basic elements and they are: When - At what time are you going to do the activity?, and Where - Where are you going to do it? And finally How - In what manner, in what order, and using what? Feel free to share with me any of the kind of things you do on a daily, weekly or monthly basis that you do to communicate with your Gods! Feel free to share your thoughts on this topic all together. So lets begin! Oh before I do again, this is my disclaimer ... you will see many of my practices fall under a Greek Pagan Pantheon and some are actually ancient Greek traditions I researched and tweaked for modern times. You will also see a few things that can fall under a Celtic and Shaman (Native American Pantheon) since I have walked these roads as well.

1.Say a morning prayer to your Gods as you greet the day (I try to do one for Hekate but I need to do one for Hermes too)
2.Ring a bell three times (Trinity Symbols Sacred to Hekate) I keep one on my night stand.
3.With your morning coffee light an incense and meditate, save some coffee for libation share with your Gods, always.
4.Give First Fruits at every meal, this means you give some of you daily food and first to your Gods that you prepare ~ always a good idea to share with Hestia or whatever God/Goddess you desire that is responsible for giving you Fire
5.When you see the sun at first blow it a kiss (a Greek Tradition)
6.Get up early enough to watch the sun rise and say a prayer to Apollo and thank him for the light
7.Do a besom sweep of your home to let out negative energies that may have accumulated
8.If you shower in the morning light a candle in honor of Hygieia's and/or Aphrodite's so they may help you with cleansing and beatification power
9.Draw a daily Tarot and meditate on its God/Goddess imagery
10.Leave some food in a bowl outside for spirit guides and spirit travelers
11.Libate some Red Bull because it has wings and will fly up to the heavens (do this for Hermes).
12.Leave some food out on a stone pile (called Hermia in Greek tradition in honor of Hermes).
13.Libate some Olive Oil on an outside alter or one stone pointing towards the heavens for Zeus to ask for heart and home protection.
14.Sit by a tree and lean into it while listening for the winds … try to speak to the wind (Native American)
15.Hug a tree
16.Leave a fairy offering by a tree
17.Coins are sacred to Hermes and so start a Hermes jar and give him some coins on a daily basis or whatever Gods have been linked to coins. After a year buy something spiritual with the money like a statue or some other representation of your God/Goddess.
18.Start a wishing well and place it on your alter and write a daily affirmation or wish and place it in the box make some sort of offering
19.At a crossroad leave some sort of offering food, plant. wine, coins.
20.Say and evening prayer to your Gods (I try to do one for Hekate)
21.Meditate with your favorite stone or crystal energies.
22.Moon gaze and concentrate on the Gods and Goddess that correspond with each moon phase.

Okay here are twenty tips and I already have 724 words … I will continue more tips tomorrow because I have only scratched the surface on some of the Ancient practices that I tweaked and would like to share a bit more on this topic. Meanwhile feel free to share your own tips too! Perhaps this can be a blog challenge! What kind of rituals or daily practices do you use?

Bia' Aletheia