For a long time it was hard for me to connect with an entire pantheon of any given culture.  There were a few Deities here and there that I had a relationship with in most of the cultural pantheons, such as Loki and Freya in the Norse, and Brid and Cerridwyn in the Celtic. Despite those few connections, contact with the whole cultural group of Deities from the various cultures seemed to be roped off from me.  

In a last attempt to try to connect with a deeper spirituality, I bought Ian Corrigan’s, “The Book of Nine Moons.”  A month later, I found out he was going to be leading an on-line group discussion about the book. It seemed like perfect timing, as I felt a little group help might be in order. He was kind enough to allow me into his discussion group, even though I had yet to turn in my DP (this essay looked much different then, and trust me it wasn’t a happy tone).  The program was based on a daily practice more intense than the one I was currently following, as well as full day intensive retreats once a month. The retreats helped to establish a stronger and much deeper daily practice, and served to make me feel even more home sick for a pantheon of Deities that I felt connected to.  I did get a very good foundation of how to interact with the Nature Spirit through this program.  I also felt myself pushed to find better ways to come to understand and to work with my ancestors. Even with these two legs of the three Kindreds becoming more intimate in my life, the Divine leg was still a struggle. I continued to feel that lack of connection to the Celtic Deities that were the focus of that program.  There were moments in which I wondered what I was doing that was so wrong as to get silence back, but I do believe that my time of struggle helped me to make myself a little more visible for the Shining ones.

During this time in my life I was not only struggling with the Divine, but over how best to educate my children.  The local public school system was beginning to show itself to not be the best fit for our children, but I was afraid of doing great harm in taking them out of that system to homeschool.  I was praying and doing trance work to try and find an answer, and offering sacrifices of flame and incense. It was during this time of desperation and confusion that Athena approached me, and gave the best advice I could have ever asked for. She told me how to be mindful of where my children were on the path of growing into adults. She instructed me to just watch and listen.  By following her advice I would see what would be best for both of them. I thanked her and when I woke up the next morning, I gave an offering of olive oil to her.  That next night she came again while I was doing my trance work.  Her words came like a drink of cold water after a long hard day of work in the middle of the summer sun.

“You are looking for a door.  That door is me, and you are mine.”   

It is so hard to explain the excitement I felt when I “heard” those words. I felt as if I had been swept up into the sky and couldn’t fall.  Having her in my life seemed such a natural extension of who I am.  I am surprised I didn’t feel a connection with her sooner.  I immediately began to consider myself hers.  Over the next few days others from the Hellenic pantheon began to step forward and make themselves known.  I went from having a pitiful and depressing time in trying to connect, to a flood of acceptance from all of them. It was shortly after this that the way I viewed myself and my religion begin to change. This is also when I started the binge on every book or website I could find that was connected to the Greek Gods. In the process I found the wonderful, “Gods and heroes of the ancient world,” book series.  This amazing series is written by various classics professors and researchers.  Each book takes on an individual Deity and how they have been seen and worshiped in the past, and how they continue to influence our culture today. These books gave me a foundation from which to approach these beautiful beings as well as how best to honor them. I started, as I bet anyone reading this could guess, with, “Athena,” by Susan Deacy.  Everyday since, one or more of the Hellenic deities has come into my thoughts, bringing new insight into them and my connection with them.

As I contemplated how on Earth I was going to start the nature awareness section of the Dedicant's Program, I began to think about what the word “nature,” means.  When people say they want to get out into nature, what they really mean is that they feel a need to drive out of the city for an hour, and stop out in some area with fewer people or cars.  My first thought was, “There is no way I’m going to use gas so that I can observe nature with less people.”  The thought of driving to “be in nature” seemed counter to the whole reason for the nature awareness section of the DP.  This is when I ran across the book, “Suburban Safari: A Year on the Lawn,” by Hannah Holmes.  This book allowed me to confirm my rather sneaking suspicions that, yes, the backyard and city are also a part of nature.  I readied myself to spend at least a year in my own backyard, and learn its various micro-environments.  

As the year progressed I began to get to know the local squirrel population very well.  Their various calls of distress, checking in with each other, or of playing became the background music of my time outside. I had my heart broken when my of the little ones showed up with a missing paw, and most of his tail gone.  I left special seed offerings out for him, but after a few months (just long enough for me to hope that he might make it), he stopped coming. I watched them make their messy nests high up in the branches, and laughed as small little rambunctious babes began their playful chases up and down the tree trunks.  The mothers would chuck an alarm when they saw me, calling the wee ones back up to the nest, but after a bit I didn’t hear that as much.

I also set apart a smallish part of the yard to be a “wild” zone. Here I planted species of plants that are indigenous to the prairie, and was immediately astounded by its beauty.  A number of different types of wildlife, that I never knew lived in the city, began to use that area.  Bright yellow American Goldfinches soon began perching atop the coneflowers, picking seeds from the stiff heads.  Black Capped Chickadees and Cardinals also became more common visitors. We started getting so many different types of birds, that I felt a need to buy an Audubon Guide to help the kids and myself identify our visitors.  The finches were later joined in September by the flittering and quick dance of hummingbirds.  Those flying jewels often forewent the feeders I hung in response to their unexpected appearance, and seemed to prefer the tall yellow flowers. Toads began making little hovel homes in the thick low growth, much to the local cat population’s pleasure. My local insect populations also exploded.  The best part of this was the Blue Swallowtail butterflies that laid eggs, cocooned, and fluttered about the yard. So much beauty and nourishment for my soul because of this mini-eco-system!

To be a better steward of what has been given me, I twisted my husband’s willing arm into hanging a clothes line out in the back yard.  The clothes line not only reduced energy wasted on the dryer, but also gave me more time outside to experience the wild life of my own backyard.  We now rarely use the clothes dryer since my husband has also put up a line in our basement for when we cannot use the one outside. We are hoping to eventually get a high efficiency washer so that we can reduce our water and energy consumption.  Till we can afford that, water stewardship is being accomplished by two, 50 gallon rain barrels that give water to my thirsty garden beds.


My yard has become a retreat in such a short amount of time.  I am glad that I have started this path, and hope to continue to get to know my own yard better.  Who knows, maybe the Bald Eagle I saw one day flying overhead will return.

***DISCLAIMER***  ADF  follows orthopraxy and not Orthodoxy.  That means we follow a certain way to worship and do not require everyone to beleive the same things about the nature of the world both physical and spiritual. This is my personal view of the three kindreds and is not to be considered a type of ADF Orthodoxy.***



In ADF we work with a three world cosmology.  The underworld is often seen as the realm of the ancestors, the middle world (where we dwell) is the world of the nature spirits, and the upper world is the place of the Divinities. The image often employed for this structure is that of a huge tree.  The roots being the underworld, the trunk the middle world, and the branches the upper world.   The tree is seen as order surrounded by the ocean of chaos. The roots of the tree are watered from the chaos, the tree then takes in the chaos and turns it into structured order within itself.  Each of the three realms support the other two and in turn create an ordered universe.

The roots of the cosmic tree are the place where the ancestors dwell. Just as the roots provide the base for the rest of the tree to sit atop, the ancestors provide our personal base for who we are in this world.  They are also a base for our spiritual work. They continue a connection to us in our blood, DNA, and in habits passed down through generations which we conveniently call culture.  As we work with our ancestors, we can develop a closer relationship to who we truly are. That discovery can help an individual to be more authentic in how they relate to the other two worlds.  We can also help to act as memory keepers of the ways of old.  The ancestors have a vested interest in their descendants.  As we act to remember them, we feed them.  We give them a connection to this middle world and just like the trunk of the tree, we give the ancestors a connection to the upper world as well.  As the trunk of a tree dies without connection to the roots, we wither without a connection to those roots that produced who we are.  So by honoring them we also feed ourselves, and we create a connection to the power of knowing.

My personal work with the ancestors of my line has proven rather interesting.  I know very little about my ancestors.  My current living family tends to be extremely disconnected and this has led to a disconnection from those who hold me up.  I found that at the end of the day I needed a guide to help me find a connection with my line.  I turned to a book called, “Weaving Memory: A Guide to Honoring the Ancestors,” by Laura Patsouris.  The book provided a range of ways to connect to my people as well as ways to work with them to continue that connection. She suggests starting with an ancestor altar and then using it to elevate those souls that were rather nasty in the living world. Thankfully I do not have any “Restless or Angry Dead,” that I know of yet, but she also provides tips on how to deal with them, should they ever reveal themselves.  I have used a great deal of what she has to say in the book to connect with my female line.  In the process of reaching out to the women about whom history records very little, often relegating them to the shadows of the men in their lives in so many ways, I began to understand what had been missing from my life both spiritually as well as physically.  I have not yet been brave enough to try connecting with the men of my line.  My physical life has left some strange shaped scars from the men around me, so this has been a daunting part of the practice for me.  As I have connected to the women, I am beginning to find the strength of will to start the work with the men folk.

The middle world is where we humans exist, but we are not alone.  We share this space with the nature spirits. Many people I have known have viewed nature spirits as simply nothing more than dead pets, but I disagree with this being the case.  In my experience, Nature Spirits are more like the ultimate idea of a species. Nature Spirits are the combination of all the dead of a single species into a singular spirit form, kind of like an over soul.  The Native Kansa, here in Kansas, often prayed to Elk, Coyote, Rabbit, and others.  These were the local nature spirits that the corresponding animals were in tune with, as well as a small part of, just as I am part of the human spirit, even though I am not the total, but instead a small part of that whole. Nature spirits seem to be not just of the animal variety.  They can also be the spirits of rocks, mountains, boulders, trees, grasses, and any form of creation that might be met with here in the middle world.  This would also include weather such as thunder, clouds, and winds.

It is the essence of the thing that we look to as its spirit.  In many ways it is the instinct that is inherent in a species. It is that pure essence that binds and animates an individual to itself, it is simply the divine forces of nature.  Nature spirits are not as powerful Gods, nor as weak as the fleshy things, much like the spirits of our ancestors.  Although there are points where Gods and nature spirits do overlap.  I would point to the spirit of fire as an example. In many pantheons, Fire is indeed considered a God. The thing that seems to divide the Nature Sprits from the Gods is that nature spirits do not move from a singular place or from the animal it is formed of.  One would most likely not come across a polar bear spirit in the desert of Arizona. The human spirit is all over the world, because humans are, but the Spirit of the River is only found there where the river flows.

My experience of starting to create a connection with the spirits who share this space with me has been profound and so beneficial to my well being that I am surprised how I got along without it for so long.  I have started my day by lighting a wick on my three wick candle for the spirits for almost two years now, and when that is done I go outside.  I recently bought chickens as a push, a reason to go out into the yard once a day.  After feeding them I take a moment to just stand and send my mind down into the land.  I say a short prayer to the spirits of the land, thanking them for sharing the space with me.  In the process of doing this daily I have found a deep feeling of connection to the world that I live in.  I see the squirrels as they make their nests, and as small bundles of baby squirrels emerge I see myself with my children.  I see the birds as they pull seeds off the heads of the echinacea I planted in my labyrinth, and I feel such profound love for these small beings.  I feel centered and whole, no matter how hot or cold it is.

At the top of the tree we find the Gods. For some time I have been struggling with the idea of how the Gods work, exist, and interact with us fleshy things (I don’t think humans have an exclusive on interaction with the divine, but since I don’t speak cat so well as I would like, I have yet to get the fuzzy felines in my house to tell for sure one way or the other), and in an effort to figure things out I had a rather strange notion, why not ask the Gods themselves? Was there ultimately only one deity that showed many faces to different cultures (like the many times used example of the diamond who’s multiple faces reflect a culture back to itself but are still part of the whole)? Was the Divine a duality in which, again, two entities are ultimately the one source for all other Gods and Goddesses in the World? Were the Gods, thought forms from our own inner deep psyche? Lastly, were they many separate individuals, just as there are many separate individual humans?

Here is the vision given to me. Let us start with a thunder storm. There are Storm Gods in almost every Pantheon (if not all of them, but since I personally do not know all the pantheons by heart, I’ll give myself some wiggle room here). These Storm Gods have a great deal in common, but there are differences. Some are heads and leaders of their particular Pantheon (think Zeus or Ba’al), but in other Pantheons they are not. Storm systems are effected by many different things, the energy of the storm itself can affect how powerful the system grows, but what is important is the landscape of where the storm is taking place as it shapes what is produceable. The Plains here in Kansas are such that tornadoes are possible on a fairly regular basis, but they are not so regular in California, where the landscape make them much harder to form. A storm in the desert of Egypt is going to have a much different connotation from a storm in the rain forests of the Amazon. Although these storms are ultimately caused by pressure and energy in the atmosphere, they change with the geographic location, as do the various Gods that represent storms. Just like these storms being the by product of the same energy, the different Storm Gods can be said to be the by product of the same energy as it is shaped by both the landscape and the culture that comes across these storms as they play out in that region of the Earth.

We can also see this with Fire Gods. The presence, power, and energy of Fire will be looked at differently in the Steppes of Russia as opposed to Ancient Greece. Fires in both cultures are caused by the production of carbon from heat and chemical reactions, but in Russia there exists the idea of never letting a hearth fire go out, and to treat the spirit of the fire with a great deal of respect (if you don’t, your house just might burn down). This is much different from how fire is treated in less drastically cold regions of the world. There are fires in Greece that were not supposed to go out (Hestia’s comes to mind), but these were hardly an every household occurrence. We can see the influence of how fire works in real life and cultures by way of the idea of Fire God as Trickster (as seen in Loki). This concept of trickster makes complete and perfect sense to anyone who is, or has ever know a fire fighter. Fire is and can be indeed very tricky, just when you think it is out, it reemerges to take on new life. We see in Loki a God who is destructive in his trickery but who also gives the most precious of gifts when all is said and done; just as fire can burn us or help to create works of metal and culinary art (plus a million other wonderful things).

Now, how does this relate to the nature of the Gods, and if they are many, or one, or what not? Here is where I steal something from a Christian theologian (hey, the Christians stole a lot of Pagan stuff, so fairs fair) in the idea from Hugh Ross in which we make ourselves into two dimensional stick drawing on a piece of paper in which a hand is sticking three fingers through. The stick people cannot see out side of the paper, and so see 3 separate circles that are the cross section of each finger as it passes through the paper. Ultimately the fingers are attached to the hand and so connected, just as our Storm Gods are connected by the same energy, but what we see and experience are separate individuals, and I would argue that they should indeed be treated as such. Just as I and my brother are by products of the same source, but still individuals, I would argue that Storm Gods as encountered by various cultures within an environment that shapes the way a Storm can occur, are indeed unique to that environment and thus separate individual Gods. The Power and Energy of that storm will shape and effect the culture of that particular region, just as the culture will shape and define the God of the storms as the people wrestle and come to understand that energy in the Storm.

While the individual Storm Gods are indeed connected through one powerful and overlapping dimension (the atmosphere and the energy that shapes the weather), Rivers are not the same thing at all. Allow me for a moment to play the role of bard and tell you a story that is true just as much as it is fiction.
Long ago Mother Earth and Father Storm felt a need to feed one another. Mother Earth gave water to Father Storm, and he in turn rained upon her face, filling the many deep caverns in her belly, as well as covering her mountain tops in soft white snow. From this love of giving was their Daughter River born.

The Earth and weather affect what types of water bodies can be shaped in any region of the world, but those bodies have a life and power all their own. I would argue that would make them very separate and individual types of Divinity from the Storm Gods. River, Lake, and Sea Deities all have their characteristics, because so do the bodies of water for which their energy help shape and form.

As we look to nature as the ultimate revelation about the nature of the divine, what is shown is amazing diversity of various sexual types (Male/Female/both/neither), this is why I think it is right and proper to understand the deities in these terms, even though they are not at the end of the day, in any way shape or form, human (we only picture them as such, so as to make it easier for us to interact with them, and understand their individual personalities on a more person level), and I believe it is to nature as well as myths of the past (and hopefully soon, present)n to help us come to an understanding of what and who the Gods are.

The energy of storms and of region geography are not the only types of powerful energy in our world. We can simple look inside to find other types that are from various different sources from the nature Divinities. Let us take for example Love and War. these are two divinities that in many cultures have some sort of connection either in the same Deity (think Freya), or as two lover deities, (think Aphrodite and Aries). Both are passionate pursuits that can influence each other, hence the connections in the mythology. Ultimately War and Love are a combination of social and emotional factors, which many times can take on a life of their own. These are energies that are shaped by culture, just as much as the Storms are shaped by the geography. Although Love is a universal emotion, the way in which it is acceptably expressed is confined within the boundaries of a culture and its taboos (public kissing and affection being a huge no-no in India). War is often reigned in by the “rules of war” such as they exist in a society.

The Gods do not seem to be limited to physical space though, the way nature spirits are.  Different Gods can reach beyond the bounds of the land they originated in, to find new followers.  I personally have experienced this with Athena.  I was praying for a way to help my children as we began the process of homeschooling, and it was Athena who answered.  She became a gateway for me to meet and come to know the Hellenic Gods of old.  I have since become one of theirs, even though I live in the United States. 

All three of the Kindreds have their place in my spiritual practice.  They have helped shape and change how I see the world around me.  I would now be lost without them.  I hope that as we continue to grow our relationships, that I will be able to deepen my understanding of how the world tree shapes chaos into order.


A few months before Samhain, I started having a rather unusual visitor.  Lord Hades, whose name means, the “unseen,” is often very misunderstood and has a great deal of baggage attached to him.  In many ways Hades gets the gyp.   Hades is the first born son, and as such should have inherited the rule of all the Gods, but that honor went instead to the youngest son, Zeus.  Hades accepts everybody into his realm.  Good, evil, neither; all are given a place. The greatest travesty of how Hades is treated, in my opinion, is that he is treated as a great evil.  My personal opinion for why he is thought of in this manner is because the various Christian sects identified him with Satan and translated the Hebrew word Sheol (meaning a place of the dead, but without the afterlife connotations) with the word Hades. In the older myths about Hades, he tends to be a rather neutral or passive toward events that are taking place, and even sometimes charitable. 

In his book, “Deep Ancestors,” Caisiwr Serith talks about how when we do ritual we are contributing to the *Xartus, which is the proto-indo-european word which describes the pattern or order of the universe.  I would argue that Hades serves the *Xartus as well.  Without death chaos would reign.  Our world works, we have healthy ecosystems, as well as simply being able to eat, because death exists. Death and decay serve a purpose in this world.  This is not to detract from the severe emotional pain that it can cause, especially when the death is an unjust one, but without death there would be no life.  We use the three world cosmology of the indo-europeans in which the underworld is base of the tree of life.  Death is the base for life in the middle and upper realms. Without the underworld and the land of the dead the tree would not grow. True, this realm is fed by the waters of chaos, but it is not a part of the chaos itself.

Even though death serves a purpose in life, it is often seen as a defeat, or some type of failure in Western culture.  I have heard a story that hospice started because doctors refused to admit that people might die in hospitals.  It is understandable for doctors to view death as a type of defeat, but in reality it isn’t.  Death is part of the order of the cosmos, and while it shouldn’t be forced or encouraged, it shouldn’t be feared or hated.

When Hades first came to visit, he started talking to me about what it meant to have a meaningful death.  We chatted about burial and what a good death should look like.  He nudged me to teach a class on green burial at my fellowship, and I researched the different ways to care for the dying as well as their remains.  I found out about Death Doulas or Thana Doulas. Thana Doulas help give people options when they die as well as while they are in process.  They provide presence and comfort care, often singing and touching the person to help them find ease.  They provide support for the families as well.  They can help with grief or act as funeral liaisons. Often they will help the family navigate the sometimes serpentine system that is the modern funeral business so that they are not being forced to make rapid choices in the throws of new grief.

“...a thana doula or death midwife, helps people with 'How am I going to deal with my death?' both literally and practically.  Funerals and wakes are usually steeped in culture, tradition and religion, so much so most people don't think there is a choice. But there are options.  Toronto thana doula Elizabeth Lancaster said more people are dealing with their death in their own way. She said first, people have to consider what's important to them.”1

As I look at my new protogrove and form and shape a vision of its growing and staying for years to come, I am faced with one very true reality, if the grove lasts as long as I dream it will, at some point in time someone will die.  This is something I want to be ready for.  I want to be able to serve the people as they have need.  I believe this is why Hades came a knockin’, as my grandmother would say.  I feel a call to get training to be a death doula and to help people in one of the most emotional times of their lives.  I want to help people have a good death and be buried in a way that has meaning to them and their families.  In turn, I hope that by starting a tradition of death doulas in my area, that maybe when it is my turn, there will be someone to walk beside me, and show me the door.  Hades willing, it will be so.







1 Inside Toronto article, “Death midwives help people have a 'good death'”: http://www.insidetoronto.com/community/life/article/980068--death-midwives-help-people-have-a-good-death

Yule is the darkest night of the year, when it seems the light will never return.  The Sun drops to the lowest point on the horizon and stays there for three days, but then the miraculous happens.  The Sun slowly starts to rise higher in the sky.  It is almost imperceptible at first, and the biting cold of winter can sometimes blind us from the fact that the light is returning.  

I once heard someone describe Yule as being half way out of the dark.  I struggle without the warmth of the sun and the gentle kisses of its light on my skin.  I crave and need that light, so for me Yule is one of the most joyous celebrations.  This would be doubly true for the people for whom there was no such thing as the electric light. There is an ancient German custom of singing the sun up during the longest night.  The Yule Log was lit, and the Yule hog, which has become the Christmas Ham, was served. Actually, many Pagan traditions have since become Christmas traditions.

"Two popular observances belonging to Christmas are more especially derived from the worship of our pagan ancestors—the hanging up of the mistletoe and the burning of the Yule log,” wrote Robert Chamber in his Book of Days (c. 1901).

The evergreens used for Christmas have Germanic as well as Roman influences.  Saturnalia was a holiday at the time of the Solstice in which evergreen boughs were brought into the Roman home. The celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, the visiting of friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae or lucky fruits. Masters and slaves would temporarily exchanging roles, which could be seen as a precursor to boxing day. The use of evergreens to decorate the streets and houses was also very noticeable during this great winter festival.

On the darkest night of the year, the winter solstice, we will gather in order to celebrate the rebirth of the Sun, as seen from societies of old.  The rebirth of the great giver and sustainer of all earthly life, and the turning of the wheel of the year again. To paraphrase one of my favorite writers on the subject, if we did not celebrate the solstice, then the Sun would not rise again, and all we would have is a mere ball of flaming gas that would illuminate the world.

My past experience has been that grounding and centering are two separate steps to prepare the mind and body for deep ritual work.  I have come to find that the strength of the “Two Powers” meditation is that in does both steps in one go.  

When I ground, I make a connection with the earth that allows my mind to be level and calm.  In the two powers meditation I also use this connection to the waters of the earth to meld with my ancestors who reside in the deep parts of the underworld.  I pull that energy up into myself until it flows out the top of my head and flows back down to the earth, creating a full circuit. As I pull the energy from the sun/upper world/star, I set myself up as the center of the worlds; I create sacred space within my body and center my being in the same step.  This power from the sun is allowed to flow over the water within, down to the earth, and again a circuit is made.  The fire also connects me to the upper world of the divine entities. The image of the Fire burning on the water in the palm of my hands is a perfect reflection of the power of the three worlds.

The two powers meditation has been a bit of a mixed bag for me though.  In my personal, private experience of the meditation, I feel a true and deep connection to the upper and lower world.  It feels as if my body is stretching to become a microcosm of the world tree.  I can feel the gates open and flow into me.  The fire on the water is hot and cold at the same time.  I feel such contented peace and a connection to all of creation.  It is an extremely powerful meditation in this silent, private place.  

It is when I try to move the meditation to a group that it seems to fall a tad flat.  I say the words and try to do the meditation at the same time, and I get the feeling that I am trying to mix oil and water. What I mean is that  it feels like a soupy mess that is constantly trying to separate itself from me as well as disconnect within itself.  I think that the reason for this is that I am reading a script written by someone else, instead of using my own person version.  I have done this in the past to be sure I am using the meditation as closely to what Reverend Corrigan’s vision of it is, as I can.  I have mostly done this for the benefit of those who do not have a personal, firsthand experience with the meditation.  I think in future I will try using my own observations and wording with the two powers to led the group, and see if it works better.

Our family has been working on creating sacred space for some time now.  Spaces that allows our souls to grow and be at peace is extremely important to me. I have always encouraged the children to build their own shrines in their bedrooms, but since those are personal to them, and a bit defunct at the moment, I will leave pictures of those two out.  


We have had two separate family shires in the living room over the past few years.  Originally, our family shrine was located in the non-working fireplace.  It was a placement that made sense, since the fireplace has traditionally been the heart of the home, and this was the spiritual heart for our family. The children loved to pray in front of it when the candles were lit, but after the baby came, it was no longer safe to have small shrine objects in such an accessible space.  We have since moved it, in small part, to the fireplace mantle.  The other part has been moved into the kitchen, but more on that in a moment.

On one end of the mantel is where I have pictures of my children, as well as a statue to represent our female ancestors.  I like the idea that they are watching over the children and for me the placement of the pictures are a way to ask for that help.  Next to the pictures and Mothers statue, I have my daily devotional space.  

The daily devotional space is equipped with a three wick candle that is used to start my morning. I begin by lighting a single wick.  I pray first to my Ancestors, “Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, bone of my bone, I honor you.”  I light the second wick and pray, “Nature Spirits, Spirits of this land and of this house, I honor you.” The last wick is lit, and I pray, “Great Gods and Goddesses, you who are worthy of worship, I honor you.”  I place my hands, palms facing toward the fire and pray, “May this light feed you, may it honor and strengthen you, may it draw you close to me and my family, that we might grow our relationship, and know one another.”  After this I pick up my prayer beads and pray to honor the Olympians.  The prayer beads have been a very useful and powerful addition to my morning practice.

I also have a shrine in the kitchen space next to the stove.  The remains of what was once the fireplace altar have since migrated here. This is my personal druid shrine, and is complete with a well, tree (the small metal circle as well as three small cuts of a fallen branch), and flame.  From time to time I will add a statue of a deity that I am working with at the moment, but many times I do not keep one there.  Also, I like to add small objects that remind me of nature spirits, or of my ansestors.  In this picture is a candle I made and adorned with a rune, in honor of my Danish Ancestors.  I have feathers from blue jays and cardinals to remind me that I share this space and land with the nature spirits. This is the shrine I like to use as I cook the family meals.  It feels right to include this space as I prepare sustenance for my family, as if it were feeding their souls at the same time as I make what will feed their bodies.  Someday I hope to add something to represent all of the Theoi, instead of singular deities, but I have yet to find the right image or object. 

Outside, we have the family altar under the cedar tree.  When we do ritual as a family, we take our well out and place it on an iron stand.  My husband made this altar with local rocks that were gathered from an obliging river.  It is small, but gorgeous when the fire is going under the shade of that most wonderful evergreen.  We have done several rituals as a family to honor the High days.  I am not sure if I would feel right doing ritual there with anyone who was not family.

Lastly, we have our changing holiday shrine.  We have eight flags, one for each of the different high days.  We also add little trinkets and symbols of the holidays.  Three things do stay on the holiday shrine despite what holiday we are celebrating.  We have a Kachina, who represents the land, we have Athena, who is my patron, and a small statue of Pan who, in my mind at least, bridges the gap between the spirits of this land, and the spirits of the land where my hearth culture comes from.

Each of these places in our home provide a space to grow in our spiritual practice, as well as remind us as a family that there are bigger things that bind us together.  We use these spaces to find peace, comfort, growth, and ourselves.

There are times when it just gets way too hard. I find myself wanting to curl up under the bed covers and sleep till the world just stops being difficult and daunting.  I can feel so exhausted and overwhelmed that it takes a conscious decision to get out of the bed and do what needs doing.  That is what perseverance really is.  It is that choice to keep going even when it has gotten so difficult; maybe even difficult enough to require flannel.  It some times requires a small compromise, such as wearing flannel jammies to get the work done, but the most important part is the choice.  That internal action of thought that spurs physical action is the hardest and most meaningful part.  If I give up, it affects not only me, but those around me.  My ancestors chose to keep going, even when times were extremely hard.  I owe it to them to persevere as well.