Hawk’s Cry

Daily Devotionals

Connecting intimately with the divine is the primary focus of religion, regardless of how each religion views divinity. There are many ways to build and reinforce this connection, with the simple daily devotional being one of the most effective.

Different religions perform these devotionals differently. Catholics practice the rosary, vespers, etc. Muslims pray namaz five times each day. Other religions all promote their followers to pray daily in some form to remind themselves of their connection to the divine. I do not see daily practice emphasized enough in Wicca, however.

No matter the religion, the daily devotional is an important reminder of your connection to the divine and the gifts you receive from the divine. Wiccans need to feel comfortable connecting with their Gods more than once or twice a month, or eight times each year. It is very easy to feel alone and disconnected from your Gods, especially when you get caught up in your daily struggles or bogged in your worries. If you only connect with your Gods at formal esbats or sabbats, your connection to your Gods does not grow strong until many years have passed, if ever.

You are building a rope, one strand at a time. Each time you pray and give thanks to your Gods you are adding one more strand to the rope. Initially, your rope is very thin and extremely fragile. The smallest personal frustrations can stress and break the fragile gossamer. If you add only eight strands each year, the odds are highly against your rope being strong enough to hold during a major crisis.

If you add a strand every day, then you will have 365 strands by the end of one year. That is not an extremely strong rope yet, but it is much stronger than a single gossamer or an eight-strand rope. After a few years of daily practice and rope-building, your connection is so strong that you can feel it and gain strength and comfort from it without thinking. It will be very automatic. It will also be strong enough to weather the most intense storms of crisis.

It is best to perform your devotionals alone, or at most with your immediate family. This rope is your personal connection to your Gods, so it needs to be a personal act, not a group ritual or recitation. Initially, you may feel awkward in doing this. You may question if you are doing it “right.” Don’t worry about this. There is no “right” or “wrong” way. The Gods are pleased by your remembering Them and offering a moment of your time. After a week or two, your feelings of awkwardness will diminish and you can focus on your connection.

There is no rule on when you do your devotionals. I prefer to do them during my morning shower, when I am washing off the worries of the old day and night and preparing for the new day. I give honor and thanks out loud, but quietly, to my Gods using the Dialexis to Latreia rite. I adapt it to specifically name my Gods and what I am giving thanks for from the previous day.

There are many other ways to do daily devotionals and they don’t have to be the same each day. R.E. has discussed the use of prayer beads for devotionals in meditation and in prayer. I’ve mentioned previously a couple of simple rituals you can use for your daily devotional. You can also sing hymns or simple prayers without beads if that suits you better. The most important thing with your daily devotionals is not what you are doing, but that you are doing it regularly on a daily basis.

As days, months and years pass, you will feel your spiritual rope to the divine grow in strength and size. It will become a cable that is unbreakable by even the most devastating crises. You will be able to gain from it throughout your day, in addition to while you are focusing on it. You will also grow much closer to your Gods and know Them more and more.