Magical Energy

I’m so glad 😌 to know you enjoy my posts. Thanks for your sweet words.

It’s hard to know what motivates each of us. For me the gateway to my practice was calendar customs. When I started I was young and broke so I started by observing holy days that were important to my ancestors with food. We’ve all got to eat, so I could justify maybe getting just something a little extra for a meal to make it special and dedicate it to my practice, or just set the table a little differently, add a flower or a trinket. This is still core to my practice and adds an element of communion with my ancestors, and now that I’ve added foraging to the mix, with the land.

Another thing I did early on was add an element to the meditation I already did to prepare for bed. I had inherited my granny’s rosary, but at that point in time wasn’t ready to incorporate the formal prayers into my life, so instead I used the beads to count my breaths.

So, I would say when I started my practice, I took things I already did, but just made them a little more.

So maybe you could think of some things you do routinely, that are probably already to a certain extent ritual, and just add a little layer, make it spiritual with a little intent.

Thank you so much for the ask. Have a beautiful weekend!

My Celtic friends: Samhain

Me, a Slav: DZIADY

But seriously, I really recommend you to read about Dziady (or the Forefathers’ Eve, as that’s how it is sometimes translated into English). It is traditionally celebrated in Belarus, Ukraine, Baltic countries, and some parts of Poland as well. Similarly to Celtic Samhain, it is also believed that during Dziady our ancestors come back to the world of the living. As the descendants, we are obligated to welcome them properly, commemorate them, and learn from whatever advice they may have for us. It's really cool, Adam Mickiewicz, the national poet of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus, even wrote a drama inspired by this feast!

(“Dziady, pradziady, przyjdzcie do nas!” Depiction of dziady ritual in Belarus, Stanisław Bagieński. Source: Wikipedia)

More under this link:

as you know, a great part of knowledge we possess about the beliefs of old slavs comes from sources much less educational in nature and more aimed at lamenting and complaining and ridiculing the pagan ways. Adam Fischer gives us a plethora of such wonderful compaints in his 1923 work Fête des morts where he gathers examples from various chronicles and sermons, regarding the slavic beliefs surrounding their dead.

Cosmas of Prague laments in his chronicles regarding old Czechia: “So they would bury their dead in forests and meadows and then organise games in accordance with pagan ways on the crossroads, seemingly to soothe the souls, but they would also play ungodly jokes and call upon the spirits, and having put on masks, they would go wild in celebration themselves: these disgusting blasphemies the young duke (Bretislav I) would have to root out.”

A sermon from Czechia from XII century mentions that people would worship their dead relatives as deities (home deities, a belief spread widely across slavic people) and “call upon angels giving them false names”

Similarly, Al-Mas'udi mentioned that Slavs would burn the bodies of their dead and then venerate them as ancestral deities.

Other Arabic source mentions that Slavs would visit the burial site of their dead on the first anniversary of their passing and offer them 20 jugs filled with honey, and then gather around the grave to have a feast before heading back home.

Sources regarding Rus lamented that people would heat up bath houses for the dead: leave them towels and bowls of food and drink, and pour ash on the ground around the bath house to see whether the dead would leave the marks of their presence in it.

The 1551 Synod laments that people in Russia would still gather at the graves and have feasts in the name of their ancestors, and the custom remained strong for years to come, as in 1634 Adam Olearius had a chance to observe it and describe in detail during his travels. 

A 1497 Polish sermon mentions that people still practiced lighting small fires for the souls of their dead in the belief that the souls would gather around the fire to warm themselves.

Let's wander a bit away from superstition for a moment and head into folklore.

People the world over all seem to have the same idea. There just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done - and wouldn't it be nice if someone in this house would pitch in and help from time to time! And so, all over the world, you'll find household helpers. The Domovoy is the Slavic answer.

The Domovoy lives behind the stove or under the doorstep in a house and is rarely if ever seen. Which isn't to say that he doesn't make his presence known! This household guardian is responsible for all the quiet noises the house makes during the night, the creaks and groans of the wood floor settling are the sounds of the domovoy finishing off the household chores after everyone has gone to bed. He's a hearth guardian, watching over the banked coals all night long and keeping them alive until morning when they'll be needed. A pleased domovoy will watch after the children of a household and the animals as well, keeping them away from dangers - and keeping dangers away from them. The domovoy also plays a prophetic roll, aware of approaching death, disease or misfortune and warning the family with noises in the night. The domovoy, a creature centered more on family than building, also doesn't like to be left alone for too long and so there's a tradition of, just before you set off on a long journey, sitting quietly near the door for a few minutes in the hopes of tricking the domovoy into thinking you're not really leaving.

This is because the domovoy isn't always helpful or even protective. If it suspects the family is going on a long journey it may steal things and hide them, so the family has to stay to look for something they can't leave on their journey without. The domovoy is also easily angered with slothful house members or the use of foul language and will retaliate with terrifying noises in the night if you're lucky and burning your house down around you if you're not so lucky. A domovoy is best treated with respect then. He should always be referred to, not by name but rather as 'grandfather' or 'himself'. If a family is planning on moving, they should invite their domovoy to go with them and, when they move into the new house, leave the first slice of bread from the first meal the family eats in the house either under the stove or buried in the courtyard to welcome him in. In more extreme cases, its blood the domovoy requires, in the form of a rooster or a hen.

In appearance, domovoy are said to look like little old men, with big grey beards and flashing eyes, dressed either in red or grey. Domovoy can change shape at will as well, all the way from snakes to barnyard animals right up to the head of the family or a dead ancestor.

Speaking of which, tracing back to his early beginning roots, the domovoy was probably once a form of ancestor worship, the belief that a founding member of the family, after death, didn't pass on but rather stayed behind to watch over his progeny and share their joys and pains. He started as a small, personalized household god, one the family appeased and honored in exchange for his goodwill and support against outside forces. There's a female version called the domania as well but oftentimes the domovoy ruled the household alone.