At the Altar in Leather and Jeans

I have practiced Wicca for many years and during that time I have come into “spiritual dry spells” where I felt disconnected from my spiritual life.  The so-called mundane world grabbed all of my attention and, more importantly, my time.  Did I really have the time to take a ritual shower, put on my robe, arrange the altar, and perform a 30 minute esbat ritual between eating dinner and getting to bed on time so I would be well-rested for work the next day?  The simple answer is:  no.  Therefore, I concentrated my efforts on those things that I felt had to be done.  Over time, though, I truly began to feel a deep lacking inside of me.  There was something missing in my life that wasn’t being met by doing those things I felt were absolutely necessary.  Eventually I realized that my soul was longing to be filled with the nutrients of spiritual practice.  I wanted so much to cast the Circle, commune with life itself, or dance in the moonlight.  I couldn’t, though, as there simply wasn’t enough time.

One day I came home from work and glanced over at my altar.  My spirit pulled at me so hard that I knew that I had to do something.  It was one of those feelings akin to almost not being able to breathe.  I felt I had to go to my altar and do … well, I wasn’t sure what, but I needed to do something.  I thought about putting on my robe and lighting the candles, but there simply wasn’t time for that.  There just wasn’t time but something had to give.

Still in my leather jacket and jeans, I walked straight over to my altar.  I didn’t bother with incense or casting a Circle.  I placed my hands on the altar and let the energies of Above and Below meet within me.  My body shook as the energy suddenly coalesced and I felt complete.

What I was wearing had no significance; it was actually better that I didn’t put on traditional ritual wear for I was finally able to see that the first step to fully merging all of my needs was not to go out of my way to make them separate.  Wearing my regular clothes to the altar did not “mundane-ify” my altar, but rather it sanctified my regular clothing.

When we realize that every aspect of our lives can be made sacred, we can then begin to make everything sacred.  In allowing our ideas to progress into something previously unimagined, we can discover that the joy we have in our lives was previously unimaginable.