Last week I posted up weekly devotions for the Four+ Gods. One goal I’m working on this year is worshiping the Gods more, and more intentionally. This means more prayers, more rituals, and more devotionals. More time spent on the Gods and spirits.

Currently, I am focusing on three devotional goals:

• devotions for each of the Four+ Gods
• opening and closing the week
• full and new moons

The full and new moon devotions are less Otherfaith specific and tie more into broader Wiccan-ish Paganism. I have found that an increased devotion and ritual practice ripples throughout ones religious practices, and the Moon Goddess is important in many modern traditions. I don’t know that She has much place in Otherfaith practice, but She does in my own.

The Opening and Closing Week prayers I wrote seem to work fine. I actually like them a fair bit! Figuring out when to use them seems to be the trickier bit. Opening the Week aligns well with Monday and helps get my mind in order for the week ahead. Ending the week, however, is less clear.

Should I end it on Sundays? Then there isn’t really an end to the week at all, and the prayers don’t seem to serve any purpose. Perhaps, instead, Friday, when the weekend begins. This is complicated by ‘weekends’ that don’t always align with the weekend.

Should I use the prayer when taking a break from my devotions? But I don’t actually want to take a break from my devotions in general, at the very least not my morning and evening devotions.

I am still figuring out the placement for the ‘Closing of the Week’ prayer.

Devotions for the Gods

The prayers I used for the devotions were based on older ones, called the Praises, that I came up with years ago. I decided to use them while experimenting with the new devotionals I was working with.

Honestly, I didn’t like them much at all. They felt far too short during times when I wanted to really focus on a deity. When I wrapped them into my morning or nighttime prayers they just didn’t capture the essence of the God that I was trying to call to.

I realized that the naming of the Gods was rather important. An obvious step, but one I completely missed while drafting! I have now added in the specific name of the God I am calling upon, along with various epithets.

I didn’t have most of the offerings I suggested in the devotionals, so instead I would offer incense and prayers. This made me think of creating a variety of devotionals, from more to less intensive, that People could use. I also want to develop prayers/poetry for the devotionals that can easily vary in length.

Figuring out what color candle and what scent of incense to use has been an interesting journey that I’ve really only just begun. For the Clarene, as an example, lush or luxurious scents would be appropriate. Anything that reminds one of luxury and wealth. I foolishly didn’t mark down what incense I had given while doing the devotions and will do so in the future, to keep track of what I feel might work (and what didn’t work!).

Two stanzas may work better for the devotions I am looking to give. Once I’ve brainstormed some, I will share them.