Pagan practices are important to the pagan path. Unlike many of the mainstream religions, we, as pagans don’t have weekly services. Our spirituality is connected to nature and the self. So spending time with nature or reflecting on ourselves, the gods, ancestors, or simple practices and devotions is key to our progress.
I have put together several practices that you can do to expand your spirituality and your mind.
1. Go outside and touch nature
Nature, being a core part of our spiritual practice, should never be ignored. Any small piece should be experienced. Even big cities have some form of park or preserve that you can use if you aren’t near a forest or meadow. But I want to encourage you to reach out and visit the wilder parts of the world for a deeper connection to the aspects of the gods and disconnect with technology.
2. Grounding
To expand on the previous point, if your body and environment allow, remove your shoes, clothing, or whatever barriers prevent you from actually making contact with the ground. Grounding is an interesting phenomenon backed by science that has shown that a connection either the earth makes for healthier and happier plants and animals. There is no doubt in my mind that this also holds true for us humans. I encourage you to put your bare feet in the soil or a natural body of water like a pond, ocean, stream, or river.
3. Offerings – to Gods and Ancestors
Offerings don’t have to be elaborate. In their simplest form, they can be thought of as hospitality gifts for when you are visited by the gods or your ancestors. The offering should be something to fit the occasion and who you are expecting or inviting. Some offerings would be:
- Drink: Tea, Wine, Mead, Whiskey, Water
- Food: Bread, Meat, Vegetables, Fruit, Herbs
- Ambiance: Incense, Herbs, Flowers,
- Art: Paintings, sculpture, poems, dance, song
- Metaphysical: Crystals, Stones, Effigies
4. Yoga/ Stretching
By performing basic yoga poses or stretching, you better your physical health and wellbeing. A common phrase passed around among the spiritual is that “Your body is a temple”. In paganism, where we worship nature and all of creation, this is more true than anywhere else.
5. Watch a sunrise/sunset
Taking part in a simple daily ritual of watching the sunrise or sunset helps to create order and structure in not only your life but also your mind. Watching a natural phenomenon such as a sunrise can help ground you at the moment and express the grand scope of the universe.
6. Gaze at the moon
Just like watching a sunrise, moon gazing is another activity that can help ground you at the moment. Also read up on the story of Mani, the moon god, and his sister Sol. Having these stories or legends in mind helps to focus your mind on the task and gives a little more structure to your life.
7. Fire
Fire is a great way to focus the mind. Watching a flame, whether it be a candle, bonfire, or whatever is something that strikes deep on an elemental level. Watching fire has also been shown to be a great way to start meditation.
8. Journal your Dreams
Dreams are the mind’s way of sorting through, organizing, and making sense of data. Whether that data is emotional, spiritual, physical, auditory, visual, or really anything that your self comes into contact with. Dreams can both have meaning and be nonsensical. Either way, by journaling them, you may see patterns and can infer some meaning from them as a whole that escaped you with each individual dream. As someone who rarely dreams, or rather, rarely remembers dreaming, I can tell you that writing them down has helped me see some of the meaning.
9. Meditation – Utiseta
Meditation is a powerful tool. I like to consider meditation as strength training of the mind. You will not always be successful. But if you manage to clear your mind for 5 minutes during a 30 minute meditation, its still a good thing. Find a quiet place, preferrabley in nature or surrounded by natural elements like earth, fire, water, or wind. Utiseta is the Norse version of meditation and what I try to practice as much as possible.
10. Natural signs/omens
Always look for signs in nature. Now, I am NOT saying that there is any science behind this, and two ravens on a fence always mean X, Y, or Z, but looking for meaning in the mundane will help you organize your own thoughts and feel connected with the natural world around you.
11. Burn Incense or Smoke Cleanse your Space
There is both tried and tested experience with smoke cleansing around the world and maybe even a little science to back it up. But one thing for certain is that if it makes YOU feel better, then it is most certainly worth it. Call it spiritual, metaphysical, or just a placebo. If it works for you, then it works.
12. Spend time with Animals, Even Pets
Spending time with other life forms is a good way to feel connected to what makes up pagan. The interconnected nature of all beings. After some time playing with your pet or watching wild animals in the woods you will have at least a small understanding of their world. Even watching squirrels play, and sometimes fight, in the trees can help you feel the connection we so often seek in nature.
13. Spend time with Family
Animals aren’t the only beings we need to connect with. Spending time with family doesn’t have to center around your paganism, but find some commonality to enjoy the company of each other. If your grandmother loves Scrabble, bring out the board and tiles and start showing off your linguistic skills.
14. Collect Totems of Nature
The basic definition of totem is a natural object or animal that is believed to have a spiritual significance. Many practitioners of paganism and witchcraft have a list of recommended totems, but you aren’t beholden to that specific list. Since we are pagan and everything in the natural world is significant, this can be anything. Some common totems are:
- Natural Crystals are one of the most common
- Pinecones
- wooden carvings of what ever you would like to symbolize
- bones
- rocks
- feathers (be careful, being in possession of some could be illegal)
- Heirlooms are a great way to connect to ancestors and family
- Themed Jewelry (Mjolnir, pentacle)
- Anything that has a connection to you.
The items in this list aren’t the only things that make good totems, I have a rather interesting chunk of natural clay that I found on my property while digging a new garden. I placed it on my horse over a year ago and it has since melted in the rain, but it coated the horgr in a very beautiful and interesting way.
15. Talk to the gods/pray
Praying isn’t specifically a christian thing. Speaking to gods, ancestors, or spirits can not only be good for your spiritual journey but also good for your mental health.
16. Exercise
Back to your body is your temple. Something I learned early on in my strength training is the mind-to-muscle connection. To feel how your muscles engage and work together to complete a function, particularly one that is a strain to complete. I believe in order to be a good pagan, you should take care of your temple and exercise is a way to do that.
17. Brew Tea
The ritualistic nature of boiling water and steeping tea to drink is very soothing. Even if you use an electric kettle as I do. The mix of herbs, and understanding of their many properties, flavor, and medicinal included, is a connection to the natural world. Use this connection to help with your headache, nausea, or congestion, or to spark lucid dream states to further your spiritual path.
18. Study a Rune
Pick a rune in the futhark and study it. Learn what it represents, how it is used, and what sound it makes. focusing on something so simple has its own beneficial connection. Remember, Odin paid a big price to bring the wisdom of the runes to us mortals, so show them respect and reverence. And take what wisdom they can offer.
19. Prepare a Meal with all Fresh Ingredients
Preparing a meal with fresh ingredients, not a frozen one-box dinner, is a ritual all its own. You can feel like a witch with her cauldron and experiment. by learning the flavors and benefits of each ingredient, it really does connect you with the beauty of nature. Learn about the benefits of lycopene in tomatoes, or the allicin in garlic that makes it great for immune support, and heart and brain health.
20. Clean your Alter Space
Sometimes we need a clean slate with which to work. Those old pinecones and leaves are starting to fall to pieces. give them back to nature, whether that’s tossing them into woods, or adding them to compost to feed the micro herd, it allows them to continue the cycle that is life.
21. Plan your next Blot/Sabbat
Having something to plan for and look forward to not only works wonders for mental health, but it also allows you to give proper reverence to the natural cycles of the world. Planning a Sabbat or Blot even if it is for you alone can give you the opportunity to research more into the meanings behind them, and go into it with purpose. And if it is for a group, those connections are also very important.
22. Talk to a pagan friend, and not just to debate the finer points of paganism
Oftentimes, when we pagans get together, it’s like one big circle jerk about the negatives of christianity and other Abrahamic faiths. Or it’s to compare neopaganism to reconstruction. I would like to see more pagans get together to just be. To stare at the moon and tell the story of Mani, to watch and laugh at a pair of squirrels playing. Things like that. Or to watch chickens be the weird interesting little dinosaurs they are.
23. Research a god/goddess and what they symbolize
Pick one deity from your chosen path and research them. find out what their personality is like, what activities they enjoy, and what aspects of nature they manifest. I believe the gods are symbols and representations of the natural world. Pick one and see what forces of nature they represent.
24. Listen to chant or wordless music
We can easily get caught up in music with powerful lyrics, but sometimes we fail to just feel the music. Find tracks with chants, nature sounds, or instrumental music and use that to meditate or clear your mind of human things and find a connection with nature.
I decided to end the list at 24, because… Why not?!
I hope this guide helps you find your path, but know that these arent the ONLY things you can do, but I feel this is a great start.
