Downtime.

The last few days I’ve been ritually impure, so I’ve been staying out of shrine – a weird adjustment, having just gotten familiar with doing the W’ab rite daily. It’s funny how I can feel myself preparing for the time away from shrine, before whatever state of impurity comes on – more often than not I’m hit with a wave of lethargy the a day or two beforehand, so that I am not terribly inclined to go to shrine those days – it’s like clockwork. It means I have to work extra hard a few days before I either get sick or begin my cycle – but I know now that those days are extra important because they precede that ‘downtime’.

I say downtime, but this time around there really wasn’t much of that to be had. I spent the weekend in kind of on kind of a spiritual buffet. I first went to a worship service with my Dad’s spiritual community – something of the New Age movement, featuring chanting and a discussion on what it means to be spiritually free. While I enjoyed the service, it was quite evident from the discussion that I wouldn’t be comfortable in their community. To each their own, of course – and I thoroughly enjoyed the chanting and meditation. The following day, I attended a service at the local Unitarian Universalist church, where I’ve been on and off attending events and singing in the choir. That afternoon, I attended a performance by a friend of my Dad’s, who is also involved in the same practices and incorporates his beliefs heavily into his music.

So I kind of immersed myself in a tour of the spiritual world, outside of my usual domain. An interesting, and refreshing way to spend my ‘downtime’!