I have read so many words about polytheistic monasticism in the two and a half weeks since I wrote my last blog post. I don't even know how to brain dump onto this page today!
First, I love finding a range of blogs and personal sites made by polytheistic monastics. Please, if you are one, keep writing! Your blog posts have been so inspiring and helpful. I've already compiled a resource list that's more than half blog posts for my friends to check out after I shared my findings with them. It's really exciting to read the experiences of others because it helps validate my own thought processes and tells me that I'm not alone.
I have found my way to The Cloister forum for polytheistic monasticism which has been such a cool threshold of its own. There's so much beautiful knowledge of the path at large and personal paths, and it's certainly on my mind to contribute to some of these discussions. I also appreciate that they run a weekly prayer circle that I've been able to attend twice so far. What a lovely group of people! The weekly structure also helps as someone exploring what this path could look like - weekly isn't too much of a commitment compared to daily but more than just monthly to start getting into the groove of things. To group it here with monastic activities, this week I've also been practicing a dedication of 30 mins in the morning and evening to quiet time (contemplation, prayer, journalling, meditation, a combination) as part of my exploration. I want to keep going to see how it affects things for me!
I've learnt a lot of words that are associated with poly-monastics that help with my research and conceptualisation. Liturgy, breviary, Rule of Life or Rule, routine or schedule, prayer, meditation, contemplation, devotion, cell, attire, vows, ritual year or calendar. Some of these concepts I am deeply familiar with, such as vows as I am oathsworn to many Great Ones in my constellation of devotion, or prayer, meditation, contemplation, and devotion -- though seeing them in the monastic context brings something fresh with them all.
Though there are concepts like breviary and rule of life that I have been pondering very much. I like that I am taking my time meditating upon these ideas. They aren't unfamiliar in concept, but unfamiliar in practice. Actually, I've recently been trying to practice freestyling prayers and recitations during rituals that I host for community and self. I tend to write what I'm going to say for a ritual right before, rather than keeping a binder of notes that can be referred to multiple times. So, it's like I'm at opposite ends. Getting a breivary has the potential to be a grounding exercise, or it won't work because I do what I do. There's no harm in trying!
I find a Rule of Life very intriguing because, as far as I know, I have never really followed a creed or Rule in religion. I was too young to understand the creed in Catholicism, and for my short stint as a Wiccan, I didn't really believe in the Wiccans Rede. As a hellenic polytheist, there are general values that are respectable, but not 'enforced' or a universal stndard. As an angel worker, there are differing approaches and I do have my own, but I've never seen it through this lens. Here comes to the caveat -- I think a Rule of Life can work with what one already does in their life that they find respectable, achieveable, constructive, and fulfilling, and all it requires is bringing some structure to it, like making it a list that can be referred to easily.
It makes me wonder if my conviction regarding these things being quite personal and different from person to person, community to community, makes it so I don't give myself the time and space to set down my roots in what a Rule can look like. It seems like a paradox, doesn't it? But it's like I'm applying what is community-facing flexibility to my personal, own self, which has this strange opposite effect of making me so flexible and open to change in my beliefs (even if they realistically don't veer that much very often at all) that I don't listen to what's already there.
I think by the nature of Rules, it's a very philosophical thing to think about. So on top of this personal barrier I've identified and can ponder further, there's that whole can of worms that I've been opening. I've primarily been looking at it from a Kemetic perspective right now, reading on ma'at and recently, thanks to Siamun, Ptahhotep's Maxims which have been so good to get into. I think I've been finding a lot of gold mines in this research! And on this point of a Kemetic point of view...
I don't think I've actually answered or mentioned: do I consider myself a polytheistic monastic? Well as I wrote in my last post, I don't resonate so much with hermitage (at least not permanent hermitage) and there are certain vows associated with monasticism in other living traditions that I don't believe would suit my religious beliefs, but there's a whole lot more that I do find is aligning in this introspection. So I think... while I am still nervous to say it in case I'm 'wrong' in some way, I am a polytheistic monastic. More specifically, I am trying on the term 'Votary of Bast', as I currently dedicate much of my monastic praxis to her, thus kemetic focus.
At the same time, I do see the monastic lifestyle as part of my larger picture and life, in a strange swirling mix of priesthood and monasticism together. That's probably a future post, to talk about the differences and overlaps there?
Some other stuff I've been pondering which I will likely write about in other posts, including elaborations of above topics: a monastic path with Bast and how I concluded this, flexible routines, cosmic narratives + their interactions with monastics, priesthood vs/and monasticism, Ptahhotep's Maxims + ma'at as a guide to a Rule (and in extension, for the hellenic pov, delphic maxims as a Rule of Life). I feel like there's more but I may be forgetting at this moment!
This has all been exciting for me, this path of discovery. Lots of thoughts, clearly. I still have a bunch of bookmarked pages and a book I'm working through so perhaps I will update on those in the future. The Path of the Sacred Hermit is a significant one due to relevance on the subject. Placing that here to remember I want to talk about it (or maybe books in general).
For now, thank you to my lovely deities for their support and guiding me to all the resources and community I am finding (which btw random, I stumbled upon Kemetic Reform on my searches and that's cool! Didn't know they were a tradition!).
Until next time, my beloved,
Iryibbast