Daily Devotional: November 15th
Daily Prayer XVII
Hail, Bacchus, liberator of our captive souls,
Breaking chains that bind, releasing from cyclical tolls.
Thy revelry transcends earthly strife and birth's decree,
Purifier divine, setting our spirits forever free.
In thy ecstatic dance, the soul finds its release,
From the shackles of rebirth, you bring sweet peace.
Thou art the vine, the nectar of divine elation,
Bacchus, our guide to the realm of transformation.
Through the chalice of thy grace, impurities dissolve,
As the soul ascends, in thy mysteries we evolve.
Oh, Bacchus, in thy rapture, our essence refined,
The soul's salvation, in thy presence enshrined.
Daily Meditation
"The Father enraptured himself; he did not implant his own special fire in the mind that follows him.”
—Chaldean Oracles
Fragment 33
We cannot know the essence of God directly. As He is unknowable, He contains his own essence within himself, but we can know him through His operations and energies. This is not unlike how we know people. I can never know the soul of another person (what it feels like to be them), and yet I learn about their personality, habits, virtues, and vices from my interactions with them. I take in their operations and energies and pick up hints on their nature. This is so for God as well.
Monthly Ascesis: Simple Rituals
“There is a simple formula to follow to begin making offerings to the gods. Since there are many gods, I recommend beginners direct all prayers to Mercury, who is the messenger of the gods. With this simple prayer, you can begin making offerings to all of divinity and know Mercury will deliver your prayers to the proper place.
Begin with this invocation:
Lord Mercury, messenger of heaven, swift-footed guide of mortals, hear my prayer and deliver it to the proper divinity:
[speak your prayer]
After your prayer, present your offering of food or incense and say:
Lord Mercury, be honored by this offering of [incense, food]
When you are finished, end with
Lord Mercury, be blessed. Fiat.
Fiat is pronounced Fee-aht and means 'Let it be done' in Latin.
If you are unable to make a material offering, that is okay. It is a gesture of honor and respect to the gods but is not necessary. Merely offering your thoughts and prayers is enough. The gods do not need our offerings to hear prayers. We offer these things out of gratitude and respect for them, not as a bribe or exchange of goods between us and the gods.”
-Excerpts from, Ascesis: the Handbook of Platonic Practice
Making simple offerings like this regularly sets our minds on the divine and places us in a giving posture toward the gods. The purpose of our rituals is not to ask for material goods but to give thanks to the gods and allow gratitude to fill our hearts. If we ask for anything from them in our prayers, we should ask for things that are like them such as virtues.
If you would like to subscribe to the Daily Romanist Devotional, please follow the instructions here.
