Nearly New Year Wrap Up
Checking in!
Moura Disciplines
- Praying a Full Rosary
- This one was interesting. I found that praying a full rosary 'on the go' - one rosary in the morning, another later when I found the time, a third in the afternoon, and the like - was, unlike praying a single rosary by itself, the opposite of helpful. I discovered it made me more scatterbrained at work, since I was trying to focus on keeping my count and which part of which rosary I was on, so that I quickly dropped it to stay more focused. The full rosary is definitely something that needs to be done in a dedicated time for it, where you are in one place and can just go without needing to take care of other things.
- Careful Speech
- I didn't intend to take this one on at the beginning of Moura, but it struck me one day that I was saying 'yeah' a lot in response to people, even my superiors. Examining how I spoke in other situations revealed a not-so-pretty picture, and I've been trying to pay more attention to how I speak, what words I'm using, and so on. I don't know where this will go, but hopefully it will be a discipline I continue outside of Moura!
- The Altar
- The space available for an altar is always limited, it seems! I have a bedside table that holds a few odds and ends, so I use one half of it as an altar. At the beginning of Moura, I cleared it of everything I had on it, and left the space bare but for a tall black marble candlestick found at a local thrift store. I've been doing my best to consciously keep everything else off that side of the bedside table, though often enough things creep in along the edges! It wasn't shocking at first, but the longer it's there, the more I long for my boxed up pretty pieces - the lovely flowery vase, the angel figurine I've kept. It will be a bit of a surprise on Eastre, I think, to bring it all back at last!
A lot of my reading the past month or two has been very serious. I've been loving it, but after a while I realized how little I participated in my own Tradition. All too often, I feel like I don't have one to connect to, and how envious I became in reading these historical books on philosophies and religious thought in other Traditions, wishing I had something comparable! I had to laugh at myself when I realized what I was thinking, because I do. But because I never spend any time in it, immersing myself in my own Tradition, I still feel like I don't have one. If I'm going to spend so much time reading about others, I need to ensure I'm spending at least a little time on my own.
That, of course, means reading the Scriptures and checking on fellow Filyanis' blogs, but it also means reading True Stories, those lovely 'fairy tales' that are full of Myth and Magic. All too often now, I feel like the magic in life is gone, or leaving, but reading stories like these make me feel hope and happiness. Ever since I was introduced to Filianism, the feelings of joy, magic, and hope that accompany these stories always reminds me of my faith, so it's a double win! I also want to try incorporating a little more attention to other elements of Filyanic faith - our angels, prayers, stories, and so on. I'm not sure how to really get into it, so if anyone has recommendations I would love to hear them.
Along those lines, a comment on Facebook reminded me that this Filyanic year (3338) has been ruled by the Janya Sai Mati; considering what she rules over - communications, speech, the intellect - it shocked me how in line this was with what my religious experience has been this Moura. What she rules over, she challenged me in this year. I wonder now if I had known this earlier and attempted to work with Sai Mati if the struggles I had during the past Season might have been, if not easier, done with more clarity, more understanding, or unlocked different insights. Considering the ruling Janya of the year will be something to remember going forward!
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I am so glad you brought up the intellectual heritage of Filianic tradition, because I do think it is often underestimated. We have only a half-century of writings, of course, which is very little compared to Islam's fourteen centuries, or Christianity's twenty, or Buddhism's twenty-six... Still, it is not at all inconsiderable.
ReplyDeleteThe finishing touches are going on the ECE's fourth edition now, which in addition to the Scriptural texts gathers the liturgical texts of the Madrian orders. My next project (already well begun) is to gather the philosophical, critical, literary, and other writings into convenient printed editions as companion volumes. There are well over a thousand pages of preserved Madrian writing on a bewildering array of topics--from metaphysics and politics to architecture and chess.
If one cares to go beyond that, of course, there are also the papers of the old Aristasians (whose contributions are considerable even if looking only at their work on directly religious topics), plus more recent Chelouranyan work. Backing all of that, of course, are the writings of key figures in Traditionalism and other movements who influenced the Madrians and their successors. Take all that together, and one has reading lists for many years to come!