Do Not Forget!!!

I get it, it’s hard to remember to do your research and take notes—hard to keep a schedule for worship/altar time/divination/rootwork/conjure, and so forth… but it’s important.

I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a lazy practitioner, and often forget to make offerings to the ancestors and spirit. I don’t use divination as often as I should and I certainly don’t study often, but when this sort of… break from practicing happens, it can leave us feeling unsatisfied, or guilty.

My solution?

Mini practice.

I understand that in many closed practices, and in many “coven”based practices this may not work, but I’ve found for me, and what I do (ancestor based, hoodoo (I am black with family roots in hoodoo), demonolatry,etc.) it has helped me feel close to it without being overwhelmed. Life is hard ya’ll. Lol

My mini practices are not *all* of what I do, more so a filler for when life is getting to hectic and I can’t complete rituals, or study/divine/etc.

The non negotiables in mini practice are:

▪️Prayer/Worship/Thanks to the altar- this is only a brief, passing moment. My altar is by the door of my bedroom, so before I leave it every morning I will take a moment to thank spirit for everything they do. (Sometimes I’m more specific, but just a generalized thanks and acknowledgment of their work is appreciated.)

▪️offering updates at LEAST once monthly.- okay, this one I kind of fell off on, I’ll admit it, and really need an offering update, stat.(it’s been more than three months lol) Typically, with ancestor work, it is important to leave offerings for them a little more frequently (depending on how you were taught). I was taught offerings should be *daily*, but being a disabled single parent of a child with disabilities, this sometimes becomes difficult. I found a compromise—when I was performing spell work/rootwork, that day I’d be sure to make offering in the morning and then before the activity. They’d get monthly offerings, because it was easier for me to pick a weekend day to focus on altar stuff, and intentional prayer. (I’m talking specifically about ancestor work but I do this same concept for all spirit). The monthly offering seems to be a safe bet, and I haven’t had any complaints (yet) lol (and by complaints I mean strings of bad happenings/luck from disrespecting spirit )

▪️incorporating spellwork/meditation/rootwork/comms with spirit into everyday activities— if I didn’t do this, I fear I couldn’t even call myself a practitioner as I’d *never* do anything remotely related to my practice on a day to day basis. It’s pretty simple to do, with the correct research, or guidance, but one of the easiest ways is with cooking. Many of the herbs and spices we use for spell work we also use in cooking. Annnnnnd a lot of cooking (depending on your family) was done intentionally as spell work/rootwork. Certain dishes like black eyed peas, greens, okra all hold their own meanings and power. I also find meditating/connecting with spirit during my showers, or even doing mundane repetitive tasks like folding or putting away laundry while saying a few incantations (relative to your task, you can’t just say I want an abundance of something if you’re locking things away in a drawer, yknow?) can go a long way.

Of course, there are hundreds of other ways, I’m sure, to use mini practice, but I find these are my most frequently used methods.

Ultimately, the goal is to make yourself feel closer to spirit and your practice, and to create a routine that makes you feel good about what you’re doing—not overwhelmed or neglectful.

Remember y’all, your practice is only as good as you make it (this is relative! Not everyone needs a grandiose practice), and your connection with spirit relies on that mutual respect (from what I’ve been taught)!

Anyways! Thanks for stopping by!!

Be kind, and live. Or else.🙂

#Lemon8Diary #practicalmagic #ancestorwork #blackwitches #witchesoflemon8