For most of us, I’d dare say just about everyone reading this blog, our homes are our sanctuaries – our hearths are the calm spot in the craziness of the world. We find ourselves breathing normally there. Those places are our quiet.
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| sterile office - boo! hiss! |
So how do we take that with us? How do we find that calm when we’re not at home, safe by our hearth or happy in our gardens? It’s not easy, let me tell you.
The sacred is everywhere for us, in every tree and rock, in the air that we breathe and the sun we see. The trick, then, is to remind ourselves of that in places where it’s not so evident that we’re connected to nature. The stale office with the fluorescent lighting. Places devoid of life, save the humans rushing around within its walls and the paper flying like gnats through printers and faxes and hands.
The first (and easiest) element we have at our disposal in these places is Air. You’re breathing, aren’t you? Your body is sacred, isn’t it? Well… use it. Take a deep breath and see it carrying out the stresses you feel, anything you don’t want inside you. Remember that the air you’re breathing was not made, it’s just filtered to within a particle of its existence – but it did come from outside. So breathe in that life, because it’s still there.
I keep a bottle of water sitting on my desk all the time. Granted, I drink a lot of water to combat the dehydration that comes from being in these types of places, but it’s more than that. Having a bottle of water beside me reminds me of the element contained in that aluminum casing (eco bottle, yay!) but also I can use the element when I need a boost. That came from somewhere, and although it has also been treated and “purified” and whatnot – it came from a lake somewhere in the mountains of wherever. Use it! Remember the source, drink it in, savor the life that it brings.
Earth. If you’re able, keep a plant at your desk. You’ll benefit from the O2 it’s putting off and if it’s a blooming plant you’ll benefit from the splash of color too, since every office on the planet (with the exception of companies like Google and Think Geek) has walls the color of putty. (I’ve never understood that, really – it makes me want to bring in my acrylic set and get crackin on a nice mural or something) If you aren’t able to have a plant then at very least have a picture or two of landscapes around you. Something to remind yourself of the outside. And take lunches outside as often as you can. J
Fire. This is not impossible - we have flameless candles now. And while it’s not quite the same thing, it is building safe and they can be fairly realistic in their flicker and scents. It might not be dark enough in your office to really see the flicker, but have it where you can see it, even out of the corner of your eye, and remember the feeling of the flame and the heat of fire.
Now, for those among us who are lucky enough to be able to decorate our offices as we wish and have fountains and whatnot, well, rock on. On the other end of the spectrum are those of us who are temps, and can’t bring anything in with us that we don’t then take home at the end of the day. I’ve been a temp, and it’s tough – so I did what I could, using the air and taking 5 min every few hours to meditate and bring in the elements in my mind, invoking their aid. Don’t be afraid of invoking the elements at work! Or at DMV, or at the bank or in your car sitting in traffic… we’re Druids and Kitchen Witches. That is our prayer. We can be vessels that carry those elements through the day, throughout the world. Do it now, as you’re reading this. Think of the elements, think of their cardinal directions, and invoke them to your aid. Ask politely, but ask – bring them down.
I can hear what some of you are thinking – invocation without a circle? Trust me; I’ve gotten strange looks about this one before. But think about this, and be honest – how many times have you been somewhere and whispered with great emotion and feeling “Goddess help me” or “Brigid bless”? Is that not an invocation? Are you not asking for their aid?
This rolls over into the next part of taking it with you: magic outside of our personal places. I say personal because I firmly agree with the creators of No Unsacred Place that there is no unsacred place. (btw, if you haven’t read their blog, you should: http://nature.pagannewswirecollective.com/ it’s wonderful!) How many of us would admit to working magic in the office place? Or in our car? Or at a friend’s home? And I’m not talking anything earth shattering here – I’m not talking about huge ceremonies or banishings or anything like that. I’m talking about the little stuff – personal protection, boundaries, etc. And even if you haven’t done it, you’ve thought about it. You’ve felt the need to cast something in a place “you’re not supposed to” (like the board room) and immediately put that thought out of your mind so as not to be accused of forcing your religion on someone else, to keep that separation of your private life and your job. But let me ask you this – do you think that the lady down the hall who says a rosary every day at lunch in the privacy of her cubicle thinks twice? Or what about the guy two rows over who is Muslim and goes to a private area to pray? Or anyone else in your office with a religious affiliation of any sort who has no qualms about praying over their food before eating in a staff room full of people, or wear the symbol of their religion openly (and sometimes very prominently) at the office? Do you think the people who keep crosses and calendars about being Christian at their desks visibly think twice? They don’t, and never will. So why do we?
I’ve been working at work for a few years now, quietly and privately, but I do. And I’ll admit it too. If I’m feeling overwhelmed, stressed, pushed, irritated, generally awful, I’ll cast a little clearing and calming spell around my desk or do a quick centering and grounding. Do my co-workers know what I’m doing? No. To them I’m just taking a few minutes to breathe. What I’m doing does not affect them – I’m not casting anything on them. I’m casting on myself. Someone did ask me once what I was doing. I said “centering my thoughts.” They just nodded and walked on. No muss, no fuss.
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| my feet, flat on the floor. :) |
Now obviously you can’t go walking a circle, calling the quarters and chanting in your office. (unless you have a windowless office with a solid door, then maybe yeah, you can, but most of us? Not so much.) So those of us in cubes (or like me, in an open room with no cubes and a lot of desks and windows) have to be a little subtle about this. Personally, I place both feet flat on the floor and place my hands palm up on the tops of my thighs. I breathe in and out a few times, slowing my thoughts. I envision a circle forming around me and once it is complete I envision the elements coming in and resting in their proper places. (this all happens pretty quickly, but I’ve been doing it a while. It’ll come faster as you do it more often, like anything else) Then I breathe in the elements, one by one, till the light around me is white – then I release the circle and go back to work. Simple, quiet, and effective for me. You might find that there’s something else that works for you and that’s fine… this is personal, and you need to find what strikes a chord with you. It might be this invocation – it might be something else. All told this invocation can be done in about 5 min, maybe less, but it can take as long as you’d like it to take, or go as quickly as you’d like. That’s part of the beauty of this particular rite. It is fluid in the best way.
Below is a list of links to 5 min stretches you can do at your desk. I highly recommend stretching! When you’re doing your stretches, breathe in and see that air, that breath of life from the planet’s lungs filling every inch of you as you open up your body and joints. Likewise with all the elements – see them flowing into the far reaches of your body as you stretch. You’ll feel amazing and full of life when you’re done. (and I bet you have a better work day too!)
Blessings!
(photo awesomeness made using my iPhone and Instagram)
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