Approaching Aphrodite

Aphrodite's altar is coming along. I want to post a picture in the next few days. I preformed my first ritual at it yesterday morning. I was actually planning to do it sooner, but there were a few days where my health wasn't letting me, and then another morning where I took a ritual shower, got dressed, and things just didn't feel right. I didn't preform the ritual, and I spent some time thinking about what was off... eventually it hit me, it was the clothes. I shouldn't be wearing them. I shouldn't be wearing anything. 

That was a new one for me. Fifteen-ish years of paganism and I have not once ever felt the need to do a ritual in the nude. It's not so much that I'm uncomfortable with the idea, but it just wouldn't be practical for the types of rituals I tend to do. I've never been big on ritual garb one way or the other, really, my everyday clothes have just worked fine for most things up to this point.

So since I had no real objections I went ahead with it. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I've seen a few other pagans say that the first time they practiced nude they found it totally freeing, and amazing, and wonderful, and they'll never go back... and nope, didn't get any of that myself. It wasn't super amazing, and it wasn't uncomfortable or awkward, it just felt normal and like the right thing for the ritual. I will continue to do it when honoring Aphrodite in this same setting, but I don't see it becoming a regular occurrence in other ritual settings.

As for the ritual itself I probably should have written more of it out, rather than just be beginning and part of the middle, because I found myself rambling a bit at times. Shortly after the ritual I found myself thinking of another deity, and realized that perhaps this deity should actually be included on the altar as well (and that I perhaps should be directing my specific request to this deity?). I'm still thinking on that...

Creating Aphrodite's Altar

Often I tend to favor somewhat simpler, clean altar designs. As an example, for a long time Artemis' altar was simply a statue of her with two candles on either side, although it has grown a little bit in the last few months. However, I feel like that sort of altar doesn't really fit with Aphrodite. I feel her altar should be one that easily engages all the senses when at it.

So I started thinking about the visual aspect first. I have a white statue of Aphrodite that will be in the center of the altar, but I am thinking of painting some of the details of the statue with gold paint so it stands out a bit more. Unlike my other altars, which tend to be kind of flat and symmetrical, also I want to play around with different heights, colors, and styles. 

I also knew scent would have to have a focus. I will likely burn incense at the altar at times, but I think having one of those reed oil diffusers on the altar would be a nice way to have a constant scent that's also not overpowering - perhaps something in apple blossom?

Those are probably the easier ones, though. I started thinking about things like sound... I do not think my rattle or a drum would would here. I thought about getting a little desktop fountain, or wind chime, or something like that, but couldn't quite find what I had in mind. However, I ended up finding a little silver hair stick with bells on the end of it, which seemed quite fitting. I will probably actually use this as the primary way of cleansing the altar space. (I still need to write that post about cleansing with sound at some point...)

And touch? Well, having a variety of things on the altar to interact with should cover that... candles to light, incense to place, the bells to ring, and perhaps putting on a silk wrap before beginning any ritual? I think the details of that will come together a bit better with time.

Taste is the last sense to cover. This was an interesting one to think about, as I was not originally intending to have food offerings be a major part of the day-to-day rituals done at this altar. (Also, I do not usually consume the small food offerings I make. Shared meals tend to be for more special occasions.) However, I think there are perhaps a few ways I could go about including something like that, but again, I'll probably have to wait for everything else to come together to see what would work best.

Coming Full Circle

While I'm not ready to get into the reason why just yet, I've recently found myself planning a shrine for Aphrodite. While thinking through the details of the shrine last night it hit me that in a sense I've somewhat come full circle on my path, as Aphrodite was the first deity I remember ever setting up an altar for and trying to establish a relationship with.

Now nothing really came from that attempt, which makes sense when I look back on it. My reasons were quite selfish and misguided at the time - but hey, I was only in the 6th grade, pretty much brand new to paganism, I still had a lot to learn in a lot of ways!

Still, I find it interesting that some fifteen years later I'm turning back to the first deity I ever felt anything for. I'm back at this starting point, but this time I've learned and experienced so much, and I think if I hadn't gone out there and really explored so much for all those years, I wouldn't have what was necessary to really be able to be successful with my current path.

I had to get out there and see that there were other traditions besides Wicca, I had to explore the religions I did, honor the gods I did, build those relationships, fall into reconstruction and see what was good about it, and the benefits of learning the history, but also at the same time to have some of the more negative experiences I had, to know what I did not like, what did not work for me, to have those experiences with other people, with tradition leaders, to meet good and not-so-good people. Even on a more day-to-day basis, to build relationships with family, to know myself and my own body more, heck, even to fall in love, live across the country, travel...

So coming back to this starting point, it's like another turn of the wheel, and I'm very excited to see what the coming years will bring.