Help getting Back on Track

[Falcon_Heart27]

Hello, everyone.

I read somewhere about a year and a day of study being an important milestone for witches. I don't know much about it, except it's usually done with a coven, but solitaries do it to...? Anyway:

My year and a day of study is coming up on January 5th of 2015. I'm a solitary, so it's not a coven rule for me or anything, but I still feel that it has some special significance. Anyway, even though it's a while away, I know it'll be here before I know it.... And I feel like I haven't done enough. Haven't learned enough, haven't practiced enough, haven't become devoted enough. Especially since I tend to take breaks for weeks at a time.

Does anyone have any suggestions to help me get "back on track"? Maybe some ways to bring magickal practices into my daily life, or ways to add some witchy flair to things in general.

I just want to make sure that I feel I've expanded and become more knowledgeable by my Year and a Day. I want to make sure that I feel I've done this "right", since right now I feel I'm lacking in something.

Thanks for any suggestions, and sorry if my post was a bit hard to follow.

~Falcon


P.S. Does anyone celebrate their Year and a Day? And how? I'm kind of new to the concept. Better read up. But of course, personal experiences can be better than books.

[Chylorna]

Tbh i feel the very same, yet i also feel there is too much information for me to get my head around. Im I ok to check bk on replies as I could also do with the help?

[Siona]

The best way to begin bringing your practice into your day to day life is to start creating some visual reminders. For example, get a special piece of jewelry that reminds you of your spirituality (it doesn't have to be an obvious symbol), or if you haven't already, set up an altar where you're going to see it often - again, it doesn't have to be something obvious, so long as you know what it is.

Daily devotions are another nice thing to include in your practice. A daily devotion can be anything from a short prayer, making an offering, meditating or doing yoga, or anything like that, and devotions might also include a bit of time for studying. They generally are not very complex, as shorter and simpler devotions are easier to maintain over the long term, but that's really up to you. If you build them around something you do every day it can help you remember to do them - like maybe a small ritual before you make dinner, or a purification ritual in your daily shower, or if you walk every day you might do a walking meditation, and of course devotions upon waking or before going to bed are also popular.

If your path is nature focused, try to make time to get outside for a little while each day, start taking note of the weather, the plants and animals you come across, the changes of the seasons, keep track of the moon phases, and so on.

Journaling is another nice tool, if you're not already doing something like that, make a note to write a little each day, even just a few sentences about something you noticed, something you want to study, future goals, and that sort of thing.

[SnowCat]

Sometimes your formal practice will ebb and flow like the tide. Tides are part of the moon cycle and part of the earth's natural rythms. Don't beat yourself up over timelines. Traditions are guidelines rather than absolutes. Your path is as individual as you are.

Snow

[MsMollimizz]

We all go thru our ups and downs, it's a common occurrence...
So I went looking for something I could use to bring paganism
more in daily life and found this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/073873 ... UTF8&psc=1
They are simple things to do, plant a plant, sit outside and listen
really listen, to the sounds of the birds, the insects as they buzz by.
Just thought it would help !

Gentle Light
MsMollimizz

[smogie_michele]

I've recently issue of getting off track. Morning/Night devotionals helped me feel more into it. Either in the am or pm (depending on school and work) I will go outside with my coffee or tea and sit for a few minutes in silence, then say out loud something beautiful I've noticed and why I'm thankful of it. It is simple little something that I can do daily. And I've honestly been feeling a bit better and more thankful and more connected to my religion.