NaBloPoMo 9: Ramblings.

 Dear Reader,

I'm a day behind, but I will try to get caught up. I have this wicked head cold / sinus infection that's accompanied by an intermittent fever that keeps bouncing up and down between loopy headspace and just wanting to sleep headspace. It's been a long week and a half. Theoretically, I should be over this in the next few days.

I am frustrated because I'm struggling to do my chores around the house. I just feel exhausted and like the world is spinning at a 45 deg. angle very slowly. This is likely due to the sinus infection part of the fun. I was feeling well enough to do my morning coffee with the gods. It's kinda like a sumbel without alcohol and other participants. I have a ginormous coffee mug that I filled up and doctored to be tasty. Then I toasted the gods, spirits, and ancestors. I poured out an offering with each toast and then drank a bit of coffee. Because it's just something that they've made clear to me, when they drink I should drink with them. The exception that I am permitted is when I give offerings that are not going to mix well with my diabetes or the laundry list of medications I am on right now, like alcohol or fruit juice.

For months now I have been wracking my brain for how to adapt the Rite of Veneration / Rite of Sacrifice for people that can not have alcohol or fruit juice. I keep coming back to what manner of drink is a luxury for your household. In my case, it's diet peach iced tea. The other thing that keeps coming up in my contemplation of the question is blessed water. Because there are people who are allergic to the sweeteners that are in diet beverages. I am leaning towards blessed water.

The reason why I am leaning towards blessed water is two fold. First, water that is potable is scarce and precious. Some of us have the luxury of clean drinking water that is easily accessible. Many more are not in such a lucky position. As such clean drinking water is as much a luxury as wine, if not more so. The second reason why I am leaning towards blessed water is because water is one of the primary elements of creation. If we consider the rite from the elements of existence that are incorporated into it, the bread would be that of earth, the incense would be fire and air, and the wine would be water that has been transformed into alcohol. (If we seriously look at the fermentation process as alchemical, fresh grape juice has more water content than alcohol and the transformation changes the entire substance of the grape juice, including the water content.)

In the Rite of Veneration / Rite of Sacrifice, we are offering up to Déa the fruits and gifts of the world. This can manifest in many different ways, like a bouquet of flowers or the Collyrdian style offerings of wine and bread. The only form of offering prohibited is blood sacrifice. Some could logically extend that out to any form of offering based in animal products, which is why some Filianists and Déanists do not offer up meat when they say grace before their meals. I would go so far as to say that goods that are produced via slave labor or in an environmentally harmful fashion could go on the list of unacceptable offerings as well.