Sannion has written a delightful post at http://thehouseofvines.com/2013/06/09/what-does-a-sannion-do/ about an average day in his devotional life. I know that I always find it interesting to know what my colleagues and friends do for their Gods, and how they both order and balance the demands of devotion but until reading this, it hadn't occurred to me to write anything about my own average devotional day (though I have occasionally been asked what I do).  Well, I"m going to do that now, stealing an idea from Sannion (whom I hope will not mind too much!). There is of course, one caveat to all of this (as Sannion also points out in his post): what i write here is what I do. It may not be what those of you reading are called to do. The thing here is to ask yourselves how you can deepen and better *your* practices. If this helps, then I'm glad. If not, let me know what you're doing devotionally--it might inspire me and others reading this. 

Now, i'm essentially pretty lazy. So this is what I do on a general day, not a day where I have special ritual obligations, House rituals, oracle work, client appointments, or where i may have to go to school, etc. This is just a basic run of the mill day. I generally get up around eight am. Sometimes I have morning appointments so it might be later or a bit earlier. I greet the Gods, the Orisha, the house spirits and my ancestors. groggily. I bath and dress (and what i wear is dependent on what my ritual, Deity, and client obligations might be throughout the day) and head downstairs for coffee. I make my breakfast and also offerings to the ancestors. 

Over breakfast, i check email and usually chat with my partner for a bit. I don't usually have the brain power to handle anything too complicated in terms of responding to client emails so usually I put that off until the afternoon. After I eat, I do a longer version of my morning prayers, to all the Gods honored in my House. This is usually accompanied by full prostration (sometimes my back is too bad to allow this -- i have a back injury--so i will go down only to my knees) and food and drink offerings.  Then I do divination for the day. Then it's back to the computer to write for awhile. Writing is part of my devotional work for the Gods so inevitably whatever I'm working on is in some way related to Them. Quite often this is interspersed with my talking to the Gods or ancestors about a particular issue. 

I'll chat with my partner throughout the day, email friends, and usually some time in the afternoon is spent running necessary errands.  Finally usually late morning or early afternoon I respond to other emails. I'll do this again in the evening as well. I often spend a goodly part of the day studying both academic and spiritual things that I've been pushed by my Gods to learn, translating Greek and Latin texts for school, reading relevant materials. Lunch is usually a haphazard affair sometimes with friends in town, sometimes taken on the fly as i prepare for client appointments. I just opened up an office in town where I"ll now be seeing clients so I'm adjusting to that schedule and a goodly part of my day seeing clients or writing and studying may now be spent there rather than in my home (I'm much more productive without distractions, which are ever present in my home as there's always practical work to be done). 

Usually in the afternoon, i tend the shrines and altars in my home, clean a bit, handle more correspondence, study (i'm in a fairly brutal academic program) or sit and work on various projects the Gods have requested. Early evenings are usually given over to client calls, personal calls, House Sankofa work, ritual work on some days, meditation, or more writing. I touch base with my partner several times a day and also with a couple of close friends on most days. If i have free time, and I decide to forego a nap,  I study glass blowing and oil paint or I study the various languages my degree program requires. I find that engaging in some sort of creative work helps the flow of my devotional practices tremendously. I got into the glass-blowing as an offering to the spirits of fire and found I really enjoyed it. 

Usually I work until 2 or 3 in the morning. I close the day with more ancestor prayers, and prayers to the household Deities. I also make sure before I go to bed (i always mean to do this earlier in the evening, but it always seems to happen right before I go to bed) to make special offerings to whatever Deity governs the day i.e. the moon God Mani gets an offering on Monday; Woden gets an offering on Wednesday and so forth. I also usually do low grade energetic cleansings of myself throughout the day (usually by aspersing with Florida water or something similar) whenever I feel the need. 

Sometimes my schedule will vary. today for instance, I spent the afternoon visiting a member of my House who is currently in the hospital. sometimes i consult with colleagues and elders or am called in for consults. That can throw my regular schedule off a bit. Then there's school. Later in the week, I'll spend half my day in the city for instance, because I have to go in for a class. Even when i have to do this, I make sure to do morning and evening prayers and i keep my Gods and ancestors present, in my mind and in my heart as I move throughout my day. I'm consciously connected to Them. 

In addition to this, there are monthly House Sankofa rituals and all the planning and divination that this usually entails. I lecture occasionally and sometimes during the school year teach classes. So my schedule is somewhat flexible, but this represents a general, fairly uneventful, *normal* day. 

 

 

(the image is a photo I took of the earthworks at Fort Necessity, PA).