Honour Your Gods

There’s no need to be religious to enjoy the sense of peace and fulfilment that comes from worship. Those who have a faith have an element in their life that those without do not. But it needn’t be that way.

For many, it doesn’t seem possible to create a life of spiritual devotion, worship or prayer without a religious organisation. But it is possible to bring awareness to the things you do everyday, and with a little added thought, turn your daily activities as well as your hobbies into a dedication to the divine.

Music
The Hindu Rishis of ancient India believed that music can reflect what’s happening with the culture and lead the culture into new ways of being.

Michael Roddy is a sound alchemist from the Gold Coast who uses music as a healing medium. He says, ‘Music radiates and affects everyone within a culture. It can attune people to a new awareness or frequency. And from there lead them to create or experience differently.’

So, what’s the difference between simply listening to music and treating it as a divine experience? Roddy says, ‘Music is an opportunity to journey within. Sound magnifies and intensifies the opportunity to be aware of sensations and feelings, to journey within their being, using each sensation as a gateway to deeper knowing and experiencing of the self. It is only music, but within it are so many opportunities to connect with your spirit, and when you’re doing that it is sacred.’

Why does it do this? ‘Music moves in waves of energy and we can feel that,’ explains Roddy. ‘It resonates and vibrates. Everything is in vibration at an atomic level, so when you strike a note a whole other series of notes come into play; the harmonic series, and even notes above and below the window of our hearing. We feel these notes penetrate and flow through our being.’

Just by making a conscious decision to treat music with the reverence it deserves, we can transform our engagement with it, and its effect upon us. Next time you listen to your favourite music notice the patterns within it. All music is patterns of energy – rhythmical patterns, frequency patterns, melodic patterns, patterns in the harmony.

Eating and Drinking
All religions embrace rituals concerning food. From the Christian harvest festival to the Jewish Pesach (or Passover) food has been used to give thanks, to pay respect and to honour our forefathers. Since ancient times it has been imperative to encourage healthy crop production and give thanks for our daily bread. It is for this reason that the natural elements of sun and rain were venerated as Gods and worshipped for their ability to determine the harvest.

Food is vital, not to mention delicious. It’s an essential element of our everyday lives, and yet it has become an immense chore at the end of a long day. Meals have become processed, packaged and eaten without love or attention. Food lovers can turn mealtimes back into a daily ritual of enjoyment and gratitude.

The Hare Krishna’s are just one spiritual movement who use food to honour the gods, in this case Lord Krishna. Before each vegetarian meal a small serving is made to Lord Krishna by his followers. This is to remove the negative karma left over from the living energies of plants and grains. Unless an offering is made to Lord Krishna there is no divinity in even a vegetarian meal.

Anyone of any religion can take time to be thankful for their food by designing a small ritual before eating. An offering could be made to any ancient God or Goddess you choose. Try honouring Dionysus the Greek God of wine and feasting with a meal and a glass of wine or grape juice. Dionysus also represented a fertile harvest and revelry.

Movement and Stillness
Dance and yoga both developed as ways to honour the ancient gods. The whirling dervishes of the Sufi tradition literally whirled themselves into a state of worshipful ecstasy, dancing to trance-like drum beats in an attempt to meet with the divine, whereas yoga has been a critical element in the Buddhist’s quest for enlightenment for thousands of years.

Little has changed in much of modern dance which still promises to take away all worries and cares. When the psychedelic rock bands of the 60s and 90s trance music encouraged the young to ‘lose oneself’ in music and dance, it was just a modern form of worship.

Even if you only dance in your kitchen or lounge, allow yourself to enjoy the primitive significance of what you’re doing. Of course, dancing goes hand in hand with music which makes it an even more powerful way to de-stress and to generate joy.

Yoga instructor Kaz Toupin says, ‘When we first begin to practise yoga in the west, it is often out of a desire to change our physical, emotional or mental state. Later, yoga becomes a powerful tool to connect with our own divinity, the space that doesn’t judge anything or anyone and knows that we are okay right now. For some, prayer is communication with a higher power outside of the self, and for others prayer can be going within and realising we are one with that higher power. Regardless of whatever religious beliefs, if any, that people have, yoga can enhance the spiritual side of life. I often end my classes with a reminder for everyone to feel a sense of gratitude toward themselves, for giving themselves the time to connect with their truth.’

Nature
Next time you’re weeding or mowing take a moment to give thanks to Baiame, the great creator in some Aboriginal tribes, or try offering a flower to Apunga, a Dreamtime Goddess of small plants.

Pagan cultures were more heavily in tune with the cycles of the earth as the seasons predicted what food we would eat and what clothes and shelter we would require.

Growing plants or food is enormously useful as a way to relax and de-stress the body and mind. And there’s little that is more satisfying than growing and preparing food to share with friends and family.

It is also helpful in attuning oneself to nature’s cycles of birth, growth, death and re-birth. This, in turn, assists us in recognising and listening to our own rhythms and cycles. Studies indicate those with a religious faith suffer less from anxiety and depression, but honouring our personal Gods can be equally fulfilling.

Helena Waterstone* of Toowoomba found that working in her garden helped her through a difficult period of depression. ‘When I’m gardening I forget everything else. All the thoughts fall way back in my head.’ Ms Waterstone also enjoys the life affirming satisfaction of creating something. ‘I think it’s instinctive within all of us to make things grow,’ she says.

Then, in our small way, we all become the creator.

*Name changed

Michael Roddy Sound Alchemist
07 5590 9609

Kaz Toupin
www.yoginisurf.com