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omorka[Note for sacred calendar dates: I'm using the Achaemenid-era Chaldean calendar because it's the one that's easiest to use. Since the new moon and the equinox fell on the same day this year, I'm assuming that 1 Nisannu was the evening of the 20th/morning of the 21st (Babylonians counted from sunset, like most Semitic peoples still do). I'm not entirely sure what to do about the year count, since I'm actively an anti-monarchist, but listing off the current Congress seems even more awkward than treating the Presidency as if it were a reign, so I'm doing that for the moment.]
Got two different suggestions in 48 hours that cleaning off and re-dedicating my home altar would be the correct thing to do for Akitu. My right wrist is hurting too badly to do the grading I really ought to be doing right now, but gross motor movement doesn't hurt nearly as much as fine motor stuff, so I went ahead and did so. I hadn't quite realized how much extra stuff had accumulated on top of the altar. Fortunately, it has drawers, and they weren't full yet, so I dusted everything off and put most of it inside the altar. I have two votive figures for deities I'm not currently doing reverence for (Tehuti and Sarasvati), so I found honored places on the bookshelves for them (they're both deities of learning, among other things, so I can't imagine them objecting to being placed with books). I also have an un-dedicated image of Hecate, but I need to do a proper ceremony for that one, so I wrapped it up and put it in one of the drawers for right now.
I also removed the altar cloth that's been there for at least three years. Honestly, I think it looks better without it. I'll look for an appropriate runner for it later, rather than a full drapery.
I need to get a piece of brick or a plain fired tile for the south part of the altar, since right now I'm doing both the Greek elements/directions (East = Air, South = Fire, West = Water, North = Earth) and the Revivalist Natib Qadish elements/directions (North = Cedar, South = Brick/Ceramic, East = Gold, West = Lapis, Above = Silver, Below = Precious Stones, Center = Fire).
I'm currently reading a book on polytheist devotional practice, written by an expert on the subject whom I personally dislike fairly intensely, and whose perspective on the practice is almost entirely Norse/Asatru, a tradition I have no call to. This is resulting in me mentally arguing with the book as I read through it, which slows me down considerably. Argh. Unfortunately, there aren't very many books on the practice at all, and one of the only other people writing about it is the founder of Natib Qadish, whose opinions aren't all that far from this author's and whom I also dislike personally. (It's terribly irritating when people have good information and bad politics, isn't it?)
Anyway, here's a picture of the altar:
Got two different suggestions in 48 hours that cleaning off and re-dedicating my home altar would be the correct thing to do for Akitu. My right wrist is hurting too badly to do the grading I really ought to be doing right now, but gross motor movement doesn't hurt nearly as much as fine motor stuff, so I went ahead and did so. I hadn't quite realized how much extra stuff had accumulated on top of the altar. Fortunately, it has drawers, and they weren't full yet, so I dusted everything off and put most of it inside the altar. I have two votive figures for deities I'm not currently doing reverence for (Tehuti and Sarasvati), so I found honored places on the bookshelves for them (they're both deities of learning, among other things, so I can't imagine them objecting to being placed with books). I also have an un-dedicated image of Hecate, but I need to do a proper ceremony for that one, so I wrapped it up and put it in one of the drawers for right now.
I also removed the altar cloth that's been there for at least three years. Honestly, I think it looks better without it. I'll look for an appropriate runner for it later, rather than a full drapery.
I need to get a piece of brick or a plain fired tile for the south part of the altar, since right now I'm doing both the Greek elements/directions (East = Air, South = Fire, West = Water, North = Earth) and the Revivalist Natib Qadish elements/directions (North = Cedar, South = Brick/Ceramic, East = Gold, West = Lapis, Above = Silver, Below = Precious Stones, Center = Fire).
I'm currently reading a book on polytheist devotional practice, written by an expert on the subject whom I personally dislike fairly intensely, and whose perspective on the practice is almost entirely Norse/Asatru, a tradition I have no call to. This is resulting in me mentally arguing with the book as I read through it, which slows me down considerably. Argh. Unfortunately, there aren't very many books on the practice at all, and one of the only other people writing about it is the founder of Natib Qadish, whose opinions aren't all that far from this author's and whom I also dislike personally. (It's terribly irritating when people have good information and bad politics, isn't it?)
Anyway, here's a picture of the altar:
