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Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Spirituality - Why I Don't Believe in Easy

  The other day I was talking to a friend and I happened to mention that when it comes to spirituality I no longer believe in the concept of easy. Simple, yes, because there are aspects of spirituality and spiritual practice that can be simple. But easy, oh no, easy is one of those things that will trap you into laziness and inattention. More often than not the simplest things are actually the hardest precisely because they require the most attention not to mess up. Something that is complicated or difficult by its nature requires a lot of care to do correctly and so we tend to be less inclined to slack when we do those things. Lighting a candle seems easy doesn't it, but when you are doing it with a spiritual intention you have to always guard against the simple action becoming routine and then losing its purpose and power. After all, what is the difference between lighting a candle for its physical light and lighting a candle for a spell or a prayer, except the focus and intent you put into it?

Do you see what I mean? Easy is a deception. Constant vigilance is necessary to keep simple from becoming ineffectual, and that makes simple very, very hard to do properly.

There are many aspects of pagan spirituality and witchcraft that seem easy. They aren't. And so they are usually the things that are most often neglected or messed up. Shielding. Warding. Cleansing. Offerings. These should all be simple to do, and done regularly, yet too often they fall by the wayside or are not given the attention they deserve.

The difficult thing about having a regular spiritual practice is doing the easy things well when the easy things become routine. Because what is easy is to fall into that sort of mindless action that happens when we've done something so often that the doing becomes automatic. When we light incense regularly in our spiritual practice how quickly do we stop doing it with intention and just light it so we can move on to the next step? When we pour out a bit of drink or give a bit of food as an offering to the spirits [outside of ritual] how quickly does the action become habit and the meaning get lost? doing by rote means doing by reflex without the mind engaged and with things like spirituality and witchcraft that isn't always the best idea. Easy is hard.

As soon as we stop thinking about what we are doing and why we are doing it, we are in trouble. Because like everything else, once we stop thinking about it we stop caring about, stop putting emotion and energy into it. Laziness and lethargy sneak in and it is surprising how quickly we can stop doing the 'easy' things altogether. Stop grounding and centering regularly. Stop shielding constantly. Stop cleansing often. Stop all the basic things that the complex things are built on, without realizing that in the process we are undermining ourselves.

I'm not saying everyone has to take their spirituality to a professional level, of course, there have always been lay people in every religion and its fine if spirituality is a casual concept for you. However even a casual spirituality should be done well if you are going to bother doing it at all. I mean I'm not a professional baker, but if I bake a cake I want to do my best to get the best result and the same should hold true for any endeavor including spirituality. Otherwise why bother at all?

I don't believe in easy anymore. The easier it looks, the harder it will be to do well for any length of time.


  1. My practice is quite different; but, it is definitely not easy. It never should be. We may not do things the same way or celebrate the same festivals and Gods; however, we do it for Them, so it should be our best endeavour.

  2. I've been thinking about this topic lately. I'm out of the house 11-12 hours a day (work + commute), and I feel like my practice is frequently left by the wayside. I've got to figure out how to fit it around everything else I'm doing. And that's not easy! :)

  3. Quite true. Simple things are rarely easy😉 They require a great deal more of effort and intent.