Apportioning Time for Devotional Liturgy

How long you spend on each section is up to you. A quick version of this liturgy could be done in 5 minutes. A long version could take several hours.

However, each section is important. The basic principle behind the sequences is graduated winding up/down.

Graduated Winding Up/Down

If you are driving a car at 120 km/hr, it would be reckless to throw your feet on the breaks - barring an emergency. At best, you'd break a few ribs and your collarbone. At worst, you'd end up on the side of the road, your liquified flesh seeping through twisted metal. The safe and sensible way to come to a stop is gradually.

The mind is similar. Attempting to leap from the hectic pace of everyday life to the stillness and silence of worship usually proves disastrous. You won't end up dead if you throw yourself onto the cushion and immediately go into prayer or focus single-mindedly on a mantra, but it rarely will be as efficient as taking the time to gradually slow down, step-by-step, until the mind naturally converges on stillness.

The simplified Celtic liturgies employ this principle. The ritual begins with manipulating the coarse and the senses - lighting candles, ringing bells, looking outwards to the four directions, and bowing. Next, a long chant visualizes the deity, recalls their noble qualities and deeds, and requests support. These steps should suffice to slow the mind down and ready it for the mantra practice, which is ideal for single-pointed concentration.

Focus combined with symbol empowers prayers. Thus, when the mind is most concentrated on the god's symbol (in this case, the mantra), the prayer carries maximum power to shape both the devotee and the world.

After reaching the peak, the mind must gradually return to the everyday mind. The transition begins with the prayer and is followed by offerings, thanks to the four directions, bows, and the extinguishing of the candles.

Surviving strands of Aryan religion, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, follow this principle. In the tradition that I ordained in, we started every group session with a similar structure, beginning with the sensuous lighting of candles and incense, bows, and long chanting (30-60 minutes). Meditation (30-60 minutes) was next. Afterward, we wrapped up with chants of thanks and aspiration, bows, and, finally, extinguishing the candles. You'll observe similar patterns in the liturgies of the Golden Dawn, Kashmir Shaivism, and Tibetan Buddhism.

Delegating Time

Based on the principle of graduated winding down/up, each step is important, as it allows the mind to settle naturally and effectively. There are other considerations as well:

• Prayers to the four directions charge the space and energize the practice.
• Recollecting the diety's myths reinforces the views and values that he embodies.
• Offerings add gravity to the prayers, showing you have skin in the game and reinforcing the principles of reciprocity and humility (as opposed to the sin of hubris, which brings nemesis).
• Closing the practice by thanking and banishing the summoned energies ensures that they don't hang around and potentially cause trouble.

The exact structure varies across Aryan cultures, but they generally retain these elements, even in their highly condensed version. For this reason, I would not suggest cutting any steps of the liturgy out. Instead, if time is limited, shorten the steps or don't do the practice.

This recommendation is not an iron rule. Lugh will not come down from the heavens and smite you for jumping straight to prayers before an unexpected inspection at work. The Iliad and The Odyssey are replete with warriors asking for a god's favor in the heat of battle, shorn of complexity. In the extant Celtic and Norse myths, heroes usually don't pray to the gods. The reasons for this omission remain unclear, but it is clear that the Celts did pray to the gods, requesting blessings ranging from the restoration of sight to safe sea voyages.

Life is complex, and flexibility and experimentation are important. However, for the reasons outlined above, abiding by tradition is recommended for maximum effect.

Exactly how a devotee apportions their time in the ritual is ultimately up to them. You can spend 1 minute on the preparatory section, 20 minutes chanting and visualizing the deity, 20 seconds on the mantra, 20 seconds on prayer and offerings, and another minute wrapping the ritual up. Alternatively, you can spend 1 minute on each section. It would be rushed but, if you're well-versed in the liturgy, possible.

For serious practitioners regularly performing devotional practice, it can be helpful to set goals. For example, you can determine to recite your deity's mantra 108 times once a day as part of your devotional liturgy for 3 months. Or you can determine to recite their mantra 10,000 times in a month. Setting goals can energize the practice by giving you a clear purpose rather than falling into a rote 10-minute-a-day routine that feels more like brushing your teeth rather than encountering the divine.

The exact portions will vary over time. As you learn more about yourself, you'll find a rhythm that works for you. The trouble is that who and where you are is in a state of flux. The you of five years ago loved long chants, but the you of today scorns them. You now prefer the sweet simplicity of the mantra or spontaneous, rolling prayers. The you on a month-long sabbatical will feel quite different from the you juggling two jobs and a newborn son. The proper practice is more akin to dancing than crafting a statue. It demands a combination of openness and creativity balanced by structure and discipline. It is in a constant state of movement, yet it is also patterned and still. Between these two poles, the religious life sings.