The empowerment went well today. I was remiss in my post yesterday: I offered a George Killian’s Irish Red to the Rúnatýr and the Runevaettir. Despite feeling tired today the change between doing the work in person and doing it remotely is distinct. There was an aspect of it I had not written on yesterday or the days before, though. Namely, the purifying Fire work was not done while I was out and about, while the other parts of the usual ritual were. There is something about the clarity of purpose that was missing. It was brought to mind when I did the work yesterday and today as I was doing the purification ritual previous to the work.
With the candle’s flame burning, I was praying to the Spirit of Fire Itself and the Gods of Fire, asking Them to cleanse me, applying this Fire to my body and spirit. As usual for this part of the daily rite, I pass my hands through the Fire and physically bring the warmth to the top of my head, between the eyes, my lips, my throat, heart, solar plexus, stomach and groin, then to my feet. The Fire cleanses and prepares me for the work in mind, body, and spirit, connecting me in this moment to all of my soul with concentration, purpose, and the cleansing Fire that eats away what is not needed and sharpens all for the work before me. This small ritual has a profound effect and shakes me out of normal headspace. After all, if my whole concentration, as well as respect and veneration is not here with the Fire before me, I will be burned. The Fire burns away the inessential to the ritual. That makes me focus very directly, something missing while out and about the other day, since I had no Fire lit before me.
With something so simple yet so profound I think that discarding physical actions in favor of an all-in-the-head approach misses the point: the mind is housed within the body for a reason. It ought to be part of the workings you are doing, in some way. If the physical body is part of the soul denying the body a role in magic could be seen as keeping a piece of your soul out of the magic. I am sure there are instances where this is desirable, but to my mind not in work like this that can have such a powerful effect physically.
Sarenth Odinsson 