Tomorrow is the first day of Navaratri, a festival dedicated to Ma Durga, or various other forms of Devi. I am starting this journal tonight, to help me reflect on the festival, the outer celebrations, the inner meanings, and communion with those also celebrating(or those just curious).
Tonight is a bit of preparation. I've been taking stuff down and dusting for the upcoming pujas. We're not really sure why, but while we do most of our pujas in the puja room, during Navaratri we do them in the living room on a set of three shrines used only during Navaratri.
When we started looking to buy our house, my husband said a prayer to Lakshmi asking her to help us find a good place we could afford. He told her if she did, he'd build her a nice altar right in the living room. Granted. Not only did she find us a house large enough to have two rooms for spiritual purposes(plus enough for the kids to have their own rooms), she managed to do it at about $20,000 under budget, essentially taking us out of poverty. While she had a small altar in the 'quiet room' at our old house(we had no bedroom, we gave it up in order to have a quiet room that was free of Ares and slept on the dining room floor), she is the focus of all who enter in this house. While she is in the center, on each side there is a considerable wall altar for Durga and Saraswati as well.
I've been making some torans with paper kalashes and mango leaves over the last week. I was hoping to have them up today, but due to the construction going on, I wasn't able to make that happen. Tomorrow, I guess.
But the big thing I'm prepping for is the fast. My husband and I fast through Navaratri; in the past its been with traditional fasting foods. This year, however, I'm kicking it up a notch. The plan is the first three days liquid only, the second set of three days raw foods, and the last three traditional fasting foods. (My husband is not doing this; he is just doing the traditional fasting foods.)
Typically, the first three days of Navaratri are dedicated to Durga. In order to go without eating during this period, I'm really going to need her strength to pull this off. I'm hoping she may bless me with some of her warlike energy, as I face my own personal battle with food.
Tonight is a bit of preparation. I've been taking stuff down and dusting for the upcoming pujas. We're not really sure why, but while we do most of our pujas in the puja room, during Navaratri we do them in the living room on a set of three shrines used only during Navaratri.
When we started looking to buy our house, my husband said a prayer to Lakshmi asking her to help us find a good place we could afford. He told her if she did, he'd build her a nice altar right in the living room. Granted. Not only did she find us a house large enough to have two rooms for spiritual purposes(plus enough for the kids to have their own rooms), she managed to do it at about $20,000 under budget, essentially taking us out of poverty. While she had a small altar in the 'quiet room' at our old house(we had no bedroom, we gave it up in order to have a quiet room that was free of Ares and slept on the dining room floor), she is the focus of all who enter in this house. While she is in the center, on each side there is a considerable wall altar for Durga and Saraswati as well.
I've been making some torans with paper kalashes and mango leaves over the last week. I was hoping to have them up today, but due to the construction going on, I wasn't able to make that happen. Tomorrow, I guess.
But the big thing I'm prepping for is the fast. My husband and I fast through Navaratri; in the past its been with traditional fasting foods. This year, however, I'm kicking it up a notch. The plan is the first three days liquid only, the second set of three days raw foods, and the last three traditional fasting foods. (My husband is not doing this; he is just doing the traditional fasting foods.)
Typically, the first three days of Navaratri are dedicated to Durga. In order to go without eating during this period, I'm really going to need her strength to pull this off. I'm hoping she may bless me with some of her warlike energy, as I face my own personal battle with food.
