My Chalice lighting altar! Do you have a home Chalice?

[Gaura Priya]

To practice Chalice lightings at home, it's nice to have a spiritual centre. I hope to eventually have a painting or picture of a Flaming Chalice (or just a starry universe), and a framed Principles and Sources of the Faith.


So here is the diya with a tealight inside (too cheap to use a proper oil and wick), with a swirl of the glass pebbles.

On the one side is the Hare Krishna Mahamantra ( in Bengali, beautifully painted and given to me as a gift by a Japanese Krishna devotee, and the other side has the flowers given to me by my dear atheist boyfriend.

I love hydrangeas!!

And a closer look at the Mahamantra picture.

 

[Maija]

I don't have one but I'd love one of those lil brass things with a handle for putting ghee and lighting on your altar. I'd use those during mahamantra time.
I love the pictures Gaura Priya..inshallah Ill share some soon too!

 

[bicker]

We hold small group ministry gatherings at our home, so we have a chalice setup which we use for those gatherings.

 

[Gaura Priya]

I guess Unitarian Universalists, at least the ones on this forum, have no need for a Chalice for every day personal usage. However, Chalice Lightings are useful for my boyfriend and I because it strengthens our personal faith and gives us inspiration and commonality in ritual and spiritual practice.

I found the idea online with UU parents wanting to practice values at home where they desire their children be raised with UU principles, and the two most common things were Graces at Table, and Chalice Lightings.

To me, since the Chalice is the symbol of the Faith, I feel the need to proclaim it in the home. Also, I'm hoping to buy some Chalice pendants from online.

 

[Gaura Priya]

I don't have one but I'd love one of those lil brass things with a handle for putting ghee and lighting on your altar. I'd use those during mahamantra time.
I love the pictures Gaura Priya..inshallah Ill share some soon too!

It's called a brass diya, or brass lamp, or ghee lamp. You can find it in many Hindu stores.

Good luck on finding them!! :yes:

 

[seeker57]

I have a chalice at home that I light when I meditate or just when I want to have a sense of peace or continuity.

I have always had a thing for flames of some sort: candles, lamps, etc., so having a flaming chalice seemed a natural thing to do.:camp:

Peace,

Seeker

 

[Adramelek]

Hail, the Grail of Infernus! What your doing here Gaura Priya seems rather Black Magical to me. Keep up the good Work. For ever in the Black Flame!

Xeper.
/Adramelek\
Gnothi seauton!

 

[SageTree]

Hail, the Grail of Infernus! What your doing here Gaura Priya seems rather Black Magical to me. Keep up the good Work. For ever in the Black Flame!

Xeper.
/Adramelek\
Gnothi seauton!

Hello,

Would you care to elaborate a little bit?

I don't believe UUs feel like they own the chalice,
nor would be adverse to each individuals understanding of the symbol of our faith.

Tell us more.

 

[Jainarayan]

I'm not UU, but I have a question...

Is a chalice lighting like lighting a diya at a Hindu (or Buddhist or any other) home altar/shrine with prayers? I can't see the pics until I get home. I offer the light to the deities, leave it burning until it self-extinguishes (if I stay home), along with some prayers and mantras; that is pretty much it. It is a nice feeling.

 

[SageTree]

In true UU fashion, I'd have to say 'It could be the same'.... if that is your personal practice.

In the church/community setting there was a prayer or reading before it was lighted.

 

[Jainarayan]

Thanks. Yes, I say a formulaic prayer on lighting the lamp. It's a nice simple act of devotion.

 

[SageTree]

Ritual + Body memory goes a long way for setting the tone and finding your intention.

 

[SteveGrayFTW]

I'm sort of the in the process of investigating and probably joining UU, but I did really like the idea of a "home chalice," so I kind of adopted it for myself early.

It's not so much a chalice though, a small little candle holder with a tea light, but I like the simplicity of it, and it meshes with an idea that "a mighty force (being fire) can come from the smallest things"...it's just that in this case the "smallest things" is a 3 dollar 50 pack of tea lights from Wal-Mart.

All in all, I've been finding it peaceful to have it there, and as has been said, it's nice to able to find a spiritual center at times.

 

[lilithu]

I don't believe UUs feel like they own the chalice,

I feel like we own the flaming chalice. Not an empty chalice nor one with water in it, nor a flame. Those belong to everyone. But the flaming chalice is ours, and I would feel weird if people adopted it for purposes that were contrary to our seven principles.

 

[SageTree]

I feel like we own the flaming chalice. Not an empty chalice nor one with water in it, nor a flame. Those belong to everyone. But the flaming chalice is ours, and I would feel weird if people adopted it for purposes that were contrary to our seven principles.

I can't really argue with you on this.

The UUs didn't invent the flaming chalice, which could mean that it's representing someone's beliefs with 'our' use of 'their' symbol, and that is why I took my position.

That's just more thoughts of my sharing.
But again, I'm not disputing your answer either.

Cheers.

 

[lilithu]

I can't really argue with you on this.

The UUs didn't invent the flaming chalice, which could mean that it's representing someone's beliefs with 'our' use of 'their' symbol, and that is why I took my position.

By my understanding of events, yes we did. Who do you think invented the flaming chalice?

 

[SageTree]

This one in particular I am not going to argue about.
This was uniquely made UU.

But in general a ceremonial use of a flaming chalice is as old as the hills.

From- "The Flaming Chalice," by Dan Hotchkiss, Pamphlets, Unitarian Universalist Association (2007)

The symbol had its origins in a logo designed by Austrian refugee Hans Deutsch for the Unitarian Service Committee (USC) (now the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee) during World War II. According to USC director Charles Joy, Deutsch took his inspiration from the chalices of oil burned on ancient Greek and Roman altars.

 

[lilithu]

This one in particular I am not going to argue about.
This was uniquely made UU.

Yes, that one intentionally represents both Unitarianism and Universalism.

But in general a ceremonial use of a flaming chalice is as old as the hills.

From- "The Flaming Chalice," by Dan Hotchkiss, Pamphlets, Unitarian Universalist Association (2007)

Yes, but I'm not talking about a cup-shaped container of burning oil. Of course every culture has used something like that, and not just for religious reasons. That would be like me claiming that candles belong to us since, when you get down to it, most of us use candles instead of oil in our chalices these days. I'm talking about the flaming chalice as a symbol of our faith, which as you pointed out above was created specifically for the Unitarian Service Committee. Its origin is rooted in social justice. It is ours. Not just the one in the pic above but all of the other flaming chalices that we use in symbolic form. When people make interfaith posters with symbols to represent different religions, the flaming chalice always represents us even if it's not the one in the pic you posted above. Other people may light candles or oil lamps and they may even mean for the flame to represent something like purity or freedom. That's fine. That is, as you said, as old as the hills. But if someone who wasn't a UU started saying "I light this flaming chalice as a symbol of my faith" I would feel weird about that. There's probably not a thing I could do about it but I would feel weird about it.

 

[SageTree]

Yes, that one intentionally represents both Unitarianism and Universalism.

Well if that is the chalice you mean, then I agree with you that we created it, pure and simple.

 

[lilithu]

Well if that is the chalice you mean, then I agree with you that we created it, pure and simple.

I meant more than that but I'll take the agreement.