As you can tell from my recent post history (my last post being on the 15th May), I’ve been going through a bit of a pause in my spiritual work. A sustained period of stress at home/work as well as a (probably related) bout of anxiety has left me with little time or energy for posting as frequently as I wanted.

It has also left me similarly pressed to perform the more elaborate rituals/ceremonies of my spiritual path.

The problem

The Élus Coens and Rose Croix d’Orient ceremonies that dominate my spiritual work can be quite involved. They take significant amounts of time and setup. There are various shapes to be drawn in chalk on the floor of my little temple, and elaborate layouts of candles and altar arrangements. All of this is even before the complex prayers begin, and it is often the case that each ritual demands different regalia.

This all takes time and planning.

Don’t get me wrong — this is time well spent, and I recommend it to you if you are drawn to ceremonial work and/or grade-based structures. But when time is short and energy is low it is easy to postpone sessions, or worse, to take short-cuts with the setup and performance of the ritual. This inevitably results in one of two outcomes:

1. Your half-assed performance of the ritual will greatly reduce its force.
2. Your spiritual life will lose its active component, reducing you to little more than someone who believes certain things.

This is not to guilt-trip you into spending energy you don’t have on ritual work. That way lies burnout and is to be avoided. But it is still something that needs to be taken account of.

For me there is an additional complication. My history has led to something that I have self-diagnosed as “OCD with religious scrupulosity“. The result of this is that I can easily fall into mini-attacks of anxiety when I suspect that I have made a ritual mistake. I can also be plagued by the thought that the ritual itself will lead to bad-luck or catastrophe.

Needless to say, none of this puts me in the right state for the proper performance of the ritual.

Back to basics

My plan to navigate around these limitations is to return to simplicity.

Having become acquainted with the Mystery via the gift of the S∴I∵ degree of Martinism, my central desire is to dissolve myself once again into that great font of love and pure being. Luckily, there exists an ancient route to this that requires no elaborate setup:

The simple practice of meditation.

Not only is meditation as simple as it comes, but I think you would also agree that it forms the core of all mystical practice.

Much like reasonable cardiac health is central to all physical training programs, you probably won’t get too far with your spiritual work if you are incapable of meditation. Although I doubt Saint-Martin had that connection in mind, the metaphor of cardiac health has a nice link with his Voie Cardiac:

“…prayer is to their intellectual Being what breathing is to their body.”

Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, “Natural Table”

On the other hand I recognise that a comparison of a spiritual practice with physical performance is unfortunate and inadvisable in many ways. In particular in the sense of comparisons with others and the measurement of performance. But I do think that there is a certain truth here.

Saint-Martin himself argued that none of the bells and whistles of initiatory degree structures are necessary to realise the Mystery. In this point he distinguished himself from his master Pasqually, but Papus clearly agreed with him. As have many generations of Martinists.

In the end all that is needed is the desire to know God and a comfortable place to sit.

My plan

Spiritual work should, I think, be an extension of daily life. Or even better, no different from daily life. That can include complex ceremonial performances, but when that isn’t possible — when those rituals become something “extra” to regular life — then something needs to change.

And that is where I am right now. My energy levels and psychological state are not well-matched with complex work. For the next months I will be peeling back the layers of my spiritual practice to the basics as directed by my desire for unity with the One.

Reestablishing a link with the Martinist egregore is of importance to me, and so I’ll be including a particular weekly ritual in my work. But the remainder of my spiritual practice will be incredibly simple:

1. Silent breath-focused meditation.
2. Prayer for others.

Nothing else.

No regalia. No equipment more elaborate than a simple arrangement of candles on my altar.

To be clear (and to repeat myself), I do not dismiss the ornate and complex rituals of ÉC or RCd’O. They are beautiful and rich and full of force, and I recommend them to you if ceremonial practice is of interest.

But for the moment my soul cries out for simplicity.

Before the flambeaux.