For those of you unfamiliar the Serenity Prayer is a simple, yet powerful petition to the goddess, god, or deity of anyone’s choosing:
God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference…just for today.
For those of us in recovery from any number of addictions, it is a mantra that is used daily to remind ourselves of who we are, and most importantly that we need the assistance and guidance of a power greater than ourselves to get through each and every day in this mundane life. As a Witch it took me a long time to accept this as part of my existence in this life.
When I first read the words, “Since when do YOU pray?” I immediately got defensive. I wanted to fire off a smart ass remark or two, but then I remembered my own biases of my past. When I had taken my first step on my spiritual path I shunned everything and anything that had any sort of Judeau-Christian feel to it. Anything that had the slight scent of my religious upbringing had no place in my life as a Witch. I thought I had it all figured out. However, it has only been through personal spiritual growth as a Witch that I have come to realize how wrong I was. I had to remind myself of this as I pondered my reply to my friend, and I replied as follows:
I pray to many Gods and Goddesses. The Serenity Prayer is a universal mantra that quiets the mind and calms the spirit during trying times. There's not a day that goes by that I do not ask for the comfort and guidance of my deities and guides.
Had I not learned to shed my biases of the past, I would not be leading the life I have today as Father, Husband, and Witch. It was those very biases, and resentments of my past, that prevented me from getting completely clean and sober years ago. I remember my first recovery meeting I walked into. Everything was great until as a group they said the Serenity Prayer, and by the meetings end my skin was crawling with all of the references to god that had been tossed around. I remember thinking to myself that if I were to get clean and sober it would be without these people. I was that screwed up in my thinking. So I went to a few more meetings to please my wife and my employer. However, within 60 days I was on my own trying to maintain a clean lifestyle that was anything but sober. I replaced my alcohol with increased use of my beloved marijuana, tossed in the occasional painkillers, and all the while thought I was sober. Eventually I had allowed m self to be convinced that I could drink wine and mead. As long as I stayed off the whiskey and beer I was good. Eventually I began to drink beer again, I would even do shots of Tequila, and never once did I stop smoking weed. What a mess! As I look back I was lying to myself.
On the morning of February 13, 2009 I was filled with a voice from within. She told me I didn’t have to do “this” anymore. I didn’t have to slowly kill myself anymore. I didn’t have to lie to myself anymore. I still had an opportunity to be that which I had come into this lifetime to be. That evening I went to a meeting, my first in nearly three years. As I drove there I knew that when I walked through the doors I needed to do so humbly, and I needed to understand that I was no different than any other addict there. Conversely their god was no more, or less legitimate or deserving of reverence than my own. After all, to walk a spiritual path, whether it be as a Witch, Christian, Hindi, Muslim, etc. is a personal choice that should be revered, for there are many that never find such peace.
So when do I pray? Whenever I need to, and I do so to many different deities. To pray, or the act of prayer has nothing more to do with one deity versus another, and it is certainly not the property of religion, to define it quite simply it is the act of making a petition to a god or gods. So when I begin each day I ask the goddess and god to guide me in such a way that I may fulfill my greatest potential. When I end the day, I try to give thanks for the opportunity to leave the day a little better than I found it, and along the way I ask for Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference. So mote it be!
Blessed Be,
Curran