Losing Touch Spiritually

In the past, and even currently, I've found that within my own spirituality: whether it be through my magical practices or my religious ones, I sometimes enter a "burn out" phase. I feel a sudden disconnect between myself and the wights/deities I work with. I find myself less than enthusiastic about my magical practices, and begin to push them aside. Sometimes things in the "real world", things I have to physically deal with on a daily basis (bills, work, keeping the house clean, cooking, school) become an overbearing weight - and I find myself, at times, putting my spirituality aside to focus on this instead.

This often causes me to feel guilt. I feel guilty that the wights and deities I work with are being ignored. I feel guilty that I cannot juggle all the physical and spirtual tasks I have in my life. I feel ashamed, almost, when I have to sit one thing aside for another. Almost like I'm not strong enough or well equipped enough to handle both. And I think, to be frank, a lot of people go through this exact same thing on and off throughout their lives. Some periods of deep devotion, sparks of interest and study to periods of deep disinterest, and lulls within their practice.

So I just wanted to say: I think this is normal . If you find yourself in a lull such as this, don't get disheartened. As a person, I don't believe any of my wights or deities are mad at me for not getting to do daily devotionals or having more time to spend honoring them/doing some kind of magical working. I think they are advanced enough to understand the complicated nature of our lives, our inner workings, and they are patient enough to wait for us to come back to them when they are ready. Sometimes these lull periods could be viewed as time periods where we need to rest, spiritually, and recover ourselves. Where we need to focus on the physical so we can appreciate the spiritual. If trying to juggle all the physical and spiritual responsibilities you have going on it wearing you down as a person, something isn't working right. Perhaps, then, taking a break is not the worst thing that can occur.

Slow down. Breathe. Relax.
Handle the stresses and worries that are wearing you down. Tackle things one by one. It's much easier to overcome many small hills than attempt to climb a mountain all at once. Slowly re-incorporate those spiritual or magical aspects back into your life. Set aside a small amount of time for reflection, for some study or research, for devotionals - but don't worry if other things get in the way. You're human- and it's alright.

This is great! Thank you!

It really does fit with something I've been dealing with. lol

In contrast, when you get to going with your spirituality, don't feel the need to sprint. There is no finish line, and it is a life long path. Running in the past can make you feel terrible for standing still in the present. You don't need to move the world with your spirituality, enjoy and savor it.

This is actually something I wanted to cover in talking about clinical Depression and how it affects my practices in addition to how it affects my daily life. Whenever I've talked to people one on one, they've all mentioned losing touch, feeling guilty, and wanting to get into things more earnestly than before or like how they used to before the lull set in.

Depression manifests in me in how I lack caring or motivation. It's long periods of emptiness and everything feels like I'm in a state of suspended animation, in a manner of speaking. Everything is disatisfying, so I try to do as much as I can to enjoy myself; that makes me feel like I'm wasting my time, which in turn, prevents me from enjoying myself. It's kind of like a catch 22, but feeling both at the same time... all of the time, instead of one aspect causing the other.

One does not need to have depression to experience symptoms of it and I feel the same is true when it applies to magical, spiritual, and religious practices. The first thing we have to do is take a step back and ask ourselves what "standard" do we feel we are not living up to and why we feel we aren't up to par. Not everyone needs to have attentive devotion everyday, and knowing the Rokkr, they certainly don't need it quite to that level anyway.

I've more to write on the subject, though I must take a pause to carry out my day.

I really appreciate this Isa. This is exactly how I feel. Stabs hit it right on the head too. This guilt and shame. I used to do pray and give offerings at least two or three times a week. Now I am lucky if it can be once a month. Part of it may be because I have a guest who is always in my space. Small apartment, can't be avoided. But I feel I should be taking that as a sign to calm down. "Relax kiddo, work on you."

But I feel this sort of gratitude I feel I can never ever repay. It brings me to tears in a good way. Every time I try to show thanks, Ares repays it ten fold. I find that a little goes a long way. I think he is happy to be met with such sincerity. I ask for nothing, but he gives so much. He sees something in me that I don't see in myself. So it's not so much a deity thing but rather at it's core...When you have a friend or family member who shows you so much love and kindness you want to spend time with them. Not, "cool thanks for the free stuff!" -Skitter away-

I have never know how to handle things. I'm socially inept all together I feel. Talking to people can be very hard for me. I don't want to be whiney and complainy. I don't think it is approprate to pray just to have a complainfest. So when I struggle with depression and can't find anything nice to say, I opt for saying nothing at all. When I do have something umplesant to say it is worked into a thank you for helping me with it. Maybe it goes along with the whole not asking people for help problem that I have. I think just trying to relax and not always overthinking things is a good idea.

I've read this before,but it's not till recently I felt the way. I'm soo greatful the Gods rewarded my hard work and I want to honor them,but my hard works not done. Just a little more then I'm good. Reading this definitely put it into perspective,and surely they do understand...

By the time of my moving, which is still kind of happening, I asked for the spirits/spiritual beings in my old house if some wanted to come with me, promising a new altar and that also I'd take good care of them, in a way. Getting here I had no time or resources to do any of that. Reading this actually calms me down a bit, as for me I thought I was being selfish and with that, indeed I felt that guilt and shame.

Now things are working better, and soon I'll build that altar I promissed, and this thread surely did and will help me as I keep on going with my practise. So, thanks for this, Isa... I'll sure remember it...

We all undertand! Do what you need, but always touch that spiritual side when life becomes too much as well, like seeking solace in something.

They call it escapism but I like it as a way to recharge and creatively think about things :)

I legitmately wanted cry because of how relieved I felt reading this.

Thank you so much.

I've been going through this magick withdrawal because I've felt drained and guilty that I haven't been able to pledge myself to daily or at least a scheduled pace. Tonight I wanna try and pick up my book of Modern Witchcraft to see if I can hop on the rails again.

I've come to a point where I feel my spirits understand that I've been... numb to magic, for want of a better term. Some of them are even nudging me to get back into it; to pay more attention at least, and I can get behind that. When I get off in my own little world, nothing else seems to exist. It takes an outside source to pull me back from the "abyss" most of the time and I think some of my spirits realize that's unhealthy, but want me to walk out on my own rather than try to do it for me. I've begun to notice there are times where I have this honed mentality where I only notice the base-line for things and other times where I notice the intricacies of emotion and energy.