Shrine diary.
Jun. 18th, 2006 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jademermaid6/18/06
This is the first of a series of entries detailing the establishment of sacred shrine space in the ancient Roman way on my property in Lebanon, TN.
Documentation will follow, but this first entry will explain why I decided to do this and the steps I have taken so far in the many steps involved in this project.
There will actually be two seperate shrines and likely more as time goes on, but of these first two, one is a private shrine to Neptunus, which will be just outside my side door, and the main shrine under the large trees will be dedicated to Iupiter, Neptunus and Diana. The private shrine will be focused more on his oceanus aspects, which, while not favored in Rome, are of personal interest to me.
Deciding on the area for the main shrine was done for me several months ago when lightning struck one of the large trees there. It carved a channel of bark down the side, like a big fingernail scratch. In Roman belief, this means the area was chosen by Iupiter to become sacred space dedicated to him. The Romans, however, often used the same space and put many altars on it, and so in realizing this, we noted that the area is washed by rain runoff regularly, in fact we call the area 'the wash', which puts it in the realm of Neptunus' fresh water aspect, and it is also next to our wooded section, putting it in the realm of Diana Nemorensis. It is possible that we will add more altars later.
The main shrine, which will be used for public and private rites will be erected as close to the ancient way as possible, and this dedication entails many steps. First I have plotted out the land and enlisted my husband to start with fencing it off, mostly because I don't want to take any chances of injury to my horses which run free on the property, and also to make the area more accessible from the back door.
I plan to have this place in usable condition for the upcoming Neptunalia, on July 23rd. Last week I enlisted the help of a friend to help me with water collection, to be done from each of the four surrounding bodies of water. This evening I have also collected rain from a storm. These are all part of the process, which I hope to have broken down to clear steps in my next post.
The first step is the placement of an offering in the west section of the area to the genii loci, or local land spirits, of milk, wine, honey and incense. I will be doing this in the coming week.
This is the first of a series of entries detailing the establishment of sacred shrine space in the ancient Roman way on my property in Lebanon, TN.
Documentation will follow, but this first entry will explain why I decided to do this and the steps I have taken so far in the many steps involved in this project.
There will actually be two seperate shrines and likely more as time goes on, but of these first two, one is a private shrine to Neptunus, which will be just outside my side door, and the main shrine under the large trees will be dedicated to Iupiter, Neptunus and Diana. The private shrine will be focused more on his oceanus aspects, which, while not favored in Rome, are of personal interest to me.
Deciding on the area for the main shrine was done for me several months ago when lightning struck one of the large trees there. It carved a channel of bark down the side, like a big fingernail scratch. In Roman belief, this means the area was chosen by Iupiter to become sacred space dedicated to him. The Romans, however, often used the same space and put many altars on it, and so in realizing this, we noted that the area is washed by rain runoff regularly, in fact we call the area 'the wash', which puts it in the realm of Neptunus' fresh water aspect, and it is also next to our wooded section, putting it in the realm of Diana Nemorensis. It is possible that we will add more altars later.
The main shrine, which will be used for public and private rites will be erected as close to the ancient way as possible, and this dedication entails many steps. First I have plotted out the land and enlisted my husband to start with fencing it off, mostly because I don't want to take any chances of injury to my horses which run free on the property, and also to make the area more accessible from the back door.
I plan to have this place in usable condition for the upcoming Neptunalia, on July 23rd. Last week I enlisted the help of a friend to help me with water collection, to be done from each of the four surrounding bodies of water. This evening I have also collected rain from a storm. These are all part of the process, which I hope to have broken down to clear steps in my next post.
The first step is the placement of an offering in the west section of the area to the genii loci, or local land spirits, of milk, wine, honey and incense. I will be doing this in the coming week.
