As part of the work on Tending the Flame of Hope that I do, I posted the above photo yesterday. The post has a bit of context, but I wanted to provide just a bit more.
One of the ways I track my own piety is actually pretty visual: on my altar, there is a jar of spent matches. Every match I light at my altar goes into that jar, saved for later time. Eventually, they fill the jar (or, in this case, overflow it). I like saving them and holding onto them for a while, and letting them fill the box.
These matches have held a sacred flame, one that I have prayed over. To me, that means they should have a place of honor, rather than tossed in the trash can.
At a certain point, I’ll take these matches to one of our Grove rites (as I am looking at the bottle, it might be this week’s Druid Moon rite, because I’m pretty full) and burn them down in a sacred fire.
It’s nice to see piety gather, to see that commitment increase. It’s good to see them brighten again as they are consumed by the fire. The Flame of Hope work, in particular, can be complex and daunting: I’m a little over halfway, and there are many more flames to kindle. Watching the matches accumulate helps me know that the work is also accumulative.
It also reinforces the fact that I’m maintaining my commitments to piety and to the Spirits. The visual nature of filling up a jar like this over time is compelling.
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