Helpful Suggestions for a Neophyte?

[Peripeteia]

I admit that I'm currently an amateur in seeking a religious path that suits me, so my apologies if the following story comes across as inexperienced or incoherent:

Last night I attempted to perform a ritual/prayer session to mark the autumnal equinox; I had been planning it for a while, essentially to mark my first spiritual holiday outside of the Catholic Church.

Since I live with my parents and siblings (I share a room with my brother), the only place in the house where I could be alone and unheard was the basement. A few days prior, I had gathered some materials into an old cigar box and, once my parents had fallen asleep, I used them to set up a makeshift altar on a chair.

As best as I tried to carry out the ritual/prayer session, I was unable to properly focus; my brother was still awake, and the slightest sound caused me to pause for a few seconds to listen to whether or not he was moving about.

When I had gathered materials for my cigar box, I included a mixture of herbs and nuts and other fun stuff, of which I had intended to burn a small portion as an incensic offering. A few seconds after I ignited it, I heard footsteps from the floor above.

I panicked.



I blew out my candles, doused the half-burnt mixture with a glass of water, threw a towel over it to keep the smoke down, and stashed all of my materials away. Even when it became clear that my brother was just going to the bathroom on the floor above and not, as I had feared, about to walk down the flight of stairs, about to grab his fourth can of nighttime pop and/or warn me of an encroaching zombie horde, I was too shaken to try to continue.

In any case, it was 3:00 am. I was scattered and tired, and it would have been pointless to wait for my brother to turn off his x-box and finally fall asleep, so I just went to bed.

Basically, does anyone have any suggestions for focusing and preventing future midnight Mabon mayhem? It certainly wasn't as stress-free of an experience as I was hoping for. Also, I probably should have researched this more thoroughly, but how would I more properly burn/offer a homemade concoction? I had placed a couple of pinches of my mixture into a tiny paper ketchup holder (the kind one would find in a burger joint), and used a few toothpicks to elevate it enough for a small fire to go underneath.

Anyhoo, thanks for taking the time to read this, and I'll be more than happy to clarify anything that I left inadequately explained.

(And to anyone who was left wondering, no, I do not believe that "incensic" is a proper adjective, but it still seems like it would be a pretty useful word)

[Peripeteia]

I admit that I'm currently an amateur in seeking a religious path that suits me, so my apologies if the following story comes across as inexperienced or incoherent

I'm so sorry about this, but I totally intended to put this in the "Paganism for Beginners" section.
My apologies again - please ignore this one.

[catja6]

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This thread is closed. Please continue the discussion in the following thread: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showt...for-a-Neophyte Catja Staff at The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum