Aright, this is pretty much very scary, but you have asked to hear more about my daily practice and instead of writing it all down, I figure it may be easier to just show you what I do and how I do it. In this first part of a two part series, I'll show you how to make
khernips, the lustral water used to cleanse yourself with in Hellenismos. The way I do it, may not be the way everyone does it. It's the basic steps that matter most. So without further ado: here's a video of me preparing khernips. Sorry about the quality, my phone seems to have some trouble focussing. I'll post part two, offering libations, tomorrow.
That was amazing, Elani. Thank you so much for making this video. I found it much more helpful to actually see the process as opposed to reading an an account of it in a book or other source.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite excited to see the libation video tomorrow!
I have raw sea salt on my shrine. Can I sprinkle a few crystals into the spring water instead of using sea water?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your sweet response! It totally makes waking up stupidly early worth it! Yes, adding sea salt is a perfectly fine solution, though I would make sure it was desolved before moving on. I forgot to mention this in the video, but that white jug isually holds a combination of the fresh water and the salted water. That way, for my daily rituals, I only need to 'burn it' before I can use it. For festivals, I do it like in the video.
ReplyDeleteI have another question, Elani. I searched online for the Verbena leaves since I don't have any place near me that sells herbs (the health food store doesn't stock it either)of any kind. I can only seem to find "Lemon Verbena Leaves." Are these okay to use? Did the ancient Greeks ever use bay leaves?
ReplyDeleteThe above questions are from me, Hawthorne. Not sure why it posted from my old deleted account. Weird.
DeleteDon't worry about the account :)
DeleteLemon Verbena is absolutely fine. I'll try to find out if bay leaf was ever used for purification. Right now, from my own stock of information and a quick Google search, I am not sure. It's possible, seeing as the ancient Hellens had the plant at hand. Let me get back to you on this.
Alright, more research completed. I haven't found an ancient instance where bay leaves were used, but modern practitioners seem to use it quite often. It should be fine to use it, except for (maybe) Apollo, as Daphne--his love interest--got turned into the first laurel against his will. Hum... maybe he would actually prefer you use bay leaf, then? Interesting question ;)
DeleteWonderful video! Don't worry about the fuzzies, it doesn't detract from the purpose of showing it. Thank you for being brave and putting your lovely face and voice out there.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. With a few down, the scary is totally gone now XD
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