Cloister Day

Keeping a weekly day for magic, work and ritual

A Cloister Day is a day you set aside to do religious things on each week. Pick one day each week to be your Cloister Day - likely, a weekend, but you can combine it with other responsibilities if you prefer. Setting aside a day and building a habit makes it easier to get things done.

It is easier to have a Cloister Day (on which you also do other things) than it is to have a 'half cloister day', as part of what works is cultivating a particular kind of mood. Doing the morning Retreat - then going to work - doing a lil thing at lunchtime - coming home - for a single Work slot, is easier than starting your vibe-shifting process at 5:30pm.

The goal is to make space in your life to take religious actions.

Timetable

Divide your day into slots, and put one of the three tasks into each.

One of the slots must include a Walk (which could simply be sitting out of doors briefly)

Here is the outline that works for me:

Early morning | Retreat
Morning | Work
Midday/Afternoon | Break
Afternoon-Evening | Work
Night | Retreat

Retreat

Be where you are, and ease yourself into the mood for magic.

Refuse disembodiment
- Strictly no whatever disconnection theme causes you the most difficulty - no social media/troublesome sites/video games etc. If you know in your heart doing this thing first thing throws off your whole day, it is banned on cloister days.
Check the weather
- Can you go out of doors? What weather aspects rule the day? Is anything interesting happening in space?What phase of the moon are we under?
Life admin
- shower, cooking, tidying, simple chores. Reflect on spiritual themes as you do so; and think about what you need for the day ahead to be a success - a good breakfast, clean hair, a tidy desk, whatever it is for you.
Plan for the day
- look at last week's plan if you made one
- both magical and mundane - it's ok to do non-spiritual things on days of this kind! Most people can't set aside a whole day.
- Think about your energy levels and what you can accomplish today.
- In an evening slot, use this time to plan for the forthcoming week. And document what you did - in brief. You may want to plan to begin Cloister Day the night before (for example, waking up to a tidy space)
Simple practice
- stretching, meditating, prayer, cards, sitting-outside-walk, an actual morning walk, reading
Set up your space
- Put on music, incense, nature sounds to ease you into the mood. Put on a special object or garment - put out a special decoration or object - prepare a particular food (that last one, only if it is not overly spoony. The goal of the Retreat stage is to be extremely untaxing)
Use your imagination
- take on the persona of a hermit, a holy human, a nun, a witch in the woods, a priest in the temple, or whatever other model works for you. You can bring the energy of this type of person into your life and space, temporarily, no matter how your life and space usually feels.
Open the temple
- At the end of the Retreat phase, if you have a particular theme for the day - a spirit, a domain, a season - you could make a mini-rite to bring that energy into the space and announce your intentions

Work

Now you are in the mood, it is time to accomplish something focused. Choose one of the below for each slot

Ritual
- A magic spell, a working, a summoning, worship, prayer, be it minor or major
Practice Skills
- Depending on your goals, this could be trance, meditation; it could be learning herbs; it could be preparing incenses or carving ritual tools; it could be assembling
Study
- Use one of the lesson courses for structure if you are repeating it, or work through them if for the first time
Prepare for ritual
- This could be baking/recipe planning, researching, assembling objects, writing a script, assessing the calendar; putting together a walking kit;
Walking
- napping on the lawn, taking a good hike, visiting local sacred sites, walking in the woods, pottering about the garden...
Reading
- especially if you need to make time for something substantial - a tutorial book you practice from; a tricky text; researching future things to read on a theme. It could also encompass making artwork.
Disconnection
- Participate in your offline hobby, if you have adopted one. You may not be in the mood for work, so leisure is fine but make it of a high-quality kind.
Keep a Promise
- If you do certain kinds of work, you may find yourself making promises and deals. Be certain to keep them!
Meet up
- If you are so lucky to have co-coveners and friends of the Craft; or (for me especially) this could be blogging/webweaving/community management but make a firm, limited goal for that and no more than one slot per day.
Life stuff
- Use a Work slot to do your big non-spiritual task(s) for the day, but don't forget that today is special as you do so. Music, daydreaming, putting a little magic into it.

Break

The time(s) of day you naturally lose focus.

Know this time in advance, and plan something in it no-spoon and refreshing. For me, that could be:

Reading (actually just reading the book or watching a film - no documenting or using the reading)
Walk round the block
A nap