Poem, an ode to the Goddess of Joy, Euphrosyne

Unconfined Light
Tonight, the universe vibrates with me.
I hear smiles and happiness, even where there is dark.
I am a being of pure euphoria tonight.
I am being held by Euphrosyne.
by Connor Sean McMurrick Crow

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Joy, ah the honeyed nectar of joy!  To be held by Euphrosyne:  Euphrosyne is the Goddess of Joy, one of the Three Charities, a dancing mirth-filled goddess of grace.  She rains blessings of joy, all things that bring intense happiness, on those that look to her.  And poet and musician Crow above says it so sweetly.  Joy is powerful, and we forget to seek its power, to use it, to feed it to grow in our lives.  It is the emotion we truly all seek, the reason for our search for love or success, for money, for comfort, for friendship, for knowledge, for religion or spirituality or Great Truth.  It comes with emotional vibrations ranging from sweetness to intense all-consuming euphoria.  And it is a great mystery, and a great power, perhaps the greatest of various points of power in our lives that I will write about.

This world today, at least the developed world here where I live, is largely focused on Other: the  other who treats me poorly, the other who didn’t recognize my efforts, the other who needs to change so that I feel better, the other that should have hired me for that job, the other who cut me off while driving;  and the Others:  the others who need to “Like” my posts, the others who need to “Like” my photos, the others who need to approve of my very being, the others who run the government, the others who don’t pay me enough, the others who “disrespected” me.   It is a misplaced seeking of Joy, this looking to the others in this world for validation.

True Joy lies within.  It is not found in others, or in tiny glowing screens proclaiming 200 unknown beings “liked” my photo, or in the 2000 other unknown persons “thumbs up’d” my video.  It is not even found from those near us, our family or friends.  It is found deep within our being, and when found and nurtured and harvested, it floods slowly from a central point, and bleeds out to feed every cell in the body we inhabit with an unparalleled nectar.  It is powerful!  It attracts more of itself, grows the more we feed it, the more we give it attention, the more we realize its sweet nectar.    And it is a food that can magnify all the sweetness you can become, to propel this life into places magnitudes of power greater than our current placeholder in life.  

But this work takes some physical effort.  Especially when a sullen mood threatens us, or “the others” don’t validate our being enough and we are falling into old behavioral patterns, or an unfortunate event happens, all threaten to steal our joy.  At these times we must make a conscious choice to look to the prized focus points of life.  It can be found through meditation, through conscious effort to choose soul-food activities instead of mind-numbing pastimes, through passions, through reading, through nature-based activities.  

All of this can be aided with ritual, something that gives Joy a foothold into your physical world so that you can give it concrete attention.  Foothold, physical foothold in this material world, is the key to ritual.  All ritual involves doing something physical.  Ritual gives unseen forces something to “grab onto” in this world, something to use as resource to help bring your desires, something to feed spirit so that spirit in turn chooses to feed you back.  Thus seeking Joy with use of ritual involving a physical link becomes a healing of sort, and an act of creation.

So what are ways to enchant that potential, to magnify what you can become, to effect a ritual for increasing Joy?  Ritual is the missing link, the aid to feeling connected in a life of ironic disconnect, and is one of the main tenets of this blog.  Here is a framework for a ritual on Joy, to allow Joy to grow in your life organically and unceasingly.  It begins with physical links to those joyful events in your life.

Links, physical support to one’s desires, are a powerful aid in any tradition. We collect memorabilia and save items our grandparents gave us, an old pocket knife, a ring, a handkerchief. We smell the items of a departed loved one, feeling their presence when we do so. Catholics (and others) seek anything the Pope has touched, believing these items hold increased power. Many seek links of their ancestry lineage.  The list goes on, physical items that have seen an event are imprinted with the energy of that event.   We naturally seek to touch these items, to retain them, to hold them for safekeeping.  How about capitalizing on this for increasing what you can be, what powerful joy your life can hold?

The Box of Joy’s Power
Begin by collecting memorabilia from the most joyful times of life, the times we won or overcame or were intensely loved or received accolades.   Gather together as many of life’s major moments as you can, handwritten notes and times you spilled coffee on a treasured event ticket, the little tag that accompanied a gift from a loved one, the small book you read at your grandmother’s side while she lay dying, the silver dollar your grandfather gave you at age 10, the boy or girl scout badge you worked the hardest on, your graduation tassel, the hand-made invite to your baby’s 1st birthday, the cocktail napkin where you and your girlfriends wrote up your life goals at age 22, the medal you won for an athletic event.  

Add a sacred stone, such as a stone from the most powerful mountain near your birth, or a river running near the place you were born, to welcome in the spirits of place that are given to you from your arrival in this world, spirits that are always there to help you become more in this world.  If you have a power animal from shamanic practices, add a symbol of that animal, or add a symbol of any animal joyful to you, or peacefully powerful to you.  Add crystals if you desire, or art objects that speak to you, small things you’ve created over the years, a childhood pinch-pot, a tiny drawing, a handmade small ornament.   Add links to other power spots that have touched you from travels. For later additions,  carry pen and tiny notebook to quickly journal and sign your name on small paper when something incredible happens, while you are still in that place of the happening, or when you feel fantastic for perseverance, capturing in ink and your signature imprint the energy of that very moment, or pick up small nature objects that seem to speak to you, asking them if you can bring them home, and leaving a dime in their place, or an offering of food or beverage you are carrying.  

Place these in a box small enough to set where you can view it daily, and paint or decorate the box as desired.   Cover it with symbols you love, things that represent you in the highest form you can imagine, and add herbs that allow for increased joy, like marjoram and neroli, oregano and tangerine.    Anoint the box with an attraction or blessing oil if you desire, or splash with Florida water or blessed water.

Now the work:
Place this box in a location of meaning and honor, a place you can give the box at least a few seconds of attention every day.  If you do ancestor work, a place near this spot works well.   Light a candle.  Burn some incense.  Hold a consecration ritual if you have a format for yourself to do so;  or simply perform an attention and speaking ritual in your own voice, out loud, to ask the box to come alive, for all the moments to “live” once again, for all the joy of those moments to dwell in this space. Send gratitude to these moments, feel their sacred electrical aliveness in this space, housed by the mementoes in the box. Spend time dwelling upon it, seeing that you are separate from it but that moments of your life are reflected in these pieces. Important:  Do not see *yourself* as inside the box.  Do not contain yourself, simply see this as a mini-altar of your powerfully joyful moments, and that you are giving those moments in life honor and gratitude…which really means you are giving yourself honor and gratitude.  See the pieces in the box glowing brightly, increasingly so.  See the pieces inside reaching out to touch each other, the aliveness of each piece feeling for the piece next to it, and when the connection is made, see each connecting piece glow even brighter.  

If you have a mantra for joy and fulfillment, chant it over the box.

Then extend the visualization, and light another set of candles, speaking further words asking for your joy to multiply:  See the light points of these items spread out before you, as if on top of the immense blanket of your life, all the events of your life creating a gorgeous plane of fabric that is your life creation in symbolic form. See how these points of brilliance are vastly brighter from their inherent joy, than other moment-spots of the blanket of your life. See these points connected with filaments of light, a giant web of the fabric of your beautiful times.  See these points “fed” to glow brighter still by the power points of your life, the great mountain spirits, or great guardians of your life.  This brilliant blanket lays upon the darker layer of less-joy-filled times, or even blackened saddened times.  See the fabric of your very life becoming brightened by these moments of joy that sit on the surface, growing so bright and golden that it begins to touch and brighten the fabric of those people near you.  All this is represented in this small box before you.  See the addition of more points of light in this vast fabric, this cloak of experience. See it touching the cloaks of others. And when it does, see the explosion of light that happens from it. Take a while to see this light growing and glowing, extending to touch All That Is Everywhere.  And after a while, when you feel the joy has been magnified, come back to the space you are in, and see the box in vibratory form, thanking it for doing this work of focusing your joy, of allowing it to feed your life and the lives of others with its growth.

If desired, add work to ask the Goddess Euphrosyne to multiply your joy, to receive your offering of light and scent, to be in this space with you.  Either way, give this space at least a few seconds of attention daily, a quick-version of the above working, and a longer attention at least once a month, perhaps on the new or full moon.

You have power. Your history, your memories, your mementoes, they all reflect a piece of your power. Your power lies largely in life’s most joyous times. Let those times grow by gathering a part of them, seeing the beauty in their gathering, seeing them grow and multiply, and ultimately seeing them touch others and amplify the grid of light everywhere.  And know that at the end of this life, the beauty of the fabric of your life will be a great work, a work that satisfies the soul.

joy joy come to me!
come and dance and play with me
Give my life prosperity
come come come to me!

(old enchantment for increasing one’s joy)

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This post is part of a “Blog Hop,” links above to the “Previous” and “Next” posts in the “Hop,” and the entire list of posts in the “Master List” link.  In these other blogs, you will find other posts on Magical Links (thus the web-links are…magical!), of more sorcerous traditions or less, all assured to be interesting reads.  These are folks studying under Jason Miller, a teacher of everything from Tantric Buddhism to Rootwork, Meditation to ancient Greek practices, helping seekers of the Truth meld disparate world views, challenging what can effect life change better than mere hope.  I highly recommend his writings.  And I highly recommend the other writers in this Hop, all on a journey to finding Ultimate Truth.