I’ve been thinking of how to describe this homebrewed path I’m on called devotional hearthcraft. The premise is simple: take one part devotional polytheism and one part hearthcraft, then shake it up really hard in a mason jar to see what comes out. It sounds like what it says on the tin, which is intentional. I wanted something that accurately and succinctly summed up my religious path while conveying as much information about it as possible. But what is it really about? Why focus on the synergy of both practices – building a devotional relationship with Brighid on the one hand and a practical approach to a home-and-hearth centered witchcraft on the other – instead of just letting each speak for itself? By its nature this path is decentralized and nonhierachical; there aren’t Mysteries passed down to initiates (or any initiation at all) or requirements to follow a particular type of deity or mythic cycle. What I’m discovering is this path has precious little to do with seeking enlightenment, esoteric experiences, or mountaintop epiphanies, and more to do with a fervent embodiment of this time, this life, this space, this body.

The core is this: your life is sacred.

Boom. The end. Everything else is window dressing.

To expand on this a bit more: your life is sacred right now. You are already sacred. The fact you exist is itself a miracle. Your physical form is miraculous and your environment is a revelation and your home is a sanctuary, and everything you do to take care of these things are magnificent rituals of world-shattering importance. Feeding yourself is holy work. Tending to chores and bills and the minutiae of everyday life is a sacrament. The relationships you have with yourself, your family, your home, your ancestor, your gods, are beautiful and deserve to be held with as much reverence as those of god-touched mystics wandering the world, speaking in tongues or divining the future.

You can, of course, practice devotional hearthcraft and be a wandering mystic. You can do whatever else you want and still walk this path. No one’s going to stop you. I’m not your dad. But the point is, you don’t have to – because “normal” life, “mundane” reality, is itself the big ticket item.

In this moment I am listening to my loud upstairs neighbors as I eat leftover pizza after a late night giving homework help to middle schoolers and shooing away toddlers intent on redecorating the wall with magic markers. I’ve spent much of the last week taking on the brunt of chores while my spouse recovers from an autoimmune flare-up. I spent three hours in the kitchen yesterday, which I was able to do because I had to call out of work to deal with leaks in our ceiling. I am telling you now – and reminding myself as well – that these things are not done before, around, or in spite of a greater spiritual calling. They are that calling. They are the details of living life and they are holy and sacred and good. Frustration at chores, chronic pain, Top Chef marathons, and cuddling with my spouse are all just as important aspects of Brighid’s Work in the world as tending my altar or observing festivals or praying. The word religion, as I was taught in my Religious Studies BA, is from Latin roots meaning to tie back, to make separate from the mundane world. This might be folk etymology; I took Ancient Greek in undergrad, not Latin. (χαιρέτε βάρβαροι!) But the concept is solid enough to say that devotional hearthcraft is meant to shatter the dichotomy of the sacred and the profane.

Your life is sacred. Your Beloveds, Whoever They are, care deeply about every part of your life. There is nothing not holy enough, not important enough, not good enough, to acknowledge and honor as part of your religious path. It’s all important, even the small stuff. Especially the small stuff.