Fasting

[morgane_snowy_owl]

Hello!

I would like to incorporate fasting as part of my preparation for important rituals such as the Sabbats. Nothing fancy, just a day or two to purify my body and have a really clear and alert mind for the celebration.

Does anyone here fast on a regular basis? How do you go into it? stay into it? Come out of it? Because let's face it, celebrating a Sabbat means a nice meal after the ritual, so I wouldn't want to "shock" my digestive system too much after fasting.

Thanks for your help,

Morgane

[skydove]

How about a fruit and water fast for a couple of days before hand, I find if I only have fruit for a couple of days it makes me more alert and I feel cleansed. I think a complete fast would be too draining unless you had plenty of time to rest whilst you were fasting.

[Golden Eagle]

Personally I feel that complete fasting is un-necessary and does more damage to your body than anything else. In my experience, it certainly doesn't bode well for being alert. I had a bad stomach virus during my finals and had to do my exams existing purely on squash and rehydration drinks for 2 days - really don't recommend it!

Smoothies are fantastic and got me through many days of wisdom teeth problems, and they seem to be cleansing and nutritious enough to survive on and function well for 24 hours. Again, any longer than that is just a bit silly in my opinion.

[seabhac star]

Hello Morgane,
I have fasted successfully for a couple of weeks, but for ritual or observance one day is really enough. The premise behind fasting is to bring the mind to focus on the spiritual, immaterial things. The body makes many demands on our spiritual focus, leading our thoughts etc toward things that are not always conducive to spiritual pursuits. Also a sight for the subtle energies arises as well as a hightened understanding and focus on the task at hand. During the fast, the sole focus of your attention should be your pursuit. Otherwise there really is no point in the fast. This reprieve from caring for the body's needs allows you to focus on the task at hand and also reveals the body's dependance on other things beside food. Fasting once in awhile allows us to focus on what is really important in life. There are other ways to fast beside fasting from food... Some are more dangerous some not so... for eg. fasting from T.V. or chocolate etc. For simple ritual or observance purposes WATER or JUICE should be had at regular intervals. During the fast you may experience light headedness which will come and go. This is normal BUT if you are ever unsure you can break the fast with yogurt or fruit. DO NO WORK THE DAY OF THE FAST...You should be focused on your pursuit and your body will appreciate it. Beginning the fast at say sundown and proceeding to sundown the following day, or begin at sunrise and break fast the next morning. I recommened the latter because it just seems more natural to me. WHEN BREAKING FAST you can break it with GRAINS FRUIT MILK or YOGURT. When you do break your fast your jaw may hurt from the 'unfamiliar' motion involved with eating. This is normal and should not be troublesome. Thereafter for lunch you can have more fruit grains etc. OR if you feel ready you probably can eat regular food. ( Its only been a one day fast) MOST IMPORTANTLY : BEFORE BEGINNING A FAST CONSULT A HEALTH CARE PROFFESSIONAL. I hope this helps.

[Argenta]

Hi, Morgane,
I have some history of fasting, so this is mainly from personal experience: it's best to take a slow start, e.g. first try to lose the meat and fat, then the beans and grains, then vegetables, and finally, if you want to, fruit. Eating a lot one day, then fasting the other can be a huge shock since your body did not have the time to get used to lack of food. When you get more experienced, you can go through this transition faster.

In any case, if you're planning on a feast afterwards, I would not recommend total fasts, as it will do more harm than good. That's why pious Hindus fast on their holidays, then have a very light "break-fast" (usually on fruit or milk) at the end of festivities, and prepare a huge feast for the next day.

Also, keep track of your physical health: you should not be too dizzy, have throat sore up to the point of hurting when you swallow, or develop a high temperature. I had to stop full fasts because of this last problem -- whenever I went without food, my body would just flare up, and it was really messing up with the point of fast.

I think seabhac star has said the rest very well.

Take care, and good luck.
Fasting can be really rewarding if done right. I hope you have great experiences and insights with it!

[morgane_snowy_owl]

Thank you for your wonderful posts!

Once again it shows there is no ONE right way to do things!

I have fasted before... I mean... I have forbidden myself to eat dessert for a month after doing a very important ritual with a very important request. Thanks for reminding me that not eating a certain food as an offering before a Sabbat can be a very good way to celebrate.

My two main goals are to do the Sabbat ritual with a detoxified body that's not wasting its energy digesting too much food. I don't want to do anything too harsh on my body, such as drinking obscure stuff that's supposed to get you rid of obscure stuff stuck in your GI tract... But a fruit, juice, or smoothie fast seems like a good way to start. I'll see how my body reacts and adjust consequently.

[scopulus]

hello

Nuinn was known to fast three days before a ritual. Fasting in that , was that he ony got himself a crate of apples and applejuice.
He did it out of healing arts from the apple.
I believe it was described in an old book I got from Montreal bookstore when I was back there visiting my family named Voices from the circle.

[morgane_snowy_owl]

no way, scopulus!!!

I'm half belgian from my mother, and half quebecker from my father! Est-ce que tu parles français ou flamand?

How interesting that you found the book in Montreal, where I currently life! Do you think it was that book? http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Circle-Heritage-Western-Paganism/dp/0850307856/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281712390&sr=1-1 Your post suggests you no longer have it... but if by any chance you have info about the healing arts of apples, I'm really interested... especially that our next Sabbat will be big on apples... and right in season too! Obviously!

...a fast on lobo and McIntosh apples....

[scopulus]

Hello morgane,

Je sais parler francais et flamand. Mais je suis flamands
I had an uncle who had hungarian church in montreal , a priest of the jezuiets, and I was there for 3 weeks before he retired back in 2006. 3 months later I started the OBOD course! (he is 85 now) There was a huge road that went down to old/vieux montreal where they had a second hand bookshop store, and indeed there I found that book! You got the right one!

I did fasting like that for a year, and i got to agree, it works very good! I believe I paid 7Canadian dollars for it!. That was like 4 € or so.

There I also met a guy from the freemasonry who talked about me for he noticed my eye of perception about joining their ranks. I no longer stay in touch with the freemasons as I never joined them not in my country, not in Canada



Try those fastings out. Don't talk about it to anyone, just do so. Feel energy. Feel how your senses will change, feel how everything around you will be different in some sort of way

Don't do longer then three days. In the end I ate one apple a day but my body suffered from it too much (too big iron and B12 vitamine shortage, I didn't realised my intrinsic factor in my stomach juices were that needy for those!) So I gave up on those for one year now. Probably starting in 2011 again with those, but shall depends on the blood results from my body.

Best of wishes on your journey and watch out for those pesky I run a show people. Remember: dogma starts when their is a leader of some sort in an organisation...