How To Use The Mystic's Almanac
Introduction
The Mystic’s Almanac is a complete, comprehensive monastic liturgy, built on three foundations:
Best practices for attaining or realizing an experience of communion with the Divine, as established by mystical traditions the world over.
Best practices for optimal self-care, mental health and cognitive performance, as established by Western psychology.
The ancient practice of tithing. However, instead of giving 10% of one’s money, the Mystic’s Almanac recommends that you make an offering of 10% of your time to contemplative practice, or as close as you can.
It is generally accepted in contemplative thought that tithing one’s time - 2.4 hours per day of contemplative practice - will lead one to to the conditions necessary for liberation within a decade. For those of us living in the contemporary world, without the support of a monastic institution or a faith community, 2.4 hours is an extraordinarily large, difficult commitment. It is neither feasible nor desirable to ask a brand new practitioner to start here - a commitment of this intensity is out of reach even for most householders.
That’s okay. Let this ideal be a star to navigate by, and trust that your best is enough.
No one knows you like you - you know your schedule, and you know the best way for you to practice. The purpose of this almanac is not to serve as a rigid framework, but as a structure that you can piecemeal, customize and adapt to the organic circumstances of your life. Practice sessions may be moved, lifted in part or in whole, or ruthlessly excised. Retreats and holidays are negotiable, and liturgical seasons can be uprooted and transplanted at will. It does not matter when you show up - it only matters that you show up, offering your best, in whatever way you can.
A simple prayer, offered by the great Julia Cameron: “Dear God, if you take care of the quality, I’ll take care of the quantity.”
Tabular Data
The table at the beginning of each day’s missive provides a framework for your daily practice. Here is what each of the terms mean, and a little about why I’ve included them:
Practice Periods
Brahma Muhurta
The “divine time”, in yogic tradition, occurs one hour and 36 minutes before sunrise, and lasts for 48 minutes. Traditionally, yogis have believed that one’s prana, or life force, is strongest at this time, and that experiences of spiritual awakening are most likely to occur at this hour. This is also a favorite practice period of Buddhist meditators, and sometimes referred to as “the time of day when your thoughts are still your own.” The Mystic’s Almanac recommends waking during the Brahma Muhurta and beginning one’s day with a short practice, so that one’s first thoughts are turned toward the Divine.
Lauds
Observed at sunrise, Lauds is the morning period of prayer and praise, intended to sanctify the day and praise the Divine. Lauds is one of the two most important times in the Liturgy of the Hours - called a “hinge period” for its centrality to monastic schedules. Different institutions may place Lauds at different times, but the Mystic’s Almanac observes it at sunrise. The ideal period of practice at this time is 45 minutes to 1 hour, but it’s okay to do what you can. Consistency is more important than long, determined sits.
The Little Hours
This refers to short practice periods undertaken throughout the day. In this almanac, the Little Hours are organized according to offices, sets of practices/prayers that change weekly with the phase of the moon. The three periods - Midmorning, Midday and Midafternoon - are not intended to be long or rigorous, but to help keep contemplative practice at the forefront of one’s mind. The Little Hours are moveable and can be undertaken on shift breaks, in quiet periods between meetings, or in a few blessed moments when the children are otherwise distracted. The ideal period of practice at this time is 10-15 minutes, but can be as short as 1-2 minutes.
Vespers
In Latin, vesper means evening star. This is the second hinge period of the day for prolonged practice, traditionally undertaken in the “blue hour”, the twilight period between sundown and the lighting of street lamps. The Mystic’s Almanac observes Vespers at sunset.
Compline
A short practice period undertaken immediately before going to bed, so that one’s final thoughts of the day are turned toward the Divine.
Astronomical Data
Please note: The default data for the Mystic’s Almanac is set for Portland, Oregon, USA, and is accurate up to about 50 miles, or 80 kilometers, away. The exact times of astronomical events will be different according to your location - there are many websites that quickly provide this data, such as Oorth, which you can use to structure your practice.
Sunrise
Aside from being one of the most beautiful times of day, and a lovely hour to commune with the Divine, there are also many well-established health benefits to being outside during the morning golden hour. The quality of photons at this time of day helps the body establish its circadian rhythm, which may be as important for cognitive function and mood regulation as getting a full night’s sleep. Window glass will filter and bend most of the beneficial light, so it’s important to actually go outside. It’s okay if it’s cloudy and you can’t see the sun - the light is still doing its work.
Moonrise
In some contemplative traditions, the moonrise is a sacred daily event, so I include it here.
Sunset
As with sunrise and the morning golden hour, it’s both beautiful and good for your circadian rhythm to go outside and watch the sunset. One caveat: If you have not watched the sunrise for the day and you spend enough time outside during the evening golden hour, you may fool your body into changing its circadian rhythm, which will make it more difficult for you to fall asleep.
Practice Recommendations
Each day’s missive contains unique practice recommendations, written for practices selected from the Encyclopedia of Contemplative Practice. It is perfectly fine to integrate outside practices into the framework of the Mystic’s Almanac - simply select the category that seems best suited to your selected practice and follow the schedule as written.
For those practitioners exploring the encyclopedia for the first time, I recommend that you try each practice in each category at least three times. That enables you to decide for yourself whether a particular practice is resonant and useful. When you have thoroughly explored them all, I recommend settling on one practice from each category and sticking primarily to that. This should yield a regimen of about ten complementary practices, some contemplative and some ritual, to be performed throughout the month.
Other Elements
Invitatory
This is a short poem, passage or reflection offered in a spirit of invitation to practice, with the intention of inspiring your best efforts.
Intention Setting
Before beginning meditation, set a simple intention for what you would like to work on in practice. If you are not sure what to work on, and your tradition is amenable to it, you can set the intention to identify some aspect of the practice to focus on in a future session. These can be measurable variables such as duration or count, physical variables such as posture or learning a new sitting position, among many others. Most of these aspects will be unique to your practice, and discovering, categorizing and experimenting with them is an important part of your unique process.
Reflection in Stillness
Many contemplatives find it helpful to make brief notes about their experience following meditation practice. If you decide to keep a meditation journal, this is a good time to write in it.
Vow
This is a small daily vow, made before you leave your seat, to carry the presence and peace of contemplative practice into your day
Offices
In The Mystic’s Liturgy, offices are programs of short and special practices that cycle by lunar week. You can read more about offices here.
Gratitude
This is a short poem or prayer of gratitude, said to close out one’s practice at the end of Vespers.
Compline
A short bedtime ritual.