Friday Practice

Friday | Frigga’s Day | Freya’s Day | Day of the Goddess

Friday is the day of Frigga, the Norse Goddess of Love and Transformation.  Friday corresponds to the planet and Roman goddess Venus, and it holds the loving, nurturing and intuitive energy of the Divine Feminine.  Fridays are ideal for spiritual practice with the goddess, whether she manifests as Freya, Yemaya, Ishtar, Erzulie or any other incarnation of Feminine Divine.  

My Friday practice today began with 9 am Kundalini yoga at LIV Kundalini.  Today’s class focused on the Sacral Chakra, the energetic home of sexuality, pleasure and creativity.  We honored the yoni, the sacred space of feminine divinity, and released the shame and self-consciousness that society places upon that area of the body.

My Friday practice continues with my work as a sex educator, assisting folks in finding the toys and tools best for them as individuals, and providing them with information to be their happiest and healthiest sexual selves.  Throughout the day I am also developing a Sacral Chakra Dark Moon ritual and The Lovers tarot workshop, both of which I’ll be facilitating next month.

My evening practice will involve The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and my weekly offering ritual of Irish whiskey and a rose to The Morrígan.  I will end the evening by continuing my reading of Women Who Run With the Wolves, a fundamental feminist text on the Wild Woman archetype.

Every individual’s practice is different, and what I’ve written represents a highly productive day for me.  Whether your personal practice involves a full day devoted to the goddess or a moment in prayer, dedication and appreciation to her, it is equally valid and valuable.  Taking time to acknowledge the Divine Feminine, especially on the day dedicated to her, amplifies her energy and presence in our lives.

I’ll end with the Orphic Hymn to Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love and beauty, and equivalent of the Roman goddess Venus.  If you’re looking for a simple yet profound way to honor a deity and find yourself drawn to the Greco-Roman pantheon, the collection of devotional Orphic Hymns are a beautiful resource.  

Orphic Hymn to Aphrodite

Heav’nly, illustrious, laughter-loving queen, sea-born, night-loving, of an awful mien;

Crafty, from whom necessity first came, producing, nightly, all-connecting dame:

‘Tis thine the world with harmony to join, for all things spring from thee, O pow’r divine.

The triple Fates are rul’d by thy decree, and all productions yield alike to thee:

Whate’er the heav’ns, encircling all contain, earth fruit-producing, and the stormy main,

Thy sway confesses, and obeys thy nod, awful attendant of the brumal God:

Goddess of marriage, charming to the sight, mother of Loves, whom banquetings delight;

Source of persuasion, secret, fav’ring queen, illustrious born, apparent and unseen:

Spousal, lupercal, and to men inclin’d, prolific, most-desir’d, life-giving., kind:

Great sceptre-bearer of the Gods, ’tis thine, mortals in necessary bands to join;

And ev’ry tribe of savage monsters dire in magic chains to bind, thro’ mad desire.

Come, Cyprus-born, and to my pray’r incline, whether exalted in the heav’ns you shine,

Or pleas’d in Syria’s temple to preside, or o’er th’ Egyptian plains thy car to guide,

Fashion’d of gold; and near its sacred flood, fertile and fam’d to fix thy blest abode;

Or if rejoicing in the azure shores, near where the sea with foaming billows roars,

The circling choirs of mortals, thy delight, or beauteous nymphs, with eyes cerulean bright,

Pleas’d by the dusty banks renown’d of old, to drive thy rapid, two-yok’d car of gold;

Or if in Cyprus with thy mother fair, where married females praise thee ev’ry year,

And beauteous virgins in the chorus join, Adonis pure to sing and thee divine;

Come, all-attractive to my pray’r inclin’d, for thee, I call, with holy, reverent mind.