When I think of spirituality, the image that comes to my mind most is that of a craft. The crafts I most often think of when I put it to this metaphor would be something like preparing a tea or seasoning blend. This is because, to me, spirituality is best defined as practices we use to nourish and center the soul and what it needs. I’ve found that mine needs centeredness, peace, and purpose. So, I like to think of mine as a framework that is two things simultaneously. A foundation to build myself up in good times and also to support myself when sorrow and hardship are heavy on my heart. A foundation I hone by practicing it as a craft.
Right now, this craft is practiced more so by a glass of lemon water, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper in the morning, spices to awaken my body to spring mornings and my mind for the day ahead. Moments of meditation or simple observation of the seasons cycling outside my window. Mixing herbs, spices, and scents to match my desires and to speak to parts of myself and our world. A magic of sorts between nature, will, and universal mysteries of forces we can’t fully explain, and yet still believe in to keep me centered between what I can do and perhaps what higher powers might also be able to help bring about hopes and desires.
Though this is what works for me, I like to think some parts of my spirituality can speak to spirituality universally. We all live our own lives. They all have their own mysteries and answers. We all find with our own ways to journey through life. Some of it is gifted to us from the communities we find ourselves drawn to. To go back to my original simile, our own herbs and spices that give comfort and nourishment, our own scents that encourage hope or change, I firmly define spirituality as this individualized craft for each of us.
—Jade Riley