Nyx in the House of Night

spiritual beings, and assurances of immortality.”
    In Catholic and Eastern Orthodox practices, incense is burned ritualistically during regular and special prayer services and Masses in something called a censer. A censer, which hangs from chains, is a vessel shaped like cup or a bowl. The censer is surrounded by twelve small bells (to symbolize Christ’s twelve apostles) and contains little carbon discs that are set on fire. Incense is placed on the carbon disks and the censer is then swung toward icons and worshippers with the purpose of helping prayers travel to Heaven.
    Incense burning is also used in household spirtual cleansing rituals. In my home growing up and even still today, my family has a tiny vessel (not a censer, more like a brass holder) that we use to burn incense. We regularly walk around the house with it and make the sign of the cross in front of doors and windows. This is a mode of cleansing intended to banish negative energy, much like the Wiccan and Cherokee use of a smudge stick. Grandma Redbird, I think, would approve.
    GIVING THANKS
    There is one other element I’d like to touch on here, one that is common across almost all religions: gratitude. For everything we receive from our deities, we must be thankful.
    When we ask and receive, there must be a show of appreciation: a mental and verbal acknowledgment of “thank you.”
    Zoey understands this intimately. Through the love of her friends and with the help of Nyx, Zoey, almost killed and left with a ragged scar from a Raven Mocker, is healed and becomes whole again. Afterwards:
I lifted my hand, letting my fingers run across my throat. Nothing. There was not a scratch there. I closed my eyes and sent a silent thank you for my friends’ prayer to Nyx. ( Untamed )
    Giving thanks is a big part of the vampyre religious tradition. We only have to look as far as the closing of the circle ritual in which Zoey thanks each element before releasing it back into nature. And Christians also believe in giving thanks in acknowledgement of divine gifts. Even things as simple as a meal are acknowledged at the dinner table. This is why we say grace.
    By thanking our god or goddess, we are performing the same ritual, whether we do so with prayer, with flowers, with sacrifice, with an oath, or with a promise of change. But above all, every one of us thanks our gods by acknowledging their existence in our hearts.
    APPLES AND ORANGES
    In the final scene of My Big Fat Greek Wedding —a film that’s all about finding common ground in disparate cultures—the father of the bride, Gus, makes a funny yet insightful comment during the wedding toast. He says the name Miller, his daughter’s new last name, comes from the Greek word for apple, milo . Portokalos, Gus’ last name, means orange. Finally resigned to the fact that his daughter will marry a non-Greek, he concludes that, despite their cultural differences, “In the end, we’re all fruits.”
    Despite worshipping different religions, we see that Zoey and her friends, Grandma Redbird, and the Benedictine nuns all pray for the same things: guidance, strength, and help. Does it matter, in the end, to which divine female—or even divine male—the prayer goes? Our wishes are born in our hearts and they travel out into the greater universe. Ultimately, our hope is that the universe will catch our need and turn our wish into reality. To help our wishes make their journey safely and give weight to our intentions, we might light a candle or blow one out. Maybe we’ll say a prayer, or build an altar. The wishes themselves remain the same.
    It’s up to each of us to remember that, and to remember that we all reflect a sacred light. Like the Goddess, we have a vast ability for compassion and empathy. We understand that we can be Tempted , or lead others astray. Sometimes we hurt others; other times we are Betrayed . But at the end of the road, with the right spiritual guidance, we can be Awakened . In worshipping our goddesses, we worship ourselves. And I now realize that every time P.C. addressed me as “Goddess Editor” it was her way of saying, as they do in the Hindu tradition, Namaste —The divine in me greets the divine in you.
CHRISTINE ZIKA is currently Editor-in-Chief at The Literary Guild and Rhapsody book clubs. She has been an editor for over twenty years and has worked with fiction and nonfiction authors at Avon Books, Dell Publishing, and Berkley Publishing.

{ Cruithne Mythos in the House