Gwynned Stone
As Witches, many of our spiritual paths assume that our lives revolve around a traditional work schedule. These paths are typically based on nature and cyclical occurrences, making it necessary for us to perform rituals and rites at particular times or on specific days. While we may make exceptions to our normal way of life for ritual, it becomes more difficult once our normal hours are reversed. Staying up late to perform a moon ritual is one thing, but staying up late for forty or more hours a week is a whole other issue altogether.
These days, more and more people are expected to perform their jobs beyond a nine-to-five schedule. Many of us work shifts at night that can prevent us from living a normative life and keep us from fulfilling our obligations and pursuing spiritual endeavors.
Not all right-hand-path practices require sunlight, but they are often associated with particular days and day-shift living. Covens and other groups often meet at times more conducive to daylight schedules, and even a solitary Witch can still be affected by these needs. Whether our spiritual path explicitly requires sunlight or moonlight, how do we keep our spiritual practice active while still managing our day-to-day life?
I have been on some form of night shift schedule for the majority of the past fourteen years. I’ve worked solstices, equinoxes, and holidays of all sorts, Pagan, secular, and otherwise. During that time, I have been employed full-time, obtained two degrees, and tried to maintain my relationships with my friends and family. Some days keeping all that together while still trying to get a reasonable amount of sleep has been difficult if not outright impossible. Add a spiritual practice to that, and it isn’t hard to guess which one is more likely to fall by the wayside.
When we have to choose between sleep, family, and spirituality, it is often sleep that loses out, especially when our spiritual path feels like an obligation, either to ourselves or others.
So how can we incorporate our spirituality into our night shifts and even just our busy lives? Some of us, when faced with little sleep and mounting responsibilities, are forced to triage aspects of our lives in order to cope and survive from shift to shift. When we have to choose between sleep, family, and spirituality, it is often sleep that loses out, especially when our spiritual path feels like an obligation, either to ourselves or others. Sometimes we can snatch only an hour or two before we’re up and helping with the kids or spending time with our families.
No one wants to tell their children or spouse that they need to perform ritual rather than attend to them, and most people are likely to put their needs last when confronted with what they need to get done. Self-care, especially when dealing with hours that don’t match our circadian rhythms, is also often neglected. We seem to forget that our physical needs often inform our ability to attend to our spiritual needs.
Even for those of us who don’t have spouses or children, the night shift can be draining, and even alienating to a degree. When everyone else is out working, we’re sleeping, or at least trying to. Rousing ourselves to work again can be isolating, especially if the only people we typically see are our coworkers (who statistically are not Pagan).
For many of us on the night shift, the most we can do is buy some blackout curtains and hope our families let us get some sleep before we have to get up and do it all over again. Then we stumble from our beds in the afternoon, try to find some way to keep up with our loved ones, and then go back to the job that allows us to care for our families.
Methods of Coping with the Night Shift
So, with all of this under consideration, what can we do to keep our spiritual practice going and not let it fall by the wayside? Although I can only speak to my experience with my own spiritual practice, some of these methods of coping with the night shift may be useful in managing your own.
When your spiritual path asks that a rite be performed at a particular time of day, consider whether the rite could be modified so you could perform it at a time that allows you to manage your responsibilities and needs. For example, if you have a summer or winter solstice ritual that needs to be performed at a certain time, you don’t necessarily have to resign yourself to missing out on it. Instead, perform the rite when you can work it into your life. This is especially important, as most Pagan holidays are not acknowledged as holidays by some employers, which can make it difficult to get time off, depending on your work situation.
Another way to look at rituals is to view their times as relative. Just as you would eat lunch at noon on the day shift and eat it at midnight on the night shift, look at where you can mirror appropriate times. Instead of looking at these times as fixed, consider where they can be reflected in your current schedule for your needs.
But what if a ritual requires you to perform a certain function at a specific time of day? For example, if a ritual is supposed to be performed at midnight on the winter solstice, but you happen to be working that day because of the holiday rush and can’t get it off, how do you still manage to observe the holiday while dealing with your work obligations?
In the past, I’ve tried to take my ritual to work with me and perform it on my break. However, I discovered an abundance of problems with this. Coworkers are an interference, obviously, but also the lack of ritual space kept it from being effective. Also complicating matters was the need to transport my sacred tools. I, for one, would not relish taking my athame or chalice to my place of employment. Even bringing my tarot deck is iffy, depending on my coworkers and my obligations for the night.
Another problem is that workplaces and work spaces are rarely tuned to the sort of energy that we need in order to perform ritual. Not only are they busy, frenetic places where one is expected to perform tasks unrelated to personal spiritual growth, but they often are not conducive to the quietude necessary for us to complete works.
Even when we leave work, much of the energy from it sticks with us and follows us home. When we have a bad day at work and we’re already exhausted from the night shift, ritual becomes even more difficult to perform. This is why self-care should be considered one of the most important aspects when we want to participate in ritual and preserve our spiritual path despite working non-conducive hours.
Asking our families for time to ourselves is often viewed as selfish, but sometimes we need time alone, not only to nourish our spiritual side but also to recharge and reenergize our relationships.
A better option than trying to force our spiritual practice to fit into our daily life is to carve out some space and time intended solely for ritual. Whether this means taking time off on sacred days or finding a time for ritual that works for us, it is important to remember that ritual is often used to serve our spiritual needs, rather than the other way around. In order to make that space, examine what works best in your life from a holistic sense rather than an individual sense. If the particular ritual that you used on the day shift doesn’t work with your night shift schedule, look for one that does. Find new ways to look at how you view the world and your place in it.
Ask your family and friends to help you with this. Asking our families for time to ourselves is often viewed as selfish, but sometimes we need time alone, not only to nourish our spiritual side but also to recharge and reenergize our relationships. Set aside a place and time for yourself and let your friends and family know when you would like them to let you have the solitude you need. Scheduling time alone is good not only for the spirit but also for the mind, allowing you the time to recover from stress and find your balance and peace of mind.
If you’re working ritual with friends or family, be sure to convey your needs to them as well. I have found that many people who don’t share their needs with their coven or family are often not understood when those needs become apparent. People often don’t realize the toll that working nights can take on someone, physically, mentally, and spiritually, and a frank conversation can often lessen the difficulties that can arise from this lack of understanding.
Finally, one way to look at the night shift is as a way to challenge ourselves, to branch out into new ventures and ways of looking at the divine. Our spiritual practice should be constantly evolving, growing as we do. If we have grown comfortable with it, perhaps the night shift, or some other change in lifestyle, will help us grow not only as Witches but also as people.
Gwynned Stone studies history, practices solitary Witchcraft, and works on her nonfiction projects while working the night shift. She is owned by her cat and lives in Colorado, where she adopts shiny spoons and dusty typewriters.
Illustrator: Tim Foley