The Cubicle Goddess – Paganism in the Workplace

One of the most difficult things for the modern pagan to accomplish is how to incorporate their spirituality into their work lives.

Let’s face it, while the popularity of paganism has increased, it is still a marginalized belief system today. We’ve come a long way, but certainly do not enjoy the freedom of displaying our religion as other mainstream beliefs do. Most people’s only experience with Paganism is limited to what they’ve seen in the movies and on TV. These people may not understand what we do, and might respond with fear, prejudice and sometimes even hostility to open displays of our theology. We might even work at a place where religious displays are not permitted. For those reasons and more, it’s not always appropriate to advertise or be open about our religious proclivities.

Spirituality is a very sacred and private thing. You don’t need to display a trashcan lid sized pentagram on your wall to bring the Gods into your office space or cubicle. Personally, I’d refrain from including anything overtly pagan, such as pentagrams and other obvious symbolism that might attract negative attention to you. You will find that little things can transform a very mundane space into an extension of your Sacred Self. It’s all about incorporating sacred items into our environment in a subtle and loving manner.

If you’re interested in bringing the Gods into your office space, here are some ideas which might help you integrate your pagan life into your work life with a minimum of disruption to all involved.

Create a God/Goddess basket on your desk. Find a small basket and line it with a silk cloth. Fill it with crystals, trinkets, herbs (legal, of course), and festoon it with ribbons and other items in colors that are associated with your Gods and Goddesses or the current season or Sabbat.

Color your work world. Decorate your workspace with colors appropriate to the day, Sabbat or season. For example, each day of the week has a color associated with it. Change your computer’s desktop wallpaper (if you’re allowed to do so), or wear certain colors to work on the appropriate day. You can use this also if you’re working on a spell and want to give it a bit more oomph away from home. Create colored cards – index cards work well for this – and display them next to your monitor as a subliminal input to your mind during the day. Here’s a quick list of days of the week and their correspondences. Note that this is just one perspective; research to find more on the Internet and in books. Be creative and find the correspondences most appropriate for you.

Sunday – Gold, Yellow

Monday – White, Silver, Light Blue

Tuesday – Red, Black, Orange

Wednesday – Purple, Orange

Thursday – Purple, Green

Friday – Pink, Aqua

Saturday – Black, Purple

The Gods in the Machine. Passwords are difficult to come up with, especially if you’re required to change them at specific intervals. Why not make them pagan passwords? Try this on for size: Choose your favorite pagan chant or saying and make the password based on the first letter of each word. Add a sacred number and character. For example, if you like the saying, “So Mote It Be” and your sacred number is 472 you can make your password Smib472* (asterisk representing the star). You can choose the ( or ) characters for the crescent moon, or the )O( characters for the goddess. Again, use your imagination and practice, but you can make a pretty fail-proof password this way!

The Secret of your Scent-cess. Most places will not allow you to burn incense or candles at your desk, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have sacred scents near you at work. Make a small potpourri sachet of sacred herbs pertaining to the time of year, your Gods, the current Sabbat, or whatever makes you feel more spiritual. You can even dab the potpourri sachet with some essential oil for more of an olfactory punch. You can also create a sachet designed to bring harmony & peace to your workplace. Add crystals and other sacred additions to attract these qualities and hang it on the wall of your cubicle.

Mantras on the Monitor. Create a mantra or chant and write it on a post it note. Affix it to your monitor. Every time you look there, you’ll see the mantra, reinforcing the power and keeping the power moving.

Hiding in plain sight. Small figurines of deities are nice, or if you’re not comfortable with that, find an animal that is associated with that Deity. Only you need to know that Owl picture on the wall represents Athena, right? Some people might look askance if you had a statue of Ganesh on your desk, but if you have a small elephant figurine, they’ll just think you are into pachyderms. And don’t forget to offer some candy to him!

Bless your candy bowl. Speaking of candy, many people have a candy dish they keep on their desk. Use a little Florida water or blessed water to anoint the outside of your candy bowl and draw in kindness. Say something like “May all who partake of the contents of this bowl find love and joy”.

Crossing the threshold. Thresholds have always been a magickal part of any house or internal structure. This is where we get the custom regarding marriage and the bride being carried over the threshold. When you walk over the imaginary line into your workspace / cubicle, visualize it being bathed in white light as the Gods protect you during your workday. Just like you would do in your home, create a bubble of energy that allows only positive energy to be comfortable within your workspace. When you leave for the day, allow that threshold to keep any negativity you might have gathered up throughout your day and return it to Mother Earth so you don’t take that work stress home with you.

Marking the days and nights. Many of us have multiple calendars up on our walls. Daily calendars, project calendars, etc. Post a lunar calendar with them to remind you of the Moon’s travels across the sky. If anyone asks, just tell them you’re just into astronomy!

Little touches mean a lot. There are so many little things you can bring into your workspace – provided they are allowed by your company – which mean more than they let on. It’s common to find mouse pads, coffee cups, pens, calendars and other office supplies with fairies, dragons, elves, angels and similar images on them. These can make your workspace uniquely yours – and remind you that you are not just an office hack, but a spiritual being as well.

It doesn’t take much to bring the God and Goddess into your office space. With a little imagination and creativity, you can live your pagan life in the office as well, secure in your sacred secret!