Navaratri - another adventure in yoga-land

I learned recently that there is a prayer that you are suppose to say before you do a puja.  A puja is a form of ceremonial worship of which there are many.  The prayer is basically giving the Divine a heads up that you have no idea what the heck you're doing but that your intentions are good.   I need to learn this prayer because I am about to embark on another adventure to Yoga-land.

Thank God for facebook or I would have missed this opportunity to celebrate Navaratri.  This is the "Nine days of Devi worship".   Honouring the Divine Mother in all her various forms.  I used to roll my eyes when I heard about these rituals honoring the feminine.  I wonder why?  But yesterday when I read Shambhavi's facebook post about the upcoming Navaratri I knew I needed to do my own worship of the Divine Mother.  I wonder why? 

I don't know anything about it really so I don't have much to share at this point.  The nine days begins on September 28th which is also the full moon.  That gives me 3 days to figure out what the heck I'm suppose to do.  As with any ritual, there are specific things you're suppose to do but I'm not sure yet what exactly they are.  I'm hoping that my heartfelt prayer for forgiveness if I screw it up is sufficient.

This morning I opened a book to some random page and read that when Vishuddha chakra (the throat chakra) is open we trust our own inner voice.  We follow our own inner guidance.   That's what I'm going to do.  Even if I don't know all the rules, I trust that Divine Mother will guide me as I go along.

The mission for today? 

*  Figure out what I can use as a ghee lamp. 
*  Probably need to make more ghee - 9 days is a long time.
*  Buy a clay pot and barley seeds??  (where the heck do you buy barley seeds?)
*  Read about the 9 forms of Durga
*  Learn the mantras - well, at least read them
*  Google:  prayer before puja
*  Stop obsessing!!!

Anyone want to join me on this adventure??