In ancient Greece, when an athlete was chosen to represent his city at, say, the Olympic Games, he first went to the temple.
There the priest would perform certain rites of purification and consecration. Then he would tell him: Remember, your body now belongs to the god.
When you give something to a god, of course, you want it to be the very best that you can possibly give.
So it is with spiritual athletics. I spoke the other night with the personifying priest for the upcoming 2021 Midwest Grand Sabbat.
There's a regimen to giving your body to a god. (Never doubt that the god, of course, gives back in kind.) Diet, exercise: in all ways, mentally and physically, you have to hone, to pare, to mold yourself into the best you of which you are capable.
I've done it myself. It's grueling work, especially for us over-fed and under-exercised denizens of the so-called 21st century. It's hard to give yourself to the hunger, even when that hunger joins you to a god.
I do my best to be a good trainer, to correct and suggest and encourage. Reflecting, I realize that I also have one other thing to offer here.