Hildegard von Bingen

Hildegarde von Bingen (1)

A review of Vision - From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen.

"The last night of the first millennium..." So begins this documentary/movie on the life of the 12th Century saint. A dingy, tiny church is shown, crowded with German believers. They grovel, cry, cling together as a priest tells them it is their last night on earth. Come morning, the sun rose, and no one knew what to make of it. Life went on, but from that frightening night came the little girl who would grow to be Hildegarde von Bingen, one of the most revered female saints in Christendom.

The film is in German with English subtitles, but is well worth the watch. The history is shown colorfully, in a way that will engage the viewer intimately. The details of Hildegarde's childhood are covered briefly, skipping to her life beginning at age 30. (For a full history of Saint Hildegarde, please refer to Sabina Flanagan's excellent work.)

So much is covered in exquisite detail that it's difficult to explain. Her visions are never depicted as showy but as bright lights that conveyed knowledge in a way only she understood. At the urging of her inner visions, she applies herself to learning healing through the use of herbs, music, prayer, and crystals. She eventually becomes the new Mother of the convent, and passes on to her own charges that healing can only come when one is in balance with both nature and God.

Liber Scivias (2)

For the first 40 years of her life, she hid her visions from all but two people. It was her belief that during one of her visions, she was specifically commanded to write down what she was learning, that others might benefit from it as well. That was the beginning of her first book.

Much of the movie centers around her extreme love for her young protégé Richardis. It sometimes appears that this love is more intense than might be proper in a convent, but as the story develops we learn just how important Richardis and her support are for Hildegarde. When Richardis is later removed from Hildegarde's convent to become Abbess elsewhere, the young girl pines away and eventually dies, something Hildegarde predicted.

The movie ends frustratingly when Hildegarde is taken by another illness and almost dies. She is sent back by angels, her job not yet finished. When asked why she was sent back, she explains that she has more to do, and that she will be travelling around to preach. Unheard of at the time, this shocks many people.

If you are new to studying Hildegarde von Bingen, this is a fascinating and well developed documentary/historical fiction that presents the important features of her life. You'll gain enough information to begin a further, more in depth study of her life, visions, music and religious beliefs. I give this movie four stars!

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
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Terrorism
Why have/be a minister?
Spring has sprung!
Kumaré
How to teach your sons about consent

1) Image from IMDB.com
2) Image from  Wikimedia Commons (PD-OLD)

Terrorism

New York City Fire Chief addresses firefighters, 9/11 (1)

Terrorism is not something I ever expected to have to deal with at home. I grew up in a world where we played outside until the street lights came on, and the only caveat was that we had to be close enough to hear when the parents started calling for us. We tumbled out the door at dawn and came back in time for lunch, then we were out again until supper. Our parents never knew our whereabouts, and we were happy with it that way.

I wish we could give that same freedom to our children, but we can't. Children left outside for hours at a time like that often go missing. The world we live in today is not child friendly. It is not a good world.

Boston bombings 2013 (2)

Two days ago, a British soldier was walking on a London street and was beheaded by two radical Islamic men. Only a few weeks ago, hundreds of people were injured and killed during the bombing of the finish line of the Boston Marathon, something also linked to radical Islamic beliefs. These two geographically disparate events don't seem to be much connected, except by the radicals who performed them, and even there, the men weren't connected in any known way. They were "lone wolves" who worked on their own with only a bit of urging from terrorists in the Middle East.

Terrorism has always been something that "happened over there." You just don't see bombings and shootings in the streets of North America. Except that now you do. We have mass shootings in our schools, radical Christians spouting hatred on the internet, and riots across the continent.

At one time, I would have donned my priestess robes, picked up a flower, and declared, "Give peace a chance." That flower child is long gone, my friends. I still believe that we can largely live in peace on this rather small globe, even with all our differences. It isn't going to be easy, though, and it's going to mean doing some pretty drastic things, things that the general public is not going to like.

Women in burkas, 2003 (3)

The current concern about Muslim terrorists and extremists is that they hide in plain sight. Just as you can't look at a Christian and tell if she's Lutheran, Unitarian, Catholic or UCC, you can't tell by looking whether a Muslim is an extremist or not. Most Muslim men wear head coverings, and have a beard, regardless of their type of belief. Muslim women dress very modestly, often covering their hair and sometimes other parts of their bodies, and this is true of extremists and moderates. So how do we know who to be afraid of?

The problem is that we don't know. There is no easy way to point and say, "That's the bad guy." The knee jerk reaction lately has been to label all Muslims as suspect, and to avoid them and persecute them. I don't see that as an acceptable answer, especially in this country. America is the great melting pot, and if we begin to persecute people because of their religious beliefs, then we become like the beast we're trying to conquer. We cannot in good faith descend into that pit.

Osama bin Laden, 2011 (4)

On the other side of that, we can't just stand around twiddling our thumbs and saying it's an isolated incident. That's simply no longer true. There are radical Muslims in this country and others, and they are hell bent on destroying western culture and life.

It's my opinion that we need to treat these radicals (and by that, I mean ALL radicals, be they from Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or other background) as the criminals they are. We don't have laws prohibiting the practice of Islam, nor should we. But we certainly have laws prohibiting murder, rape, torture, and terrorism. Let's exercise these laws to the fullest extent. The problem is not the religion itself, but the thought patterns amongst the radicalized men and women in their various religions.

What we need to avoid is the "us or them" thought pattern. That is inherently what leads to radicalism. We need to internalize that there is no "all Muslims" anymore than there is "all Christians" or "all Democrats" or "all women." These defined and labelled groups do not exist. Those Muslims, Christians, Democrats, women, and others who choose to flout the laws of this land or who espouse a viewpoint that is damaging on a cellular level to the American way of life, should be carefully monitored.

Is it profiling? It may be. Profiling was created for a reason, and it isn't a bad thing on its own. Profiles let us know what sort of people to look for based upon the crimes committed. It's useful. The good profile becomes useless, though, when it is ignored or distorted. New methods of profiling should be examined and tried.

Five years ago, extremist Muslim behavior brought almost no sound out of the greater Muslim community in North America. All you could hear were crickets. Today, though, that is changing. Throughout the world, Muslim leaders outside of the Middle East are standing up and speaking vehemently against the violence of their extremist brethren. This is such a huge step forward. It can't be praised enough.

When Westboro Baptist pickets a soldier's funeral because of some perceived fault, thousands of counter-protesters arrive to block WB's ability to cause a ruckus. Other Christians readily denounce them as radicals, extremists, and as people with very little understanding of their holy book. When Muslims can do the same, the world will be a little better, a little safer place to live.

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
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Why have/be a minister?
Spring has sprung!
Kumaré
How to teach your sons about consent
Twelve Steps to Freedom

1) Image by Andrea Booher, FEMA photo library (Wikimedia Commons)
2) Image by Aaron Tang (Wikimedia Commons)
3) Image by Nitin Madhav, USAID (Wikimedia Commons)
4) Image by U. S. Federal Government (Wikimedia Commons)

The Hekatean Prayer and Ritual Book: Call for Submissions | The Crossroads Companion

The Hekatean Prayer and Ritual Book: Call for Submissions | The Crossroads Companion

For those who follow the call of Hecate, this may be of interest to you. I am thinking of submitting one of my prayer calls to this endeavor. :)

Why have (or be) a minister? Glad you asked!

morgueFree images

The history of spirituality and religion is a rocky one, fraught with half-truths and misleading information. While we can grasp the big picture about religion's history, it's almost impossible to get a good, solid grasp on where it started or why.

One thing we do know is that, at one time, people connected with the gods on their own. They would call on whatever tribal or local god or goddess they needed, or the spirit of the element they were concerned with, and they would interact with that being themselves. At some point, though, leaders came along who began telling other people what the gods wanted. And things changed...

Fast forward to modern times, and there's a minister, priest, rabbi or pastor on every corner. Some are self-supporting, and others are not. They all follow different rules in regards to food, clothing, shelter, sexual conduct, and worship. What ties us all together is the fact that, on some level, every single spiritual leader acts as an intermediary between a person and the Divine.

Ordination

This is not to say that people can't interact with the All on their own. I'm a firm proponent of the idea that most of a person's interactions with the All should be on their own. Still, there are some times when having a guide, someone to hold your hand as you experience life's twists and turns, is both comforting and necessary.

Funerals are one of the best examples I can think of when having that intermediary is important. When you are experiencing the grief associated with the loss of a friend or family member, it's difficult to be doing all the necessary paperwork, comforting others, and writing a eulogy all at the same time as crying into your pillow at night. This can be doubly complicated if feelings for or about the deceased are less than friendly, as it can evoke guilt and anger, both which can seem inappropriate during funeral rites. A minister (or other spiritual leader) can gently guide you in your decisions and help you navigate the family and paperwork involved.

Those ministers who feel that they are some kind of gateway to God tend to really bother me. It often feels as if they think they're as important as God, or maybe MORE important! It seems to me that they're more interested in controlling than in helping and comforting. After all, if you've learned that the only way to God is through a single person, that person holds power over you. They hold the power to separate you from your Higher Power.

Cathedral of the Pines

So why have a minister at all? Why not just be a free-lance person being spiritual? Well, that is always an option. Some people do just fine that way. Humans, though, are a social group. We like to associate with others. If you have a group of people who are all priests, trying to lead at the same time, you end up with chaos and no one gets to commune with Goddess.

On the other hand, if you can choose one person to lead, things can improve. Leadership need not be by someone who graduated from seminary or divinity school. It does help to have some training, though, especially if the group is larger than a handful. There's a lot of work to organizing a large group of disparate people into a cohesive unit.

In ancient Rome and Greece, many people took a turn being the priest in the temple. It was considered a public service, something done to show piety, honor to the gods, and good will to the community as a whole. In more recent times, spiritual leadership has taken a more permanent role, with people taking training either one-on-one (as in Wicca and some shamanistic systems) or in groups (such as Harvard Divinity or Andover-Newton).

Worshiping alone

Even people who do the majority of their worship alone, tend to enjoy getting together with like-minded individuals to share major holy days or to grieve in groups. It's a natural human rhythm to seek out others during times of extreme joy or pain. It is not unusual for people to work together for certain celebrations.

No matter how you look at it, though, the spiritual leader is really only a guide. His or her job is simply to walk beside you as you travel the path you've chosen. There will be times when a solitary journey suits you better, and times when you clasp the proffered hand with relief. Needing or wanting that spiritual leader to be nearby is not a bad thing, so long as you don't lose your own connection to the Divine.

Looked at another way, if you had a physical emergency you would not want to be performing surgery on yourself. Spiritual emergencies can be just as life threatening, and having a qualified professional present can make all the difference in the world.

Do you have a spiritual authority or leader in your life who helps you out when times are rough? Are you a spiritual leader for others?

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
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Spring has sprung!
Kumaré
How to teach your sons about consent
Twelve Steps to Freedom
Being the better person

Spring has sprung!

Zen Garden at Cathedral of the Pines

The world is a busy place right now, but it's wonderful, too. We're spring cleaning, doing laundry galore as we pull out the spring and summer clothes, and getting the garden ready for new life. I'm all a dither as I run from one chore to another, and sometimes it feels like I get nothing done at all. Heck, sometimes I really don't get anything done at all!

Chives in my herb garden

For me, this is the time when my spiritual life switches from the solitude and silence of winter to the hustle and bustle of summer. Summer meditations are all about movement and sunlight. While winter prayers are inside, summer ones are outside with the wind in my hair and a sunburn blossoming on my shoulders.

In conjunction with the theme of movement and new growth, I've decided to put together a monthly (online) newsletter. If you're interested, you can sign up on my website. It won't be huge, but it'll include some unique articles, links to relevant articles, and photographs. It'll also include any dates I have planned at Cathedral of the Pines or elsewhere, so if local people want to meet up with me, they'll know how to do so.

Kale, reaching for the sun

So... if you want to hear about spring prayer and volunteering as sacrifice, sign up today! The newsletter will go out around the first Friday of each month.

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
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Kumaré
How to teach your sons about consent
Twelve Steps to Freedom
Being the better person
Taking offense

Kumaré

The other night, I went up to bed a little early and decided to watch a documentary on my tablet. I zipped through the offerings on Netflix and discovered one called Kumaré. The IMDB describes it thus:

"A documentary about a man who impersonates a wise Indian Guru and builds a following in Arizona. At the height of his popularity, the Guru Kumaré must reveal his true identity to his disciples and unveil his greatest teaching of all."

It sounded intriguing and not too pressing. I thought it would be amusing if nothing else. I had been looking for an easy watch, something that I could relax and just soak up. This was not that movie, but I don't regret a single moment of watching it. Indeed, I ended up staying awake almost an hour later than I should have, to watch the end of it.

Our story's "guru" grew up in a Hindu household, attended many rituals, studied religion in university, and discovered that he might just be an atheist.  He did a lot of background research, visiting religious and spiritual leaders around the world. He then set himself up with a couple of pretty young ladies to become Kumaré.

They start with a detailed background of coming from a small village in India, and move on to getting him teaching time at a variety of local ashrams and yoga studios. He speaks in a fake Indian accent (though it's well done), punctuated with foreign words. Honestly, at the very beginning he does look rather fake to me.

Still, what he's teaching isn't wrong. He teaches that religious and spiritual leaders are all fakes, himself especially. He's not trying to dis ministers and priests and such, but more to point out that they're just guides and the impetus and spirituality comes from within. He continues his teachings, getting deeper and deeper with his students.

There's a point at which he's a well accepted teacher, and his core students begin to seek him out for counselling. He does what all good counselors do - he says things like, "Hm... and what do you think of that?" He answers questions with questions. He challenges the students to find their own answers. And they thank him for his deep wisdom and feel that they've gotten something incredibly potent.

The documentary is fascinating, both in its coverage of the students and how they integrate themselves into the practices of Kumaré, and Kumaré himself and how he finds his own way thanks to his students. The ending was surprising, not in its function (he reveals himself to his students eventually) but in the response of the students to that revelation.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who has an interest in religious or spiritual leaders or teachings. It's incredibly well put together, and is very touching. Kumaré holds nothing back at the end, and talks a lot about how his "expose" film turned into a spiritual journey for himself.

     Five stars!

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
You may also be interested in:

How to teach your sons about consent
Twelve Steps to Freedom
Being the better person
Taking offense
Ash Wednesday invitation

How to Teach Your Sons About Consent* | The Polyamorous Misanthrope

How to Teach Your Sons About Consent* | The Polyamorous Misanthrope

This is truly beautiful. Look her in the eye and ask if she grants consent. If she can't look you in the eye back and say a wholehearted yes, then she isn't consenting.

Note to the universe: this also applies in reverse, and there ARE males who aren't consenting. Having your body react favorably to provided stimuli is NOT CONSENT. That's simply a hormonal reaction, and quite a lot of the time you can't control it. The closer to your teen years, the less control you have over it.

The same is true, I have found, when you're approaching menopause. My hormones go nuts over stuff that would otherwise have me backing away with my eyes closed. I am not my hormones, though. I know what is appropriate and what is not. I expect our young people to know what is appropriate and what is not. It's not brain surgery.

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
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 Twelve Steps to Freedom
Being the better person
Taking offense
Ash Wednesday invitation
Short-cuts to thinking

Twelve Steps to Freedom

Alcohol addiction (1)

Many years ago, I went through a period where I thought I was alcoholic. I was dating someone who had been in AA and recovery for several years, and he was very careful not to pressure me or make me feel bad. After a particularly bad night of drinking, and a few rather embarrassing episodes later, I asked him if he thought I was an alcoholic. His response stayed with me: people who are healthy and don't have these problems don't stay up worrying about whether they're alcoholic or not.

I started going to meetings. I gave up drinking for eight years. I followed the 12 Steps, read the Big Book, got a sponsor, and did all the proper things. My life got better, but my problems weren't solved. The problem, for me, was not alcohol. The problem ran very deep, and alcohol was just one way I tried to self-medicate myself.

Narcotic addiction (2)

Though I stepped away from AA many years ago, I still value the life lessons I learned there. The methods of self-examination, of believing in something greater than yourself, these were wonderful tools that I think all people should use. I'm not powerless over alcohol, but I am powerless over something else, and that's okay. Realizing what I was actually powerless over gave me a huge measure of freedom. It allowed me to attend Seminary, to live a better life, and to find a freedom that I never thought was possible.

So what are these Twelve Steps that everyone talks about? I'm going to take out the parts about alcohol for the purpose of writing today in a more generic way. Feel free to add in whatever it is you're powerless over: your eating, your smoking, your parents... The object can be anything. I'm also going to make the more religious parts a bit less Christian and a bit more accessible. While AA is open to everyone, it does have a rather Judeo-Christian feel to it, and sometimes that puts people off. I don't want anyone to be put off because of the tool I'm sharing today. Please remember that it's the tool that's important, not the person who made it.

The Twelve Steps, adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over (something), and that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of Deity, as we personally understood Deity.

4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. We admitted to Deity, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. We were entirely ready to have Deity remove all these defects of character.

7. We humbly asked Deity to remove our shortcomings.

8. We made a list of all the persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. We continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

11. We sought through prayer and meditate to improve our conscious contact with Deity, as we understood Deity, praying only for knowledge of Deity's will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Heck of a list, isn't it? Some of it makes you recoil, especially if you're not Christian, Muslim or Jewish. Not all people see Deity as interacting with us, either for good or ill, and many don't see Deity as having the power or desire to remove shortcomings from people.  I still maintain that these Steps are a guideline for a better life.

Cigarettes and coffee (3)

Once, at a meeting, I heard someone make the comment that they didn't believe in any Higher Power. A grizzled older gentleman turned in his seat and said something to the effect that when you're face down in a toilet, pretty much everything in the world is a higher power than YOU are. Of course, we all laughed, but it did make me think. I knew atheists who had followed the AA program and done quite well. I know many pagans, as well, who have turned their life around through NA or AA or OA. There is something to this series of actions that goes beyond the religious and far off into the realm of spirituality.

The first Step often makes people stumble. It sure isn't comfortable admitting that you're powerless over something. The skeptic will say that all you're doing is giving up your will power to something or someone else, be it God or the group. That's not true, though, at least as I see and practice it. The first Step is the moment when you realize that you're out of control, and the very definition of "out of control" is to be powerless. By stating it, by speaking the words out loud, you take the first baby step toward regaining the power that has been stripped from you by whatever it is you're combating.

I'm powerless over my mother. For a very long time, I just saw her as abusive and horrid and nasty. Then I spent a long time pretending she didn't exist. Neither of these were practical methods for dealing with my own lack of power. When I finally realized just how powerless I was over her, I gained my own freedom. This is not to say she can't touch me anymore; she's my mother, and she'll always have the power to hurt me emotionally. I realize now, though, that the problems are hers, not mine, and that I need to deal with my own issues. I don't need to carry hers, nor do I need to impress her or attempt to "make" her love me.

Misuse of legal drugs (4)

The second and third Steps ware very organic for me. I turned to my Deity, to my spirituality, and asked for help. It was given, in small doses that I could accept. After years of practice, of trusting and working and believing, I am now understanding just how sane I can be when I depend on myself and on Deity as I understand her. In retrospect, I can look and see where my life was touched, molded, kept on tract despite my own blindness to where I needed to be. I see those moments as the hallmarks of Deity, keeping me on the path I need to be on.

When most people reach the fourth Step, they balk. What does it mean, "searching and fearless moral inventory"? I mean, let's be real. If I was able to search and be fearless, I probably wouldn't be working the Twelve Steps, right? WRONG! When Dr. Bob and Bill W. wrote the Steps, I don't believe they used "fearless" in the sense of being completely without fear. I think they meant "courageous" in that we need to be honest with ourselves, not shy away from uncomfortable truths, moving always forward even when it's scary.

Inventories are important, though. Why do you think stores do them? They need to see what is on the shelves, whether those items are good or bad, how much they need to replenish, and what they're good with. We can do the same with our own internal selves. I look at my morals and ethics, at my actions over the past year, and I ask myself where I did well and where I needed improvement. I write it all down, all the pros and cons. Yes, you have to write down the good things as well as the bad, or it isn't a true inventory of yourself! Sometimes, I find that part harder than picking out the negatives.

Having made that inventory, now we have to go and talk to our Manager, Deity in whatever form we see it, them, him or her. That's not enough, though, according to the Steps. The fifth Step tells us to not only tell Deity, but to tell ourselves, and another living, breathing person. Reading my inventory to myself, out loud, is one of the most disturbing things I have ever done. It's gotten easier over the years, but that first time is still very clear in my mind.

You can sometimes lie to yourself, and in doing so, lie to your Higher Power. Sometimes it's on purpose, and sometimes it's not, but it happens. That's where the other human comes in. In AA, you're encouraged to share your wrongs with your Sponsor or another alcoholic. I assume it's the same in NA and OA. Some people choose to talk to a priest or minister, knowing that it's private and confidential. In a way, though, after saying out loud to yourself, talking to someone else isn't so difficult. My first time I talked to my Sponsor, and he gave me quite a few skeptical looks which led me to revise my inventory just a bit. I hadn't outright lied, but I had skimmed over important things because they caused me so much discomfort. You can't leave metaphorical rotting food on your shelves, though. It must be thrown away, purged. That's what the other human being does. They give you a hand getting some of those really heavy rotten items down off the high shelves.

Steps six and seven are related, and there's a relief that happens after the fourth and fifth Steps that segues neatly into these. Now that you can see all those negatives (and the positives), you can stand there with an open heart and admit them, and ask that they be removed. This is not a magical spell, though, where defects are just excised from the body and mind. The work and responsibility is yours and yours alone. However, Deity helps, whether by stiffening your upper lip, holding your hand, or putting you into situations that allow you to do what needs to be done. Here, you are taking back a little of the power that you lost through your previous actions or inactions.

Gambling addiction (5)

The eighth and ninth steps are easy to misunderstand. It seems simple: make a list of all the people you managed to screw up, and go say sorry. It isn't that easy, though. There are subtleties to the making of amends. The list is probably easy enough to make, just by looking over the negatives in your moral inventory. You probably have a pretty good idea of who you've hurt over the years. Saying sorry is not enough, though. This is not about apologizing, but about making amends. If you stole money, it should be returned along with the admittance of guilt and the paying of whatever price comes along with that.

What happens, though, if the person you need to make amends to is dead? What if making amends will cause them physical or emotional harm? You must remember that making amends is NOT ABOUT YOU, but about the other person. If you find yourself trying to do it in order to feel better, you're doing it wrong. Feeling better about yourself is a side-effect of making amends, but it is not the point. In many cases, you'll feel worse for quite a while.

I owed money to someone who had passed on, and so I made a donation to their favorite cause in the amount plus interest. I did this along with the daughter of the person, because it helped her to understand some of what went on between me and her mother, and brought her closure. Had it been likely to cause her to suffer, I would have done it another way.

Another side of this is that you can't expect amends in return. You might get them, and that's great, but you cannot go into this Step wanting something back. I needed to make amends to my mother for some of the things that I did as a child and young woman. This wasn't about how she treated me, or what she said or did to me. It was about MY actions and MY words, and the things I had done to her that caused her harm. It ached, because I could so easily point to my actions and then to the thing she had done to spark my retaliation. But that shifts the blame. This wasn't about her negative actions; it was about mine. Due to the way our relationship goes, I couldn't make direct amends to her. Instead, I did a variety of volunteer things, in honor of her. It hurt, it ached, and when I was done I felt cleansed and whole. I regret only that she can't know about it, because it would cause her more harm than help.

The tenth Step wants us to keep making those moral inventories on a regular basis. Keep pausing now and again, looking at the inventory and deciding what needs to go. The best thing about the tenth Step is that once you've finished that huge clean-out in the fourth and fifth, you have the opportunity to do it often enough that the internal moral shelves never get that littered with filth again. You get to clean up once a year instead of once a decade. It's a feeling of relief, and of wholeness.

When we reach the eleventh Step, we go back to the work-oriented program. Prayer, meditation, reflection, and self-actualization are the points of this Step. Because it comes after all the other messy stuff, it's not as hard as it would be if we tried it way back at the first Step. Still, it's not easy. It's worth it, though. That conscious contact with Deity is fulfilling, inspiring, and brings with it health and joy. When your mind rests once a day on that which you consider Holy, then the Holy enters your life more and more.

The twelfth Step is the last, and is both a summation and a promise to keep on keeping on. If we haven't yet had a spiritual awakening, it's time to go back to the first Step and work through them again. It might take several iterations before you have that spiritual awakening, even if you're very religious or spiritual in general. That's okay! The Steps are meant to be repeated, worked on, and worked through. Like all steps, sometimes you go up them, and other times you find you're going down them. You can always go up again, though!

The idea of sharing the Steps with others causes some people to shy away. It reeks of evangelism, and that can be problematic. The sharing that is referred to is not meant to be a pushing of the Steps on others, though. As you work the Steps, you will find that you gain a joy of life that you thought you'd lost. Others will see it and ask why, and you can tell them. Be respectful, don't push it on them, but don't be afraid to share when asked. They will want to know the secret to your happiness, and it's perfectly alright to let them know.

You don't have to be Christian to follow the Twelve Steps. You don't have to belong to one of the Anonymous programs, although if you're powerless over alcohol, narcotics, or food, I heartily suggest checking the programs out. What you need is a willingness to move forward, and really, isn't that were all journeys begin?

You can find information about the various Anonymous programs here:

• Alcoholics Anonymous - AA World Services: (212) 870-3400
• Overeaters Anonymous - OA Information: (505) 891-2664 
• Narcotics Anonymous - NA World Services: (818) 773.9999 
• Pagans in Recovery - http://www.neopagan.net/PIR.html

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
You may also be interested in:

Being the better person
Taking offense
Ash Wednesday invitation
Short-cuts to thinking
Bindings

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4) Image by Penywise / morgueFile
5) Image by Jane M. Sawyer / morgueFile

Being the better person

I saw this card a couple of days ago, and I laughed uproariously. I showed it to family and friends, and we all chuckled. Then I thought about it, for a really long time. This is funny because it's true, and that's a very sad thing indeed.

During elementary school, I was taught that if I did the Right Thing, I would be treated fairly and people would like me. By the time I reached fifth grade, I had realized what a lie that was. Some people simply weren't going to like me, no matter what I did (or didn't do). Throughout middle school and high school, I felt like a failure, and did a number of (stupid, sometimes illegal, definitely immoral) things in a vain attempt to get people to like me.

Self-hate (1)

When I left home and struck out on my own, I held my head up high and said to hell with people who didn't like me. I was going to be Who I Was and if anyone didn't like it, then they ought not let the door hit their ass on the way out. The problem, of course, was that I didn't really like myself. In fact, there were vast swaths of my own psyche that I felt were horrid and inappropriate. I wanted to be someone else.

Skip forward a few years to marriage and early motherhood, and I can see that I'd made some basic attempts at bettering myself. I'd gone for counselling, taken meds, and had begun taking responsibility for my own actions. I moved away from the place where I'd partied hard, and tried to settle down to become a good mother and wife. I really was trying, and even though I failed miserably, I want to give myself the verbal pat on the back for what I managed in those years.

When I met Gray, I fell deeply in love. He was a very strong personality, and had no problems pushing me around when I needed to have a verbal spanking. He acted, for many years, as my own conscience. I would work hard with my therapist and discover what I needed to work on, and he'd provide the impetus to keep moving even when times got hard. A lot of people dislike Gray because of his ability to manipulate and push people around without their realizing it, but I actually liked it. It's a super power in a way, and he only uses it for good.

I'm happy and I know it (2)

The past two years, after graduating from seminary and starting out on my own ministerial journey, I have noticed that I'm generally happier. I'm not happy all the time, but overall, things have been better. When I examine my life closely, I see similar trials and tribulations; what's changed is how I approach those problems, and how I work through them. All that clap trap my therapist was telling me, was true! It just took a long time for it to sink in...

So now that I've reached this place of more balance, I find it easier to be "the better person." Years ago, if someone treated me badly, I would have no problem turning around and doing something equally nasty in return. They'd asked for it, after all. This is not so true, now. I see people who do nasty things as being ill. It doesn't make their actions any less obnoxious, but it does help me to be more balanced in my approach. I actually am a better person now than I used to be, and I'm just a little proud of that.

Still, there are people who push at even the best of us. Over the past 20 years, I've had an ex who liked to send me abusive mail... an internet stalker who would post private information about me in public... a long-term friend who went off meds and began considering me the base of most of his problems. I can look at these and all the other negative influences in my life and know that I need to be good. I need to understand that those people are damaged, much as I was (and am) damaged. I'm no better and no worse than they are; only my behavior can be better.

At times, though, I still want to relapse. I don't, and that's a good thing, but the urge is still there. When someone posts my private photographs on the internet, accuses me of abuse of children, or threatens my livelihood, I still want to strike back. It hurts, after all, even though I know none of it is true. I struggle with the knowledge that there are people out there who will believe what is written and posted, without ever checking with me.

Angry letters (3)

It's tough at those moments. My inner abused child wants to call out that I'm blameless, or that I'm the victim. Sometimes, I even go so far as to allow myself to think through a nasty response to those abuses of my character. The difference is that I no longer follow through. I can write a nasty letter to someone, and then toss it joyfully into the fire, knowing that it positively affected the only person it really needed to: me.

That is the bottom line, for all of us. Yes, we need other people around us, but there will always be nay sayers and negative people out there. We do not have control over them or what they say. We only control our reaction to them. Our attitudes make all the difference.

This doesn't mean it won't hurt. Sure it hurts. I recently lost an online acquaintance because she chose to believe the words of another over my actions. It hurt. The question I had to ask myself was whether or not I would want to have someone as my friend, who was willing to take idle words of one person over my long-term behaviors. The answer is no. I don't need to run around pleasing those who are fickle. I need only behave as I always have, and continue to be a better person. Others will like me, or they won't.

When I say "better person" I don't mean better than anyone else. The point of the Game of Life is not to be better than the Joneses. The point is to be better today than you were yesterday. If I get up today and manage a smile more easily than yesterday, then I'm a better person. Sometimes the changes are more striking, especially when measured over years instead of days or hours, but every little positive change helps. It adds up.

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
You may also be interested in:

Taking offense
Ash Wednesday invitation
Short-cuts to thinking
Bindings
I am bracketed by the Divine 

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3) Image by imelenchon / morgueFile

Taking offense

This week, Fox News managed to annoy a lot of pagans and Wiccans. I only just listened to the clip this morning, and yes, it was rather offensive. There were three people involved in the main discussion, the instigator being Tucker Carlson (I haven't found the names of the other two, a man and a woman). Tammy Bruce was also a guest who made commentary during the three minute clip as well.

I don't normally get my panties in a bunch over people doing this kind of thing in the media. After all, the whole point of a talk show of this kind is to get viewers. Well, Carlson definitely won that round: every Wiccan and most pagans around the country have now watched the clip.  I don't like to feed these types of media fear-mongers and hate-mongers, because it just encourages them.

This particular piece was pretty nasty, though. I encourage you to watch the clip for yourself, regardless of your religious choices. Replace "pagan" with "Jewish" in your mind, and "Wiccan" with "Muslim" and see how the piece sits with you. I would say that, had this particular broadcast been about Jews and Muslims, they would have been thrown off the air by the public at large because of the offensiveness involved. The fact of the matter is, though, that there aren't enough pagans around to get on Fox's case about these people.

The parts that bothered me the most were the misrepresentations and outright lies. You can read some of the details at NewsHounds if you like. They've done a fairly good job of fact checking for us, and I feel no need to do their work all over again.

Now, I can ignore the smarmy and self-righteous tones and small jabs. These are the types of obnoxious comments that are made by pretty much everyone who puts down another religion or belief. I've heard plenty of pagans say as much or worse about Christians. It's their show, it's blatantly Christian, so it is to be expected. It's not a show for Wiccans, after all.

At 00:24 in the video, Carlson says that there are so many pagans and Wiccans at the University of Missouri that "they need to have all of their holidays recognized now." This is one of those misdirections that news people sometimes make. It's sort of close to the truth, without actually being true. Unless you're in the know, however, it tends to go past rather easily.

The bottom line is that Wicca, like all religions, is recognized and has the freedom to enjoy its holidays. It has nothing to do with how many Wiccans might be at a school or not. It's just a fact. Wicca is a "legal" religion (and I do hate saying that; it shouldn't have to be said) and enjoys the same protections as all other religions in America.

The other male newscaster than makes a comment that the downside to this recognition of Wiccan holidays is that there are so many of them. He goes on to mention "20% of all school holidays as described by the University of Missouri are Wiccan holidays." (00:36 in the video)

Again, this is misdirection. It's not an outright lie, per se, but a way of twisting the truth to make things look negative. The percentage of holidays that are Wiccan or pagan really doesn't matter. It's likely that 80% of the school holidays are Christian, but that isn't mentioned. It would be inconvenient. The newscaster also isn't making it clear that these holidays aren't "school holidays" in that they aren't days off. The teletype below the speakers makes it worse, with quotes such as, "Testy situation? MU: No exams on Wiccan and pagan holidays." As NewsHound mentions in their article, that's just not true.

The eight major holy days of Wicca are mentioned in the school's calendar (as they are mentioned in many calendars throughout the country, both school and otherwise), and the full moons are also mentioned as days of worship. We don't hear about the 52 weekly church days of worship alongside the other major holidays of Christianity or Judaism, of course, as that would take away from their message. Wiccan holidays are printed in the university calendar, but they aren't a guarantee of time off an exam, anymore than Lent or Purim are guarantees of time off an exam.

Carlson suggests at 01:06 that, as his guest mentions, ". . . this probably wouldn't happen in any other country." Let's see... Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, and several of the countries in Europe all list various pagan holidays in their calendars. To be quite frank, America was kind of late into the game on this one...

I won't even grace Tammy Bruce's commentary about Wiccans "being used by the establishment" (01:34) with commentary. The female newscaster, at 01:47 mentions the whole "Merry Christmas" debacle, commenting that you "can't say Merry Christmas" because it's considered pushing your religion on someone. Again, erroneous. I said Merry Christmas to many people over the Christmas/Yule/Hannukah holidays, both Christian and otherwise. No one got their panties in a bunch. No one I know was involved in a situation where that happened. As a pagan myself, if someone got annoyed at me for wishing them a Merry Christmas, I'd probably call them a grinch.

Carlson then comes in with a snide remark, saying, "You get 20 holidays if you're Wiccan. I guess that's the one to go with . . . " (01:52) He lost that percentage mark that was used earlier. At this point I think he's simply being ignorant and idiotic, not offensive. He really just doesn't know.

It devolves from there. They seem to stop any attempt at being reporters and just get into insulting comments. It's sad, rude, and nasty.

I'm still not out there boycotting it. In fact, it is my strong opinion that we should do the opposite. Let's show Mr. Carlson that we do care (and by "we" I mean everyone who is religious and dedicated to the truth). Let's all watch the show, and insist repeatedly that the truth be told. Let's use Mr. Carlson's ignorance as a teaching tool for the world.

For this reason, I urge everyone to watch the above. Don't focus on the petty insults. Those are there in any single-religion show. It's sad, but pagans do it as much as Christians do. Focus on the facts. There's a funny thing about facts... they don't change. Don't look at statistics, because they can be manipulated. Keep your eye on the bare, plain facts, and when you see someone like Mr. Carlson speak wrongly, assume that the problem lies in lack of knowledge and not malice.

As the old adage goes, "Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity." Robert J. Hanlon

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
You may also be interested in:

Ash Wednesday invitation
Short-cuts to thinking
Bindings
I am bracketed by the Divine
Where I've been - Where I'm going

Ash Wednesday invitation

The Cross (1)

Each year on Ash Wednesday, I choose something to give up for the period of Lent. I've done so since long before I worshiped Yeshua, and it means more to me than a religious symbol. It is a symbol of my commitment to the Divine as a whole. This year I likely won't be going to a church to receive the Imposition of Ashes, but I may do a smaller version of the ritual at home with my family.

During Lent, I like to do daily devotions that seek within. One place that I've been visiting online for years is d365, an online daily devotion. It pairs Christian Scripture, calm music, introspective writing and a simple website to help people focus on the spiritual each day. I invite you to join me in visiting Journey to the Cross for the next 46 days of Lent. Come read, and think, and look within, and learn.

Lent is a time of fasting. It's a time of sacrifice. It's a time for alms giving, whether in money or time. It's a time for modest living, and clean living. The 46 days of Lent are a period long enough to break a bad habit (30 days is the average for breaking a habit) and to instill a good habit. Perhaps this is a time to give up soda, or a time to start daily meditation. Whatever you sacrifice, make it something that you truly feel.

Blessings on everyone. May the God of your understanding watch over you, bless you, and keep you safe in your life!

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
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Lent 2009
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Lent 2008
Lent: Searching the soul


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Short-cuts to thinking

Name calling (1)

During the election months, and more recently during the Sandy Hook horror, I saw an awful lot of name calling and finger pointing. I thought that it might die down after a while, and that people would go back to grousing and protesting depending on their personalities, and that the nasty stuff would peter out. I was wrong. I was very wrong. Since late October (2012) I have seen an uprise in people using insult terms and grouping together people as Them. I find it disturbing.

I was taught very early that such tactics are not means of fighting, but instead are short-cuts to thinking. It's a lot easier to point a finger and call names, or to stick fingers in your ears and yell, "Na na na, I can't hear you!" Actual engagement in communication and conversation can be disturbing, uncomfortable, and life-changing.

Today, the Pope announced that he is resigning. I found out about it through a pagan acquaintance, who posted it online, then went on to read more about it. The result of that posting was a string of comments that were less than flattering. I wasn't offended by the posts, but I was disappointed. I tend to expect co-religionists to be people who share the high morals and ethics that I have. While I have no reason to love the current Pope, I have no reason to tear him down, either. Nor do I have reason to malign his faith or his office. Just because I disagree with some of his religious decisions doesn't make him an object for mockery.

I see Christians mocking or reviling pagans, and vice versa. I don't know how many times I've heard about how "they burned us!" My response has become rather curt. "Funny, you don't look burned. Perhaps some miracle of the Goddess cured you of the horrible scars?" I used to point out that the early Roman pagans burned Christians, too, but that had fallen on deaf ears, and frankly, I don't think it's a lot better than the original cry. Neither has anything to do with the people living here, today, in North America.

Angry protesting (2)

Politics is another arena where name calling and finger pointing seems prevalent. I've made no bones about disliking Obama as president, but I have not called him names. I don't tolerate that kind of nonsense from those around me, either. The plethora of nasty names out there is astounding. I don't even want to repeat them for educational purposes!

What is the purpose of pointing at someone and yelling invective? Its purpose is to take the attention away from the actions of the target, and focus that attention on some real or imagined flaw. By elevating the flaw to epic proportions, the person taunting manages to block out the actual person underneath it all. It is a short-cut to thinking.

It's so much easier to yell out bad words, than to formulate coherent arguments. Yelling requires no research, no time spent organizing, no thought on the part of the protester. Catchy rhymes and badly spelled signs are much easier and much less emotionally stressful to create than reasoned arguments.

The bottom line is, facts speak for themselves. They need no one to name call for them. If you find yourself calling names (and we all do it, trust me), it's time to take a step back. Ask yourself: What am I yelling about? What am I fighting for? Words can wound as surely as bullets, and as painfully. They aren't fatal in the same way, perhaps, but they're a lot longer lasting. Words are more like a slow-acting poison, inching deeper into a person's psyche. And unlike bullets, words hurt both the aggressor and the victim.

Watch your speech. Watch what you say to and about others. Where do you fall into name calling? Where do you make short-cuts to thinking rather than working to find the better method? It's time to own those mistakes, and to work to better them.

For those who celebrate, Lent is only two days away. Perhaps giving up name-calling would be an appropriate and fitting thing for this Lenten season. Consider it!

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
You may also be interested in:

Bindings
I am bracketed by the Divine
Where I've been - Where I'm going
Snow days
I've been nominated!

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Bindings

Knots and bindings... (1)

For those who practice witchcraft or ask the gods to perform acts for them, the idea of bindings is one that comes up frequently. Perhaps the only other spell mentioned more frequently would be love spells. But what of bindings? What is their purpose? Why would one use them?

There is a moral question that comes up when one discusses bindings.  You are, in the very nature of the binding itself, restricting the free will of another person. This is something that is heavily frowned on by many people. Like with all moral dilemnas, though, there is no single, easy answer. Nothing is clear cut.

Most often, on the moral high ground of the issue, the binding is used to stop abuse, pain, or hurt of some kind. It aims to stop or restrict an action or series of actions that impinge on the freedom of another person. An example would be binding someone to be unable to perform sexual acts with children. Such a binding would be considered acceptable by the vast majority of people in the world. The non-magical side of it would be chemical or physical castration, which we must remember cannot be forced on someone (though it can be coerced through restriction of other freedoms).

Restriction... (2)

Bindings are not something to do lightly. They are not easy, not comfortable, and they extract a price from the person doing it. The price might be light or heavy, but it will be there. Think of the Rule of Threes, that says what you put out tends to return to you multiplied. Bindings done out of compassion are no less held to the Rule of Threes.

Why would someone do a binding? As mentioned above, it is done to restrict someone from doing something. It might be a restriction on harming someone. It might be a restriction on someone going into a certain place. It might be a restriction on harming themselves. The reasons are as countless as the human imagination.

A binding should only be performed when all other avenues of solving the issue have been tried and exhausted. When nothing else has worked, when all other hope has passed, then a binding can be made. It can be simple or complex, wordy or silent.

When I perform a binding (and I have done so only three times in my adult life), I take something of the other person and use it as a focus. It could be a hair (hence why witches are sometimes famous for stealing hair), a photograph, a personal belonging... It doesn't really matter what the focus is, and it is not necessarily destroyed during the binding ritual.

Doing what is necessary... (3)

I like to use a candle, which I bless and anoint, then light. I will then take the focus item and hold it, centering all my attention on it. If it is a larger item I may physically bind it using thread or cord. A smaller item such as a hair can be burned in the candle flame or placed into a small container.

During meditation, the focus item's link to its owner is heightened and highlighted. This is a type of sympathetic magic, to use the technical terminology. I usually use a meditation technique that helps me create a visualization of the focus item being surrounded by mirrors pointing inward. In essence, I create a spiritual or psychic "egg" or sphere around the person.

The idea is that the Rule of Threes is enhanced, because whatever the person does is reflected back upon them and ricochets around the inside of their sphere. This can be good and it can be bad, but it is out of the hands of the person doing the binding. It puts the responsibility back in the lap of the bound individual. If they emotionally hurt someone, they find they are emotionally hurt. Like returns like, in one form or another.

The reason I prefer bindings done this way is that they basically dissolve on their own after their job is done. The person within the binding can, through both positive and negative reinforcement, learn to control themselves. When they do, the mirrored egg is no longer necessary and they basically "crack out" of it. It is not coercive, beyond teaching someone self control. It is not painful unless the person is causing pain to others. It provides continuous and constant feedback regarding every action they take. This allows them to educate themselves in fixing the problem.

There are many other ways to achieve a binding, if it is necessary. Have you ever been forced to bind someone?

Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
You may also be interested in:

I am bracketed by the Divine
Where I've been - Where I'm going
Snow days
I've been nominated!
It's a new year

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I am bracketed by the Divine

Ganesh (1)

Nelson Congregational Church posted up a quote today that made me stop and think:

"Let us worship God, the God who forms the rhythm of our lives, the God who is present at the beginning and ending of each day...each season...each purpose."  (Kate McIllhagga)

God (by whatever name or names you call the Divine) can, and in my opinion, should, bracket our lives.  The All is there as we rise for the day, getting out of bed and stumbling to the bathroom. The Divine is there when we finish the day and drop into bed and switch off the light. All through our day, God is with us, around us, embracing us. 

Theotokos (2)

There is a great comfort to that thought. Any perceived separation is my own creation, not the Divine's. If I stop and pause for a moment, close my eyes, and take a deep breath... there is God. I can feel infused and loved and held in a second's time. Anyone can!

In my peaceful moments, I don't need to give that Sacred bracket a thought. I simply know that I am contained. I am not a sage, though, and peace comes and goes. During most of my day, I need reminders to pause, to take that breath, and to re-issue my invitation to the Holy to be a part of me and my life. I draw in breath, and in doing so I draw in God. 

Sometimes it's a complex thing, and I light a candle or kneel, or go to a sacred space that is outside my home. Sometimes I need that separation from the ordinary, every day things in order to find my center again. Going into a church or synagogue, casting a Circle, standing within the winding ways of a labyrinth, all are ways for me to step outside the non-stop chatter of my monkey mind. I can say, "Shush! We're in a holy place!" The monkey mind doesn't realize that there's no real difference between my bedroom and the church, and that's a good thing. 

Bronze Buddha (3)

When I remember that I am embraced by God, my shoulders relax. My breathing becomes deep and even. My heart is steady and strong. My face settles into a soft smile and my eyes soften. I can literally feel stress being drained off of me. I know that the arms of the Divine can hold my stress and my problems and me, all of it, without problem. I can "let go and let God" as it were, and just BE.

I'm not the perfect follower of the Divine, of course. I forget. I let stress get to me. I lose track of the fact that I am a child of the universe. Instead of berating myself, I've been using my smartphone to remind me to take it easy. That might sound odd, but it works (for me, at least)!

Several times a day, a little bell dings on my phone. It sounds like a singing bowl or a very light gong. No matter what I am doing, I stop. It's just for a moment, after all. Even in the middle of work, I can take two minutes to close my eyes and take several deep breaths. I remind myself that I am embraced by God, held by the Divine, a child of the All. The grace and peace will flood into me, even if only briefly. 

When I'm done, I go back to work. Most of the time, no one would know I was even doing anything. It certainly disturbs my day much less than a coffee or cigarette break! It's infinitely healthier, too. Several times a day I'm reminded of who and what I am, and over time, the knowledge stays with me a bit longer. Perhaps one day I will remember all the time, and no longer need the reminders. Until then, I will enjoy my bell. 


Check back often for prayers, spiritual musings and all manner of religious discussion and talk. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! If you purchase items I have linked through ads or Amazon, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
You may also be interested in:

Where I've been - Where I'm going
Snow days
I've been nominated!
It's a new year
Rituals should be shared with family

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