Tag Archive | Alternative Religion

The Cycle of Life And Death

From Spirit to Incarnation

Preordained vs Free Will and Choice

Today I read a lovely article by a colleague which talks about life and death and the importance of living life.

“Responsive Reading – Living and Dying:
Every person has an appointed time to live and a time to die. Our time upon the earth is but a moment in the span of eternity. Death is not to be regarded with fear but as something good when it comes in due season.”
by Robert Dorris President/Minister at Unitarian Community, Inc.

I like this perspective. And while I agree that everything happens in it’s time and space, I’ve always had a hard time with the “preordained” concept. And it can be hard to reconcile those two ideas. I believe in reincarnation. And that concept doesn’t fit with the preordained perspective. But I also believe everything in it’s right time and space. So how do you fit those two things together? Continue reading →

Merry Beltaine – May 1st/6th

May2

“Arctic Wolf Fire”
By Tom-in-Silence

The Festival of Bel’s Fire

May You Have A Wonderful Holiday Celebration!

By the Solar Calendar, the holiday is celebrated on May 1st. But by the Lunar Calendar it’s honored on May 6th.

The early Celts were very balanced in the way they scheduled their lives. One of the places this is seen most clearly are in the High Holy days.

Each festival fell in between a solstice or equinox. February 6 for Imbolg, May 6th for Beltaine and August 6th for Lughnasadh as examples.

With the advent of the modern calendar, the festivals were assigned to dates based on solar cycles. And most Pagan Metaphysical traditions follow this selection of dates for their holiday observances. To some degree this does throw off the balance intended for the cycle of the lunar year. This is also one reason varying traditions hold their festivals on different days. Wicca for instance recognizes May 1st as the date for Beltaine. Where as my tradition, Deborean, still recognizes May 6th as the date to honor Bel.

Learn more about Beltaine, or you might enjoy reading about the Celtic Lunar Tree Calendar to further your research.

Keep Dreaming

Apr23

The History Of Ostara – The ‘Spring Equinox’

Mar19

The Vernal Equinox – The Festival of Ēostre
By Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D. 🐾

The Spring Equinox festival is based in Germanic Paganism. Ēostre or Ostara (Northumbrian Old English: Ēostre; West Saxon Old English: Ēastre; Old High German: *Ôstara) is a goddess in Germanic paganism who, by way of the Germanic month bears her name.

As a pagan holiday Ostara is one of the more confusing and convoluted festivals in terms of its history. It’s claimed by German neo-Pagans, Norse, Saxon and Celt. Celts admit that holiday is not one of their original observances and therefore it’s accepted to be part of a reconstruction of old Celtic ways.

There is speculation that this holiday owes its roots to the Romans who took their holiday into the invasion of Ireland and even spread into Germanic cultures. However, this does not play out when one reviews Celtic or Germanic mythology and history. Continue reading →

Why Pagan’s Don’t Celebrate St. Paddy’s Day

Mar17

The Tribal Wolf

The Genocide of St. Patrick

To begin this story let me start with a little Public Service Announcement (PSA). This year, 2014, I learned that the Irish do not care much for we Americans and Canadians calling their national holiday St. Patty’s Day. But probably isn’t what you think. Which is what I thought; it’s Patrick, not Patty. Nope that’s not it. Well not entirely.

I discovered a PSA had been posted in the Dublin Airport correcting a misconception for those of us in the Americas. It’s not Patty, it’s Paddy. Seems Patty is short for Patricia and of course, Patrick was a male priest. The proper shortening of the male variation is Paddy. And St. Paddy’s Day is perfectly acceptable. So now we know.

Now on to our tale of Pagans and Paddy. First, we must start with some of the early inhabitants of Ireland. What little is known of these people come from Irish songs and poetry, oral legends and Roman writings. The Celtic lands of Ireland, Scotland and Wales were populated primarily by individual or regional Clans. Small communities that were close knit and survived on nature through farming and hunting. Continue reading →

Tuesday Tea Time at Two

Mar16

Afternoon Tea Parties
a lovely book by Susannah Blake

Making Plans

Today I came across a beautiful quote:
“A goal without a plan is just a wish”. Antoine de Saint-Exupery French writer.

How many Tarot drawings have we pulled in the past few years that emphasize making a plan for your dreams? As much as resisted joining Pinterest it has become a big part of my week. I don’t know how others like using it, but one thing I’ve discovered it allows me to do is plan!

When I was a kid my grandmother told me about a book she kept with clippings from magazines. Things she’d like to have, places she’d like to go and so on. She didn’t have that book anymore and didn’t remember where she lost it. But it seemed sad that she no longer had it to look at.

She inspired me to create my own book of dreams and I’ve made several of them over the years. Today they’re packed somewhere in some box some place here in the house or attic. When I started using Pinterest, I realized it’s a digital dream book. A place to gather ideas and make plans.

Sometime in the future when I can get the center into a physical space again, I plan on having various types of gatherings. Some formal, some educational and some simply for fun.

One of those fun ideas is Tuesday Tea Time at Two. A simple gathering for conversation and elegance. High Tea where we can dress up and feel pretty. Low Tea for those days when we want to relax. So here in this board on Pinterest are my inspirations… Tea, Coffee & Cakes

Standing Up For Your Work

Mar10

Springwolf Reflections

Protecting Your Intellectual Property

Sometimes authors, artists or anyone who creates intellectual property may need to submit a request to an individual or individuals who have taken their material without permission. The first thing to know is that your intellectual property is protected through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Unfortunately this week I’ve had the need (twice actually) to submit a cease and desist order to someone who copied material from my blog without permission and seemed to have claim it as their own work. Never a good thing. And sadly I think it’s some what worse for spiritual material. There is karma involved here after all.

After doing a little research and talking to my legal adviser I thought perhaps others could use this information as well. I’ve shared some information, resource links and the general process here on a new page About The Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

I hope you never need it, but I hope if you do, this information helps.

The Blue Bottle Trees

Mar2

Warding Off Evil Spirits

Oral traditions are very important, especially in society today. We are over run and inundated with TV, computers, smart phones and tablets that provide us with an inconceivable number of videos, movies and other types of entertainment. Because of this modern technology, our old stories are being lost and forgotten.

Author/Storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham and storytellers like her, have became concerned over the loss of our old stories. Thankfully they are setting these stories down on paper in a series of books that are worth reading. (You can find the Jeffery series by Kathryn Tucker Windham on Amazon).

One of my favorite stories comes from old Appalachian folklore tale called, The Blue Bottle Tree and The Witch’s Heart.

The legend goes like this:
If you place blue bottles in a crape myrtle tree they will help you ward off evil. Evil spirits are very curious. The blue bottles are so attractive that the evil spirits are drawn into them. Once inside they become confused and get trapped. Some variations of this wives tale, continue by adding the destruction of the evil within the bottle. Much like a Native American dream catcher; when the sun rises in the morning it’s warmth and bright light destroys the evil that was trapped inside (or within the web of the catcher) so that it can never do harm to anyone again. Continue reading →

The Story Of The Blue Bottle Tree & The Witch’s Heart

Mar2

Blue Bottles In A
Crape Myrtle Tree

An Oral Tradition From The South

Here in the southern United States, we have a great many stories and legends relating to ghosts and spirits. I’ve read many account from story tellers suggesting the south has more ghost stories than any other place in the U.S. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it certainly makes one take a second thought about the claim. After all, some of the first big conflicts in this country began in the south. From the invasion of the first white Europeans with Native Americans, to the Civil War and on into modern times with the fight for Civil Rights.

Southern Appalachia is widely known for its oral traditions and story telling. In fact the International Storytelling Center is located in the small historical town of Jonesborough Tennessee (my home town). If you have an opportunity for a visit to the oldest town in Tennessee, I suggest going during the first full weekend in October when the Center holds the National Storytelling Festival. It’s a big and wonderful event that draws storytellers and people from around the globe. One of my favorite stories comes from this festival. The Blue Bottle Tree.

There are many stories about blue bottle trees. Perhaps because this is the first one I ever heard makes this one my favorite. Or possibly because the main character in the story share’s my last name. This isn’t an exact version of the story I heard. But it’s the one I tell today. I hope you like it. Continue reading →

What Matters Most…

Feb20

Do You Reflect What You Believe?

Those who slap you on the back and laugh with you may be fair weather friends.

Those who hold your hand and cry with you are where true friendship lies.

And if you’re lucky, you’ll find the people who will share your life with you, through the laughs and through the tears no matter when and where you are.

What matters most, is that you’re one of those friends to those in your life.

I spoke with a friend today who was down and almost in tears. Turns out a friend of his, a young boy with cancer, lost his battle with the disease and my friend was notified today.

My friend…we’ll call him Anthony to protect everyone’s privacy..had meet the young boy; we’ll call him Steven, at a racing event. Anthony as it happens is a race car driver. Steven was a big fan of dirt racing and for some time he wanted to meet his home town hero; Anthony. Continue reading →

"Believe In Yourself, Even When No One Else Does."
~ Harvey McKay ~
~~~~~~~~
“Take a chance on faith. Not religion, but faith.
Not hope, but faith.
I don’t believe in hope. Hope is a beggar.
Hope walks through the fire and Faith leaps over it.”
~ Jim Carrey ☆ 2014
~~~~~~~~
“I describe myself as a simple Buddhist monk. No more, no less. And I am one of the seven billion human being. Basically we are the same… your emotion, my emotion, your mind, my mind.., same physical. So I always look [at it] that way. We are the same.”
~ Dalai Lama 2012 ~
~~~~~~~~
"Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
~ Bruce Lee 1971