Tag Archive | priest

Yule Time Begins

Dec20

It’s That Time of Year Again

The winter solstice, also known as midwinter, is an astronomical phenomenon marking the day with the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year. It occurs when one of the Earth’s poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the solstice occurs on December 21st and marks the start of the Winter holiday for Pagans. The Solstice is known as Midwinter, Yule for Pagans, the Longest Night, and Jól for the Norse.

Yule for Pagans, is a 12 day celebration that honors the Goddess in all 3 of her forms, Maiden, Mother, and Crone. And the rebirth of the God, in the form of the Sun. Each one of these representations of the Divine is honored and observed for a 3 day period beginning with the Maiden. The Mother Goddess comes next, followed by the Sun God, and ending with the Crone. 

This year of 2018, Pagans will also enjoy a special occurrence of a Full Moon (read more at Space.com) AND a meteor shower during the Yuletide celebrations. The Ursid meteor shower is active each year around the December solstice. This year’s peak morning is probably December 22. Even under the full moon light, you should be able to see a little bit of the meteors. So if you’re up before sunrise, look up and check it out. (read more at EarthSky.org). Continue reading →

U.S. Counties Want To Move Halloween

Oct27

Image from: Megan Granata Upsetting Witches

It happens every year. Some County official somewhere in the U.S., wants to move the observance of Halloween for little Trick-or-Treaters and I suddenly get hundreds of emails from practicing Witches about how this angers them to no end. Litterally, beginning around October 1st, I start receiving emails. By the end of the month I’ve received over 200 when all is said and done.

This year, I’m up to 167 so far. with less than a week to go. Hopefully that means word is getting out. But the general sentiment is often the same,  “What right do these people have to move OUR holiday!” Here’s my question in response, Why are you upset, Halloween IS NOT our holiday?

Whether you use the Gaelic pronunciation “Sow-en”, “Sow-ween”, “Sah-ween” or the Americanized version “Sam-hain” (yes that is an acceptable pronunciation), Samhain is still the biggest holiday on the Pagan Calendar.

Samhain is a Gaelic word, and it translates to “Summer’s End”. It marks the end of the growing season and the transition into Winter. It also marks the Celtic New Year and it is observed with both reverence and of course a big party celebration. Continue reading →

It’s the 2nd Friday the 13th For 2018

Jul13

Thirteen On Springwolf ReflectionsDo You Know The Origins of Friday the 13th?

Once again it’s another 13th day that lands on a Friday. Once again, news organizations are publishing articles about where the day came from and who started it. And once again, their general line is “no one knows where it started”. Yeah, um…No. What they mean is, they don’t want to look at Pagan History and find yet another thing they observe that’s based on Pagan beliefs and practices.

We know where the day came from. We know generally when it started. And we know it is NOT based in Christian lore concerning the Knights Templar.

If you’re interested in the Pagan History of this day, you’ll have to turn to indo-European pagans. And the persecution of an old peaceful religion.
History of Friday the 13th – It’s a good day for Pagans.

Artist Unknown

Oh, and I forgot. This Friday the 13th falls in the range of the New Moon celebrations. You might want to include a little Moon Magik in your celebrations. This holiday for Pagans is all about good luck and receiving blessings from the Divine (who or whatever that is to you). The New Moon phase is best used for personal growth, healing and blessing of new projects or ventures. A great time to share that energy with the good luck of the 13th. It’s also a good time to cleanse and consecrate new tools and objects you wish to use during rituals, ceremonies or an up coming festival.

May you all have a blessed and wonderful day.

 

 

 

© Springwolfs Hanko

© 2018 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D. Springwolf Reflections / Springs Haven, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The Subtleties of Energy

Jan17

How Your Thoughts Impact Your Day

I’d like to share something about energy. It seems to be a topic of conversation this week. Most everyone who works with energy in some way sees the spiritual impact of that work. You may pull energy in for healing, send it out through prayers, summon Divine energy for blessings or clearing and cleansing etc. Spiritual practitioners also connect to it in order to provide readings or interpretations for clients. In magik, we pull in energy to manipulate it to our intent and send it back out again. But do you take time to really understand how that energy impacts you, specifically, over time?

When you’re adept at working with energy, a lot of subtle energies can be picked up on and can unexpectedly impact other things in your life. That connection to a client or another person can translate and manifest in some interesting ways. Let me explain that in a little story that happened to me that can help explain where this is going for everyone, professional and layman alike.

I was asked to provide an interpretation of something for a friend. For over a week I’ve tried to fulfill that request. But odd things kept happening blocking my ability to complete that ‘mission’. Every time I sat down to start-up my laptop to type up the interpretation and send it off, our wi-fi would go out. Continue reading →

Sunday Homily: It’s Ok To Cry

Mar6

Let It Out

It's Ok To Cry

It’s Ok To Cry

In today’s world we are often overwhelmed with self-help advocates telling us to be happy. Chose happiness and everything will be fine. And when we fail at walking that path, we think something is wrong with our view. Or feel we’re not good enough or spiritual enough or mentally healthy enough within ourselves that we can live up to that talk and be happy. Which only makes things worse.

It would be nice if life were that easy, that we could simply chose to ignore the hurt. But in reality we all face challenges that we can’t always be happy about. We can’t ignore that part of our existence. Yet we don’t have to dwell in the moment and make it worse either. This is yet another example of how balance is what we’re here to accomplish. We don’t have to be happy about being kicked when we’re down; it really is ok to let the tears fall. Continue reading →

Sunday Homily: Forgive and Forget to Heal

Jul26

BestRevengeThe Best Revenge

Thought is energy. To create it, use your imagination. – Einstein

Now I’ve talked a lot about this concept and how we can use our thoughts to make positive changes in our day. To turn things around and endure the challenges life throws at us. How your thoughts really do create your day, week, year and lifetime is all up to you. So think positive thoughts and be mindful through out your day.

But what happens when the actions of others hurt your heart and drill into your mind? How often have you allowed the baggage of the past to impact your current events or situations with others that make you think of that person who caused you harm? Continue reading →

Sunday Homily: Fake Friends Believe In Rumors

Jul19
Love Is Love

Friendship Is…

Real Friends Believe In You

I saw this on a poster recently. It was talking about the stress and strain of being online and drowning in social media for kids and even some adults. How these new mediums of communication can  impact friendships and relationships.

Fake friends believe in rumors, real friends believe in you.

Some of you probably don’t know that my partner Garrett​ and I met online in an old AOL chat room. As soon as word got out that we were “seeing each other”, the online drama queens started their efforts to spread rumors to break us up.

It didn’t work, obviously. Because we talk. We talk a lot. We tell each other everything! Absolutely everything. And because we respect each other, we’re open, honest and trust each other implicitly. Continue reading →

Tying The Knot With The Wedding Knot

Jul8
Rose Gold and Emerald Claddagh Ring

Rose Gold and Emerald Claddagh Ring

A Sunday Homily

Marriages around the world have a great many traditions. One of my favorites involves The Irish Claddagh Ring, which is one of the most widely known traditions around the world. The ring incorporates a set of hands representing friendship, holding a heart which represents love, and a crown on top of the heart to represent loyalty. It originated in the Irish fishing village of Claddagh, located just outside the old city walls of Galway, now part of Galway City.

According to Irish author Colin Murphy, the way in which a Claddagh ring was worn describes the wearer’s relationship status:

  • On the right hand with the point of the heart toward the fingertips, the wearer is single and may be looking for love.
  • On the right hand with the point of the heart toward the wrist, the wearer is in a relationship.
  • On the left hand with the point of the heart toward the fingertips, the wearer is engaged.
  • On the left hand with the point of the heart toward the wrist, the wearer is married.

The first records of production put the creation of Claddagh in the 17th Century. But the ring was not named the “Claddagh ring” until after the 1840s. There are several written accounts of the origins of the ring, each associate its creation with a famous Irish jeweler. None of which are particularly romantic and only one that I’d call interesting, but still not romantic. Continue reading →

Remembering To Be Mindful

Apr16

mindfulbell-appPut Being Mindful Into Daily Practice

Mindfulness is a state of being where balance and peace within the moment, within the self and being are the center of all things. It’s not just looking at your thoughts, but your present state of attitude and how that translates into the manifestation of actions and reactions. (Read more about Mindfulness – Being Aware Of Your Spiritual Manifestation).

Today there are many ways to help you remember to take a moment and be aware of your thoughts and actions. Put a poster up in your office, put an image on your screen saver or something I’ve found that has been better than all those combined… There’s an app for that!

Put your smart phone or tablet to work for you and your spiritual awareness. There are many apps that provide Mindful reminders. The one I found works on Android, it’s free and it has no special permission requirements to work. That means it’s not phoning home every 10seconds.

It’s called the Mindfulness Bell. Let me give you some basic functions of this app so you can find one that works for you. Continue reading →

Sunday Homily: Writing Your Abundance Check

Mar22

wolfpackA New Moon Ritual

My friend Rev. Lyn Williams sends out a reminder every month on FB to Write Your Abundance Check.

I think many of us could use this, so I’d like to share it with you.  It’s a great way of putting your hopes, faith, dreams or desire for abundance into physical action.

I’m a firm believer that making a wish is great on a spiritual level. Asking for help to make life a little easier can have a great deal of influence in our lives. But only if we put some action behind it.

It reminds me of a story I think I’ve shared here before. But in case I haven’t, let me tell it again. Continue reading →