Tag Archive | priest

A Homily: Observing The Holiday

Dec26

TinyHouseLightsPagans Living Amongst The Christians

“I’m not Christian, I don’t celebrate Christmas”, “I’m pagan, why should I be forced to celebrate Christmas”, “It’s too hard to tell your extended family that you do not observe their bastardized holiday.”

I received several messages like these over the past few days. For those of us who do not celebrate the Christian Holiday, no matter what time of the year it is, there’s another way to look at spending time with your family members who do.

You go to parties that are given for your relatives and their birthdays. Moments to mark another year older, or an event for celebrating a milestone in their life, such as a graduation, a new job, retirement and so on. Why do you observe those days? It’s not your birthday or your achievement. So why do you participate in those events? Isn’t so you can share in the celebration of what’s important to those you care about? So you can be with your family and friends to create happy memories while they are here with you? Continue reading →

Sunday Homily: Mindfulness

Dec8

mindfulbellBeing Aware

Mindfulness, which, among other things, is an attentive awareness of the reality of things (especially of the present moment). Living in the now and being cognizant of the events you are engaged in at this moment in time.

It’s important to take a moment throughout the day to be Mindful of what you’re thing, how you’re allowing those thoughts to impact what you’re doing and how it resonates with your soul, spiritual mission and mental outlook. Both for a state of being and for a sense of living your beliefs and putting them into practice.

The thoughts you wake up with in the morning create your day. How you think through out the day, create your week. The patterns you develop throughout the month, create your year.

How you think, creates your reality, your health and your life.
Springwolf 🐾 © 2012

It 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.

If you are stressed, anxious or angry, those emotions will translate through you and into your actions. If you’re at peace and mindful of your thoughts, then the energy you create and express will be calm and enlightened. Do you want to yell at the person driving next to you on the highway? Or at the store clerk who’s taking to long to ring up your items? Or is there a way you can translate your spiritual awareness into calm peace and discover why you’re being held up in the first place? Continue reading →

Sunday Homily: Look In A Mirror

Oct6
Self Reflection

What you don’t like about someone else,
Look In A Mirror.

What Encounters Teach Us

Everyone one of us has had moments during a week, or in a single day when we feel like we’re wearing a sign around our neck that says “Piss me off”. Comments from complete strangers that push a button and cause us to feel hurt, attacked or self-conscious about something. And it could be about anything, even things that don’t even make sense later on.

Sometimes we say wave a hand and tell ourselves we’re being overly sensitive. Sometimes we actually let the comments get under our skin and truly get angry. Other times we pretend we didn’t hear the comment, ignore it, but play it over and over in our head.

As one of my very wise Shamanistic teachers once told me “It’s not all about you. You’re learning to be a Shaman, stop crying about your little hurt feelings and use your head and your heart to help those who are coming to you and screaming for compassion”. Yeah I didn’t like that comment much when he said it to me, but I’ve come to understand what he meant.

I’ve also learned that this perspective isn’t only for the “ministers” in the world. It’s for everyone walking a spiritual path. And maybe even those who aren’t. Continue reading →

Starting Your Own Spiritual Group/Business

Jun18
Wolfwitch by Springwolf 2012

The Challenges Of Being The Leader

The Challenges Of Being A Minister, Healer, Teacher & Spiritual Leader

On the  June 17th edition of The Ænigma Project, Paul Cagle, Sushi and I discussed the issues and insights behind starting your own Paranormal or Spiritual group.

If you missed the show, you can listen to previous shows on the Tenacity Radio Archives for the The Ænigma Project (look for date and topic). Or visit the The Ænigma Project blog for links to iTunes, Stitcher and more ways you can listen to past shows.

Here I want to share some articles and information we discussed during the show, along with some helpful links and suggestions.

This recommended reading explains the challenges and the benefits behind the role of Leadership. It can outline the pitfalls, help you to determine if you have the knowledge and skill to take on the role of leader, especially in the area of Spirituality.

But I’ve also included some practical information on the business side to help you get started in creating your small spiritual business.

Continue reading →

The Challenges We Face In Life

Jun10
Challenges

Facing Challenges
Photo by Anne Marie Kalus

Why Does “God” Test Us?

Recently in a forum of Metaphysical Ministers this question was posted.

“Does anyone in our group believe that God tests us, or tests the strength of our faith?”
Rev.R.M.

The question isn’t an uncommon one. Nor is it one that is accepted on blind faith by Ministers. There are many answers and perspectives of course, because we all have a different way of looking at spiritual belief and practice. A Christian may say “Yes, God may test your faith and devotion of service to his teachings by placing challenges upon your path”. Unitarians might say “No, God doesn’t set up challenges to test our faith. But we set up problems in our lives to learn lessons”.

The wonderful Metaphysical Ministers within this group have similar perspectives to my first response. But when asked this question I have two perspectives to reply to this. Continue reading →

The Cycle of Life And Death

May17
© 2012 Springwolf Wolf Ghost

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 →

Today’s Tarot Meditation Drawing: The Priest – Inverted

May9
The Priest - Inverted

Mystic Faery Tarot by Linda Ravenscroft

Relax, there’s nothing you can do. You’re not in control of what’s going on or the solution to correct it. Be patient, things will work out as they should.  Heal the inner spirit and be the one in control of your own thoughts and actions. No one can take that away from you, unless you give it to them.

Additional Insight:

There’s too many things going on behind the scenes that you’re not in control over. You can’t fix the problem or force people to do what you want or think they should be doing to correct the issue. It’s out of your hands, so relax.

Allow your inner spirit to provide healing for your emotion state of mind. Trust in your beliefs and in the Divine force in your life. With that you will always have hope. With hope you will always make it through even the hardest challenges that life can throw at you.

Don’t allow others to control your emotions and pull you into their fight. You will only bang your head on the wall unnecessarily. Let go of the stress, do what you need to do for YOU and be patient as things work through the cogs of the machine and work themselves out.


© Springwolfs HankoSpringwolf Reflections 2013 Motto:
I attract and acquire more happiness and financial abundance than I know what to do with!

© 2013 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D. Springwolf Reflections / Springs Haven, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The History Of Ostara – The ‘Spring Equinox’

Mar19

newday-wolfThe 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
Tribal Wolf

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 →

The Blue Bottle Trees

Mar2

bluebottletree2Warding 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 →