Tag Archive | priest

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

Mar2
Blue Bottle Tree

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

CompassionDo 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 →

The History of Imbolg

Feb1
Paganism

Imbolg – Celebration of the Maiden Goddess

The Festival of Lights & Brighid
By Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D.  🐾

Known as Imbolg or Imbolc. The Old Irish gaeilge  i mbolg translates to “in the belly”. Linguistic historians say this refers to the pregnancy of ewes and links the festival to fertility. As gaeilge progressed and evolved, Imbolg eventually becomes Imbolc. Thus the holiday is known by these two names. So either is correct.

Because the feis or festival is associated as the first spring holiday, it is linked to the returning of the sun, along with longer and warmer days. As such, it becomes known as Imbolc: the Festival of Lights.

In Celtic ceremony, Imbolg falls between the Winter solstice and the Spring equinox on February 1st or 2nd in the Northern Hemisphere and August 1st in the Southern Hemisphere. Continue reading →

The Importance Of Mind/Body/Spirit Thinking

Jan30

crystalwolfHow To Develop Your Spiritual Consciousness Connection

Every animal on this planet has an inner instinct or insight. We’ve heard stories about Elephants grabbing people and running for high ground as a tsunami approaches all in danger. For centuries, scientists have said to watch animals for predictions of bad weather.

According to the USGS in an article entitled “Animals & Earthquake Prediction“:
The earliest reference we have to unusual animal behavior prior to a significant earthquake is from Greece in 373 BC.  Rats, weasels, snakes, and centipedes reportedly left their homes and headed for safety several days before a destructive earthquake.  Anecdotal evidence abounds of animals, fish, birds, reptiles, and insects exhibiting strange behavior anywhere from weeks to seconds before an earthquake.  However, consistent and reliable behavior prior to seismic events, and a mechanism explaining how it could work, still eludes us.

As human beings we are part of that animal kingdom with an inner ability to sense the unseen subtle changes in energy around us. But many have lost or turned away from these natural instincts. They have degraded those who do believe in these inner instincts, ridiculed those who are in-tune with these abilities and vilify those who try to explain and teach others to connect to and talk to their natural intuition on a daily basis. Continue reading →

Today’s Number: 444

Jan23
444th Post On Springwolf Reflections

444th Post On Springwolf Reflections

Reflections Hits 444 Posts

The number 4 has always been significant in my life and over time it has come to be my lucky number, as well as, my favorite number. So today when I posted the Daily Tarot Meditation message and noticed the next post would be the 444th here on Springwolf Reflections, I took notice.

This post..this one right here..is the 444th Post I’ve made on my new blog since it began February 1st, 2012. Yeah!! That deserved some type of celebration! And it’s a good time to show how we can use numerology in our every day lives.

Numbers like this don’t have to represent something to the world. Such as the date 12/12/12; December 12, 2012. They can be any number, or series of numbers that gain your attention or hold special meaning to you. In my case, that special number is 4. Which has corresponded to things like the time I was born, 4:48am. The birth of my son on the 4th at 6:45pm. Continue reading →

Thank Yourself Too!

Jan20

proverb

You can read all the graphics with wise statements, fine sayings, great proverbs. But they don’t mean anything unless you put their words to meaning in your life. When you do, don’t thank the author. Rather thank yourself. You made the choice to make a difference in your own life. That takes courage, effort, work and perseverance. Shouldn’t you thank yourself for that kind of self-love?

© Springwolfs Hanko

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

Soul Mates, Twin Souls & Karmic Relationships – Updated

Jan9

Venus Love

Spiritual Relationships Revisited

On Monday night (May 14, 2012), Paul Cagle, Sushi and I sat at our round table for The Ænigma Project and held a discussion about Soul Mates. The next day I wrote a follow up article that covered the topics we discussed and the Pagan Metaphysical approach to what these relationships are and what they mean to us.

Some time between then and now, that article became corrupted on the server, with bits and pieces missing. I’m not sure when that occurred, but thankfully I had the original article on a back up where I could recover it. Thanks to my friend Myranda for bringing the corrupted issue to my attention!

The article has been recovered and posted, as well as tweaked with a few cosmetic updates -> Soul Mates, Twin Souls & Karmic Relationships – Updated.

If you missed the original airing of the show you can still listen to this episode on The Ænigma Project’s Blog. Or on the show’s broadcast Archives on Tenacity Radio – 2012-05-14- Soul-Mates

© Springwolfs Hanko

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

Maximize Your Spiritual Blog

Jan8

Wordpress Jetpack Blog Analytics

If you have a WordPress blog and you use Jetpack check out the Annual Report they put together for your blog. The report is private, but you can check it out and make it public.

We all put a bit of ourselves into our blogs and it’s nice to know that others find our posts helpful, interesting or entertaining. You can discover what people are searching for and if you’re so inclined, write more about the popular topics you’ve already shared.

This is called Web analytics which is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. In other words it helps you understand what visitors are looking for, how to increase traffic, maximize your marketing budget and advertising resources. For instance people from 134 countries visited Springwolf Reflections, pretty kewl considering there are 196 countries in the world. Continue reading →

The History of Yule

Dec22

The Winter Solstice
By SpringWolf, D.D., Ph.D.

The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year and the beginning of Winter. In simple terms it is one of two points on the ecliptic at which the sun is overhead at the tropic of Capricorn, when the Sun is at its southern most point for those in the Northern Hemisphere.

“The earliest people on Earth knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight, and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year. They built monuments such as Stonehenge in England and Machu Picchu in Peru to follow the sun’s yearly progress.”
Deborah Byrd

The Winter Solstice has marked the beginning of winter and provided a point in time where homes and communities needed to be prepared and ready for the barren cold months. For some it designated the official end of the harvest season. For others it marks a time of spiritual celebration. And for others it’s nothing more than an astronomical occurrence and scientific event. But to Pagans, it marks the beginning of the 12 Days of Yule and time to honor the Triple Goddess and rebirth of the God. Continue reading →

Help Victims Of Newtown, Connecticut

Dec16
Visit CNN's Tribute To Victims

Visit CNN’s Tribute To Victims

Funeral Protests Planned By Hate Group

I learned this evening that the hate group “Westboro Baptist Church” (not that I think you can call these people a church) has released information that they are planning to picket the funerals of the victims of Friday’s tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Everyone here at Spring’s Haven denounces these hateful insensitive actions and we ask for compassion as this community grieves.

Even members of Anonymous have begun an Operation against the Church to discourage them from protesting at the school and compounding the misery already experienced by Newtown residents.

There are several things you can do to help stop this devastating action to inflict more pain on these parents, families and friends of these precious victims.

  1. If you live near Newtown, Connecticut organize a “Human Wall” to peacefully block this hate group from getting anywhere near these funerals. Efforts like this have been successful in the past (Huffington Post) and have overshadowed the hate from this group.
  2. Sign a petition on Whitehouse.gov to Legally recognize Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group.
  3. Visit CNN to find out how you can provide help for the community of Newtown. They have a great list of organizations who are sharing a wide range of support to families and the community in general.
  4. Share these efforts with others and spread the news!

This hate group must not be allowed to inflict their ignorant bigotry and hate on this community. They have already suffered so much and no one should remain silent and allow this to happen. Please help provide your peaceful support to these efforts.

© Springwolfs Hanko

 © 2012 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D. Springwolf Reflections / Springs Haven, LLC. All Rights Reserved.