IN OUR ONENESS...KNOW THY SELF

 Please stop for a moment and say  a prayer  for our troops around the world.

 They died for us! Can't we at least Stand Up for them??!!

The name Jack in Jack-o-Lanterns perhaps comes from the story of "Jack the Irish Villain", a man rejected by good and evil who wandered the world forever looking for a place to rest.  His only warmth came from a small candle in a rotten potato.  Irish immigrants brought with them to North America the Jack-o-Lantern tradition, but turnips were scarce so the pumpkin became a good replacement. 

A prominent emblem of modern Holloween festivites, the pumpkin was long revered as a symbol of fertility and protection againts evil.  Today's grotesque hollowed-out pumpkins, lit from within by candles, were orginally intended to protect revellers by scaring away any evil spirits abroad on the particular night.  Nowadays, this function seems to be increasingly forgotton as popalar mythology revels in tales of pumpkin monsters and pumpkin-headed demons, leading successive generations of children into the mistaken belief that pumpkins themselves represent evil and may be in league with witches, vampires and so forth.  

In keeping with the orginal idea that pumpkins bestowed protection against evil was the old tradition that they were best planted on Good Friday.  Once growing, they should never be pointed at: to do so inflicts the power of the evil eye and stunts their further development.  

Witchlore suggested that pumpkin seeds could be consumed to calm an excessively passionate nature, and that when mixed into a paste with oil and rubbed on the skin they eradicated freckles.   Cassell Dictionary of Witchcraft David Pickering  Pg. 216                                  




Here are some common superstitions that have long been a part of the folklore around this time of tear:  

Burning candles inside a Jack O’ Lantern keeps evil spirits away.   If you don’t burn candles on Samhain, you will suffer bad luck the rest of the year.  

If you gaze into the flame of a candle on Samhain, you will be able to see the future.  

If you hear footsteps behind you on this night, do not turn around to see who it is or you could be confronted by the personification of Death and pass away! 
 
If you allow a fire to burn out on Samhain, you will have bad luck the rest of the year unless it is relit by a priest.  


If you see a spider on Samhain, then it is likely that the spirit of a dead loved one is watching you.  

If you want to meet a witch on this night, put your clothes on inside out and walk backwards.  

If you give out nuts to children on Samhain, you will be protected from the Devil.
 
  If you ring a bell on Samhain, then the dark spirits will be scared away! It’s a good thing that a lot of doorbells are rang on that night.
 
If a bat flies around your house three times on Samhain, you will die within the year.

To ward off bad spirits, bury animal bones in your front yard.  

If the flame of a candle flickers and turns blue, there is a spirit in the room.  

If a crow caws at night on Samhain, then death is very near.  

All souls in purgatory are released for 48 hours to roam the earth on Samhain.  

If you float egg yolks in a bowl of water on this night, you will see patterns that will tell you about your future.  

If you eat a hazelnut on Samhain night and fall asleep, you will dream of your future spouse.  

The first person to go apple bobbing and successfully catch and entire apple in their mouth would also be the first to marry.  

Knocking on wood on Samhain will keep bad luck away.  

Gazing into the flame of a candle on Samhain will allow you to see your future.  

If you look down and you are casting no shadow at all, then you are in danger of having an evil spirit steal your soul.  

If you walk backwards down a staircase holding a mirror and candle, you will see the face of your future wife or husband.  

If you blindfold yourself and go out into the garden on Samhain and pull up Kale, the roots will tell you whether or not your future wife or husband will be tall or short, old or young, or healthy or unhealthy.  

Higher Powers determines who walks into your  life.....it's up to you to decide who you let walk  away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go.

Spirit Guide, Bless all my relatives and friends in whatever it is that You know they  may need this day! And may their life be full of your  peace, prosperity, and authentic power.   Blessed Be.

On July 16, 2011, wearing black so that I would be difficult to notice, in an appropriate spot "within the confines of a remote location - high upon a hill " I sat quietly for a while with a white candle and tobacco before me.  The night was clear and warm.  By the light of the full moon, completely relaxed, I lit the wick, and then said -  

I conjure thee, Spirit by the great living Sovereign Creator of all things, to appear under a comely form, without terror.  I conjure thee by the virtue of all that is Holy and Sacred.  

Around midnight I couldn't be more delighted to view in the tobacco smoke a bear.  Bears are silent, swift and very protective of family.  

Animals are used as spirit guides quite often or signs which must be paid attention to.  Certain animals can be an indication what it is that we need to focus on in our personal healing at that moment in time.  To see wild animals during spirit conjurations is generally a good omen pertaining to business, but the interpretation depends on their attitude; if they are calm your affairs will prosper, but if attacking, you can expect some reverses.  

The summit of the Bear's power is in the spring and summer.  S\he roused from inaction to become fully aware  (conscious).  The bear remains in a state of inactivity in the cold months, thus has come to represent introspection.  This is the time to go within (hibernate) to examine experiences and emerge with answers.  We contain within ourselves the answers to all our questions.  

The bear teaches us to go within, and access the subconscious  in order to blend intuition and instincts leading to attaining personal power.  Your body often knows the truth before the mind does.  Like the bear you have an inner sense.  Your instinctive body response senses danger, pleasure and hope.  It knows when to exercise caution, restraint, abandon, frivolity, grace, cunning.  The Bear's lesson is to listen with your whole body.  

Celtic Symbolism of Bear - a creature of dreams, astral travel, visionaries, mystics and shamans.  The person of bear power animal or totem had a determined ally in spiritual work, loyal and utterly dependable.  When you have a Bear Spirit, you are being guided to a leadership role.  You must be fearless in defending your beliefs.  

4.  Another person is a mystery, a calling of me outside myself.  He or she is a mystery not only because he or she bears within him the mystery of life and the mystery of death and the mystery of nature that he has made over (or that, better, has made him over) within his conscious and unconscious personality, but because to be a person (from the Greek word for mask) is to be a mystery properly speaking.  

This is why when we meet a person for the first time we do not ask straight off and directly: "Show me your mystery" (which we mean himself or herself); we work up to the mysteries in this person's life and the mystery of this person by circumlocutionary probings.  Questions of place ("Where are you from?" "Where do you live?"), time "(Is this person my age and generation, or from what world does he come?"), work ("What do you do?"), and interest ("Are you a sports fan?") gradually soften up the process of meeting another.  

But the authentic meeting takes place in insight: perhaps a look into the eyes may be enough for the revelation of the person.  We say revelation, for this is the way one approaches a mystery: mystery is not arrived at (though it may be prepared for) by our pressured activity.  It is revealed, unveiled, opened up for us as a rose in its time and under the proper atmospheric conditions becomes open for beholder to see.  A human person is such a mystery capable of revelation of self when the time and the company are correct.  This revelation is enough to stop one short, to change one who beholds the other.  

It goes without saying that those who see others as problems, as body counts, as rungs on one's own private ladder to the heights, or as votes for one's own "policies" (always carefully manipulated to kowtow to rather than to attract), or as consumers to be counted and seduced-in short, as usable and useful in themselves-shut out mysteries these people run the ultimate risk of reducing their own existence (no less than that of those they manipulate) to a problematic one.  Once again the consequence of such an option would be lifelessness or tedium with nonmysterious existence.  It is to close oneself forever to the possibility-however distant it may sometimes appear to be from our touch-of intimacy, the sharing of the mysteries of life.  

Picture taken by Angie Skelhorn on May 17, 2011 Full Moon - Faery Moon On Becoming A Musical Mystical Bear by Matthew Fox Paulist press/Deus Book pges 38-39

Religion generally attempts to guide the expression of human concerns with the supernatural.  Belief in, acceptance of non-rational sense of a superhuman, unseen controlling power or powers with the emotional and morality connections.

You and you alone are the link to your Creator and Spirit Guides (ancestors who have passed).  You need no human man or woman to speak on your behalf.

There are things in life that are hard to understand.  We seek guidance to help cope and adjust.  Uasally are intentions are for our highest good when we seek knowledge and guideance from the unseen, and it doesn't cost anything because those who want the best for you will not try to take possession of any person or put you in the poor-house.  

The Earth Religion Anti-Abuse Resolution (1988)

We, the undersigned, as adherents of Pagan and Neo-Pagan Earth Religions, including Wicca or Neo-Pagan Witchcraft, practice a variety of positive, life affirming faiths that are dedicated to healing, both of ourselves and of the Earth.
 
As such, we do not advocate or condone any acts that victimize others, including those proscribed by law. As one of our most widely accepted precepts is the Wicca Rede's injunction to "harm none," we absolutely condemn the practices of child abuse, sexual abuse and any other form of abuse that does harm to the bodies, minds or spirits of the victims of such abuses.
 
We recognize and revere the divinity of Nature in our Mother the Earth, and we conduct our rites of worship in a manner that is ethical, compassionate and constitutionally protected. We neither acknowledge or worship the Christian devil, "Satan," who is not in our Pagan pantheons. We will not tolerate slander or libel against our churches, clergy or congregations and we are prepared to defend our civil rights with such legal action as we deem necessary and appropriate.

(This resolution was adopted by major workshops at the following 1988 Pagan Ecumenical Conferences: Ancient Ways (California) may 27-30; Pagan Spirit Gathering (Wisconsin) June 17th.) Provided to Northeast Council of W.I.C.C.A. by the Pagan Community Council of Ohio.)

Welcome, energies of earth, air, fire and water.  Let us create a life of beauty, reverence, and wonder.
 
With each season, let us rejoice.
Through every phase of sun and moon, let us be in harmony.
 
In every direction shall we offer our love.  

Great Spirit, Mother Creator, bless the Earth through my life. Source of all nourishment, we seek to replenish your sacred world.

Guide us now through these images, words, and feelings within as we reach into the wholeness. 

Lets all that is needed be known.  

Gnosticism derived from a Greek word gnosis meaning 'knowledge', is applied to a philosophical and religious movement that influenced the Mediterranean world from the first century BC to the third century AD. 

It expressed itself in a variety of pagan, Jewish and Christian forms.   It is derived from the fact that it promised salvation through a secret knowledge or understanding of reality possessed by its devotees.
 
 Previously known mostly from the writings of its Christian opponents, Gnosticism can now be studied in a collection of original documents found near the Egyptian town on Nag Hammadi in 1945 (also called the Dead Sea Scrolls).  

Despite the complex diversity of Gnostic groups and their teachings, the basic doctrines of Gnosticism formed an identifiable pattern of belief and practice.  A pervasive dualism underlay much of Gnostic thought.  Good and evil, light and darkness, truth and falsehood, spirit and matter were opposed to one another in human experience as being and nonbeing.

 Associated in legend with Samon Magus, a Samaritan sorcerer mentioned in the Bible in Acts 8:9-24, gnosticism probably originated in the Near East as a synthesis of Eastern and Greek ideas before the advent of Christianity.  

The Christian religion practices bear a great resemblance to the craft because their rituals and full rites are based directly upon Druid Doctrine. 

When the womanhood was purged from the hill the Druids of Anglesy, they took refuge.  The priesthood formed a unique order known as the 'Church of the Culdees,' on the Scottish Island of Iona. 

The "under cover" men of Christian Sanction incorporated the similarities in the two beliefs.  It was paganized Catholic priesthood.  

During the Middle Ages, the Druid's priesthood spent their days in seclusion.  They recorded first-hand observation of experiments which took place in natural law. 

When the day came, the church officials felt there was no need for Druid's the priesthood went underground fearing for their lives but they were not forgotten.   The priesthood became known as the "Gnostics," which meant 'One Who Knows.'   

As years passed, the church acquired great acreages of lands, cathedrals, monasteries, and immense, towering abbeys were erected.  The once wild country was overrun with huge watchtowers so the church could watch over the people and see their investments grow.  Within the walls of the sturdy buildings, the churchmen carefully studied and interpreted the works of Roman, Greek, and Celtic historians and philosophers.  In their research they found everything was in its place with a function and nothing was left out. 

The monks defined the architecture of the Universe.  Everything was put into a pattern which created a harmonious connection.   The Divine Power (God) who sat on a throne in the heaven heights.  Three orders of angels followed.  The first level were beings of diving thought.  The angel's love song controlled the direction and movement of heavenly body in space.  The second level of angels kept all the cycles and rhythms of the natural world in place.  The third was man.  He was blessed with faculty of divine thought but also the ability to experience the earthly phenomenon by free will.  Man, himself, tamed the wild world how he saw fit.  Limitations were built and boundaries drawn so people could live as a harmonious whole, just as Divine Powers had done in heaven. 

Beneath man were farm animals that have many uses for humans.  Then came creatures like starfish or snails that are suppose to lacked some form of sense.  The living and growing but immobile and sensibility came next.  The lowest were all the inanimate objects like gems and stones.  

The monks gathered and preserved their findings then took painstaking time categorize everything into a class, rank, and a leader.  From the history, the monks recorded that all elements in creation were laced together by a mirrored web-lines and patterns of correspondence.    Everything in nature had a special attribute, function, and an opposite.  

Magic became like a science and some of the monk scholars in the era developed into menacing wizards.  Instead of balancing nature's energies, the wizards attempted to master it.  They would conjure up dark forces of nature for their own ego gratification.  Dark magic was able to perpetuate. 

The purity in the intent of magic seemed to greatly change. 

The monks devised an adversary to the God, the Devil.  He was the epitome of temptation, discord, destruction and darkness.  The bodiless angels that were immortal spirits were limited in knowledge and power.  Good angels were accepted as intermediate beings between God and man.  They lived in heaven yet are able to visit earth in visible or invisible form.  The bible speaks of angels who protect man and nation.  They will appear when we are in crisis mode.   

The dark angels were the closest to the devil's side.  They are the evil counterpart of the heavenly host.  They come to earth to lead man into temptation and enjoy all its undesirable pleasure in abandonment.  But in the end, the devil would devour all love from their being and capture the soul to do his bidding.  

The religious figures who practiced the art of wizardry found that absolute power corrupt absolutely.  Power plays for instant gratification would be for short term for the joy would be overshadowed by hurt and disappointment that was to come.