Dining with the Divine

Here It Is! The Masterpiece Completed!

2010-12-23T19:23:00.000-06:00

Here it is: the final version of my collaboration project with Hiroko Saito:

Blessed be my sister, for her intuitive knowledge on how to work with the art I presented to her...

Blessed be Jon Anderson, not just for his inspiring way with music, words and Earth-Loving philosophy, but also especially for one of the most beautiful and joyous celebrations of Cosmic Love: his song "How It Hits You." (And like I've always contended...if you wanna know PRECISELY how Cosmic Love can hit you, listen to and watch Jon!)

And most importantly...

Blessed be the Mother-Father-Source for sending Jon and all other Way-Showers of Light and Love here to Earth, for they are the ones who keep the Cosmic Love flowing everywhere, letting people know they are not alone in this world.

And it's this very feeling I have when I listen to Jon that I want to do and be the same thing...I can't not do it...

But until I manage to finally master the guitar and get back onto keyboard work, making art for the song "How It Hits You" and asking Hiroko to help with the video editing was one of the best ways I knew how to help Jon spread that Cosmic Love around everywhere, especially as the new Aquarian energies flow in!

Happy Solstice/Christmas and Have a Happy, Creative New Year!

Much Love,
Kat ^.^

Time, Words and Art

2010-12-21T08:11:00.000-06:00

Much has happened in the last few months.

Including the creation of some art for a video that I and my Divine-Spirit-Sister Hiroko wanted to do...

We both love Jon Anderson (originally of Yes), and his song "How It Hits You" from his holiday album "3 Ships" is a mutual favorite. No one else on YouTube had posted much of anything so we took on the idea...and inspired as I am by Jon himself, I came up with 8 pieces of art to go with the lyrics that "hit me" the most. :)

Because the art turned out so well, AND I am wanting to eventually get my own music out there, too, I think it is time perhaps to turn this blog into something even semi-professional, somehow...

And so far, my whole life has pretty much been about change and transformation--with a LOT of inspired musical help from Jon and his many collaborative peeps, among which are Vangelis, Kitaro, Mike Oldfield, Tangerine Dream..and most recently, Rick Wakeman, also originally of Yes, with whom Jon has created one of the most beautiful albums ever, the review of which I will give at some point in the future.

So...keep your eyes peeled for less random yakkity-yak and more focused items of note regarding where I go with my art and music...

Blessings,
Kat ^.^

Re-Investigating the PRS, Dreams and Creativity...

2010-02-10T05:50:00.001-06:00

Since I've been working a steady job with crazy hours that do not allow me to really catch "Paranormal State" or Chip Coffey's new show "Psychic Kids," I've had to google the Paranormal Research Society at Penn State which was originally begun by director Ryan Buell, whose career as a paranormal investigator is really taking off! I've bookmarked his blog, and would have bookmarked Chip's but Mssr. Coffey has not updated his blog in, like, a year!

I would really love TiVo, but it's beyond my budget...so I'm hoping Ryan, Sergey and their PRS buddies will think about putting "Paranormal State" on DVD.

I REALLY loved the episode where they went out west to investigate heavy UFO phenomena...that was last year--sometime before I got hired at Meskwaki. It got a UFO dream sequence started again later that night, thanks also to a favorite Jon Anderson song running through my head while the "Paranormal State" episode was showing.

So far, I have not experienced too many UFO dreams since that night last year, which is sadly disappointing because when I do have them, they are always a bit fun, if somewhat frightening at first because they sometimes come unbidden. Granted, I do choose to try to induce and influence such dreams, usually, to see what happens. Because ultimately, I am usually not super-terrified.

And hang it all, I LOVE having those sorts of weird dreams, if only in order to reconfirm to myself that dreams need not always be about work, school, my beloveds (friends, families, etc). Though I did rather have a hybrid dream the other night...I was in a small room with a time-clock, hanging out with my Hispanic friends Carmen and Miguel, who work in Bingo-Concessions. This room was darkly lit, and the scene had something of a "sepia" tone to it, like an old "tin-type" photograph from two centuries ago. But what caught my eye was a library cart filled with vinyl LPs...and there was a copy of my favorite musician's 1976 masterwork "Olias of Sunhillow." I could tell what it was by the gold and green cover, with Jon Anderson's famous "Moorglade" logo on the back...and my heart just filled with all levels of heavenly joy to see it in my dreams...a manifestation of high-level creative work...

In my mind, right now, all I can think is that by choosing to pick up the LP and hug it to my heart and dance around with it, not wanting to let it go--instead of hanging with Carmen and Miguel before punching in to work---tells me that on a deep soul level I have truly chosen a creative life and that nothing is going to keep me away from the life I truly wish to live.

And so I close with a favorite Jon Anderson quote, one that's spoken very clearly to me over the last year or three:

"Never underestimate the power that's given to you!"

And heed these words I shall, for always...

Blessed Be,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Forgiveness

2010-02-04T03:42:00.000-06:00

What a loaded word, "forgiveness," eh?

But it seems to be the lesson I'm working on right now.

Two things are weighing the most on my mind. One is my grandmother, and her incessantly cruel, unfeeling words and actions towards her family, immediate and extended. That is tough enough to deal with, especially now that she's deceased, since the pain still lingers like Frodo Baggins' Weathertop wound.

The other weighty topic is how Chris Squire, bassist and holder of the band-name copyright for Yes, has recently been a complete douchebag towards Jon Anderson, their frontman, these last 18 months by going behind Jon's back and hiring a replacement singer from a Yes tribute band based in Quebec...and then reannouncing the 2008 tour without even consulting Jon, who is more or less considered by most to be a cofounder of the group.

Considering my views of simply treating people with respect, I have found it very difficult to forgive Chris. He's made the future of the REAL Yes--the one with JON at the helm--very tenuous at best...even though Jon says he's more than ready, physically, to come back and sing. (I have proof of this via Jon's Facebook page, btw.)

Why have I found it difficult to think of Chris without either extreme anger or sadness?

Because, plain and simple, I, and thousands (if not millions) adore Jon. We see his Light and we just can't quite wrap our heads around why Chris would be so blind to that beautiful Energy-That-Is-Jon as to be totally disrespectful.

Here's the thing that sort of mollifies me, though: this would not be the first time the rest of the Yes-lads have lost sight of the real reasons they chose to make music together: spreading the ideals of Love, Peace and Harmony that united them for so many years. And of course, Jon has ever remained at the core of those ideals, embodying them so beautifully with his lyrics, compositions, his Sun-God voice, whether or not he is singing for Yes.

So I do still have some vestigial hope that Jon will raise his voice once more with his Yes-brothers...and it's that hope that prompts me to work at forgiving Chris...after all, there is that axiom of "hate the sin, not the sinner." I don't necessarily believe in "sin," but I do believe in karma, which is simply "cause and consequence." Chris decided to listen only to his ego, and to be disrespectful of Jon--and by extension, those who would not listen to Yes without Jon--and so Chris has caused a lot of suffering, which has naturally manifested as feelings of betrayal and deep disappointment, to say the least.

My first question about forgiving Chris for his actions was: "What would Jon do?" He's already answered that question for me by showing that he's allowing himself to be enveloped in the love that his wife Jane, and his kids, Deborah, Damion and Jade provide, and simply engrossing himself in his other creative endeavors, whether it's more music, his paintings (which I absolutely adore, they are SO gorgeous!), or sharing his spiritual insights. Not that he does not feel disappointed about the recent events surrounding him and Yes, for he loves making music with Chris, Steve, and Alan (Rick has left the band for health reasons and his son, Oliver, has replaced him on keyboards). But he's truly being a Mensch about it all...

And that right there humbles me, making me feel ashamed of my anger at Chris, even though my ire has been on Jon's behalf all this time. But every beautiful, positive thing Jon posts on Facebook keeps wearing away at my stubbornness, and all I can do is say, "I have to forgive Chris, for he knows not what he does." All I can do is humbly walk in my Muse's loving footsteps...for the love he shows to humanity through his music is a very earnest attempt at showing Cosmic Love itself via Krishna, Gautama Buddha, Yeshua, Quan Yin and any other Ascended Master one cares to name off.

Because of these feelings, recently, I wonder if there truly is such a thing as "righteous anger."

But that's a topic for another time.

Blessed Be,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Somethin' About Yeshua, Pt. 2

2009-12-19T02:47:00.001-06:00

In a continuation of last week's post, I have further the pondered the significance of Yeshua ben Joseph and his impact on the world just by showing up on this planet and being who he was.

No less than several significant thoughts have floated around in my mind about this whole thing...I will share with you the two most prominent ones.

1) What's the deal with the belief of Yeshua supposedly "dying for our sins"?

Last I checked, Yeshua only died because the Sanhedrin got jealous of Yeshua's popularity with the people to the point of being really pissed off. The idea of him dying to "save us from our sins" didn't come along till the philosophical doctrine of "original sin" entered the world playing field. Now, you talk about us humans getting creative with our power dramas...you'd think we'd be smart enough at the first to see through the papal bullshit. But no. A good many of the Christian followers were illiterate, and the Church counted on this illiteracy to stay in power.

So because of this illiteracy, the idea kept getting perpetuated that we're no good unless we acknowledge Yeshua as some sort of almighty savior who's going to rescue us just by allowing himself to get whipped severely, nails put into his hands and feet and being left for dead until some devout followers (and still-observant Jews) come and have him cut down before sundown on the Sabbath.

Sounds like another "ghost story to scare the kiddies into behaving" type of thing. And then there's the whole "worthy is the lamb who was slain" thing. Yeah, Yeshua was a pretty upstanding dude...I mean, the most passionate of hippies--including my Druidic self--could get behind this fella. Not only did he have long hair and sandals, but he said some pretty deep, yet simple stuff like "Love thy neighbor," "Turn the other cheek," and "Take the plank out of your own eye before you remove the splinter in someone else's." But apart from some feelings of awe from his followers at his trippy tidings of joy (and believe me, I've felt that same awe at Jon Anderson's gorgeous, inspiring lyrics), I wanna know what qualifies Yeshua to be "worthy" of "being slain," which goes right into that whole "Lamb of God" thing.

The only remotely logical reason someone would create an ephithet like that is that waaay back when, animal sacrifices were made to God (or whatever deity the tribes decided was high enough--and therefore perhaps vindictive enough--to need regular appeasement) in order to be granted boons, favors or other special requests. The base of such requests was fear that the deity or deities in question would be angry at us humans for making some silly mistakes. Another fear-belief was that the deities supposedly had specific rituals that we were supposed to follow just for the sake of following the rituals, and if we did not do so on a regular basis, we'd be punished somehow.

Can you see how the concept of "if you are bad, God will punish you and send you to hell" might have gotten started? And of course, this extended into the whole "Santa Claus will give you coal if you are naughty" spiel parents often have given their children. Oh, the ideas we dream up to keep people under our petty tyrannies of fear and mind control.

As for Idea #2?

The part of me that continues to believe in Love, Peace and all that good stuff keeps telling me that what will 'save us' from our 'sins' is not the whole crucifixion thing Yeshua went through. That was a very violent result of what he came here to do, but that's not really what we should be focusing on...neither that or the supposed 'resurrection' thing. Yes, the 'resurrection' might have happened literally, but I think it was more shamanic than anything.

No, I think the key to Yeshua's purpose on earth was to be yet another embodiment of the kind of heavenly love that might make you regret the things you've done, but you'll still feel accepted by the Divine Presence despite all that...because heaven is Home. What is true Home but being accepted and loved despite your missteps and failings? THAT is what will help humanity get it together again...that is what will stop us going wrong.

Love...

So perhaps I can once again feel comfortable with the word "savior" being applied to Yeshua. It's a bit of a messianic, apocalyptic hyperbole of a word, IMO, but if we apply what Yeshua set out to teach us, along with what Buddha has given us as well, then we'll perhaps have helped fulfill whatever mission it was that Yeshua set out to accomplish. Maybe he wasn't meant to "save us" outright...but that he was to kickstart us on a different way of being.

I have yet to puzzle it all out...all I know is:

1) I still enjoy the Nativity story because it signals a new beginning for humanity (and considering this guy was born, like the rest of us, of a female, I relish the notion that the Divine Feminine part of the Force was behind Yeshua's arrival all along!)

2) Christmas is definitely more than just Rudolph and Frosty, and paired with the Winter Solstice (known as 'Alban Arthuan' in the Druidic parlance) that we Pagans celebrate, the holidays are that much more magickal when all blended together. (Remember, I have that 'Happy-Everything' Sagittarius ascendant kind of running the show in my chart)

3) As always, no matter what you believe, the Time is Now...the Word is Love...

Blessed Be,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Somethin' About Yeshua...

2009-12-12T05:03:00.002-06:00

Christmas fast approaches. And even though I consider myself a Druidic sort, the scholarly "Happy-Everything" Sagittarian in me can never quite resist going back and revisiting the topic of Yeshua, aka "Jesus." After all, his birth has been celebrated on December 25th for centuries now, starting around 354 CE, within the Roman Empire.

This date is approximate, given one particular fact: The Jewish calendar is lunar and so the attempt to calculate the day based on solar measurement places the date of Yeshua's birth around December 25th...or April 6th, depending on the source of info. In fact, there has not yet been a month in which scholars have NOT tried to place Yeshua's arrival, simply because he was truly born so long ago, we don't know precisely when his birth actually took place. For all we know, it could have been December 25th and no one would truly be the wiser.

Oh, sure, my fellow Pagans are keen to argue that the December 25th date is also the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which also falls on the week of the Winter Solstice, a scientifically provable solar event, whether or not you are a Pagan or any other spiritual path. :-P My fellow Pagans--particularly the more vociferous ones--also opine that the date of December 25th was chosen solely for the purpose of converting the pagans of the time to Christianity.

Upon researching further, I discovered a few interesting tidbits.

In the year 354, (the earliest time recorded for celebrating Yeshua's birthday on the 25th of December), Constantius II, one of the sons of Emperor Constantine I, was Rome's head cheese, the direct predecessor to Julian, another of Constantine's sons. Julian himself went back to being a Roman Pagan, and thus earned the title "Apostate." But that's a topic for another time.

Constantius II partly subscribed to the philosophy of Arianism, NOT to be confused with "Aryanism." A church priest named Arius posed the question "Is Jesus unbegotten?" The upshot of this challenge to the more popular trinitarian view of Yeshua (The whole Father-Son-Holy-Ghost schmere) was that Yeshua was created like any other human soul, and Arius backed up his hypothesis by referencing John 14:28, in which Yeshua says that the father "is greater than I", and John 17:20-26, where Yeshua requests of his disciples to "become one as we are one." Both scriptures indicated, at least as far as Arius was concerned, more of a oneness of will and thought, rather than ultimate unity within a Trinity.

End result? Arius was branded a heretic, but his ideas ended up becoming the longest-running controversy within the Church. (This tells me he was likely onto something, at least philosophically speaking, because if something challenges the political powers-that-be, that means their ideas are not very solid and they darn well know it.)

So, what about Yeshua, anyway? Begotten or not? After all, the word "begotten," in this sense meant that the Divine Essence had always existed, and theforefore Yeshua did, too...that is, if one believed that Yeshua was the "only begotten Son of God."

Whether or not Yeshua was "begotten" or "unbegotten" does not necessarily matter to me, personally. His intent was Love, and that is that, to my mind. Same thing with the whole "Messiah" deal. The concept of his being "begotten" and the idea that he was THE Messiah are long-intertwined, but as far as I am concerned, Yeshua was simply a good, loving man with some pretty extraordinary gifts for healing, if the Synoptic Gospels have any ring of historical truth to them, regardless of what time they were written.

That being said...

Such an apocalyptic view of someone--ANYone--anticipated to be a Messianic figure in the time of John (Yohannan) the Baptist and Jesus (Yeshua) was a popular one, given that the Israelites were under the harsh thumb of Rome at the time. I mean, if I were in that time cycle, in that tribe of people, having to deal with the way Roman emperors made such dictatorial--and often cruel--decisions about the populace, I'd kinda be a bit anxious for some relief, political or religious, or a bit of both.

And when you put that anxiety together with some pretty convincing prophecies by Micah, Nahum, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and a bunch of others, you have a recipe for the multitudinous cries of "Save us!"

Add a pinch of "original sin" doctrine of one type or another, and you have a religious mixture that lends very well to the well-entrenched belief and action of "taking Jesus as one's personal savior," and "Jesus is the reason for the season" holiday cards and lighted yard signs at this rather magical time of year.

Do I believe in original sin, as put forth by many religious scholars and priests? No. I do not. "Adam and Eve" to me are simply symbological names given to the evolutionary jump from Homo Erectus to Homo Sapiens. In evolutionary theory, there existed no such being as "the Devil," no matter what form such a being might take. "Sapiens" is loosely translated, according to my inferences of the phrase "sapiential eschatology," as 'human being with the ability to think or reason.' "Sapiential eschatology" in this sense, is the concept of using reason to act in a 'Godly' manner, thereby not requiring God to intervene as far as the concept of the "end of the world" is concerned. Perhaps it is a philosophical stretch between one 'tribe' and another, but I think the Hopis said it best: "We are the ones we have been waiting for."

Besides, I have personally come to the conclusion that we never really were "separated" from the Divine in the first place. Okay, so we lower our vibrations in order to manifest in, and "operate" a physical body...but does this mean we are somehow "faulted" or "weak" because we are embodied spirits and have been this way since humans first existed as a result of some sort of "temptation"? Not by my reckoning. The only "hell" that exists is within our minds and hearts, in our false assumptions about ourselves and others, in our illusions about human nature ("we behave badly therefore we are inherently bad").

My point, and I do have one, in all this meandering around from subtopic to subtopic is this...

In my readings about Yeshua and other topics (inside and outside of my college religion classes), I have come to understand three salient ideas:

1) Yeshua very likely existed; he was raised in the extant faith of the time, but seemed to develop some very controversial ideas that, in the minds of the Sanhedrin, posed a religious threat to their power as well as a threat to Rome, who might punish the Israelites for "aiding and abetting" someone who might advocate the beginnings of a revolt against the Empire.

2) Yeshua did not come here to purposefully BE a revolutionary, though his ideas of "love your enemy" and to be self-sacrificing on behalf of someone else who is in trouble were certainly eyebrow-raisers. This dude was more like Gandhi or Buddha and less like the "uber-warrior" that the politicos of the time thought he might be.

3) Ultimately, he came here and showed us a very beautiful way to live in the Divine Light of Love.

Is the fact that his approximate birth date, (at least according to the Jewish calendar day, which has been roughly translated into the solar day of December 25th), happens to fall during the week of both Winter Solstice (a scientifically observable occurrence) and the old Roman holiday of Saturnalia a coincidence? We have no real way of discerning the factual truth of it, considering Yeshua was alive and kicking a good 2.5 millenia ago.

So perhaps we may be allowed to put aside our scientific hats for a time, and put on a more meditative mystic's robe, and ponder a while the mystery of the healer and teacher so many have come to revere. Whether or not he is some sort of "savior," is doubtful to my reasoning mind (what a burden that ephithet must be!), but what I am never doubtful of is what he taught, and what he taught can be used by the rest of us reasoning members of Homo Sapiens to better ourselves in the hopes that swords CAN be made into plowshares, that we will one day taste the sweet juice of peace and never again the bitter flavor of war.

In the words of my Yes-brothers: "The Time is Now, the Word is Love."

Always Love...

Brightest Holiday Blessings,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Divine Fabulousness

2009-12-08T07:34:00.000-06:00

I find it highly improbable that I would be referencing a book by a fashion maven in a blog that is supposedly devoted to "spiritual" things.

But I feel compelled to write anyway...

As I posted in my Foolbard blog, I just finished reading a book by gay fashion maven Simon Doonan. It's called "Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You."

And as I finished the last few delectably witty pages, chuckling till the end, I realized that in many ways, I could suggest this book be reviewed in "SageWoman." Okay, so SageWoman is not a fashion mag, but for me, the book he wrote was a nod from the Goddess Herself to be my own woman and not try to look like anyone else as far as how I use clothing and makeup to show my individuality. I am having difficulty finding the exact words to describe how I feel after getting this huge nudge from the Goddess-Force...

And how I would connect it to being more of what it might feel like to embody the myriad facets of the Goddess...Her Divine Fabulousness...that too is challenging my skills, and I think I'm a pretty decent writer.

Heh...unbidden, yet welcome, comes a line from a Jon-n-Vangelis song, into my head: "Be the Light you are." I think my Spirit Guide or Guides like to use the lines I like to bite me in the butt or hit me over the head if I'm talking or acting in a rather dense way. I, like other humans, can be a bit thick.

Anyhow, back to the book. Doonan writes that the allure inherent in being eccentrically glamourous is largely a state of mind. As a Witchy Woman, I can't argue with this. If we think we are not glamourous, we're not going to be...we're going to sit round the house all depressed and negative about ourselves. We especially do this if we're brought up to believe that glamour belongs to the wealthy and being wealthy is somehow bad...that old chestnut.

Yet, in magickal work, a 'glamoury' is nothing more than a mental charm, a spell cast to enhance what is already there, or even disguise a feature.

And what is the artful application of makeup, perfume and spiffy clothing that suits the wearer but a gigantic glamoury on not just others (think of a woman seeking out a date) but herself?

Scent alone has the unbelievable glamoury of either setting one's chakras spinning in sexual and even emotional arousal, or turning someone off completely because someone *else* wore that perfume or aftershave and that someone else broke hearts--perhaps including yours--like a squirrel breaks walnuts.

Okay, so I'm writing this to women, as a woman.

What about men who are eccentrically glamourous?

I can name a few...and it doesn't have anything to do with the clothing they wear or their orientation. Again, it's all about the allure...the mindset that they have about themselves that draws women--and even other men (gay or straight)--like bees to nectar.

Most people would call it charisma. But what is charisma but an enhanced glamoury--apart from being physically attractive?

It's sort of like 'Austin Powers' (Mike Myers) in the scene with the fembots in the first movie. They're all like, "You can't resist us, Mr. Powers." And Powers says, "Au contraire, baby! I think *you* can't resist *me*!" 'Austin' knows he's attractive, he knows he's got the mojo to get the ladies going in AND out of bed, so he figures he might as well live life to the fullest and enjoy the effect he has on women. Yet what really gives 'Austin' his allure is his UN-James-Bond-like sweetness and shyness...for instance, in the beginning credits for the first movie, one scene shows him hiding in a phone booth with a disguise on, hoping to outfox the ladies chasing after him...which is probably why they *are* chasing him to begin with...we ladies love a guy full of contradictions.

For us, that's what creates the allure a lot of the time.

Talk about your je-ne-sais-quoi and Divine Fabulousness! ;-)

Speaking of Divine Fabulousness, I seek to create some of that in my room later on, but I seriously need some of that fabulousness called 'shuteye.'

Blessed Be,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Learning Stuff...

2009-07-13T04:53:00.002-05:00

I recently finished Joe Vitale's "Hypnotic Writing" book. I had been reading it at work, and whilst I was in the tail end of the book, one of my Native American co-workers, Melissa, saw what I was reading and seemed curious about it.

So I told her, thinking "Okay, here is another potential writer friend." I don't know if she truly wants to be a writer, or she is simply seeking knowledge for its own sake (which isn't all bad). But yesterday, she asked me if I'd finished reading the book and when I said yes, she asked if I'd learned anything.

On the surface, it seemed like a silly question. If I didn't want to learn from that book, I wouldn't have read it. However...I've been turning that question over and over in my head, in my usual Virgo-midheaven tactic of overanalyzing stuff (or at least the potential thereof), and wondering if I didn't go through the book too quickly.

See, I get this feeling that the two Natives who have been the most friendly to me so far in the manner of wanting to get to know me (without being like Miss Queen Bee) don't take knowledge and learning lightly...and I would love to spend more time with them, in order to confirm those hunches. And I would dearly love to know more about their particular traditions. Not so I can steal them. Not only would it be silly of me to try, as I don't look a thing like a Native American (for starters) but it would be very disrespectful of me.

It is an interesting experience being around the Meskwaki people just by working at the casino. And that's understating things. Perhaps I am romanticizing things a bit, but from day one of getting my first approval letter from the Sac & Fox Gaming Commission, I have not once taken this whole opportunity lightly.

My co-workers may view the casino as just a place to earn money, but for me this experience represents an extraordinary range of thoughts, feelings and chances to start fresh with my life.

And it's an opportunity to experience being around those whose ancestors were here before mine ever were. And the more I am around them, the more I feel so, so torn, and so elated at the same time.

I've felt that way just being around Quentin, even though he does not choose to practice the traditions of his own people.

And I think, what is it that the Native Americans have or know that my own race does not? Am I or other modern members of my race even allowed to have such knowledge? Should we be allowed to have it, since we have deprived many First Nations members of their rights as human beings? To give you a better idea of how torn I feel, here is an example:

My heart couldn't even get into the usual 4th of July celebrations because my mind was on my new friends' tradition of Proclamation Day, something that is specific to the Meskwaki--it is their own way of claiming their 'State of Independence,' because they got smart and bought their own big piece of land from the US government and instead of it being a "reservation," it is considered a 'Settlement.' They took control of their own tribal destiny and owned it fair and square...not unlike the American colonists who took their destiny into their own hands, and created a new nation for themselves just because George III of England was basically being a controlling jackass.

...yet...years later, the Native Americans were viewed as lower than the black slaves...and then not much later many tribes were made to live on government-sanctioned reservations (with the obvious exception of the Iowa branch of the Meskwaki)...we Caucasians repeated similar, controlling mistakes our English ancestors made, only towards another race--a race that wasn't even "imported" from another country, but had been there many hundreds of years before the Puritans--or the Spanish conquistadors, if you're attuned to the Mesoamerican 'vibe.'

We took their lands, their sources of food. And now it seems many modern spiritual seekers are drawn to Native culture too (I am not exempt from feeling drawn, either), and are all too willing to incorporate it into their own practice without considering the feelings of those from whom they are taking such beautiful traditions and watering them down to suit European sensibilities. Is it any wonder that many tribal elders are fearful, angry and feeling rightfully disrespected?

Yet not all seekers are like that...some are indeed very respectful, and would honor the Native ways deeply and mindfully, in an effort to heal many centuries of cultural conflict, to build bridges of friendship based on mutual honesty and trust--albeit hard-earned trust. Still, there is the matter of ancestry --and all that karmic buildup that resulted--to be resolved. Because of this matter, how far deep should we Caucasians go into learning Native ways without disrespecting the paths of the Elders?

I think the most fair and balanced answer to this dilemma is from this one Native elder who told Druid priest Philip Carr-Gomm and his wife Stephanie that the white folks "need to make peace with their own ancestors." Once they do, "then they can come to us." I honestly can't argue with that.

It is knowing and feeling the power of that statement churning in my soul that brings me back to Melissa's question of whether or not I learned anything from "Hypnotic Writing."

It does not have so much to do with the actual topic of that book. But rather that the Native American and the Caucasian worlds are far enough apart in geographical and traditional ancestry, let alone philosophy of thought, as well as feeling and sensibility, that the way the First Nation peoples--at least those who still get to practice their ways--might view learning and knowledge is vastly different from the way Caucasians see it: cautious, humble and soulful in stark contrast to our tendencies to get high-n-mighty and more than a good deal self-important as we glibly cogitate, regurgitate then graduate.

And yet, the two Meskwaki people who have truly gotten curious enough about me--in a genuine way--are open to learning more about the Caucasian members of the human family, instead of being like Miss Queen Bee and making fun.

One of them, named Edwin, used the jazz music of a car commercial on tv to break the ice further with me, and asked me what music I liked. I told him about Jon Anderson and Vangelis' influence on me, and told him about two of my favorite of Jon's songs: "Change We Must," and "Hurry Home." He even took out a notebook and wrote down the titles of the songs to look up on YouTube.

I think if there is any Meskwaki person I'd want to get to know better, it's Edwin. His energy is quiet and soulful. He does not take himself too seriously, I don't think, but he seems willing to deeply consider any new, incoming information that he thinks he might learn from. I did notice that he seems to be a deeply spiritual man...he was reading a book called "Welcome, Holy Spirit."Based on this one observation, I can probably assume that he is most likely a Christian, but given most well-known Native perceptions of what the Holy Spirit is like, I would be deeply interested to know and understand his take on the book he was reading.

He asked me what book I was reading, and I showed him my copy of "Way of the Peaceful Warrior," by Dan Millman. I told him that a movie had been made of the book and asked if he'd heard of it before. He said he hadn't. I wonder if he will ask me about it later or simply Google it.

And underneath all this mental chatter about my new friends, I am wondering if all my own searching within as a result of beginning work at the casino has attracted certain people within the tribe to begin to speak with me and be friends. I mean, I didn't necessarily ask the Universe specifically about becoming friends with at least some of the Meskwaki. But if we're talking specifics...why Melissa and Edwin and not others of the tribe? "Vibe" match, I suppose. :-P

I know...I am probably analyzing this experience into the ground, but still, wrapping my head and my heart around this whole thing has been one heck of a ride.

I have spent much time on this and not enough time in my Dreamwalking. I better go grab at least *some* semblance of shuteye. Perhaps Brother Lizard will guide me to deeper understanding through my dreams as to any underlying reasons or purposes why the Universe led me so quickly to a job at the casino.

Blessed Be,
Rev. Kat ^.^

State of Independence for Jon and the Issue of Owning One's Power

2009-06-15T03:11:00.006-05:00

Twice in a row.

Twice. That is how many times the rest of the Yes-boys have decided not to tour with Jon as their captain, leader and front man.

I found this out from Jon himself on his Facebook wall. I could tell he was disappointed by this, yet still hopeful for next year.

While this allows Jon a bit of extra recoup time to regain the strength to withstand the emotional and physical rigors of touring, they did not call up Jon to ask him whether or not he was up to touring with them. They decided on their own.

Or did Chris Squire pull another fast one and Steve and Alan, et. al just went along for the ride, taking that cheeky tribute-band upstart Benoit David along with them? I don't mind Oliver Wakeman being on keyboards, as he is Rick's son. That is not a big problem with me.

What I have a deep-down problem with, is behavior from Chris that has always seemed like near-mutiny ever since Jon got sick and Chris re-announced the tour after hiring Mssr. David. I am not the only one who feels this way. I have a friend over at MySpace who also does not get a very nice vibe from Chris. Our feelings were confirmed when one of us read how contentious Chris could be sometimes.

Well, he never did claim to be the truly spiritual sort.

It is, as many of us humans have discovered, far easier to get angry and stay that way, not forgiving easily. So for Jon to sit back, take it on the chin once more, yet forgive them all and still claim them as brothers and hope for a tour next year...that takes a seriously evolved soul, not to mention gobs of courage.

And you wonder why I admire him, beyond his sun-god voice and winning smile? ;-)

Yeah...his soul. He seems to have the strength to say, "Okay, I'm not touring with them. They want it like that for now. Maybe next year...so, in the meantime, perhaps I can do some touring and singing on my own."

It's not like he doesn't have a decent solo career anyway...still, I wonder how many times they will dis Jon and jeopardize the band's future before he sighs and says, "Enough is enough. I'm officially retiring from the band and doing my own thing...maybe get back with the School of Rock, or something."

If he does that, well, it will be a sad day for Yes fans who remember fondly the times they saw Jon with the others in concert umpteen years ago, because quite frankly, Jon IS the true heart and soul of Yes. And for that soul to permanently go away because Jon might finally get tired of the mutiny the other Yes-boys have committed would pretty much sound the final death knell for the group. Because as I've observed on MySpace and Facebook, there are not very many people who want to see the Yes-ship without Captain Jon Anderson at the helm.

But it might be a state of beautiful independence for this lovely man who has not once deserved the crap Chris has dealt him.

Sooo....Vangelis, Kitaro, Mike Oldfield, wherever you guys are, or whatever you're doing, if you have a mind to, you might want to give your old musical comrade Jon Anderson a call, and he'll set his Moorglade on a course your way...

And he'll just keep on pouring out the lovely vibrational beacon he's been sending out to people all these years, with or without the other Yes-dudes.

Because Jon is his own man...he plots his own course, Goddess bless him.

And therefore, whether or not he is with Yes, he is *my* captain as well, even though I'm not with the band.

Because he inspires me to own my own power, my own energy, and not let anyone else try to dictate my course of life. Of course, you might say, "Well, isn't allowing yourself to be inspired by others giving them your energy?"

Not necessarily, my friends. One can be inspired by someone one admires and still own one's own power. For instance, I never would have picked up the guitar again if I had allowed other people's ideas about my desire to purchase one of my own dictate whether or not I saved back the money for the instrument.

But I remembered how much I enjoyed learning the guitar back in college, despite the fact that the guitar I had was my dad's and it was too big for me. I was already feeling my oats about wanting to learn songwriting on the guitar just because it's far more portable than a baby grand piano.

On top of that, Jon's music just kept on feeding the fire inside my heart to get back to my own musical talents, and the more I heard his considerable skill on the guitar, I thought, "To heck with whatever anyone else says, even my own dad, because damn it, I can't not write music and sing."

Next thing I knew I was in a pawn shop, plucking the downtuned strings of a used Ibanez, and the sound-energy just snaked through me, causing me to vibrate and I said, "Guitar, you are SO mine!"

And now that lovely piece of carved, hollowed (hallowed?) wood is sitting in its beautiful burgundy-red-lined case (how appropriate a color for plumbing the cthonic depths of the soul!) against my east-facing wall.

"...my sun shall rise in the east...so shall my heart be at peace..."

With Jon as my Muse, keeping that peace in my heart is not very difficult...;-)

Here's to discovering your own source of inspiration, your own Muse, whoever that may be and may you drink long and heartily from it all the rest of your days.

BB and Namaste,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Fear...

2009-06-12T15:48:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I didn't wait THAT long to post about fear.

And it's a loaded topic, with so many twists and turns that it would take weeks and weeks of blogging to unravel it.

Science has its explanations of the physical changes that accompany the emotion of fear. But do the chemicals make the fear? Or does the emotion of fear spark the chemical response?

Fear, as it is understood in both psychology and anthropology, is survival-based. It has its roots in our hunter-gatherer origins. I know this statement is oversimplified, but I'm blogging before work and I need to make this brief.

Natural fear reactions, just as they are, are natural. We are here on this planet. We live, we breathe, we grow. We're animals, and we want to stay alive, perhaps for no other purpose than to experience being human and to pass on our human genetic code to future generations.

But if there is one thing I have noticed about humanity, is that along with our larger skulls, larger brains (and in the view of natural selection, the idea that larger genitalia make for better survival of the species), we seem to have also developed notions of:

Rank or class
Superiority/Privileges (or lack thereof) based on rank or class
Inferiority/Privilges (or lack thereof) based on rank or class

Granted, other species also have something of a hierarchy, but their associations seem to be based more on physical size rather than finances or expertise in one field or another.

We humans, however, seem to attach much emotion and meaning to the above notions of rank, class, privilege, inferiority/superiority. We manipulate and shove people around emotionally and mentally because of these attachments, creating fear in people where there was none, originally.

Why? What's the purpose? Is it ancient, primal survival tactics that are merely blended in with modern times and the development of currency?

If that's all it is, the notions of financial and educational equality have been achieved to great success in many parts of the world.

But what of religious fear and the use of power and cruel manipulation to make the "common people" do what the people in power want done, supposedly in the Divine Name?

That, my friends, I have never understood, and I am still trying to wrap my head round it.

I am on a high right now, listening to Jon Anderson's "Toltec" album, so I am not necessarily in a very "academic" mood. ;-)

BB and Namaste,
Rev. Kat ^.^

The Mystical and Concrete

2009-06-12T13:16:00.002-05:00

I've come to a rather disturbing understanding of an aspect of myself.

For all my mysticism, I can be very concrete in my thinking at times.

And I wonder why. Where do I get these hardcore ideas and why do I attach so much meaning to them?

And do these ideas become hardcore BECAUSE I'm so attached to them?

Is it that part of me that is so zealot-like? I know I can be that way...having very limited ideas about the world, even if they are high-flight mystical notions that I tend to treasure like Gollum treasures the One Ring.

And then I turn around and gripe about the zealots whose ideas are opposite my own, that I feel are harmful to human freedom and free will on many levels.

To which do I object more: their harmful ideas, or their stubborn, childish hardheadedness that makes it impossible for other ideas to come into their minds and soften their position and thoughts?

I've a gut feeling that it's the stubbornness, the hardheaded attitude that causes the problems. Fear, I am sure, is the root. But there's part of me that says "Surely it is not as simple as that."

But what if it IS as simple as that? And why DO we fear in the first place?

That's another ponderance for another time.

Dreams and Visions, Brought To You By the Geico Gecko...(j/k!)

2009-06-11T02:42:00.003-05:00

Another very strange, very powerful dream occurred. Last one was about ETs and leadership, the deeper meaning of which still rather has me befuddled. I may do some Tarot work to clear that up.

This newest one was about vocation, career, life path. Not surprising since this is what I've been focusing on lately.

What DID surprise me consisted of the following elements:

1) My boyfriend and I are in the house (very well-appointed, I might add) of a leader of this odd spiritual sect that has recently garnered much favor in people's eyes. He also has a wife and children. One of them, the nine-year-old, is sort of skinny, frail and a bit like Charlie Brown in that he does not, by nature, have much hair, or that it is so light and fuzzy that it makes the child appear slightly bald. His brother is also skinny, but much older at seventeen, with a mop of fine, dark hair hanging past his collar. They do not play too much of a role in my dream, except as a natural part of the background, and that they are like their father: ancient and wise beyond their years.

2) He invites us both to stay overnight, as it is late and the service/workshop of his we recently attended has just ended. Plus, I am also there to answer his advertisement for a manager's position in a New Age shop he owns. He would be the boss, fronting the money for product purchases and whatnot, but allowing the manager to run the shop as he/she saw fit, trusting that he/she would use their intuition to know what the business needed to thrive.

3) We go ahead and stay over, sleeping in a bed that is situated in the man's very large personal study, as it's the only guest bed in the house, despite the large amount of square-footage of the home. When we awaken, the man is sitting across from us in his chair. I can now see his face and it is quite craggy, as if his face were carved rock. He also feels quite old...MUCH much older than he looks.

4) It is now that I begin to perceive that he is not as he seems. Not that he is "bad" or "evil," but simply hiding something about his true nature from me. The scene switches and we are all in the kitchen, sitting at his dining table. His first words to me, as he looks me squarely in the eye, are: "You don't really want that manager's position, do you? I know you. As soon as you become ensconced in that job, you'll be wishing you could work on your writing and music. Please be honest with yourself."

5) His wife, who wears Coke-bottle glasses and long ash-blonde hair says, "Yes. I was the same way...going from job to job, wishing I was doing what burned in my heart. Now I have created my dream job, my life's work, and I couldn't be happier."

6) The man and his wife ask Q and me to stay for dinner. Q wants to get going and leave, but I ask him if we could stay, as I felt it would be rude to refuse a meal when they were being so hospitable. Plus I want to speak more with them both. Q agrees and we sit down to a meal of cheesy vegetables and a side of leaves, twigs and flowers with insects in them.

My thought upon awakening was "Who the heck was this guy?" and then it dawned on me that "Lizard," a power animal from Stephen Farmer's Power Animal Oracle Deck had been showing up in my readings of late, representing Dreams and Visions.

I HAD to look up the diet of a lizard, particularly that of the type of lizard featured on the card. Aye, sure enough...most lizards are insectivores, with some enjoying many varieties of fruit.

This suggested to me that perhaps the man was the Lizard totem in disguise, because why else would insects show up on the menu? And there WAS that odd feeling of something being hidden from me...not to mention the man's feeling of being ancient despite his relatively youthful appearance (he looked like he was in his 50s or 60s). Lizards also represent Primal, Ancient energy, which might explain that "ancient" feeling from the man.

Again, as I said, even his kids felt older and much wiser than their years--though one was playing video games and one was simply happy to run around the room with a balsa-wood model plane in his hands. I didn't see the eyes of the 17-yr-old, but the eyes of the 9-yr-old were deep hazel-blue, beautiful, thoughtful as well as playful, as if he were meant to take his father's spiritual reins later on in life--and was more than willing to do it because he knew what his father was doing was correct: healing and guiding folks to better-lived lives.

Anyhow, I really doubt this dream needs much more interpretation than what I gave it just because it was THAT vivid and powerful...

So far the themes have been:

Leadership/Answering a Call
Being Honest With Myself about My Vocation.

Yeah, pretty powerful stuff, I'd say.

BB, and Namaste,
Rev. Kat ^.^

So Long Ago, So Clear..

2009-03-25T01:01:00.004-05:00

So long ago so clear...

...are the memories of when I first became aware of the way people treat each other sometimes...

So long ago so clear...

...are the memories of when I first heard the sunlike, sparkling voice of Jon Anderson when I was 8 years old...and I still cannot get enough of his voice, his lyrics, his songs...

So long ago so clear...

...are the memories of when I first went off to college at 18, so desperate to be on my own, yet not knowing the financial ramifications of doing so without a lot of my own money, not knowing what I really wanted, not knowing how burnt-out I'd be from the pressure to do everything and be everything to everyone...losing my True Self in the process...

So long ago so clear...

...are the memories of when I heard more of Jon's work with Vangelis, plus got fully introduced to his being front man for Yes (thanks to a long-ago acquaintance in a New Age chatroom)...and I began my journey Home to my Real Self...

I no longer felt, or feel, alone. I felt, and feel like there is a kindred, but older, spirit lighting my way...so that I can light the way for others...

Maybe that last phrase sounds a bit egotistical...but is it egotistical to want to pay forward all the Universal Love and Peace I feel within the music of my favorite musician and his co-collaborators, both of whom continually inspire me to continue on my personal Quest?

Is it egotistical to want to share how it feels to finally know what it is to divest oneself of all the pain, hurt and anger, simply by sitting and absorbing--not just listening to--beautiful words that can bring one back from the edge of one's personal hell, and close to--and even over--the edge of knowing one's True Self?

I may never get to meet Jon in person, but in the Universal scheme of things, I feel I know him anyway...I feel I know his soul, at least through his music...but most importantly, I know what he means to a lot of other people, too. He's not just a front man for a prog-rock band, nor is he just an entertainer with a beautiful voice and instrumental talent from here to his old hometown and back again.

He's someone who's come here from the stars to remind us all of the peace and beauty of Home.

...So to think how far I've come, spiritually...oh, sure, I've put in my own efforts..but...how much extra effort would I have put in had I not known Jon's music?

'Tis something I think about...particularly on my birthday (or thereabouts).

Can't help it...it comes with the territory of realizing where I am in life and how much further I have to go...

...and how I've not completed my Earthly missions just yet.

Blessings and Namaste,

Rev. Kat ^.^

Thoughts Surrounding my Birthday

2009-03-23T23:16:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is my birthday. And tomorrow, according to Central Standard Time, is in 40 minutes.

And I am staring right into the face of my own personal crunch time.

I will be 31 years old. It has been seven years since I moved back in with my parents after trying to live on my own, and it has been almost six years since I met Quentin.

What I am facing is this:

1) I am hypothyroid and overweight, with PCOS on top of everything, which is going to make it very difficult for me to get pregnant without the aid of the medical community. A woman's childbearing years are limited, and the older a woman gets, the higher the risk is for Down's syndrome. Not sure I want to face that risk.

2) Quentin and I don't have our own place yet, and he just got laid off. I've also been unemployed for a good year and a half.

3) I want to get my own creative career going pronto, for my own emotional and financial peace of mind. I look at where Jon Anderson and Vangelis were, career-wise in relation to how old they were when they first collaborated (Jon was 31, not quite 32, and Vangelis would have been 32, not quite 33)...and by comparison, I feel so far behind...especially when I look at Jon's daughter Jade, who's already made something of a name for herself, and she is two years younger than I am.

I think part of my problem is, I have so many ideas in my head, so many things I want to do in my life, and it feels so overwhelming that I have troubles just getting started as there are things I still don't know and sometimes the learning curve for certain things is so sharp that I spend more time learning than I spend time actually DOING the things that require all that study.

Then just yesterday I read something in an article about Beyonce' Knowles. She said something to the effect that she picks and chooses which projects are going to enrich her and pay dividends emotionally and spiritually in the long term. The key words here are "enriching in the long term."

And this young woman is not only beautiful with a beautiful voice, her work ethic is unbelievably strong. She'll push forward with one more run-through of a song when everyone else is pushing her to take five. I just hope she doesn't push herself so hard she lets herself get run down, physically. I know it takes a lot of work to execute your goals, but there's gotta be some balance, and I'd like to know how she works it all out. The Goddess-of-Mystery-Force is definitely with Beyonce'. ;-)

*My* problem right now is, I am a night owl, and in order to get things done, the necessary thing to do is wake up early. So how do I get myself to stop working even after my favorite TV programs are over ("Paranormal State" on Mondays at 9 and "Hell's Kitchen" on Thursdays at 8)? Because when those shows are over, I am compelled to come back upstairs and pound out just one more Hub at HubPages or read others' Hubs, or write on my stories.

And I'd *really* also want to focus on my spiritual studies, and it's tough to do that when the siren call of typing on the computer (whether or not I'm working) gets very loud. So...what kind of solution can I come up with to get me to switch off the computer and devote some time to restoring my spirit and Self?

Something tells me an alarm clock of some sort might help me. Maybe I'll take a look at the Opera widgets before I go spending money.

Anywho, I'll close off for now, and report back later.

BB,

Rev. Kat ^.^

Springtime for Me and my Blog...

2009-03-16T14:43:00.004-05:00

Since it is almost spring, I figured I'd change up the colors on my blog...I wanted a minty green background, but the turquoise-ish text that is in my post "Springing up Synchronicities" (March 2nd) for some reason can't be changed now, and therefore doesn't show up well against the pale green. Not sure why the text editor is not letting me change that turquoise color. And I am having that dream interpreted by someone over at personaltarot.net, so I don't want to completely change that post for the sake of readability till my email's been replied to.

Anyhow, it is a beautiful, almost-spring day...and Ostara is almost here! Woohoo! Time to go write some Hubs I think...after I do some Tarot work, that is. ;-)

Blessings and Namaste,

Rev. Kat ^.^

Perfection and Adaptation...

2009-03-16T12:35:00.004-05:00

Okay, I am laughing at myself right now because I had a blog post with quite the word count going, and I accidentally clicked a button on my browser that took me to a completely different page. I hit the 'back' button, thinking that the "draft autosave" would have kept my words in the cache.

Yeah, right.

What met my eyes instead was a blank text editor with just the title of my post.

This Homer Simpson "D'OH!" moment was brought to you by this one lesson:

Don't expect perfect results from your efforts every time, especially on this planet, 'cause you ain't gonna get it.

If things don't turn out according to plan, who's keeping score, anyway? You? Your parents? Grandparents? Neighbors? Yeah, they're all just waiting for you to screw up, aren't they?

But what if they're not? What if it's all in your mind, this incessant drive to do things right all the time and never make mistakes, never mess up? That sort of thinking can lead you down the road to extinction...a supposed mistake in a piece of DNA code, for example, could be a blessing in disguise...an adaptation that helps your end of the gene pool learn to survive on this planet even better than before.

So even if our mistakes make us look funny, shouldn't we be the first ones to laugh at ourselves? Not so much to beat others to the punch, but to laugh at how idiotic we can be by thinking that mistake should never have been made.

Yeah, sure, we all want things to come out right, like our attempts at a difficult recipe. But what if we don't have the recommended ingredients, yet have substitutes that would work just as well? Or if we think one ingredient is the same as another and we discover that we were wrong--yet it works in a fairly similar way, just not in the way that the recipe recommends?

I would think that sort of instance is a good way of learning to adapt and think on one's feet, instead of whining and crying about how our recipe doesn't look precisely the way it does in the cookbook or magazine. I think of it this way, when it comes to cooking...as long as it tastes good, as well as looks good, then why should it matter if the recipe's not followed to the letter? If the general intent is there, despite the substitutions, then people will most likely dig in and munch.

Meaning that, in other situations, if you did your best at something, most people will accept that it is your best, for the time being, and not have a major problem with your efforts. So it's not really worth spending the extra energy beating yourself up for things not going according to plan--especially if you know you did your best.

Yeah, I know. There *are* people that try to keep score, just because they're more interested in being right than being happy.

Which tells us that they got taught to feel insecure about their own doings. They, too, are caught in the web, the cycle of lies and deceit that comes with the mentality of extreme perfectionism.

But you know what? Once you realize you've been lied to that way, you can break that chain within yourself and say, "I do not have to be that way anymore. I do not have to compete with them for energy and attention."

How to break that chain, then?

Everyone's got their own methods, so I'm not going to say how you should do it. Besides, it's better if you come up with your own ways of breaking such cycles, because those ways would have *your* personal signature that you alone can resonate with. And even if you borrow ideas of coping and healing from other people, you still end up molding them to how *your* brain operates. But if you still think you have to follow those other people's ways to the letter, then you are completely missing the point.

I oughta know. I've been retraining my own mind to get out of those idiotic agreements I made with myself about all of what I just wrote: the perfectionism, the do-it-right-the-first-time attitude, that sort of thing.

Like I said in a previous post...this is all one Big Dream...and we all share it. I would think it's time to wake the heck up!

Blessings and Namaste,
Rev. Kat ^.^

The Big Dream...

2009-03-16T00:17:00.004-05:00

Recently, I've been re-reading Don Miguel Ruiz's "The Four Agreements," as part of my decision to start from the very beginning with regards to my work in the realm of magickal manifestation. I chose the Pagan path back around the Summer Solstice about eight years ago, and sadly, my studies have been rather hodge-podge and scattered here and there as it's taken me a while to really home in on what I feel to be the Truth of Reality.

Of course, one of my chief focal points of study is Druidry, a deep nod to my Celtic ancestry. It feels right to study and practice this, so this is one of my main branches of my personal "World Tree." So why the Toltec wisdom book, when I'm the Druidic sort?

Because I deeply feel that wisdom is wisdom, no matter what faith path you travel.

The Source of that Wisdom informs the myriad beautiful spiritual ideas that exist. Any path you travel that contains the highest expressions and ideals of Love, Truth, Beauty and Ultimate Wisdom, is the sort of path that will feed your soul and never tell you that any other path is supposedly wrong and that you must convert all to your ideas.

The paths that tell you that any other path is wrong and that it is somehow the "one true religion" are trying to sell you a bill of goods that turn more and more sour the longer you stick with them. They are simply products of this Big Dream we all share.

If you are happy with Christianity, Judaism or Islam, that is fine. They each have their merits if you look beyond the thick veneers of dogma that humanity has placed over each of these religions, and really begin to see the core, the seed of the best ideas of those paths. The root of all of these is honoring the Force within...and the Force is Love.

It is simply a pity and a shame that people have wasted millenia trying to claim each is somehow the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, when all you have to do is look at your neighbor without that mask of fear, without the mask of the Big Dream, the illusion of separateness, and see the core of the Love of the Great Spirit within.

When you learn to look at your neighbors this way, the Big Dream reveals itself as a dream, and you can't help but laugh at the silliness of it all: the fear, the dogma, the made-up rules and attachments to false ideas we create because we don't understand how this or that could happen, let alone why.

So how *do* we learn to look at our fellow human beings as the sparks that we all are?

How do we begin to see in each man and woman BOTH the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine?

By learning to dig down deep and rid ourselves of all the self-hatred based on the lies we got told about ourselves. Not an easy task, to be sure. But it is something we must learn to do for ourselves, to begin to heal, to begin to see ourselves as we really are: Divine sparks of Heaven come to explore and play around with being the creature called a Human Being.

And once we have healed ourselves, then we can begin to help heal others, for once we see ourselves as Divine Sparks, we see others this way and we can help them see how beautiful they truly are...that the veneers of depression, anger, fear and trained reactions are just that...veneers, illusions...part of the Big Dream.

And we can help others realize that we are brothers and sisters in this Dream, that we are meant to understand that it is a Dream and we can create anything we want to within this Dream, thus laughing at, and thereby throwing out the raggedy old conceptual towels called powerlessness, victimhood and fatalism.

Speaking of dreams...time for me to go visit the Dreamtime...

Blessings and Namaste,
Rev. Kat ^.^

"I Has a Amazon Store!" Says the LOL-Kitty.

2009-03-12T11:29:00.006-05:00

LOLKat: "O Hai! I has a Amazon.com store!"

Umm, yeah...sorry...my inner LOL-Cat is being playful. Too much icanhascheezburger.com.

*ahem* Anyway...

I'm writing to announce my new Amazon.com affiliate store, "Kat's Treasures From the Divine." It consists of various items that have inspired both my spiritual path and my path as a writer and musician, and of course, the two have always been braided together. My main goal is to balance and blend such things, and make Earth a bit more heavenly to live on.

Not just for myself but for others.

And I couldn't live with myself if I didn't pay forward all the inspiration the Living Force has given me through Jon Anderson, Vangelis, Enya and many, many others.

So I made a store at Amazon to do just that, until I can create my own music. And if you got to my store from here, there's a link on my store back to this blog.

Oh, and if you visit other places I've written, such as HubPages (my username there is 'bardscribe'), you'll probably see a link to my store woven within my hubs from time to time, depending on the content of the Hub.

LOLKat says: "O Hai! I almost forgot...here iz teh link 2 teh Amazon store:

http://astore.amazon.com/fool-20

kthxbye!"

Until later, and Namaste,

Rev. Kat ^.^

Springing Up Synchronicities

2009-03-02T22:50:00.004-06:00

Happy March!

I am opening this post by sharing with you the fact that I have been having some very interesting experiences lately.

One of these experiences is repeated confirmations of the last part of a dream involving a UFO and its inhabitants.

I am hereby reposting pertinent sections of the blog post I wrote over at MySpace, just so you can get a sense of how recent confirmations of the dream have made me feel:

(FEB 12th, 2009)
Over the course of the past few years, I have had recurring freaky dreams of UFO's shining their lights into the windows of a house I am staying in, whether it be my parents' home or that of my boyfriend and his own folks.

I had a similar dream just the other night, but it changed a bit. In this dream, I am in my parents' basement. It's night-time of course, and there is this huge flash of blue light coming through the basement window over the clothes dryer. As usual, I'm rather freaked out and want to hide, but in this dream, my dad notices the light and seems to know what's going on, so he tells me to walk up to the window and show myself to the UFO, to let whoever is in there know that I am waiting for their message, if they have one.

So I go ahead and walk past the window, not liking the idea of them seeing me, still wanting to hide like before, but I suck it up and do it anyway.

Instantly I get this strong thoughtform of..."leadership, being a leader," and precisely who the beings are in the ship.

Still freaked out, but in an awestruck sort of way, I hurry back
over to my dad who is calmly watching TV, and I say something to the effect of, "They want ME to be a leader...the Pleiadians.....they want me to be a leader."

I wake up, still feeling a bit frightened, but the thoughtform is still thrumming through my midsection...

(End original post)

So where are the confirmations coming from?

Well, one major source has been the channeled messages from Sedona Journal. The other sources have been various synchronicities that seem to have followed on the heels of this dream, especially that of discovering a Jon Anderson song I'd not heard of prior to having the dream in question. (Scroll down to see this blog's post for Thursday, Feb 19th)

And I am still not sure what to make of it all, except I cannot ignore the feeling in my gut that I should heed these synchronicities...I just know that I feel I am on the right track for what I need to be doing with my life.

And it is definitely NOT standing behind a counter asking customers "D'ya want a combo meal with that?"

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Interesting Confirmation

2009-02-28T11:40:00.002-06:00

Just yesterday, I was reading a channeled message in a special prediction issue of "Sedona Journal," and the entity being channeled said something about remaining positive despite seeming setbacks is what will help ease the transition from one way of living to another. Now, I'm paraphrasing here, mind you, but that's the gist of the thoughtform.

While racking my brain for something to blog about, I came across a headline via BBC News Online, that mentioned something fairly similar...that remaining positive about things coming back to normal will actually be just as self-fulfilling, maybe more so, as being pessimistic.

Which confirms my own personal feelings that things will bounce back after a time. We *are* having to recover from an 8-year barrage of ultimate negativity. Our economy would have recovered just fine after 9/11 if the former prez had just left things alone and not gone and assumed that Saddam was behind things. That was just countering negativity with negativity.

But then, perhaps we can use the results of the previous president's misdeeds to spring forward and think of something new. If we allow ourselves to change, that is.

Then again, whether or not we allow ourselves to change, change we must, no matter what our egos try to tell us.

BB,
Kat ^.^

A New Header

2009-02-25T02:37:00.002-06:00

For the last two days, Jon Anderson's song "Change We Must" has been floating through my head, stirring the pot of creative inspiration.

On top of that, the New Moon was yesterday. I had a germ of an idea for a computer wallpaper/background, and I kind of knew the colors I wanted in it, but that was about it.

I wanted to do something splashy, but sadly, my drawing skills do not match my very inspired feelings a lot of the time.

But as my wallpaper developed within my sketchpad (thank heavens for watercolor pencils and talking to myself!), I realized how simple my idea could be and still be nice-looking and even somewhat spiritually effective.

Okay, so it's not the Roger Dean work I had up there originally. I will probably put that one back up once I am done showing off my own work. :-P

At least until my own skills improve, anyway.

Anyhow, I rather hope you enjoy what I created. I'm honestly rather proud of it, actually, but my goal *is* to improve.

BB,
Kat ^.^

New Blog/Website Discovery and a Bit of a Ramble.

2009-02-24T00:27:00.005-06:00

It took me a long time to StumbleUpon a spirituality-related web page tonight.

First the wireless signal was acting up. In wireless' current stage of mere toddlerhood as Windows/Linux compatibility issues are concerned, a wonky signal is a constant reminder to me to cultivate patience. Something that we Aries people are not best known for.

Then once the signal steadied out after many reboots (my 32-bit processor probably wants to attack me "verbally" in machine language. It's a good thing I don't understand "binary." :-P), it took me two and a quarter hours just to find something related to this blog.

What I did discover was a beautiful blog called "Open Spirit," which you will see over in the blogroll. It's written by a lady named Elsa Joy, and she's got a larger website, with her name as the domain.

I only just discovered the blog and the main website today, but I am keeping it in my list of favorite bookmarks.

In her most recent post, Elsa asks what we've fallen in love with today. What an exercise to remind us to be more in the present!

Well, as for what I fell in love with today...

1) My new hairstyle. I needed a cut, and found an adorable style that is not only good-looking on me, but is also practical and business-like. Best of both worlds.

2) I fell in love all over again with Devonshire clotted cream. Not only am I a long-abiding Anglophile, I do feel like I have a British soul even while having been born here in the US (why else would I be more into Yes and the Beatles than any bands from the US?).

So when my future M-I-L and I discovered a British foods store in the town where we usually do our shopping, I was over the moon and back again. On our first visit, we bought just one tiny jar each of this Devonshire clotted cream (pasteurized to keep US officials quiet), plus scones, of course! It didn't take me long to dig into my jar of the clotted cream and fall completely, head-over-heels in love with it. Especially when I took the storeowner's suggestion of pairing it with strawberry jam, a long-time custom over in the UK, apparently. You can well imagine my Sagittarius-rising foodie heart kicking up her centaurian heels at finding a new source of Divine culinary pleasure. Oh, and I discovered the whole sardines-on-toast thing, another something they've done often over in Britain.

(If anyone is curious as to where Devonshire is, if I remember correctly, it is fairly close to Wales.)

Oh, and yes, I did go back to the British foods store and get myself a larger jar of the clotted cream. Heaven in a jar straight from Albion (an old name for England.)

Is it any wonder that William Blake wrote the poem "Jerusalem"? If you're not familiar with the poem, check them out as lyrics to Charles Hubert Hastings Parry's tune, which got used in the 1982 movie "Chariots of Fire," one of my many favorite flicks.

My favorite verse is the second, which was the inspiration for the movie's title:

"Bring me my bow of burning gold,
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear, oh clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!"

Now...pair this soul-searing poetry with that stunningly spacey score from Vangelis, and it's a match made in Avalonian heaven...not unlike Jon Anderson and Vangelis' collaborations which make me feel like I'm about to turn into some big phoenix and be reborn again and again, leaving my old life behind me.

Ahhh, the life of a mystic.

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Beautiful Food for Floating on the Clouds of Bliss

2009-02-19T02:27:00.003-06:00

Normally, I only post here on Mondays, but I absolutely MUST share this YouTube video with you.

It is a video set to Jon Anderson's song "Change We Must," from the album of the same name.

Between Jon's ever-so-beautiful voice, lyrics and music, and the visual graphics, I was floating by the time I got done listening to and watching the video for the third or fourth time...

And I'm not kidding. This is pure float-on-a-cloud Goddess-honoring blissful music!

With the following video, I bid you good night.

Dreams and Horoscopes

2009-02-16T16:33:00.004-06:00

I was talking with my mom in the kitchen this afternoon while having a snack. She said she'd read my horoscope. She didn't say whether it was yesterday's or today's. Doesn't matter, since Time is an illusion. :-P

Anyhow, she said my horoscope said something along the lines of improving my culinary skills, wanting to try new recipes.

Whoa.

For once, a newspaper/internet-based daily horoscope was accurate. But since nothing is written in stone with regards to one's chart, astrology mostly represents potentials for this, that or some other event or occurrence.

Still, I found it interesting that the most recent horoscope was actually reflecting what I have been thinking about lately: looking through my Vegetarian Times magazine issues for relatively easy, budget-friendly recipes.

I have been wondering also what it would be like to go to culinary school, especially one that focuses on healthy eating. I have no problem fixing meat for others if they want to eat it, but I choose not to eat it myself, for personal health reasons, let alone the ethics of vegetarian/pescatarian cuisine. But I would *prefer* learning at a vegetarian-centered school. But the only one that *I* know of, that's been advertised in "Shambhala Sun," "Vegetarian Times" and "Yoga Journal" is this one that's way out in New York.

And finding a veg cooking school in the Midwest, a region known for beef, pork and chicken, is likely slim to none. :-/ And finding a place that also focuses on organic? HA! I might as well start my own school here in the Midwest with those objectives, because in Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska, vegetarian eating, let alone organic fare is usually only found in the larger cities.
But it would be great to get more Midwestern people hooked on organic eating at all, let alone the vegetarian path.

I think if I was going to start a school like that, and I went ahead and featured a vegetarian/pescatarian frame of study, with a meat option (for those who insist on using beef, pork and chicken), I would want to try to get my meat from free-range and even kosher-kill sources. Because if I cannot hunt for it, it has to be purchased. And if I purchase it, I want also to be sure that the animal is kosher killed (plus find a way to learn kosher cooking), so if there were any observant Jews in my school, they would feel comfortable being there.

Also, because I would be cooking some amount of purchased, albeit free-range meat, I'd want to try to observe some sort of ceremony before the meat gets placed in the freezer. Because the animals, after all, would have given their lives to feed people and be something of a source of nourishment (for those who still choose to eat meat). That is not a sacrifice I can take lightly. Not as someone who respects the animal kingdom as much as I do.

And if someone had a problem with that sort of thing, they would sooo be in the wrong cooking school.

Anywho, I'm just sort of daydreaming at this point, because while I love to cook, I don't know if I'd have the passion to start such a thing, just because stress is NOT my friend.

I think for now I will stick to learning the tricks and tools of cooking, and not worry about the business end of it.

But that's not to say that someone else reading this blog can't take my ideas and run with them! ;-)

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Imbolc, 2009

2009-02-02T20:26:00.001-06:00

Hi, All!

I find it interesting that, this year, Imbolc (or 'Oimelc' if you want to get linguistically correct...or St. Brighid's Day if you are Catholic) follows on the heels of Mercury finally going direct (as of Saturday, the 31st of January). To me, not only is this a day where Lady Brighid features most prominently of all times of the Pagan (and mainstream spiritual) year, but this specific sequence of astrological goings-on (Merc. going direct, then Imbolc) speaks to me of new seeds of growth and abundance, particularly via communication and travel. Which ought to bode well for my doings in the mundane world, especially with regard to my job hunt, and very recent interview at a Native-American-run casino a mere 15 miles from my home.

It is also not lost on me that, this year, Imbolc dawns on a time of financial crisis for millions across the US and even across the globe. Lady Brighid's day for us Pagans, it seems, comes just in time to help us petition, magickally, for abundance on both a personal and global scale. This kind of downturn, complete with job losses numbering in the thousands, and perhaps into the 1-million-plus mark, is probably making people feel quite uprooted and powerless, despite the old "pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstrap" philosophy that social conservatives like to bandy about, in an attempt to excuse themselves from helping the down-and-out. To those reading this blog who the economy has adversely affected: I completely understand where you are coming from, feelings-wise. You have my total empathy and sympathies.

This whole thing is somehow connecting, in my mind, to a personal incident that happened early last week.

Last Sunday or Monday, I discovered my lavender plant had died. I had truly meant to plant it in the ground before winter came, but never got around to doing it, "saving money" being my only (ostensibly) plausible excuse. Seeing the plant's withered leaves in a pot, despite good intentions from my dad (who placed it in his home office in an attempt to give the plant the sunshine it needed), really made me feel like a dolt.

For one thing, I hold plants in high regard for their healing properties. They are no less than brothers and sisters to me, and the fact that I did not take the best care of my lavender plant in light of how I regard the plant realm did not sit well with my conscience.

It did not help that our water is frequently chlorinated and otherwise treated to remove harmful bacteria and other nasty stuff. (My mother, for this reason, makes sure and lets any water for plants sit for at least a day so the chlorine can evaporate. Still didn't help, really.)

Also, I noticed that my plant, while it was still alive, was putting out long tendrils. I remembered the way my boyfriend's lavender plant usually looks in the spring and summer, with low-slung branches close to the ground that had rooted themselves in the soil, and I realized that's what my plant was wanting to do. It was searching for a place to take root with the long tendrils, and it could not. Being in the pot stifled its ability to literally branch out and grow firmer roots.

From that understanding sprang the following realization, which I wrote in one of my paper-and-pen journals:

"We cannot survive unless we have our roots in the Divine Mother. We can only live so long in the 'pots' in which we place ourselves. Pots, like self-limiting actions and thoughts, provide very little room to grow. If we are planted within the nurturing soil of the Creative Force, we are more likely to thrive, since we are thus able to spread out and take nourishment better."

And it made me wonder about my own path of growth, on all levels. It made me wonder as to what sort of thoughts and practices were placing me in a "pot" of limitation, what sort of "food" I was taking in, what source of Light I was getting, if any. And it made me wonder whether the tendrils I am attempting to put down into my spirit-soil are going to take root, or die for lack of nourishment and support (read: personal will).

Another thing that my lavender plant's death confirmed for me was that plants carry the same sort of Living Force that we do. Plants have spirits, just like we do. Oh, they are of a different weave of Creation, to be sure, but they are of Creation, nonetheless.

"But Kat," I hear you say. "Lavender is a perennial."

Yes. Lavender *is* a perennial, which why I was initially stupefied at its demise. But, I think it had more to do with its lack of nourishment from sun, water and a place to branch out and grow stronger.

We all need encouragement, the light of the sun, a good source of potable water and a place where we can branch out emotionally and spiritually, and become stronger than we were before. If we do not get any of these things, or if we get most, but not all of these things, then we end up dying. Our spirits feel crushed. We feel alone and all we want to do is just cross over and leave behind the pain of not having the loving care from the world that we so rightfully deserve.

I do not doubt for a moment that that is what my plant felt. I did not take care of it, so it felt neglected...chances are it felt its only choice was to leave its mortal plant-shell behind. Another reminder to this Jedi "wanna-be" to be always mindful of the Living Force, and to properly take care of whatever that Force inhabits.

So, when spring comes, the first thing I am going to do when I purchase ANY sort of perennial herb, it is going straight into the ground, close to the Mother, where it rightfully belongs.

The question still remains for me, though: How and when will I properly root myself in the Mother, taking the best care of me that I can possibly manage? Perhaps this question is ringing in your mind, too, especially when the cost of just taking care of basic needs has skyrocketed over the past near-decade.

Oh, the answers are simple enough, for me, at least. They're on the tip of my brain and tongue. The ultimate question is of personal will, for it is personal will that determines one's course of action--or inaction, as my will is, admittedly, somewhat weak from constantly being fed a diet of fear, and unfortunately, it is still a bit weak from feeling too powerless to stop that "diet" and substitute a new one of hope, encouragement and acknowledgement that I've just as much chance as anyone else of succeeding.

So, how do I become more rooted in the love of the Great Mother, and forever pull up the roots deadened by fear and doubt? How do I transplant myself from the limiting pot-thoughts of powerlessness and no secure place to feel at Home in the world, to the wide expanse of the Mother's embracing, rich ground?

Those questions are currently being brought to the fore as the faint Imbolc sun dawns on a new life I hope to make for myself. I pray earnestly to the Mother that this new life includes a job at the casino, which will provide a path for me to pursue my objectives.

May you and yours also be blessed this Imbolc/Feast of St. Brighid with Brighid's abundance, fire and courage to forge your own new lives, even in the face of this current downturn in our national and global economy.

Brightest Imbolc Blessings,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Time and a Word, Fulfilled: Aquarian President

2009-01-20T21:56:00.000-06:00

Well, folks, today was the day of Barack Obama's inauguration.

Many, including myself, were in tears of ecstatic joy, disbelief, and even relief.

But those sorts of tears were made possible by the choices we've made over the years to look beyond the color of someone's skin.

...and in my heart of hearts, I feel that not only was Dr. King's dream fulfilled beyond King's own imagination, but a song by Yes (which I feel was a bit prophetic in many respects), "Time and a Word" has also been fulfilled, and will continue to be fulfilled...

Because in his inaugural speech today, Pres. Obama said many things that, to me, clearly reflected what I think the Age of Aquarius is all about: working together to move even further towards peace, equality, and most importantly, love among all people, even through the challenges we face, both foreign and domestic.

...I could say more...but I can't. I don't have any more words that haven't already been said before, by me, or by anyone else in this world of media and mass communication.

I only know that not only is Barack Obama the American President, he is an Aquarian president.

And to think...We the People helped make it happen.

Now that's what I'm talkin 'bout!

Brightest Blessings,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Time and a Word...Fulfilling Dr. King's Dream.

2008-11-10T14:34:00.003-06:00

My fellow Global Citizens...

It has been just shy of a week since Election Day and I still have tears in my eyes.

All day last Tuesday I had Yes' song "Time and a Word" running through my head over and over...and like I've posted over at my MySpace blog..."Time and a Word" must have been running through everyone else's minds, because they listened to the voice of change...

I think all of Heaven was probably watching, too, as Barack Obama went from Presidential Candidate...to President-ELECT!

We the People said "Yes we Can" to fulfilling Dr. Martin Luther King's dream of judging people of color not by the color of their skin, but by their character.

...and Yes We DID!

Because We the People stood up to say that the Time is NOW for change, and the Word to spread to all who might have lost hope, is LOVE...

Because so many people turned out to vote on the positive direction America can go, we got the Most Benevolent Outcome of all...a beautiful outcome that still leaves me speechless...

And for once...there was no cheating, no bribing, or anything else like that above and beyond the usual stuff that goes on during a campaign...for once, a president won fair and square.

Now...here's food for thought: next up--a female President? That is another victory I'd like to be part of...

Brightest Blessings,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Big Thrills looking at Big Chills...this is why I am an Environmentalist!

2008-10-27T16:36:00.001-05:00

Found this awesome site featuring fantastic photos of Antarctica and its gleaming, icy world...it's like a whole other universe...We Midwesterners get a taste of such glittering, otherworldly beauty, but like the North and South poles, our winters have become much milder...:-( This isn't good, to say the least...

I post the link to these pictures in hopes that people will come to understand why movies like "Happy Feet" are made...it's not just about the adorableness of penguins in the South Pole or polar bear cubs in the North pole...it's about sheer biodiversity, the cycle of Life, and how we humans have been so utterly disrespectful to the Mother and Her animal children.

People wonder why polar bears are starving...why fish populations for penguins have depleted We need to look no further than ourselves...the vehicles we think we have to have to impress other people or to "keep up with the Joneses."

Here's some food for thought for you....

What if the Joneses went Green and bought hybrids that are 1/4 to 1/8 the size of a Hummer? What if the Green Joneses told you they "adopted" wolves, penguins and other endangered animals instead of buying expensive birthday and holiday gifts? What if the Green Joneses were genuine about these moves toward saving the planet we share?

Would you follow in their footsteps then? Would you do it because it's still "keeping up with the Joneses" or would you do it because you know in your heart that what they told you was a good thing?

Here is the site for your further ponderance.

BB,
Rev Kat ^.^

This is why I Believe what I Believe & Do What I Do

2008-10-20T13:12:00.003-05:00

It is almost Samhain (Sow-win'), not to mention the week of my favorite musician's birthday (this coming Sat, the 25th).

To celebrate the arrival of both dates, I decided to go hunting on StumbleUpon for sites that help define who I am as a practitioner of peace, mercy and justice for all--with a Pagan flavor, that is. Both Jon Anderson and my Druidic path have deepened my affection for the Mother Planet, if it is possible to extend the depths of my already lifelong passion towards keeping this planet livable for the next seven generations beyond me.

Here's one site I found: a bunch of posters dedicated to raising the awareness of everyone regarding human rights and the environment.

And another: A gorgeous photo of a whale!

...*sighs*...that reminds me...still want to get "Tales of Topographic Oceans" by Yes. Some people think it's too long, too out there, or whatever...but as long as it's about this beautiful blue planet I love--and as long as Jon Anderson's involved...the naysayers can just go play in some other sandbox. :-P

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Good Morning! Check out This Trippy Bit of Galactic Genius! 10/13/08

2008-10-13T09:56:00.001-05:00

I signed into StumbleUpon to see what kind of good stuff I could write about today, and the very first page I "Stumbled" onto was a site about something called "G Breath." A sound file plays automatically when you first see the page, and in the center of the page there is a "Wheel of Life" that, once you push the "play" button, spins around and around at ever faster speeds, creating different patterns with color and the design of the wheel...

So what does one have to do to interact with the site?

Follow the instructions of the voice in the sound file, breathe calmly and look at the spinning wheel while listening to the recorded affirmation statements which follow the breathing instructions...

I did just that. It's a similar experience to watching a Windows Media Player visualization and listening to shamanic drumming at the same time, which I have done, mostly with the Kitaro CD called "Dream."

The best way I can describe both experiences?

"Trippy!" :-D And that's without ingesting peyote or 'shrooms, which, of course, are illegal, sadly enough. (Leave it to fearful power-play-machine governments to ban something which occurs naturally and is a spiritual experience for many.)

And speaking of things like peyote and trance experiences...it reminds me of what's been haunting my thoughts lately: Carlos Castaneda's writings of what Don Juan Matus called the "Second Attention." From what I understand, the phrase is chiefly used to describe living beyond just paying attention to what we receive via our regular five senses, and taking time enough to see the divine beauty in everything. I am sure that definition simplifies the concept too much, but that's the overall gist of the thing.

I'll see what I can do to read more Castaneda's stuff more seriously. Something tells me I still have much to learn from the books. Scoff if you want, but the fact that people scoff at something as deep as what both Castaneda and Don Juan have to teach us (even after the fact that they're both departed from this plane of existence) tells ME that ALL of us have yet to learn and remember how precious our natural Divinity really is and that we're all a part of Life, the Universe and Everything.

Which is one of the points of the site I went to. It reminds us we are all part of everything...

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

P.S. Click here to find out about "G breath!"

Letting Go...

2008-10-06T12:01:00.002-05:00

I have a favorite song from Jon Anderson's Christmas album. I love it because it's high-energy, with great synth work, fab lyrics, and of course, the lovely man himself singing a piece of Truth that has, in recent times, played over and over in my mind.

I honestly think my spirit guide uses the song to remind me of one thing I've been having troubles doing: Letting go. And my spirit guide, as well as myself, does not care that the song was done back in the 1980s. If it comes from Jon Anderson, angel-of-prog-rock music, time and how old a song is does not matter. It's all good!

I remember reading that he wrote the song after meeting some Eastern mystic and encountering her own immense love for all, because the title of the song is "How It Hits You." She must have been some pretty awesome person for someone as advanced as I think Jon is to be THAT affected.

Well, I kind of feel the same way about Jon, actually. Because while I've not met him in person, his music and lyrics always serve to remind me about a lot of things...especially this whole thing of letting go. His own apparent love of humanity and persistence in seeing the good in everything, even while urging everyone to get it together because the "time is Now" never fails to inspire me. It doesn't hurt that he's got a voice like sunshine and a talent for music and songwriting that just won't quit. ;-)

So why this particular concept of letting go? Why has it affected me?

In short, Jon fell ill this past May no thanks to the respiratory issues that like to plague us singers, and supposedly the concert tour was going to be cancelled. That was the general idea, until one of his bandmates decided to take "Yes" on tour, without even calling Jon to see how he was doing, or to consult him at all about the matter. Needless to say, I, as a Jon Anderson fan, was majorly pissed. Not only was I pissed, I had read about it from Jon's own blog, and as tuned-in as I am to the guy and his music, it kind of blew my fuses. My heart-radio just went crazy and I couldn't hack it. I couldn't--and can't--imagine Yes without Jon at the vocal helm, leading the way to mystical vistas, per Yes tradition--or his own style, if you're only familiar with his solo work.

Yet, just the other day, he wrote in his blog that he had been watching the DVDs and listening to Yes' older work and remembering how each guy did his musical thing--even thinking fondly of Chris Squire's musical mastery with the bass guitar, despite the fact that it was Mssr. Squire himself who dissed Jon in the first place.

Up to then, I had felt so torn, so ambivalent about listening to the Yes stuff I have in my collection, because I had felt like I would be disloyal to Jon and his work if I did, remembering very painfully the wounds that a certain guitar player caused for not just Jon, but for the fans as well.

But reading Jon's vivid verbal portrait of his bandmates made me feel...So. Ashamed. Of. Myself. I knew precisely where my staunch loyalty and unbending fixation on such a high ideal of loyalty to great leadership came from, and I tell you, that was one of the biggest astrology lessons I've ever gotten: Saturn in Leo in the Ninth House. Yup. That's one of my placements. I had such a strong feeling and fixation on being angry at Chris Squire for acting like such an ass that I felt like I couldn't give myself permission to listen to Yes.

Reading Jon's blog the other day lifted such a burden...I then felt like if Jon could forgive Chris even a mere two or so weeks after the shock and blow, then I could, too, and that I was being just as much of an ass for giving myself over to a not-so-easygoing part of my personality. Does that excuse Chris from what I still feel is an overdue apology to Jon? Karmically speaking, no. He needs to take responsibility for his hurtful decisions. But, do I need to deprive myself of listening to Yes' stuff out of my heartfelt loyalty to Jon? No. I'm still feeling a tad ambivalent. But I know that if I do choose to pop in a Yes CD, I don't have to feel completely guilty, or feel like I'm disrespecting Jon.

In fact, given the shaky future of Yes, at this point, playing their music might keep my hopes up for continued performances--WITH Jon, of course, whether I get to see Yes (or just Jon) live or not.

I'm still working on the whole 'letting go' thing. I can tell because the bridge-lines in "How It Hits You" are still playing in my head, as a testament to recent events and how I personally can--and need to--grow as a human being.

By the way, the bridge lines in the song go like this...

"...Letting go can be easy! Letting go will help you! Letting go, it's so easy...letting go will help you...there's rivers to cross, rivers to cross...keep it up, keep it up, just look at it!"

I am sure that those of you who have heard this song will be singing along...just as I do, even when I don't need to be reminded, and I just like to sing the song because it puts me in a good mood. But then, Jon's music ALWAYS makes me want to swing on the stars.

BB,
Rev. Kat, the Jon Anderson fan ^.^

Life's Big Game of "Risk."--One of my Increasing A-HA! Moments

2008-09-15T13:05:00.001-05:00

You know the game of "Risk"? The one that somewhat resembles a paper-n-pencil RPG, but isn't?

It's some sort of strategy game that I've heard about over and over but never got the chance to play. It's probably a game that I would get seriously addicted to once introduced. "Monopoly's" like that for me, too...probably because I like a challenge, and it seems I hardly ever win at "Monopoly." And if there's anything about Monopoly that provides a challenge, it is taking calculated risks, bargaining a trade (e.g. Park Place for Water Works) and so on.

Real life is a good deal like that too: full of options and challenges.

I didn't always realize this, though. After I left college with a huge debt and no degree (traditional 4-yr college is NOT the place for me. Too much stress from having to worry about grades and money at the same time.), I began to feel like I had made a huge mistake, and wished I'd known more about myself before diving into a $16K-per-year, 18-credit-hr/semester course load, and not just on an academic and financial level, either.

The regular, modern work world hasn't made learning to deal with stress any easier, either. So, if there is such a thing as "Risk Precipice," I've been quickly backing away from it for the last eight years, paralyzed by guilt for letting myself get too stressed out and racking up a huge debt, and the resulting overall fear of failure. Whether that was self-induced by recent experiences, or the memory of the demanding people in my life who think failure should never be in one's vocabulary--and doing things right the first time should always be EVERYONE'S m.o. (modus operandi)--I will never know.

Yet, I doubt that there is anyone more demanding than one's own inner critic, who amazingly tends to be the one to inwardly embody the criticism from external sources. I know this because my inner critic gets just as amazingly loud and rude. It's taken me some time to get her to shut up...and it's not been easy. She is the one who's always warning me about the failures that might result from acting on something, however cautiously I do it. It's gotten me to the point of being a bit "Monkish."

But if there is one thing my beloved boyfriend is good at, is bringing me back to reality...the reality that really living life *does* involve taking risks. And failure *will* be part of the equation at some point--and what *really* constitutes failure on a large magnitude is never learning from those mistakes, or failures, or whatever. It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Well, it seems my own personal version of "insanity" has been this: backing away from risk over and over again...and expecting my life to still garner me the success I believe I deserve. It's clearly not working. This right here, folks, was my a-ha moment for the day.

Am I afraid of failure, still? Yes. I won't deny that. Do I want things to go precisely the way I think they should? I would be lying, and wouldn't be human if I said I didn't want that, because I think just about everyone desires to have their own way--even if it's just to have an easy day at work, school or whatever.

But dang it...This may seem like a no-brainer, a "duh!" moment to some, but to me, it's pure revelation: it's time for a change in my thinking...heck...even Senator Barack Obama's campaign is about change, which this country sorely needs. Just as I need to change and transform my life...from one of paralyzing fear of failure, to a life of living with courage, even in the face of potential failure...and to say to myself--"hey, if something doesn't work, try something else. It's okay."

Besides...if Thomas Edison had never tried over a thousand times to get the light bulb right, and stopped at idea 999, either someone else would have figured it out, or we'd all be blogging by candlelight, still. ;-)

So...food for thought:

If you don't take risks, you might not have failure, but you certainly won't have success. Here is the link (courtesy of StumbleUpon) that pushed me over the edge into today's A-HA! moment:

Risk--Author Unknown

Blessings and A-Ha Moments,
Rev. Kat ^.^

OneSpirit Book Club...Gotta Love it!

2008-09-08T15:20:00.001-05:00

I'm sooo stoked! I got something in the mail from OneSpirit Book Club: a pack of lesson cards covering various topics, including herbalism, magick, dreams, crystals and so on. That's only the beginning though. These lesson cards are three-hole-punched, but not in the usual way, as these cards aren't the usual 8.5 x 11" length that most three-hole-punched papers are. So I could only deduce that there was a specific-size binder one had to have to house these lovely cards.

In the middle of the packet of cards were all these introductory messages to the lesson materials, and in that jumble of messages was a special prize piece one had to peel back in order to receive a certain amount off the total value of the whole schmere. If you got $9.95 off, you mostly got the value of another pack of lesson cards and that was that. You had to buy the rest separately, I assumed. The total value for the whole bunch of materials, including a special binder AND learning tools like tarot cards and runes, and so on, was $47.95.

The "Force" of my Celtic ancestry seemed to be with me this morning because when I went to peel off the "mystery" label to reveal how much of the material value I was to receive free, I got the entire package deal! You'd have thought I just won the lottery or something, because I was soooo excited...I've been yearning for structured materials like what I received in the mail, plus a specific binder to put such things in, and to think I get the whole thing, free, PLUS a bonus gift (because I answered back within the requisite 10 days)! It's like I'm starting my Witchy studies all over again, I feel so elated about the whole thing...:-D

So, what's the food for thought in all this?

Well, I didn't particularly place a specific, conscious request for these materials. But maybe somehow my subconscious did quite a while ago, just by prompting me to make the choice to give away some of the magickal books that weren't serving me well...meaning there is definitely something to this Law of Attraction.
And lately, the Power Animal cards I've been using for the last three or so months have been showing me some important ideas and reminders about gratitude, abundance, owning my own power and using my own resourcefulness. I've also had some important conversations in the last two weeks with those closest to me in my personal Universe that have shown me some confirmations about what I need to work on in my life...plus, a library book or two with titles that jumped out at me merely compounded what the cards have been showing me.

Now, if that's not the Law of Attraction in Action, I don't know what is...Time for me to go get some more of that kind of thing! :-D

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

I'm Back...

2008-08-26T15:21:00.001-05:00

Yet another hiatus on the blog. I think I've finally tackled my inconsistency issue with this, scheduling my blog posts with a once-a-week schedule...one blog per day. I didn't get a chance to blog here yesterday, but I'm making up for it today.

One of my goals, at least with my Blogger blogs, is to learn how to post pictures, instead of just links to pictures. This way, if I use a picture to illustrate a food-for-thought article I post here, I can post the picture instead of just the link.

Also, ScribeFire has a YouTube icon where one can add a YouTube video, and a Flickr link so that's two new things to explore and learn.

The general idea of this blog is spiritual food for thought, so I am going to do my best to keep to that. I think I was trying too hard with my last blog schedule, in regards to my strict ideas for blog posts each day. Plus, I was making it too hard on myself, stress-wise, especially with no computer of my own yet.

One of my biggest issues, along with inconsistency, is control. I have issues with letting things go, and going with the flow. I'm not sure where I get this from, but I'm going to go with my gut and say it might be coming from the three fixed-sign placements in my chart:

Saturn in Leo (this is the most likely source)

Uranus in Scorpio (a second likely source, but more involving the world at large. I get very impatient and angry with people who are destructive and hurtful just for the sake of being destructive and hurtful. Since this placement is in my 11th House, which is ruled by Aquarius, yet another fixed sign, the fixatedness might be coming from the House itself, and blending with the Scorpio energy.)

Chiron in Taurus (This is a more minor placement, as far as the world at large is concerned, but it's more personal, more of a karmic healing issue, and it's something I'm having to take more time with in regards to understanding why this is in my chart, but I do know Taurus and its foibles to some intermediate degree, so I have some idea that this is where some of my fixatedness is coming from.)

Virgo Midheaven (This is considered a more or less minor placement, but it's another possible source of control issues with regard to whether I beat myself up or forgive myself.)

Granted, astrology doesn't solve everything, as nothing in astrological charts is completely written in stone, but it has given me tremendously helpful clues into my personal psyche, as well as some of the psyches of others.

One thing I can say is, I will do my personal best in gaining consistency. I'm working on this with my exercise routine, so I also will work on consistency with my blogs.

Till later,
Rev. Kat

Loving Yourself

2008-05-07T13:13:00.001-05:00

It has been taught over the decades, even centuries, that to think about oneself before others is to be selfish and mean. This thought has been perpetuated even in the advent and popularity of the advice by psychologists that to be healthy and happy in one's relationships, you have to get to know yourself and help yourself first so that you have energy and time to help others, especially if those "others" are your family and friends.

This seems to tie in with the idea of some that they are not worthy of affection if they are not doing for others, or that they are not worthy human beings because they are "not needed." This sort of co-dependency is not only harmful to the one with the inferiority complex, it's also harmful to those with whom one wishes to ingratiate oneself, because it forces them into a feeling of "I can't live without this person because they provide such-n-such service and help." Making oneself emotionally or physically indispensible like that simply points to not only erroneous thinking handed down over the years, but serious self-esteem issues that result from that erroneous thinking.

Therefore, it has been suggested by many that to enhance and heal your relationships with others, you go on what is termed "self-dates" in order to heal your relationship with yourself. No money need be spent if you don't want to (or can't) spend anything. Just a trip to the library or going to the park with book in hand will do.

It's not just about "going within" or "meditation." It's more about fulfilling the edict set forth by the ancient philosophers: "Know Thyself."

Once you truly know yourself, you can perhaps begin to express what you most desire--and if that means getting out from under bad childhood programming, especially that of the ideology of being a "martyr for the cause" (a common piece of programming dating back I-don't-know-how-many-decades), so much the better.

Have a gander at this article about self-dating, set forth in this beautiful blog about keeping things simple, happy and healthy in your life.

BB,
Rev. Kat

Back in the Saddle, As It Were...a Cool Site from StumbleUpon

2008-05-01T15:04:00.001-05:00

Here I am, back in the blogging saddle after taking the hiatus that I needed to get my head on straight about some stuff.

On that note, here is a really cool site I Stumbled on: 10 Things I Learned from Five Months of Meditation.

It talks about this guy's experiences whilst in the initial stages of learning meditation.

I am soooo bookmarking the site! :-D

Namaste,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Temporary Hiatus in the name of Efficiency

2008-04-09T17:41:00.001-05:00

Afternoon, everyone…

I am writing to inform whoever reads this blog regularly that I have
some things to sort out and tend to for the rest of the month. Some of
these things have a sharp learning curve and I need the unfettered time
to focus on these non-blogging related activities. Suffice to say that
these things I am learning should affect my efficiency levels for the
better.

But because I know that I may be disappointing some of you as a
result of my temporary absence, I am apologizing in advance for any
inconvenience to my regular readers. I will return to the blog no later
than May 1st.

Brightest Blessings,

Rev. Kathryn WingedLioness ^.^

My Experiments with the Law of Attraction and Gratitude 4/8/08

2008-04-08T18:12:00.002-05:00

I finally got my car back Sunday, which meant I could run all sorts of "errands" yesterday (Monday), including that of depositing my tax refund, going to the library, Goodwill, the mall, and getting groceries. It got the "run-arounds" out of my system, but not before I sought information from Waldenbooks' New Age section, whereupon I encountered multiple books on the very topic of these Tuesday posts here at Dining with the Divine.

At Waldenbooks, amid copies of "The Secret" and other related books were two tomes by Esther and Jerry Hicks, the channelers for the entity called "Abraham." One book was "Ask And It Is Given," and the other was "The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent." Those last two words matched the thread of thought I've been following upon having recently read at least one of Carlos Castaneda's books.

What I am discovering lately is that in my mind and heart, I've received images of very intense thought-feelings regarding various topics and ideas. In my mind's eye, I see these feeling-images as glowing green tendrils, or threads, coming from my aura that I can access and connect to with what I can only conceive of as "intent."

So, therefore I follow the trails of green to more mindful experiments with the Law of Attraction.

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Stumbled Page #2: rendingtheveil.com

2008-04-04T13:43:00.001-05:00

I found this amazingly well-written article on altered states, shamanism and psychonautics.

It retells in one particular paragraph how, over time, the influences of Protestant Christianity, technocracy and empirical science changed the way people looked at the spiritual. Not even in synagogues and mosques are the psychtropic substances used for shamanism accepted because they are seen as too primitive--and that supposedly, being "primitive" is a bad thing.

I'm not sure I understand that fear-laden train of thought, seeing as how I, myself am interested in such substances to induce shamanic trances. I'm not crazy about the idea of going to prison just for using something from nature, however so I find other ways to--if purists will pardon the expression--get my trance on.

There is more to this article than what I read, but I am definitely giving this site the "thumbs-up."

Click here to see and read the article.

BB,
Rev. Kat

StumbleUpon Page: Dharma for the Zen Student

2008-04-03T23:29:00.002-05:00

I am endlessly fascinated by Buddhism, especially that of the Zen and Tibetan traditions. There is a part of me that wishes to practice it to some extent, though my true Heart lies with Druidry...yet all Spirit moves in a spiral, and all Truths end up touching one another here and there.

Ergo, when I found this site via StumbleUpon, I wanted to ScribeFire it.

The beginning quote I found rather humorous in its bold-faced riddling truth: "Zen is not what you think!" It's attributed to "anonymous," so sorry, no direct quotation today.

I would print it out for my use, but my inner editor sees far too many errors such as words run together and not properly spaced. So if I want this info in hard copy form, I'm going to have to copy and paste into Word or something. I don't know.

Anyway, here's the link if you want to check it out:

http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~schmitzr/bgz.htm

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Tip of the Week—Hobbies as Meditation

2008-04-03T11:56:00.002-05:00

When most people hear about meditation, they tend to envision the stereotypical Hindu or Buddhist monk sitting cross-legged in Full Lotus, hands positioned a certain way and an aura of peaceful tranquility on the monk’s face.

While that is certainly one of the more traditional forms of meditation, whether or not you are a monk in such traditions, there are some people, like myself, who also look to not-so-traditional ways of relaxing meditatively.

Hence, my tip of the week: Hobbies as Meditation.

When you think about it, it’s not that strange an idea. For instance, one of my hobbies now is knitting, not just because it’s fun, but the constant rhythmic motion and flow of each repetitive stitch one makes can induce a light meditative state: the breath slows, the mind quiets down and your blood pressure lowers. It’s more effective if the TV is off, sure, but even while watching TV and knitting, you can still achieve some measure of meditative calm from knitting.

Other hobbies that can induce a calm, relaxed state include woodworking, playing a musical instrument, doing yoga or tai chi and others that I am sure I’ve not thought of yet. Swimming is another one of my favorites, though it comes more under the category of exercise, as it raises the heart rate. However, though it raises the heart rate, I’ve experienced a clearing of the mind and cleansing of the soul that other hobbies help achieve. Maybe it’s because I’m in the water, and water is one surefire way to calm an agitated mind.

Despite what some people might think, a bungee-jumping hobby isn’t exactly meditative. It may clear your mind, but most people do it solely for the adrenaline rush. Not what I would call a calming way to spend an hour or so, but then I’m not too sold on the idea of jumping off a high ledge with no protection but a safety harness and the bungee cord attached to the safety gear. Sky-diving isn’t exactly what I’d call meditative, either, though parachuting might be—if the parachute cord works properly on a consistent basis.

But whatever hobby you have that works to calm your mind, lower your blood pressure and heart rate and perhaps to achieve enlightenment at some point, as long as it works, I would say it’s all good.

BB,

Rev. Kat ^.^

Spirituality News--A Response to a Blog Post 4/2/08

2008-04-02T11:53:00.001-05:00

There wasn't much to peruse in my Google Alerts today, except for a very thoughtful, priceless gem coming from a site called realmuscleonline.com.

The author of the article examined the two sides of a common debate about martial arts: does it foster anger or spirituality?

I am going to assume for the moment that the author is a male, since I don't know too many women in my life who participate in the various disciplines of martial arts.

I mostly remember my dad not wanting me to take karate or anything like that because he was afraid I would use it wrongfully. I later learned his fears were unfounded, because while I've not really been able to learn martial arts yet, I did find out that taking a martial arts class has something of a transformative quality, and that I actually would have ended up a far more peaceful person than I am now.

Though there is the possibility that some people still choose to use martial arts while in an angered state of mind. The "Karate Kid" movie proves that with the abusive Cobra Kai doctrine taught by its ex-military macho-man "sensei."

Having watched various Jet Li and Jackie Chan films, and knowing what I know about some of the various disciplines, I know that I would rather go for Tai Chi or Aikido. Karate might be useful at times, though. As someone who prefers the way of peaceful reason, I think a "softer" discipline might be more up my alley.

And while reading the martial arts piece, I think I just discovered something about myself...and I mean really realized the implications of part of my personality...

My dad has this habit of painting me as an angry person--all the time. Yes, I admit, I do get reactive. But I don't necessarily get reactive just to get my dad upset, as he so thinks.

When I am talking with someone, my favored expectation is that most people can be reasonable when they want to be. But when people don't choose to be reasonable and balanced, I can just feel my inner temper rising, because my sense of justness and fair play is seriously offended and I want to make things right.

Thing is, I don't like the idea of hitting someone via martial arts if I'm feeling angry. And many times, the people I'm angry with I can't hit for very good reasons: it might be a boss (since I am, by traditional standards, unemployed, my boss would be myself), my future in-laws (and they're pieces of work, too!), certain politicians in the White House (On those guys, I'll just use my very strong "voting pencil kung fu"), an elderly female relative who shall remain nameless, and so on.

So...maybe the "kung fu" I've got to strengthen now is not so much the ability to defend myself physically, but to go inside and find peace within...and that, for me, is challenging to do right now, as making peace internally with people who insist on being @$$holes is not the easiest thing in the world.

And that kind of aspect of "martial arts" is probably the cornerstone of the whole shmere because the key to learning martial arts--especially going deeper into the disciplines--is learning to fight so that you don't have to.

But one thing is for sure...while my dad prevented me from taking martial arts because of his personal fears (which may or may not have been accurate. I don't know)--that didn't prevent me from remaining the Warrior spirit that I am. I guess if I feel as angry all the time as Pop thinks I am (and I am NOT angry all the time, by the way), I am merely echoing his own feelings of anger and injustice at the atrocities and chaos of this world.

Time for me to go back and read "Way of the Peaceful Warrior."

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Experiments with the Law of Attraction and Attitude of Gratitude 4/1/08

2008-04-01T13:21:00.003-05:00

I've been doing some thinking...

Perhaps my attempts at using the Law of Attraction and/or the Attitude of Gratitude have been scant because of some remaining, ingrained skepticism. I'm not sure. I do know that I'd like to swallow "The Secret" whole hog, as it were.

These are the questions that still plague my mind:

How do I release the doubt with this concept as much as I released the doubt enough to enter the world of Paganism and magick?

How do I deprogram my brain of any self-defeating talk or thoughtforms?

How do I do as the old phrase suggests and "let go and let God/dess"?

How do I know that the skepticism is mine and not someone else's?

How do I cultivate a climate of faith in my mind when I am surrounded by fearful people?

How do I align with the Divine Essence that sees this current economic downturn as an opportunity for We-the-People to do something creative with the situation instead of succumbing to the doom-n-gloom?

And then I am reminded of the Nike slogan: "Just Do It."

Is it really as easy as all that? I suppose it is. I have been known to make mountains out of the proverbial molehills. And that presents another question:

Did I learn that reaction to life or is that part of my basic personality? And how do I stop doing the mountain-out-of-molehill thing?

So, as you can see, I've still got a lot of questions that need addressing. Time to dig deep and resolve them. Maybe I'll use the Law of Attraction to get the answers I want.

I've heard of just that very thing being done, so why not?

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Monday Meditation for 3/31/08: Garden of Dreams

2008-03-31T12:11:00.002-05:00

Spring is officially here, and the first official spring rain has fallen, no snow included, thank you very much. :-P We in the Midwest have had flooding and all sorts of things just from the snow, which makes me really wonder as to what we’re attracting.

One might say that we’re attracting all this precipitation, whether in the form of snow or rain, because our emotional landscapes are parched. Or one might say we’ve been experiencing this wacky weather because we’ve upset the natural balance of the ecosystems and we’re reaping the negativity of the seeds of hubris that we’ve sown.

Or maybe it’s not us. Maybe it’s Mother Earth experiencing Her own shifting, just as we’re experiencing ours. We might just be going through a shift equivalent to that of mid-to-late adolescence: old enough to be sobered by our mistakes but still dominated by our youthful arrogance. Our technology has potentially surpassed our current level of immaturity and we’re reaping the results of that immaturity.

Now I’m not totally getting down on the human race, as I’d be getting down on myself, too. There are many people who wish to help change the world for the better, including myself.

Just as the season of winter dies away, making room for Maiden Spring, the darker times humanity has experienced will also pass away, making room for the new energies of Hope, Truth, Light and Love. And in the summer, we will begin to harvest the results of our planting those seeds of beauty. Of course, there will be weeds that try to choke out what we’ve planted, and we will have to work at weeding the garden. But in this sense, “weeding the garden” simply means spreading more Love and Truth, being a channel for the peace of the Goddess.

Even in achieving our own personal Garden of Dreams and Goals, we all need to remember to walk “the Beauty Way,” as it’s called by many Native American nations.

In this light, here are some questions you might want to contemplate at length.

What are your ideas, dreams and goals?

What do you desire for yourself and the world?

On what thoughts do you want to pour refreshing warm rain to help manifest your life’s mission?

What helpful energies do you want to send out to the universe?

Don’t worry about your ideas being “too grandiose.” Nothing is too large for the Goddess to handle, when you place Her on your “Creation team,” as it were.

So when you go to plant your gardens within the next few weeks, whether they be physical plots where flowers, fruits and vegetables grow in order to grace your table, or the inner gardens of your imaginative, fertile minds, remember these things:

Make your Gardens part of your personal “Beauty Way," planting Love, Truth, Hope and Light.

Get the Goddess on your own Creation Team…

Dream big…

…and don’t forget to ask for rain…:-D

Brightest Spring Blessings,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Tip of the Week 3/24-3-28

2008-03-27T08:37:00.003-05:00

Hey Everyone!

My tip of the week has been slow in coming...I looked at LifeHack.org and other such sites, but none really fit what this blog is about. So I am going to have to come up with some blog-topic-specific tips...

But here's one to tide you over till I get the knack of efficiency...guess I'd better go back to LifeHack.org to figure that one out. :-P

Tip of the week: Use lemon balm and coffee to teach yourself a difficult topic, even within spirituality.
Why it works: Lemon balm is considered a memory aid, because it activates an important long-term memory chemical called acetylcholine. One lemon balm lasts for about an hour and a half, so taking two lemon balm gives you approximately three hours.

There are residual effects of the use of lemon balm, long after the main effects wear off, so anything you come in contact with after your study session is going to be stored in long-term memory, whether you want it to or not. So if you want to use lemon balm and coffee for study purposes, be sure and carve out 1.5-3 hrs of uninterrupted time so you get the full benefit of the herb.

Side effects: Lemon balm is a sedative, and can make you sleepy, so that's partially where the coffee comes in. Coffee also can help you focus and not get distracted.

I've used this method many times for learning subjects that are challenging to me, such as remembering subtle details of my spiritual path, or learning something not even remotely related to my path, such as geometry, algebra or programming. And I can tell you that it works.*

BB,
Rev. Kat

*Disclaimer: These statements are anecdotal and have not been formally tested in a lab setting, complete with the white coats, clipboards, Egon-Spengler glasses and rubber gloves. Seriously, folks: Please exercise caution and do your research as some herbal supplements are contraindicated for specific physical conditions. Meaning that you are putting yourself at risk if you have a specific condition and you use a supplement not recommended for use while having that condition.

(For example: epilepsy patients are advised to not use rosemary, as rosemary literally fires up the neurons in a normal person. Imagine what it would do to an epileptic whose neurons are already overactive.)

If you can, locate a licensed naturopath in your area that can help you.

Spirituality News 3/26: Spiritual Psychiatrist

2008-03-26T13:36:00.001-05:00

This week, I couldn’t help but be drawn to a couple of articles regarding spirituality and the health profession. Both were wonderful, and the second story thoughtful and humorous, but the first story, based in Orange County, California really got my attention.

The article in question is about this young psychiatrist, Dr. Aaron Keriaty, who is a practicing Catholic. He says he prays for every one of his patients, and prays that God will use him to heal those with mental troubles.

Given that he is only a year older than I am, he is very likely an Indigo soul who is here to change the face of psychiatry and help build bridges between heretofore opposing viewpoints. In this case, the bridge needed was to eradicate the duality created by humanity between the mental health sector and those of a religious bent.

His interest in the psychiatric field took a personal turn when a friend of his was diagnosed bipolar. That friend has since committed suicide, and Keriaty spoke about his friend’s mother praying that he would use his profession as a way to help those like her son.

This story was very encouraging, as my own boyfriend’s experiences with the psychiatric profession have not been positive, especially as my boyfriend is something of a mystic. Also, it was doubly encouraging, because it reminded me of my dad’s own therapist who is a practicing Lutheran. This tells me that psychologists and psychiatrists are beginning to see that the world of the spiritual has many lessons for them in the way they help their patients, and that the world of the spiritual is to be pondered and wondered at instead of scorned outright.

At the same time, ministers and priests are now attempting to help remove the stigma of going to a therapist for help, realizing that talking with clergy may not be enough to heal the wounds of the mind as well as the soul.

What I hope Keriaty will do in the course of his career, is also address the mental needs of the poverty-stricken areas of this country, for they are the ones who probably need help the most, yet cannot afford the exorbitant costs of therapy, let alone medication, if need be. The poverty-stricken’s only choice is to go to a church for counseling, but a minister cannot yet objectively help such people with issues such as substance abuse, or being verbally, mentally, physically or sexually abused, unless that minister also has a graduate degree in psychology. Some clergy do, such as those in the Pagan community. But then, I’ve encountered ministers who just don’t have the gift of gentle, sympathetic yet objective counseling that many human souls need.

Therefore, I am very glad to read of a spiritual psychiatrist who will be something of a walker between the worlds of religion and the mental health community. He is a bridge-builder, and may there be many more like him.

BB,

Rev. Kat ^.^

My Experiments with the Law of Attraction and "Attitude of Gratitude"

2008-03-25T09:45:00.002-05:00

Morning, Folks! :-)

Again, I confess to not really doing much yet with the concepts of this article series.

However, I think because of my recent decision to be more impeccable with my words (see don Miguel Ruiz's book "The Four Agreements" for an explanation of this usage), I have understood how truly ungrateful I've been at times, especially with regards to my family. I confess to having been a petulant, immature brat more times than not, and after yesterday--my 30th birthday--I realized that I had some serious growing up to do. Oh, not so much that I not watch animated stuff anymore or not be playful with my honey-bun. That's not the real meaning of maturity, I thank ya. But rather, I want to be in a more balanced state while interacting with my parents, instead of being reactionary.

Not that I'm gonna get all lovey-dovey with those who have hurt me and my family to the extreme, because they're all just a bunch of energy thieves, and I can't hack it anymore. I can't keep my own internal balance around them. They're the sort that impress upon a person that they should be grateful, but how can one be truly grateful for people who steal your energy? The only way I could act as if their emotional tyranny was a blessing (meaning I thank them for the challenges they've given me by being challenges themselves, according to Buddhist philosophy) is if I were at the level of the Dalai Lama, and I'm not even close. I'm not saying I can't achieve that level if I worked at it, but whining about stuff I can't change is not the point of this article series.

The point is, I look back at the immaturity of my teens and twenties, and look at where I want to be at say, forty or fifty years of age, and where my own parents are now, AND my own missions here on Earth, and I think, "Kat, grow the heck up!" And I do feel a mental change...I'm not sure when it happened, but I feel a change. Maybe it was when I decided that I would for now and always think of the Goddess and God as not just some faraway Crystal-and-Light advisors outside myself, but true members of my own Inner Council. Team members that I know I can count on far more than I can ever really count on humans, with maybe the exception of my boyfriend, because while he is human, he's not going to pull too much bullcrap on me.

So therefore, here are my first statements of gratitude:

I thank Goddess for my fellow Indigo souls who, while being their mystical selves (if that's their immediate leaning), don't pull any stupid shenanigans or bullcrap. I thank Goddess for their own strength and feistiness, which often matches or exceeds that of my own inner fire. It is said that we learn a lot about our True Selves from those who are true to themselves, and in many cases, I have experienced this the most with my fellow Indigos. With their help, I have managed to uncover the Blue-Purpliness of my own Flame.

And I am learning more and more about how to uncover my own True Soul and casting away the fear that I've been taught to carry.

This new uncovering is also credited to the works of don Miguel Ruiz, Carlos Castaneda, and yes, my favorite prog-rock musician, Jon Anderson. :-)

One thing I have discovered is that one can only make peace with the things that have happened to them if they look within and realize that interaction with others and all things is not a one-way street. We all play our parts for better or worse, stupid or smart. But if we want to be truly in tune with what we want to do, we need to be in tune with our True Soul's Intent and not consciously give energy to those whom we know will sabotage us.

So, with that, I sign off...and Happy Birthday to those who have birthdays in March and April. May your birthday anniversaries be true rebirths of your soul.

BB,
Rev. Kathryn WingedLioness

Tip of the Week....

2008-03-20T11:31:00.003-05:00

I want to kick off this topic series with something appropriate to new spiritual life and happiness...

First off: Happy Ostara (aka First Day of Spring/Vernal Equinox) to my fellow Pagans out there…

Secondly, I found this amazing CD at the Ames, IA library. It's a fusion of Hindu chanting and trance-techno beats...

The group? One At Last. The album? Their 2006 release "Are You Dreaming?"

I already wrote a review over at my music blog, so I won't write another here. What I will say is this is *the* album to get for celebrating the return of Spring and Summer. If you're into world beat mixes with a focus on Hindu chanting and frequent mentions of Krishna and His many Names, with a bit of salsa (track 2), a smattering of reggae-style speech (track 3), a fair amount of Native American chanting (tracks 6 and 8) and an Aussie didgeridoo (track 5), then this is my tip of the week:

Get this album into your collection. :-D

I know it belongs in mine!

Again, Happy Spring to everyone and All Our Relations!

Blessed Be,

Rev. Kat ^.^

Spirituality News...3/19/08

2008-03-19T10:09:00.003-05:00

I flipped through my Google Spirituality news alerts today thinking I would see blog post after blog post about Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, and the violence that's erupted in Tibet over the last few days.

Nothing. Not one syllable.

Which I find interesting, because usually I feel like I am the last to find out about things like this, only reading about them in my Alerts a few days later.

You'd think American Buddhists--at least the well-known ones--like Richard Gere, for instance, would jump on their blogs, if they have them, and post their reactions to what's going on.

But I, a non-Buddhist, went upstairs to fetch two of my favorite chanting CDs--one of them being from a local library--and three candles in reaction to the idea that the Dalai Lama has offered to resign as political head of Tibet if Tibetans continue their violent reaction to the oppression by the Chinese. He will always be the Dalai Lama, in the context of being the leader of the Buddhism community, but because he is so committed to nonviolence, he feels his only recourse is to resign on a political level.

I...a non-Buddhist reacting strongly to the point of feeling weepy and wanting to give Tibetans one big group hug? I mean, I'm a spiritual sensitive...but I think I reacted strongly because one of my chief goals is to promote freedom. Freedom of what?

Freedom from oppression, control, illusion...

I have been considering embracing Buddhism a bit more fully. And it's an interesting, juxtaposing thought given my own natural Celtic-Warrior-inclinations, plus my choosing to be vegetarian mostly for health purposes.

But I think I am reacting most strongly to the Dalai Lama's decision to resign politically--something which he has not carried out yet, as the Chinese Premier is mostly willing to speak with the Dalai Lama, though the Premier is not convinced of the Dalai Lama's
position on the issues at hand, regarding Tibetan autonomy vs Tibetan independence.

The Dalai Lama has renounced violence, and wishes for Tibetan autonomy, but not complete independence. Apparently, the more draconian of the communist party leaders (one of them from Tibet, sadly enough) have sorely misinterpreted the intentions and thoughts of the Dalai Lama, projecting their own violent nature onto one of the world's most peaceful men.

To sum things up, it appears that in the face of the 2008 Olympic Games, the Tibetan uprising has exposed China's "Achilles Heel": that of the inability to accept and honor ethnicities, spiritualities and governing styles other than their own. Hence, an outcry among the world governments against what the Chinese leaders have done.

So how do we forgive people like this? How do we forgive their draconian nature and oppressive thoughts and actions?

It is the only recourse. Forgiveness does not necessarily mean we have to condone the actions of the Chinese government. But we all would do well to turn the other cheek and say, "Mother, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Because they don't know what they are doing is wrong. They are under the spell of an emotional illusion.

So we must rid ourselves of our own illusions about our own paths...and spread our own peace to those who have none.

So do I support the Dalai Lama in his offer to resign if the violence gets out of control?

Yes. Not because I call myself Buddhist, as I have not studied enough to convert, and I am not a Tibetan, either... but I support him because I think if I were in his position, and at his level of spirituality and leadership, I think I would end up deciding the same thing.

But this whole thing reminds me of how I need to find my own peace within myself. We all need this, if the concepts of war and divisiveness are to be eventually conquered.

And how does this thought measure up in the face of my connection to Goddesses like Brighid and Athena? Because These Ladies are not just Goddesses of warfare...they are Goddesses of wisdom, intelligence and Creation.

And I definitely think Kali-ma would have something to say to the Chinese leaders. But I will leave that up to Kali. ;-)

Namaste and Brightest Blessings,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Experiments with the Law of Attraction and Gratitude

2008-03-18T11:44:00.002-05:00

I'm going to confess something here:

I haven't entirely begun a specific set of experiments with the Law of Attraction and the concept of "Attitude of Gratitude."

It's been rather haphazard, really, and more on the side of asking the Hindu elephant-god Ganesha to help remove obstacles in my family's life. Interestingly enough, I think He listened, because the prayers I made were for my folks to find a house to live in when the Catholic church burnt to the ground and the diocese decided to sell the property. Because not too long after I made those prayers, my dad had found the lovely little house here in M-town in which we are now living.

Technically, I could make similar prayers for me to find a job outside the home and for it to be a job that I can keep for a good while. And there's where I make yet another confession: I don't want another outside job. I feel that art and writing and music are where it's at for me. Besides, the job market's pretty tight anyway.

But that aside, I guess this post makes it official: I am now embarking on a set of personal experiments with the Law of Attraction and "attitude of gratitude."

Here is the kicker: Do I just attract stuff willy-nilly or do I make a focused attempt to attract what I precisely need? And how do I know that what I need is TRULY what I need?

Those are exactly the questions my experiments are going to answer.

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Beginning a New Article Series...

2008-03-12T13:17:00.002-05:00

As of last week, the most recent article on Scientology will be the last in that series.

The reason being is that I mostly want to give readers a clearer picture of each spiritual path out there, but without going on and on about it. Therefore my goal is only to post four or five major articles at most about each path, unless there is enough information that it warrants one or two extra writings. For instance, some paths have both orthodox AND mystical traditions that intertwine with each other. I want to give both aspects of such paths a fair showing, so extra articles may be written to cover both sectors.

And of course, following a pattern I set down with the first article series, I will be posting my candid thoughts on the spiritual traditions about which I am writing.

The next article series will be on Islam, currently one of the most popular religions right now, despite all the bad press they've been getting since 9/11. I know, there's a lot of information, but there's also a lot of misinformation, too. And not unlike the goals of the "For Dummies" and "Complete Idiot's Guide To.." books, I aim to help people understand more about the things that get misunderstood all too easily, whether from sheep-minded, ignorant thinking or from outright innocence.

Above all, by writing these articles, I aim to help those on their spiritual quests to find where they belong while helping them avoid a case of what I call "convertitis," an emotion-based desire to constantly blab about their newfound path in an attempt to get others to think the same way. In my opinion, you don't win "converts" by giving 'testimonials' or making your "witnessing" obvious to the point of being invasive to others.

And it is my observation that those wishing to convert others don't spill the beans about everything.

I plan to spill the beans. I would be doing a disservice to those who read this blog and who are searching if I did not.

Brightest Blessings on Your Seeking,
Rev. Kathryn WingedLioness

Spirituality News: On Boredom

2008-03-12T12:14:00.003-05:00

Top o' the afternoon to ya...;-)

I've learned to scan my Google alerts for articles quite quickly. It used to take me forever because I would always assume something new would be in each alert section (each alert comes in a digest form). Considering the current memes that people have glommed onto in the areas of music, spirituality and technology (my top three alert terms), it's difficult to find anything truly new and refreshing.

But one major gem was shining in the dark coal of repetitive postings.

The idea in question came from a WordPress blogger who calls herself Sparkle. She is a fifty-something writer who has ideas that are decidedly old-school. But in an age of constant "go, go, go," technology and speed have created a vacuum in which "old-school" relaxation and self-exploration are the perfect antidotes. And that is precisely the angle from which she addressed the subject of boredom being a true source of creativity.

And as a creative person, therefore, I know precisely what she means.

I believe that boredom is not necessarily a lack of "something to do," but rather it's a state of feeling like certain activities are not interesting anymore because there is no reward, immediate or otherwise. And in this age of people desiring instant gratification, it's easy to spit out the words "I'm bored" and flop down in the chair or on the sofa and flip on the tube.

To people like me with active, creative minds and souls from the day we were born, TV holds no interest unless we're learning something or rewatching an old favorite flick that never ceases to amaze and capture our hearts, souls and imaginations. These are my preferences:"Law & Order?" Same ol', same ol'. Too much melodrama that makes the show more fit for daytime TV. Reality shows? Unless it's "Dog: the Bounty Hunter," "Dirty Jobs," or "Flip This House," three shows about which I can learn about other people and their careers, forget about it. Oh, and in my cable or satellite package, Sci-Fi, Discovery Channel (plus spin-off channels), A&E, and Nat'l Geographic are THE ultimate "Must-see-and-learn" TV, right along with PBS.

And let's not forget the ages old Eastern practice of sitting down and watching the breath in meditation, clearing our brains of that annoying "monkey mind" blather that haunts our thoughts. I've gotten better at flinging poo right back at the "monkey" who flings poo at my more productive thoughts. But of course, there's always room for improvement. ;-)

But back to the original idea: how does boredom fuel creativity?

Well, allow me to use one of my favorite metaphors: the cauldron. As a woman who is a practicing Celtic Pagan and Kitchen Witch, AND as a woman who *loves* to cook, the cauldron is a wonderful example of Creation and Creativity.

Imagine the cauldron, sitting there on the tripod hanging over a campfire ring. The fire isn't lit yet. That cauldron is labeled "Your Life," which, up till now, you've called 'boring.' You claim you "have no life." Or do you?

You sit and sit, thinking about how to fill that cauldron. Your mind is full of thoughts, most of which are random and like that annoying monkey or chimp at the zoo whose attempts to amuse are merely distractions from what you'd really like to see (E.g., the polar bears, or the lions or peacocks). You're meditating on how to solve this problem, and then...WHAM! It hits you: you'd like to do thus-and-such with the cauldron, and no gosh-darn monkey is going to stop you.

Now you're not so bored and 'uninspired.' You light the flame under the fire, just as sitting with your feeling of "boredom" has lit a fire under you, and then you're off and cooking. Then one after another, more creative ideas and solutions come your way, and then the floodgates open. You begin to connect one idea to another and then you have a recipe for say, a business, a kid's activity, a book...you name it, it's there, and the Universe has lots more...like the Cauldron of Abundance in the old Celtic mythologies, the Universe never runs out of food for thought to share. (And it is this process that sparked this blog!)

All you gotta do is sit and be with your boredom. It's the same concept as pushing or pulling into the resistance, instead of pushing/pulling against it, a concept that is common in Asian martial arts such as Tai Chi and Aikido. You can also think of it as learning to be in, as Eckhart Tolle calls it, "The Power of Now." I've tried it, and it works. And I like to do what works. ;-)

Granted, the first couple or three times you try this, you may feel like you want to give up, but this is where the power of perseverance comes in handy. Because aside from working your day job in order to feed your little ones, be they dog, cat, lizard or human, those so-called "important" things that are NOT your day job (like household chores) can wait while you attend to creating your life for a change.*

BB,
Rev Kat ^.^

*Turning on your cell phone in this instance is definitely not required. In fact, disconnecting your regular phone is also encouraged.

New Happenings Here...

2008-03-10T15:17:00.003-05:00

As I have 4 other blogs I tend to (just call me Brighid with many irons in her forge), as well as this one, I managed to come up with a way to create content for all of them, every day of the week. Challenging? Yes. Important? Yes.

Generally, the done thing is to have one blog on which you post every day. I like doing the opposite: have one blog for each big topic idea. That way I can stay focused on what I need to do.

Plus, I just love to write, and it keeps me on my toes.

I'll be cross-posting this entry on other blogs as a general announcement. And sometimes I'll cross-post things from here on my blog over at Care2. Depends on the topic.

Here's what I've got lined up for daily post topics:

Mondays will be days I post meditations. They'll be brief, but long enough so you can copy, paste into Word or other word processing program and print them for your personal use *only*.

Tuesdays will tend to be for posts related to my experiments with the Law of Attraction and "Attitude of Gratitude," two chief components of "The Secret."

Wednesdays will be for Spirituality news. I solemnly promise NOT to focus on the same thing as the Biggest/Most Popular 'meme.'

Thursdays will be for "Tip(s) of the Week."

Fridays are going to be spotlighting things I've seen on StumbleUpon that are relevant to the general focuses for this blog...

That pretty much sums it up...see you in the coming weeks when I'm in the thick of this plan.

BB,

Rev Kat ^.^

Scientology Part III: Practices

2008-03-04T11:55:00.002-06:00

This is Article IV in the Scientology article series...
-----------

Here are the four major practices involved in Scientology:

Auditing

As some of this information has been presented before, this section will simply be a recap.

Auditing is Scientology's chief practice, and it consists of one-on-one sessions with a counselor and an e-meter. An e-meter is a device which measures small changes in electrical resistance in the body when the participant holds two electrodes shaped like small metal "cans," and a small electrical current is run through them.

This use of the e-meter usually occurs while the participant, also known as a Pre-Clear, or PC, is relating traumatic events in their life. Scientologists claim that the specific use of the e-meter and the results aid in pinpointing areas of concern.

Training

Training is the supervised process of learning and applying Scientology and auditing, and this process is considered almost as important as the auditing itself.

Training usually follows a checklist of which of Hubbard's writings are to be studied. The first four or five levels are called Academy Levels, and each student must show mastery of each topic studied before it can be recorded as a pass on the checklist. Academy Levels 0-4, and Academy Level 5, (also known as New Era Dianetics) are studied for two weeks each, on a 40 hour a week schedule.

Level 6, the Saint Hill Special Briefing course, is studied at special advanced organizations. This level consists of 16 checklists, each completed at 3-4 week intervals. The material involved includes 12,000 pages of material and over 400 lectures.

Silent Birth and Infant Care

Stemming from Hubbard's belief that birth is a traumatic event that might induce engrams, it is encouraged within Scientology that any labor and delivery process should be in as silent a room as possible, with no words, so the child does not grow up and reassociate any specific words with the event of their birth.

While Hubbard believed that women should breastfeed their infants, he discouraged women who smoked, drank or lacked poor nutrition from doing just that. He discouraged the use of commercial formulas currently on the market, however, claiming that all they were was a combination of "mixed milk powder, glucose and water, total carbohydrate." Hubbard created his own alternative, called Barley Formula. His mixture is simply barley mixed with homogenized milk and corn syrup, and though it is still popular with Scientologists, modern medical practitioners deride it as lacking in important nutrients, especially Vitamin C, the lack of which causes scurvy.

Ceremonies

The Church of Scientology provides Sunday services and ceremonies for marriage, birth, and death. These services and ceremonies are usually performed by an ordained Scientology minister.

For example, during a funeral, the minister directly addresses the deceased, forgiving them for any misdeeds done:

"We do not contest your right to go away. Your debts are paid. This chapter of thy life is shut. Go now, dear [deceased], and live once more in happier time and place."

Most, if not all, ceremonies that are currently used were written by Hubbard himself.

-----------

MY THOUGHTS: When I got to reading about Scientology for this article series, I really got curious as to the philosophy behind the concept of silent birthing, as I view it as an unrealistic vision of someone who had never given birth. And as the founder of Scientology was a male, you can guess how unrealistic his idea is. Now, granted, I do believe that children should be able to come into this world not surrounded by chrome and plastic medical equipment and cold rooms, but I also believe that childbirth is called "labor" for a reason, especially for shorter women who end up carrying children up to 9 lbs. And it is for this reason that I also believe women ought to have the right to an epidural, or barring that, scream like hell if they want or need to, something at which a Scientologist would probably reel back in horror. Also, Hubbard's concept of "barley formula" IS lacking in essential nutrients, other than protein. And there is no reason why a new mother who is lacking in poor nutrition couldn't get the nutrition she needs, as long as she has access to excellent prenatal care and is willing to give up smoking and drinking for her child's sake.

Spirituality and 'Memes'

2008-02-29T09:16:00.002-06:00

I had an idea this morning to track the number of articles in each Google alert I receive. Two alerts are for my music/creativity blog and one is for this blog. And I got to thinking about my fascination with trendwatching, trendsetting and why, in the savvier sectors of the blogosphere, it is considered repetitive and boring to write about the same stuff as other people.

This led me to further thinking about what 'memes', or ideas and concepts are "hot topics" in the realm of spirituality...

My brief research tallied up Goddess and Women's spirituality as being the biggest thing right now at around 7 articles (and I had a LONG list of spirituality alerts in one email digest!) and at 2 articles each, the topics of spirituality-vs-religion and spirituality-and-celebrities were dead last.

Topics in the middle (at around 4 articles) were about the environment, children and politics.

I understand perfectly why Goddess Spirituality and Women's issues are tight friends and why they're such a big deal. I'm a part of that movement myself. Not so much as a Starhawk fan, as I think she takes it a tad too far, IMO. But rather as a woman who seeks to be in balance with the male gender.

Ergo, it's more interesting to read and write about such a thing. But spirituality and celebrities or the argument of spirituality-vs-religion? Either people are bored with hearing about celebrities flaunting their beliefs and bored with the spirituality-vs-religion debate, or nobody is taking a deeper look into things, preferring to be superficial in their thinking and reporting.

So, I see it as a challenge...why do certain celebrities choose the paths they choose and do they change spiritualities like they change spouses/partners? If not, what makes them stick to the path they're into? Or are they choosing a specific path just for the sake of being controversial?

And the spirituality-vs-religion debate is still something of a fascination, as it seems to be a spin-off of the science-vs-religion debate...

So...maybe I can turn some things on their head...and create a 'meme' of my own: that of actually thinking deeply about topics people think are boring, and giving them a twist--which is exactly what blogging, and writing itself, are about.

BB,
Kat ^.^

Scientology Part II-B: Further Information on Beliefs

2008-02-26T17:07:00.002-06:00

This is Article III of the Scientology article series.

--------

Scientology Part II-B: Further Information on Scientology Beliefs

Continuing the information on Scientology beliefs, let’s recap in a single sentence what Scientologists, particularly the Church of Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, believed about the mind. According to Hubbard, the mind is a bank of mental images, and Dianetics itself deals with the reactive mind, the place where negative images or “engrams” are held.

The Two Triangles and the Tone Scale

Parts of the Scientology symbol are two triangles, one on top of the other. The bottom triangle stands for ARC, or Affinity (emotions), Reality (agreeing on what is real) and Communication. The top triangle stands for KRC, or Knowledge, Responsibility and Control. Scientologists believe that improving one aspect of the bottom triangle increases the levels of the other two.

As regards the top triangle, many auditing processes and training routines are centered on the aim of increasing an individual’s ability to have knowledge of, take responsibility for, and control external elements.

The tone scale characterizes mood and emotion by showing various emotional positions on the scale. The number range is from -40 (considered “total failure”), to +40 (“Serenity of Being”). Again, position on the scale usually indicates mood, but Hubbard said it could also indicate things like health, mating behavior and even the ability to deal with the truth. The essence of this measuring device is that the higher the tone, the better the person’s communication is, and the lower the tone, the worse the communication is.

Dynamics, Morals and Ethics

There are eight Dynamics of survival according to Scientology, and they are eight in number, ranging from Self, to Humanity to the Infinite. The Dynamics, as represented by the cross of Scientology (looks a bit like the Christian cross, except for four extra “spokes” in the middle, pointing outward) must be considered in equal measure.

Concerning morals and ethics within Scientology, there are three key points. The first is that Scientologists follow what is called “The Way to Happiness.” This “Way to Happiness” defines morals as a code of good conduct laid out as a yardstick for individuals and groups, but also cautions that morals can become outdated and outworn, thus inciting revolt and rebellion. The second point is that there is no absolute right or wrong in the sense that most people think of it, but rather there is a gradient of right to wrong.

If any such sense of “absolutes” regarding right or wrong exist for Scientologists, it is solely within the concept that “absolute wrong” is extinction of the universe and of humanity, and “absolute right” is the immortality of the individual, his friends and children and the Universe. Ethics are defined by Scientology as reason, and ethics in this case consist of rationality towards survival across the eight dynamics. It is then considered that reason is humanity’s greatest weapon.

Past Lives, “Secret Levels” and ET’s.

To recap and add to what was mentioned earlier, Hubbard believed that the mind contains past traumas called engrams, but Hubbard also believed that some of these traumas occurred in previous lives. Some of these previous traumas, according to Hubbard were deliberately inflicted by malevolent extraterrestrial dictatorships in the form of “implants” in order to brainwash and control the human populace.

Getting back to Scientology symbols, there is a big “Church of Spiritual Technology” symbol carved on the grounds of Scientology’s Trementina base. This can be seen from the air, and according to former Scientologists, the symbol marks a return point so devoted staff can find the founder’s works upon returning to Earth from other points in the Universe.

Regarding the “Secret Levels,” Scientologists who have reached the state of “Clear” may continue on into the levels of Upper or Operating Thetan. Such levels are only conferred after an evaluation of the person’s ethics, character and contribution to Scientology. Individuals who have reached these levels and read the corresponding materials may not disclose the information they have acquired, for to do so would jeopardize their standing within Scientology.

There are presently eight levels of Operating Thetan, the last of which is only conferred at sea, for the reason that being at sea provides a safe, aesthetic and distraction-free environment. The Church of Scientology enforces strict confidentiality in these matters, especially after Scientology materials were presented as evidence in court proceedings, therefore becoming a matter of public record.

----------------------

MY THOUGHTS : Now that I've researched further, I understand more about this topic. It still feels something like a system from one of Hubbard's sci-fi books or similar movies that I've seen that might have fringe-y ideas and symbols, but there's a path for everyone. I still don't understand the point of secrecy and confidentiality with some stuff, however, because if these ideas of Hubbard's are so dang cool and would improve society, why all the hush-hush and the secret levels? I have the same grievance towards the uber-traditional Mystery Schools, such as Gardnerian Wicca and other secrecy-oriented practices.

Scientology, Part II-A: Basic Beliefs

2008-02-20T11:26:00.004-06:00

This is Article II of my Scientology Report series...

----------

Scientology Part II-A: Basic Beliefs

Documentation and Goals…

Unlike Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, Scientology does not have one single particular book, but rather a series of books, which number 18 in totality. Study is achieved by reading each book in chronological succession and thereby mastering the material within.

The goals of Scientology include two major points. The first goal is to have a civilization without insanity, war or criminals; where the able can prosper and honest people can have rights, and where humans can rise above mediocrity. The second goal is for humans to achieve certainty of spiritual existence and certainty of one’s relationship to the Supreme Being.

Beliefs and Terminology

There are a few major beliefs which contain terminology and concepts by which most people outside of the Scientology circle tend to freak out.

The first of these concepts is that a person is a spiritual being who possesses a mind and body, the spirit lives on after the death of the body, and that the spirit has also experienced many reincarnations. To many people, this is not so unfamiliar a concept, but what strikes people as a tad off the beaten path is that in L. Ron Hubbard’s terminology, the soul, or spirit body, is known as a Thetan.

The second of Hubbard’s ideas and concepts is that of auditing. This process seeks to rid a person of any traumatic incidents, ethical transgressions or just plain bad decisions that are believed to weigh the person down and prevent him or her from succeeding in life on their desired level. Before the auditing process begins, the person being audited is referred to as pre-Clear. Once the process is underway, the auditing counselor works with the pre-Clear to get rid of any negative instances within the mind. The desired stages to achieve are that of Clear and Operating Thetan, or rather, someone who has managed to get free of the negativity that would hold them back from their desired achievements. Each of these states is said to recover a person’s natural spiritual abilities and to bring mental and physical benefits. Members of Scientology continually study the religion’s tenets in order to go from pre-Clear to Operating Thetan.

Other beliefs include the thought that the tenets of Scientology are not simply matters of faith but rather matters of testable proof and practice. In other words, that which is true for you is what you have observed to be true. Another belief, which has recently become well-known via one or two celebrity Scientologists, is that psychology and psychiatry are considered to be abusive and destructive practices.

----------------

MY THOUGHTS: When I did the research for this second article, I already had knowledge of some of Hubbard's terminology, as I had attempted, at one point, to read Dianetics. But to be quite honest, I couldn't even get halfway through the book. The concepts that Hubbard put forth were somewhat familiar as they are indeed drawn from both psychology and Eastern mysticism, but his personal terminology for the soul and its negative experiences, etc, really says to me that either he has a unique vision for humanity, or he had a system in his sci-fi books that was most likely to be implementable in current-day society and he just went for the gusto. And quite frankly, when it comes to Dianetics and some aspects of Scientology, if my solar plexus had a face, it would have a weirded-out, quizzical expression plastered all over.

I haven't tried reading any of his sci-fi books, but one day, I may scratch that curious itch. After all, I'm willing to try *most* things once. But Scientology itself? Ehhh, I am happy being a Druidic Pagan, I thank ya.

Who Is....

2008-02-18T12:14:00.002-06:00

...Steve Pavlina?

In my search through my Google Alerts for Spirituality news, I keep seeing this site called www.stevepavlina.com, and most of the mentions in Google Alerts are from the forums. I finally said to myself, "Okay, I'll bite: who the heck is Steve Pavlina anyway and what does he promote?"

Well, I went, I looked, and was enticed.

Who/What is Steve Pavlina? A Self-Help/Personal Development person who seems to know what he's doing.

What aspects of Personal Development does he target? The full gamut...everything from time management to spirituality practices...

My reaction? I got chills, because in my many in-the-mind talks with God/dess, I was expressing my concern about the way I ought to routinize my spiritual practice and how I could make the most of the weird situation I'm in right now. Stephen Covey's 7 Habits series is helpful for ultimate newbies to the prioritization process, and I'm still working with that on some level. Don Miguel Ruiz's "4 Agreements" book is a boon to those of us who still deal with overreacting, taking things personally, making stupid assumptions and thinking we gotta be perfect people, having no "off" days whatsoever, even if we're puking up our toenails. (yuck!)

But it seems that the Universe has been trying to get my attention because I've been noticing the Steve Pavlina site for a couple or so weeks now...and while I've got a lot on my plate, with no computer in my room yet, like any kitty, my curiosity is getting the better of me.

So, I will explore the Steve Pavlina site and see what happens. There's lots of info, so I will have to digest his material in bits and pieces...but maybe that's the way to do it anyway, so I don't get overwhelmed...

I'll write a proper review of his site and his forum once I get properly into the swing of it.

BB,
Kat ^.^

It seems my

Closed For Inventory

2008-02-14T14:37:00.002-06:00

Greetings, all...

I read this article in Google Alerts from the Orangeville, Toronto newspaper about taking stock of one's life, and how we live our collective lives as a community.

The author began by noting a convenience store that was closed at 9 am in order to take inventory. And he went on to mention the Christian season of Lent. It's a season that most people are very uncomfortable with for many reasons. One of which is the concept of fasting or giving up something for the forty-day-forty-night time-span. Not many like the idea of giving up something. I was raised as a Christian Protestant, and we never really did much for the Lenten season just because my parents perceived that they were struggling to make ends meet as it was. Yet...my father and mother have been carrying around 30+ years' worth of belongings, 50% of which my mom is more than willing to let go (heirlooms notwithstanding), but my dad has no interest in getting rid of, or giving up anything that he's acquired. And taking stock is not his favorite activity.

I am not unfamiliar with the most basic concept of taking stock, however. I do it quite often. Not because my Pagan path demands I do it, but because I want to be a better person and help reduce suffering. Taking stock is part and parcel of living life as consciously as possible. For example, from an ecological perspective, if I did not take stock of my life, my views, my perceptions, I could not rightly call myself an environmentalist, let alone a spiritual being.

But because I adore animals, plants, Mother Earth in Her majestic entirety, I *want* to take stock and have personal goals that further the cause and necessity for being a guardian and steward of the land upon which I walk. I *want* to feed my body and my soul with the healthiest things possible. So I take stock of what I eat and the things I experience.

Taking stock, however, is not solely relegated to being an environmentalist. Taking stock can mean looking at how we treat each other, and making amends to those whom we have sometimes treated not so nicely. The list could go on. The point is, whether or not you are of any faith path in particular, if you wish to be a better person in general, going within, soul-searching and tallying up what's gone on in your life so far...things completed, things not completed, things that you've not even begun to tackle...these are key to helping your life get better. And this can be a successful discipline to have, regardless of whether you are Christian, Pagan, Muslim, Jewish, etc.

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Scientology: Part I--Origins and History

2008-02-13T14:22:00.003-06:00

Here is the first of the Scientology posts I promised I'd write...I am going to use a different font for my research articles than I do for my regular postings.

-------

Scientology, Part I: Origins and History

How It All Began…

Scientology, as an applied religious philosophy, was created in the early 1950’s by American sci-fi author L. Ron Hubbard. It was created as a sub-study of Hubbard’s earlier self-help system, Dianetics, a while after the original Dianetics center failed due to financial issues. The first Church of Scientology was begun in 1953.

Scientology encompasses a rehabilitative philosophy and covers topics such as morals, ethics, education and so on. The Church of Scientology has been labeled as a cult and an “unscrupulous commercial enterprise” by many areas of society and the world. There is also a charge against Scientology for harassment and abuse of the trust of its adherents. Its members refute such claims by saying that most of the controversy is negatively spread and motivated by certain interest groups and that most of the controversy is considered past history.

Though the word ‘scientology’ in itself has been mostly associated with L. Ron Hubbard, its use predates him by a few decades. Three writers have used it to define their own thinking, including philologist Allen Upward, who used the term as a synonym for pseudoscience, and Argentine-German writer Anastasius Nordenholz used it in a more positive light, using a definition of ‘scientology’ that is not unlike Hubbard’s.

The Church of Scientology defines ‘Scientology’ as “a study of truth.” The word itself is a combination of the Latin word ‘scientia’ (knowledge, skill), which is a form of the verb ‘scire’ (to know), and the Greek word ‘logos’ (reason, inward thought, logic or ‘an account of’). The term and related words are trademarks held by the Religious Technology Center, which grants the mother church, Church of Scientology International (CSI), all rights to use said trademarks and license their use to other Scientology entities and churches.

Influences...

Hubbard’s creation is influenced by many people and other religious thoughtforms. Chief among these are Freud, Jung, Alfred Korzybski, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Tao Te Ching and even Christian Gnosticism. He even claimed that the Hindu Vedas were “Scientology’s earliest ancestor” and credited Buddha for being one of Scientology’s forerunners. Indeed, the practice of “auditing,” a one-on-one, two-hour counseling session, seeks to rid the reactive, unconscious mind of what Hubbard called “engrams,” or negative occurrences affecting the unconscious mind and emotions, therefore supposedly healing any physical or emotional hindrances to life success. The goal in Buddhism to ease suffering due to what usually goes on in the reactive mind is something similar to Hubbard’s goals and ideas, but the approach is quite different.

Despite the influence of other greats on both Dianetics and Scientology, such as Freud and Jung, whose theories Hubbard studied copiously, he did not place Scientology within the realm of psychiatry or psychology. In fact, he blamed the American Communist Party for most of the hostile press towards his ideas, and in later years, he developed the belief that the true origin of the criticisms was from the psychiatric profession, and that the profession secretly controlled most of the world’s governments.

End of Part I

-------------------

MY THOUGHTS: I was surprised at how many sources L. Ron Hubbard drew from, especially Hinduism and Buddhism. I was also surprised to find out where the Church of Scientology's hostility towards the psychiatric community came from. I am unsure of whether psychiatry actually has as much control as Hubbard claimed, though as a mystic, I am personally not too fond of the current attitudes coming from the psychiatric community towards anyone who is not supposedly "normal." They have also not stopped to consider that what is making our children mentally whacko is all the processed foods, sugars and environmental pollutants/hazards to human health.

A Touchy Subject

2008-02-07T23:25:00.000-06:00

I am about to address a topic that both fascinates and frightens many people, especially in light of how popular it's becoming. At least two well-known Hollywood couples have embraced its tenets and I have a friend who has subscribed to this fledgling religion's ideas for around 20-odd years.

Its creator? The famous/infamous sci-fi fiction writer, the late L. Ron Hubbard.

Yup. Scientology.

In the interest of exploration and balanced, healthy skepticism, I plan to make an attempt at a scientific, albeit contemplative study of this as yet controversial path and report my thoughts. The postings will be weekly as I have other things--such as my own Druidic path (a path, which, I have felt deeply to be the path for me)--to work with. But because I profess Druidry--a highly scholarship-oriented path--it would be ignorant of me to not study other people's religions. I believe in learning to understand other people and therefore be balanced in my thinking. Besides,
those who are researching Scientology for themselves can read my blog and get their proverbial 2nd, 3rd or even 4th opinion to help them decide.

This will be the first in a series of educational and informative posts about various paths that are misunderstood by most people.

Keep in mind always that I do make honest attempts at being fair and balanced, and I have no intention of promoting one path over another in this new endeavor on which I am about to embark.

Blessings,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Summary Of Spirituality News

2008-02-05T14:28:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! Welcome back…Here’s a spirituality news summary, and my thoughts on each blurb, to whet your whistle while I finish up this year’s plans for this blog.

1) Edition #2 of “Spirituality for Dummies” is released to critical acclaim and includes new material about the creation, tips for finding your own path, and using popular manifestation techniques responsibly. Author is Sharon Janis, who studied in an ashram for 10 years before becoming a famous Hollywood director. There is also a CD that includes all kinds of moving spiritual music, from Jewish prayers, to Gregorian chant, to Buddhist texts, Hindu chants and gospel music, all sung by the author and other artists.

MY THOUGHTS: While I’m fairly solid on my own spiritual path, I am tempted to pick up this book just for the usual “For Dummies” humor, and I am eager to see what happens when an author combines ashram experience and experience as a Hollywood director, especially since I’ve seen the good messages that have come out of mixing mysticism and the music business—the Beatles and YES are two shining examples that come to mind in that arena at least.

2) 2 Fort Collins, CO churches take the opportunity to address sex and spirituality. Schools ordinarily discuss “the plumbing,” but these two Colorado churches address how to use “the plumbing” with respect. Plymouth Congregational church addresses the topic of sex and spirituality with a wholistic point of view, even going beyond the call of parochial duty to invite members of the GLBT community to talk with the young folks about sexual orientation. The message from Plymouth also entails not so much about “sex after marriage,” like most churches teach, but rather about sex in a healthy, safe and loving relationship; no coercion, but compassion and respect. Timberline Church, however, is a bit more conservative and Youth Pastor Jason Veliquette continues the conservative “party line” of sex only after marriage, still claiming that “it’s God’s plan.” He didn’t seem to mention anything about homosexuality, and other orientation issues, but really pounded home the sex after marriage thing.

MY THOUGHTS: A Carrot to Plymouth Congregational for being so open and accepting about all aspects of sexuality, especially regarding the GLBT community. I have to give a Stick, however to Jason V. and the Timberline church for still continuing the “party line” about sex and relationships. These kids need more than just old-guard rhetoric. Continuing to preach at youth isn’t going to do much good if you want to give them solid reasons to say no to sex when they’re not ready. Give them the choice to wait for marriage or not but also arm them with acceptance and love as well as information. Let them learn from their mistakes. And when they do make mistakes, embrace them and bend over backwards to help them get back on their feet. But never once condemn them, for they can sense your condemnation and they will take it to heart and totally skip the spirituality thing altogether.

3) Is Faith in a Higher Power Due to Genetics? Dr. Harold Koenig suggests that the answer might lean toward the affirmative, saying that you can see a spiritual experience in a brain scan by the way certain parts light up. The parts that go dark, conversely, are the parts that tell you where you are and what time it is. Two genes, called VMAT2 and DRD4 are responsible for helping the spirituality-oriented feel-good chemicals go through the brain and experiencing the ability to get lost in the moment.

Koenig also suggests that these genes are also reputedly responsible for certain emotional sensitivities in people, allowing them to pick up certain things easier than others. But ultimately, it comes down to how people perceive religious or spiritual experiences. One person who has faith but isn’t all that emotionally perceptive experiences certain spiritual things in a different way than say someone who is at the least borderline psychic, if not a full-blown Sensitive. But how do these findings sit with the established church community? One minister, Rev. Dr H. William Green says there is more to spiritual experiences than what science has currently revealed, though he does believe science and spirituality can work together. Dr. Keith Meador, co-director for the Duke Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, concurs. Meador believes that the concept of the God Gene is too simplified to explain away humankind’s desire to seek a Higher Power.

MY THOUGHTS: As a mystic and spiritual person with a father who is also something of a mystic himself can, with or without a brain scan or genetic testing, attest to the deeper revelation of Truth within Dr. Koenig’s results and conclusions. I can tell when I am getting lost in what Eckhart Tolle calls The Power of Now, especially when I am listening to my favorite music or doing anything involving the ceremonies and rituals I perform that are centered around my personal path.

However, I also agree with the Drs. Green and Meador that it is always up to the individual how they experience something religious or spiritual, regardless of their genetics. For example, I am somewhat Sensitive, but I am not to the level of say, Sylvia Browne or John Edward, so my experiences of the Divine Essence are going to be different than theirs. That is not to say that I or anyone else couldn’t work at increasing our respective levels of emotional and psychic sensitivity.

More to come later…

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Happy Belated New Year!

2008-01-25T14:54:00.000-06:00

I'm back, after a much-needed hiatus. I had some things to puzzle out, and hopefully, by next New Moon, I'll have those things more well in mind, hand and brain.

BB,
Rev Kat ^.^

A Rather Disturbing Thought...(a rant)

2007-12-05T00:24:00.001-06:00

If you've been to Beliefnet.com, you know that it's a good place for discovering things about religion and spirituality. It's got a fairly accurate and extensive quiz one can take to help you give a "name" to what you feel the deepest in your heart.

So imagine my cringing soul when I discover that Beliefnet has been bought out by Fox Entertainment Corporation.

Right now, Fox network TV stations seem to be rife with slanted perspectives when their duty is to be impartial. Not only that, Fox network has made it a habit to censor certain things in the name of "family values" when they are the ones who willingly broadcast shows like "King of the Hill" or "Simpsons." I must admit, I like the latter, but "King of the Hill" drives this non-redneck, non-beer-swilling Pagan lady crazy. For one thing, it's sexist and encourages the lowest common denominator of general human idiocy (Hank Hill had better be glad he's just a cartoon character, or his liver would seriously be in trouble with all the beer he drinks).

Plus, what really has my inner marching band making a lot of warning noises is this paragraph from "Fox Entertainment Group":

>>Fox said Beliefnet will also become a distributor of content from News Corp.'s faith-based businesses, including HarperCollins' Zondervan and HarperOne brands, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's faith-based programming initiative.<<

Most people would assume from the names mentioned that this is clearly oriented towards the mainstream religious groups, especially Christianity. Where does this leave Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and even Pagans who like to venture over to Beliefnet? Are we non-Christians going to be continually inundated with Christian propaganda--especially that of the right-wing "moralists"--at Beliefnet all on Fox's say-so? I'll have to wait and see, but I'm not getting too good a vibe from this business deal.

Even when I was a Christian, I detested people pushing their idiotic ideas of who was considered acceptable and who was not...or what actions were supposedly okay with the Divine and what were not okay. So why I or any other spiritual folks have to put up with Fox's continual encroachment on our rights to a propaganda-free path to Enlightenment is beyond my understanding.

If this encroachment continues, I will be more than happy to go to other spirituality sites that are not as willing to fall back on support from big entertainment groups who only have the interests of the right-wingers at heart.

Thus endeth my rant.

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

"Slovenia's Gandhi": For Real, or Raspberry-worthy?

2007-11-23T01:21:00.000-06:00

I came across an article in my Google news via the London Times about Slovenia's president--or soon to be former president, Janez Drnovsek.

I don't honestly know much about Slovenian history, but I do know a radical change of heart when I see one. Back when Drnovsek was Prime Minister of Slovenia, he was described as rather a dull, glum man who didn't like visionaries, and he was also referred to as someone who didn't take care of his people too well.

Yet, following a cancer diagnosis, Drnovsek has suddenly morphed into this peace-loving, animal-and-human-rights champion who made it a point to go into Darfur to help stop the suffering. And, in short, has gone from pallid president to love-is-all-you-need New-Age-style leader...not too unlike Mohandas Gandhi, who went from lawyer to mystical, non-violent visionary who fasted in the name of bringing to an end the occupation of India by the British Empire.

I read the comments following the Times' online article, and there were some detractors with some rather unforgiving attitudes. But there were also people who highly praised Drnovsek for his change in mind and spirit.

Here's the sticker, though: Was Drnovsek's "conversion experience" due to the prospect of death, with a potential fear of what might happen in the afterlife if he didn't change his outlook and attitudes on this plane, or was the change genuine--even if Death was staring the Slovenian in the face? I mean, the guy went all out--becoming vegan and living without a television--and totally ignoring state functions. Plus, when he was interviewed by the London Times, he seemed to be calm, at peace with himself, evidencing this by saying he wasn't worried about any detractors.

That's not the mark of someone who's not genuine about their transformation. That's the mark of someone who, even in their own "eleventh hour" has made the proverbial 180-degree turn and truly started to live life in a higher frame of consciousness.

In light of the coming holiday season, one might think that Death was potentially all three Dickensian Ghosts of Christmas for Drnovsek, because of such a sudden turnaround.

I just wish I could say the same for the American president.

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

The 8 "Be Awares" by Rev. Kat

2007-11-22T15:59:00.000-06:00

These are 8 guidelines that I came up with, based on the kind of life experiences I've had in my short time on Earth. For each guideline, I'm including an example to help clarify what I'm speaking about. If you like what I have here, feel free to copy and paste this and pass it around the 'Net. Attribute it to me, or not, it makes no difference, because these are things I am sure others have experienced as well. Human experience is human experience and it needs no copyright.

I created these guidelines a year ago on an older blog. They didn't exactly belong on the blog in question as my blog was meant for stories. I've since abandoned that blog to focus on this and Foolbard, but maybe I will re-start another story blog. I dunno. We'll see.

Caveat: Keep in mind that I am a person that calls it like she sees it.

That being said, here's what I've got to say:

1)Be aware that you *can* take responsibility for your own actions and emotions. This generally means thinking before you speak and act in order not to hurt others, even yourself. Whether you believe in the existence of a representative of "absolute evil," or not, doesn't mean that excuses you for any irresponsible choices you make towards yourself or others.

2) At the same time, be aware that you don't have to take responsibility for other people's crap, no matter how empathic, gentle and tenderhearted you might be. If someone's having a bad day or taking things personally and you're feeling the effects of their temper tantrums, realize that it may not have anything to do with you at all and they're the ones who have to own up to their having a short fuse. And even if it does have to do with you, still be aware that the ones with the short fuse end up with the short end of the emotional stick when it comes to having friends.

3) Be aware that it's okay to cry and make a fuss when you need to. Not showing emotions can lead to mental instability. People who expect you, as a chronological adult, to be stoic and logical all the time are probably the ones who really need to let loose and feel they aren't allowed to for some weird reason. Don't let that be you--especially not to yourself.

4) Be aware that the Biblical passage about "putting away childish things" has been misinterpreted many times over. The grown-ups who created Bugs Bunny, Daffy and Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, the Animaniacs etc have made animation their jobs because they know that being an adult does not mean they have to stop watching what has been scornfully dubbed "kids' stuff" by 'obligatory' adults who take the Apostle Paul's writing way too seriously.

5) Sure, you're a chronological adult with adult worries. Be aware that it is easier to solve those worries when not spaced out on chemical vices that harm the body, mind and soul. Even antidepressants aren't a complete and permanent cure-all. I missed more school while taking Zoloft and Paxil than I did when feeling and experiencing those down and out emotions.

6) Be aware that being an adult doesn't mean you can't ask for help--ANY kind of help. Being independent is one thing, but having the desire to be completely and totally self-reliant and not ask for any outside help when you know you need it is quite another. Have the humility to ask for a helping hand. People will be more offended if you don't ask than if you did.

7) Be aware that as an adult with free will, it does not mean that doing as you want to will not have consequences of some kind.

8) Finally, be aware that as an adult, you have choices about the way you view the world. You do *not* have to see things the way your parents did, or react the way your parents reacted. You are your own person, your own soul, with your own views. Cherish that part of being human, because people can try to take away stuff that isn't theirs to take away. Once you know this in the core of your being, you will also know and remember that the people who try that kind of BS will experience the consequences (see #7).

Climate Change is hittin' the Cheezburger Spot

2007-11-21T00:33:00.000-06:00

I saw something both humorous--and very telling about the way people are responding to the climate crisis. One of my favorite humor sites, icanhascheezburger.com, has recently featured an LOL-picture of a polar bear. The top half of the pic shows the polar bear sleeping peacefully on a blanket of snow, with a caption of "I has an ice cap." The bottom portion of the picture shows the melting of the ice with the polar bear trying to swim through the ice chunks, the caption reading: "Noo, they be stealin' my icecap."

The emotional comments that followed the picture were encouraging. The comments told me that there are people out there that truly care about our Mother Planet. While icanhascheezburger.com is not out to be political on purpose, someone saw the need to be funny even while raising the clarion call to get our butts on the move and do something about the climate change.

If there is one site--at the very least--that can help wake us all up with a snarky swat of a kitty paw, and raw kitty pissy-ness, no less, I truly believe it is icanhascheezburger.com.

After all, as I commented on the polar bear pic: It's easier to help save the planet when you're not depressed. So I'm over there makin' LOL's and submitting them. :-D (btw--it's easy to do this with their LOL-cat builder.)

So...in LOL-cat style, I say this:

*switching to LOL-speak*

"Glo-ball warmingz? DO NOT WANT!"

Your Sister in Saving the Mother,
Rev. Kat ^.^

P.S. If you want to see the polar bear picture (you can't miss it!), go to: www.icanhascheezburger.com

A Gristle-ish Topic: the Environment...

2007-11-16T11:16:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I feel such a loss for words when it comes to topics near and dear to my Druidic heart. One of those topics is the condition of the Environment...our Mother Earth.

The only thing I can say, what with temperatures in November reaching 50 when they are normally around 30 or 40, and crude oil reaching almost $100 a barrel, plus other issues compounding the situation is this:

WAKE THE HECK UP, PEOPLE!

I will confess: one of the chief reasons I began following a Pagan path was to help our Mother recover from the devastating effects we humans have had on Her ever since the Industrial Revolution. Christianity has a history of being used as an excuse to savagely rape the planet--and yes, that includes these ridiculous wars, both Congressional and guerilla, over natural resources. Why? Because of a grossly mistranslated and misinterpreted verse in Genesis that talks of "dominion over the animals and land." Therefore I left Christianity --the hypocrisies uttered and committed were driving me crazy.

One of my favorite movies has become "Happy Feet." Can you imagine the impact this movie would make if the people for whom the message was intended would actually *listen* and pay close, heartfelt attention? But it's not just about paying attention to one species' food source, it's about paying attention--*conscious* attention--to everything that is precious and sacred. If the Prez truly believes in a Creator, why is he not safeguarding for EVERYone ALL of what the Creator gave us? Why is he one of the first ones to destroy our only planetary home by ripping out Her lifeblood and selling it? Spirituality aside, why is he not listening to the environmental scientists instead of the "cha-ching" of the fuel pumps?

But maybe more importantly, why, in the name of the Great Goddess are people still choosing vehicles like SUVs and Hummers and using plastic bags at the grocery stores? Why aren't *we* paying more attention and making wiser choices? Even chain supermarkets are getting in on the act by offering cloth bags for putting groceries in at the checkout. Though they still offer plastic sacks, they're starting to purchase bags that won't rip as easily, so people can use them over and over. Yet, my guess is, people just reuse the bags once as trash can liners, and off they go to the landfill. I'm more in favor of the cloth bags myself, really, but at least with the tougher plastic, people have fewer excuses to throw away plastic grocery sacks.

Hopefully, once I get a job, I can get a bike so instead of driving around constantly, I can reduce my own carbon footprint--especially since my car isn't the most ecologically sound vehicle. I must confess that it's an '89 Lincoln Mark VII--a boat, in comparison with say, a Mini Cooper or a Toyota Prius. And at least a bike doesn't need spark plugs. Oh, and another thing a better job can get me is organic food. Sure it's more expensive, but oh-so-much better for me and the planet. The ironic thing is, not having a job right now is forcing me to not drive so much, except to the library, grocery store and job interviews.

More posts on this sort of thing to come later.

Blessings,
Rev. Kat ^.^

A Monday Meditation...

2007-11-12T22:38:00.000-06:00

For the past few months, even a year, I've come to consider Monday as my personal "sabbath." I don't regard it as a "Sabbath" in the traditional sense, as I don't follow the mainstream. *My* definition here is mostly a dedicatory day, where I go about my usual job hunt, article and story writing, that sort of thing, but I pay special, mindful attention to the heavenly body that Monday was named after: the Moon...and the Moon's accompanying Deity, the Great Goddess.

It's secular, cultural "tradition" for people to roll their eyes at "Monday" because for a lot of folks, Monday is associated with an intense dislike of their day jobs, and a desire to do something else in their life. However, for me, it is a day to be a bit extra contemplative...to be more absorbed in the I-AM Presence, and as a mystic, I can't say it's too hard for me to become that much more absorbed in thoughts of what lies Beyond the Veil. But if you're not sure you understand my experiences...come closer to the hearth, and allow me to share with you how I've been able to transform my own concept of Monday...

...Close your eyes...count slowly to 7, the number of days in the usual week...as you count, silently watch your breath, the rise and fall of your chest, belly, abdomen. Hear the whoosh of air through your nose and mouth as you might hear the changing tide...see the number 7, associated with the cycles of change...the rise and fall of the seasons...Spring flowers, Summer's trees, Autumn's leaves falling, Winter's snow accumulating, Spring winds blowing the snow away, and on around again...watch in your mind the days of the calendar fly by...see all the Mondays in the year...they go so fast as our beautiful blue Mother whirls Her way around Father Sun...year after year...the Mondays become a blur as the changes become more evident...

And you are now floating, suspended, above our Mother, Her sister, the Moon...and you start to think of all the changes that, for so long, you thought were out of your hands...a silver jingling by your ears...a message...an echoing voice, gentle, ethereal, singing against your eardrums...

"those things were never out of your hands, for your hands are My Hands...I gave you those changes, because, dear daughters and sons...we become stagnant if there is no change. Changes are for growth. Each week of your calendar gives you an opportunity to start afresh...teachers and parents tell you to use your time wisely...what they do not tell you is the deeper secret that they themselves either don't know or ignore: Using your time wisely is not meant for mere busywork and paper-pushing...it is meant for finding your life's purpose, your life's goals, even though those goals and purposes may change and transform. I give you the Mondays in your week to begin again, refreshed and ready to change your life by your own hands...for your hands are My Hands..."

You float and fly for a while, pondering the message...you begin to slowly understand the meaning, the intent as you come back down to Earth...breathing deeply, renewed...counting back from 7, down slowly...7...6....5....4...3...2...1...you are alive...breathing deeply, the silvery light of the message tingling in your soul, your mind, your body...and you can see the Truth of the intent as you look at the calendars in your home, reminding you that no matter what happens each week, Monday can be a day to set sail towards your goals...and Mondays no longer come as a dreaded thing...but one of all 7 blessed days...

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

A Veterans' Day Contemplative...

2007-11-11T13:09:00.000-06:00

It used to be that, for me, national veteran remembrance days were simply markers in the calendar where either the end of the fall semester or trimester (my high school operated on the latter) was around the corner, or the banks and post office were closed. This was probably due to my dislike of people parading around with the country's flag being melodramatic and claiming how oh-so-patriotic they were. This was an attitude I held at 8 years of age, and one that I shared with my Protest-Era parents.

I still dislike that sort of behavior. It has the vibe of the proverbial Pharisee praying out loud in the town square. But having learned the history of war at the feet of my peace-loving mom and dad, especially the conflicts that existed when they were in college (or grad school, in my dad's case--he took a educational deferment as he was classified physically unfit for duty, even as a chaplain.), and watching as our current president has overextended our country's forces in the so-called name of "war on terror," I have come to realize just how meaningful Veterans' Day has become for my peaceful-warrioress soul.

I read TIME magazine and see current articles and pictures where soldiers are sitting in worry and grief for fallen-but-still-living comrades in the hospital. I see pictures of older veterans in wheelchairs and think of how quickly our government sends our men and women off to war, but not be so quick to provide quality mental and physical care. I see vintage photographs of WWI and WWII helmets hung over guns stuck in the mud, their owners long gone into the Beyond, having died immediately from shells, shrapnel or grenades. I hear music and see videos from long ago war-times and think of my grandpa Ingram (and maybe many others) who long suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and ate their way into Type II Diabetes because that generation refused to acknowledge that it was okay to see a therapist for mental health care.

And my heart is torn. Torn over the sad necessity of WWII and the later conflict in the Balkans (1998, I think), both instances of deluded ideologues thinking one race or genetic makeup is better than another. I not only hope for peace, I pray that I can help bring about peace. Not by joining the military, as I believe that kind of activity only breeds more of what I dislike (in spite of my Aries tendency towards going a bit berserk over the little things that don't matter). But by practicing peace. By choosing and practicing peaceful ways of resolving conflict, maybe someday we won't need memorial days for soldiers. Someday we won't desire to put a bullet through someone's head just to rid the world of irrational despots, because someday the world will be free of the kind of emotional division and suffering that fear brings about.

...but we gotta start now....

In Remembrance,
Rev. Kat ^.^

The Search: Wisdom vs Validation

2007-11-10T14:54:00.000-06:00

In my area, we have a tabloid-size paper devoted to cartoons--ranging from the political to the absurd. In a recent issue, a one-panel 'toon features two men dressed as gurus. Above one man's head was the word 'Wisdom.' Above the other man's head was the word 'Validation.' Clamoring throngs of people gathered at the feet of the representative of Validation. Only one person was reaching for Wisdom.

This cartoon makes a powerful, albeit obvious statement about modern culture--and maybe about cultures past. The statement makes me want to cut the cartoon out of the paper and tape it in my ever-growing book of things to ponder and contemplate. But the statement made provokes my favorite question-word: WHY?

Why seek validation instead of wisdom? Why are there so few people willing to make the journey towards true wisdom? Why do people think external validation is going to bring them long-lasting happiness?

These and many more rhetorical questions could be fodder for more posts here at Dining with the Divine. After all, this blog *is* about food for thought. ;-) But I do need some time to write down the results of my contemplations. So I'll be back later with at least a few stabs at my own questions.

Till then...

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

disclaimer and correction

2007-11-06T09:59:00.000-06:00

Oopsie! I made a bit of a timeline boo-boo:

My line from the previous post about the country needing education about Paganism and Witchcraft for about the last few centuries was a tad misleading: I included Wicca in there, and that was not accurate.

Wicca has only been around for the last fifty or so years, made up of bits and bobs and blobs of other spiritual practices, with symbolism and rites that stem from Freemasonry rounding out the mixture.

So, my apologies to those who read the previous post...*embarrassed look* As a Pagan, I should have known better.

Apologies,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Witchy Winner of Md. Lottery Makes Spirituality Magick with His Millions

2007-11-06T09:38:00.001-06:00

I just read a fantastic story of a Wiccan high priest from Maryland, Ellwood "Bunky" Bartlett, who recently won $33 million in Maryland's state lottery. Even though he's become something of a regular at the local Ford dealership, he is using his money for something that the country has needed desperately for quite some time--say the last few centuries: education about Witchcraft, Wicca and Paganism in general.

The article mentioned that there were people hoping to get from Bartlett the spell he cast for winning the lottery. That brings up an interesting point. Did he really cast a spell to win? What *was* his intention anyway? It sounds like his intentions were good, from the sound of things, so if he *did* cast a spell, more power to him. But even if he didn't cast a spell and the stars were aligned so he was *meant* to win, he still had a choice of what to do with the money.

"I chose to educate. I believe that's what the gods wanted."

Good call, Bartlett! :-D

I must admit, that makes me feel a bit better about spending a dollar here and there on a lottery ticket or two. However, casting a spell to win? Given the example set by Bartlett, I'd better think long and hard before doing so.

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Totally Heinous, Dude!!!!!!!!

2007-11-05T18:22:00.000-06:00

I read something so infuriating in the Des Moines Register yesterday that I had to blog about it:

Imagine yourself an older Christian gentleman of Missouri-Synod Lutheran leanings whose wife has passed on. You're sad. You've tried attending church but worshipping isn't the same without her. You drift away from the church for a couple of years and then...wham!!!!!! The congregation is sending you letters telling you you'll be kicked out since you've not taken Communion. On top of that, any plots you've "leased" in the church cemetery would be "forfeited" and returned to church property. Apparently, the rule is that if a member has not taken Communion in two years, they are summarily kicked out, and not be allowed to come back and have Communion after expulsion, or have their funeral there--and any children they have are not welcome, either. Also, donation of money is apparently a mandate of this particular church, not a free-will thing.

Granted, I am not a practicing Christian, let alone Missouri Synod Lutheran, but this scenario is so full of spite, greed and hatred that I could just about hack-n-spit a thousand loogies at the people who made up this idiotic rule. It's a rule that's not even "on the books" in the national Missouri-Synod policy--it is all centered in Trinity Lutheran in Conroy, Iowa...and what's worse, the minister there seems to want to back it up, instead of confronting his congregation about how UN-Christian the rule is. Mom says it sounds like a power-play by the kind of folks who have tight-fisted emotional control over the people in the congregation--and no one is willing to challenge the control freaks. In the article, the man was upset enough about the whole deal--as he should be--that he went ahead and moved his wife's body over to a public cemetery in Marengo.

Let's face it: I grew up a Methodist preacher's kid. And while my family and I have encountered our share of people who craved to have that kind of absolute sway, based on erroneous and twisted ideas of who should or shouldn't be allowed to be confirmed or even who the minister should or shouldn't visit in the hospital, the Methodist Discipline does not deny ANYone the chance to come back and worship even if they've been away for a while. I don't even think the Catholics have such a stringent rule as Trinity Lutheran, even if the Vatican's rules about Holy Communion, in connection with the act of Confession and Catholicism's concept of sin, also seem a bit stodgy and un-Christian.

When I first read the article about the man turned away from Trinity Lutheran, my first thought was of a song from the 1970s musical 'Godspell,' --"Alas! Alas!", whose chorus and bridge go something like this:

(Sung by Jesus)
"You snakes! You viper's brood!
You cannot escape being devil's food!
I send you prophets, and I send you preachers;
Sages and ages and rages of teachers--
Nothing can mar your mood!"

(bridge)
Blind guides! Blind Fools!
The blood you've spilt
on you will fall!
This nation, this generation
Will bear the guilt of it all!"

But no matter what tune you sing to ridicule a hypocrite, an un-Christian act or thought is STILL an un-Christian act or thought. The very fact that this episode got written up in the Des Moines Register and made it all the way to the front page should shame the congregation of Trinity Lutheran, because their actions and attitudes have shown the ENTIRE state of Iowa what the congregation's priorities are: not actions of love and charity in a man's time of sorrow, but hate, spite and an insane hunger for power and control over others just because they might think that's what Jesus would want.

Umm, reality check, folks. That ain't what Jesus was about. To turn away a man in his time of need just because he had not participated in Communion or donated money in two years?

...In the words of Bill and Ted: "Totally heinous, dude!"

It is my sincere hope that the aggrieved human souls who were at the mercy of the poisonous vipers in that congregation will find peace in a gentler place of worship.

Blessings,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Just a note...

2007-10-01T12:24:00.000-05:00

Blessings to all who have been reading along thus far...

My parents' computer had a meltdown, and so regular updates might not be available for a while, but like any spirit in human flesh, I'll do my best.

Brighid's Blessings,
Rev. Kat ^.^

Meditations on Movement...

2007-08-16T02:34:00.000-05:00

Okay...I'm sitting here listening to two of my all-time favorite musician-collaborators, Jon Anderson of YES and Greek synth-king Vangelis. And anyone reading this blog who knows me KNOWS that once I slip into the mystical gold-and-green musical robes of these musical, magickal Green Men, I am out of my overanalytical head and into my flowing, watery side that loves rockin' to feel-good tunes that inspire me to be...well..ME...:-D

This is the Mystical Room of 'Dining With the Divine...' so light yourself a candle, wrap yourself in Jon-n-Vangelis' starry music and come with me on a contemplative journey...

My folks and I have moved so often, it's almost second nature to us. We know what needs to be done as far as what boxes we need for which objects...our ancestors--well, at least my mother's forebears--were Celts, who experienced all aspects and reasons for moving around.

Our reasons for moving around so far had been because we were aligned with the Methodist church. My dad still is, to a point, as far as credentials and social leanings go. My reasons for moving around have been similar, but slightly different.

Moving is never easy on anyone, even if they're used to it. From military "brats" to being in any kind of ministry, times of stability are few and far between. I can only imagine the kind of emotional upheaval that exists for those who are not only military, but who are also military chaplains of any kind.

But there is something I've learned to help me deal with the upheaval of having to pull up stakes at the behest of Life and its ever-turning Wheel of Change:

The Wheel of Change favors absolutely no one. All of us get moved around on the Wheel of Life. That is what happens when we incarnate here on Earth...even when we plan a move on purpose, I feel there is always a guiding hand on that Wheel, sending us to wherever we're meant to go. Or the hand stays the Wheel, telling us we're supposed to stay where we are, to learn more about certain things. Even when we don't make a physical move to a geographic location, sometimes movement through life can seem just as momentous...

Because change itself is movement...it has power, purpose and drive...change can even seem fateful or even fatal, depending on your state of mind...change can bring about a switching-round of your dreams, your Dreamtime landscape...even your circadian rhythms can be messed up if the change is even moderately stressful...I've seen my mom go through some issues with this newest, upcoming move. It's mostly stressful to her because we're not working with the Methodist conference anymore as my dad is not really being an active minister and we're struggling to make ends meet as it is.

Even positive changes can bring their own brand of upheaval that might be a tad overwhelming, because no matter what, we humans are very much creatures of habit...we crave stability like we crave our mother's rice pudding or dad's midnight omelets (my dad loves breakfast foods any time of day!)

So if, as you're reading this post, you are going through some changes of any kind...including The Change (for older women)...

Sit back in your chair...take some deep breaths through your nose...close your eyes...just be here in the moment...you are on a threshold of the old and the new...breathe into this threshold...imagine the opportunities this new experience of change will bring...or don't imagine anything at all...it's up to you, because it's a time to rest, reflect and rejoice...rest from all the things you've been through so far, reflect on the happy times...and rejoice that not only are you going on a new adventure, you're being afforded another opportunity to start over on whatever it is you think needs some work.

And if you need extra sitting and reflecting time during your changes, whether it's a physical move to a new location, healing-n-dealing with a loved one's passing, or whatever's going on, for good or ill...there is no better time to take for sitting and reflecting than now...

...because every moment is now...

That's not to say that there isn't work to be done...but the more you take scheduled quiet time for yourself, the more available you will be to present your best self through this challenge and/or joy. Regardless of whether you're introverted or extroverted, when it comes to change, it can be difficult to "put your best foot forward" when you're on shaky ground on all four levels...

Sit back...watch the stars go by...the Universe is more than capable of cradling your soul just for the moment...just be...be here now...lay back on your pillow, listen to some soothing, spacy music as you drift off...if you have a water fountain in your room, turn it on...let the dripping water remind you to be in the flow of things...

...relax...breathe deeply...

...light a candle...breathe softly...

...let the light of the galaxies spin their musical colors over your soul...the Universe has a place for you, always...you are always Home...no matter if you travel often, or stay put...no matter if change has made you feel like an outcast, an exile, or if you are a wanderer by nature, seeking change out for the purpose of experiencing new things...

...there's always a candle lit...a warm house in the winter, a cool bungalow in the summer...a place to lay your wandering head. We all journey on the Wheel...we all share a piece of the Dreamtime...

...with that, I must depart for my own corner of Dreamtime...I'm all blissed out on Jon A's voice and Vangelis' music...my eyes cry out to be closed...my soul aches for a bit of astral walkabout...

Blessed Be,
Kat ^.^

Great Blogs Out There!

2007-08-13T21:31:00.000-05:00

OMG! I found the coolest spirituality blogs! I don't have time to list 'em all, but here is one that I am very pleased to see:

http://survivingtheworkday.blogspot.com/

This one talks about spirituality and the workplace, a topic that I've been pretty passionate about in recent years. But since the owner of this blog, a woman who calls herself 'Ms. Theologian,' currently has a bit more insight into the topic than I do, I subscribed to her feed...so I can respond with my own experiences, etc...;-)

As I said before, there are many cool spirituality blogs out there, and I hope to get to them...

BB,
Kat ^.^

Okay...let's get down to the gristle of things...

2007-08-10T22:25:00.001-05:00

I'm not about to mince words in this main-course-meal of a post, so bear with me...

1) We all know there's turmoil on this planet.
2) We're all trying to find the best ways to either deal or heal.
3) Unfortunately, everyone claims they know some way to "be saved."
4) And for some strange reason, we keep wanting to look to some dude nailed to a cross 2000+ years ago simply because he had gifts that the authorities were scared of, plus some other trumped up crap used as an excuse to terminate the life of someone who dared to to be kind, loving and gentle for once.

Oh, yeah...and Mohammed had the inspired idea of surrendering to the will of Allah...which is what the word 'Islam' means.

Trouble is, in Islam, they've got the same kinda nutters that Christianity's got: people who *think* they know what the will of the Creator really is.

My point of this beginning rant is this, and forgive me if I sound less than 'white-lighter, all crystals and spirit-talk':

It's time to ask some really hard questions of ourselves, people.

It's time for chewin' on the hard gristle of what humanity's avoided.

Now, in the interest of attempting to keep politics out of this blog as much as possible, and in the interest of believing my readers are smart enough to think things through for themselves, I'm not going to outline all the ideologies that keep the cycle of suffering going. You know what those ideologies are...they're in the papers constantly.

But I encourage you, my readers, to think about what I've posted...chew on things. Make mush in your mouth of what's going on...continue doing that and you'll be far ahead of most folks in the world...

Happy Chewing,
Kat ^.^

'Truth'

2007-08-10T01:37:00.000-05:00

Truth.

Yeah, a loaded word. But I figured it would be a good starting point for this blog.

I am going to confess a Truth to you right now: I am deeply interested in spiritual matters, but I also confess to not understanding the roots of some of those matters. But I am nothing if not stubborn and persistent in attempting to understand. To put it more simply, I am like a dog with a chew toy: grabbing it, shaking it around, growling and not letting go until my curiosity is satisfied, or the topic-toy is ripped to shreds with fervent analysis along with much middle-of-the-night pacing.

I've rather reached a temporary conclusion, however, about the topic at hand:

There are two kinds of truth: One is "mind-truth" (with a small 't'), also called "personal perception." The other is heart-Truth (with a capital 'T')...

Mind-truth, as I've observed, tends to be related to the personality, the small ego, the part of us that wants to make snap judgments and be uber-critical of everything and everyone...the part that gets angry and defensive all too easily.

Heart-Truth, as I've experienced, is usually that quiet hunch you feel about someone or something. One could also call it by that ages-old phrase: "that still, small voice inside." No matter how you say it, it is still a Heart-Truth. I've often experienced Heart-Truths as an all-over feeling. The day I realized I was headed on a different spiritual path than my dad was full of Heart-Truths, starting with my room-mate Rosemary showing me a copy of the Wiccan Rede. Another experience was that of my tuning in to Larry King, who was interviewing Neale Donald Walsch, soon after the first "Conversations With God" book was released. I felt my whole self, not just my head, fully nodding in resonance with what Walsch was saying. I felt a longtime personal Heart-Truth confirmed in a mere 1/2-hr interview. Synchronicity, anyone?

Most of my other Heart-Truths have generally been experienced in relation to the music I listen to. I will speak about those at a later time.

The point of my posting about Truth is this: I have my opinions, I have my thoughts and viewpoints, many of which are quite strong and rooted in a relationship with the Divine that I've been developing for quite some time. Some of my Truths may resonate with you, confirming your personal, deep-felt gnoses (knowings), and some of my personal thoughts may have you scratching your head.

I will do my best to convey my gnoses and intuitions about things in as clear and concise a way as I can, given that this blog is about spirituality. And of course, I will comment from time to time on what's going on in the world, but I hope to not make this blog *too* political. Politics is one of those things that is far more personal than spirituality, and tends to involve Mind-truth rather than Heart-Truth. Someone may be speaking from the Heart when it comes to certain political topics, but a lot of the time, programmed convictions from parents and society tend to cloud what that person *really* wants--and needs--to say.

-----
Food for Thought...an appetizer...

Dreams are your Heart-Truths seen by the light of the Moon.
Gifts of Abundance are your Heart-Truths manifested in the Light of the Sun.
Dream your dreams...
Ask...and you will indeed receive.

Blessed Be,
Kat ^.^

Why 'Dining with the Divine?

2007-08-09T09:14:00.001-05:00

Why 'Dining With the Divine?'

For starters, I love food, and I was raised in a spiritual household that loves food. I also like the phrase "food for thought." So, quite a few of my posts will have *some* reference to food. ;-) Many of you are probably thinking, "well, surely spirituality and religion don't require thought, they require faith."

I disagree wholeheartedly with that. I have discovered that making time for contemplation and review of one's beliefs, thoughts and opinions makes for a much more solid connection with the Great Spirit--thus strengthening personal faith.

That's another thing I want to address, too. How to address the Divine Essence? What to call Him/Her/It in the context of this blog and still remain true to my soul? I don't feel comfortable, in all honesty, just calling the Divine 'God,' because that implies that the Divine only has masculine attributes. I've thought for a long time that if we are created in the image of the Divine, would not the Source include both genders? Nor do I feel right just calling the Source 'Goddess,' though that might suit my Pagan temperament a bit more, because that implies that the Divine only has feminine qualities. But then, it's rather awkward to call the Source "It." "It" is so impersonal, and I have too much of a connection to think of the Source in that manner.

I feel that in order to get a good balance, I will call the Divine one of several epithets in this blog, to let the reader know that the Source is multifaceted, and it matters not what name you give the Source...it will always be the Source. It depends on what you're comfortable with. Discussion of the various facets of the Divine will be forthcoming.

Anyway, it's time for my regular day job. I have to walk to work today. And as I walk, I'll be giving more thought to the topics I want to start with.

Woohoo..here we go!

2007-08-07T14:56:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to do a spirituality blog for some time now. I've got a music blog hosted by Gem3, but I figured I'd do the spirituality blog over here at Google. Time to change the colors, etc.

BB,
Kat ^.^

Dining with the Divine

Here It Is! The Masterpiece Completed!

Time, Words and Art

Re-Investigating the PRS, Dreams and Creativity...

Forgiveness

Somethin' About Yeshua, Pt. 2

Somethin' About Yeshua...

Divine Fabulousness

Learning Stuff...

State of Independence for Jon and the Issue of Owning One's Power

Fear...

The Mystical and Concrete

Dreams and Visions, Brought To You By the Geico Gecko...(j/k!)

So Long Ago, So Clear..

Thoughts Surrounding my Birthday

Springtime for Me and my Blog...

Perfection and Adaptation...

The Big Dream...

"I Has a Amazon Store!" Says the LOL-Kitty.

Springing Up Synchronicities

Interesting Confirmation

A New Header

New Blog/Website Discovery and a Bit of a Ramble.

Beautiful Food for Floating on the Clouds of Bliss

Dreams and Horoscopes

Imbolc, 2009

Time and a Word, Fulfilled: Aquarian President

Time and a Word...Fulfilling Dr. King's Dream.

Big Thrills looking at Big Chills...this is why I am an Environmentalist!

This is why I Believe what I Believe & Do What I Do

Good Morning! Check out This Trippy Bit of Galactic Genius! 10/13/08

Letting Go...

Life's Big Game of "Risk."--One of my Increasing A-HA! Moments

OneSpirit Book Club...Gotta Love it!

I'm Back...

Loving Yourself

Back in the Saddle, As It Were...a Cool Site from StumbleUpon

Temporary Hiatus in the name of Efficiency

My Experiments with the Law of Attraction and Gratitude 4/8/08

Stumbled Page #2: rendingtheveil.com

StumbleUpon Page: Dharma for the Zen Student

Tip of the Week—Hobbies as Meditation

Spirituality News--A Response to a Blog Post 4/2/08

Experiments with the Law of Attraction and Attitude of Gratitude 4/1/08

Monday Meditation for 3/31/08: Garden of Dreams

Tip of the Week 3/24-3-28

Spirituality News 3/26: Spiritual Psychiatrist

My Experiments with the Law of Attraction and "Attitude of Gratitude"

Tip of the Week....

Spirituality News...3/19/08

Experiments with the Law of Attraction and Gratitude

Beginning a New Article Series...

Spirituality News: On Boredom

New Happenings Here...

Scientology Part III: Practices

Spirituality and 'Memes'

Scientology Part II-B: Further Information on Beliefs

Scientology, Part II-A: Basic Beliefs

Who Is....

Closed For Inventory

Scientology: Part I--Origins and History

A Touchy Subject

Summary Of Spirituality News

Happy Belated New Year!

A Rather Disturbing Thought...(a rant)

"Slovenia's Gandhi": For Real, or Raspberry-worthy?

The 8 "Be Awares" by Rev. Kat

Climate Change is hittin' the Cheezburger Spot

A Gristle-ish Topic: the Environment...

A Monday Meditation...

A Veterans' Day Contemplative...

The Search: Wisdom vs Validation

*disclaimer and correction*

Witchy Winner of Md. Lottery Makes Spirituality Magick with His Millions

Totally Heinous, Dude!!!!!!!!

Just a note...

Meditations on Movement...

Great Blogs Out There!

Okay...let's get down to the gristle of things...

'Truth'

disclaimer and correction