moving day

Yesterday was moving day. I took the contents of <a href=”https://followyourgnosis.wordpress.com”>Follow Your Gnosis</a> over to <a href=”http://followyourgnosis.blogspot.com”>Blogger</a&gt;. Overall, I love WordPress, but there are a few things I’ve been unable to figure out with my limited html knowledge. Since I’m undecided at this point about my preferences, I’ll blog at both Blogger and WordPress for now.

kemetic religion

Even though I am grateful for the gems I find when looking at Kemetic Paganism in the Google directory, so many links are dead.  In general, the links sections of more than half the webpages I visit seem to lead to dead ends, but it bugs me most when it’s something as valuable as the beautiful ways of worshiping in ancient Egypt.   There’s just not enough of it on the internet.

(to be con’t tomorrow)

more on lent

Here’s my update on what I’m doing for Lent. I decided I would spend fifteen minutes of each day over Lent praying for others. Yes, it’s something I often do daily anyway, but there are other days I think I’m “too busy”. And, yes, I could have picked something a lot more challenging. Yet I’ve learned the past few months that it’s better to take a realistic step forward than sprint at a pace which sets me up to fail. I suppose I could explain it as a “one day at a time” approach to goal setting. Achieving a few minutes more a day is better than frustrating myself and failing with a “bigger, better” idea.

I will most likely create a valuable habit by the end of Lent and it will be a time of personal and spiritual growth. Maybe resolutions often don’t work because people see the glamorous end result versus the challenging process of getting there.  Rome wasn’t built in a day after all. 

One example I found on the internet of step-by-step goal setting is  Care2.com‘s “petition” for people to sign where they give up something that gives to Mother Nature.  Specifically the persons signing the petition vow to give up something that reduces global warming. What a great idea! On many levels it’s a guarantee for success. It helps people look for realistic possibilities that give to earth by reducing the impact of their activities on the environment. From lowering the thermostat to air drying laundry, it’s wonderful to see people thinking up ways to live differently and make earth a better place for all.

I smile because it’s such an unusual blend of Christianity and paganism.  Whether it’s Ostara or Easter, we can celebrate life itself together. Mother Nature deals with all our sibling rivalry yet always finds ways we can live as the family we all are. Thanks again, Mother!

made up word of the day: xianophobe

I confess I probably have carried a grudge towards the Christian religion for most of my life. Even when I was confirmed, I stated as honestly as a Quaker (more about the Quaker truth testimony) that I was agnostic and only joining the church because my mother wanted me to.

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with Christianity or Christ or the Bible. It has nothing to do with Christians or Christianity, but all to do with me. I just can’t believe Christ is the only way we get to heaven.

It also frustrates me when people pick and choose scripture to promote prejudice. If someone views the Bible as God’s infallible word, God has made many rules 99% 21st century Christians break. Yet there’s always a verse or two to use against gays and their desire for equal rights, etc.. I always feel like saying, “you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.”

It’s sad because the hypocrisy of some Christians has turned many away from it. The constant capture-and-convert attitudes of conservatives led many to reject a path with Christ for a more compassionate and accepting faith. Though the only real commandment Jesus gave us was to love one another, many Christians and non-Christians alike see it practiced as void of love.

Whether it’s the Dalai Lama or the Druid prayer, I often feel the goal of love is more genuine. This will anger people; I know that. Just for the record, I’m not anti-Christian, I’m anti-intolerance and anti-hipocrisy.

Today I played with the idea of creating a word to describe the type of Christians who are polluting Christ’s love with their own agenda. My made up word of the day is “xianophobe” and can be either lighthearted or heavy hearted, whichever works best for the reader.

xianophobe: (x-chin’-o-fobe’) Those who fear Christians who practice Christianity without adhering to the teachings of Christ. The “x” replaces the “Christ” to emphasize the lack of Christ in some Christians’ lives. Where many homophobes will claim they are Christian and not homophobes, xianophobes will honestly and confidently admit to xianophobia. The origin of this word goes back to a WordPress blog entry in March 2007. It is a play on the popular Christian idea that there can be no Christmas without Christ (thus making X-mas a non-holiday). The inventor of the word xianophobe wanted a word that clearly stated the reason many people have a fear of xians. The epidemic of xianophobia is a necessary innoculation to most displays of intolerance and is therefore an asset to both church and state.

 

rabi khan

I love Art.com. As a place to explore art, it’s the next best thing to being there. Whenever I go to the site, I discover gems by artists I’m unfamiliar with. I sometimes think I enjoy surfing Art.com more than the “real life” galleries. It’s so much fun to enter search terms where I meet more great artists. Today I learned about Rabi Khan via a search on Dali. My one wish for Art.com would be offering visitors biographical info on their artists. Even after googling him, I’ve got no idea who this artist is.

I would love to know more about him, not just his art, but the person behind the art. If an artist paints the aura of love rather than a literal view of it gems of soul-kissed art are created. Rami Khan accomplishes this beautifully. I admire not only the work, but whatever inspired this artist. Regardless of the mystery surrounding his identity, I’m grateful for places I can visit on the internet that give me a couch potato and art fix at the same time.  It adds a lot more Beauty (with a big b) to my world.

whirling dervishes and neil douglas klotz

I just added some youtube videos with whirling dervishes to my playlist. One of them is embedded at the end of this entry. I love watching the whirling dervishes as they pray in their unique way. Neil Douglas Klotz‘s books opened me up to so many things I seriously doubt I would have found if not for him.

He helped me understand both Christianity and Islam in a new way. He illuminates that preciousness we don’t see anymore in Christianity. His beautiful version of the Lord’s Prayer is my favorite. Translated from Aramaic (the language Jesus spoke), we can be experience it in a new way. At the Abwoon Study Circle site, it’s written in both Aramaic and English. It includes an audio to hear the lines of the prayer in Aramaic. I love the sound of Aramaic. Something about is poetic and musical.

Neil Douglas Klotz’s words have something contagious in them. I am amazed at his ability to liberate a dried up prayer most Christians say by rote, transforming it into a living breathing song. He also opens up the heart and soul to take in things like dancing as prayer. I could never “whirl” for the Divine because, like most people, I would fall flat on my butt. Wondering how they stay on their feet makes whirling dervishes even more fascinating to me.

Though I can’t say I am knowledgeable about Sufism or the Islam faith, I am grateful that I was introduced to this form of mysticism experienced by some Muslims. We live in an age where people are judging others in harmful ways and the tension between many Americans and Muslims is undeniable. Perhaps this entry to my Gnosis blog will inspire someone to let down their guard and experience the beauty of faith instead.

sight and sound coming together

It happened again while listening to my Babatunde Olatunji’s Healing Session as I read Muata Ashby’s Devotional Book of Shetaut Neter. While taking in the beautiful mysterious words and hieroglyphics, I felt a sense of awe. Again I felt Isis alive in me. That was just the beginning. It seemed the book and cd created a multi-sensual symphony. The percussion with the text blended somehow and I felt I was somewhere I’ve been before…somewhere a long, long, long time ago.

I have had other experiences with music from Africa. There are times I feel the color of my skin betrays me, that my soul feels me dressed in dark hair, dark skin, dark eyes. My blue eyes feel foreign when I get in the space like I did yesterday with another experience of deja vu.

the other secret

While blog hopping, I came across a pagan blog which boldly debates The Secret. Songs of Unforgetting has valid points and I’m sure there are many others who are in agreement. When I saw The Secret, I felt it only reminded me of something I already know, but I also wondered about those suffering in a way they could not ever have asked for. Some people probably think I’m just being a grouchy old woman when I ask, “how did a tiny baby who is in the process of starving to death ask for what ‘they got’?” Let me ask anyone critiquing my point of view how they would explain to the children in the picture below why they are dying of hunger?

Though I think we can bring on various circumstances by our thoughts, feelings and lifestyle, we also get dealt some cards that are unrelated to the law of attraction. Something in our soul may be learning some lesson, but I will never look at a suffering baby and blame it for it’s situation.

do you want the good news or the bad first?

Nah, the bad news isn’t really that bad. The only reason I can even joke about it being bad news is I am poor as a pauper yet buying a book or two a week lately. My most recent waiting for me at Amazon.  Amazon knows how to get the attention of book-a-holics like me. Today a book by Caitlin Matthews is taunting me.  On top of that, I have the penny pincher on one shoulder saying, “Buy another book and you will go bankrupt. Be strong. Resist.”

The book junkie on the other shoulder wants a fix. Today it reminded me how much we loved hearing a reading from “The Celtic Spirit” at church on Candlemas of 2005. The book-a-holic is the same demon that forces me to buy the Dunkin’ Donut coffee or finish a whole bag of m&ms in one sitting.  Right now it is whispering the long list of reasons why I need this book. Yes, the penny pincher has a good point, but I like more of what the book junkie has to say.

I didn’t buy the book yet, but the darned “search inside the book” feature at Amazon is showing me excerpts and I fear I will be going off the wagon soon. Oh, hell, I might as well go buy it now and just save myself the trouble.

everything i wanted to know about lent, but was afraid to ask

I spent 44 of my 45 years on this planet as a Christian. Somehow I managed to be a Christian for all that time who didn’t know what Ash Wednesday meant.  All I knew about Lent was it arrives  with Easter. As for the ashes, I grew up a member of the United Church of Christ so we didn’t practice the Ash Wednesday ritual. Still I’m a Christian and you would think I would know.

One great thing about the internet is the information right at our fingertips. Enter a word into the search box at Google and voila! Everything we wanted to know about the pre-Easter traditions are just waiting to educate us. Here’s what I learned.

Infoplease’s explanation of Ash Wednesday was short but very helpful. It reminds Christians of death. It also tells them to feel sad about their sins and the need to be a better person.

As for Lent, the forty days should be spent with prayer and penance and, also, preparing for Easter. Since I’m still Christian according to the “books” (as a member of a local UCC church), I could still follow this practice. I’d like to, but perhaps by mixing in something Pagan. I always liked the abstinence idea at Lent, but rarely, if ever, gave up anything. Though I’m a week late, I’d like to do something with that concept. Infoplease explains the fasting that took place in the early years of Christianity. Fasting would be a waste for me; I wouldn’t last 4 hours, never mind 40 days. What else can I do?

I’ll take this to my paper journal and get update here after.