Root and Stone

Ancient Gods?

Recently I got together with two of my girlfriends to watch the History Channel Documentary called Ancient Aliens.

I was amazed.  I have been interested in this sort of thing for a long time now and I have come to almost actually believe most of these theories.

After reading the likes of Daniel Pinchbeck and Paul Von Ward and now desperately wanting to read any Erich Von Daniken stuff I can get my hands on, I have a pretty firm grasp on where I stand when it comes to this.

So I'm just going to say it.  I believe that it is not only possible, but probable that advanced beings have had a hand in the way history has played out over the course of thousands of years.  I believe that the gods from the sky, angels, etc. are all otherworldly beings that have visited, studied, ruled over us, helped us advance in science and medicine, all those things. 

It makes perfect sense to me to think that the pyramids were built by advanced beings, that the Naza Lines (see pic) were a series of ancient runways, that a city built 17,000 years ago would have precise laser and diamond cut foundations.

My mind is running non-stop about this, trying to grasp what this means for us, for the Universe and for my Pagan beliefs.

Woah.

My brain has been spiraling, thinking of everything and nothing and the universe, the multi-verse, cosmic reality, advanced beings, worm-holes, myths, physics, ancient civilizations, the stars..

You know, typical everyday stuff.

I am full of so many ideas right now that are forming beliefs I never thought I would have.

For example I am rapidly warming up to the idea that not only is there other intelligent life in this universe, but that it has indeed made contact with life here on Earth.  Not just recently, but through the ages.  And that these beings were the gods and goddesses, angels, demons, of these cultures, bringing with them knowledge, science, astronomy, etc.  The idea that Prometheus, the god who gave us fire is some sort of inter-stellar being kind of blows my mind.  This is not to say they are all "aliens" like what we might immediately envision as aliens.  Perhaps they, us, we - all of us are conciousness manifested.  The idea is mind boggling.  I cannot wrap my brain around it.

And what about parallel universes?  Physicists are certain that the possibility exists and it means so many things for us.  Truly baffling.

What does all this mean for my spiritual path?  I don't know.  But I want to find out as much as humanly possible.

Ostara

As the days lengthen, the earth thaws and starts its greening after the long, dark, cold winter. These are the early days of spring. Our ancestors would be busy now, making final repairs to their plows, preparing their draft animals to pull them, checking the seed corn to be sure that it was ready to plant. The success of the next year depended entirely on the crop that was about to be put in the earth. Our ancestors knew this, and thus turned to our Gods and Goddesses to ensure the fertility of the earth, the viability of the seed, and the growth and abundance of the crops that would keep them alive through the next hard winter. The rituals that marked the spring planting time are still known by name to us today, called "Easter," or to Asatruar, Eostre, or Ostara in the Anglo-Saxon or Old High German tongues of our ancestors.

The feast of Ostara takes its name from the Goddess Eostre, of whom little is known, except that she must have been a Goddess of spring, fertility, rebirth, and the rising sun. Her name is etymologically connected with both the "east," and with a word for "shining; glorious." The Ostara worship was so strong in the Germanic lands that the somewhat similar Christian feast of rebirth and renewal was given the Goddess's name. Bede recounts that the Christian Paschal feast was named after the heathen Goddess Eostre, and so this celebration is still named Easter among the Christians. There is no specific date on which the Ostara feast must be held. The three mightiest times at this turning of the year are the equinox itself and the new and full moons following the equinox. It is probably better in general to celebrate Ostara during the waxing moon.

Ostara represented many complex, interrelated beliefs to our ancestors. The sun was reborn from its winter banishment to thaw the earth, making it ready for the plow. People felt reborn as well, escaping from close, snow-bound confinement into the new warmth. The Gods and Goddesses of fertility were active once again in the land, causing new growth everywhere. Women often were showing the first swelling signs of pregnancy, engendered in the winter months when bed meant both warmth and entertainment for they and their men. As the wilds burgeoned with new life, so too would the lands inhabited by man, bearing crops in the furrows, kine in the fields, and salmon in the streams. Ostara is the brightest and most joyful ceremony of the Teutonic year. It is the time in which we celebrate the renewed presence of the Gods and Goddesses of fertility among us, and their marriages which ensure the fertility of the land. Ostara marks the victory of Sunna over the wolves which pursued her down into winter's dark, and Thorr's victory over the Frost-Giants. We celebrate the end of winter, and joyously exchange the cold for summer's healing warmth.

Imbolc

 From The Celtic Year:  

 The First of February belongs to Brigid, (Brighid, Brigit, Bride,) the Celtic goddess who in later times became revered as a Christian saint. Originally, her festival on February 1 was known as Imbolc or Oimelc, two names which refer to the lactation of the ewes, the flow of milk that heralds the return of the life-giving forces of spring. Later, the Catholic Church replaced this festival with Candlemas Day on February 2, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and features candlelight processions. The powerful figure of Brigid the Light-Bringer overlights both pagan and Christian celebrations.

In most parts of the British Isles, February is a harsh and bitter month.  In old Scotland, the month fell in the middle of the period known as Faoilleach, the Wolf-month; it was also known as a’ marbh mhiòs, the Dead-month.  But  although this season was so cold and drear, small but sturdy signs of new life began to appear: Lambs were born and soft rain brought new grass. Ravens begin to build their nests and larks were said to sing with a clearer voice.  

In Ireland, the land was prepared to receive the new seed with spade and plough; calves were born, and fishermen looked eagerly for the end of winter storms and rough seas to launch their boats again. In Scotland, the Old Woman of winter, the Cailleach, is reborn as Bride, Young Maiden of Spring, fragile yet growing stronger each day as the sun rekindles its fire, turning scarcity into abundance. Of her, Alexander Carmichael wrote: 

Bride with her white wand is said to breathe life into the mouth of the dead Winter and to bring him to open his eyes to the tears and the smiles, the sighs and the laughter of Spring. The venom of the cold is said to tremble for its safety on Bride’s Day, and to flee for its life on Patrick’s Day.

The return of spring-time - the rebirth of new life.  To know that the Sun has not forgotten about you and the wheel of the year will continue to turn.  It is a time of hope.  I personally feel this in that I just got a new job, after months of tedious searching, despairing and losing all hope in this cold, gray winter.  I owe a thanks to the universe and to myself for making it happen.

 

My Mind is Overwhelmed

  I have been reading a book called Our Solarian Legacy by Paul Von Ward, a cosmologist with plenty of interesting ideas.  I'm only a third of the way through the book right now so I can't say whether he's genius or a nutbag (leaning toward genius).  Regardless, this book and the ideas within it have knocked on my brian's door and decided to shove a bunch of things in there that I've never really thought about before.

Von Ward, along with the show The Universe on The History Channel have caused an obsession in my mind.  I am obsessed with evolving my brain, expanding my knowledge of myself and the Universe so I can better understand where we all come from and where we're all going.

I have always felt that we are all connected, everything around us on Earth and in the Heavens.  And the connection that I have felt with the Earth, animals, trees, places, etc. is what has inspired my largely Pagan path.  But I'm realizing that I wasn't thinking big enough.  Everything that happens in our surrounding universe, not just giant cosmic events, but tiny little things, affects us all.  Cosmic Rays from deep space that penetrate our atmosphere are LITERALLY causing the cells in our body to  evolve bit by bit.  There are many examples of the slightest change in outer space that affect us all.

My Pagan beliefs have always led me to believe that there are gods around us that have a hand in influencing sentient beings in the creation and destruction of many things on our planet.  Von Ward calls them ABs or Advanced Beings - and they can be gods, angels, demons, and even alien beings with advanced technology.  To think of this idea can make your brain run wild with possibilities.  Mine certainly has.

Von Ward also suggests that we are a part of the universe in the sense that we were conciousness that desired to have a physical form.  I am over-simplifying to the extreme as his ideas are enormously complex and to be honest, difficult not only to put into my own words, but to wrap my brain around in general.  But the gist is that connection theme again.

In short, the science of this world - that we know of anyway has my brain totally occupied at the moment.  The progress that we as humans have made in the years we have existed - possibly with the help of advanced beings (ancient civilizations like the Sumerians were almost as advanced as we are today and it has been suggested they were visited by beings with advanced technology) has me astounded.

I want to learn all I can, touch all I can, feel all I can and evolve all I can.  In short, anything that gets me closer to real answers about the universe, I'm all over it. 

Is Science "God"?

 

I am going through an intense spiritual evolution right now.  It's as if a barrage of new thoughts and ideas has assaulted my brain and I'm struggling to make sense of them.  I am a thinking, analyzing, feeling person who theorizes and seesaws and entertains many ideas.  Because of this I have been through several different spiritual evolutions in my life.

For the past decade or so I have called myself a Pagan.  I have found my spiritual attunement through communing with the cycles of Nature and respecting and treading as lightly as possible on the Earth.  I have assigned names of gods to the forces that I cannot comprehend otherwise.  I have stood in circles with my friends and felt amazing energies.

What I am about to write does not negate my Pagan path, but it does add to it in a way I had never thought about before.  I don't know what it was that made me start obsessing over this.  I have no idea what the trigger was, only that I am constantly thinking right now.  

My friend Sarah and I were discussing "God" the other day and what that is and what it means to people.  And we asked ourselves, if God created us or did we create God?  Perhaps the answer is both.  The more I think about the entire Universe, what I understand of it anyway, the more my mind expands to the point where I feel like it could just snap like a rubber band.  It is impossible to know everything there is to know about the Universe.  

The more I think about the swirling of the cosmos, the drama that is played out in all of space, the more I realize that yes, there is a force out there driving these things to happen.  But the more I consider it, the less I think that this force is any kind of conscious super-being with intention as we know it.  Maybe it just IS.  A neutral force, not good, not evil, not "deciding" our fate in the way that we understand or assign human traits to, but affecting our lives nonetheless.  I think it is impossible for humans to not place parameters on this force, this God.  We have to give it a name, or several names just to wrap our brains around it.  We have to call things the will of the gods or God even if there is the possibility that there is no "will" behind it.  So let's say for the sake of argument that it has no name, it has no ideas, it makes no decisions.  It just IS.

I have begun to think of science as going hand in hand with God.  There is no reason they must be mutually exclusive.  If you explain to me the creation of the Universe in scientific terms, I believe the evidence that goes along with the science.  But to me that doesn't make it any less "holy" or "godly."  When people refuse medicine because of their spiritual beliefs, I don't understand because medical science is an amazing miracle to me.  A manifestation of "God."

There is too much for me to properly write down about this and my brain is reeling and thirsting for any kind of science I can jam into it.  My existence as a Pagan has been transformed.  For the better I'm sure, but transformed nonetheless.

More when I organize the rest of my thoughts more coherently.

Happy New Year!

 

It's a brand new year.  My  coven and I went upstate to visit the snow and the great outdoors for Yule and it was really nice.  Some guided meditation, a nice morning solstice ritual.  This time of year gets you thinking about the whole "out with the old" and "in with the new" thing.  I suppose that's why people have resolutions.

I have never been one for resolutions myself, but on the spiritual side there are definitely a few things I would like to see happen this year.

I'd like to make a commitment to do some meditation.  As I've said before, I'm terrible at it.

I'd also like to read more and become "more dedicated" to my path - whatever that means.  I mean there's a reason I haven't.  I'm laid back.  So I'm not talking going nuts with it, but you know I could stand to be a titch more...devout, if you will.

So yes, now is the time of year where new ideas and goals are decided on so that they can bloom in the springtime.

Oh!  I can't wait for Spring!

The Winter Solstice

    

“Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.”

          Alfred Lord Tennyson

We Need Some Compassion Up In Here!

Lately I've been thinking that my coven and I should do some sort of ritual as a way to concentrate all our energies and put out a whole bunch of enlightenment vibes or something to the world.  Because let's face it, we need to evolve.  Especially socially.  I mean people are so ignorant and judgemental and full of hate and blah blah.  Well I like the idea of finding a patron goddess of wisdom and invoking it for some probabilty enhancement meditation of sorts.  I stumbled upon the goddess Tara and she seems really interesting.

 

Tara (Sanskrit, "star") is a Buddhist savior-goddess especially popular in Tibet, Nepal and Mongolia. In Tibet, where Tara is the most important deity, her name is Sgrol-ma, meaning "she who saves." The mantra of Tara (om tare tuttare ture svaha) is the second most common mantra heard in Tibet, after the mantra of Chenrezi (om mani padme hum). (1)

Tara is the Bodhisattva of feminine compassionate wisdom in action. Her name means 'she who ferries across', 'one who saves', or 'star'.(2)

Her name means "The Star" because she is believed to lead her devotees through the treacherous waters of life to safe harbor. (3)

The goddess of universal compassion, Tara represents virtuous and enlightened action. It is said that her compassion for living beings is stronger than a mother's love for her children. She also brings about longevity, protects earthly travel, and guards her followers on their spiritual journey to enlightenment.

Read more about Tara here.

Meditation Diary - Day...Maybe Tomorrow?

 

As a Pagan, there are certain things I should do in my daily, weekly, monthly life in order to bring myself closer to the Divine, to myself and to ground and balance myself out.  Meditation is one of those things.  It is also something at which I am VERY INEPT.  If I try really hard I can sit still in a place for a little while and I have even had a few amazing experiences with meditation over the years.  But it's still not something that I do every single day.  And if I'm being honest, it probably will not ever be.  But I have decided to make a commitment to do more of it, whether it's three days a week or three days a month.  It's something my spirit needs and I has been probably crying out for for awhile.  So here goes.  I'll continue to update sporadically on my progress.  I mean...I'm no Yogi or Buddha or anything, but I'll do my best.