VERONICA LEE

We begin with the Pagan New Year, Samhain (pronounced sow-win), the time when the veils between the worlds were thinnest, and loved ones who had crossed over could visit this plane. Thus, the tradition of giving treats to people disguised as visitors from the other side when they come around to “trick-or-treat.” Now the Goddess ages into the Crone – hence the popularity of the “witch” disguise! This holiday is still celebrated on October 31; the Christian story is that the celebration was leading up to All Saints Day, so it was re-named All Hallows Eve – Halloween.

Soon comes the Winter Solstice, celebrated as Yule by our Celtic ancestors (and under many other names around the world). Because this was such a well-loved holy day, the Christians moved their celebration of Jesus’ birth to coincide with the well-established revelry (ignoring the notion that Jesus was most likely born in October). This is also the rebirth of the Goddess, as the earth enters slumber.

Next is Imbolc, the holiday of re-dedication. In many modern Wicca circles, we welcome and initiate new members. Naturally, Christians also adopted Brigid’s celebration and gave it to the only “goddess” they recognize. Candlemas is a Christian holiday celebrated annually on February 2. It celebrates three occasions according to Christian belief: the presentation of the child Jesus; Jesus' first entry into the temple; and it celebrates the Virgin Mary's purification (mainly in Catholic churches).

As the year progresses, and the Goddess born at Yule ages to become the Maiden, we come to the Spring Equinox, or the first day of spring. The holy day Ostara is renamed Easter, and celebrates the death and revival of the God – also seen as the return of Kore, the maiden who would be revered as Persephone, queen of Hades. All the traditional icons of spring’s fecundity are somehow added to the Christian celebration of death and resurrection, so lambs, eggs, and bunnies are everywhere!

Next is Beltane, which our modern world calls May Day. Beltane is the ceremony of joining – a time to “leap the fire” and run off to the woods with the beloved. Beltane babies are a gift of the Goddess, and no father need be named. There does not seem to be much current Christian celebration, though Waldorf schools retain the European May Pole dance in celebration of spring.

At Summer Solstice, Litha, the Goddess is now the Mother – it is the time for nurturing and fertilizing all the dreams of spring. This is the time to buckle down and work to grow the crops planted. Traditionally there was a midsummer’s celebration, but it seems to have gotten misplaced! Perhaps Father’s Day is the new midsummer?

Next is Lammas (or Lughnasada, games of Lugh in the Celtic calendar), the first of the three harvest festivals. It is perhaps honored in the west as Labor Day, but there are few traditions other than picnics to mark the end of vacation. Wiccans mark the holiday by baking a figure of the god in bread and eating it, to symbolize the sanctity and importance of the harvest. The name Lammas (contraction of loaf mass) implies it is an agrarian-based festival and feast of thanksgiving for grain and bread, which symbolizes the first fruits of the harvest.

Mabon is celebrated at the Autumn Equinox, the second of the harvest festivals. Wikipedia says that the name Mabon was coined by Aidan Kelly around 1970 as a reference to Mabon ap Modron, a character from Welsh mythology. But this is a much older holy day! There is little in the modern calendar, though children at Waldorf schools celebrate Michaelmas, the Catholic feast of the Archangel Michael, with an exciting play where Archangel Michael (mick – ay – ell) defeats the dragon and saves the countryside. Perhaps this also came to us as Thanksgiving, a festival of thankfulness for the gifts of the harvest.
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And so we return to Samhain – the end and the beginning. Without our pagan roots, we would have a far less interesting year – and fewer long weekends! The dictionary explains the word Pagan as: late Middle English: from Latin paganus ‘villager, rustic,’ from pagus ‘country district.’ Latin paganus also meant ‘civilian,’ becoming, in Christian Latin, ‘heathen’ (i.e., one not enrolled in the army of Christ). All of us rustic Villagers who refuse to join the army spend our time celebrating the cycle of the year!

by Rev. Tess Pender, M. Div.
 
There is a single word we can – and often do – use to make ourselves miserable. This word makes one unhappy with a life, a spouse, a job, a daily routine – in fact, with everything it touches.  If we are determined to be miserable all the days of our lives, we can sprinkle this word liberally in all our thoughts, plans, and reactions!

The powerful word to destroy our happiness?  SHOULD.

In 12-step programs, this is called “should-y thinking.” SHOULD acts as instant short hand to reject everything in life, to judge life as lacking and insufficient. The following chart gives some examples of how it does its magic:

SHOULD works to instantly rob every victory of sweetness, to sour every moment. Entire books have been written on the power of gratitude, but they could all be summed up as “Stop SHOULDING on yourself!”

One woman was determined to change her spoken words to support a joy-filled life. She adopted “Cancel” as the cue that should-y thinking was present. If an inadvertent SHOULD slithered into her speech, she would instantly exclaim “Cancel! Cancel!” And express her gratitude for some aspect of the situation.
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See how this approach can change a day, an experience, a life:

Should-y thinking has great power to destroy. Look back on every moment of disappointment, despair, pain and anger – and find the “should-y” thinking at the root. Pollyanna had a point – her elimination of “should” made a life of joy and grace possible.

Current research on chronic pain shows that pain originates in the brain, and must be controlled from there if there is to be relief. Therefore, the current treatment is to teach that “what you resist persists” and that pain can be reduced and borne only by rejecting should-y thinking, and learning to work with the pain, rather than engaging in a constant war with the body and brain! All those old sayings in 12-step programs are now being proved by scientific brain scans and experimentation!

Science now says you can put the opioids down and go back to the mindfulness meditation classes -- and be happy!

Source material:

• Seven Things You Should Know About Pain Science by Todd Hargrove
• Translational Pain Research: From Mouse to Man. Kruger L, Light AR, editors. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; 2010.

by Rev. Tess Pender, M. Div.
 
In the Wicca (or Pagan) calendar, the year is divided by eight Sabbats, or holidays (Holy Days) marked by the earth’s journey around the sun. Summer solstice 2017 in the northern hemisphere will be at 9:24 PM on Tuesday, June 20 and marks the first day of summer. The days have been growing longer (more daylight) ever since the winter solstice on December 21. On the solstice the time of light and dark are equal (at the equator) and now we begin the journey into darkness, with each day having less daylight.

This is the beginning of the time of growing, which will lead to the harvests to be celebrated in August, September, and October. At the spring equinox we were invited to make resolutions, to decide what dreams to pursue in the coming year. Now is the time to do the work of nurturing and feeding those dreams. Summer is the time to attend classes, learn a new skill, do the tiring work necessary to pursue dreams.

If your goal in spring was to change careers, now is the time to acquire the skills and training needed, to apply for jobs, to take the risk of ending an unsuitable job or unfulfilling work. If the goal was to form a new love relationship, now is the time to sign up on dating sites, visit places to meet a new interest, and clear out all the old aces-in-the-hole that stand in the way of your availability.

This is the time to develop patience. Just as the gardener doesn’t pull up new plants to check on their growth, we must simply do the work, and stop the constant measuring and evaluating that are so much a part of our training.

Summer’s work is difficult, frightening, and tests your resolve. It is the time for the leap of faith, of taking chances and living your dreams. It is time for the work of planting and fertilizing, of watering and waiting. It is the very epitome of faith and hope; acting without knowing, and acting as if all your dreams are promised. There are no promises. All the work you have done to date – researching possible choices, learning more about yourself, then deciding on a path – may lead to a dead end of despair.

When the harvest festivals of autumn arrive, you will take stock, and discover then whether your work has borne fruit. Sometimes, no crop comes in. It is hard to let that be okay! The challenge is not really to set a goal and accomplish it, but to understand when a goal is not really for you, to recognize a wrong path, to do the work and then to let go of the old goal. Standing in a field, with sweat rolling off you in rivers, only you can decide if you have chosen a false path, and only you can dig for the courage to start walking a new path.

We are never alone at this crucial decision point. The Goddess is with us, holding us as we wrestle with the desire to continue on the wrong path, to avoid wasting the years of preparation. The Goddess - and our highest selves - stand just around the bend, beckoning us to attempt one more journey. The angels cheer when we admit defeat and, as the song says, “pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.” All the experiences of “failure” will provide wonderful stories, better judgement, experience and wisdom.

Rita Mae Brown said, “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment." Summer is the time to focus on building good judgment!

Part of our spiritual evolution is releasing old patterns, which can include our sense of identity. Sometimes this is done with very conscious work, other times - like losing a loved one - it can happen unexpectedly. Unlike losing a loved one, we may not actually be able to pinpoint why we feel as if we've lost something or someone. Whether we do our ego-dissolving work with consciousness, or things simply shift on their own, we may encounter strange sensations that could be easily described as grief.

But then we might feel bad about those feelings - or ourselves.

One of the most insidious teachings in the New Thought movement is the "be positive" mantra. Our emotions are indicators, not to be ignored or suppressed. Nor are they to be controlling every aspect of our lives. 

Grieving is a normal process when something we love or hold close to us is lost. Even when we buy a new home, we may grieve for the home we are leaving.

If grief is arising for you here are some ways to be with it:

• Notice what you are feeling. Sometimes there may be a whole range of emotions arising at once - joy, grief, hope, confusion.
• If you can, see if you can identify "what" you feel you have lost. It may be something not so tangible like your identity.
• Refrain from judgment. Would you judge another who is grieving? 
• Journal, if compelled, talk to a friend, and find a way to help process the grief in a safe and supportive way.
• Cry. Feel. Be. Allow your grief to be expressed even if you don't fully understand it.
• Avoid getting intoxicated. Escaping with books, social media, or the like may be helpful to "escape" the sadness, but bringing toxic or mind-altering substances in to your body will prolong and thwart the process. Try to be as conscious with your grief as possible, without needing to "fix" it either. 

It is quite intense out there! We are so raw, so naked, and so ready to experience ourselves in our exquisite heart-centered tenderness and this is merely part of the unveiling.

by Rev. Tess Pender, M. Div.

Twenty-five (or so) years ago, there was an attraction at Disneyland in Southern California. It was not a ride, but an experiential movie. Guests entered a large, dark, cool room, where a movie projected high on the walls of the circular room. It was a popular way to escape the torments of the afternoon Los Angeles sun. The movie was a journey through China including visits to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and a climb up to the tiny country of Tibet. The narrator said, “Tibet is a small country, where there are 10,000 rooms and 100,000 altars.”

Wait! What? Back up! 100,000 altars in 10,000 rooms? That means there are ten alters in every room! What does that even mean? How can that be possible? An altar is: “An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. We find altars at shrines, and they can be in temples, churches, and other places of worship. Today they are used particularly in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Taoism, as well as in Neopaganism and Ceremonial Magic. Judaism used such a structure until the destruction of the Second Temple. Many historical faiths also made use of them, including Greek and Norse religion.” (Wikipedia)
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An altar in the home is common to many spiritual traditions. But–ten per room? First, we must broaden the definition of altar to include any space set aside for purposes of worship, containing some object that brings the divine to mind. This would make any picture, statue, or scroll containing a likeness of a deity an altar. This is much more doable, but it is still a lot of statues, pictures, and scraps of prayers scattered around every room.

Assuming this is possible, what would be the purpose of filling every room with images of the divine? Remember that Tibet practices Buddhism, the religious tradition that gave us mindfulness meditation. The purpose is to keep the Sacred at the top of mind always, to make every act a prayer, every word a song of praise.

From this perspective, it is useful indeed to make every place the eye may fall a reminder of the divine. For earth-centered religions, every walk in Nature surrounds us by the deity, encircling us in the Presence of the Creator. A medieval book talks of “Practicing the Presence of God” as a spiritual practice. In Tibet, practicing the presence becomes an integral part of life. There is no place where God is absent, forgotten, or ignored. (http://thepracticeofthepresenceofgod.com/onlinetext/ )

We can join Tibet in filling our homes with reminders of the divine. There is an online store that provides statues of many deities, crafted often of the mud of the Ganges River in India. (http://www.sacredsource.com/) If you aren’t feeling so ecumenical, most churches offer statues, religious symbols, or books you can bring into your space to honor and remember the sacred. Surrounding oneself with the divine may not allow you to levitate (like Brother Lawrence is said to have done), but it is certain to bring your mind back to the divine at unexpected times.

We encourage mindfulness practice to manage pain, improve relationships, and make living with others more comfortable. Keeping our mind constantly focused on the divine becomes a way of life in which we constantly acknowledge our own divine nature, and give free rein in our every action. It is a method to walk in the footsteps of our God, to live as though you are in the presence of the angels, and to treat every person as a temple of the divine.

by Rev. Tess Pender, M. Div.

She sat on a chair in the college psychology professor’s office, talking about how badly she was being treated by her boyfriend. When she stopped venting, he stared at her and finally said “You are a psych major, right?” She nodded the affirmation, and waited to hear the special help he would offer. He said, “I follow the GOYA school of psychology”.

Confused, she stammered “I’m not familiar with that – is it kind of like surrealist, for the artist?” (She wasn’t an art major).

He said, “No – it means get off your ass! If you don’t like where you are – move! If you are in pain because you are sitting on a pin – Get Off Your Ass!”

He didn’t mean to dispense spiritual advice, but that is what he gave. In many situations, we don’t need therapy or a guru – we just need to follow the GOYA school. Hate your job? Cannot recapture love with your spouse? Need friends? Weigh too much? Dreams out of reach? Want to start a business? Try the GOYA school.

Maintaining the motivation to continue is a huge barrier to those who sign up with the GOYA school. Find one friend who also wants to make significant changes – and meet at least weekly to report on progress and identify next actions. It is amazing how far you can travel in a week if there is accountability at the end!

So how does the GOYA school work?

• First, define the place you are willing to leave. (Stop seeing the abusive boyfriend).
• Find a partner, and both state the scenes you are leaving. Brainstorm all the pitfalls to success: (He could call, he could show up, I could get lonely, or drunk).
• For each pitfall, brainstorm a response.
• The more important list – what are the positive steps to take in the next week to replace the toxic substance, or to lead to long-term change? (meet new people (start online dating) a dance class, (or any time-consuming interest to study), spend time with old friends.
• After a week, meet with your partner, report on progress or lack of progress, and develop a new list for the coming week.

Therapy is useful, and a therapist could act as the partner, though recruiting a reliable friend with a similar bad habit or goal is much cheaper. The spiritual element is to take charge of personal changes, to set a goal to improve your life on this planet, then act every week to achieve your goals. This is the essence of spiritual progress, and an effective way to build self-reliance and self-respect. There is no achievement sweeter than recognizing and overcoming a stuck place in your journey.

Everyone, at some point, gets bogged down in the swamps of despair, fear, anger, and conformity. Pulling yourself out of the sucking mud is a heroic task, with the ever-constant urge to give up and fall back!

But what is the spiritual element of the GOYA school? How was this spiritual advice?
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The goal of any spiritual path is transcendence – becoming the best possible you. Some spiritual traditions offer a single lifetime in which to achieve self-knowledge and a spiritually aware life. Others teach that when a soul incarnates, it chooses a set of challenges to meet – and overcome – in the upcoming life. It also carries the “seeds” of past choices – or karma – that rides along to offer “learning” from experience. Of course, no situation is truly the same as those of the past, so old knowledge often fails to resolve the current challenge.

​In either tradition, when confronted with seemingly impossible obstacles, the soul freezes, waiting for an epiphany or flash of insight to provide salvation, sitting in the pain and crying out in frustration and terror.