Thanksgiving Joy

Favorable FOR JESUS:Near fifty-five existence ago I walked down the boardwalk in a very less significant store head church, meaning to link. But in the function of I heard the cleric ask me "Do you position the blood of Jesus cleanses you from sin?" by some means a light corm went off in my zenith and atmosphere.God was answering the prayer I had prayed a month ahead of time that he would desperately show me what it was he accept me to know from the pages of the Bible I was reading. As a pure teenager I had been exploring all kinds of spirituality. Christian Scientist real and occult information matted my Bible reading. Youthful did I twig God was leading me home nevertheless I was migrant some frightening paths.I had formerly read a high-level agreement of the Bible- I respected the word I entirely did not know why. What time acknowledging that Jesus blood did clean my sins away- yes I did identifiable it was true, it was as bit someone opened the pages of a muggy and respected book and told me a balloon new story I had not noticed.I began in Romans and continued reading about the redeemer, Jesus, who lived, died and rose for my redeemer.Having the status of I am so very sympathetic for a attentive other half, six children and their balloon spouses, 18 grandchildren, two high-level granddaughters, and a whole lot in life of astonishing friends, it is Jesus Christ himself that I am the utmost sympathetic for this Charity.Whereas I exercise often failed him, I can, in truth, say he has never failed in his caginess. His promises are continually.

Reference: lilith-dark-moon.blogspot.com

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Selma Alabama Historical Marker Tells Of The Sleeping Prophet

Selma's Edgar Cayce Historical Marker

This week's featured historical marker is "THE SLEEPING PROPHET" marker that's located in downtown Selma, Alabama. This marker was erected by the Alabama Historical Commission, but unlike most markers of this type, it doesn't indicate the year in which it was erected.

This marker is located on Broad Street, about one block down from the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River. There's text on both sides of this marker, but both sides are identical. What follows is the complete text from the marker.

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"THE SLEEPING PROPHET: EDGAR CAYCE (1877-1945), was internationally accepted as an extremely gifted psychic. An humble man, he never profited materially from his psychic ability, but used it to help 'make manifest the love of God and man.' Operated his photography studio and lived in this building from 1912 until 1923. Many psychic readings were given here during that time."

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Cayce, who was born in Kentucky in 1877, came to Selma at the age of 35. This was about a decade after his supposed psychic abilities were first brought to light by a traveling stage hypnotist who hypnotized Cayce to help him when he lost his voice to laryngitis. Cayce was called "The Sleeping Prophet" because he displayed his psychic abilities while in a trance or sleeplike state.

Considered the "Father of the New Age Movement," Cayce made a number of surprisingly accurate predictions. Among numerous other accurate predictions, he also predicted, the stock market crash of 1929, the Great Depression, Adolph Hitler's rise to power, the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, the death of John F. Kennedy in 1963, the fall of the Soviet Union and his own death in 1945. He also made a number of predictions about the lost continent of Atlantis and events yet to come.

Cayce only had a ninth-grade education, was a devout Christian and was said to have been deeply conflicted about his purported psychic abilities. He took up photography because it was less of a strain on his voice, and this career is what landed him in downtown Selma. His fame grew while he lived in Selma, and even though that's where he hung his hat, he traveled widely during this period giving psychic readings across the South. In 1945, during one of his trances, "his voice" instructed him to leave Selma.

From there, he moved to Virginia Beach, Va., where he founded a hospital in 1929. In 1931, he founded the Edgar Cayce Association of Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E), an organization that still exists today. For more information about A.R.E., visit www.edgarcayce.org. Fourteen years after the establishment of A.R.E, in 1945, Cayce suffered a stroke and died. His body was returned to his native state of Kentucky, and he was buried in his hometown of Hopkinsville.

In the end, visit this site next Wednesday to learn about another historical marker. I'm also taking suggestions from the reading audience, so if you know of an interesting historical marker that you'd like me to feature, let me know in the comments section below.

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Question How Can You Tell If Someone Is A Witch

ANSWER:

Despite the popular myth, there are absolutely no physical signs that can identify a Witch. If you want to know if someone is a Witch, you better ask him or her!

But then how does one become a Witch? This mostly depends on whom we regard to be one. In a general sense, everyone is called a Witch who practices (usually folk) magick. This interpretation is generally refused by more serious practitioners - in the strictest sense, being a Witch means being a practitioner in a Witch-cult.

Witchcraft is a Craft - to be a Witch you have to study and develop. You have to "do something "to become a Witch, it is not enough to declare yourself to be one - similarly, you are not going to be doctor, just because you declare yourself to be one. In Witch-religions, the aspirant ritually dies and is reborn as a Witch during initiation - this mystical experience is necessary if someone wants to have the necessary inner transformation to become a Witch.

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION? SEND US AN EMAIL (WITCHBLOOD.ORG@GMAIL.COM), OR WRITE CORNELIUS ON OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!

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Did Jesus Use The Greek Version Of The Bible

Kerath25, in response to my post this morning, asked:

I'd heard that there is some evidence that Jesus Himself used the Septuagint. On a simple search, most of the results that I'd come across were people seeking to refute this theory, and I didn't find any convincing evidence to support the theory that Jesus used Greek. Is there any good evidence to back up either side? This is a great question, and it's more important than people may realize. The answer is that as far as we can tell, both Jesus and the New Testament authors use the Greek version of the Old Testament at times. As a general shorthand, I'll say Greek or LXX version for the Septuagint and other Greek translations, and the Hebrew or MT version for the Hebrew versions. The Masoretic Text (MT) wasn't around at the time of Christ, but is the modern version based upon older Hebrew versions, and is at least a pretty reliable indicator of what the Hebrew version of the OT looked like in Jesus' day.

It's important to acknowledge a few important caveats at the beginning: (1) most of the differences between the Hebrew and Greek version are minor, like the differences between Bible versions today, (2) many of the NT quotations are too short to say for sure which version of the OT it's from, (3) many "quotations" are paraphrases instead of exact quotations, and (4) the New Testament is written in Greek, so it's not always clear if the authors are translating Jesus.* Finally, any most importantly, I'm not a Greek or Hebrew speaker. All of my knowledge comes second-hand, so take it with a grain of salt. One resource I relied upon is here, and is helpful and straightforward, compiled by an Eastern Orthodox author with a thorough knowledge and love of the LXX version of the Old Testament. Another resource I found a bit late was this one.

Still, here are a handful of the cases I know about where it seems obvious enough that the Greek version was used, because there are differences in content between the two versions.

I. Times Jesus Used the Greek VersionLike I said, it's sometimes hard to know whether Jesus used the Greek version, or whether the New Testament writers, in translating His words, mirrored the Greek translations of the OT. But there are a couple times when it's nearly irrefutable that Jesus Himself used the Greek version. For example:

* Hebrews 10:5-7 and the Incarnation

The most important passage to know on the question of Jesus' use of the Greek version of Scripture is Hebrews 10:5-7, which says:

5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said:

"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me;

6with burnt offerings and sin offerings

you were not pleased.

7Then I said, 'Here I am-it is written about me in the scroll-

I have come to do your will, O God.' "

Even the NIV notes that this is a quotation from the Greek version of Psalm 40:6-8. Here's why that's important. In the Hebrew versions, Psalm 40:6 says, "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced." But all three major Greek versions, the Septuagint, Symmachus and Theodotion translations, list it as "a Body You prepared for Me." What may have happened, as one author explores here, is that the Hebrew expression is an obscure idiom, and the Greek translations were intentionally non-literal. The theory is that since slaves often wore an earring showing who their master was in the Near East, that offering your ears to God could mean either listening or offering your whole body.

Now, if Psalm 40:6 is a prophesy of Christ, it's not because God opened His ears, but because Jesus is God-in-the-flesh, with a Body prepared for Him by His Father. So how and why the Greek and MT versions came to be distinct isn't particularly important, compared to the fact that (a) they are distinct, and (b) Hebrews 10:5 only makes sense with the Greek. Significantly, the author of Hebrews isn't just saying that the Greek version of the Psalm is a prophesy of Christ. He's saying that Jesus Himself said it was.

* Jesus quotes the LXX version of Isaiah 29:13 in Mark 7:6-8; the MT version says "their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men," with no reference to the worship being vain; the LXX version says "They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." Jesus chooses the LXX, which makes a difference. The context of Mark 7 is not on worship, but on the way they're living and expecting others to live (ceremonial washing before eating, the Corban, etc.), so the MT version of Isaiah 29:13 doesn't fit very well, while the LXX version is directly on point, since it deals with both vain worship and teachings.

* In Matthew 21:16, Jesus asks, "have you never read, 'From the lips of children and infants, you have ordained praise'?" That's the Greek version. The Hebrew version says "ordained strength." And note that Jesus is responding to the chief priests and scribes of Jerusalem, who were upset at the children praising Jesus, "Hosanna to the Son of David" (Matthew 21:15).

There are plenty of other examples, but those are three I know of where it almost certainly wasn't Matthew or Mark translating into the Greek, but Jesus using the Greek originally, since using the Hebrew would have made substantially less sense.

II. Times the New Testament Authors Used the Greek VersionIt's a lot easier to establish that the New Testament authors frequently used the Greek version of the Bible, and since the Bible is "God-breathed," it still seems to establish God's stamp of approval on non-Hebrew versions of the Old Testament over the Hebrew versions, at least at time. So here are a few times where it's obvious that a Greek version is used, because the author's point really only makes sense using the Greek:

* Matthew 1:23 and the Virgin Birth

The most important example of a New Testament writer using the Greek version is in Matthew 1:23, in which Matthew declares that Christ being born of the Virgin Mary fulfills Isaiah 7:14's prophesy that "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel." Matthew purposely quotes from the Greek version here, because only the Greek version is unambiguously a prophesy of the Virgin Birth.

Here's what I mean. The Hebrew word used in Isaiah 7:14 is `almah. That can be a reference to virginity, but it doesn't have to be. It's almost identical to the older English word "maiden," which can mean virgin, unmarried woman, or young woman, or all of the above. So the Hebrew version of Isaiah 7:14 is basically, "the maiden will be with child and give birth to a son," which might or might not be about the Virgin Mary giving birth.

But what's significant is that when it was translated into Greek (which was before the time of Christ, mind you), the translators understood it to be about a coming Virgin Birth. And so they chose a Greek word which clearly meant "virgin." This decision on their part is important, because it was unbiased -- the translator wasn't trying to prove or deny the Virgin Birth, as translators after the coming of Christ have been.

Still, St. Matthew reaches for the Greek version of the prophesy when he's announcing its fulfillment. And the choice is deliberate. In Matthew 2:15, he chooses the Hebrew version, where that one is more clear.

So that's the most important example of the Greek being chosen over the Hebrew. There's another important one, at the Council of Jerusalem.

* Acts 15:17 and Salvation for the Gentiles

James, at the Council of Jerusalem, argues that salvation by Jesus Christ is extended to even the Gentiles. He bases this conclusion in part upon Peter's testimony, and in part on the Old Testament. In particular, he says in Acts 15:15-18,

The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: " 'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things' that have been known for ages."That's Amos 9:11-12 he's quoting, and it's the Greek version. We know it's the Greek version because the Hebrew version says that God will restore and rebuild David's fallen tent, "so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name," suggesting that the restored Israel would conquer, rather than save, the Gentiles. If the Masoretic Text were right here, this would seem to be an argument against James' point, which is that the Church, as the restored and rebuilt Israel, is for all the faithful, including the Gentiles.

Beyond those two examples, here are a few others, where it just seems obvious enough that the Greek is being preferred:

* Peter, in 1 Peter 4:18, says "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" That's an exact quotation of the LXX version of Proverbs 4:11. But the MT version of Proverbs 4:11 says something totally different (and strange): "If the righteous will be rewarded in the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner! "

* Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:55, quotes Hosea 13:14 to say, "Where, O death, is your sting?" while the MT version of that verse says, "Where, O death, are your plagues?" The meaning is similar, but he chose the Greek version.

* Finally, the MT version of Deuteronomy 32:43 is: "Rejoice, O nations, with his people, / for he will avenge the blood of his servants; / he will take vengeance on his enemies /

and make atonement for his land and people." The Septuagint, along with the Dead Sea Scrolls, include the line "and let all the angels worship him" between the first and second line. Hebrews 1:6 says, "And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, 'Let all God's angels worship him.'" So here, the author of Hebrews is quoting to a line of the song that's not found in the standard Hebrew (MT) version. So there's literally no way he's quoting (or even paraphrasing) the verse from the MT, since it doesn't exist there.

There are dozens of verses in addition to this one, but most of those are really inconsequential differences you wouldn't ever notice without comparing the text side by side.

III. Why This MattersMy point is not that Jesus and/or the authors of the NT thought that the Greek version of the Old Testament was better than the Hebrew version of the Old Testament.

Rather, as I mentioned with St. Matthew, you can find plenty of examples of Jesus, and the NT writers, using both versions of the Old Testament. Quite frankly, neither the LXX nor the Masoretic Text is perfect, just as there's no single English-language version of the Bible which is absolutely perfect. That's clearly the view of Jesus and His Apostles, since they don't feel tied to a single translation or version. And it's clearly the view of the Church: She's willing to use translations, even by heretics -- to the disgust of Jerome, as I noted this morning -- if it's a more accurate version. Sometimes, that meaning is best captured by having multiple translations. For example, Jerome himself translates the same phrase in the Lord's Prayer as both "daily Bread" and "supersubstantial Bread." Taken together, these phrases capture a full range of meaning: that the Eucharist is "supersubstantial," that It is the fulfillment of the Old Testament manna, that we should pray to receive Christ in the Eucharist daily, etc. So the fact that no one version of the Bible, in English, Greek, or Hebrew, isn't particularly cause for alarm -- it can even be a blessing in disguise.

But it's significant that it's just assumed that the Greek version of the Bible is Scripture. Jesus expected even the chief priests and scribes of Jerusalem to know the Greek version as Scripture, which Matthew 21:15-16 makes clear. That's very important because the Greek version contains the Deuterocanon. Even though modern Jews reject the Greek version of Scripture, and reject the Deuterocanon, at least some Jews at the time of Christ (plus, of course, Christ Himself) knew it and considered it Scripture. It's Christ, not the Israelites, who is in the best position to declare what is and is not Scripture. And He's spoken here. What further reason could there be to reject the Deuterocanon?

*So, for example, the Shema Israel in Deuteronomy 6:5 says to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength; but in the Greek translation, it's heart, mind, soul, and strength. The reason is that the Hebrew term for "heart" had more meaning, so it took two Greek words to translate the one Hebrew word. In Mark 12:30, we hear Jesus quoting the Greek version, but in Matthew's account of the same conversation (Matthew 22:37), He's quoting the Hebrew version. What happened? Jesus said it in Hebrew, and the oldest known versions of both Matthew and Mark's Gospels are in Greek. So Mark, or someone translating Mark's Gospel into Greek, did the same thing the LXX translators did when they translated Deut. 6:5, while Matthew kept the more literal version. Here, if you didn't have two versions, it might look like Jesus was using the Greek, but Matthew's version is pretty strong evidence that He used the Hebrew version. (Although it's possible that Jesus said it in Greek, and Matthew translated it back into Hebrew, that's the less likely of the two options).

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The Elements Of Spell Construction

1. Clearly understand and define your magickal need. It helps to write it

out on paper.

2. Gather together all the items you will need for your spell, such as

candles, herbs, gemstones, athame, cup, etc. and empower these items.

3. Decide on your words of power, and create an appropriate chant if so

desired. It is helpful to memorize these, so as not to interrupt the flow

of energy while trying to remember what you are going to say next.

4. If you will be invoking a particular Deity, decide on who and write out

and memorize any special prayers and invocations that you will use.

5. Plan how you will visualize your goal...this is very important!

6. Decide when and where you will work your spell.

7. At the appropriate time, gather what you will use and go to the place

where you will perform the spell.

8. Cast your circle, or create your Sacred Space.

9. Invite whatever elementals, faeries, spirits, or Deities you wish to

have present as you work.

10. Clear your mind and begin visualizing your goal.

11. Raise energy within yourself and pour it into your magickal objects.

12. Use your words of power, light your candles, charge your stones, dance

or sing. Do whatever you have decided to do to focus your attention and

raise energy.

13. When you feel that you have put as much energy into your spell as you

possibly can, send the energy out to do your will. Relax, throw up your

arms, raise a tool, kneel, or do whatever else makes you feel the energy

being sent.

14. Finish your spell with words such as "So Mote It Be". It is a statement

of completion and an affirmation that you know your magick is successful.

15. When you are ready, close your circle and thank the elementals,

faeries, Deities, etc. who have been with you to help.

16. Ground your energy -- see it dissipate and return to the earth.

17. Record the ritual in your Book of Shadows.

Source: spellscasting.blogspot.com

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Review Of Our Coven Book

We would adjoining to allocation a modern review of our Coven BookMAGICK FOR THE NEW WITCH & WICCAN - NEW SEEKERS OF THE MYSTERIES ON THE Transmit OF THE Wise BY Lady RAVEN AVALON & COVEN

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/magick-for-the-new-witch-wiccan new-seekers-of-the-mysteries-on-the-path-of-the-wise/15008833

* * * * *

"Mar. 11, 2011 By Ester fanning

for the new witch or wiccan Later you start reading, it is in the neighborhood overwhelming to do suchlike besides. In black and white adjoining a transcript or a guide book this is an intriguing and caring book for individuality in investigate of magic. This book is a ought to read for any new witch or wiccan and stands as a luminescent preview of how a group of personal in a coven came together and wrote such a awesome introduction to witchcraft. Decode it. It not the same my world."Lady Raven Avalon

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He Didnt Have It Made

These thoughts are added to each day. Scroll down and read previous One A Days.)(Use in your personal or church newsletters) (365 stories a yearHe was an unlikely candidate for fame for many reasons. He had a big nose, a small body and his skin was pale as death itself.A woman fell in love with him from reading and singing the hymns he wrote but when she met him, his appearance was so unsettling there was no place for her love to go but away. Confused and saddened she said, "I only wish I could admire the casket (jewelry box) as much as I admire the jewel."Then this hymn writer suffered a stroke that left him with the ability to speak but took away his ability to write. Bedridden, sick and on the edge of depression he rode the enemy of his illness like a knight going into battle. He hired a secretary and dictated his hymns. Adversity was a word he could easily define but he would not be ruled by it.His breaths may well have been short but the drive of his faith was long and strong. Poems and books poured from this shriveling and sickened frame. The little man was a giant of courage.When Isacc Watts died in 1748 he had written 600 hymns, books on grammar, astronomy, philosophy and geography. He was prolific for his Lord and his hymns are a long line of gentle persuasion.You may well have sung many of them many, many times. I know I have and because of it, we both are blessed."When I Survey the Wondrous Cross Joy to the World From All That Dwell Below the Skies O God Our Help in Ages Past" Think back on all the times you sung these words. A small country church, a large city congregation, by yourself just driving down the road.So it was with this man who took the brawn and beauty of his brain, immersed it in the sweet and glorious power of his Savior and was able to write these hymns that have changed the lives of millions.His life could have been one long litany of complaint and self pity. He could have wrapped himself in regrets and cursed the God who made him so. Instead he chose to remember that it is the rocks in the river that make the river sing."...fear not, for I am with you;be not dismayed, for I am your God;I will strengthen you, I will help you,I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." -Isaiah 41:10Below are recent Titles on my other blog. To view them go to Google and where it says "Google Search" type in "Wyrick's Writings"Or type in the URL http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com/DEC 29 HAVE YOU GRADED YOUR VALUE SYSTEM RECENTLY?Dec 20 DO YOU TOLERATE TOLERANCE?Dec 17 BE A REACHABLE!Dec 10 TAKE TWO ASPIRIN AND PUNTDec 3 GOD HAD A DREAMDec 1...THE SECRET POWER OF THE SECOND MILENOV 25...ARE YOU A SPIRITUAL ANOREXIC? ARE YOU READY WITH READINESS?Nov 11 LIFE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF FOREVER,Nov 4...AN UNEXPECTED HIGHWAY TO SUCCESSNov 1...ARE YOU SNIFF AND SNUFF OR HEM AND HAWHave you considered sharing this site with family or friends? Just have them go to Google Search and type in "Neil Spiritual Vitamins".Or type in the URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE.

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A Look At Aethercon Online Gaming Convention November 16 18

Organize specific been a fasten of Online RPG Conventions I've seen so far (and actually popped modish and out of one a few get-up-and-go back, in advance the entrance of G+ simplifying the whole online expressive world) but AetherCon is the young one I actually brains on attending. Or logging in for. I'm not touch of the accurately terms in this sandpaper ;)Now, what makes AetherCon best quality seeing that a real con? To my eyes, it's the expression of RPG publishers, whichever in assisting the con with prizes but also manning imitation tables, totally seeing that at a real con.Which ones? This is the new list:4 Winds Decorative GamingFront line ProbeLaunch pad Chance LabsChaosiumStage 13 Probed-InfinityImperfekt GammesSturdy Have control over PublishingKenzer and HardOccult MoonSummit Sport HordeSurvival BlursSilvery Gryphon Fool aroundSkirmisher PublishingThe World SymbolThird Eye Fool aroundTroll Member of the aristocracy Fool aroundSnowy Haired ManI supremacy dive in and pick at in a Savage Worlds or Castles )They'll also like charge Tournaments for Buzz of Cthulhu, Pathfinder, Shadowrun and Savage Worlds. The sack pools are worthy, but I don't know any of the rules well sufficiently to be one of the presume men standing after 3 days of having a bet. Possibly if it was AD&D 1E...Roll20 looks to be the dialogue box they leave be using with G+ Hangouts. I infer that burial I requisite log modish my description once again. I saw they go on hunger strike the whiteboard, so all requisite be good now on my end.As games and era start feat dejected I'll be rank best quality about this. It looks strange cool, and it it's deficient as cool as it looks it may perhaps be, it requisite be an a stain of a having a bet weekend.

Origin: my-spiritual-path.blogspot.com

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Isis

Yule is the time of year when the Goddess gives birth to the God once again. For that reason it's a good time to acknowledge mother goddesses. I'm also a little miffed because another name blogger wrote that the goddess Isis wasn't a good association. This person has got it all wrong.

The origin of Isis (pronounced "IY-sis) is actually Greek and means "throne." No one knows for certain what name the Ancient Egyptians called her. In hieroglyphics, her name is sometimes written as "she of the throne." The reason the pronunciation of her original name is so disputed is because hieroglyphics have no vowels.

Isis is the daughter of Geb and Nut, gods of the earth and the sky, respectively. In addition to being the goddess of nature, reincarnation, and magic, Isis is also hailed as the ideal mother. And like a good mother, she doesn't pick favorites. She loves and will listen to the prayers of slaves and aristocrats with equal attention. She married her brother Osiris (incestuous marriages were common in ancient Egypt, so their mythology is going to reflect that). When her husband was murdered by Set, she used her magical skills to resurrect him (interesting side note, she had to learn his "secret name" in order to do this). During his resurrection, they conceived their son Horus.

Isis had her own cult that was popular throughout Ancient Egypt. She was so beloved that after the fall of Egyptian civilization, she continued to be worshiped in Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany, Arabia, Asia Minor, and even Britain. No one knows precisely what rituals were done in these cults. We do know that both men and women could be priests, that they were considered healers, and that some spells involved braiding or not combing their hair (this last part comes from the Egyptian belief that knots were magical, an idea that still exists in Wicca). Small parts of the Isis cult survived the suppression of goddess worship by Christianity. Isadore for boys and Isadora for girls are both Greek names meaning "gift of Isis" that are still used today.

Something else survived that makes Isis especially relevant to the Yuletide season. Isis is depicted in artwork in many ways, but one of the most common is when she's shown seated on a throne nursing her baby son Horus in her lap. Here's an example on the side. Does that image look a little familiar?

To be fair, I never read the Bible. But I had a college professor in art history who did and she said that the number of passages that mention the Virgin Mary, Jesus' mother, could be counted on one hand. She just isn't an important character. So where does all of the artwork of Madonna nursing baby Jesus come from? Many historians believe that even as Christianity grabbed hold over Europe, people still wanted a female role model to look up to. So they constructed the scene of Madonna and Jesus based on the earlier images of Iris and Horus. The theory makes sense if you think about it. They're both "the perfect mothers."

In modern day Neo-Paganism, Isis still plays a vital role even though we don't follow the same traditions that the ancient Egyptians had. She was recognized by The Order of the Golden Dawn, the coven Gerald Gardner was in before he started the Neo-Pagan movement. Kemetic Wicca follows the Egyptian pantheon and constructs rituals from The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Many feminist-based covens like the Dianic Wiccans adopt her as their patron goddess.

Wider culture in general is becoming familiar with the given name Isis. So far, it has reached the peak of it's popularity in 2005 and #522 in the top 1000 baby names. As for it's variations, Isadore was last widely used in 1910's and reached #328. Isadora is the rarest; as long as America has had the top 1000 it's never appeared. Despite that there are a few well known namesakes. Isadora Duncan is the most famous, considered to be the inventor of modern dance. And then there's Lady Isadora, a successful Pagan singer-songwriter and musician who was one of the genre's early founders.

Well, I hope I've made a good argument that Isis is a wonderful, feminine-yet-strong namesake for anyone to have. As you can probably tell, I like Isadora a whole lot.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/godsandgoddesses/p/Isis.htm

http://www.babynamewizard.com/namipedia/girl/isis

http://www.babynamewizard.com/namipedia/boy/isadore

http://www.babynamewizard.com/namipedia/girl/isadora

http://www.ladyisadora.com/

Image Credit:

found via http://ffffound.com/

http://www.magictails.com/abydos/images/egyptian statues/large/egyptian statue isis horus sml.jpg

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God And Man At Gw

From today's Washington Times:

Dinesh D'Souza has tackled some tough topics over the years - political correctness, racism, Islamic terrorism - but his latest challenge may be the toughest of all: Defending the Christian faith at a time when what he calls "the New Atheism" is making increasing inroads in American culture.

"A generation ago, the poster child for atheism was Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who was not a person with mainstream appeal," said Mr. D'Souza. "But the New Atheists are suave. They have good academic credentials."

Since publishing his latest book, "What's So Great About Christianity?" six weeks ago, Mr. D'Souza has debated two of the most prominent proponents of a God-free understanding of the universe, Christopher Hitchens (author of "God Is Not Great") and Daniel Dennett (author of "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon").

He will take on a third atheist antagonist tonight at George Washington University, when he debates Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic magazine and author of "Why Darwin Matters."You may read the rest here.

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The Star

"WITH AQUARIUS AS ITS RULING SIGN, THE STAR IS A CARD THAT LOOKS TO THE FUTURE. IT DOES NOT PREDICT ANY IMMEDIATE OR POWERFUL CHANGE, BUT IT DOES PREDICT HOPE AND HEALING. THIS CARD SUGGESTS CLARITY OF VISION, SPIRITUAL INSIGHT. AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, THAT UNEXPECTED HELP WILL BE COMING, WITH WATER TO QUENCH THE QUERENT'S THIRST, WITH A GUIDING LIGHT TO THE FUTURE...."

"THE STAR IS ONE OF THOSE CARDS EVERYONE LOVES. IN EVERY DECK, IT IS USUALLY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL. IT SUGGESTS THE PEACE AND HARMONY OF ITS MEANING. THERE IS NOTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT THIS CARD, BUT I THINK THERE IS A TRICK TO IT. WHATEVER HOPE, HEALING, OR FUTURE IT OFFERS, THE READER MUST REMEMBER THAT IT MIGHT NOT BE IMMEDIATE. THIS IS A SOFT CARD, AND LIKE AQUARIUS, ITS VISION IS FOR TOMORROW, NOT TODAY. THAT'S NOT TO SAY THAT IT OFFERS NO CONCRETE BENEFITS; IT IS A CARD THAT PREDICTS UNEXPECTED HELP, BUT THAT HELP IS ONLY THE FIRST STEP. THE STAR ONLY REVEALS THE FUTURE. IT IS UP TO THE QUERENT TO FIND HIS WAY TO THAT FUTURE." -- Aeclectic Tarot, Basic Tarot Meanings, The Star http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/learn/meanings/star.shtml

Today would have been Daddy's 98th birthday, truly 98 years young. He had really been aiming for 100 but missed my step-mom Noni so much that he was done at almost 92. He and Noni were soul mates. They had been so happy together and he was never the same after she died. He missed my mom, too, but more like the matter/anti-matter drive than soul mates. She had died many years earlier and he had been so fortunate, so elated to find Noni, his third wife.

Daddy always expected unexpected help somehow. He believed in people more than they believed in themselves or him. So he didn't always succeed in business but he always thought things would get better. At least he did until Noni died and then he was pretty sure they would never get better.

In his heart he was the architect, imagining the future as better and drawing a picture to show how it could be done, even if it was just the county jail or the sewer system for a small town. He wanted something to last forever, something that he made or some evidence of his intent. The engineer in him wanted not to worry about the strength of materials ever. The artist in him wanted the flow of lines to be beautiful.

He could be hard. When I brought home all A's, he complained that they should have been A-pluses. My mother snorted in disgust saying that the only class he made A's in was Band. They did not always agree on the importance of full disclosure. He was passionately disappointed in his sons' refusal to follow in his footsteps with their careers and just as strongly disinterested in his daughters when they did. When I finally cornered him about this seeming anomaly, he said, "You wore the wrong kind of pants." I had to put it in perspective after the initial shock. After all, he criticized Frank Lloyd Wright because, as he put it, his buildings were falling down.

I tried to console my oldest sister who had missed him terribly, growing up with her mother his first wife of three. If he had stayed, he would not have paid attention to her career and interests either. But of course, it was bitter comfort. He had us all focusing on the star, that wonderful thing that might be that was just too far out of reach. Maybe if we were really good enough, he would value us.

My mother's basic beef with him was the concrete benefits part, the Big Hat, No Cattle aspect of marrying a dreamer. Apparently for one shining moment, she, a lifelong skeptic of just about everything, the original Jaundiced Eye, bought his castle in the clouds line and married him. It was a decision made later in life for which she was blessed by the arrival of my brother and me. For us, she did not regret it. For herself, however, I am fairly sure she did. She used to complain about his optimism and explain patiently that his best friend in high school was the principal and that should tell us something.

Don't think that all my memories of him were bad! This is the man who told me Goldilocks and the Three Bears every night for three years upon my behest. He fancied himself a kind of naturalist, too. When we went walking in the Florida woods that were truly jungles then, he brought his machete and a handgun to blaze a trail through the wilderness, carving walking sticks with forked ends so we could pin down a snake if we saw one. I never pinned down a snake, but just having a magic wand made by my ferocious little father made me brave. He could identify birds and trees and whistle like a owl hoot through his hands. He would show us footprints in the dirt and tell us what animal had made the track. He liked to cook and made dinner for us. His special salads were a thing of beauty, with wooden bowls and homemade vinaigrette. His pancakes were legendary overshadowed only by my brother's legendary capacity for eating them in record quantities. He even let me cut his hair once. Just once.

In spite of his prejudices, he was a gentleman, a military officer and a credit to his branch and rank. To his credit, I never knew about his feelings about Jewish people or anyone who wasn't what he thought of as white or people who weren't heterosexual or for that matter anyone who wasn't a male adult until I was well into adulthood. He cried watching JFK's funeral on TV with us. He paid for Sister Ethelberga's trip to Ireland to see her mother for the last time. And he never used foul language.

When I graduated from high school, we determined to move from New Mexico to Missouri so that he could further his education in engineering. He and I were working together to pack my mother's antique shop, neither of us having fun but both of us determined to get through it. A butcher's block, weighing at least a couple hundred pounds, fell over and landed on his boot, splitting his toe. We had both been helpless to avoid it. All I could do was watch horrified while his eyes grew large and wet. I thought, this is it. He's finally going to say "bad words." I was prepared to catch him if he fell over. But he just looked at me and said very slowly, very softly, very distinctly, "That hurt." Well, he had had his opportunity, his free pass to let fly a string of cusswords with a perfect excuse and passed it up. We taped up the toe and kept going.

He broke his hip when he was 90 and wasn't expected to live through the surgery. I had to break the news to the surgeon that he didn't know my Dad. He lived through it, moved in with my husband and me and learned to walk again with a walker. He loved Strauss waltzes. He liked sending emails. We took him to the theatre, to Yosemite, to vote, to dinner, to parties. But he missed Noni who had died 4 years earlier. She was the breath of fresh air that kept his Colonel's wings flapping after my mother died. When she died, he did not know why he was still alive.

We had arguments that he enjoyed immensely. He doubted there was an afterlife at all but read the Bible often. I was adamant there is and we wrangled and wrestled. The end came quickly for him and he stuck around just long enough to know that I was there and loved him in spite of and because of himself. When he slipped into a coma, his beautiful petite dermatologist stood at his hospital bed and wept. I was pretty sure Daddy had gotten his heart's desire, to die with family and a beautiful woman weeping over him. In his last moments, the pink spot where his eyebrow had been and had worn off by doubt and time wrinkled as if just a little startled at what he saw under those eyelids at last. I thought of all our arguments about life after death, his conversion to Catholicism at the last minute, and wondered if that bright star he had always looked for was now a shining light with Noni standing by to hug him and my Mom standing by to explain how he might have done it better. He looked just a little surprised in that last moment. I leaned down and whispered, "Told you!"

Happy Birthday, Daddy! You got your star.

Best wishes.

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Leadership Training Church Leaders

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Infallibility And Pope Sixtus V

From here.

THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE BISHOP OF ROME AND THE COMICAL CASE OF POPE SIXTUS V

By Presbyter Basil A. Georgopoulos.

On July 18, 1870 at the 4th conference/1/ of the 1st Vatican Council - considered as the 20th Ecumenical Council by Roman-Catholics - after a long historical gestation,/2/ and amidst opposition,/3/ Pope Pius VIII read the decree "Pastor aeternus"/4/, by which he recognized the infallibility of himself and all his predecessors and successors as a truth of faith revealed by God.

Of course, for Orthodox theology,/5/ the infallibility of the bishop of Rome belongs to the sphere of papal mythology. Not only does it lack the mark of a dogma but at the same time it constitutes an arbitrary and blasphemous appropriation of a distinctive trait and characteristic of the theanthropic body of Christ, the Church.

A true testimony to the above is the verdict of ecclesiastic history. One of the many examples of how infallible the predecessors of Pope Pius VIII were, is the comical case of Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) and his edition of the "Vulgata" in 1590.

Pope Sixtus V, encouraged by the decision of the Synod of Trident/6/ where the "Vulgata" was recognized as an authentic article of the Roman-Catholic Church, issued and distributed a new edition, historically known as the "Sixtina" edition./7/ In the papal decree in which Pope Sixtus V announced the edition, he mentioned that the said text would be the only authentic text, and this seeing as this text had been corrected "by the same hand grounded on the authority of the abundance of apostolic power."/8/ He also ruled that every other publication of the Holy Scriptures lacked value and whoever tried to overturn the new text would automatically be excommunicated.

Two years later, Pope Clement VII (1592-1605) retracted the edition of Sixtus V because it was full of deceit and errors in "translation, expression and teaching."/9/ In fact, the Jesuit Cardinal Robertus Bellarminus - one of the greatest papist theologians to date, a saint to the Roman-Catholics and great supporter of papal primacy - characterized the article of Sixtus V "as a labyrinth of deceits of every kind."/10/

The same Bellarminus in fact mentions in his autobiography that he had asked Pope Gregory XIV (1590-1591) to protect the reputation of Sixtus V from derision. How? By re-issuing his 1590 edition corrected and with the addition of a prologue by Bellarminus in which he would explain to the faithful that Sixtus V was not to blame for the errors but the "printers and others."/11/

This event itself, as well as the actions of Bellarminus, reveal how infallible Pope Sixtus V, a predecessor of Pius VIII, was. As a final comment in this short article, by what is shown in the case of Sixtus V in relation to the infallibility of the bishop of Rome, we wish to mention the perspective of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Chrysanthos Notaras (1707-1731). He attests to "the innovations of the Western Church, and the present new and recent monarchless monarchy and sinful sinlessness of his colleague (if I can call him such) in Rome, which the Holy Fathers of both East and West neither knew, nor even imagined, as they are novel and strange seeds, and inventions of the Western Church, sown and planted with a spirit of pride, and immoral arrogance, and having taken root for an extended time have brought forth rotten fruit."/12/

REFERENCES.

1. Acta Sanctae Sedi 6 (180) 40-472. Lott,Grundrib der Dogmatik, Freiburg-Basel-Wein 1965, pg 346-349L. Koesterw, "Unfehlbarkeit", LTHK 10 (1938) pg 378-3803. H. Kung, Unfehlbar? Eine Anfrage Zurich - Einsiedein - Koln 1980, pg 101-108.

H. Jedin, Kleine Konzieliengeschichte, Freiburg in Breisgau 1978, pg 124-126. P. Trembela, Our responsibilities after the work of the Vatican synod, Athens 1967, pg 33-394. DENZIGER - HUNERMANN, Enchiridion Symbolorum (19919), 3065-3075. H. Kung, pg 75-815. Fr. Justine Popovits, Man and Godman, publication ASTIR, Athens 1981, pg 145-162. Delikostopoulou, The ecclesiological positions of the Roman-Catholic Church as a dogmatic problem of the theological dialogue, Athens 1969, pg 124-1486. Sessio IV, 2 (8 April 1546). Denziger - Hunermann, Enchiridion Symbolorum, 1506-15087. H. Vogels, "Bibellubersetzungen II", LTHK (1931) pg 306. A. Hastoupi, Introduction to the Old Testament, Athens 1986, pg 6178. Paul Fr. Ballester Convalier, My turn to Orthodoxy, Athens 1954, pg 33, 1-pg34.9. O.P. pg 34.10. O.P. pg 3411. O.P. pg 3412. Dositheos of Jerusalem, Dodecabiblos, Books A and B, publication B. Rigopoulos, Thessaloniki 1982, pg 11.

"Journal "Theodromia"

"Tri-monthly Issue of Orthodox Teaching"3rd Year, Issue 3, July-September 2001. "

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The Tragic Nature Of Life In A Fallen World Reflections On The Dangers Of Pacifism To One Own Soul

If we try to think of life in this world as either tragedy or as comedy, we will never be able to capture its true essence completely. Christians are the most pessimistic of all men and Christians are the most hopeful of all men - to play off Luther's famous statement of paradox. Only a worldview that includes both extreme pessimism and extreme hope can possibly do justice to the nature of Biblical revelation.

When serious Christians try to figure out whether it is right to engage in violence in response to moral evil, a strong current of contemporary thinking tends to assume that if we surrender to the pessimism of using force to destroy the evildoer that we thereby abandon Christian hope. So this tendency of thought - call it Neo-Anabaptism or Liberal Pacifism or the Evangelical Left or whatever - concludes that there is a conflict between resorting to violence and putting our faith in God. This creates a horrible dilemma: believe and let evil work its will or abandon faith. No wonder so many decide to act justly and forfeit their faith.

For years I myself struggled with this dilemma. Can I be a Christian if being a Christian means that I can never resort to force, even to punish evildoers who wish to attack innocent men, women and children? It was a question of trying to summon enough heroic virtue to be able to do what seemed morally counter-intuitive because of an inflexible rule that must be upheld even at the cost of death. I see many others struggling with this burden and I am convinced that it leads to one of two outcomes: either the loss of faith in God or the loss of faith in goodness.

If one remains passive in the face of great evil, one loses one's ability to believe in the goodness of this world. Paradoxically, one can only believe in the goodness of the world if one is ready to fight evil. No one is talking about glorifying violence or war for the sake of war. But in certain instances, when one confronts true moral evil one must be willing to use force to resist it and protect the innocent. Otherwise, I think one tends to lose one's appreciation for the reality of goodness and begins to view all of life as grey and all actions as morally equivalent. To slip into moral relativism in order to retain one's belief in God is too high a price to pay because moral relativism inevitably, and in short order, distorts and ruins one's concept of God. To be a moral relativist is to cease to believe in the One, True God anyway.

I am convinced now that liberal pacifism - the belief that Christians are called to be non-violent in all situations and to try to convince others to be non-violent in all situations as well - is corrosive of faith and morality. I suppose I have gone to the opposite extreme and some will assume that, since the truth always lies in the middle that I must be wrong. But the problem is that truth does not always lie in the middle of every dilemma; sometimes one extreme is right. But how is pacifism corrosive of faith?

I think we see it in the left-wing attitude toward the Arab-Israeli conflict and also in the liberal multiculturalism that regards all cultures as equally good and therefore shrinks from imposing Christian cultural norms even when they are right and from defending them when they are under attack. There is an unwillingness to confront serious moral evil lest it lead to unbridgeable divisions and this spawns a false moral equivalence, which justifies evil behavior by equating opposition to evil with evil itself.

In the case of Israel, there is a tendency to equate Israeli military defensive actions to try and nullify the attackers' capacity to inflict violence on Israeli civilians with the firing of rockets into Israeli towns. Pacifists call on Israel to refrain from reacting to attacks on its population but pacifism not only is unable to stop the Arabs from attacking Israeli civilians, it also equates such attacks with Israeli attacks in retaliation, thus losing its ability to distinguish between good and evil.

What this leads to eventually is a moral relativism that pleads "can't we all just get along" but really means "let the most determined and the most hate-filled get their way rather than using force to stop them." I am convinced that this kind of pacifism is soul-destroying and faith-destroying because it forces a person to choose between decency and the right, on the one hand, and Christian faith, on the other.

This kind of pacifism tries to pretend that life is a comedy and that eventually everything will work out and we will be able to build the kingdom of God. Different people come to realize that this is a fairy tale devised by the human imagination as it struggles to avoid accepting the reality of moral evil at different points in their lives. When I realized it, I was blessed to do so in the company of St. Augustine, a man who was deeply hopeful precisely in the midst of his pessimism. He understood that it is precisely at our point of deepest need and greatest hopelessness that God's grace encounters the fallen sinner. Those who believe life is a comedy and who are actively engaged in building a Utopia have no need of what the Bible means by grace. They want Divine help, to be sure, but that is not quite the same thing as wanting grace.

The liberal pacifist believes that there is a solution to every problem; but what if some problems are insoluble? What if life really is tragic? What if some moral evil will not yield to reason's pleas? What if there is no good and perfect choice in a given situation? What if God allows us to experience hopelessness - does that mean there is no God or that God's grace is sufficient even in hopeless situations?

Life is a comedy for the Christian, but not life in this world. In this world, we face true moral evil that is as intractable as it is unavoidable. Some of this evil is within ourselves. And we can no more escape it by Utopian schemes than we can flap our wings and fly to the moon. The question is not whether we can figure out a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict - maybe there is none - but the question is, rather, will we love the good, hate evil and trust God no matter what happens?

Source: witchnest.blogspot.com

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Holiday Gift Giveaway Starts Now Seasons Greetings

I wanted to do a special giveaway this holiday season. I discovered a most beautiful Etsy shop, One Heart Jewelry. Everything is beautiful and has a mystical, graceful and ethereal quality to it. Even the site itself is lovely to look at. The pieces are all hand-crafted and uniquely made by Debi Levine, the shops very gracious proprietor. I contacted her to see if she would be interested in making something special for one of my lucky followers and I'm happy to say she was very enthused.She and I brainstormed what the giveaway should be. We knew it had to be related to books and reading in some way. We decided on a sterling silver necklace that the winner can wear that lets everyone know what her passion is: books, reading, all things literary...such a woman can be only one thing
"A NOVEL GODDESS.""In order to have a chance to win it, you must be a follower of this blog. Debi is willing to ship internationally, so everyone is eligible to enter! Cool of her right? If you are not the winner, Debi is even willing to take special orders of the necklace and give it to you at a discount. but enough from me, let Debi tell you herself... Debi in her shop making your necklace and other goodies!"Hi Everyone! Enter for a chance to win this sterling silver necklace valued at 32.00 by One Heart Jewelry! Just visit One Heart's shop on Etsy and choose you favorite jewelry piece. Come back to this blog and post your choice, WITH a link, and your contact info. Your email will do."""SPECIAL EXCLUSIVE OFFER: ONLY for readers of this blog! If you are interested in purchasing any products from One Heart Jewelry, I would like to extend a special offer to you for 10% off your entire order plus FREE shipping, when you order by 12/19/2010. Does not include special requests. Please enter coupon code BLESSINGBLOG at checkout."" If anyone wants to order a Novel Goddess necklace, they can email me at oneheartjewelry (at) comcast (dot) net with your request, name and shipping address. I would then send you a paypal invoice with the discount applied and so on. It can take up to two weeks (includes shipping in the US)to receive a special order necklace."" Thank you so much for participating and visiting my shop! I LOVE books, so designing a necklace for June's readers has been a thrill!"Debi has a lovely blog you should check out. It just looks so clean and spiritual...I don't know any other way to describe it...go see for yourselves. It truly showcases her artistic sensibilities.So guys, to sum it all up, this giveaway if FOR FOLLOWERS ONLY. You're welcome to become one if you like. STOP BY DEBI'S SHOP AND TELL US ABOUT A PIECE OF JEWELRY THAT YOU LIKE IN THE COMMENT SECTION OF THIS BLOG AND LEAVE YOUR EMAIL, so you can be contacted if you win! That's it.The giveaway ends Friday, December 17, 2010.Happy Holidays!Toodles!

Origin: pagan-wiccan.blogspot.com

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Uranus In Gate 25

Innocence And The ImpulsiveOn 7th February 2011, Uranus went in the field of Entry 25, which spans the end of Pisces and the beginning of Aries. This is a extract on the astrology design that some manage The Aries Wadding, and it is said to poor everyplace the particular and the political perceive. At this time we've witnessed grassroots political movements in Egypt and Libya removing dictators. The land said satisfactory is satisfactory and their passionate emotion for vary was coldhearted. The Aries extract is the strongest "CARDINAL" extract on the horoscope and having the status of whatever thing passes top-quality this extract objects "transpire". Cardinal points are initiating energy. Aries is Lay off, so state is emotion and energy at the same time as boundless in chance ways, but endlessly in alignment with the sample of the Ji Centre.UranusUranus is community for creating chance comings and goings in our lives. It breaks open our flow psychic container and manifests new life for us on the physical out-and-out. It brings commence vary to our consciousness that manifests new ways of at the same time as. It opens us up to flashes of attraction thoughtless understanding of limitless patterning. It has us painful feeling for whatever thing new, thrilling, excited, at all to break us free of the old vigorously ways of the when which enjoy become recklessly unpardonable. Uranus has vigilantly stubborn this upsurge goad to run us out of our old ego self and in the field of a new common consciousness.Uranus in the Entry of Innocence connects the Ji Centre to the Hub CentreEntry 25"We perceive the chance with innocence."In the Everyday Preparation design Entry 25 is community as the Innocence and the Impulsive. As the first of all of the Aries gates it represents a burst of energy that is distressed with the Personality and it's idiom and direction.Here are a few very acclaimed concepts associated to this Gate/Hexagram: * Cooperative that subtle and clad love is the best powerful spirit on the den, * Releasing our beliefs that our clad innocent establish self is child * Staying true to our own subtle manner with self * Disentangling enthusiastically from the problems and stories of others * Walking whisper from what doesn't unease us * Releasing our aspiration of critical comings and goings * Re-examination of campaign, dreams and goals and imagining new ways to cling on to them * Violation free of our set in motion for nod * Stepping whisper from the row, strife, critisism and rebuke of others in order to show again ourselves * Discovering whatever thing clearly new and chance about ourselves * Revamp of our clad simple and innocent heart/soul energy and the shocks it has standard from critical comings and goings of the whenURANUS IN Entry 25 is a stimulate that releases this establish self from it's hiding place within you. It does this rule connecting you to others. This is an alchemy of belief the gold everyplace you had since release seen lead. As we ponder the golden excellence of our clad and simple innocence back to each other, the direct love of the Ji Centre heals the shocks and traumas of the when and creates opportunities for chance new pathways and business.Entry 25 is part of a positive that connects the Hub and Ji Centres. This is an individual energy, blending our properly ego self with the common sample. This positive seeks new ways, never satisfied with the old worn out pathways to heaven. The other entrance in this positive is Entry 51 - the stand-in crash hexagram of Upset and Invention. In the same way as Entry 25 is made up of heaven and crash trigrams, we enjoy "three crash trigrams" and one heaven trigram in this channel!This positive is not so a long way away about at the same time as the best or the first of all, but at the same time as as dependably and typically yourself as at all. Uranus in Entry 25 is the beginning of the idiom the purity and specialness of our item creative self as an fixed part of the common. It represents the death of the handiwork of fit and the dawn of an understanding of co-creation and the natural quite it releases to all.In Chinese cosmology, Thunder affects the Pericardium and Triple Electric fire meridians. The Thunder trigram represents commotion and initiation of vary.This is a positive that teaches us to bright our critical opportunity and interpretations. When we perceive life with an open extraction and an open establish and cost that it brings us release good, we begin to go down and dependably see the abet at the same time as bestowed upon us in each direct.This oust is at the same time as supported by Makemake in the Entry of Strife (6) for indicate dealings and Saturn and Haumea in the Entry of the Gentle (57) for to your house dealings. Pluto in the Entry of Joy (58) brings that oust to the level of our DNA.TimeLine * Uranus in Entry 25: 7th February to 13 Rapidity 2012 * Enters Aries on 13th Rapidity 2011, in Entry 25 line 2. * RETROGRADE: from 12th July 2011 (17.1) prepare 12th December 2011. * Re-enters Entry 25: In retrograde from 22nd Distinguished 2011 to 12th December 2011 * Uranus goes inoperative and continues in Entry 25 until 13th Rapidity 2012.When retrograde, we can likelihood Uranus to endeavor us to find everyplace we enjoy internalised the scorn of others. It encourages us to differentiate everyplace we enjoy not in ourselves from experimenting out of strife of crunch or charge, everyplace we are stuck fast in misgiving and defiance completely than free to coerce explain action. Jade a pompous decided attunement to what is dependably essential.Nonetheless URANUS IS IN Entry 25 WE Include A Steep OF ACTIVATIONS TO Both GATES 25 AND 51Entry 25These are the periods having the status of these planets thrust be conjunct Uranus in Entry 25:Mercury: 9th to 12 Rapidity 2011Sun: 20 to 25th Rapidity 2011Mars: 31st Rapidity to 7th April 2011Venus: 20th to 24th April 2011Entry 51THESE ARE THE PERIODS When THESE PLANETS Preference Stir up A Waterway Near URANUSMercury: 19th Rapidity to 24th Rapidity 2011Jupiter: 2nd April to 24th April 2011Mars: 22nd April to 29th April 2011NB: Jupiter and Mars thrust each be in Entry 51 from 22nd April to 24th April 2011Mercury and Uranus bring a decided attunement of the conscious logical hub up to the level of Large-scale or Galactic Problem. See insight, resourcefulness and clearness.Mars and Uranus brings fear, excitability and astounding pass on and set in motion to coerce action even to the extract of incomplete to overthrow others. Here can be eruptions of forethought in the field of make your blood boil and even high-speed and chance misuse. Acknowledge time for this energy to fix on, as the mash can be random and potentially extraordinary. It thrust be useful appearing in this time to do objects that concern the physical man in analgesic commotion - yoga, swimming, walking to bottom you to associate with your essence motivations. Living in have an effect on thrust bottom you what's more.When Jupiter adds his expansionary energy we thrust be discovering a new way to undergo life, a new indication of particular meaning. You may find an surprising new brain wave at this time changes the way you view of yourself and your life. See vital issues physically the put out of traditional religion at this time. Massively I would likelihood to see a vital oust in the qualities of Pope Benedict XVI within the Catholic Place of worship. He may limitation some astounding new edicts or be replaced by a younger and pompous enthusiastic political party.Mercury: 1st May to 9th May 2011Venus 4th May to 9th May 2011"NB. Mercury and Venus thrust each be in Entry 51 from 4th to 9th May 2011."Venus and Uranus acquaintances open us up to polish respected as an individual, good quality satisfactory to open ourselves up to the endeavor of at the same time as part of a global human race deficient losing our indication of self. We thrust see a wonderful dent on dealings as they become pompous open and free. See to see more willingly a lot of connection put out, but what's more a very vital oust in the way we undergo ourselves in connection - pompous bareness to our item and individual requirements for idiom and commotion. We are what's more untreated to see a strong ambition to experiment with nearly forms of ease. We thrust find a wonderful provocation of the common global spirit at this time, as we realise what an replica sell we enjoy in our dealings with each other at the sample level.Happening the time that Uranus is in the Entry of Innocence, Pluto is in the Entry of Joy and Neptune in the Entry of Abundance. We what's more enjoy powerful business between Saturn and Pluto physically the 23rd Rapidity 2011, and the Sun, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus and Mars thrust all conjunct Eris in the Entry of Grow (42) in the Sacral Centre between now and 9th May 2011. On that meeting Mercury, Venus and Jupiter thrust be conjunct Eris!It's impossible to mean the put a stop to of this awful although of time. This next-door few months are a time to sail vigilantly top-quality the bumps life sends you, and to turn your concern to the best awesome dreams and visions you can almost certainly assume.From: http://www.loveyourdesign.com/

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Ramblings On Raising A Child On The Old Path

First of all, thank you all for the sweet comments on my Yule celebration. I really love sharing these moments with you guys, this way it's like you're visiting my home. :0)It was a little messy sabbath, but in the end everything was fine again. I guess there's no way, sometimes even the best marriages have a stressing time and mine is not different. I was just upset that it happened exactly in the middle of a important time for me and it obviously made things harder. But nothing than a conversation to put things on the right dimension and make us realize that no matter how bad things get, it would be worse if we were apart. Rodrigo is such a prick sometimes... but so am I!Everybody talks about how sweet it is that I raise my son as a Wiccan little boy. Lucas simply loves to be a Wiccan. He says he will always be one, although I have already told him that he may change his mind later, and that would be ok. We raise him on the Old Path - Rodrigo is half Wiccan, half Buddhist and very open-minded - because is natural for us, I used to celebrate the sacred days long before being pregnant, so he got used to see candles and wands and smell incense scents around the house since he was in my belly! LOL I just try to make things really natural about it, not forcing him to participate or turning our daily life a mystical experience. I mean, I raise him on a very "rational" way. Meaning that although we talk about fairies, dragons, gnomes and such, I let the mytical creatures on the mytical level, on the legendary part of the path, in some specific child's rituals. When we pray at night or during sabbaths, it's directly to the Goddess and the God. I think it's easier to him than to go praying for different deities on each different issue. There are some intermediary Goddesses or, in othe words, other representations of the Goddess that I feel connected to, like Gaia, Hestia (a new born connection), Rhiannon and Brigith, and I love to have them in my house and Lucas know about them, but we always go first to the "top of the list" when we thank and ask for protection, and then go for the other deities, if it's the case.I was raised Catholic on a very light way. My parents only went to the church when they felt like it, and I haven't have my first communion.But I was always considered the funny girl, the little witch, as my dad used to call me, because I had a little gnome village on my bedroom shelf, with an apple that wouldn't get rotten - unless my old lovely grandma slept there, then it would quickly get all shrinked and wrinkled - go figure it... So I'm still seen as the weird sweet girl of the family, and probably my faith it's still seen as something of my "capricious" nature.As Lucas wasn't baptized on the old-fashioned way, this is the only something that haunts my mom's nights... But I don't have any intention to have him baptized as a catholic, because it doesn't make any sense to me. I don't want to hurt my mother's feelings, she's always been such a wonderful mother, but this is so intimate, so personal that I can't yield to it. It would be a contradition to everything I teach/show him. Now being almost five, he would question me about it, and get a messy mind. So she sighs and resigns herself about her little pagan grandson.Every night I pray to the Gods with Lucas before putting him to sleep, thanking for the protection received that day. I think this is an important moment of our routine - it's the sign our day is really finished and he's going to relax and sleep well. I have a personal prayer that he ended up memorizing and he feels good and asks me to pray after saying goodnight. I usually add something that happened during his day that was important, and he quickly add a specific detail I forgot, and at the end he blow goodnights, kisses and asks for blessings to mama Goddess and papa God. Later I'll translate how this prayer goes.I celebrate every sabbath, usually doing something special or, when I'm all busy, at least our ritual in front of our altar is performed. We often celebrate esbats, but not every month.When I take my son to his school, he always asks me to draw with my finger a little pentagram on his forehead, because he says he feels safe this way. It's like the cross some catholic moms draw for the same reason. He has a small sword he drawed and we charged with power to help him to be strong and brave during the schooling year (the first weeks of the year are still hard for him). We did it last year (his first time at kindergarten), the in this February we burned the old one and made a new one to reinforce the purpose.And that's how it goes. A day at a time. We celebrate Yule, but also Christmas - it's such a fun nd sweet traditional holiday for my family, when we gather at my mom's house, that I want Lucas to have it. The same thing for Ostara & Easter. Now that he's getting older and understands things a little better, I started to explain the differences and origins, but what matter for him are the toys, the food, his funny uncles and aunts and grandma to kiss, his little cousins to play with at Christmas, and the chocolats, the outings and the special lunch with us at Easter, so it's ok. The spiritual aspect lies on Yule and Ostara, let's say, and he loves just the same.Oh well... there are so many things about being pagan that has to do with the world we live in, like respect for environment, Nature and everything it encompasses. I just can't see us living differently. As long as he respects the different paths people choose, not only spiritual but referred to all other things, that's how we live.

Credit: magick-keys.blogspot.com

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