Yule! The Winter Holiday of the Pagan Religion...

This time of year always brings about happiness and joy to all. No matter what religious background you are, families and friends gather to celebrate the most spiritual time of year (for most people, Christmas). Pagans consider this happy time "Yule" or "Yule-tide". There are a few specific events that all Pagans take practice in, but there are tons of ways to celebrate Yule.

The Pagan holiday begins on about December 21st (Winter Solstice). On that day, the earth's axis tilts away from the sun in the Northern Hemisphere, and the sun reaches at its greatest distance from the equatorial plane. Most winter festivals/celebrations are celebrations of LIGHT; so, as a festival of the Sun, the most important part of any Yule celebration is light - candles, bonfires, and more.

Depending on your specific tradtions, there may be slightly different ways of celebrating. But, here are is a common ritual that any Pagan can respectfully follow:

The Yule Log:



"On Yule, the sun stops its decline into the south. For a few days, it seems as though it’s rising in exactly the same place… and then the amazing, the wonderful, the miraculous happens. The light begins to return.
The sun begins its journey back to the north, and once again we are reminded that we have something worth celebrating. In families of all different spiritual paths, the return of the light is celebrated, with Menorahs, Kwanzaa candles, bonfires, and brightly lit Christmas trees. On Yule, many Pagan and Wiccan families celebrate the return of the sun by adding light into their homes. One of our family’s favorite traditions – and one that children can do easily – is to make a Yule log for a family-sized celebration. As Christianity spread through Europe, the tradition became part of Christmas Eve festivities. The father or master of the house would sprinkle the log with libations of mead, oil or salt. Once the log was burned in the hearth, the ashes were scattered about the house to protect the family within from hostile spirits."

Just like Christmas, Yule is a time for celebration, family, and rebirth. Yule and other religious winter holidays have their differences, but one thing can be said for all. This is a time for loving, gathering, celebrating, giving, laughing,  feasting, connecting to the world around us and embracing the light energy. So, I wish to all of you to have a wonderful holiday, and stay close to the ones you love, be humble to those around you, and have fun!

Deep Look Into the History of Religion: Druidry (Blog 3)

Druidry is the original religion of the celtic people that one time lived throughout all of northern and western Europe. After the wars with the roman empire and the fall of gaul most of the druidic nations became a part of the roman empire with the exception of the celts in Ireland and Scotland. These lands would be the last bastion of druidry in its original form up until the fall of the roman empire and the rise of the chatholic church.

Years later with the rise of catholicism and the crusades through Europe, papal influences eventually reached the druidic people. Through the brutal conversion of the citizenry and the lack of written records of druidic practice, it was thought that the druidic following was officially wiped out. Then for good messure what little written records there was, were burnt. But the religious tradtions were kept alive through secrecy and survived as they had for millenia.

Druidic practitioners are still alive today, but because of historical happenings, they have been under the radar. Most people do not even know that Druidry exists because of what they have taught growing up. But what people must know is that it is a true religious practice that has set its roots deep into history and is still going strong today.

Mind Over Matter

Willpower is one of the most powerful forms of creation and strength. Mind over matter is as much of a reality as the physical world. Most people use only 10% of their brain,but if everyone tapped into the other 90% percent, our entire perception on the world would change. Believing in something can be powerful; especially if you believe it enough to where it actually happens. Like for instance, if you read your horoscope when you first wake up in the morning, you tend to believe in what it says so much that you actually make it happen during the course of the day. There have been stories of a woman who lifted a car out of instinct and willpower to save her son; who was pinned underneath. It also has to do with the amount of adrenaline, but how could she have done it if she didn't have the willpower to do it. Emotion is also greatly impacted by mind over matter as well. If you walk around with you head up high and confident, then you will become more likely to have great things happen in your life. If you have certain experiences bring you down and you believ you are worthless, then you become worthless. Willpower enables us to make things happen for ourselves. Why should we waste and ignore something so easy to use. Believing is the key and you will succeed. If we can harness "Mind over Matter", then we can do anything we have ever dreamed of doing.

Crystals and How They Can Protect You

There are many ways to protect yourself from bad spirits or demons that are plaguing you and using certain crystals is one way to get the  job done. First off, any religious artifact such as a cross, will effectively do just as well, but the main power behind the protection is believing that they will work. Having faith in something is a critical foundation in spiritual protection. If you are interested in using crystals as your form of protection there are a variety of crystals that you can choose from depending on the properties of the crystals and what you need them for.

Most of you might see me wearing certain crystals around my neck or wearing crystal earrings. Since this is an easy starting point I will explain these crystals first.

On one of my necklaces is Lapis Lazuli. My earrings are also made of Lapis Lazuli. Lapis Lazuli is a powerful stone which aids in enhancing your psychic abilities, allowing you to connect with your spirit guides. Lapis has also been used as a protective stone, sheltering the wearer/carrier against physical danger and psychic attack. Lapis Lazuli was a very sacred stone to the ancient Egyptians. They referred to it as the starry night sky or believed it was a "stargate", allowing you to take use of its full potential to heal, balance out the chakras, as well as improve psychic awareness and  protection against evil.

Another stone that I wear around my neck is Fluorite. It heightens both logical and intuitive abilities, and the presence / awareness of higher realms and realities. Fluorite is highly protective stone, especially on the psychic level. It protects psychically and in the physical realm. It helps you discern when outside influences are at work within yourself and shuts off psychic manipulation and undue mental influence. Fluorite helps to ground excessive energy, particularly mental, emotional and nervous energy.

Quartz is a universal power stone. It can absorb, store, amplify, balance, focus, and transmit energy. This is why Quartz is great for protection. Quartz is a stone of clarity and therefore dispels and clears away negative energy. When strategically placed in your environment, Quartz can absorb negative spirits or energy that wish to intrude. Place one Quartz stone in each windowsill, and one above the doorway. Historically this crystal has been used to counter black magic, to perform diagnostic healing, and to communicate with spirits and other worlds. 

Hawk's Eye (Blue Tiger's Eye) is a protective stone for travel. Helps healers protect against the negative energy of others. Protective when traveling in hill country or mountains. Hawk's eye is the best stone for astral travel, clairvoyance, and remote viewing. This stone is often used to balance pessimistic behavior and therefore dissolves negative energy and the thought patterns associated with it.










I hope some of these can help if needed. Any other information you would like to know about stones/crystals, feel free to leave a comment.

Deep Look Into the History of Religion: The Rise of Christianity (Blog 2)

From 0 ACE - 650 ACE, Christianity came into the spotlight, pushing out all other prior religions (to help mix things up, think about how the English/Spanish settlers came to America, pushing out the native people of the land). In the Middle East, the Old Testament was being written. After Christ died, his followers spread His word while migrating and spreading across the lands. They soon made their way to Rome, where a lot of merging of beliefs occurred. People came together creating new paths of Religion. By going after the rulers of the lands, they were converted first, all other lower groups of people would be forced to convert at that point in order to survive. Pagan temples were obliterated and Christian churches were built upon the Pagan holy ground. The fact that many of these same Pagans had built these Christian churches, you see their influence in the design even still today. The Pagan symbol incorporated into astrology was the Solar Cross, and variations of it.

This symbol was also used in Egyptian mythology to built their pyramids:

The adaptation that we see today of the solar cross which is a Pagan symbol, yet is found on Churches today look like this:





Christians conversion of the Pagans came to a halt when Christians realized it would take a lot more to get them to convert. (So just in case people already have a negative connotation of Pagans, this is where it started). Christians began to spread the word that Pagans worshiped and consorted with the "The Devil", which wasn't true in the least bit. Pagans were in tune with the natural world and astrology; not the "Devil". This lie spread through time has given every single Pagan a bad name since the death of Christ Himself.

Lets travel back a bit and look at the facts. Many other cultures before Christ, "shared the ideas about Gods and their powers and place in the universe—and that Christianity simply adopted those ideas and applied them to Jesus. Ancient people knew god-men did miracles. The first Christians thought Jesus was a god-man, so they told stories about Jesus doing miracles. They even had Him doing the same miracles as the other god-men."(http://www.pocm.info/). How else would these people get the idea that water could be turned into wine? or any other miracle? They got these ideas from other myths of other GOD-MEN in the Mediterranean area.

          

"The core of Christianity—the worship of a miracle working, walking, talking god-man who brings salvation—was also the core of other ancient religions that began at least a thousand years before Jesus.

Heaven, hell, prophecy, daemon possession, sacrifice, initiation by baptism, communion with God through a holy meal, the Holy Spirit, monotheism, immortality of the soul, and many other "Christian" ideas all belonged to earlier, older Pagan faiths. They were simply part of ancient Mediterranean culture. Along with miracle working sons of God, born of a mortal woman, they were common elements of pre-Christian Pagan religion. Mithras had 'em. So did Dionysus, Attis, Osiris, and Orpheus. And more.

And they had them generations—centuries— before Jesus was a twinkle in Saint Paul's eye."(http://www.pocm.info/)

The point that I'm trying to make here is that all Christianity really is, is an adaptation of many cultures' beliefs systems. Think of evolution, all these different belief systems and their followers simply broke off into two or more groups and spread into larger scale groups with even larger beliefs; one of which was Christianity. I'm not saying is not all true, because it does have similarities of longer lived faiths. I'm just one for the very original belief system, Paganism. It's where religion got started; the very nitty-gritty of it all. Christian symbols such as the Christmas Tree and Easter Eggs are all Pagan symbols. Pagan is not a bad thing, I'm just saying look at the real facts here. Any religion that exists today can be followed back to its origin, and that is Paganism.

Many more events came from the rising belief system of Christianity and we can see that in many historical events. I wish not to continue because you would end up reading a novel and not a blog post. The point of this blog here is only to accept the FACT that Christianity is an adaptation of many other belief systems one main system of Paganism. If you wish to learn more you can check out some of these links:

Christianization 

Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth 

Early History of Christianity 

Christianity and Paganism  

 

Deep Look Into the History of Religion: Paganism (Blog 1)

It all began around 10,000 BC (Before Christ). Men were nomadic and primitive. The men would follow herds of animals in order to allow them to hunt for food; they had to learn the language of the animal. Men would be the "bread" makers if you will. They would bring the "bread" or "food" home. Women were considered life givers and healers, which held them higher in power in light of things.

The men worshiped the "sun" god and this made the way for the belief in GOD. Women, on the other hand, began worshiping the "moon" goddess because they noticed that their bodies revolved around the "lunar" cycle. Considering most rituals or ceremonies happened at nighttime, the women would head the events. Men who stayed behind while the others hunted and gathered, were either old, sick, or injured. This is how there became Priests, because the women would share their "lunar" secrets.

Around 8000-7500 BC, agriculture was discovered do to the women storing food underground. Things began to grow from it. Once this was discovered, the men began to question their role in the cycle of life; "in other words, they realized that men "planted the seed" in the woman and the woman was "a host for new life to grow". Realizing that men and woman now had to work together, they were no longer separated in beliefs. No longer did the men have to go out to hunt for food constantly; they could just grow it. This is where the origin "Pagan" came from; it actually means "country dweller". Most of these People were from the British Isles, and later become known as the Celts.

Now, they no longer had to move constantly, eliminating their "nomadic" title. By staying in one place they learned to breed animals, grow food, and explore other mysteries of life, death and rebirth.

Many people eventually migrated to the place we know as Rome. Greeks had many of the same beliefs as the Romans; believing in multiple Gods and Goddesses. Nomadic Eutruscans form Asia Minor, who were very well versed in the aspects of magic and divinations. The people known as the Mediterranean Cult of the Dead, were very spiritual and knowledgable on the theories of death and reincarnation. They shared their secrets with the Celts, and these people became the Druids, and they were the ones who oversaw all of the rites of the pagan people. The Druids had a branch off group which were known as the "wice" and they developed the power and understanding of life and the earth, and these were the keepers of the mysteries.

 Around 6500-4500, there were still remnants of the original Pagan practices of the solar/lunar cycle. During this time of merging people sharing information, three major groups emerged into the religious realm of that time period. The Druids, which were mostly men that held the secrets of the Mediterranean Cult of the Dead; the Wice, which held the mysteries of life and the earth and the solar/lunar secrets; and the Pagans who were balanced and nuetral. They sought out knowledge from the Druids and the Wice.

After this, from 0 ACE - 650 ACE, Christianity began to rise up. I will take another look into this event in my next post.

Reincarnation

I just had the greatest philosophical experience just a few minutes ago. It was like a door just open that was locked moments before. I have always toyed with the idea of reincarnation and how we could have been either male or female in a past life, or past lives, or even something else. I also thought about the idea of how some people who have had gender problems; such as gay or straight men who are born into a female body or gay or straight women born into a male body. They learn at a very early age that something isn't right about the body they have and soon learn that they should be the opposite gender. 

A few minutes ago, I connected these two ideas. If you believe in reincarnation, and you believe people can be born into the wrong body, then it is agreed that one could have been the opposite gender in a previous life and their spirit still remembers it as such. Which in then creates this gender confusion at an early age for most homosexual/straight people. 

It is crazy to think that this could actually be possible, but in reality ANYTHING is possible. I believe in all possibilities. And in this case, IT MAKES SENSE. If you believe in reincarnation, it explains this strange phenomenon; which isn't so strange once you think about it. 

The book I spoke about in my last blog post has open so many new possibilities to me. I'm only into the second chapter and I am already spiritually and mentally awakening. It feels amazing. I feel warm and fuzzy inside. It truly makes me feel at peace knowing that I openly accept all ideas and study these ideas before limiting myself to one thing. Why deprive myself of knowledge. The more I learn, the more I grow as a person both mentally and spiritually.

Another thing on reincarnation that I would like to mention. The age old saying that one must learn from one's mistakes. And this could be said for reincarnation and how we "keep coming back until we get it right". Well, how can we learn form our mistakes? Most of us who may believe in reincarnation, or even toy with the idea, can't actually tap into our past life memories. In this book that I am reading (Mindwalking: Rewriting Your Past to Create Your Future by Nancy L. Eubel) teaches you to do just that. We can learn how to tap into those past life memories in order to learn about ourselves through spiritual processes. We can also learn from the mistakes that we may have made in a past life in order not to repeat or to fix them in this present life. In the end, we become more attune with the world around us, bringing us closer to spiritual awakening and spiritual nirvana.

I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on this topic. Remember I accept all points of view and I accept that we all have different opinions even though they might not coincide with my own opinion; that all possibilities are possible. Some of you may believe that there is only one true way and all other ways are false. That is fine too. I do not disrespect that point of view either because I do not deny that something can be real or not. I do not limit myself. Which is why I am the way I am. Which is why I love to free my mind and open my eyes! :D