Wednesday Musings

A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition. --William Arthur Ward

Good morning, all.  It's brutally cold here in the city, and we had our first little snowfall of the year...if you consider half an inch a snowfall.  It's the bitter chill that is getting to me.  It seems like only yesterday that I was complaining that it was too hot.  But hey, this is January weather.  We're not used to being this cold before Christmas. I guess the cold is affecting my thoughts in more ways than one because today I seem to have a touch of brain freeze...can't think of much to say...

...so I guess I'll talk about yesterday.  Well, as you have probably guessed by now, I survived.  Yes, my CPR training is over, and actually, it wasn't as bad as I though it would be. I didn't even have to plead my case.  None of us had to get on the floor.  Sometimes we get ourselves all worked up over things that haven't happened yet.  Heck, I even had my little speech made up for when the instructor began to pressure me, but actually, he was a very nice man and understood that cold, hard floors were not the best place for these old knees. I guess the experiences of my last CPR training, which WAS a negative experience, clouded my thoughts on this one.

We all have negative thoughts at one time or another.  None of us are immune. Negative thoughts are about  judging a situation that has already occurred or worrying about something that hasn't happened yet. In other words, negative thinking is past and future based.  They are fueled by perpetuation of negative images and past experiences which are very much a part of our lives.  We all have them at one time or another.  Let's face it, they are a part of life, and they can be exhausting and  rob us of the joy in our lives. 

Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.  --Chinese Proverb

Most negative thoughts evolve around what might happen, not something that definitely will happen. So, instead of spending precious time and energy worrying about something that might happen, wouldn't it be better to wait until you see some evidence first? At least then, you will know you are worrying for a good reason, and not just out of habit. Why, I was already dreading this training yesterday, and all for naught. Had I taken the above advice to heart, I wouldn't have had such a miserable morning.

Our best friend and our worst enemies are our thoughts.
A thought can do us more good than a doctor or a banker
or a faithful friend.  It can also
do us more harm than a brick.

Frank Crane

Halcyon Days of December

 

Good morning.  Time is flying by so quickly.  I just can't seem to catch up.  We've our first bit of snow outdoors.  Not much, just enough to make it slippery. Haven't done a lick of shopping for my boys.  Was planning to take about an hour off work this afternoon to run out and see what I could find; after all, I rarely have a lunch hour.  Unfortunately though, we have a training this afternoon....CPR.  It's great to know, but a rather painful training.  I just 'refuse'  to get down on the floor today with that dummy.  They'd better understand that I just 'cannot' do it.   Oh, if every have to save someone, I just know the adrenaline will kick in, but to put myself through torture just to save a dummy?  No thanks.  Besides, I've already had this class twice.  It's not something you easily forget.

December 14th marks the start of the Halcyon Days of December, the 14 day period centered on the Winter Solstice, the time when the sea is commanded to be calm and the wind light by  Aeolus, God of the Winds and one of the lesser Greek deities. In the Mediterranean region where this belief originated, the weather is typically calm around the time of the Winter Solstice as that was supposedly the time when the halcyon, a bird from Greek legend,  calmed the surface of the sea in order to brood her eggs on a floating nest. Halcyon means calm and tranquil, or 'happy or carefree'. It is rarely used now apart from in the expression halcyon days. 

The source of the belief in the bird's power to calm the sea originated in a myth recorded by Ovid. The story goes that Aeolus, the god of the winds, had a daughter named Alcyone, who was married to Ceyx, the king of Thessaly. Ceyx  went to visit the oracle and on the way was drowned at sea in a storm.   Alcyone saw his death in a dream, and threw herself into the sea in grief. The gods took pity on her and transformed her into a bird, so that instead of drowning, she was lifted into the air and carried to her husband by the wind.  He, too, became a bird and joined her in flight across the sky..  Their love lived on, nor in these birds were marriage bonds dissolved, and they soon coupled and were parent birds...

... and ever since, the legend goes, Alcyone carries her dead mate to his burial, then builds a nest and launches it out to sea. There, she lays her eggs and hatches her chicks, brooding over her sea-borne nest for seven placid days before the Winter Solstice and seven becalmed days after....and while she is brooding, the sea is held unusually calm and tranquil to protect Alcyone and his grandchildren. 

 Halcyon means calm and tranquil or happy or carefree .  Our current use of halcyon days leans more towards the nostalgic and recalling of the
“the good old days” or “when life was easy. More often than not, the expression refers sentimentally to a bygone time that we remember as being much more tranquil and prosperous than it really was, so the mythological origin of the term is rather appropriate.  Many of us become nostalgic this time of year and spend time reflecting on our memories of Christmas past...the halcyon days....Remember....


 ...the anticipation and excitement of Christmas you felt the week before
... the wonder and thrill of receiving that special' gift from Santa.

...the innocence and carefree state of mind having off a week or so from school and playing outside in the snow

...building snowmen

...smelling and tasting all those good dishes, desserts, meals and candy that upir grandmother made
...ribbon candy

...getting to stay up way past your normal bedtime

...wishing that the Christmas Season could last for a few months, not just a few days

It is these types of memories each of us have and cherish that make Christmas the special time of year that it is. And, most importantly, it is our responsibility as parent.  For me, Christmas is all of these things, but above all, it is that extraordinarily personal feeling deep inside my heart of Peace, Joy, Goodwill and Love for others.  What are some of your Christmas memories?

Day 17 → A Book You’ve Read That Changed Your Vews on Something.

Through the legends of Avalon we are called to be self-sufficient and empowered women, gifted with the blessings of sight.--Jhenah Telyndu

Several years ago, members of a Yahoo group I belonged to had been discussing The Mists of Avalon.  Until that time, I knew nothing about Avalon or the enchantment it had to offer, so I didn't immediately go out to buy it.  It just seemed to hold no interest do me, and besides, at the time, I was focusing on my Bardic lessons at NOD  (New Order of Druids) and really had to focus on.  The talk about The Mists eventually died down, and I completed my course.  I had basically pushed the book out of my mind,  but it just so happened  one day when I was in Barnes @ Noble looking for something to read, there was The Mists, and it seemed to be reaching out to me. The day I took that book home, I had no idea of how strongly it was going to effect me.  

First of all, I couldn't put it down. Everything else took second place. Each night, when I fell asleep, I was finding myself in Avalon.  I had visions of mystical cities shrouded in mist and inhabited by priestesses who possessed spells and magic....and I was one of them.   The dreams were so uncannily vivid that I felt as if I had been transported back to another time, another life. This had never happened to me before. I just couldn't get enough of Avalon  and purchased the entire series, reading  each book twice...first backward from The Mists, then forwards from Ancestors of Avalon.  I happened to mention this on the group, and one of the members reached out to me.  We began having private conversations about the book and the Sisterhood of Avalon.  It seemed like such a wonderful place but....

....I didn't join. I had too much on my plate right then.   I had started on   my Ovate courses, and they were pretty intense.  The lessons included using the Voyage of Bran as an Immrama, a journey across the waters of the personal unconscious  As we landed on the different islands, we were encouraged to look within in order to begin our journey back to wholeness. But, although the Sisterhood just wasn't in the cards for me,  the book not only opened me up to new avenues, new beliefs.... it brought  a wonderful new friend into my life.  Together we began our own Yahoo group, Avalon Revisited.  The group itself never took off, so we began another group...and, it was through Echoes that I learned that a place called Blogland existed. 

Elizabeth is gone now.   She passed way on December 16, 2009, but she will always have a special place in my heart.  And, inadvertently, the book has brought all of you into my life and for that I am grateful.  I recently purchased the book Avalon Within by Jhenah Telyndu.  She is the founder and Morgen of the Sisterhood of Avalon.   As I write this post, I am planning to embark on a new journey to Avalon....for within this book  is an Immrama, a journey down the spiritual path of healing through the legends of Avalon.  She is once again calls out to me.

Beauty lies in surrender. It's a feminine humility that calls to wounded souls from beyond the mists of the eternal Tao and Avalon. Late at night I'd called to the ladies of the mist saying, "Help me, my heart, she cry."  And sometimes the Spirit of Surrender would whisper to me in visions and dreams and she would tell me to quit and sit and wait. So to while away the time I'd breathe love into the hearts of liars and crooks and pedophiles and the embezzlers of human souls, and I felt better and I waited as instructed.--Stuart Wilde

Tolerance

For me, the different religions are

beautiful flowers from the same garden,

or they are branches of the same majestic tree.

Therefore, they are equally true,

though being received and interpreted

through human instruments equally imperfect.

~ Mahatma Gandhi ~

As an Interfaith minister, it is  difficult for me to understand  why mankind uses the Sacred as a means to justify war and killing...why it is that throughout the centuries, so many innocents have been slain just because they had different beliefs.  You would think that we, modern humans, would have learned our lessons by now, but, alas, the killing continues...and even more unfortunate is that religion has lost its meaning...so much so that many have turned their backs on it.  We have forgotten that all  beliefs come from the same source.  At one time in our distant past, all were as one.  Sadly, what was once was a way for us to refuel our energy and heal our souls now fuels the fire of hatred, causing conflicts all over the planet.  No longer a  tool of spiritual enlightenment, religion has become a tool and war and power.

I live in a rather amazing neighborhood.  I am not always happy here, but I have been blessed to be a part of a future that could be.  My block is a 'melting pot' of many different faiths and beliefs all melding together into  one harmonious  whole.  Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and even Pagan, we all live here together in peace.  Just the other day as  I was decorating for the holidays, I was reminded of a year, not too long ago, that Hanukkah fell the same time as Christmas, and it was such an amazing sight to behold. One house would have the Hanukkah candles in the window and the next,  bright and colorful Christmas lights...and this carried on all the way down the block.  It was an extraordinary reminder  that different religions CAN co-exist and live together side-by-side. 

So, as this holiday season fast approaches, let us remember that we all are one. We all came from that same seed thousands of years ago...the original mother of us all.  I have to believe that there is more good in the world than  there is evil and  that one day the good will overcome evil.   The challenge is realizing that the world is made up of people, and we are not that far apart.  Peace is always within our grasp. When I look for the best in people and find it... I am at peace with myself.  Remember, peace begins with you.  

I think many of the troubles we run into are due to our treating the sacred
as something abstract. This attitude is part of what allows us to do great harm to nature and ourselves.  If our religion is completely ethereal, we may become numb to the consequences of, for example, building a chemical plant that could be toxic to children in the community.  Not only that, but restricting religion to a high-in-the-sky place tends to make people polemical about their own moral positions--to the degree that they can justify harming others who disagree with them.  We've seen this
phenomenon take place in country after country.  I think we would be able to live in this world more peaceably if our spirituality were to come from looking not just into infinity but very closely at the world around us--and appreciating its depth and divinity.--Thomas Moore

 

Day 16 → Someone or Something You Definitely Could Live Without.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?
It came without ribbons. It came without tags.
It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before:
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store?
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

Dr. Seuss

Personally, I am sick and tired of commercialism and can certainly live without it.  Somewhere along the way, we have lost the true spirit of the Christmas season! Modern Christmas traditions and celebrations seem to be more focused on the material aspects of the season.  It seems that the  increased focus on material things has, unfortunately, paved the way for increased commercialism.  As a result, Christmas has become a season of commercials and indulgence rather than a season of comfort and joy.  It has, for many, become the most stressful time of the year.  

I remember when I was  a child, Halloween came first.  It was its own holiday, and didn't have to compete with anything else.  The stores were filled  with racks of Halloween costumes, masks, and candy corn.  Deciding on which character you were going to be was a major decision because  there were so many to choose from.  Then, after Halloween , the stores began to gear up for the next holiday....Thanksgiving.  Everything had turkeys on it...paper plates, cups, napkins, and even decorations.  Just the sight of it made a child's mouth water...and  the stores never did Christmas until Thanksgiving was over.  Wow, I remember how,  when the decorations finally DID go up, they meant something.  And it seemed like the day took  Each and every present was valued.

By the time I reached my 20's and 30's, things had started to change.  The Christmas items were then coming out a week or two  before Thanksgiving...and the Thanksgiving aisle was beginning to shrink.  Then when I hit 40's and 50's the stores were stocking up for Christmas the day after Halloween.  Forget Thanksgiving.  You're lucky is you can find a package of napkins with a turkey on it.  And, as a chocolate lover, I used to look forward to the day after Halloween when all the candy went on sale.  Well, in today's world, if you are not waiting at the door the moment they open their doors, you might as well forget it.  Because in the wink of eye the candy disappears and the Christmas decorations appear...that and the Christmas candy which, of course, will be overpriced.  After all, we have to pay for those pretty colored wrappers, don't we?

But this year?  This year really took the cake.  I got paid about two weeks before Halloween and  figured that while I had the money, let me go to the store while there were choices left for my Halloween costume.  Choice?  Did really I say choice?  There was one lousy aisle with a few masks and 3 different wigs.  Meanwhile, the shelves were lined with Christmas things.  What next?  Christmas in the summer?  

Commercialism has to go.  I, for one, can certainly life without it.  Just give me an old-fashioned Christmas any day.  

Until one feels the spirit of Christmas, there is no Christmas.
All else is outward display--so much tinsel and decorations.
For it isn't the holly, it isn't the snow.
It isn't the tree not the firelight's glow.
It's the warmth that comes to the hearts of men
when the Christmas spirit returns again.

Unknown   

The Holy Thorn

It's a cold, cold Friday here in New York City, but no matter how cold it may be, it is not as cold as some people's hearts.  I am an angry person this morning.   Anger is not one of my favorite emotions....especially around holiday time, but some acts are just so inexcusable that there is no other way to react.   Here we are,  in the holiday season, a season  of peace, love, and joy, and evil decides to rear its ugly head.  When I first read the news yesterday that some troubled person or persons had chopped down the Holy Thorn tree on Wearyall Hill, I was at first numbed. It couldn't be true.  Why would someone do such a horrible thing?  What did they gain from it?  Notoriety?  I think not.  The outpouring of grief over this vile act is so great that they had best remain anonymous.   The sacred tree  held a very special significance all over the world,  and thousands  came especially to see it.

According to Christian legend, Jesus's great uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, came to Britain after the crucifixion some 2,000 years ago bearing the Holy Grail - the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper.  Upon his arrival at Wearyall Hill, he and his twelve companions lay down to rest, and as he did so, he thrust his staff into the hill....and, to his surprise, when he awoke, the staff had taken root and a thorn tree had begun to grow. It flowers  every Christmas and every spring.  

It is said that the original thorn was felled at some point during the English Civil War when the forces led by Cromwell waged a battle against the Crown. However, the locals managed to salvage the roots of the original tree and hid them  in secret locations around Glastonbury. Later, the roots were replanted on the hill.  Other cuttings were also grown and placed around the town - including its famous Glastonbury Abbey....and now the tree is gone....the victim of a mindless act...an evil act. 

Evil is more than just the opposite of good.  Evil is the desire to do something that you know is harmful to another. It is the desire to deprive another of happiness, and this act of destruction has hurt many.  Evil  is the conscious choice to do something that is hurtful to others, but how does one make such a choice?  I cannot fathom how one could destroy such a treasure...just for the sake of destruction. 

I remember asking the question, Why does there have to be such evil in the world? and the response I received was, "Without evil, there can be no good." In other words, without darkness there can be no light. Then, I read  that if everything in the world was the color white, we would not be able to see because there would be no contrasts.   I  fully understand this concept, but it doesn't make it any easier.  It was such a wicked thing to do. The willful destruction of something so special, this historical and symbolic tree, in so many people's lives for so many centuries goes beyond belief. It seems as if we humans have not just lost respect for each other, but also everything else in the natural order.  

Some are saying that it was only a tree...and not even the original thorn, but it was NOT 'just a tree' to all of us.  No, it was  something sacred, something that held great meaning for many, many people...and it was taken away by someone who ust hacked it down as if it were nothing.   Vandals cannot destroy the spirit of this tree for this tree was special for it was a symbol of hope...and hope cannot be destroyed.   Evil cannot take that away.

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

--William Blake--

Gaia, the Great Mother

There is enough for all. The earth is a generous mother;
she will provide in plentiful abundance food for all her
children if they will but cultivate her soil in justice and in peace. 

--Bourke Coekran--

For centuries our precious Earth has been identified as a Mother Goddess.  The Greeks gave Her a name-- Gaia.  Her name means Earth. She is the child of Chaos.    Her magic exists in plants, flowers, trees, the seas, the stars, and the elements.    Everything that lives comes from Gaia.  We, too, are Her children; hence, we, too,  are connected to every aspect of nature.  But our daily schedules have become so hectic that we have forgotten that we are all part of the miracle that is called the Universe. Well, maybe forgotten is the wrong word.  No, we haven't really forgotten.  We just don't have the time.

Understanding the importance of connecting to Earth is an essential component to maintaining balance in our everyday lives. We cannot have one without the other...meaning we cannot destroy this planet without destroying a part of ourselves in the process. Our ancestors knew this.  That is why they only took what was necessary for their survival...and, whenever they did take something from the Earth, they not only gave thanks, but also gave our Mother something in return.  Today all we know how to do is take...take....and take without thought to future generations. There are still many people yet to come to live on Earth. Why are we killing them before they have even been born? 

When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves.

--David Orr--

The other night hubby and I watched a show about the giant cats, and I was saddened to learn that both the lion and the tiger may both be extinct in a few years.  Polar bears, pandas...both heading for extinction.  The magnificent blue whale may soon be gone.  That's just a handful...and there will be so many, many more as we continue to over-hunt, destroy our rain forests, and pollute our oceans. 

Saving our great Mother is the responsibility of each and every one of us. After all, we love and respect our biological  parents, then why not the Earth Mother without which we would not be existing. We should think for anymore possible ways to save Earth.   So, as we enter this wondrous holiday season, let us not forget our Mother who has given us so much.   It may be frigid outdoors, but be sure to find a way to spend some time in nature and breathe in life.  Focus on your breathing.  Allow yourself to feel at one with Gaia...feel the life force which comes forth....

...and remember the symbiotic  relationship between yourself and all that is around you.  Harvest Her wonderful gifts and  make a feast of fruits, nuts, herbs and leaves.  Be sure to always  give thanks for the bounty She has provided for you....and remember to reach out and offer some  nourishment to nature's creatures who are struggling to survive the winter months.  Feed the wild birds who sing for us....offer the squirrels some nuts....remember the strays and put out some food.  Remember that we are all connected.

To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster
its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.

--Wendell Berry--