Over The Rivers Of Kush

I continue reading "Over the Rivers of Kush" by Menachem Waldman about the Falasha, the Jews of Ethiopia. Are they Jews? The rabbinical correspondence produced during the centuries contains no material of any worth: the rabbis rake through ancient writings to establish if they are from the lost tribe of Dan or descendants of King Salomon's lover. Not one of them had any first or second hand contact with a Falasha and they are debating something theological, unrelated to flesh and bone humans. The first (and only) objective examination if they are Jews was produced by a German Protestant, Karl Ratjens, "Die Jude in Abessinien", and he is the first to say it loudly that the Falashas are indifferenciable from the rest of the Ethiopians, they are from the native Agau tribe. Their traditions are non-Jewish: their kashrut laws are not Jewish but similar to the Muslims, their traditions about ritual purity and impurity (menstruation, parturition, etc.) are identical to most African tribes. The Falashas also practice the castration of the priests, and offer animal sacrifices (forbidden to us since the Temple was destroyed), that are in direct opposition to the Jewish religion. The Falashas dont face in the direction of Jerusalem when praying, they practice female circumcision and they never heard of Jewish holy days like Yom Kippur. Ratjens also says they offer interpreted as sacrificing to idols, to dead gods of stone and wood. They have no documents in Hebrew, their holy books are in Gez. It was needed a honest (pre-Nazi) German to see that the king paraded naked, obvious to all except us; "WE ARE TRULY BLIND CONCERNING OURSELVES". That's why the Falasha tribe was redeemed wholesale for cash, packed into Hercules planes and turned instant Jews at landing. The subject of Falasha is sensitive, but I think it is healthier that their joining the main body of the Jewish people be based on the truth and not falsity. They have earned their entrance ticket by holding to their idea of Judaism for centuries in spite of local hostility. And that deserves our respect. The pic is me (reincarnated).

Origin: masonsofheaven.blogspot.com

Papal Decree Establishing New Evangelization Council From Zenit Org

"UBICUMQUE ET SEMPER""VATICAN Civic, ROME, OCT. 12, 2010 (Zenit.org). - Surrounding is an off the record translation of "Ubicumque et Semper" ("Somewhere and Forever"), which Benedict XVI has issued "motu proprio. "The Sept. 21 document announces the institution of the Pontifical Meeting for Promoting the New Evangelization. It was presented today by the Vatican."* * *APOSTOLIC Piece of land IN THE Perfectly OF "MOTU PROPRIO""UBICUMQUE ET SEMPER"OF THE Perfect PONTIFF BENEDICT XVITaking into account WHICH IS INSTITUTED THE PONTIFICAL Meeting FOR PROMOTING THE NEW EVANGELIZATIONThe House of worship has the collect to messenger always and somewhere the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He, the topmost and indomitable evangelizer, on the day of his Ascension to the Commence sent the Apostles: "Go correspondingly and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Commence and of the Son and of the Holy Desire, teaching them to watch all that I carry commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20). Shut up shop to this call for the House of worship, line that God acquired to messenger his total accomplishments (cf. 1 Peter 2:9), being the day of Pentecost, in which it received as gift the Holy Desire (cf. Acts 2:14), has never in bad condition of making usual to the whole world the beauty of the Gospel, proclaiming Jesus Christ, true God and true man, the incredibly "yesterday, today and for ever" (Acts 13:8), who with his Fatal outcome and New start brought about rescue, bringing to recognition the ancient divine. Consequently, the evangelizing foretell, defense of the work beloved by the Lord Jesus, is for the House of worship defensible and matchless, peek of her very identity.This foretell has taken on in history ever new forms and modalities according to the epoch, the situations and the ancient moments. In our time, one of its dissimilar realize has been to be confronted with the occurrence of breaking from the tribute, which has manifested itself slowly in societies and cultures that for centuries seemed permeated by the Gospel. The unreserved transformations we carry witnessed in the delay decades carry flamboyant causes, which land their extraction far in time and that carry modified roughly the sketch of our world. Breakthrough of the life-size shift of science and technology, of the augmentation of the secure of life and the areas of exclusive deep space, of the extreme changes in the fiscal connection, of the rush of ethnic and cultural mixes caused by colossal migratory phenomena, of the rising interdependence involving peoples. All this has not happened lacking cost what's more for the fervent magnitude of man's life. And if on one hand patronage has usual the conclusive assistance of these transformations and the House of worship has received forward agitation to bounce pencil case for the delight that is in her (cf. 1 Peter 3:15), verified on the other hand is a upsetting loss of the promontory of the sacred, even art wearing obstruction folks foundations that healthy undeniable, such as tribute in a designer and provident God, the visionary of Jesus Christ morally Liberator, and the brash understanding of the enter experiences of man, such as beginning, death, living in a family, and cite to a natural now law.While all this has been greeted by some as a leave go of, seeming very quickly is the within put away that is uneducated anyplace man, wishing to be the morally architect of his identity and of his fortuitous, finds himself indigent of what constitutes the establishment of all squeeze.More willingly than the Add-on Vatican Ecumenical Meeting held involving its critical topics the obstruction of the business in the middle of the House of worship and this near world. Following the aroma of conciliar teaching, my Predecessors reflected forward on the exact to find thin ways to bring about our generation to survive to evaluate the living and eternal Article of the Lord.Taking into account a see of the outcome, the Servant of God Paul VI observed that the reliability of evangelization, "as a result of the accomplice situations of dechristianization in our day, [...] what's more proves literally defensible for a choice of line who carry been baptized but who stopover completely faint Christian life, for simple line who carry a touchable tribute but an decayed knowledge of the foundations of that tribute, for intellectuals who cope with the exact to know Jesus Christ in a light peculiar from the information they received as children, and for several others" (Apostolic Exhortation "Evangelii Nuntiandi"," No. 52). And with his kindness directed to folks divided from the tribute, he new that the evangelizing action of the House of worship "need perpetually ferret the proper resources and terminology for presenting, or signifying, to them God's visionary and tribute in Jesus Christ" (ibid., No. 56). The Stately Servant of God John Paul II ended this tricky responsibility one of the cardinal points of his immense magisterium, synthesizing in the build "new evangelization" -- which he consistently analyzed in heap interventions -- the responsibility that awaits the House of worship today, in firm in the areas of ancient Christianization. A responsibility that, in the face of it refers honest to its way of describing to the outdoor, presupposes, even topmost of all a unremitting within reappearance, a unbroken scrap, so to speak, from evangelized to evangelizing. Suffice it to recall what was affirmed in the postsynodal catchphrase "Christifideles Laici": "Finished countries and nations anyplace religion and the Christian life were essential luxuriant and enjoyable of development a feasible and working community of tribute, are now put to a poorly test, and in some luggage, are even undergoing a radical transformation, as a result of a unremitting dissemination of an casual manner to religion, of secularism and atheism. This above concerns countries and nations of the supposed Formerly Making, in which fiscal well-being and consumerism, even if related with a devastating turmoil of essential and gloominess, inspires and sustains a life lived 'as if God did not position. This casual manner to religion and the practice of religion devoid of true meaning in the facade of life's very resonant struggle, are not less upsetting and uncomforting like compared with affirmed atheism. Sometimes the Christian tribute as well, all the same maintaining some of the externals of its tradition and rituals, tends to be separated from folks moments of possible durable which carry the utmost import, such as, beginning, sample and death." [...] "On the other hand, in other regions or nations several supreme traditions of attachment and blue-collar forms of Christian religion are calm down conserved; but today this now and spiritual patrimony runs the risk of so drawn-out under the weight of a range of processes, as well as secularization and the move of sects. Just a re-evangelization can agreement the foster of a severe and inexpressible tribute, and rescue to make these traditions a shove for directly room.""Weakness unease a restoration of the Christian data of taste is urgently attractive in all parts of the world. But for this to come about what is attractive is to topmost re-establish the Christian data of the ecclesial community itself serve in these countries and nations" (No. 34).Assuming, correspondingly, the transfer of my regal Predecessors, I behold it well-situated to attempt thin answers so that the whole House of worship, allowing herself to be regenerated by the power of the Holy Desire, serve herself to the near world with a follower shove enjoyable of promoting a new evangelization. The following makes cite more all to the Churches of ancient establishment, which even, stopover very peculiar realities, to which peculiar requirements correspond, which await peculiar impulses of evangelization: in some territories, in fact, anyway the advance of the occurrence of secularization, Christian practice calm down manifests a greatly dynamism and a extreme rooting in the phantom of add up populations; noted in other regions, instead, is a hostility of the whole taste from the tribute, with a weaker ecclesial data, conversely not indigent of elements of animatronics that the Desire does not solve to arouse; we what's more know, miserably, of areas that healthy sheer de-Christianized, in which the light of the tribute is entrusted to the say of negligible communities: these lands, which exact a improved topmost decree of the Gospel, healthy to be above rock-hard to several aspects of the Christian seminar.The diversity of situations calls for denouement discernment: to speak of "new evangelization" does not mean, in fact, to carry to adorn a solitary even establish for all the circumstances. And yet, it is not tricky to appearance what all the Churches exact that stopover in widely Christian territories, which is a improved follower spin, peek of a new generous forthrightness to the gift of buff. In fact, we cannot escape that the topmost responsibility is to be easygoing to the excessive work of the Desire of the Risen One, which supports all folks who are bearers of the Gospel, and which opens the hearts of folks who dance. Strip more all to messenger roughly the Article of the Gospel is a extreme experience of God.As I explicit in my topmost encyclical "Deus Caritas Est": "Self Christian is not the result of an open area haughty or a pompous figure, but the come into contact with with an mechanism, a outline, which gives life a new horizon and a crucial manner" (No. 1). In a literal way, at the core of all evangelization dowry is not a possible brain of augmentation, but the hope to quantity the immense gift that God has willed to bounce us, making us sharers in his own life.At that moment, in the light of these reflections, once having examined everything deeply and having asked for the coherence of say-so folks, I procedure and perform what follows:ART. 1.Regulation 1. The Pontifical Meeting for Promoting the New Evangelization is branded as a Dicastery of the Roman Curia, in the promontory of the Apostolic Edifice Minister And also. Regulation 2. The Meeting pursues its own end all by stimulating study on topics of the new evangelization, as well as singling out and promoting the thin ways and instruments to progress to it.ART. 2.The Council's action, which is carried out in uphold with the other Dicasteries and Organisms of the Roman Curia, in high esteem of their family member competencies, is at the service of the firm Churches, individually in folks territories of Christian tradition anyplace stuck-up source is manifested of the occurrence of secularization.ART. 3.Acute out involving the free responsibilities of the Meeting are: 1st. to rebound on the theological and countrified meaning of the new evangelization; 2nd. to force and growth, in ending uphold with the Episcopal Conferences interested, which can carry an ad hoc mortal, the study, comprehension and contentment of the papal Magisterium linked to topics tied with the new evangelization; 3rd. to make usual initiatives interconnected to the new evangelization previous to under way in the another firm Churches and to force their new contentment, relating wholeheartedly what's more the resources serve in the Institutes of Deified Personality and Societies of Apostolic Personality, as well as the aggregations of exacting and in the new communities; 4th. to study and growth the use of modern forms of speech, as instruments for the new evangelization; 5th. to force the use of the "Catechism of the Catholic House of worship", as essential and make formulation of the opportune of the tribute for the men of our time.ART. 4.Regulation 1. The Meeting is headed by an Archbishop Lead, helped by his Secretary, by an Under-Secretary and by an in accord circulation of Officials, according to the norms branded by the Apostolic Edifice Minister And also and by the Largely Expose of the Roman Curia. Regulation 2. The Meeting will carry its own Members and can carry its own Consultors.All that has been deliberated with the serve Motu proprio, I order that it carry full and company avail yourself of, anyway anything to the change, even if it is advantage of firm raise, and I procedure that it be promulgated close replica in the dissertation L'Osservatore Romano and that it come wearing shove on the day of transmission.Exclusive at Castel Gandolfo, the 21st day of September of 2010, Banquet of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, sixth meeting of my Pontificate.BENEDICTUS PP. XVI["Translation by ZENIT"]
I reproduced this off the record English translation since this document, whose decree had been announced express of time in Roman Catholic circles, and was reported in the at all harass, was, hugely, issued morally in Latin and Italian!...Which speaks volumes apt there!In view of the fact that it's a Papal document, it's truthfully couched in dry "Churchese". One wonders how any focus outline, Catholic or more willingly than, would be similar to read it. My own consider, as I perused the document, was that it's pitifully out of tip with the reality of a world faint the Vatican fortifications. For mode, how several line do you know who might, or would, even try to notion what a "Dicastery" is?! (Art. 1) Art. 2 says that the "Council's action" will be positioned "at the service" of firm Churches "in high esteem to their family member competencies". One wonders how that would fraud out in actuality; to me, the tone suggests a "Commence knows best" belief. Art. 3 has some full of news suggestions, for mode, "to study and growth the use of modern forms of speech, as instruments for the new evangelization..." I can't find the claim suggestion, but one survey which I read was from one of the Cardinals who is to rescue on the Meeting. He articulated with fervor how scared he was "to get a depot on my graph", or everything to that effect. A observation in close proximity that from a professional Vatican hand is, absolve me, no less than mind-blowing! Why wouldn't every twig of the utmost powerful fervent special in the world not be reasonably perky with the in mint condition, never infer basic, technology in its day-to-day work?!The other disquieting observation in Art. 3 is this: "to force the use of the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC House of worship, as essential and make formulation of the opportune of the tribute for the men of our time..." Taking into account all due high esteem to the "Catechism", which is a well-done and marvelous compendium of "the opportune of the "[Catholic] "tribute", it's previous to close to 20 living being its topmost admission under John Paul II. The English prototype is 13 living old. In a world evolving and with the position of knowledge expanding at perfect fly, how can any one book be the "Initial and Conclude FORMULATION of the opportune of tribute"? As an pronounce, it was sore to see the so therefore, very non-inclusive, cite to "the MEN of our time..." Yeah, I know it's a state term: but in the context of today's world, it betrays and perpetuates, in my degrade opinion, a serious Roman church inclination on morally one deficient of the possible race!That so made-up, dowry are indubitably arranged and grave comments in "Ubicumque et Semper": the "defensible and matchless" foretell of the Christian community ("not" as it should be Roman Catholics) to genuinely and all the time messenger "the beauty of the Gospel", the Laudable Information of God in Christ; the call of the community of Christian believers to grapple with "the occurrence of breaking from the tribute" in sectors of taste which had by been "permeated by the Gospel", or had, at nominal, "seemed" to be; "the loss of the promontory of the sacred" and of "the brash understanding of the enter experiences of man"; and, at last, the "responsibility that, in the face of it refers honest to its way of describing to the outdoor, presupposes...a unremitting within reappearance, a unbroken scrap...from evangelized to evangelizing."Benedict XVI speaks of "the whole House of worship, allowing herself to be regenerated by the power of the Holy Desire" and "serve"[ing] "herself to the near world with a follower shove enjoyable of promoting a new evangelization". The commendable which he expresses is completely eminent, but I what's more distrustful several lineage authorization become edgy with such terminology, recalling all the past examples of collection colonialism, aided and abetted by the House of worship, and its myriad of struggle. Benedict continues: "The diversity of situations calls for denouement discernment: to speak of "new evangelization" does not mean...to carry to adorn a solitary even establish for all the circumstances...in fact, we cannot escape that the topmost responsibility is to be easygoing to the excessive work of the Desire of the Risen One, which supports all folks who are bearers of the Gospel, and which opens the hearts of folks who dance. Strip more all to messenger roughly the Article of the Gospel is a extreme experience of God."Past the Pope seems to suppose the new Council's work so directed largely at Europe, we'll starkly carry to see how it begins to butter, and if the American Catholic House of worship will in due course cope with any weight. We can morally pray that dowry will, in some way, be some continual fair from the work for all of God's line.

Muslim Usurpers

One group has no matter which they're good at.

* Old union are good at crochet.

* Early are good at poop.

* Fundamentalist Christians are good at single claim.

* And atheists are good at single unsafe.

So establish my undisclosed and nausea whenever you like reading this slightly old opinion poll that I've dug up for the purposes of this strength.

Yep, you see claim. Muslims wave around USURPED our place as the best group in the USA at single unsafe. As far as I am aware, this occurred fading atheists single experienced or asked. Somewhat, they desirable snuck in and TOOK our robe. Which kinda makes gist, unconditional that they're the greatest extent unsafe group in the USA.

Dammit...foiled by my own logic.

Anywhoos, this whole thing sobbing me, so I interest I'd representation a abruptly wider. At hand has to be Whatever thing that atheists are continually best at. It didn't take too long for me to find the following;

This made me sample manager. We are continually the best group at single unsafe as presidential candidates. I was angst-ridden that profile of other doubter leaders in countries which were tracking downcast agreeably might start to stimulate unloading of atheism in world leaders, but helpfully, we're Still #1, BABY!

Of course, a fundamental concern at this bursting me with nausea. Surefire, we're less trusted than 75 day old, adulterous, weed-smoking lesbians from Mexico who've never held division upfront, but state was one group whose likelihood of single represented in the Cryptic Division were so miniscule they weren't even on the release list.

You guessed it! Muslims! Stealthy, usurping muslims, who are now so Complimentary at single unsafe, the exactly time they're mentioned with regards to the Government is whenever you like someone is wobbly to cast aspersions on Obama's allegiances due to his funky name.

I contemporary, Muslims. You win. We're no. 2.

:(

Credit: 33witches.blogspot.com

Kali 2

Kali

Kali is the greatest closely realized of all the Grim Goddesses. It has been claimed that Her name is resultant from the Hindu word for Distance, yet also major "black."
She is also called Durga.

Her very defenses is intended to distress. She is black and high, with fangs and claws. She wears a girdle of cut off arms, a necklace of skulls or cut off heads, trinkets of low-grade corpses, cobras as bracelets or garlands.
Her jaw is blood-smeared. She is accompanied by she-demons.

Habitually She is prohibited standing or dancing on the association of the god Shiva. Here and there in She is feasts on his guts.

Yet She also is a loving mother, and fantastically in that aspect is worshipped by millions of Hindus.

Cast-off to a god that is all-"good", Westerners wear found it grumpy to understand why Hindus would exalt such a deity, or why their art emphasizes Her greatest revolting forms.

"Tantric people attending worship of Kali concept it essential to encompass her Pledge, the terror of death, as unhesitatingly as they recognizable Blessings from her sensational, gardening, protective aspect. For them, wisdom intended learning that no coin has simply one side: as death can't be present not up to scratch life, so also life can't be present not up to scratch death. Kali's sages communed with her in the grisly idea of the wake showground, to become familiarized with images of death. They understood, 'His Goddess, his loving Blood relation in time, who gives him beginning and loves him in the flesh, also destroys him in the flesh. His image of Her is suspended if he does not know Her as his tearer and devourer.'"
-- Barbara Tourist, The Woman's Calendar of Mythology and Secrets

Changed photo, paramount black and white, of coppice statue from the 18th or
19th century, Nepal, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Prefer Reading:

* The Goddess Kali, part of a Web site dependable to Tantrism. Warning: very
slow loading.

* The Grim Goddess and me, an passionately group and well-written record of
beginning to know Kali, by Del Marshall.

Source: religion-events.blogspot.com

Pmp Theisms Jan 20 2013

This interlude was pre-recorded. Eat RevKess and KaliSara as they change to crack, assured, the lead amid the various "-theisms". Monotheism, duotheism, pantheism, polytheism, non-belief, etc. Behind schedule negotiations within the Pagan community and available lug brought about questions from some of the audience of PMPC, and the hosts would nearly to try to barrier items up for somebody. Listeners are invited to write down on the bring out page, on the PMP facebook page or via email to the hosts at paganmusings@gmail.com. KaliSara and RevKess are consideration a proceedings bring out that chi bungalow the questions and clarification from the audience as well as fold the division to embrace be real mention from audience and other participants in the conversation.

Theism Polytheism Monotehism religion philosophy

Wiccan Jewelry Is Totally Different

Wiccan jewelry is inspired by Wicca mythology and the pieces that you find look amazing making you realize how was the life of the people from so many years ago. In fact, Wiccan jewelry is an important part from Wiccan culture and due to its beauty and design, it remained popular and very appreciated.

Wiccan culture has many symbols very important for it and they are integrated in the Wiccan jewelry, the most used symbol being the pentagram. What is also interesting about Wiccan jewelry is that began to have included Swarovski crystals, which is a way of adapting them to the modern times. Almost every jewelry of the Wiccan jewelry has a symbol and an important meaning for that who wears it. There are many people that have a strong passion for different cultures or subcultures and they try to adapt them to their present life style, Wiccan jewelry being one of them.

Wiccan jewelry has many pieces that offer you protection and we have to say that they also look very interesting. Wiccan jewelry is different from all that is made today, this meaning common. Although its basics are religious, Wiccan jewelry can be worn not for this purpose, but for the fact that is different, looks amazing has symbols that make it important for those people who love to wear something that has a meaning. You can find Wiccan jewelry on the internet, but also in the jewelry stores. Wiccan jewelry catches our eye and is impossible not to observe it at someone who wears it. Wiccan jewelry is impressive and its price may be sometimes not so low as you would like to, but is rare and the way it looks, is worth buying. This type of jewelry comes from the past, this being one of the reasons why is look different, special and impresses anyone that has the opportunity to see it. You can find many colors and many symbols that will impress you, especially if you love art or history. An important advantage of Wiccan jewelry is the fact that is made of natural materials as leather, silver, natural beads, so the risk of having skin problems will be poor.

Origin: animals-and-shamanism.blogspot.com

The Celebration Of World Goddess Day

In our time has been confirmed Handiwork Divine being Day. As described by the organizers, it is a day for all Goddess-worshiping relations worldwide to come together and precisely correct or pay mark of distinction to the Divine being in all her forms. The website says, "The submission of the Enterprise is [to] charter to the Divine being one day of visibility to split Her diverse myths, stories and worship modification." The Handiwork Divine being Day partition was founded by Brazilian critic Claudiney Prieto, who has in black and white a publication of appearing in books on Wicca and Witchcraft. Prieto is a priest of the Dianic Nemorensis tradition in Brazil and was entirely standard by Z. Budapest for his spiritual work within that tradition. As he writes on the project's website: "Nowdays, in a flabbergasted advance impaired by centuries of patriarchy, heteronormativity and prejudice, the Divine being is deliberate by diverse relations the innocently way to reunite ourselves with the true Character, with our maximum inner Character. She is the innocently way to get rid of so diverse years of despotism that innocently brought differences, prejudices and wars So a Handiwork Divine being Day has never been such imperative as now!" The Handiwork Divine being Day partition organizers chose September in the role of it is the ninth month of the go out with. As Prieto explains, "The publication nine is one of the maximum sacred to the Divine being." In the providence, Handiwork Divine being Day preference customarily be well-known on the first Sunday of the month. This go out with, the incite is Sept. 7. Blunt their Facebook page and website, organizers put out a phone to relations influence the world to pose and come together on this day or for fill to find limited ways to deference the Cherubic Female. Promptly, the partition website lists 30 unusual registered Handiwork Divine being Day undertakings indoors influence the world. At the same time as maximum of these registered undertakings are in Prieto's home place of Brazil as well as his own sight in Sao Paulo, energy did readership on both sides of borders. Wiccan Priestess Noble Majo is hosting a celebration in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Z.Budapest is sponsoring a Divine being Social event in California. In attendance are three registered undertakings loot place in Spain; three in the U.K.; three in the Related States and one in Western Canada. In infusion, near are a publication of unregistered undertakings as well as one in Miami, one in Illinois, and one in Spitchwick Proven in Dartmoor, England. The Improved Druids of Gaia are largest part for a picnic in Singleton Land, in Swansea, Wales. In Toronto, Canada, relations preference be largest part at Grand Land for a "clear celebration" synchronized by Wiccan practitioner Cattarina Guanais. The Triangle Setting Pagan Air (TAPA), based in Durham, North Carolina, is one of the registered hosts of a Handiwork Divine being Day sight in the Related States. The house society is sponsoring a collective ritual in Thaumatury 777, a magic supply shop. TAPA add-on Rev. Amanda Morris, a neo-Wiccan and Gnostic Witch, says: "In the function of I found out that Claudiney Prieto was organizing an large-scale sight in deference of the Divine being, I was in flames and brought the balk to my group, the Triangle Setting Pagan Air. We all half personal stories of the power of the Divine being (in Her diverse names and faces!) in our lives, and we knew that celebration the Cherubic Female was unambiguous to us. We really support that others in our community would usual and put your thumb out us for an open and collective ritual I'm frenzied and in flames to be fusion fill and groups from positively influence the world as we pilaster Handiwork Divine being Day, and I support we deference Her with our accumulate love and magick!" On the other next of the realm in Defrayal, North Carolina, Deb Holmes-Roberts, a Grand Priestess of Sealed Draw and a Reiki Master, is organizing a day have a yen sight that includes workshops, slang and meditation. She says: "In attendance are diverse reasons to correct this "Handiwork Divine being Day" but the maximum unambiguous to me is to be lovely to split the information with my daughters and other offspring women to refreshing their femaleness and mushroom in the engine capacity of it and all that it is." From the Spitchwick Proven, Dartmoor Occurrence To the south in Miami, Florida, Kimberly Moore, founder and Priestess of MotherHouse of the Divine being Ridge, says that she is "hosting a Perfect Moon Divine being Feast Sunday and faithful the synchronicity with Handiwork Divine being Day." Moore has been readily working to proof Goddess-based spirituality for years. Among her work, she helped to become hard a Miami-based Dianic Women's Ridge and the Perfect Moon's Women's Corner. She says: "I am unquestionably frenzied to see an apt refocus in establishing a Handiwork Divine being Day. Bringing the Cherubic Female in all forms to the front of rotate spirituality and traditional religions is unquestionably scale for bringing neutrality to the globe and aid. Hurrah to Claudiney Prieto for explanation the torch! " In West Yorkshire England, a group of Pagans preference be celebrating in a unusual way. Attendees scheme to give somebody no option but to at the Leeds Metropolitan area Museum in Millennium Weighing scale to view two stones that were firm to Brigantia, their house Divine being. In imitation of near, fall through Gary Smith preference read style encouraged by the Cherubic Female. Smith says: "I've organised a brusque largest part of relations from our Pagan Meet-up group to honour our house goddess Brigantia, as I entirely came to the Divine being sad my drum up support of 30 years looking participating in the meaning of the Cretan Movement Trap. The Divine being is essential now to native land the neutrality, and heal the world." In Cornwall, the Priestesses of Kernow are hosting a celebration at Pengersick Fortress, Praa Sands. Priestess Sue Edwards, founder of the Cornwall Exercise of Mysteries, says: "The Divine being is related with diverse things as well as earth, motherliness, fertility, love and plants, but also war, death, havoc as well as healing, warmth and life. As a Priestess of Kernow who follows the Divine being traditions, I finger it's unambiguous to claim one day granted to the Divine being in which we can retract her in all her forms. Women dreadfully are looking for everything which celebrates the female within and are gyratory to the way of the Divine being. She is re-entering participating in our modern life bringing back her vivaciousness, power, wisdom and healing, sad Pagan traditions it is unambiguous to pilaster the Enterprise Handiwork Divine being day and to bring the divine female back participating in our lives, to flair her stories for modern day and to bring neutrality back to our world." In official statement behind schedule official statement, organizers are ability out to their communities to put your thumb out them in dance, give a call, meditation, and ritual celebration of the Cherubic Female in whatever form or forms that she takes within one's own self-righteous tradition. On the sight page for the Illinois sight, fall through Ze Marie says, "The energy of this sight is growing! Become more intense the word, it is departure to be awesome! All and sundry is welcome! It is time for the Divine being to be heard!" At the same time as the day was launched by Prieto, a priest of the Dianic Nemorensis tradition, it was not imagined as a tradition-based or dear balk. Nor has its spirit be peace in fine. Yemaya Ridge in Cuba [Image Credit: DominiqueMichel, WikiCommons CC lic]Attractively, nevertheless, this very first combination of Handiwork Divine being Day also happens to fit with a very possess Divine being day. In our time is Yemaya's Feast day, a celebration with its own sacred traditions within the Lucumi (Santeria) religion. At the same time as Handiwork Divine being Day won't customarily fall on Sept 7, this preference stretch once again in the providence. If the partition continues to bang into increase, preference the new global celebration of the Cherubic Female detract or boost this far-flung foggy Lucumi tradition? Lilith Dorsey, a Voodoo Priestess, critic and filmmaker, says: "The slippery thought in once we begin to do by Sunday Sept. 7,2014 as Handiwork Divine being Day is that not all mother goddesses are the especially. The especially way not all mothers are the especially. "In La" Regla Lucumi, also well-known as Santeria, Sept. 7 is the traditional celebration day for Yemaya. Territory claim formerly ready the associate online, and as I am also a practitioner of Santeria as well, I would suitable like to good sense that in the same way as someone is grasp to exit an gift of pears or watermelon for Yemaya, the unqualified requirement not make petitions or force from this Orisha. The Santeria religion is a system technique that takes decades if not a permanent of training to begin to understand." As Dorsey suggests, not all Divine being are the especially and their worship manifests in diverse ways that are repeatedly very possess to a tradition, culture and self-righteous practice. As have a yen as the peter out of the Handiwork Divine being Day celebration and its over-arching revelation befall respectfully fluid and open, the new day can co-exist with the Lucumi holiday. Dorsey adds, "The celebration of the Divine being is unambiguous each and every day, not innocently in the role of it helps us best quality understand our accumulate cultural yesterdays and tomorrows, but also ourselves. I humorlessly maintain this both as a Voodoo priestess and an anthropologist. I support everybody continues to respectfully display the Divine being this Sunday, and every day."Liberate to Fan the flames of

Bauer Disappointed In Oliveto Roth Gushes Over Brenda Meat And Three

Plus, Nico goes prix fixe to Bauer's delight and magical, home-style empanadas can be found in the Mission.

Michael Bauer experienced some highs and lows in his dining adventures this week. Starting with the high point, Bauer updated his review on NICO, calling it a "pitch-perfect dinner." In San Francisco's burgeoning French food scene, chef NICOLAS DELAROQUE has "set a new standard for modern French food." Bauer's most recent visit to the Presidio Heights restaurant hinged upon Nico's transition to a prix-fixe menu; five courses for 55, or three courses for 45, with optional wine pairings. Bauer particularly enjoyed a first course with a "snowcapped mountain of clementine foam, mahogany ocean of crab broth" and "lacy fronds of fennel tops [that] rose out of the froth like pines in the Sierra." Service, ambiance and price came together here, leading Bauer to pronounce it a "pitch-perfect dinner." 3.5 STARS. [Chron]

Conversely, Bauer's trip to OLIVETO was a disappointment. The Oakland restaurant, helmed by chef JONAH RHODEHAMEL, recently underwent its first remodel in 18 years. The renovation focused on managing sound levels, giving Oliveto a "fresh face" and "an exciting buzz to the room." Although Bauer awarded the Italian institution three stars in his 2011 review, 2014's assessment deems it "inconsistent" and "too expensive." Appetizers were the highlight, especially a steak tartare "boldly seasoned with pickled peppers, Castelvetrano olives and a bit of mint." Pasta dishes were a "letdown" and main courses "disappointed." Finally, service was "well meaning" but "hamstrung by long waits between courses" and no sommelier on staff, leaving diners "pretty much on their own." Sadly, while the refresh of the interior is a "winner," the food didn't measure up. TWO STARS. [Chron]

Meanwhile, Anna Roth visited BRENDA'S MEAT AND THREE, the new restaurant from BRENDA BUENVIAJE and wife LIBBY TRUESDELL, declaring it "worth breaking your resolutions for." The food here is more "generally Southern" than their other, New Orleans-focused restaurant, BRENDA'S FRENCH SOUL FOOD, and plates are smaller in size. In the tradition of a Southern "meat and three sides", Brenda's offers a simple menu that changes daily and "almost always" includes "beautifully fried" chicken with a spiced crust. An "airy" and "wonderful" meatloaf, braised short ribs with mushroom gravy and trout with butter and almond sauce are all "good and worthy." Sides include typical but elevated options like stewed green beans with bacon, mashed potatoes, collard greens, and Brussels sprouts with "enough butter to negate their vegetal benefits." Breakfast is equally enticing, with fluffy biscuits smothered in gravy, sweet-potato pancakes and an "excellent Bloody Mary" with pickled okra. Roth admits to "gushing," but "can't help it," as she hasn't had a "bad bite, let alone a bad meal" at the new restaurant. [SF Weekly]

The Examiner's Wendy Hector waxed poetic about the "world of stuffed dough," after a recent visit to the Mission's empanada emporium CHILE LINDO. Traditional fillings, like ground beef with egg, olives and raisins, are surrounded by "hearty" dough with a "chewy bite," although vegans can find a pretty "decent" version using Yves meatless ground beef. The ham and cheese empanada was "simple yet sublime," with a cheesy core that made "each mouthful a stringy symphony of fat, salt and fire." Coffee and "sweet stuff" can also be found at Chile Lindo, but the empanadas are "the real magic." [SF Examiner]

Origin: spellscasting.blogspot.com

Obelisk

SPIRITUAL MEANING:

An obelisk is often representative of a Sacred Stone, a marker outlining a particular area such as a sacred space, helping us to be clear regarding our spiritual beliefs or marking a particularly sacred area within which it is safe to practise our spiritual beliefs.

PSYCHOLOGICAL / EMOTIONAL PERSPECTIVE:

An obelisk is a man-made needle-shaped stone, larger at the bottom than the top. It is usually taken today to indicate old instinctive knowledge - man reaching for the unknown. In dreams it suggests just that.

EVERYDAY MATERIAL ASPECTS:

Any carved stone appearing in a dream suggests we are considering how we have shaped our own basic nature. The simpler it is, the more room we have for improvement; the more ornate it is, the more successful we are at using our creative energy.

GENDER / SPECIFIC MEANINGS:

Because of its shape, the obelisk obviously has phallic connotations. In both men's and women's dreams it may also represent a hard unforgiving 'core'within the personality.

"Also consult the entries for Needle and Stone. "

Reference: new-generation-witch.blogspot.com

340 Year Old Bible Found Reminds Me Of Hilkiah Finding The Law In The Temple

Here is a small thing that is good and nice. It is a news piece out of Wisconsin, ripped from 2 Kings 22. First, the modern version:

"A centuries old relic has been discovered in a Bonduel (WI) church, tucked away for decades. No one realized it was even there, or what it was. In a cramped, rarely seen safe, no bigger than a kitchen pantry, at St. Paul Lutheran Church are heaps of old books and pamphlets. Many of which are more than 100 years old and in foreign languages. Most of the artifacts wouldn't fetch a high price at auction, but represent the church's nearly 150 year history and heritage. Now, one item kept there for an unknown length of time has taken the entire congregation by surprise. "This is an authentic 340-year-old Bible. We don't know how we got it. We don't know how it got into the safe. We've been asking some of our elderly folks and people in the nursing home and nobody seems to remember," said Pastor Timothy Shoup." source

How amazing! A beautiful original bible from over three centuries ago! How could they forget that it was "there"? Here is a bit more:

"A 340-year-old bible discovery can attest to the fact that they sure don't make things like they used to. The German bible was discovered by a sixth grade teacher inside an old safe in a small Lutheran church school where she works in Bonduel, Wisconsin. "I was looking for the old baptism records to show my students and then up here in the corner was where the Bible was tucked," explained Court, not realizing what a rare find she stumbled upon."

Imagine, in a dusty closet of the church, lay the precious treasure, there all along but quite forgotten.

And a bit more:

"How the book ended up in Bonduel is still a mystery. But either way, Pastor Shoup says the 17th century discovery has brought him closer to his faith."

How beautiful that the revealing of the Word caused the pastor such a sensitive and blessed reaction. Did you know that the Old Testament records another, similar instance? I'm not making a huge doctrine out of it, I believe that the news spot out of Wisconsin is a nice event that happens more often than we know. But the similarities with the bible's discovery and our Sunday School lesson focusing on Hilkiah, Huldah, and King Josiah was too sweet to ignore drawing some parallels. In Josiah's reign, a long and evil, corrupt line of kingship was coming to an end. Josiah's grandfather and father were terrible kings that did much evil in the eyes of the LORD and provoked the LORD greatly. His people had not only fallen away, had forgotten Him and His word, but they engaged in perverse and horrible worship practices to other gods. Finally came Josiah, a good king of Israel, was endeavoring to have the Temple repaired. As you can imagine, no one really used the Temple for real worship and had not for a very long time. Here is the biblical piece about it:

The Lost Book (2 Kings 22:8-11)

Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan who read it. Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to the king and said, "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD." Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes..."

As the workmen were moving furniture around and inventorying items, this book of the Law was found! Hilkiah the Priest wasn't sure what exactly it was, and Shaphan the scribe wasn't exactly sure, either! The two men, along with three others searched high and low at the king's command, so they could inquire of the LORD. (2Kings 22:13) They found Huldah the Prophetess, who told them.

Huldah Predicts (2 Kings 22:14)

"So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her."

Ahikam was Shaphan's son, a helper. Achbor was an officer of Josiah, as was Asaiah. Shaphan was a scribe of King Josiah. It is shame and a testament on the men that though they held lofty positions in the religious hierarchy, none felt they had the ear of the LORD, and they went to find someone who did, ending up with Huldah. Huldah is named as "keeper of the wardrobe", and wardrobe then is as it is now: a closet for storing clothes. 2 Kings 10:22 is another example of the keeper of the wardrobe: "And Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe, "Bring robes for all the ministers of Baal." So he brought out robes for them."

The small closet where the bible had been stored

Huldah was also a prophet. She told the men that the LORD said that since Josiah had been repentant and tender in his heart toward the LORD, the LORD would stay His wrath upon Judah until Josiah was laying peacefully in his grave.

It is interesting to note that the King's faith deepened upon finding the Word. Tearing of clothes was an act that was meant to convey either great grief or great righteous indignation. The custom was also done as a symbolic removal of authority i.e. the tearing of a king's royal robe. Here is a link to a short study on the biblical act of tearing of clothes, by Wayne Blank. Josiah was immediately convicted upon hearing the words of the LORD, and he tore his clothes. He sent out a search for a person who could relate the meaning of the words and help them come into obedience to them. It is also interesting to note that the Wisconsin Pastor's faith deepened upon finding the word. Finding the precious treasure that is God's word is always a blessing.

Josiah's men found the Scriptures in an old wardrobe when doing routine repairs and inventory, and the School teacher found the word of the Lord while doing routine rummaging in a forgotten closet in search of old records. The LORD reveals Himself when and where He chooses, and at unexpected times!

I think about the bible itself, being twenty pounds. It's huge! Someone carried that bible all the way from Germany across Europe, across the Atlantic Ocean, across half the American continent! Look at it, its size and heft. Yet, the Word of God meant so much to him that he took the trouble and expense to bring it with him, on horseback, in canoes, in ships, by hand...and protected it so well all along the way!

I hope that if you own several bibles, that none of them are laying on the back of the car window, fading as the sunlight drains the print away. I hope that your bible is meaningful to you and that it is used daily, lovingly, reverently. I hope that you do not travel so far away from the Word that you forget what it says and have trouble even finding a person who can relate its meaning to you.

The Wisconsin Pastor said of the find, "To hold something that tells us in 1670 the same message of God's grace in Christ, that tell one another other today helps me be even more thankful." Yes, the best lesson out of all of this is God's word is eternal! (Mt 24:35)

Cyprian The Hieromartyr And Bishop Of Carthage

Elegant 31 READING: Saint Cyprian was inherent of pagan parents in Carthage of Roman Africa about the year 190. An mighty lobbyist of speechifying, he was reformed and baptized overdue in life, and his paraphrase from a towering man of learning to a cloak servant of Christ was complete; he sold his huge possessions and gave them to the begrimed, and in the same way as of his zeal and virtuousness, was destined presbyter in 247, then Bishop of Carthage in 248. He was vastly check in defensive the saintliness and individualism of the Naming of the Cathedral of Christ on top of the disrupt of persons who would allow some rightfulness to the ministrations of heretics; his writings restart to guide the Cathedral even in our own day. Having survived the annoyance of Decius about the year 250, he was beheaded in response of the Expect happening the annoyance of Valerian in 258, on September 14; that day time the ceremonial dinner of the Adulation of the Resentful, his ceremonial dinner is aloof today.APOLYTIKION IN THE PLAGAL OF THE FOURTH Feel Chauffeur of Traditional values, lobbyist of devoutness and inviolability, honor of Carthage, God-inspired neat of confessors, O perspicacious Cyprian, by thy teachings thou has polite all, O harp of the Personality. Arbitrate with Christ God that our souls be saved.KONTAKION IN THE Opening Feel We honour thee, O Cyprian, as a true usher * who with thy sacred words and divinely-wise doctrines * hast out cold us the bound'ry-stones marking out the one Cathedral of Christ. * Persistent unto death didst thou cover documentation with courage; * wherefore, we acclaim thee as a hierarch and Injured person. * Appeal that we all be saved.SOURCE:Rifle FOR ICON:"SAINT OR Feast POSTED THIS Come together 2012(with 2011's finger popular as well as and addition, 2010, 2009, 2008 and even 2007!)"

The Beginning End

This is the on its last legs stir of 25 that is basically alleged to title version from level 1 to 25 that I supply location a cut above the month of September. These posts supply been a part of Asshat Paladin's OSR Short Adventure Dough, and frequent his Get Group, Get Set, Go! format.I desire you've enjoyed the series, and supply checked out the other blogs participating in the claim. There's a lot of really novel, cool, and inventive stuff that's come out of this claim, and it's merit your time to read express it.I'll be publishing a PDF of my posts, cleaned up and tweaked suddenly. I apparition also be apportionment my innovative important, and comparing them to the just what the doctor ordered product. It's thrilling (to me at nominal) how gear developed from population first 2 pages. And I'm leaving to do a review of all the participants one day this month. Irrefutably, a big Thank You to the /Matt, the Asshat Paladin himself for organizing the claim. It's been a lot of fun!
The Beginning's EndA "Get Group, Get Set, Go!" State-of-the-art D+D stir set in The Big Generic TownGet Ready:Next magic restored one of the New Lords of Hell, an Unseelie Gnome Peer of the realm decides to title side of the turmoil in the weak realm. Next the Immortals quiet disoriented, who apparition ending him?Get Set:The barriers between the worlds are back to regular, and magic is mellifluous back in vogue the weak realm. On the other hand with the new magics come new pressure. Sharply whilst repeated to The Town a Door opens in the Key Check, and out ladder Madoc Morfryn, Sovereign of the Unseelie Square, Peer of the realm of Hell, during red gothic face armor with a black bat winged swathe, and bearing a thin yearn sword. Madoc promptly claims The Town as part of his expanding people, and the hurry seat of the Wild Hunt.A little creatures, including a green dragon apparition come to the metropolitan to relinquish, and the metropolitan apparition be sluggishly misshapen by the fay and demons of the Wild Hunt in vogue a created duplicate of the Fay realm.Go!:Madoc is not distressed about open danger, as his Wild Hunt is wonderful and powerful. He isn't questioning in destroying The Town or its citizens either. He apparition cleanse the PCs as fine landed gentry, and be a magnet for them to his meeting.For instance the demons don't really caution about working with the fay, the fay revulsion working with the demons, and record do so at Madoc's self-control. On the whole the Wild Huntsman is immediately set aside in oppress about the affirm, and if set the crack apparition lead the Wild Hunt reluctant the demons.The Seelie Square dislikes the affirm as well, but due to Madoc's demons they're spontaneous to get knotty. The Caretaker at once has his hands full with demons.Defeating Madoc apparition progress the End of the day Pit to ruddiness brighter and brighter. The Caretaker apparition happen to salute the PCs back in vogue the Tell as the first of the New Immortals!Fundamental NPCs:Madoc Morfryn, Sovereign of the Unseelie Square, Peer of the realm of Hell (AC -5, HD 20, HP 160, Attacks: 2 Sword (2d8+8) or Wizard Alter (5, 5, 4, 3, 1) or Shove Blast (2d6+6+push+trip), Mood 12, Causes Fear/Awe, Immune to +2 guns (secure frosty soft)Wild Huntsman (AC -2, HD 17, Attacks: 1 Gore (2d4+9+stun) or Bow (4d4+5) or Druid Spells (4, 3, 3, 2, 1), Mood 12, Causes Frightfulness, Immune to +1 guns (secure frosty soft)Naive Dragon, HugeFay of the Wild Hunt (varies)Demons (varies)The populace of The Town (remarkably regular humans)

Source: asatru-religion.blogspot.com

Attempted Petrol Bombing Of Pennsylvania Spiritual Center

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, PENNSYLVANIA - Police are investigating an attempted petrol bombing of a metaphysical shop. On New Year's eve day, someone tossed a Molotov cocktail through the window of Shooting for the Moon Spiritual Development Center. Owner Kathy Brown said that she was on the second floor of the building when her dog's barking alerted her that something was wrong. This happened just after 9 am. When she went down to investigate, felt a cold breeze in her shop. That's when she saw that the window at the front of her store was broken. Laying on the floor was a bottle filled with liquid with a scorched wick. Realizing that what she saw was a petrol bomb, more commonly called a "Molotov cocktail," she immediately called police. Thankfully, the petrol bomb had failed to ignite. The only real damage was to the window. In a telephone interview, Brown told "The Wild Hunt", "Something extinguished that flame. There was protection, a Higher Power protected us." She said that she doesn't know if this was a hate crime or if it was just kids acting up on the holiday. Brown has owned and operated this holistic spiritual center and store in Hamilton Township for over 12 years. She has been at the same location for just over seven. The center doesn't cater to any specific religion and has as its mission: ".provide a place where people can grow and learn and expand their awareness and understanding of others. Education and knowledge is power. Fear is what you experience when you do not understand something or someone. By understanding another's Spirituality, you can link with that person to form a stronger bond, one that leads both individuals closer to the Divine." Brown said that she has always enjoyed the support of the local community of just over 8000 people nestled in the Poconos. "All positive, nothing but love and light," she added. As an example, she said that the local Lowe's lumber store donated a scrap piece of ply-board to cover the broken window until she could arrange for new glass to be installed. Wood covers the broken window at Shooting for the Moon [courtesy photo]So far police don't have any leads, but Brown is hopeful the person or persons will be caught, "I'm still trying to process this, why this happened. We are very much universal light. The Wild Hunt" will report updates as they are available.Send to Kindle

Credit: healing-magic.blogspot.com

Time To Give Back

UPDATE

The winners are:Sandi Crawford andPagan by Set upAbsorb email your get hold of information to me at autumnwindreno@aol.com and I will send you the color choices.
What I started this blog after in the wake of rendezvous I enjoy been welcomed to the online Pagan community in such a dear way. I enjoy play a part in blog parties, amalgamated challenges and enjoy tried to become a real aficionada of this group.I enjoy been delightful mend lucky too, unbeaten particular prizes from blogs that I quest and play a part in. So lucky that I really seek to grant back to the community that has welcomed me so amicably.Stuck-up are two of the lace butterfly masks that I enjoy ready this bearing in mind rendezvous. What's more of these were wrinkled and standard plenty of compliments. Amount out my picture at home to see the ruby one on me.I am giving not in a create Flounce Butterfly defender and a bushwhack item (moreover) to 2 lucky winners! All and sundry bang will be proficient to undertake the color of defender they seek from a inspection of 300 colors! Winners will be decide on on Speed 1st and the masks mailed by Speed 30th. Here are the rules:1) You essential quest me publicly and2) Support about the perk on your blog and bond back to this post That is it!For each one of the agree with you will get an extra entry:1) Track me on steal a look - @autumnwindreno - post at home to let me know you are a traditionalist2) about the perk, bond to this post in your cheep 3) Fellow worker me "autumnwindreno" on facebook - next post at home that you did :) 4) Possess a friend quest me publicly - enjoy them send me a murder that you sent them my way so I grant you credit!So that is up to 5 entries!As you may enjoy read a few weeks ago, I am feat not permitted to open my Magickal Etsy shop "Less than the Witch's Moon" on Speed 1st and to hang loose that I will be take steps added giveaways in the expound approaching. I can't begin to tell you how magnificent it has been to obtain out of the broom storeroom and wearing the Pagan community. Thank you for making me deem adjacent I am a part of this eye-catching world massive web community!Saintly Be!Autumnwind

Apple Candleholders

Apple candleholders are perfect for Lammas, Mabon and even Samhain. They are a wonderful way to decorate your altar for the Sabbats. They are very easy to make. I have made these on several occasions with Olivia and she has always had fun helping so this is definitely a good activity for a child.

You need: apples, some lemon juice and candles. You can use votive candles or tapered but if you use tapered, make sure they are not too tall. I usually go with 2-4"

What to do:

* Rinse and dry apples

* Stand the apple up on its bottom, and use a knife or a corer to make a hole in the top where the stem is located - go about half way down and make sure to widen the hold so it's the same width as your candle

* Pour some lemon juice into the hole and allow it to sit for ten minutes - the lemon juice can help prevent the apple from browning and softening too quickly
* After 10 minutes, pour out the lemon juice, dry out the hole, and insert a sprig of fresh herb - I've used rosemary and basil

* Add the candle. You can drip some wax inside the apple before inserting the candle to make sure the candle stays secure

Credit: witchcraftforall.blogspot.com

Possessed People Can Astral Projection Cause Possession

Solar outcropping is a metaphysical crank. Top figure astral outcropping experts last departure the physical form via an astral form is safe. The strategic issue with astral outcropping is whether departure the physical form can let know category to demonic goods. Are turbulent category byzantine in astral projection?

In the past we are fading an astral form, for that reason we are fading a security variety to fend off spirits. Ghosts and demon spirits matter unprotected humans. Solar outcropping resembles see-through dreaming for instance the two acts request activating dream analyze to move about the astral point and dream world, each.

Mad category lose ruling of their mental abilities. They no longer be the satisfactory ethics which make them material. Except, current are superstitious astral projectors who use candles and prayers to protect their physical form.

Can astral outcropping jump a whoop it up to become possessed? Top figure astral outcropping experts stand for stir up an out of form take part in is safe. Nonetheless, science views astral outcropping as an act of science fantasy. Can astral outcropping open unpredictable doors to demonic possession?

We impulse never really know until we round evil. Anxiously, astral outcropping is safe and goods is science fantasy. But the way we see it, astral outcropping and demonic goods are as real as religion. If you take in in God, for that reason you maintain to take in in astral outcropping and demonic goods.

The facts are set in stone. Solar outcropping and demonic goods maintain a real tie. Trust for reading.



Reference: magical-poetry.blogspot.com

Herman Witsius On Self Denial

1. What is the first lesson that we must learn in the school of Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ Himself teaches us: "If anyone desires to follow Me, let Him deny himself."

2. What does "self-denial" mean? Self-denial in general includes three things. First, we should not imagine ourselves to be worthy at all of the grace of God or salvation. Second, we should recognize our inability to do any spiritual good. Third, we should renounce our own wills and desires and submit them in all things to the will of God.

3. Must we consider ourselves as being completely unworthy of salvation? Yes. We should always recognize that God could have thrown us into hell from the very moment of our conception, since from that very moment we were by nature children of wrath on account of original sin. And since that time, we have committed many actual sins for which God could have cut the cord of our life and brought us into judgment. According to the law of God and the threats that are attached to it, whoever violates a single law even once merits the loss of eternal life. How much more have we merited it, since we have offended God a thousand times more?

4. Must we also consider ourselves completely unworthy of the grace of God? Just as we consider ourselves unworthy of salvation, we ought to think of ourselves as completely unworthy of the gifts and grace of God because we ruin and corrupt everything that goes through our hands. We are unworthy to hear the Gospel of peace because we defile the pure Word of God as soon as we receive it in our impure hearts. We are unworthy to live among Christians; on the contrary, we are worthy of being excluded from the society of Christians so that we would no longer scandalize any Christian by our evil actions and since we are not able to edify them by any good example. We should regard ourselves as unworthy of absolutely any physical blessing, even of a little piece of bread or a glass of cold water.

5. What should the condition of our hearts be in relationship to this unworthiness that we find in ourselves? It is not enough for us to have a simple knowledge of it and to speak of it with little interest as we would news from a far away country. Rather, it should powerfully penetrate our hearts, and we should feel a profound grief over it. When we look up into heaven, we should sigh that it is a place from which are banished by our own fault. We should consider hell to be a place that has opened its mouth wide in order to swallow us up. We should think of the devil as an enemy who desires us and powerfully pursues us from hell. All this should lead us to sigh, weep, cry, and lament without allowing any restoration of peace to our souls until we are assured by solid reasons that God has imputed to us the merit of Jesus Christ so that for the love of Christ and by His pure grace we can be esteemed worthy of eternal life.

6. But doesn't this sort of talk lead man to despair? There is a despair that is good and praiseworthy. Good despair is a despair man has of himself and of his own ability to do anything leading in the direction of salvation. This is the despair that Jesus Christ produced by His Word and Spirit in the hearts of His disciples when they said: "Then, who can be saved?" Insofar as a man stops in himself, he finds nothing that is not worthy of condemnation and thus nothing that would not give place to a holy despair. But he must by this holy despair be pushed toward Jesus Christ so that, being found in Christ, he might never despair of the grace of God.

7. But can't someone be overly distressed and worried about his own spiritual misery? We can distinguish people by their misery, distresses, and the greatness of their distress. Following these different categories, we can answer the question in different ways. Man can be considered either in his miserable natural estate and insofar as he is not yet actually reconciled with God through Jesus Christ, or he can be considered as already in grace and having received the redemption of Jesus Christ by faith.

One can also consider the misery of man either uniquely in itself, separated from the grace of God or in comparison with this grace.

One can also consider distress either as sorrow over sin or as a natural effect of reason or the understanding. It can also be considered as being found only in the rational soul of man or as a sadness that truly affects the soul and powerfully moves the emotions.

Finally, we can distinguish the greatness of the distress either in relation to violence or in relation to duration and continuation.

After having made these distinctions, I respond as follows.

A man who still remains in his misery and who is not yet reconciled with God through faith in Jesus Christ, when he sees his misery in itself and reflects on his own and all creature's inability to deliver him, cannot be too distressed at his misery whether in the understanding or in the emotions. He should not stop the course of this distress, at least in the relationship to its direction, until he finds himself reconciled with God through Jesus Christ. The reason is that the misery of this man is as great as one could possibly conceive and (in its own manner) infinite. Thus, it is reasonable that his sadness might be proportional to the greatness of his misery.

But a man who is already in a state of grace can have too much of a feeling of his misery when he compares that misery with the grace of God and thinks that it could not or should not be taken away and says that his sins are too great to be pardoned (as Cain said). He can also be swallowed up by too much sadness and become demoralized in such away that the strength of the body and the soul collapse under the weight of it so that he becomes incapable by this of serving his God who wants not just to be served but to be served with joy. Finally, this distress can last too long when the believer looks too often and too long at his misery in order to be distressed by it and does not give enough attention to the goodness of God so that he might rejoice in it and be consoled by it.

8. Must we also recognize ourselves to be totally without strength for and incapable of any spiritual good? Yes, for when we consider ourselves in and of ourselves, we cannot do any good. We are not capable of ourselves of having any good thought. And whatever good works that we do when we are animated and strengthened by the Spirit of God, the glory for those works does not go to us but to God. And whenever the devil or our flesh want to use the occasion of these good works to hurl us into pride, we must always remember what the Apostle says, "Yet not I but the grace of God that is in me."

9. But in doing that, don't we humble ourselves too much in order to make all the more of the honor of God by a mere appearance of humility? We cannot humble ourselves too much in spiritual matters. And whatever humility there may be, we cannot fear that it will be too much for Jesus Christ. Can we put ourselves lower than nothing? However, that's what the Apostle does to us. He says, "If anyone imagines himself to be something when he is nothing, such a man deludes himself." We cannot take away from man an understanding and reason and a will accompanied with intelligence which loves or hates something in consequence of the judgment that the understanding pronounces on the subject. But there is nothing but the natural in that. We cannot deny that a man cannot by custom, education, or other considerations have in some way a morally good conduct and perform externally some of the duties of Religion without the special cooperation of the grace of God. But to do some spiritual good or perform external duties in a spiritual manner is what a man cannot do at all, and man cannot humble himself too much for this inability.

Source: Johannes Weslianus, "Herman Witsius on Self-Denial".

Fordicalia Day Of Tellus Mater

COLOR: "Green"

ELEMENT: "Earth"

OFFERING: "Go outside the community and find land to clean up."

DAILY MEAL: "Vegetarian"

ALTAR: Upon a green cloth place several large stones of different sorts, some in a clay bowl of water; a clay bowl of salt, a loaf of thick, nourishing black bread with herbs and vegetable gratings in it, a chalice of herbal tea, boughs of greenery, and four green candles.

INVOCATION TO TELLUS MATER

Our Mother lies beneath our feetAnd holds up our every step.There is nowhere that we can walkWhere She does not lie beneath us.There is nothing that we can eatThat will nourish our bodies,Those bodies that are made from Her clay,That does not come from HerAnd Her other children.We are born of HerAs we are born of woman,Each and every one of us.No matter who we are,No matter where we walk,No matter what we think,We are still Her children.Hail, Mother of All Things!Hail, bounteous one, giver of life,And taker of life back into your breast.From you we all proceedAnd to you we shall all return.

CHANT: "The Earth is our mother, we must take care of her,"The Earth is our mother, we must take care of her,"Hey and a ho and a ho na na"Hey and a ho and a ho na na"

(All join hands while chanting and move in a spiral dance around the room, four times in and out. Then the bread and tea is passed around. It is important that much work be done on the Earth today, both in and out of the community's land.)

Found in: Pagan Book of Hours

Credit: magic-and-spells.blogspot.com

St Monica A Mother Prayer Answered

Anyone who's been parent to a strong-willed child, particularly a teenager or young adult, readily admires and appreciates a woman like St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine of Hippo.

Augustine was one of those kids whom, from the time he was a baby, you could tell was headed for trouble. He's quite candid about it all in his famous "Confessions": "...I wished to make my wants known to those who could satisfy them. Yet I could not do so...So I tossed my limbs about and uttered sounds...When they would not obey me, either because they did not understand or because it would be harmful, I grew angry at older ones who were not subject to me and at children for not waiting on me, and took it out on them by crying..." Of his boyhood he says: "...I did not love study and hated to be driven to it...I would have learned nothing unless forced to it...I detested the Greek language...The first stages of our education, when we learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, I considered no less a burden and punishment than all the Greek courses..."

By age sixteen Augustine had discovered girls: "...Where was I in that sixteenth year of my body's age?...the mad"ness of lust, licensed by human shamelessness...took me completely under its scepter, and I clutched it with both hands..." Always competitive, Augustine and his friends tried to outdo each other: "...I ran headlong with such great blindness that I was ashamed to be remiss in vice in the midst of my comrades...I pretended that I had done what I had not done...See with what companions I ran about the streets...I willed to commit theft, and I did so, not because I was driven to it by any need... For I stole a thing of which I had plenty of my own and of much better quality...In a garden nearby...there was a pear tree, loaded with fruit that was desirable neither in appearance nor in taste. Late one night -- to which hour, according to our pestilential custom, we had kept up our street games -- a group of very bad youngsters set out to shake down and rob this tree...we did this to do what pleased us for the reason that it was forbidden..."

Amazingly, Augustine managed to finish his schooling and ended up as a professor in Carthage: a sort of 4th century "yuppie", engaged in philosophical discussion and teaching others by day; carousing, enjoying adult theater shows, and carrying on numerous sexual liaisons by night. So brazen that he admits to God: "...Even during the celebration of Your mysteries, within the walls of Your church, I dared to desire and to arrange an affair for procuring the fruit of death..." But Augustine was miserable, unhappy, almost despairing, intellectually and spiritually confused. One can feel the anguish in his cry to God: "Give me chastity and continence, but not yet!"

Through all these early years the one person who stood by him, trying over and over to get him on the straight-and-narrow, was Monica, although in the "Confessions" she comes in for her share of parental criticism by Augustine. But her heart was in the right place, as, frankly, was Augustine's -- even in the midst of his debauchery and intellectual error. More than anything, Monica, herself a devout Catholic, wanted her son to find Christ. Regarding this, in Book 3 of the "Confessions", Augustine tells of a dream which Monica had. She saw herself standing on a wooden measuring rod, symbolizing the rule of faith. Though heavily grieving, she saw a young man coming towards her -- splendid, joyful, and smiling. Asking her why she was so sad and was crying, she responded that it was because she perceived Augustine as being spiritually lost. The young man told her that she could rest secure: he "instructed her that she should attend and see that where she was, there was I also..." When Monica looked again, Augustine was there, standing on the same measuring rod. Relating all this later to Augustine, he insisted that she'd got it wrong; that it really meant that she shouldn't despair of becoming what he already was. "...'No!"'" she said. 'It was not said to me, 'Where he is, there also are you,' but 'Where you are, there also is he."'"

It took several more years for Augustine to work his way through to the miracle of conversion. In the meantime, Monica went to Ambrose, the great bishop of Milan, and begged him to talk to Augustine. She knew that Ambrose had the expertise and the academic knowledge to refute Augustine's Manichean beliefs. Ambrose, experienced as he was, knew that that approach would come to naught. Augustine, he said, was "lacking in docility", and would be closed to Ambrose's arguments. Essentially, Ambrose concluded that "All we can do is pray." Well, Monica wasn't buying that, although she'd done a whole lot of praying over the past 30 some years! Augustine observes: "...she still would not keep quiet, but by her entreaties and flowing tears urged" [Ambrose] "all the more to see me and discuss matters with me..." He observes further that Ambrose "...became a little vexed". He told her: "Go away from me now. As you live, it is impossible that the son of such tears should perish..."

Ambrose was dead-on right. On Easter Sunday, 387, Augustine was bathed in the waters of Baptism. Not only him, but also his friend, Alypius, and, more importantly, his own fourteen year old son, Adeodatus, "gift from God", the fruit of his fianc'e's and his relationship. This unnamed woman, whom Augustine admits to loving, and for whom he was willing to wait, was two years too young for them to be legally married, and so she was returned to Africa, never to be seen again. Sadly, Adeodatus died three years later, at age 17, and in the fall of 387, not even a year after they'd been baptized, Augustine's beloved mother, Monica, died. In Augustine's own words: "On the ninth day, then, of her sickness, and in the fifty-sixth year of her age, and in the thirty-third of mine, that religious and holy soul was freed from the body."

So much "loss", but because of Monica's tears, because of her refusal to take "No" for an answer, so incredibly much "gain". "...you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy...and no one will take your joy from you." (John 16:20 ">

Augustine recounts that once, as he and Monica were conversing at the window, she said, "What do I here any longer?" He goes on to say: "I heard afterwards also, that when we were at Ostia, she with a mother's confidence, when I was absent, one day discoursed with certain of my friends about the contempt of this life, and the blessing of death: and when they were amazed at such courage which You had given to a woman, and asked, 'Whether she were not afraid to leave her body so far from her own city?' she replied, 'Nothing is far to God; nor was it to be feared lest at the end of the world, God should not recognize whence He were to raise me up.'"

What truly mattered to St. Monica was that God had heard her insistent years-long prayer, as she told Augustine not long before she died: "...[M]y mother said, 'Son, for my own part I have no further delight in any thing in this life. What I do here any longer, and for what I am here, I know not, now that my hopes in this world are accomplished. One thing there was for which I desired to linger for a while in this life, that I might see you a Catholic Christian before I died. My God has done this for me more abundantly, that I should now see you withal, despising earthly happiness, become His servant: what do I here?'"

Source: pagan-magic.blogspot.com