Andrew Cort's Blog, page 38
September 19, 2011
THE RETURN OF THE REBEL ANGELS: THE URANTIA MYSTERIES AND THE COMING OF THE LIGHT
by Thomas Wyllie (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a copy of The Return of the Rebel Angels. Simply leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)
Tweet
Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
Two hundred millennia ago, Thomas Wyllie wrote in an earlier book, thirty-seven planets, including Earth, were quarantined from the rest of the Multiverse to quell the spread of Lucifer's rebellion. Now the fallen angels have been forgiven and Earth's relationship with the Multiverse is being restored, precipitating a great transformation of consciousness as we reconnect with angelic guides, extraterrestrial beings, and our spiritual heritage as sacred vessels for God's presence.
Across this vast multi-dimensional multi-temporal landscape, Wyllie leads us on a joyous journey toward a glorious transcendent future. Armageddon has been canceled – it's been replaced with gentleness, positivity, and wonder.
Wyllie's eloquent writing is story-telling at its best. But more importantly, he opens our minds, dissolves the shadows, brings the subtle realms to life, and makes his benevolent and optimistic conclusions seem far more than plausible.
Here is his Preface. ***** Whispers of the Soul
Coming of age in the 1960s and growing up in London, it was all too conceivable to anyone with any imagination that an atomic holocaust seemed inevitable. By the late seventies, the global situation, if anything, was even more threatening. Yet, contrary to our '60s doomsday outlook, we hadn't destroyed ourselves thus far. Perhaps there was some hope after all. Was the planet transforming in front of our noses in ways we didn't understand? Were our heads so firmly stuck in the sand of our busy lives that we were missing what was really going on? Given the superpower belligerence, the devastating effect of atomic and hydrogen weapons, and Murphy's Law, our continuing survival seemed so counterintuitive to me that it led me on a thirty-year exploration of why this might be so.
Thus it was that, in 1978, I started keeping notes for books I intended to write about my quest. I now have over seventy large black books filled with notes, essays, drawings, and photos, charting both significant personal changes and general changes on the planet since that time. This book, The Return of the Rebel Angels, is, like the first two in this series, highly personal. For this reason I have also included a number of my graphics—images that emerged as I sought to assimilate the spiritual impact of some of the adventures related herein.
During the course of my exploration, it was becoming sadly obvious that straight scientists in general had no real solutions for what was happening on the planet, so I felt more encouraged to follow the subtle whispers of my soul. I have become gradually aware over this three-decade journey that the frequency-domain we think of as consensus reality can be more constructively understood as a kindergarten. It's a domain in which we have the opportunity to explore the extremes of human behavior and belief systems, and to experience their consequences, positive or negative. It's not a "world that needs to be saved," it's a playpen created for individual souls to wake up within. It's a chance to choose love over fear, truth over lies, courage over timidity, forgiveness over resentment, mercy over cruelty; individual by individual, moment by moment.
What we are witnessing now are the consequences of many tens of thousands of years of individual human choices, all converging at the same time, in what appears to be an irrevocable descent into a spiral of human race at this point—many of them originally caused by the misuse of technology or its unintended consequences—that, in looking at the global situation from a purely human viewpoint, it can only get progressively worse.
However, this would be missing half the story. When our eyes are opened to the reality of a vast and populated Multiverse, inhabited by extraterrestrial entities not so dissimilar to us, and organized from the subtle planes by countless celestial beings, the picture becomes very different indeed. We're no longer a cosmic accident, alone and shivering in the cosmic night and utterly dependent on our own devices to work our way out of a global situation that was rigged from the start. In the course of my travels and encounters I've also come to understand there are many of us who have chosen to incarnate at this crucial time in human history and also that we've been tirelessly trained for the tasks ahead.
Since I am writing from within a Judeo-Christian culture and using the symbols and cosmology of this tradition, I'm inclined to think of the coming transformation as focusing around the return of Christ Michael. I use The Urantia Book's term "Christ Michael" in my work since it accords the being we know as Jesus Christ, or Joshua ben Joseph, his formal Multiverse title. So, if I place more emphasis on the return of Christ Michael to the planet of his incarnation it's because he's known to have promised it, and because that is the spiritual form in which he'll most likely be recognized in the West.
In another culture the event might be perceived in terms of the return of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent; or the appearance of the thirteenth Imam; or the Zoroastrian Saoshyant; or the final moments of the Kali Yuga. Many ancient indigenous cultures also point to this time as being the end of an era, holding prophecies that their most revered Elders will return.
Whether Maitreya or Messiah, and whenever this event does occur, of one thing I'm certain: every human being present on the planet—to the extent that they are able to integrate the truly mysterious into their lives—will have the chance to fully know and to fully understand what is happening.
When I was writing the first book in this series, about a quarter of the way through, I was given the choice by an angel who was helping me: either take dictation and channel the material directly from the angels, or work with the angels collaboratively to structure the narrative. Enjoying the challenge, I chose the latter and found I took easily to working cooperatively, allowing angelic wisdom to come through whenever required. With the second book this relationship deepened and I could feel a palpably warm shiver in my auric field whenever Zophiel—one of the angels assigned to work with me who was standing and looking over my shoulder while I worked— approved of something I had written.
The Return of the Rebel Angels, the third book in the series, focuses on some of the people I've encountered and the events in which I've participated over the last thirty years. All of these people, in different ways, have had their dealings with higher intelligence. Some are working with dolphins, others have had profound and complex extraterrestrial encounters, and yet others have pointed to long-term relationships with specific groups of non-human beings.
Among these beings are the midwayers, whom I later came to call the Beings of the Violet Flame (BVF), to make a clear differentiation between their previous activities and their current manifestation. It's this group of beings—midwayers because the spectrum of frequencies within which they exist lies between human and angel—who are closest to humans in vibrational frequency. All of them are working in the background to facilitate posted to a planet for an extremely long time—some have served on this world continuously for half-a-million years—they could be considered to be the true planetary citizens.
And yet despite my understanding of The Urantia Book and my personal beliefs around it, I'm personally still no wiser as to what to expect on the Winter Solstice of 2012. At this point, I trust my angels enough to understand that if I was Supposed to know, I would have been told. What I have been permitted in glimpses over the years, however, has been reassuring and leads me to believe we are all in for the most wonderful surprise, however it manifests.
I don't believe this event is going to be the end of the world, although it will surely be the end of the world as we've known it. There'll be earthquakes and floods, wildfires and volcanic eruptions, as Earth seeks to balance herself, yet my intuition constantly reassures me the real transition will be "so gentle you'll barely notice it," as I've been told by an angel. Part of this "knowing" has led me to the intuitive conviction that humanity is not going to be able to survive without a lot of help from our "friends."
To know that it is love that permeates the Multiverse; to realize how profoundly each of us is cared for; to understand the purpose of life's adventure; to know the indwelling God; to be aware of the significance of this seemingly insignificant little world; all this suggests that however and whenever this massive change in consciousness occurs, it is going to be of the most profound nature.
And I believe it will be remembered in the annals of the galactic universities as the time of the great transformation of planet Earth.
*****
Timothy Wyllie is a writer, artist, and musician who began specializing in the study of nonhuman intelligences, such as angels and dolphins, after a near-death experience in 1973. The author of Ask Your Angels; Dolphins, ETs & Angels; Adventures Among Spiritual Intelligences; Love, Sex, Fear, Death; and The Helianx Proposition, he lives in Mountainair, New Mexico.
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Thomas is offering a Free Copy of RETURN OF THE REBEL ANGELS to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Thomas' book from Amazon:
Tweet
Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
Two hundred millennia ago, Thomas Wyllie wrote in an earlier book, thirty-seven planets, including Earth, were quarantined from the rest of the Multiverse to quell the spread of Lucifer's rebellion. Now the fallen angels have been forgiven and Earth's relationship with the Multiverse is being restored, precipitating a great transformation of consciousness as we reconnect with angelic guides, extraterrestrial beings, and our spiritual heritage as sacred vessels for God's presence. Across this vast multi-dimensional multi-temporal landscape, Wyllie leads us on a joyous journey toward a glorious transcendent future. Armageddon has been canceled – it's been replaced with gentleness, positivity, and wonder.
Wyllie's eloquent writing is story-telling at its best. But more importantly, he opens our minds, dissolves the shadows, brings the subtle realms to life, and makes his benevolent and optimistic conclusions seem far more than plausible.
Here is his Preface. ***** Whispers of the Soul
Coming of age in the 1960s and growing up in London, it was all too conceivable to anyone with any imagination that an atomic holocaust seemed inevitable. By the late seventies, the global situation, if anything, was even more threatening. Yet, contrary to our '60s doomsday outlook, we hadn't destroyed ourselves thus far. Perhaps there was some hope after all. Was the planet transforming in front of our noses in ways we didn't understand? Were our heads so firmly stuck in the sand of our busy lives that we were missing what was really going on? Given the superpower belligerence, the devastating effect of atomic and hydrogen weapons, and Murphy's Law, our continuing survival seemed so counterintuitive to me that it led me on a thirty-year exploration of why this might be so.Thus it was that, in 1978, I started keeping notes for books I intended to write about my quest. I now have over seventy large black books filled with notes, essays, drawings, and photos, charting both significant personal changes and general changes on the planet since that time. This book, The Return of the Rebel Angels, is, like the first two in this series, highly personal. For this reason I have also included a number of my graphics—images that emerged as I sought to assimilate the spiritual impact of some of the adventures related herein.
During the course of my exploration, it was becoming sadly obvious that straight scientists in general had no real solutions for what was happening on the planet, so I felt more encouraged to follow the subtle whispers of my soul. I have become gradually aware over this three-decade journey that the frequency-domain we think of as consensus reality can be more constructively understood as a kindergarten. It's a domain in which we have the opportunity to explore the extremes of human behavior and belief systems, and to experience their consequences, positive or negative. It's not a "world that needs to be saved," it's a playpen created for individual souls to wake up within. It's a chance to choose love over fear, truth over lies, courage over timidity, forgiveness over resentment, mercy over cruelty; individual by individual, moment by moment.What we are witnessing now are the consequences of many tens of thousands of years of individual human choices, all converging at the same time, in what appears to be an irrevocable descent into a spiral of human race at this point—many of them originally caused by the misuse of technology or its unintended consequences—that, in looking at the global situation from a purely human viewpoint, it can only get progressively worse.
However, this would be missing half the story. When our eyes are opened to the reality of a vast and populated Multiverse, inhabited by extraterrestrial entities not so dissimilar to us, and organized from the subtle planes by countless celestial beings, the picture becomes very different indeed. We're no longer a cosmic accident, alone and shivering in the cosmic night and utterly dependent on our own devices to work our way out of a global situation that was rigged from the start. In the course of my travels and encounters I've also come to understand there are many of us who have chosen to incarnate at this crucial time in human history and also that we've been tirelessly trained for the tasks ahead.
Since I am writing from within a Judeo-Christian culture and using the symbols and cosmology of this tradition, I'm inclined to think of the coming transformation as focusing around the return of Christ Michael. I use The Urantia Book's term "Christ Michael" in my work since it accords the being we know as Jesus Christ, or Joshua ben Joseph, his formal Multiverse title. So, if I place more emphasis on the return of Christ Michael to the planet of his incarnation it's because he's known to have promised it, and because that is the spiritual form in which he'll most likely be recognized in the West. In another culture the event might be perceived in terms of the return of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent; or the appearance of the thirteenth Imam; or the Zoroastrian Saoshyant; or the final moments of the Kali Yuga. Many ancient indigenous cultures also point to this time as being the end of an era, holding prophecies that their most revered Elders will return.
Whether Maitreya or Messiah, and whenever this event does occur, of one thing I'm certain: every human being present on the planet—to the extent that they are able to integrate the truly mysterious into their lives—will have the chance to fully know and to fully understand what is happening.
When I was writing the first book in this series, about a quarter of the way through, I was given the choice by an angel who was helping me: either take dictation and channel the material directly from the angels, or work with the angels collaboratively to structure the narrative. Enjoying the challenge, I chose the latter and found I took easily to working cooperatively, allowing angelic wisdom to come through whenever required. With the second book this relationship deepened and I could feel a palpably warm shiver in my auric field whenever Zophiel—one of the angels assigned to work with me who was standing and looking over my shoulder while I worked— approved of something I had written.The Return of the Rebel Angels, the third book in the series, focuses on some of the people I've encountered and the events in which I've participated over the last thirty years. All of these people, in different ways, have had their dealings with higher intelligence. Some are working with dolphins, others have had profound and complex extraterrestrial encounters, and yet others have pointed to long-term relationships with specific groups of non-human beings.
Among these beings are the midwayers, whom I later came to call the Beings of the Violet Flame (BVF), to make a clear differentiation between their previous activities and their current manifestation. It's this group of beings—midwayers because the spectrum of frequencies within which they exist lies between human and angel—who are closest to humans in vibrational frequency. All of them are working in the background to facilitate posted to a planet for an extremely long time—some have served on this world continuously for half-a-million years—they could be considered to be the true planetary citizens.
And yet despite my understanding of The Urantia Book and my personal beliefs around it, I'm personally still no wiser as to what to expect on the Winter Solstice of 2012. At this point, I trust my angels enough to understand that if I was Supposed to know, I would have been told. What I have been permitted in glimpses over the years, however, has been reassuring and leads me to believe we are all in for the most wonderful surprise, however it manifests.I don't believe this event is going to be the end of the world, although it will surely be the end of the world as we've known it. There'll be earthquakes and floods, wildfires and volcanic eruptions, as Earth seeks to balance herself, yet my intuition constantly reassures me the real transition will be "so gentle you'll barely notice it," as I've been told by an angel. Part of this "knowing" has led me to the intuitive conviction that humanity is not going to be able to survive without a lot of help from our "friends."
To know that it is love that permeates the Multiverse; to realize how profoundly each of us is cared for; to understand the purpose of life's adventure; to know the indwelling God; to be aware of the significance of this seemingly insignificant little world; all this suggests that however and whenever this massive change in consciousness occurs, it is going to be of the most profound nature.And I believe it will be remembered in the annals of the galactic universities as the time of the great transformation of planet Earth.
*****
Timothy Wyllie is a writer, artist, and musician who began specializing in the study of nonhuman intelligences, such as angels and dolphins, after a near-death experience in 1973. The author of Ask Your Angels; Dolphins, ETs & Angels; Adventures Among Spiritual Intelligences; Love, Sex, Fear, Death; and The Helianx Proposition, he lives in Mountainair, New Mexico.TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Thomas is offering a Free Copy of RETURN OF THE REBEL ANGELS to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Thomas' book from Amazon:
September 18, 2011
PLANETARY HEALING: SPIRIT MEDICINE FOR GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION
by Nicki Scully and Mark Hallert (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a Copy of Planetary Healing. Leave a
COMMENT
to enter. See details below)
Tweet
Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
In Planetary Healing , Nicki Scully and Mark Hallert show us how to get beyond the feeling of being overwhelmed and helpless in the face of so many massive modern-day crises. They show us how we can make a positive difference in the world by healing ourselves, each other, and the planet, and they show us how we can participate practically and usefully in the inexorable movement toward a coming Golden Age.
Filled with passion, effective strategies, as well as wonderful story-telling, their book gives us a Shamanic view of Chernobyl, 9-11, the BP oil spill, and other natural and man-made disasters, and then goes on to show us how we can use the tools of Shamanism to heal ourselves and the environment by transforming consciousness at the deepest levels – the only real path to genuine change. As Joan Borysenko has said, "In this unprecedented time of global chaos and change, Planetary Healing taps in to a whole new level of mind. The brilliant shamanic journeys in these pages connect the reader with the courage, compassion, and creativity so needed to birth a new world that works for us all."
The Excerpt below is from the book's Preface.
***
We are living on a planet in crisis. Never before in recorded history have so many people walked the surface of Earth, and never before has the human species achieved the power to destroy life on such a scale as we have reached today. As more and more people awaken to the cocreative power we share with one another and with Spirit, the potential to become active participants in determining the future of our world grows with the overall population. The potency of our thoughts, intentions, and actions exponentially increases as people in growing numbers consciously combine forces—we can now redirect and reinvent our evolutionary trajectory.
Tools, practices, and processes in this book are designed to foster new ideas and increase creativity in solving problems. Our intention for our readers is nothing less than transformation at the deepest levels. The urgency we feel has motivated us to seek immediate and efficient solutions; and the primary arenas of our research include alchemy and shamanism. Both require deep commitment and presence and a willingness to step outside the comfort zone of more traditional doctrines such as science and religion.
Shamans have been crossing the veils between worlds for millennia. From their travels in altered states they bring back information, wisdom, and power for their communities. Their path is difficult, and rarely one that is intentionally sought. Rather, it is one to which a person is called, often after traumatic illness, visions, and dreams, struck by lightening, or having been recognized by the elders of their tribe or community. Their training is rigorous, and despite the fact that no religion or specific doctrine is associated with shamanism, true shamans live a life of service, almost always accompanied by a more ordinary way of making a living.
Most shamanic traditions that we have investigated include the use of sacraments, psychoactive plants used both as medicines and for communion with Spirit, or God. Many countries worldwide, in their attempt to solve a very real problem of drug abuse and dependency, have lumped all uses of mind-altering substances together, labeled them dangerous, and made them illegal. Consequently, most Western cultures have been generally dismissive of shamanism, and there has been little support for people who have spontaneous shamanic experiences or initiations with no appropriate guidance or interpretations available.
This book is not meant to be confused as a primer for shamans. We offer techniques that are shamanic in nature, requiring practitioners to travel and explore other dimensions during their ongoing quest for solutions. Readers are responsible for their own experience. Although we are experienced in, and have been inspired by our psychedelic explorations, it has always been our intention to bring to the world shamanic methods that do not require the use of mind-altering substances of any kind.
We are striving for a quantum leap in consciousness that allows access to information and wisdom from a higher source of intelligence than the collective stream that has brought us to this brink. Perhaps the invocation of a new "smart gene" is in order. It is our hope and desire that you will find inspiration in these pages. Life on planet Earth is a collaborative painting, ever a work in process. We are all artists who continue to contribute with our thoughts, our insights, and our love.
May your journeys bring you wisdom and joy, and may your efforts bring healing, peace, and harmony to our world.
***
Nicki Scully has been a healer and teacher of shamanism and the Egyptian mysteries since 1978. She lectures worldwide and specializes in spiritual tours to sacred sites in Egypt, Peru, and other countries. Nicki lives in Eugene, Oregon, where she maintains a comprehensive healing and shamanic consulting practice.
Mark Hallert is a visionary and cofounder, with Nicki Scully, of Shamanic Journeys, Ltd., which specializes in spiritual tours to sacred sites in Egypt and other countries. He livesin Eugene, Oregon, with Nicki.
Visit them at http://www.shamanicjourneys.com/
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Steve is offering a Free Copy of PLANETARY HEALINGto today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Planetary Healing from Amazon:
Tweet
Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
In Planetary Healing , Nicki Scully and Mark Hallert show us how to get beyond the feeling of being overwhelmed and helpless in the face of so many massive modern-day crises. They show us how we can make a positive difference in the world by healing ourselves, each other, and the planet, and they show us how we can participate practically and usefully in the inexorable movement toward a coming Golden Age.
Filled with passion, effective strategies, as well as wonderful story-telling, their book gives us a Shamanic view of Chernobyl, 9-11, the BP oil spill, and other natural and man-made disasters, and then goes on to show us how we can use the tools of Shamanism to heal ourselves and the environment by transforming consciousness at the deepest levels – the only real path to genuine change. As Joan Borysenko has said, "In this unprecedented time of global chaos and change, Planetary Healing taps in to a whole new level of mind. The brilliant shamanic journeys in these pages connect the reader with the courage, compassion, and creativity so needed to birth a new world that works for us all."
The Excerpt below is from the book's Preface.
***
We are living on a planet in crisis. Never before in recorded history have so many people walked the surface of Earth, and never before has the human species achieved the power to destroy life on such a scale as we have reached today. As more and more people awaken to the cocreative power we share with one another and with Spirit, the potential to become active participants in determining the future of our world grows with the overall population. The potency of our thoughts, intentions, and actions exponentially increases as people in growing numbers consciously combine forces—we can now redirect and reinvent our evolutionary trajectory.
Tools, practices, and processes in this book are designed to foster new ideas and increase creativity in solving problems. Our intention for our readers is nothing less than transformation at the deepest levels. The urgency we feel has motivated us to seek immediate and efficient solutions; and the primary arenas of our research include alchemy and shamanism. Both require deep commitment and presence and a willingness to step outside the comfort zone of more traditional doctrines such as science and religion.
Shamans have been crossing the veils between worlds for millennia. From their travels in altered states they bring back information, wisdom, and power for their communities. Their path is difficult, and rarely one that is intentionally sought. Rather, it is one to which a person is called, often after traumatic illness, visions, and dreams, struck by lightening, or having been recognized by the elders of their tribe or community. Their training is rigorous, and despite the fact that no religion or specific doctrine is associated with shamanism, true shamans live a life of service, almost always accompanied by a more ordinary way of making a living.
Most shamanic traditions that we have investigated include the use of sacraments, psychoactive plants used both as medicines and for communion with Spirit, or God. Many countries worldwide, in their attempt to solve a very real problem of drug abuse and dependency, have lumped all uses of mind-altering substances together, labeled them dangerous, and made them illegal. Consequently, most Western cultures have been generally dismissive of shamanism, and there has been little support for people who have spontaneous shamanic experiences or initiations with no appropriate guidance or interpretations available.
This book is not meant to be confused as a primer for shamans. We offer techniques that are shamanic in nature, requiring practitioners to travel and explore other dimensions during their ongoing quest for solutions. Readers are responsible for their own experience. Although we are experienced in, and have been inspired by our psychedelic explorations, it has always been our intention to bring to the world shamanic methods that do not require the use of mind-altering substances of any kind.
We are striving for a quantum leap in consciousness that allows access to information and wisdom from a higher source of intelligence than the collective stream that has brought us to this brink. Perhaps the invocation of a new "smart gene" is in order. It is our hope and desire that you will find inspiration in these pages. Life on planet Earth is a collaborative painting, ever a work in process. We are all artists who continue to contribute with our thoughts, our insights, and our love.
May your journeys bring you wisdom and joy, and may your efforts bring healing, peace, and harmony to our world.
***
Nicki Scully has been a healer and teacher of shamanism and the Egyptian mysteries since 1978. She lectures worldwide and specializes in spiritual tours to sacred sites in Egypt, Peru, and other countries. Nicki lives in Eugene, Oregon, where she maintains a comprehensive healing and shamanic consulting practice.Mark Hallert is a visionary and cofounder, with Nicki Scully, of Shamanic Journeys, Ltd., which specializes in spiritual tours to sacred sites in Egypt and other countries. He livesin Eugene, Oregon, with Nicki.
Visit them at http://www.shamanicjourneys.com/
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Steve is offering a Free Copy of PLANETARY HEALINGto today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Planetary Healing from Amazon:
September 17, 2011
STOP BACK PAIN – KISS YOUR BACK, NECK AND SCIATIC NERVE PAIN GOODBYE!
by Kathi Casey (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a Copy of Kathi's Book. Leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)
Tweet Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
In her practice and in her books Kathi Casey has synthesized a variety of health and spiritual strategies, eastern and western, for dealing with stress and pain. In Stop Back Pain she uses plain English to give a myriad of tips, tools, and explanations for keeping pain at bay and remaining healthy.
In today's Excerpt she talks about Stress, Relaxation, Breathing Exercises, and – the best medicine of all – Laughter.
Never underestimate the power of your emotions
I know many people who, without even realizing it, send all of their stress straight to their necks or lower backs. After a few weeks or months of holding on to stress in your back, or carrying that "stress backpack" in your neck and shoulders, it only takes getting out of bed in the morning or reaching over to pick up your socks to bring on a full blown episode of sciatic nerve pain.
In today's fast-paced world, it's difficult to keep up with all that we have to do for ourselves and others. My own children tease me about my cell phone, which they think is an antique. It's only two years old! I have a nephew in the fourth grade who is learning what I did in high school. The world is changing so fast that sometimes it makes my head spin. It also makes for a lot of stress and is causing a lot of stress-related illness, including chronic back pain.
You might wonder why stress has become an increasing problem in recent years. Well, Bill Joy, chief scientist at Sun Microsystems, has an interesting theory. Bill estimates that the speed of change is doubling exponentially every 18 months. And according to him, the speed of change will only increase in coming months, years and decades. Change is stressful, even good change. Think about getting married or having a baby—these are examples of good changes in our lives, yet they can certainly be stressful!
The problem today is that many people are constantly stressed out. In a chronic stress condition, your body continually releases stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. They've gotten a bad reputation in recent years, but these stress hormones serve a valid purpose. Cortisol's job in our body is to take glucose away from our other bodily systems and functions, and get it to our leg muscles quickly, so that we can run away very quickly from a ferocious animal on the prowl. That was very useful back in the day when a ferocious wild animal was the only danger we regularly faced—although I know many people who refer to their boss as a ferocious animal…. Another stress hormone, called adrenaline, increases our heart rate and elevates blood pressure so we have the stamina to run away quickly.
Cortisol slows down bodily functions that would be nonessential in a "fight or flight" situation, such as running away from a grizzly bear. It suppresses the immune system and the digestive process; slows the reproductive system; and affects mood, motivation and fear.
Currently, we find ourselves "stressing out" about losing our jobs or homes, or worrying about how on earth we are going to help our kids pay for college with tuition costs rising higher than Mt. Everest. Many are working in jobs that they don't even like, but feel stuck there for financial or other reasons, and the stress is literally killing them. Maybe you have the "boss from hell," and you're on edge all the time, wondering when the next explosion will hit and who will be blown apart by the verbal mortars.
All of this constant worrying triggers the release of stress hormones way too often, so that too much cortisol and adrenaline spin around the racetrack of the bloodstream, causing a big traffic jam! As a result, our immune and digestive systems, and even, sometimes, our brains, are deprived of glucose, a much needed fuel. After a while, these systems, and our brain cells, begin to deteriorate—sort of like that tiny rust spot on the side of your car that turns into a huge hole in a matter of weeks. This is how organs and glands become diseased. You are no longer at ease, and so your body becomes "dis-eased."
In fact, according to a 20-year study by Kaiser Permanente, 70 to 85 percent of all illnesses sending patients to their doctors were caused by stress—not just aggravated by stress, but caused by stress. Good grief!
I've seen too many people sitting at their desks and wearing their shoulders as earmuffs. Well, stay tuned folks: stiff necks, back and shoulder pain, and afternoon tension headaches to follow shortly!
And don't even get me going on shallow breathing! Well, okay, I have to at least mention it. The other problem with being under constant stress is that our breathing becomes shallower and shallower as the day progresses, depriving our organs, glands and muscles of oxygen—another vital requirement for healthy functioning.
Tomorrow at work, just for the heck of it, pay attention to your breathing and look in the mirror at where your shoulders rest before you start your day. Then stop at around 3:00 P.M. and check again. You may be surprised to find that you are taking shallow, little breaths from your rib cage instead of your diaphragm, and by 3:00 P.M., your shoulders are significantly higher. Shallow breathing causes your organs, glands and muscles, including those in your back, to become starved for oxygen. When stress causes you to hold tension in your lower back, or shoulders, and you're also doing shallow breathing, you are restricting blood flow to your back and neck, and restricting the amount of oxygen getting through to your body parts. No wonder you are in chronic pain!
The bad news is that stress is unavoidable. The good news is that while you can't avoid stress, you can change your reaction to it, improving your health in the process. It takes a little planning and effort, but it's definitely possible.
Here are my two best tips for stopping this vicious circle of nonstop stress dead in its tracks: 1) take conscious-breathing breaks and 2) laugh. They are so easy to use—you'll just love them!
Conscious-Breathing Breaks
Set your watch alarm or desktop calendar to go off once every hour. When the alarm goes off, stop what you're doing, sit tall in your chair, and close your eyes (so that you don't get distracted). Squeeze your shoulders up toward your ears and hold for a few seconds, then push them back as far as you can, arching your spine a little, and hold for a few seconds, and then let them rest in a normal position. Now inhale slowly, counting to five or six, and then exhale even more slowly, counting to seven or eight. Continue breathing slowly in this way for one to two minutes.
Everyone can devote at least a minute each hour to overall health. Why should you take these little breathing breaks?
1. This little conscious meditation on your breath will calm your mind and bring your breathing and heart rate back to normal.
2. Exhaling for longer than you inhale is a proven technique for lowering your blood pressure.
3. By sitting tall in your chair and stretching your shoulders a little, you restore circulation to your upper back and neck and improve your posture and ease of breathing as well.
4. These little conscious-breathing breaks circulate freshly oxygenated blood through your whole body, including your back, neck and shoulders, helping to restore proper functioning of organs, glands and muscles.
Now, wasn't that easy?
Clients have asked me if they need to keep up this pattern of hourly conscious-breathing breaks at home. Stopping to take a conscious-breathing break in the middle of driving your kids to soccer practice or while you're cooking dinner is not going to happen, so here is my recommendation: Once in the morning before you leave for work, and then once at night before you go to bed, stop and take a conscious-breathing break. Most people can fit these two breaks into their busy schedules, along with the hourly breaks at work. The powerful benefits you'll experience are worth the extra effort.
Even if you think you can't remember to take these breathing breaks, or can't fit your morning break in, leave yourself a note to complete your conscious-breathing break at night and make it a longer one, let's say five minutes' duration. This will definitely help you sleep better. And to help with your back pain, I recommend using the relaxation technique described in the next chapter for five minutes before you go to bed, while doing your evening conscious-breathing break. You'll sleep like a baby!
Laughter
Laughter is the best medicine. Truly, we all know that laughter makes us feel good. But aside from being fun, laughter has many health benefits, both mental and physical. A regular ten-minute laughter session can have a powerful impact on our overall health and well being. Laughter is gentle exercise for the lungs (which is really important for people who don't get regular aerobic exercise), and it enhances our core body workout. It also helps us fill our lungs and body with oxygen and clears breathing passages. Sustained laughter lowers your blood pressure, improves depression and mood, and boosts your immune system.
Laughing makes you feel energized and refreshed because it releases endorphins. It also releases T-cells, the little Pac-Men of the body that eat up bad cells, such as any cancerous ones. Norman Cousins' account of using laughter to heal his own terminal disease has inspired millions of people.18
Researchers at California's Lorna Linda University announced the following findings at the 121st Annual Meeting of the American Physiological Society: "Laughing lowers levels of three stress hormones (dopac, cortisol, epinephrine) by 38, 39 and 70 percent respectively. Even anticipating laughter had the positive effect of boosting beta endorphins and human growth hormone, which has a positive effect on immunity."
Stop those stress hormones from causing a car wreck in your body—laugh! When you feel yourself storing all that tension in your lower back, or if you feel the pressure building and those shoulders creeping up to your ears, take a laughing break! Read some funny jokes on the Internet or watch a funny movie or Comedy Central for a few minutes. Listen to an old Bill Cosby or Robin Williams recording while you're driving so you can avoid being stressed out by aggressive drivers. There are many ways to bring laughter back into your life, and I highly recommend making the effort. Not only will your back, neck and shoulders thank you, but your entire body will be happier!
Laughter also helps us relax, and relaxation is a major factor in relieving and preventing muscle pain. I've discovered many wonderful ways to relax muscles quickly, easing your back pain.
***********************
Kathi Casey is known as "The Healthy Boomer Body Expert". Her powerful yet easy techniques blend Western science with Eastern health practices for total mind/body programs that increase stamina and vitality, strengthen core body, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, and enhance the immune system. Kathi's tips include a simple breathing technique that helps you achieve a longer and more restful sleep and easy techniques to "fit" fitness into busy schedules. She is currently teaching, training, coaching and speaking all along the East Coast. She has also developed her own Golf Conditioning Program and her clients rave about the improvements in their game and their over-all strength! You can visit her website at www.kathicaseypilates.com and you can reach her at kcasey@boomer-living.com
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Kathi is offering a Free Copy of STOP BACK PAIN to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Kathi's book from Amazon:
Tweet Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
In her practice and in her books Kathi Casey has synthesized a variety of health and spiritual strategies, eastern and western, for dealing with stress and pain. In Stop Back Pain she uses plain English to give a myriad of tips, tools, and explanations for keeping pain at bay and remaining healthy.In today's Excerpt she talks about Stress, Relaxation, Breathing Exercises, and – the best medicine of all – Laughter.
Never underestimate the power of your emotions
I know many people who, without even realizing it, send all of their stress straight to their necks or lower backs. After a few weeks or months of holding on to stress in your back, or carrying that "stress backpack" in your neck and shoulders, it only takes getting out of bed in the morning or reaching over to pick up your socks to bring on a full blown episode of sciatic nerve pain.
In today's fast-paced world, it's difficult to keep up with all that we have to do for ourselves and others. My own children tease me about my cell phone, which they think is an antique. It's only two years old! I have a nephew in the fourth grade who is learning what I did in high school. The world is changing so fast that sometimes it makes my head spin. It also makes for a lot of stress and is causing a lot of stress-related illness, including chronic back pain.
You might wonder why stress has become an increasing problem in recent years. Well, Bill Joy, chief scientist at Sun Microsystems, has an interesting theory. Bill estimates that the speed of change is doubling exponentially every 18 months. And according to him, the speed of change will only increase in coming months, years and decades. Change is stressful, even good change. Think about getting married or having a baby—these are examples of good changes in our lives, yet they can certainly be stressful! The problem today is that many people are constantly stressed out. In a chronic stress condition, your body continually releases stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. They've gotten a bad reputation in recent years, but these stress hormones serve a valid purpose. Cortisol's job in our body is to take glucose away from our other bodily systems and functions, and get it to our leg muscles quickly, so that we can run away very quickly from a ferocious animal on the prowl. That was very useful back in the day when a ferocious wild animal was the only danger we regularly faced—although I know many people who refer to their boss as a ferocious animal…. Another stress hormone, called adrenaline, increases our heart rate and elevates blood pressure so we have the stamina to run away quickly.
Cortisol slows down bodily functions that would be nonessential in a "fight or flight" situation, such as running away from a grizzly bear. It suppresses the immune system and the digestive process; slows the reproductive system; and affects mood, motivation and fear.
Currently, we find ourselves "stressing out" about losing our jobs or homes, or worrying about how on earth we are going to help our kids pay for college with tuition costs rising higher than Mt. Everest. Many are working in jobs that they don't even like, but feel stuck there for financial or other reasons, and the stress is literally killing them. Maybe you have the "boss from hell," and you're on edge all the time, wondering when the next explosion will hit and who will be blown apart by the verbal mortars.
All of this constant worrying triggers the release of stress hormones way too often, so that too much cortisol and adrenaline spin around the racetrack of the bloodstream, causing a big traffic jam! As a result, our immune and digestive systems, and even, sometimes, our brains, are deprived of glucose, a much needed fuel. After a while, these systems, and our brain cells, begin to deteriorate—sort of like that tiny rust spot on the side of your car that turns into a huge hole in a matter of weeks. This is how organs and glands become diseased. You are no longer at ease, and so your body becomes "dis-eased."
In fact, according to a 20-year study by Kaiser Permanente, 70 to 85 percent of all illnesses sending patients to their doctors were caused by stress—not just aggravated by stress, but caused by stress. Good grief!
I've seen too many people sitting at their desks and wearing their shoulders as earmuffs. Well, stay tuned folks: stiff necks, back and shoulder pain, and afternoon tension headaches to follow shortly!
And don't even get me going on shallow breathing! Well, okay, I have to at least mention it. The other problem with being under constant stress is that our breathing becomes shallower and shallower as the day progresses, depriving our organs, glands and muscles of oxygen—another vital requirement for healthy functioning.
Tomorrow at work, just for the heck of it, pay attention to your breathing and look in the mirror at where your shoulders rest before you start your day. Then stop at around 3:00 P.M. and check again. You may be surprised to find that you are taking shallow, little breaths from your rib cage instead of your diaphragm, and by 3:00 P.M., your shoulders are significantly higher. Shallow breathing causes your organs, glands and muscles, including those in your back, to become starved for oxygen. When stress causes you to hold tension in your lower back, or shoulders, and you're also doing shallow breathing, you are restricting blood flow to your back and neck, and restricting the amount of oxygen getting through to your body parts. No wonder you are in chronic pain! The bad news is that stress is unavoidable. The good news is that while you can't avoid stress, you can change your reaction to it, improving your health in the process. It takes a little planning and effort, but it's definitely possible.
Here are my two best tips for stopping this vicious circle of nonstop stress dead in its tracks: 1) take conscious-breathing breaks and 2) laugh. They are so easy to use—you'll just love them!
Conscious-Breathing Breaks
Set your watch alarm or desktop calendar to go off once every hour. When the alarm goes off, stop what you're doing, sit tall in your chair, and close your eyes (so that you don't get distracted). Squeeze your shoulders up toward your ears and hold for a few seconds, then push them back as far as you can, arching your spine a little, and hold for a few seconds, and then let them rest in a normal position. Now inhale slowly, counting to five or six, and then exhale even more slowly, counting to seven or eight. Continue breathing slowly in this way for one to two minutes.
Everyone can devote at least a minute each hour to overall health. Why should you take these little breathing breaks?
1. This little conscious meditation on your breath will calm your mind and bring your breathing and heart rate back to normal.
2. Exhaling for longer than you inhale is a proven technique for lowering your blood pressure.
3. By sitting tall in your chair and stretching your shoulders a little, you restore circulation to your upper back and neck and improve your posture and ease of breathing as well.
4. These little conscious-breathing breaks circulate freshly oxygenated blood through your whole body, including your back, neck and shoulders, helping to restore proper functioning of organs, glands and muscles.
Now, wasn't that easy?
Clients have asked me if they need to keep up this pattern of hourly conscious-breathing breaks at home. Stopping to take a conscious-breathing break in the middle of driving your kids to soccer practice or while you're cooking dinner is not going to happen, so here is my recommendation: Once in the morning before you leave for work, and then once at night before you go to bed, stop and take a conscious-breathing break. Most people can fit these two breaks into their busy schedules, along with the hourly breaks at work. The powerful benefits you'll experience are worth the extra effort.
Even if you think you can't remember to take these breathing breaks, or can't fit your morning break in, leave yourself a note to complete your conscious-breathing break at night and make it a longer one, let's say five minutes' duration. This will definitely help you sleep better. And to help with your back pain, I recommend using the relaxation technique described in the next chapter for five minutes before you go to bed, while doing your evening conscious-breathing break. You'll sleep like a baby! Laughter
Laughter is the best medicine. Truly, we all know that laughter makes us feel good. But aside from being fun, laughter has many health benefits, both mental and physical. A regular ten-minute laughter session can have a powerful impact on our overall health and well being. Laughter is gentle exercise for the lungs (which is really important for people who don't get regular aerobic exercise), and it enhances our core body workout. It also helps us fill our lungs and body with oxygen and clears breathing passages. Sustained laughter lowers your blood pressure, improves depression and mood, and boosts your immune system.
Laughing makes you feel energized and refreshed because it releases endorphins. It also releases T-cells, the little Pac-Men of the body that eat up bad cells, such as any cancerous ones. Norman Cousins' account of using laughter to heal his own terminal disease has inspired millions of people.18
Researchers at California's Lorna Linda University announced the following findings at the 121st Annual Meeting of the American Physiological Society: "Laughing lowers levels of three stress hormones (dopac, cortisol, epinephrine) by 38, 39 and 70 percent respectively. Even anticipating laughter had the positive effect of boosting beta endorphins and human growth hormone, which has a positive effect on immunity."
Stop those stress hormones from causing a car wreck in your body—laugh! When you feel yourself storing all that tension in your lower back, or if you feel the pressure building and those shoulders creeping up to your ears, take a laughing break! Read some funny jokes on the Internet or watch a funny movie or Comedy Central for a few minutes. Listen to an old Bill Cosby or Robin Williams recording while you're driving so you can avoid being stressed out by aggressive drivers. There are many ways to bring laughter back into your life, and I highly recommend making the effort. Not only will your back, neck and shoulders thank you, but your entire body will be happier!
Laughter also helps us relax, and relaxation is a major factor in relieving and preventing muscle pain. I've discovered many wonderful ways to relax muscles quickly, easing your back pain.
***********************
Kathi Casey is known as "The Healthy Boomer Body Expert". Her powerful yet easy techniques blend Western science with Eastern health practices for total mind/body programs that increase stamina and vitality, strengthen core body, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, and enhance the immune system. Kathi's tips include a simple breathing technique that helps you achieve a longer and more restful sleep and easy techniques to "fit" fitness into busy schedules. She is currently teaching, training, coaching and speaking all along the East Coast. She has also developed her own Golf Conditioning Program and her clients rave about the improvements in their game and their over-all strength! You can visit her website at www.kathicaseypilates.com and you can reach her at kcasey@boomer-living.com TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Kathi is offering a Free Copy of STOP BACK PAIN to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Kathi's book from Amazon:
September 15, 2011
THE PURPOSE OF RELIGION: Enlightenment, Meaning and Love in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Symbology
by Andrew Cort (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a signed copy of another of Andrew's books, LOVE, WISDOM AND GOD: The Longing of the Western Soul, which is about Greek Mythology, Philosophy, and the Mysteries . Simply leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)
Tweet
Andrew Cort's Mini-Preview:
I can't very well review my own book (though I would be most appreciative if some of you would!), but I would like to take a moment to Preview it. The REAL purpose of religion is not to present a questionable account of history, a series of smarmy lessons in morality, or a demand that followers believe a lot of fantastic claims that defy all scientific logic. The real purpose is to present a great Wisdom Teaching -- through allegory, symbol and metaphor -- that teaches our souls the inner psychological and spiritual steps that must be taken to achieve spiritual awakening and communion with Divinity. The "Return to the Promised Land", for example, is a symbolic elucidation of the soul's return from inner material slavery (called "Egypt") to spiritual freedom and enlightenment (called "Canaan"). Along the path there are many steps, many adventures, many trials, and many joys. The different ways that the story is shared by different religions and different cultures is a testament to the magnificent human imagination. But the underlying commonality of meaning and purpose that unites the stories, the cultures, and us, is even more striking. My book reveals the interpretive 'key' to the ancient symbolism (which has fortunately been preserved in Plato and other ancient writers). You will read these wonderful stories with new eyes and a new heart. The excerpt I want to share today is about some of that symbolism. ***
BLOOD, SEX, DEATH, REBIRTH, and CIRCUMCISION
After forty years of tending the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro, in Midian, Moses was confirmed by God at the Burning Bush and was at last ready to take on his task. So he said goodbye to Jethro, took his wife Zipporah and their children, and set out on the journey back to Egypt to fulfill his destiny. Thus begins, in the inner story, the next stage of his Initiation.Out of the blue, the Bible then tells us this remarkable and often-overlooked story:
At a night encampment on the way, the Lord encountered him and sought to kill him. So Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin, and touched his legs with it, saying, "You are truly a bridegroom of blood to me!" And when He let him alone, she added, "A bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision.
(Exod.4.24-26)
A commentary in the Talmud suggests that it was not God Himself who tried to kill Moses in this startling episode, but two Angels of Punishment and Destruction who came disguised as snakes. They took Moses and swallowed his whole body down to his feet, and only gave him up after Zipporah circumcised her son and touched Moses' feet with the blood. Here is the customary interpretation: Moses had circumcised one of his sons, but not the other. This was because he was honoring an agreement he had made with his uncircumcised father-in-law, Jethro: Moses had consented to circumcise one child as an Israelite, but the other would remain an uncircumcised Egyptian. But now Moses had passed beyond the level of Jethro, and this 'agreement' was not acceptable to the Lord. 
Others say that God belatedly wished to punish Moses for killing the Egyptian outside the palace, or that God was still resentful at all the objections Moses had raised at the Burning Bush.But none of these interpretations have a satisfactory ring to them when compared to the extraordinary bloodiness and eeriness of the story. There has to be more.
God's attempt to kill Moses means that something in Moses, something in the Initiate, has to 'die'.
The Talmud adds that there were snakes involved. And snakes, or serpents, symbolize many things, including 'rebirth." The Serpent has been given many meanings in the world's mythology. It has been the symbol of wisdom and the symbol of evil, the symbol of God and the symbol of sin.
In its ability to shed its skin and be 'reborn', it has been a symbol of resurrection and, hence, a symbol of Christ. Corresponding to this association with birth and rebirth, it has been the symbol of sexuality and the symbol of healing. It has referred to the world of the senses and the world of the spirit. It rises to the heavens as a phallic symbol, an emblem of power, potency and enlightenment. It encircles reality and swallows itself, indicating wholeness and completeness and Oneness. It dives into the earth, eating dust and signifying death. Here, two vicious serpents try to swallow Moses, trying thereby to bring his soul back down to the level of earth and mortality, preventing him from crossing the Threshold and escaping to the heavenly level (remember, in its inner meaning, this is the story of Moses' – and potentially our own – Initiation).
Crossing this Threshold requires a profound inner change – that is, a death and a rebirth.
So God comes to kill him! The 'uncircumcised son' is the Egyptian (earthly) aspect of Moses ['Egypt', in Biblical symbolism, represents the material level of life]. Zipporah, the inner Feminine aspect, the Heart, must reconcile the lower level of the 'Egyptian' with the higher level of the 'Israelite' (Moses), thus sealing the three parts of the soul into a newly reborn human being.
According to Judaic tradition, when a boy is first born he is a child of Adam. Only after circumcision does he become a child of Abraham, and thus a participant in God's covenant. In other words, circumcision symbolizes a death and a rebirth - a child of Adam dies and is reborn as an Israelite. The death of the child of Adam is symbolized by the drops of blood – for blood is Life, and the loss of blood is Death. Like a serpent shedding its skin, the foreskin is cut away and there is rebirth as a child of Abraham.Later, in Deuteronomy, God will speak of the 'circumcision of the heart', and we will see that this symbolism of rebirth refers on a deeper level to the cutting away of the stubborn emotional shell that covers the divine spirit within us and separates us from God. This is the higher meaning of the covenant. It is said in the Kabbalah that circumcision is the way to Heaven, which signifies that spiritual death and rebirth is the way to Heaven. Before leaving Zipporah, we should acknowledge the problem of this Biblical symbolism: literal physical circumcision only relates to males!
One explanation for this is that females offer a similar blood sacrifice every month, without any need for an act such as circumcision, giving them a natural and exquisite comprehension of these things which men can only seek to obtain through the performance of imitative rituals. A further explanation is that all the scriptural lessons for 'men' and all the scriptural lessons for 'women' are really directed at the male and female aspects that exist inside each one of us regardless of gender. Moses and Zipporah represent two poles of the soul within each of us, and their story takes place within the psyche of both men and women. During the process of spiritual rebirth, this inner act of sacrifice must always be played out. The need for 'cutting away the emotional shell that separates us from God' relates to all of us.
The symbolism of this story is magnificent in its symmetry. Consider the implications! Moses (representing – as male characters always do in the ancient symbolism – the Mind, and therefore a new 'Adam') has returned to the level of Being of the Garden of Eden. Now, once again, a Serpent (the Body) tries to draw him down, which would once again invert the soul and turn it away from God. This time, however, his wife Zipporah (the Heart, a new 'Eve') realizes the appropriate internal relationship, and acknowledges that the Mind, not the Body, is the Heart's true 'bridegroom'.
Thus it is that on the return journey home to Divinity, Eve (as Zipporah) is the reconciling power that saves the soul from a 'Fall'! If we insist on carrying on a 5000-year-long hissy fit, blaming woman for the 'Fall' in Eden, it's high time we gave her full credit for saving the soul from a 'Fall' here in Midian.
***
Andrew Cort is an author, speaker, teacher, attorney, and doctor of chiropractic. His work incorporates spirituality, religion, mythology, history, science, education and healing, and how these all relate to contemporary culture.
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!
Andrew is offering a Free Signed Copy of Love, Wisdom and God to today's lucky winner Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Andrew's book from Amazon:
THERE MUST BE ANOTHER WAY: Reflections of a Mind Illuminated Through A Course in Miracles
by Ray Comeau, Ph. D. (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a Copy of Ray's Book. Leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)
Tweet Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
If you are happy with everything in your life, then this book (like A Course in Miracles which lies behind it) is not the book for you. But if some aspects of your life continue to trouble you, this is a book you may want to have a look at.
There Must Be Another Way is a collection of deeply-felt transformative essays, written in clear accessible prose, examining the concepts of the Course. It is filled with poetry, quotations from the New Testament, references to contemporary essays, books and movies. It's the result of the author's long years of sincere effort with the work.
I've included an Excerpt from the author's Prologue, followed by a video in which Ray discusses the blank verse in A Course in Miracles.
***PROLOGUE
If you were completely honest with yourself, you would have to admit that no matter how much you have tried to put together a life, there are times when you say to yourself, "There's something seriously wrong here, and there must be another way."
Fortunately for you, for all of us, not only is there another way, but this way has been mapped out in a how-to-manual that appeared on this planet in 1975, A Course in Miracles. This unworldly masterpiece was scribed by Helen Schucman who heard an "internal voice," Jesus' voice, say to her on October 21, 1965, "This is a course in miracles, take notes." For the next seven years, she dutifully transcribed the Text, Workbook, and Manual for Teachers.
Before we can utilize the lessons of the Course, we must first take a look at the lessons you learned along the way by faithfully following the instructions of an unwritten manual, folklore passed down through the generations, teaching you that seeing is believing. You eagerly learned early on to trust as real what you see, hear, taste, smell and touch. Whatever was not sensed was unreal. This way of seeing seems completely natural, and that is why you are in the fix that you are in.
Let's test out this belief that seeing is believing by being real specific. Let's take a look at what is around us. I'll go first.
I am sitting on my couch looking out of my window, gazing at the landscape bathed in the sunlight of a beautiful day in June. I close my eyes and make the decision that when I open them, I will look at what I customarily, habitually, normally look at, only the objects before me.
I see the cylindrical, mesh bird feeder containing black sunflower seeds. A Cardinal alights and pecks at the seeds. I am reminded of an incident when I was 6 or 7, and a friend and I were shooting at birds with BB guns. We wounded a Blue Jay, and we were chasing it through the neighborhood, when an old lady came running out of her house, chastising us for killing birds, and we said it was a Blue Jay, and she immediately let us off the hook because that was OK by her, Blue Jays menaced other birds.
And other associations immediately flooded in. At that time, my mother, father, sister and I lived in a little village, Moorepark, Michigan—my parents owned a general store, and we lived in the back in one room separated from the store by a curtain; no running water, only well water from a pump, an outhouse in the back; we went to a one-room schoolhouse, grades K-8, one teacher, Mrs. Steininger; across the street was a gunsmith, Bergie Hughey, who also ran a one-pump gas station; my friend, Rudy, and I played in the fields and swamps all day, exploring and hunting frogs with bows and arrows.
Whew. Now, I am back from that trip down memory lane, and I am going to try it again. This time, I will close my eyes, and when I open them, I will make the decision to look at what I customarily, normally do not look at, only the space between objects, wanting to see, in effect, only the air.
Now I am looking with soft eyes, in fact, I am not seeing as much as experiencing. Gazing in this manner, I find that my mind is peaceful, still, unoccupied, and tranquil. I am scanning what is before me, but I am not naming objects, and since I am not naming things, I am not flooded with associations. I am simply content; my mind is empty. When I do look at something, like a bird at the feeder, I experience only love. I continue gazing with soft eyes, becoming increasingly mellow, content, tranquil, loving, peaceful, unified and free. A tree branch, laden with green leaves, lifts and falls in the soft breeze, the leaves shimmering, the tops green and the undersides flashing gold.
While writing the draft of this essay, I did the exercises and then wrote about my experience, and at this point, gazing with soft eyes, I went so far out, losing all sense of being a body, fading into a state of consciousness of oneness, of light, so that what was inside my mind and what was outside were blended together.
The smallest leaf becomes a thing of wonder, a blade of grass a sign of God's perfection.
T-17.V1.6:3
At this point, I just decided to stay there, and I put down my pen for the day.
Now I am back, and another passage from the Course comes to mind.
Beyond this world there is a world I want. I choose to see that world instead of this, for here is nothing that I really want. Then close your eyes upon the world you see, and in the silent darkness watch the lights that are not of this world light one by one, until where one begins another ends loses all meaning as they blend in one. W-p1.129.7:3-5
This is seeing through the eyes of Christ.
The present is the only time there is. And so today, this instant, now, we come to look upon what is forever there; not in our sight, but in the eyes of Christ. W-p1.164.1:2,3
The world fades easily away before His sight. Its sounds grow dim. W-p1.164.2:1
There is a silence into which the world can not intrude. There is an ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost. W-p1164.4:1,2
Now, Dear Reader, you try it.
***
***
Ray Comeau received his formal education at Kalamazoo College (BA, 1963), and at the University of Chicago (MA, 1965, Ph.D. 1973), but his real education began on August 7, 1997, when he crossed the threshold of Endeavor Academy in Wisconsin, where his mind became transformed through Jesus' unworldly masterpiece, A Course In Miracles, His New Testament, and the teachings of Master Teacher whose complete awakening occurred on July 4, 1979.
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Steve is offering a Free Copy of THERE MUST BE ANOTHER WAY to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Ray's book from Amazon:
Tweet Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
If you are happy with everything in your life, then this book (like A Course in Miracles which lies behind it) is not the book for you. But if some aspects of your life continue to trouble you, this is a book you may want to have a look at. There Must Be Another Way is a collection of deeply-felt transformative essays, written in clear accessible prose, examining the concepts of the Course. It is filled with poetry, quotations from the New Testament, references to contemporary essays, books and movies. It's the result of the author's long years of sincere effort with the work.
I've included an Excerpt from the author's Prologue, followed by a video in which Ray discusses the blank verse in A Course in Miracles.
***PROLOGUE
If you were completely honest with yourself, you would have to admit that no matter how much you have tried to put together a life, there are times when you say to yourself, "There's something seriously wrong here, and there must be another way."
Fortunately for you, for all of us, not only is there another way, but this way has been mapped out in a how-to-manual that appeared on this planet in 1975, A Course in Miracles. This unworldly masterpiece was scribed by Helen Schucman who heard an "internal voice," Jesus' voice, say to her on October 21, 1965, "This is a course in miracles, take notes." For the next seven years, she dutifully transcribed the Text, Workbook, and Manual for Teachers.
Before we can utilize the lessons of the Course, we must first take a look at the lessons you learned along the way by faithfully following the instructions of an unwritten manual, folklore passed down through the generations, teaching you that seeing is believing. You eagerly learned early on to trust as real what you see, hear, taste, smell and touch. Whatever was not sensed was unreal. This way of seeing seems completely natural, and that is why you are in the fix that you are in.
Let's test out this belief that seeing is believing by being real specific. Let's take a look at what is around us. I'll go first.
I am sitting on my couch looking out of my window, gazing at the landscape bathed in the sunlight of a beautiful day in June. I close my eyes and make the decision that when I open them, I will look at what I customarily, habitually, normally look at, only the objects before me.I see the cylindrical, mesh bird feeder containing black sunflower seeds. A Cardinal alights and pecks at the seeds. I am reminded of an incident when I was 6 or 7, and a friend and I were shooting at birds with BB guns. We wounded a Blue Jay, and we were chasing it through the neighborhood, when an old lady came running out of her house, chastising us for killing birds, and we said it was a Blue Jay, and she immediately let us off the hook because that was OK by her, Blue Jays menaced other birds.
And other associations immediately flooded in. At that time, my mother, father, sister and I lived in a little village, Moorepark, Michigan—my parents owned a general store, and we lived in the back in one room separated from the store by a curtain; no running water, only well water from a pump, an outhouse in the back; we went to a one-room schoolhouse, grades K-8, one teacher, Mrs. Steininger; across the street was a gunsmith, Bergie Hughey, who also ran a one-pump gas station; my friend, Rudy, and I played in the fields and swamps all day, exploring and hunting frogs with bows and arrows.
Whew. Now, I am back from that trip down memory lane, and I am going to try it again. This time, I will close my eyes, and when I open them, I will make the decision to look at what I customarily, normally do not look at, only the space between objects, wanting to see, in effect, only the air.
Now I am looking with soft eyes, in fact, I am not seeing as much as experiencing. Gazing in this manner, I find that my mind is peaceful, still, unoccupied, and tranquil. I am scanning what is before me, but I am not naming objects, and since I am not naming things, I am not flooded with associations. I am simply content; my mind is empty. When I do look at something, like a bird at the feeder, I experience only love. I continue gazing with soft eyes, becoming increasingly mellow, content, tranquil, loving, peaceful, unified and free. A tree branch, laden with green leaves, lifts and falls in the soft breeze, the leaves shimmering, the tops green and the undersides flashing gold.While writing the draft of this essay, I did the exercises and then wrote about my experience, and at this point, gazing with soft eyes, I went so far out, losing all sense of being a body, fading into a state of consciousness of oneness, of light, so that what was inside my mind and what was outside were blended together.
The smallest leaf becomes a thing of wonder, a blade of grass a sign of God's perfection.
T-17.V1.6:3
At this point, I just decided to stay there, and I put down my pen for the day.
Now I am back, and another passage from the Course comes to mind.
Beyond this world there is a world I want. I choose to see that world instead of this, for here is nothing that I really want. Then close your eyes upon the world you see, and in the silent darkness watch the lights that are not of this world light one by one, until where one begins another ends loses all meaning as they blend in one. W-p1.129.7:3-5
This is seeing through the eyes of Christ.
The present is the only time there is. And so today, this instant, now, we come to look upon what is forever there; not in our sight, but in the eyes of Christ. W-p1.164.1:2,3
The world fades easily away before His sight. Its sounds grow dim. W-p1.164.2:1
There is a silence into which the world can not intrude. There is an ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost. W-p1164.4:1,2
Now, Dear Reader, you try it.
***
***
Ray Comeau received his formal education at Kalamazoo College (BA, 1963), and at the University of Chicago (MA, 1965, Ph.D. 1973), but his real education began on August 7, 1997, when he crossed the threshold of Endeavor Academy in Wisconsin, where his mind became transformed through Jesus' unworldly masterpiece, A Course In Miracles, His New Testament, and the teachings of Master Teacher whose complete awakening occurred on July 4, 1979.TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Steve is offering a Free Copy of THERE MUST BE ANOTHER WAY to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Ray's book from Amazon:
September 14, 2011
A 'SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION' SPECIAL POST
Inspired by the images, words and music of the memorial ceremonies particularly at Ground Zero, I've endeavored in this video to capture the true and enduring message - that "God has set eternity in the human heart." - Jessica Roemischer (The quote is from Ecclesiastes)
MAKE LOVE TO THE UNIVERSE: Himalayan Masters Share Spiritual Wisdom
by Phoenix Desmond (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a PDF of Phoenix's Book. Simply leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)
Tweet
In Make Love to the Universe, Phoenix Desmond recounts his journey through the Himalayas, in the company of spirits from Sirius, seeking a Master. He returns to an ancient way of life comparable to that of the Buddha – he abandons his possessions and preconceptions, and lives among the poor. Written from the perspective of both Phoenix and the accompanying Sirians, this fascinating story traces their quest to find Master Babaji, an immortal being capable of eliminating suffering. Along the way they experience the natural beauty of their surroundings, which opens the heart and brings about a higher form of perception, connecting them with all of life. They meet people entranced by their negativity and self-imposed misery, as well as others who bring positive light, love and peace into the world.
Insightful, often humorous, and filled with love, Phoenix's book is a short, quick read, filled with exercises and meditations that anyone can follow, which can help promote both personal and global transformation.
Perhaps it all happened as described, or perhaps it is a creation of the author's imagination. This is beside the point. Either way, the message is enduring, worthwhile and important, and the book is a pleasure to read. Here are some of its lessons.
***
Approach each experience as an opportunity to understand the relatedness of life. Look within your heart for the common ground that removes the solid outline of the self, replacing it with a seamless wave of color and sound. This is your refuge—here you will discover the end of all suffering. Take heart in the rediscovery of one another as close relatives to be honored. Whenever you enter into communion with your relatives, your love for them grows stronger. Love is not an obligation, or an act of hard labor, but rather an effortless expression that brings instant joy. If you can welcome this expression into your daily life, it will transform your experience on Earth into one of lasting contentment.
Love teaches us of a power that is grander in scale than the self. This tremendous power is bestowed at birth, and can never be removed. It begins and ends within the heart. Like the sun, its energy flows without reserve, and it has no need for compensation. Coursing through your veins like a steed of horses, it carries with it the promise of liberation from suffering.
Each time you feel fear, you block this power. Fear travels deep into the chambers of your heart, building walls around its light—a light that would otherwise shield you from dis-ease. When you allow the destructive forces of fear to enter your heart, you forget the unlimited power bestowed through love.
Once blocked, this power cannot be bullied into revealing itself. It knows nothing of the material world, so it carries no price. It will not rouse for prayers repeated without understanding. You can fast, sing and dance, make sacrifices and offerings—you can even climb the tallest mountains to visit the holiest of temples. Still, it will elude you. For as long as fear remains, your connection to the heart's power will remain severed. Fortunately, the heart's power has never left your side. The walls were built by the self, and will respond to the right intention. Your will can overcome any obstacle. Take all of the power in the institutions, all the wisdom in the books and return it to its rightful place: your heart. All the secrets of the ancients, all the answers to the Great Mystery lie dormant in the buried treasure within your chest. Love is the key to open the chest.
Love is acceptance of that rushing steed, that power which is our birthright as living, breathing reflections of Great Spirit. It is the grand prize waiting at the altar. All are invited to reclaim their power—the opportunity is ever present. Stand tall alongside your relatives, together we can break through the walls of fear that cloak the Truth.
***
Phoenix Desmond is a shamanic practitioner who helps others alleviate suffering by showing them how to access their own intuitive faculties. He is also a practicing yogi, father, and nature lover. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Phoenix is offering a Free Copy of MAKE LOVE TO THE UNIVERSE to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Make Love to the Universe from Amazon:
Tweet
In Make Love to the Universe, Phoenix Desmond recounts his journey through the Himalayas, in the company of spirits from Sirius, seeking a Master. He returns to an ancient way of life comparable to that of the Buddha – he abandons his possessions and preconceptions, and lives among the poor. Written from the perspective of both Phoenix and the accompanying Sirians, this fascinating story traces their quest to find Master Babaji, an immortal being capable of eliminating suffering. Along the way they experience the natural beauty of their surroundings, which opens the heart and brings about a higher form of perception, connecting them with all of life. They meet people entranced by their negativity and self-imposed misery, as well as others who bring positive light, love and peace into the world. Insightful, often humorous, and filled with love, Phoenix's book is a short, quick read, filled with exercises and meditations that anyone can follow, which can help promote both personal and global transformation.
Perhaps it all happened as described, or perhaps it is a creation of the author's imagination. This is beside the point. Either way, the message is enduring, worthwhile and important, and the book is a pleasure to read. Here are some of its lessons.
***
Approach each experience as an opportunity to understand the relatedness of life. Look within your heart for the common ground that removes the solid outline of the self, replacing it with a seamless wave of color and sound. This is your refuge—here you will discover the end of all suffering. Take heart in the rediscovery of one another as close relatives to be honored. Whenever you enter into communion with your relatives, your love for them grows stronger. Love is not an obligation, or an act of hard labor, but rather an effortless expression that brings instant joy. If you can welcome this expression into your daily life, it will transform your experience on Earth into one of lasting contentment. Love teaches us of a power that is grander in scale than the self. This tremendous power is bestowed at birth, and can never be removed. It begins and ends within the heart. Like the sun, its energy flows without reserve, and it has no need for compensation. Coursing through your veins like a steed of horses, it carries with it the promise of liberation from suffering.
Each time you feel fear, you block this power. Fear travels deep into the chambers of your heart, building walls around its light—a light that would otherwise shield you from dis-ease. When you allow the destructive forces of fear to enter your heart, you forget the unlimited power bestowed through love.
Once blocked, this power cannot be bullied into revealing itself. It knows nothing of the material world, so it carries no price. It will not rouse for prayers repeated without understanding. You can fast, sing and dance, make sacrifices and offerings—you can even climb the tallest mountains to visit the holiest of temples. Still, it will elude you. For as long as fear remains, your connection to the heart's power will remain severed. Fortunately, the heart's power has never left your side. The walls were built by the self, and will respond to the right intention. Your will can overcome any obstacle. Take all of the power in the institutions, all the wisdom in the books and return it to its rightful place: your heart. All the secrets of the ancients, all the answers to the Great Mystery lie dormant in the buried treasure within your chest. Love is the key to open the chest. Love is acceptance of that rushing steed, that power which is our birthright as living, breathing reflections of Great Spirit. It is the grand prize waiting at the altar. All are invited to reclaim their power—the opportunity is ever present. Stand tall alongside your relatives, together we can break through the walls of fear that cloak the Truth.
***
Phoenix Desmond is a shamanic practitioner who helps others alleviate suffering by showing them how to access their own intuitive faculties. He is also a practicing yogi, father, and nature lover. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Phoenix is offering a Free Copy of MAKE LOVE TO THE UNIVERSE to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Make Love to the Universe from Amazon:
September 13, 2011
YOU CAN CREATE AN EXCEPTIONAL LIFE
by Louise Hay and Cheryl Richardson (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a copy of You Can Create an Exceptional Life. Simply leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)
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Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
This new book is a series of captivating conversations between two amazing women, both best-selling authors and highly regarded spiritual teachers – Louise Hay and Cheryl Richardson. They discuss a wide range of topics, including the importance of loving ourselves and our bodies; aging consciously; bringing prosperity and abundance into the world; creating positive relationship with family, friends and at work; and facing death in a dignified, conscious and peaceful way.
"The idea Cheryl and I had," writes Louise, "was to present these methods in the easiest possible way so that you could, step-by-step, learn how to have peace of mind—to live worry free in a healthy body, with a comfortable income, while enjoying your relationships. Ultimately, we wanted to show you how to move from feeling like a victim to being the creator of an enjoyable life."
One of their first conversations helps to place us all 'in the same boat', if you will, as the two women discuss their own 'classic wakeup calls'; that is, some life event (or two or three) such as the ones we have all endured ("the often-abrupt and unexpected rupture that can occur in a comfortably numb life.") It might be a broken heart, a death, a divorce, a lost job, a fire or other catastrophe, etc. Typically, we eventually look back on our lives and see that it was one of these events, so horrible and sad at the time, that woke us up and ultimately put us firmly on the spiritual path.
That would be the 'beginning' of a new life. The Excerpt I've chosen to share today from this terrific book comes toward the end, as the two authors discuss the issues surrounding death: our fears, the religious teachings we absorbed as children, the effects on our loved ones, the way our culture encourages us to avoid talking about it, the need of doctors to be aggressive about fighting it, the need for each of us to make peace and accept it, and all the spiritual aspects of transition that we must explore for ourselves.
***
"We need to address the vast array of stuff we're taught about death."
"If your parents went to a church filled with messages of hellfire and damnation, you could be very frightened of death. You'll wonder, Have I been good enough, and if not, am I going to burn forever? And if you think you're going to burn forever, then you'll be scared shitless of dying. No wonder so many people are terrified of death. A lot of religions share that message in one form or another—that you're a sinner and you have to behave or you're going to pay for it when you die. You may not be burned in hell, but you will pay. In that way, death becomes quite scary."
I think about the concept of hell and damnation, and recall my own childhood experience. I was very familiar with the idea of heaven and hell, as well as something in between—purgatory or limbo. I was raised to believe that you went to heaven if you were a good, rule-abiding Catholic, and to hell if you were not. Purgatory and limbo were the in-between states for those who needed to atone for their sins, or for children who had not received the sacrament of baptism. As a little girl, I used to kneel by my bed before going to sleep, repeating the words Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as many times as I could to help move souls from purgatory to heaven. I hated the idea of people being stuck in a place where they were frightened and alone. Fortunately, as I matured and began to explore a variety of religious and spiritual traditions, I went on to trade in the concept of hell for a personal belief that death is merely a transition point that reunites us all with our Creator in a state of love, compassion, and forgiveness.
Are you afraid of death at this point in your life? I ask Louise.
"No. I don't want to go right now because there are things I want to do, but I'm going to say that throughout my entire life. We all will. There's always one more thing to do—a child's wedding to attend, a baby ready to be born, or a book to write. I also have this very strong feeling that we arrive in the middle of the movie, and we leave in the middle of the movie. The movie is continuous. We enter and we exit. All of us do that. There's no wrong time or right time, there's just our time—it was our time to be born and our time to go."
I think about the idea of leaving in the middle of the movie and agree that it is the hard part of death—never having a "buttoned-up time" to go.
As Louise explains, "I believe that long before we arrive, the soul makes the choice to experience certain lessons—lessons about loving each other and ourselves. When we learn the lesson of love, we may leave with joy. There is no need for pain or suffering. We know that next time, wherever we choose to incarnate, we will take all of the love with us."
So the question is, then, how to make peace with leaving in the middle of the movie. The problem, as I see it, is that we are so uncomfortable with death. We don't talk about it. We don't prepare for it. We don't even allow ourselves to think about our fears and concerns. We live in a culture that avoids the topic altogether. Instead, we wait until we're up against a serious illness and forced to make important decisions under pressure—for loved ones or ourselves—and then wonder why it's so frightening and painful.
To make peace with leaving, we first need to be willing to address the issue. We need to face the awkwardness and uncomfortable feelings associated with death by looking fear in the eye. When we do, we discover what that fear has to teach us.
I certainly ignored anything having to do with death until my early 30s, when I had the privilege of going through the process of dying in a conscious way with someone I cared about. Her name was Lucy, and she was in her 80s. Lucy had a house filled with lifelong treasures, a wise mind, and a big heart . . . but no family. During a hospital visit for a bad chest cold, she was told that she was dying of cancer, and she promptly asked me to help her get her affairs in order. My first reaction was, No way! I have no interest whatsoever in stepping into that minefield. However, after further discussion, my compassion (and guilt) got the better of me, and I reluctantly agreed.
What unfolded over the next three months was nothing short of a miracle. One by one, Lucy and I reviewed the treasures in her home and made plans to give them to specific people. I became intimately familiar with her life, her loves, and her desires for how to end her life. I made her a promise that I would follow through on her wishes, both while she was dying and once she was gone.
On the night of Lucy's death, I had given a speech and was home tucked in bed when something told me to get up and make the hour-long trip to see her. Knowing enough to trust my gut, I did what it instructed and drove to the hospital. Once there, I found my friend unconscious, in a private room, stationed with a loving and compassionate nurse who assured me that she could hear everything I said.
For almost an hour I sat by Lucy's side, reviewing the instructions she had given me about her end-of-life planning. I talked them through, out loud, as she lay before me. I assured her that all was in order and that it was okay to make the transition to a more peaceful place. Was I frightened? You bet. But I was also prepared.
While I was looking at her beautiful face, she suddenly woke up, looked directly into my eyes, gave me a big smile, and took her last breath. In that moment, something significant shifted. Death and I had become intimate friends.
I sat by Lucy's side that night for quite a while after she passed, staring at her face, her hands, and her lifeless body, contemplating this scary thing we call death. But I wasn't scared. Instead, I felt safe, touched in a tender and profound way, and surprised by how natural the actual process turned out to be. Yes, I would miss my friend, but from this new perspective, death wasn't the silent monster I had made it out to be—a bogeyman who needed to be locked away, only to be let out at the last possible moment. It was a gentle state of release and surrender, the completion of a promise.
"You see, you've been through one death experience, and you know it's not going to kill you," Louise says to me now. "It turns out to be more beautiful than awful when we approach it with love and proper planning. It can be a nightmare, however, if you're not prepared.
"A year ago, after a good friend of mine became seriously ill, I thought a lot about my own death. He was a minister who was so good with people who were facing the end of their lives. He knew just the right things to say and do. He was fabulous at handling death. But when it came to be his time to go, things were very different. He was a bloody pain in the ass. He was constantly whining and moaning, complaining that this was wrong or that was wrong. If you sat him down, he wanted to get up; and if you got him up, he wanted to sit down. Pretty soon, everybody was pissed at him. As I watched what went on, I wondered why he couldn't do for himself what he had done for others."
After pausing for a moment, she goes on. "Seeing my friend die a difficult death showed me the wrong way to do it. So many people loved him, yet so many of us ended up wanting to punch him. He wouldn't allow us to love him. I think he was scared and hadn't dealt with a lot of stuff."
So seeing how he made the transition made you think about how you'd want to make the transition yourself, I say. How would you want to do it?
"First, I would allow people to love me as much as they wanted to. I would allow people to take care of me. I would allow people to make it a wonderful experience. Although I'd probably be comforting them. Now that, to me, would be the ideal situation: allowing others to love me while comforting them at the same time. Either that or I'd like to simply go to sleep one night after a lovely party and not wake up."
We both laugh in acknowledgment of the peace and simplicity of this idea.
"When it's my turn to leave," Louise clarifies, "I want it to be a conscious process, and I want to be focused on how I can make it as comfortable as possible. Since I went through that experience with my friend, I made a decision to put two people in charge of my passing—one who will make decisions related to my body, and one who will support my emotional and spiritual comfort. When it's my time to go, I will now have someone with me who is familiar and comfortable with the dying process."
***
Louise L. Hay, the author of the international bestseller You Can Heal Your Life, is a metaphysical lecturer and teacher with more than 40 million books sold worldwide. For more than 25 years, Louise has helped people throughout the world discover and implement the full potential of their own creative powers for personal growth and self-healing. Louise is the founder and chairman of Hay House, Inc., which disseminates books, CDs, DVDs, and other products that contribute to the healing of the planet. Visit her website at
www.LouiseHay.com
Cheryl Richardson is the author of The New York Times bestselling books, Take Time for Your Life, Life Makeovers, Stand Up for Your Life, The Unmistakable Touch of Grace and her new book The Art of Extreme Self Care. She was the first president of the International Coach Federation and holds one of their first Master Certified Coach credentials. Cheryl is also the recipient of the 2000 Motivational Book Award for Life Makeovers from Books for a Better Life, which honors the year's most outstanding books and magazines in the self-improvement genre. Her book, The Unmistakable Touch of Grace, was chosen as a finalist in the 2005 Spiritual Inspiration category for Books for a Better Life. You can visit her website at
www.CherylRichardson.com
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Steve is offering a Free Copy of YOU CAN CREATE AN EXCEPTIONAL LIFE to today's lucky winner (NB. The book will not be available until September 20th.)Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of You Can Create an Exceptional Life from Amazon:
Tweet
Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
This new book is a series of captivating conversations between two amazing women, both best-selling authors and highly regarded spiritual teachers – Louise Hay and Cheryl Richardson. They discuss a wide range of topics, including the importance of loving ourselves and our bodies; aging consciously; bringing prosperity and abundance into the world; creating positive relationship with family, friends and at work; and facing death in a dignified, conscious and peaceful way. "The idea Cheryl and I had," writes Louise, "was to present these methods in the easiest possible way so that you could, step-by-step, learn how to have peace of mind—to live worry free in a healthy body, with a comfortable income, while enjoying your relationships. Ultimately, we wanted to show you how to move from feeling like a victim to being the creator of an enjoyable life."
One of their first conversations helps to place us all 'in the same boat', if you will, as the two women discuss their own 'classic wakeup calls'; that is, some life event (or two or three) such as the ones we have all endured ("the often-abrupt and unexpected rupture that can occur in a comfortably numb life.") It might be a broken heart, a death, a divorce, a lost job, a fire or other catastrophe, etc. Typically, we eventually look back on our lives and see that it was one of these events, so horrible and sad at the time, that woke us up and ultimately put us firmly on the spiritual path.
That would be the 'beginning' of a new life. The Excerpt I've chosen to share today from this terrific book comes toward the end, as the two authors discuss the issues surrounding death: our fears, the religious teachings we absorbed as children, the effects on our loved ones, the way our culture encourages us to avoid talking about it, the need of doctors to be aggressive about fighting it, the need for each of us to make peace and accept it, and all the spiritual aspects of transition that we must explore for ourselves.
***
"We need to address the vast array of stuff we're taught about death."
"If your parents went to a church filled with messages of hellfire and damnation, you could be very frightened of death. You'll wonder, Have I been good enough, and if not, am I going to burn forever? And if you think you're going to burn forever, then you'll be scared shitless of dying. No wonder so many people are terrified of death. A lot of religions share that message in one form or another—that you're a sinner and you have to behave or you're going to pay for it when you die. You may not be burned in hell, but you will pay. In that way, death becomes quite scary."
I think about the concept of hell and damnation, and recall my own childhood experience. I was very familiar with the idea of heaven and hell, as well as something in between—purgatory or limbo. I was raised to believe that you went to heaven if you were a good, rule-abiding Catholic, and to hell if you were not. Purgatory and limbo were the in-between states for those who needed to atone for their sins, or for children who had not received the sacrament of baptism. As a little girl, I used to kneel by my bed before going to sleep, repeating the words Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as many times as I could to help move souls from purgatory to heaven. I hated the idea of people being stuck in a place where they were frightened and alone. Fortunately, as I matured and began to explore a variety of religious and spiritual traditions, I went on to trade in the concept of hell for a personal belief that death is merely a transition point that reunites us all with our Creator in a state of love, compassion, and forgiveness.Are you afraid of death at this point in your life? I ask Louise.
"No. I don't want to go right now because there are things I want to do, but I'm going to say that throughout my entire life. We all will. There's always one more thing to do—a child's wedding to attend, a baby ready to be born, or a book to write. I also have this very strong feeling that we arrive in the middle of the movie, and we leave in the middle of the movie. The movie is continuous. We enter and we exit. All of us do that. There's no wrong time or right time, there's just our time—it was our time to be born and our time to go."
I think about the idea of leaving in the middle of the movie and agree that it is the hard part of death—never having a "buttoned-up time" to go.
As Louise explains, "I believe that long before we arrive, the soul makes the choice to experience certain lessons—lessons about loving each other and ourselves. When we learn the lesson of love, we may leave with joy. There is no need for pain or suffering. We know that next time, wherever we choose to incarnate, we will take all of the love with us."
So the question is, then, how to make peace with leaving in the middle of the movie. The problem, as I see it, is that we are so uncomfortable with death. We don't talk about it. We don't prepare for it. We don't even allow ourselves to think about our fears and concerns. We live in a culture that avoids the topic altogether. Instead, we wait until we're up against a serious illness and forced to make important decisions under pressure—for loved ones or ourselves—and then wonder why it's so frightening and painful.To make peace with leaving, we first need to be willing to address the issue. We need to face the awkwardness and uncomfortable feelings associated with death by looking fear in the eye. When we do, we discover what that fear has to teach us.
I certainly ignored anything having to do with death until my early 30s, when I had the privilege of going through the process of dying in a conscious way with someone I cared about. Her name was Lucy, and she was in her 80s. Lucy had a house filled with lifelong treasures, a wise mind, and a big heart . . . but no family. During a hospital visit for a bad chest cold, she was told that she was dying of cancer, and she promptly asked me to help her get her affairs in order. My first reaction was, No way! I have no interest whatsoever in stepping into that minefield. However, after further discussion, my compassion (and guilt) got the better of me, and I reluctantly agreed.
What unfolded over the next three months was nothing short of a miracle. One by one, Lucy and I reviewed the treasures in her home and made plans to give them to specific people. I became intimately familiar with her life, her loves, and her desires for how to end her life. I made her a promise that I would follow through on her wishes, both while she was dying and once she was gone.
On the night of Lucy's death, I had given a speech and was home tucked in bed when something told me to get up and make the hour-long trip to see her. Knowing enough to trust my gut, I did what it instructed and drove to the hospital. Once there, I found my friend unconscious, in a private room, stationed with a loving and compassionate nurse who assured me that she could hear everything I said.
For almost an hour I sat by Lucy's side, reviewing the instructions she had given me about her end-of-life planning. I talked them through, out loud, as she lay before me. I assured her that all was in order and that it was okay to make the transition to a more peaceful place. Was I frightened? You bet. But I was also prepared.While I was looking at her beautiful face, she suddenly woke up, looked directly into my eyes, gave me a big smile, and took her last breath. In that moment, something significant shifted. Death and I had become intimate friends.
I sat by Lucy's side that night for quite a while after she passed, staring at her face, her hands, and her lifeless body, contemplating this scary thing we call death. But I wasn't scared. Instead, I felt safe, touched in a tender and profound way, and surprised by how natural the actual process turned out to be. Yes, I would miss my friend, but from this new perspective, death wasn't the silent monster I had made it out to be—a bogeyman who needed to be locked away, only to be let out at the last possible moment. It was a gentle state of release and surrender, the completion of a promise.
"You see, you've been through one death experience, and you know it's not going to kill you," Louise says to me now. "It turns out to be more beautiful than awful when we approach it with love and proper planning. It can be a nightmare, however, if you're not prepared.
"A year ago, after a good friend of mine became seriously ill, I thought a lot about my own death. He was a minister who was so good with people who were facing the end of their lives. He knew just the right things to say and do. He was fabulous at handling death. But when it came to be his time to go, things were very different. He was a bloody pain in the ass. He was constantly whining and moaning, complaining that this was wrong or that was wrong. If you sat him down, he wanted to get up; and if you got him up, he wanted to sit down. Pretty soon, everybody was pissed at him. As I watched what went on, I wondered why he couldn't do for himself what he had done for others."
After pausing for a moment, she goes on. "Seeing my friend die a difficult death showed me the wrong way to do it. So many people loved him, yet so many of us ended up wanting to punch him. He wouldn't allow us to love him. I think he was scared and hadn't dealt with a lot of stuff."
So seeing how he made the transition made you think about how you'd want to make the transition yourself, I say. How would you want to do it?
"First, I would allow people to love me as much as they wanted to. I would allow people to take care of me. I would allow people to make it a wonderful experience. Although I'd probably be comforting them. Now that, to me, would be the ideal situation: allowing others to love me while comforting them at the same time. Either that or I'd like to simply go to sleep one night after a lovely party and not wake up."
We both laugh in acknowledgment of the peace and simplicity of this idea.
"When it's my turn to leave," Louise clarifies, "I want it to be a conscious process, and I want to be focused on how I can make it as comfortable as possible. Since I went through that experience with my friend, I made a decision to put two people in charge of my passing—one who will make decisions related to my body, and one who will support my emotional and spiritual comfort. When it's my time to go, I will now have someone with me who is familiar and comfortable with the dying process."
***
Louise L. Hay, the author of the international bestseller You Can Heal Your Life, is a metaphysical lecturer and teacher with more than 40 million books sold worldwide. For more than 25 years, Louise has helped people throughout the world discover and implement the full potential of their own creative powers for personal growth and self-healing. Louise is the founder and chairman of Hay House, Inc., which disseminates books, CDs, DVDs, and other products that contribute to the healing of the planet. Visit her website at www.LouiseHay.com
Cheryl Richardson is the author of The New York Times bestselling books, Take Time for Your Life, Life Makeovers, Stand Up for Your Life, The Unmistakable Touch of Grace and her new book The Art of Extreme Self Care. She was the first president of the International Coach Federation and holds one of their first Master Certified Coach credentials. Cheryl is also the recipient of the 2000 Motivational Book Award for Life Makeovers from Books for a Better Life, which honors the year's most outstanding books and magazines in the self-improvement genre. Her book, The Unmistakable Touch of Grace, was chosen as a finalist in the 2005 Spiritual Inspiration category for Books for a Better Life. You can visit her website at www.CherylRichardson.com
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Steve is offering a Free Copy of YOU CAN CREATE AN EXCEPTIONAL LIFE to today's lucky winner (NB. The book will not be available until September 20th.)Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of You Can Create an Exceptional Life from Amazon:
September 11, 2011
SEEKING SOPHIA: 33 LESSONS FOR DISCOVERY
by Susan C. Hamilton (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a copy of Susan's Book. Simply leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)
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Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
It was while attending seminary, in preparation for becoming an ordained minister, that Susan Hamilton was first introduced to Sophia. "Sophia was illusive and mysterious to me in the early 1990's and she's not much more tangible now. How can we ever fully comprehend the Divine Mystery? … Yet, it made sense to me that there would be something feminine in God's nature if we women were created in God's image as is recounted in Genesis. While writing her doctoral dissertation, Hamilton found Sophia hidden in the stories of women in the Bible. She found her in ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle East and Egypt. She found her re-emerging in modern day esoteric writers. She developed a series of lessons to plumb the depths of the Sacred Feminine: exploring her role as Creator, as Wisdom, as the Body of Creation, and as Muse. Now, in the upcoming Seeking Sophia: 33 Lessons, she has put these lessons into a workbook to share with others.
Hamilton concludes her Introduction by telling her readers, "My hope is that you, too, will have your own experience of Her presence in your life and continue to recognize "Sophianic" moments when they occur. Blessings on your journey."
I concur. Here's an Excerpt from Chapter One:
Chapter One - Wisdom and Holiness
There are an expanding myriad of descriptions as to what and who Sophia is. She is complex and represents different facets of the Holy to different cultures in different times and to different people. One description of Sophia relates to the basic meaning of her name in Greek: "wisdom". In Hebrew the word for wisdom is "Chokmah" and where that word appears in Proverbs it is frequently translated as "Lady Wisdom". She is the characteristic of wisdom itself such as the defining quality of King Solomon and other sages. Elders and crones are often esteemed as wise as are holy men in all religious expressions.
In contemporary Christian doctrine, Sophia is often equated with the Holy Spirit, the third element of the Trinity, and the one who descended upon Jesus at his baptism (as a dove) and who empowered the disciples at Pentecost (as tongues of fire). As the Holy Spirit, Sophia is the 'Comforter' whom Jesus predicted would come to the disciples after he had left them and who remains with us as an etheric influence, a collective social concern, or a perspective on the world.
Another of her descriptions is that she is the Goddess, the Holy Feminine, and is known by many names in ancient cultures such as: Ishtar of the Semites, Ashtoreth in the Old Testament, Astarte of Phoenicia, Cybele of Anatolia, Diana of Rome, Demeter of Greece, and Isis/Maat of Egypt to name a few.
We note that in the Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism all of the 'gods' were masculine until the second century of the Christian era when Tara, the Savioress, appeared, followed in the fourth century by Prajnaparamita "The Perfection of Wisdom." This introduces the descriptions of the Divine Feminine as a 'savior' and wisdom itself. Further, the Buddha declares repeatedly that Prajnaparamita produced all the Buddhas and is their mother and instructress. She symbolizes the supreme liberating wisdom which is the full consciousness of the Absolute or Void. She is the divine mother of the infinite space and her mantra (invocation) has the wondrous effect of opening the mind to enlightenment.
In China and Japan, the only goddess whose popularity equals that of the masculine deities is Kuan-yin (Japanese Kannon), who is the deity (Bodhisattva) of compassion. Since the twelfth century, Kuan Yin has appeared as the goddess of mercy and a source of comfort and salvation.
The impact of the 20th century feminist movement on the religious sector has been vast—bringing inclusive language and a re-imagining of the face of God. In 1993, three Minnesota councils of churches, in response to the World Council of Churches planned and hosted an international theological conference called Re-Imagining. This conference marks a moment in history in which work in feminist theology became a part of public conversation and awareness.
The conference brought together female theologians, clergy, and lay people to examine ideas about God and the church born out of women's experience. Approximately two thousand people attended, mostly women but including men, from forty-nine states and twenty-seven countries. Nearly forty different denominations were represented.
The conference sparked considerable controversy and became national news. It was identified by Christian Century magazine as one of the top religion stories of the year. The movement continues today with the most recent conference held again in Minneapolis in 2000. The work of this movement is for the equitable inclusion of feminist theological ideas and practices into mainstream Christianity. Out of the Re-imagining conferences "Sophia" has re-emerged as an acceptable term for a multitude of divine feminine expressions. Her biblical and non-canonical references are found in the books of Proverbs, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus, which highlight her various functions, and which will be referenced throughout the series of lessons.
This first chapter will provide you with examples from the Judeo-Christian scriptures of wise women and images of God described in feminine terms. For some familiar with the Bible, this will be a grounded beginning. For others who are not involved in a traditional Christian congregation, these lessons may not hold as much interest. From this beginning, however, we will stretch to more adventurous perspectives. You will need a journal for this study and it is suggested that you have a candle to light your way each day as you begin. Try to set aside the same time of day and amount of time for each lesson that you study. This practice will build consistent attunement to the Holy Presence. Mostly, I hope you will open yourself, trust, and receive the insights which will come to you. This will be a rewarding experience.
Seeking Sophia as Divine Feminine . . .
God created me at the beginning of all,before all else that was made, long ago.Alone, I was fashioned in times long past,at the beginning, long before earth itself.When there was yet no ocean, I, Sophia, was born.
- Proverbs 8: 22-24
The late great theologian and cartoonist, Charles Schultz, sketched a vignette one Fall depicting Lucy, Charlie Brown and Linus resting on their elbows on a wall. Charlie says, "Halloween is over and the 'Great Pumpkin' didn't show up again, did he?" Lucy replies, "No, she didn't, did she?" Linus, to her left, is shocked with his sparse amount of hair standing on end. Lucy turns to him with her smug grin and says, "Never even occurred to you, did it?"
Many of us are like Linus in that it never occurred to us, despite several biblical images, to consider God as female. We're more familiar in our society with scriptures describing or referring to God in masculine terms. The biblical translations use the supposedly neutral pronoun "he" when speaking of God in second person, and Jesus called God "Father" when he taught the disciples to pray. But there are many other images of God which challenge us to consider different ways to name the One we seek and serve.
In Genesis 1:27, we read that God created humankind in God's own image; male and female God created them. Our creation story offers us the first opportunity to accept that God's image includes both male and female! However, God is not a sexual being, so God is not male, female, bi-sexual or androgynous. Yet, something of what it means to be male and female, masculine and feminine is connected with who God is. The profound statement from the first pages of our scriptures is too important for us to ignore. This passage can open us to consider the theological truth that visioning God produces a double image.
In Kabbalistic writings, it is taught that the Godhead (Ain Sof) divided itself into masculine (Binah) and feminine (Chokma). From these two polarities everything else was created through their spark of life. This we see continually reflected in our plant and animal kingdoms. The polarity for creativity is also present in electricity (e.g. positive and negative poles) and other technological sciences. In fact, our entire world as it was created and evolved is presented in masculine and feminine principles or manifestations. Why then do we predominantly use only one term for the image of our Creator?
There are many images used to describe God and our relationship to God including human, animal and abstract. For this next series of lessons, we'll explore some of the feminine images used in scripture. Realizing that all metaphors, names and languages are inadequate to fully describe the Holy One, we will nevertheless catch a few glimpses of God's many facets through our work.
Exercise:
Center yourself in a comfortable and prayerful mode. Gently breathe through this phrase and notice your experience. Use the following breath prayer phrase: Holy Sophia.....Mother of God. After a few moments, reflect on these questions and journal your thoughts.
1. Describe your image(s) of God.
2. In what ways do you reflect that image?
3. How is feminine wisdom expressed differently from masculine wisdom?
4. Is there a relationship between having wisdom and being creative?
5. Complete this phrase: Holy Sophia, create in me.............
***
Rev. Dr. Susan Hamilton is the Dean of Sancta Sophia Seminary an esoteric and interfaith seminary nestled in the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma. The seminary specializes in preparing ministers for interfaith spirituality and chaplaincy, and offers advanced degrees in spiritual studies. As a United Church of Christ minister, Rev. Hamilton served the Parkside Community Church in Sacramento, CA for 15 years prior to her appointment as Dean. She is the author of a soon-to-be-released book entitled
Seeking Sophia: 30 Days of Attuning to the Holy Feminine.
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Steve is offering a Free Copy of SEEKING SOPHIA to today's lucky winner (NB. The book will not be available until October 7th)Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Susan's book from Amazon:
Tweet
Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
It was while attending seminary, in preparation for becoming an ordained minister, that Susan Hamilton was first introduced to Sophia. "Sophia was illusive and mysterious to me in the early 1990's and she's not much more tangible now. How can we ever fully comprehend the Divine Mystery? … Yet, it made sense to me that there would be something feminine in God's nature if we women were created in God's image as is recounted in Genesis. While writing her doctoral dissertation, Hamilton found Sophia hidden in the stories of women in the Bible. She found her in ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle East and Egypt. She found her re-emerging in modern day esoteric writers. She developed a series of lessons to plumb the depths of the Sacred Feminine: exploring her role as Creator, as Wisdom, as the Body of Creation, and as Muse. Now, in the upcoming Seeking Sophia: 33 Lessons, she has put these lessons into a workbook to share with others.Hamilton concludes her Introduction by telling her readers, "My hope is that you, too, will have your own experience of Her presence in your life and continue to recognize "Sophianic" moments when they occur. Blessings on your journey."
I concur. Here's an Excerpt from Chapter One:
Chapter One - Wisdom and Holiness
There are an expanding myriad of descriptions as to what and who Sophia is. She is complex and represents different facets of the Holy to different cultures in different times and to different people. One description of Sophia relates to the basic meaning of her name in Greek: "wisdom". In Hebrew the word for wisdom is "Chokmah" and where that word appears in Proverbs it is frequently translated as "Lady Wisdom". She is the characteristic of wisdom itself such as the defining quality of King Solomon and other sages. Elders and crones are often esteemed as wise as are holy men in all religious expressions.In contemporary Christian doctrine, Sophia is often equated with the Holy Spirit, the third element of the Trinity, and the one who descended upon Jesus at his baptism (as a dove) and who empowered the disciples at Pentecost (as tongues of fire). As the Holy Spirit, Sophia is the 'Comforter' whom Jesus predicted would come to the disciples after he had left them and who remains with us as an etheric influence, a collective social concern, or a perspective on the world.
Another of her descriptions is that she is the Goddess, the Holy Feminine, and is known by many names in ancient cultures such as: Ishtar of the Semites, Ashtoreth in the Old Testament, Astarte of Phoenicia, Cybele of Anatolia, Diana of Rome, Demeter of Greece, and Isis/Maat of Egypt to name a few. We note that in the Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism all of the 'gods' were masculine until the second century of the Christian era when Tara, the Savioress, appeared, followed in the fourth century by Prajnaparamita "The Perfection of Wisdom." This introduces the descriptions of the Divine Feminine as a 'savior' and wisdom itself. Further, the Buddha declares repeatedly that Prajnaparamita produced all the Buddhas and is their mother and instructress. She symbolizes the supreme liberating wisdom which is the full consciousness of the Absolute or Void. She is the divine mother of the infinite space and her mantra (invocation) has the wondrous effect of opening the mind to enlightenment.
In China and Japan, the only goddess whose popularity equals that of the masculine deities is Kuan-yin (Japanese Kannon), who is the deity (Bodhisattva) of compassion. Since the twelfth century, Kuan Yin has appeared as the goddess of mercy and a source of comfort and salvation.
The impact of the 20th century feminist movement on the religious sector has been vast—bringing inclusive language and a re-imagining of the face of God. In 1993, three Minnesota councils of churches, in response to the World Council of Churches planned and hosted an international theological conference called Re-Imagining. This conference marks a moment in history in which work in feminist theology became a part of public conversation and awareness.The conference brought together female theologians, clergy, and lay people to examine ideas about God and the church born out of women's experience. Approximately two thousand people attended, mostly women but including men, from forty-nine states and twenty-seven countries. Nearly forty different denominations were represented.
The conference sparked considerable controversy and became national news. It was identified by Christian Century magazine as one of the top religion stories of the year. The movement continues today with the most recent conference held again in Minneapolis in 2000. The work of this movement is for the equitable inclusion of feminist theological ideas and practices into mainstream Christianity. Out of the Re-imagining conferences "Sophia" has re-emerged as an acceptable term for a multitude of divine feminine expressions. Her biblical and non-canonical references are found in the books of Proverbs, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus, which highlight her various functions, and which will be referenced throughout the series of lessons. This first chapter will provide you with examples from the Judeo-Christian scriptures of wise women and images of God described in feminine terms. For some familiar with the Bible, this will be a grounded beginning. For others who are not involved in a traditional Christian congregation, these lessons may not hold as much interest. From this beginning, however, we will stretch to more adventurous perspectives. You will need a journal for this study and it is suggested that you have a candle to light your way each day as you begin. Try to set aside the same time of day and amount of time for each lesson that you study. This practice will build consistent attunement to the Holy Presence. Mostly, I hope you will open yourself, trust, and receive the insights which will come to you. This will be a rewarding experience.
Seeking Sophia as Divine Feminine . . .
God created me at the beginning of all,before all else that was made, long ago.Alone, I was fashioned in times long past,at the beginning, long before earth itself.When there was yet no ocean, I, Sophia, was born.
- Proverbs 8: 22-24
The late great theologian and cartoonist, Charles Schultz, sketched a vignette one Fall depicting Lucy, Charlie Brown and Linus resting on their elbows on a wall. Charlie says, "Halloween is over and the 'Great Pumpkin' didn't show up again, did he?" Lucy replies, "No, she didn't, did she?" Linus, to her left, is shocked with his sparse amount of hair standing on end. Lucy turns to him with her smug grin and says, "Never even occurred to you, did it?"
Many of us are like Linus in that it never occurred to us, despite several biblical images, to consider God as female. We're more familiar in our society with scriptures describing or referring to God in masculine terms. The biblical translations use the supposedly neutral pronoun "he" when speaking of God in second person, and Jesus called God "Father" when he taught the disciples to pray. But there are many other images of God which challenge us to consider different ways to name the One we seek and serve.
In Genesis 1:27, we read that God created humankind in God's own image; male and female God created them. Our creation story offers us the first opportunity to accept that God's image includes both male and female! However, God is not a sexual being, so God is not male, female, bi-sexual or androgynous. Yet, something of what it means to be male and female, masculine and feminine is connected with who God is. The profound statement from the first pages of our scriptures is too important for us to ignore. This passage can open us to consider the theological truth that visioning God produces a double image.
In Kabbalistic writings, it is taught that the Godhead (Ain Sof) divided itself into masculine (Binah) and feminine (Chokma). From these two polarities everything else was created through their spark of life. This we see continually reflected in our plant and animal kingdoms. The polarity for creativity is also present in electricity (e.g. positive and negative poles) and other technological sciences. In fact, our entire world as it was created and evolved is presented in masculine and feminine principles or manifestations. Why then do we predominantly use only one term for the image of our Creator?
There are many images used to describe God and our relationship to God including human, animal and abstract. For this next series of lessons, we'll explore some of the feminine images used in scripture. Realizing that all metaphors, names and languages are inadequate to fully describe the Holy One, we will nevertheless catch a few glimpses of God's many facets through our work.
Exercise:
Center yourself in a comfortable and prayerful mode. Gently breathe through this phrase and notice your experience. Use the following breath prayer phrase: Holy Sophia.....Mother of God. After a few moments, reflect on these questions and journal your thoughts.
1. Describe your image(s) of God.
2. In what ways do you reflect that image?
3. How is feminine wisdom expressed differently from masculine wisdom?
4. Is there a relationship between having wisdom and being creative?
5. Complete this phrase: Holy Sophia, create in me.............
***
Rev. Dr. Susan Hamilton is the Dean of Sancta Sophia Seminary an esoteric and interfaith seminary nestled in the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma. The seminary specializes in preparing ministers for interfaith spirituality and chaplaincy, and offers advanced degrees in spiritual studies. As a United Church of Christ minister, Rev. Hamilton served the Parkside Community Church in Sacramento, CA for 15 years prior to her appointment as Dean. She is the author of a soon-to-be-released book entitled
Seeking Sophia: 30 Days of Attuning to the Holy Feminine.
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Steve is offering a Free Copy of SEEKING SOPHIA to today's lucky winner (NB. The book will not be available until October 7th)Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Susan's book from Amazon:
September 10, 2011
BELOVED SPIRIT: PATHWAYS TO LOVE, GRACE AND MERCY
by Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a copy of Beloved Spirit. Simply leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)
Tweet
Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
"On the night of September 11, 2001," writes Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave, "as anguish hung in the air like a veil of tears, I began to pray for a way to bring some small measure of comfort and healing to the families who had suffered the most devastating loss of their loved ones. Then, on the first anniversary of that day of sorrow, as I watched the children call out their parents' names at Ground Zero with great courage, a space opened in my heart that made way for earnest verses about love, hope, and courage to flow out of me."
Alexandra had never written poetry before, but now she has published several books of inspirational poems, including Healing Light: Thirty Messages of Love, Hope and Courage, Heavenly Order: Twenty-Five Meditations of Wisdom and Harmony, and her latest work, which is being released today in honor of the 10th anniversary of 9-11, Beloved Spirit: Pathways to Love, Grace and Mercy.
Beloved Spirit is her homage to "an intimate moment of surrender, a time when the soul may connect with a higher being, light, spirit, or God, a part of which I am convinced resides within all of us." She believes this inner surrender opens the gates of creativity, makes us open and vulnerable, provides courage in the face of terror, and ultimately provides peace.
The poems in this elegantly illustrated volume are light and accessible, but filled with inspiration, hope, and a deep connectedness with the sacred. They provide a welcome focal point of peace and stability in a tumultuous world, they remind us of what is most important, and they encourage the kind of world we all wish for and are struggling to create.
***
GRACE
Free the soul to seek hidden grace
in a life divinely bestowed,
And in this search for the Grail of Light,
let perfection be the ardent ode.
Perceive the flaws within the heart
as rungs upon which to climb,
For the ladder of love stretches out to the stars
where the soul resides for all time.
Suffering on earth may crush the will
of the bravest child of life,
Yet the human spirit may draw on a strength
from a source beyond all strife.
PEACE
A moment may come at the rarest time,
When the moon turns to gold and stars to pearls,
And the soul in need gains a precious sphere
Of healing peace free of perilous swirls.
On this half way path to angelic heights,
When the light and dark dissolve into mist,
Hatred and jealousy are cast aside
And shades of love find reason to exist.
Carry onward the gentle standard of worth,
Love first all others beyond self or land;
Then brightness will surely fill this sad world,
Bringing forth new greatness as once was planned.
***
Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave has gained distinction as a photojournalist, author, and poet. Her photographs have appeared in internationally renowned publications. She currently serves on the Board of the Blair House Restoration Fund and the Advisory Committee of the Asia Society Washington Center. She is the founder of The Light of Healing Hope Foundation a charitable organization dedicated to providing books of hope as gifts to hospitals around the country to comfort patients and their families at a time of adversity. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and lives with her husband in Washington, DC.
TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Steve is offering a Free Copy of BELOVED SPIRIT to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Alexandra's book from Amazon:
Tweet
Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:
"On the night of September 11, 2001," writes Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave, "as anguish hung in the air like a veil of tears, I began to pray for a way to bring some small measure of comfort and healing to the families who had suffered the most devastating loss of their loved ones. Then, on the first anniversary of that day of sorrow, as I watched the children call out their parents' names at Ground Zero with great courage, a space opened in my heart that made way for earnest verses about love, hope, and courage to flow out of me." Alexandra had never written poetry before, but now she has published several books of inspirational poems, including Healing Light: Thirty Messages of Love, Hope and Courage, Heavenly Order: Twenty-Five Meditations of Wisdom and Harmony, and her latest work, which is being released today in honor of the 10th anniversary of 9-11, Beloved Spirit: Pathways to Love, Grace and Mercy.
Beloved Spirit is her homage to "an intimate moment of surrender, a time when the soul may connect with a higher being, light, spirit, or God, a part of which I am convinced resides within all of us." She believes this inner surrender opens the gates of creativity, makes us open and vulnerable, provides courage in the face of terror, and ultimately provides peace.
The poems in this elegantly illustrated volume are light and accessible, but filled with inspiration, hope, and a deep connectedness with the sacred. They provide a welcome focal point of peace and stability in a tumultuous world, they remind us of what is most important, and they encourage the kind of world we all wish for and are struggling to create.
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GRACE
Free the soul to seek hidden grace
in a life divinely bestowed,
And in this search for the Grail of Light,
let perfection be the ardent ode.
Perceive the flaws within the heart
as rungs upon which to climb,
For the ladder of love stretches out to the stars
where the soul resides for all time.
Suffering on earth may crush the will
of the bravest child of life,
Yet the human spirit may draw on a strength
from a source beyond all strife.
PEACEA moment may come at the rarest time,
When the moon turns to gold and stars to pearls,
And the soul in need gains a precious sphere
Of healing peace free of perilous swirls.
On this half way path to angelic heights,
When the light and dark dissolve into mist,
Hatred and jealousy are cast aside
And shades of love find reason to exist.
Carry onward the gentle standard of worth,
Love first all others beyond self or land;
Then brightness will surely fill this sad world,
Bringing forth new greatness as once was planned.
***
Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave has gained distinction as a photojournalist, author, and poet. Her photographs have appeared in internationally renowned publications. She currently serves on the Board of the Blair House Restoration Fund and the Advisory Committee of the Asia Society Washington Center. She is the founder of The Light of Healing Hope Foundation a charitable organization dedicated to providing books of hope as gifts to hospitals around the country to comfort patients and their families at a time of adversity. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and lives with her husband in Washington, DC.TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Steve is offering a Free Copy of BELOVED SPIRIT to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Alexandra's book from Amazon:
