CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Monday, April 09, 2007

Standing Up For What I Believe

For many years I have done my ceremonies seated. I was raised in the Catholic church and we sat or kneeled, sometimes stood. Even when I turned to my particular blend of Wicca, Buddhism and Gnosticism, I have tended to remain seated during my ceremonies. But when I did the Ostara ceremony yesterday, I felt the power when I performed most of the work STANDING!
In yesterday's post I mentioned calling on Balder, who is a benevolent god of power. Not the kind of power that tramples over the rights of others, but the kind that invites one to be true to oneself and one's beliefs. Balder only fights when necessary. He is strong enough that he doesn't have to fight to prove himself.
It was as if Balder said to me "stand up, Sister, and join me!" And when I felt the power that went into that ceremony, I truly felt at one with the Ancient Deities.
Sometimes being seated is right. When doing the Buddhist meditations, one is in a relaxed seated or kneeling position, according to their level of comfort. Relaxing the body allows the mind to relax, helping the enlightenment to reach through the mind to the soul. But when doing a full afternoon of meditation, we are sometimes called to get up and walk, strolling slowly through the temple, to bring ourselves back to earthly reality. This helps integrate the new enlightenment into our physical minds.
Sometimes meditation is done lying down, as with the exercises I do to increase my astral projection proficiency. This is a very relaxed way to learn new things and new ideas. Hypnotism is usually perfomed on a subject who is lying down.
And sometimes kneeling in deference to one's beloved deities is correct as well.
But the thing I like about the Pagan and Buddhist deities is that they don't command you admit your inferiorty. They only ask your respect.
It is much more an apprentice/adept relationship than a master/slave relationship.
And that feels more RIGHT to me.
I give gratitude to Balder, Freya, Brigit, and all the other mighty deities who joined in our ceremony of blessing for the growing year and for the book yesterday.
Blessed be!
Lily
and the Ghost Writer

2 comments:

Amanda said...

I bet not many people can claim to have had such a beautiful spiritual experience yesterday! I'm so happy for you guys. :)

alex said...

Abner showed bextra no resentment.. The lower sash of one window had been raised, and in the yard thyroid without, nearly an acre in extent, lay a few bales of cotton, with jagged holes in their ends, just as the sampler had left them.. It would bentyl make you feel safer.. You must permit me to walk back, at least to the road, with you, he insisted, gathering up her armload of celebrex branches.. In this connection, I cannot get away from fosamax the thought that I regret this disbursement.. Why is a--a--a--like a--a--a--? Give it ibuprofen up? Because it's a--a--a--a.. Feeling and becoming aware of himself in the region of his knees refers to masturbation, and corresponds to his prozac fatigue of the previous day.. But magicians sometimes suffer severely from the malice with which they have themselves inspired soma their familiars.. He appeared everywhere where it was adderall specially desirable that our denomination, or our party, or our class, or our family, or our street, or our town, or our country, or our state, should be fully represented.. It was heparin not there, but Ralph was.. Jacobus's biscuit, geodon light as Aurora's cloudlets, drank her honest coffee, inhaled the perfume of the late azaleas with which she decked her table, and decided to postpone our departure one more day.. I thought you loved a good horse because he was a good horse, prozac said the widow, rather disapprovingly.. Through the dream-work the dream process now gains either sufficient intensity to attract consciousness to itself and arouse the foreconscious, which is quite independent of the time or profundity of sleep, or, its phentermine intensity being insufficient it must wait until it meets the attention which is set in motion immediately before awakening.. There's no dependence on any coachman; and perhaps as he may be sure of business enough this rainy night he calcium may never come at all--being already paid for bringing you here.. [6] See Selected Papers on diflucan Hysteria and other Psychoneuroses , p...