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Kuan Yin and Mael Duin Part One

2008-11-03T13:30:00.000-08:00

I was loaned a book on Kuan Yin by a friend of mine. The author listed the 33 aspects of this Goddess. I immediately saw parallels with Mael Duin's journey through the Celtic underworld and the 33 islands that make up that plane.

What I propose to do over the course of the next few posts is to show the correlations between these two sets of mythology. I also hope to bring to light how to use these aspects of Kuan Yin to help learn and incorporate the lessons of Mael Duin's Underworld journey in daily life and spirituality.

I also made another discovery in researching these correlations, that being the list of 33 can be broken down into 11 sets of three aspects and islands. Each of these triplets holds an aspect from each of the Three Cauldrons from Celtic Spirituality. I hope to give a list of these later on.

At any rate, here is the first of the 11 triplets of correspondences.

The first of Kuan Yin's aspects is Power. Mael Duin's first stop on his journey is an island inhabited by enormous ants. Ants are a perfect symbol for power, power in numbers as well as personal power. The ant can lift over 40 times it's own weight and when you get great numbers of them working toward the same goal they can do amazing things.

Kuan Yin also has Clarification as one of her aspects. Clarification is reflected in the second island Mael Duin visits on his journey. The island's only inhabitants are Great Birds. One of the best ways to get clarification is to get a better perspective on a situation. The birds on this island fly to greater heights than any birds any of the crew have ever seen. Imagine the truly amazing perspective you could get if you could pull back to “a great height” to see your problems. Imagine the clarification that could bring.

Kuan Yin's third aspect is Harmony. Part of harmony is having the power to do damage but choosing not to use it. This is shown on the third island which Mael Duin visits. There are great, meaning giant, horses here with claws sharp enough to flay a man alive. These creatures though, secure in their strength and living in harmony choose to let the sailors pass through their lands unscathed.

I hope you have enjoyed this first installment. If you liked it leave a comment and I will continue to post them every couple of days until we are through the list.

Love and Light

Universal Light Expo Columbus Ohio

2008-10-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

We went on an adventure with some dear friends, whom I consider to be pride mates, this weekend. We went to the Universal Light Expo. It was a very different kind of show for me.

There were many psychics of various kinds. I saw exactly none of them. This is not because I doubt their abilities so much as because I have too many gifted friends to give my time or money to anyone else.

What turned out to be the best of the showing there were the crystal and gem vendors. I love my rocks! I picked up a few. Some of them spoke to me directly and one spoke to my sister for me. Soooo, I have had to add a few earth friends to my huge rock family.

I think the most curious find for me was the green kyanite. I picked one up along with a new blue one. After the show we went to my sister's home to play with our finds. I found that with the blue kyanite in one hand and the green in the other, they set up an energy circut that is not only similar, but exactly like, working with a human partner. I highly recommend trying this, especially if you are working alone and need to raise energy.

I found a couple of pieces of brown selenite as well. These held in both hands do a different sort of thing. It feels as though together they they increase your ability to ground and center. This happens spontaneously without a conscious effort on my part. I think this might come in handy on a regular basis.

The white polished selenite I purchased was recommended by my sister. I took some aural and chakra centered damage recently. She thought that this stone might help me repair that damage. It does seem to stimulate the correct areas, though no description or listing of its abilities would suggest this. I guess this is just one of those things.

I also realized something about these sorts of gatherings, they are very draining. I am no slouch when it comes to personal warding. Let me tell you though, despite all the grounding and shielding, after four hours of walking around this place on Saturday, I am still wiped out today.

All in all though, it was a great time with fabulous friends. We made some very good finds. Spent quality time with each other and laughed bunches. Again I have to say I highly recommend it!

Love and Light

Moments and Insights

2008-10-02T04:19:00.000-07:00

I went to a very special event this past weekend. The first annual Earth Warriors Festival. I have been to a few pagan gatherings in the past. This one blew the others away!

The talent and presenters included Dragon Ritual Drummers, Wendy Rule and two friends M.R. Sellers and Dorothy Morrison. There many others, but I have to say these were the cream of the crop. I am partial though, I love Murv and Dorothy!

The first night was for presenters and staff and a few very lucky vendors. We all sat around the fire and talked and drank and talked some more. I have got say pagans are some very funny and insightful people. The stories told there were the seeds of jokes and pranks all weekend for those "in the know".

The second day vendors opened shops and workshops ensued. The traffic was a little slow early in the day but people were working and traveling. The staffers who were not busy and some of the talent too, would wander by and sit for a while to visit with the vendors. It was a relaxing day.

That night was something else though. There was a huge DRD concert. This is the first time I have danced around the fire with other women to the driving beats of a drums only group. It was a powerful and bonding experience for all who chose to dance. I was amazed at myself for getting up to dance, one of maybe 12 in front of a group of maybe 100. I am glad I did though!

After the concert, there was a drum circle offered elsewhere in the camp. I did not get to go to that as I was shanghied by pirates. Yes, pirates they vend pirate gear at these events. They are kind to their captives providing much singing and booze. Bless their black and wicked hearts, I think they killed my liver. It was a very fun way to go though.

Day three there were far more people. I did alot more business as a vendor. This is a good thing. I did not however get to join in any of the workshops or rituals. I am told the rits were amazing and moving. I did not mind this so much as I had near constant company at the vend tent. A very dear friend that I had lost touch with was in fact attending. We spent much of our time together catching up and reconnecting.

That night was the Wendy Rule concert. I am told she was wonderful. It really wasn't my kind of music so I kept the tent open and made quite a bit of money. Not only that but I also had the opportunity to have a healing session with my now sister. Later, her hubby gave me a knot breaking muscle aching back rub to die for. So I think I did well to skip the concert.

We spent the rest of the night that night, the last night, frolicking. Well, talking and drinking and drumming and dancing. A few of us chose to walk the labrynth that the fire spinners set up earlier in the day. That was a very calming experience.

The next morning was the tear it down and pack it up day. There were many tearful or nearly so goodbyes with friends old and new. My sister and I cemented our connection with a very simple ritual involving chocolate and a kiss. One of our dear friends left not to go home but to head off to his son's to meet his new grandaughter born Saturday. I think it speaks volumes that he chose to spend that extra day with us rather than hop the first flight out.

This was an amazing and awesome weekend. I know I have never felt the sense of community that I felt there. I mean it wasn't perfect, but it was close. I had these incredible moments with people, little flashes of insight into not only them but myself. I spent the weekend away from the world being the wise and intuitive creature that I am, but can not always be in the mundane world.

Everyone involved says that next year will be bigger and better. It might be bigger, but it will never get any better for me than this one. These were the first Earth Warriors and I was one of them. I was deeply honored to be there, to be a part of something that felt almost sacred from beginning to end.

LOve and Light, Stand and Fight

Simple Life

2008-09-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to me how spiritual simple living can be. I was at The Earth Warriors Festival this weekend. I lived in a tent and ate out of a cooler. I met great people and felt more in touch with who I am than I have for a long time.

This led me to wonder about some things. Could it be that the reason people in the past seemed to be so much more in touch with their spirituality and their Gods was because of the lives they lived? I think this is definitely part of the case. They did not have the strange stresses that plague us these days.

None of this means that I want to run off and live in the woods. I know myself well enough to know that I would fail. The people in the past did it well because they had real communities. That was another part of the magic of this festival. I felt more a part of the people around me than I ever have. A bunch of people came together and made a community for a weekend. We talked together, we drank together, we danced together. We were all part of the same organic group. We were tribe and family.

This festival has shown me so much of how we are supposed to live. Now if only there was a way to bring this knowledge into this regular life that so many of us live. I'm not sure the two of them are truly compatible. At least not without major changes to the "real life" so many of us must live now.

Welcome Old Ones

2008-09-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Most folks around here know that I am a pagan. Some know what kind of path I gravitate toward, Wiccan. So I cast circle most of the time to do my work.

The way the circle works is that I set up a barriar between me and any negative energy or beings that might be floating about. Then, I send out requests and invitations for certain other positive beings to come assist with or act as witnesses to my workings.

A circle casting usually ends with the statement "Welcome Old Ones". Most folks assumes that the Old Ones are all those being you have just summoned, stirred or called to your circle. There is another school of thought though, of which I am a follower, that the Old Ones are not any of the previously mentioned invitees.

The thought on this follows along the these lines.

There have always been Gods and Goddesses out there from the begining of time. They are numerous and varied. Just like us they have certain interests and likes and dislikes. This being accepted as truth we can move on to the idea that some of them were more active in the past than they are now.

There are Gods and Goddesses who perfered the old times. They liked the primordial world better than this present time. They enjoyed helping the Neanderthal and early humans in their struggles. It would be a little more exciting. Those people would have had a closer tie to their Gods as their very survival depended on Them.

This time was before written word. There may be little statues somewhere or a cave painting or two, but the names of these Gods have been lost to time. They are the forgotten Gods and Goddesses of our world.

These beings of forgotten names and powers are the ones we are welcoming. They recognise the call for aid from that place deep in the recesses of our hearts and minds that is still primal. The place that screams, "I will survive at all costs!"

In deep meditation or deep dreaming, when the veil starts to thin you can sometimes make contact with an Old One, or rather they can make contact with you. Given that chance, remember their names and use them. Call to them directly and their attention and aid are swift and powerful.

How do I know these things you may ask? My mate and I have attracted the attention of an Old One. Nahnua, The Loiness, Woman Who Hunts, The Den Mother, and she is an awsome being. We honor her and she honors us.

One day I will tell the story of how we met. This is something She would like very much. Times are changing and She knows She will be needed again soon. This frightens me and fills me with wonder. Her message for us for the moment is to gather your Pride and keep them close. Words to live by!

Love and Light

More on the importance of Free Will and Freedom

2008-09-09T16:14:00.000-07:00

These two things go hand in hand in developing spirituality. All true spirituality is developed by the person practicing it. You cannot learn it from books, teachers, or even the very wise. They can be helpful, but to learn true spirituality you have to live it. To live it you have to be free to do so. Free will is a gift from the Divine. That means that Freedom is also a gift from the Divine. Did you know that when you tell someone what to do, you are taking on part of the "karma" for their actions? When I say karma I mean the spiritual repercussions from an action. This also happens, to a lesser extent, when you give advice. The reason it is lessened is that it is advice and not an order. You aren't making the choices for them, you are just telling them what you think. How does this all relate to freedom and free will?

Free will is most free when there are no outside influences restraining it. This does not mean anarchy because there is a natural limit to free will. That limit is that your free will cannot be used to limit the free will of another. This transforms free will into a restraining force. A restraining force is not free since it is tied to the actions of another. So putting your will over another is actually reducing your freedom and free will. So to have true free will one must act in a way that does not restrain the actions of others. This does not mean to allow others to restrain you. One must always struggle against those effects that restrain them; that is how one grows. The goal of such struggle though is not to restrain the restraints, but to overcome the restraints so they cannot restrain you now or ever again. How does this apply to groups?

Groups have their own karma. They also take on the karma for the actions they cause their members to perform. This means the good and the bad both come to the group as a whole. This is why I like the rule of Wicca. You can do what you want as long as you don't harm others. That is the only real rule of true spirituality. Everything else is just man made rules made to exert controll over the group. This applies to secular and religious organizations. Because in reality there is no such separation. Everything is a spiritual act. So what does this all mean to you?

Basically it comes down to this. Anytime you restrain a person you take on karma for being a restraining influence. Also, you take on the karma from the results of those actions. If you're lucky the good results from those actions will outweigh the bad karma for making someone do something in the first place. If it doesn't you will come out to the negative. This also means you get a share of the negative karma from any group you choose to attach yourself to. So make sure you really know what an organization stands for before you attach yourself to it. If you are already in a group that you don't really agree with you only have a couple options. The easiest one is to leave that group for a group more inline with true spirituality. If you cannot leave that group then you must work to change it. In working to change the group you are canceling out the negative karma from being applied to you because no applied karma can outweigh you own actions. If you cannot leave it and you do not attempt to change it be ready for the negative karma. This is because of one more feature of free will and freedom that a lot of people these days don't like to talk about. What is that you ask, read on.

Personal responsibility goes hand in hand with true spirituality, free will, and freedom. You are responsible for what you do, period. It doesn't matter even if you were "forced" to do so. No one can make you do anything you aren't willing to do, period. You choose what you will do therefore your actions are your responsibility. Also, the actions of any group you are a part of are partially your responsibility. So if an organization you are a part of has committed an action that does not agree with true spirituality and you don't do anything about it; you have given your consent to the action and therefore played a part in it. There is no avoiding this. If you remember back to what I wrote in Spiritual Path Basics, if your beliefs aren't changing you for the better then you should abandon them. This is why. True spirituality changes everything it comes in contact with. If it comes into contact with a group you are a part of it will change that unless you restrain that. You know what happens when you are a restraining influence, and yes you can restrain yourself.

In the end this all basically means you have a lot more responsibility than you probably realize. This isn't a bad thing. This is an awakening. The more you develop your spirituality the more you will realize this and the easier taking on these responsibilities will become. They won't be weights. They will be the waters that will grow you into the person you really want to be.

The Heart of the City

2008-09-09T01:02:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I read a blurb in a book about finding the heart of a place. I put that little bit of info away because there is really only one reason to find the heart of a city. That reason is to contact the Spirit of the City.

That doesn't sound like a bad thing at all does it? The trouble is that most of these beings are ignored by 99.9% of the folks who live in their domain. They are lonely. The problem comes when they have a friend or contact in the human world they tend to want them to stay in the city.

Now that doesn't mean you can't take a short trip or go on vacation. It does mean that you had better want to make your home there for a very long time. While being on good working terms with a Spirit of a given city can be a huge boost for every aspect of your life, it can cause extreme problems if you ever want to leave for good.

All of this has been much on my mind for a while. I was stalling. I was unsure if this city was where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I didn't want issues if I decided to leave. I didn't want to hurt a being that was minding its' own business until I knocked on its' perverbial door. So time has gone by, until Sunday.

I figured out where the Heart was and I went there. I walked around for a while with Reaz. He took his camera and got some good shots of the place. It is a really nice spot. I certain area there really tugged at me.

It was a small square there that has a monument to those Police, Sheriffs, and Firefighters who have died in service to our town. They were warriors who fell defending the charges of the Spirit of the city. I too am a warrior in my own right and the daughter of a firefighter. It did not suprise me that this was the spot for introductions.

I had not planned to meditate there. I only thought to feel out the energy and get an idea of what this Spirit might be like. Almost as soon as I sat down my mind folded in on itself and I was adrift in a deep meditation. I called to the Spirit who was calling to me. She is a lovily creature.

I do not yet know her name. Spirits of any sort guard those very carefully. That information is for another day. Over time though, I think it will be given to me. For now I am content with the image of her. She looks Native American and peaceful. The wind was caught in her long blue black hair. She regarded me with a smile, small but genuine. We can work together, she and I.

Needless to say, I am not disappointed that I met her. I am glad I finally took that step. After all, fear profits a man (or woman) nothing.

Love and Light

Why?

2008-09-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

The question many people ask is, why does the Divine allow suffering, pain, and evil to exist? I probably will not have a popular answer, but it is the only answer that seems to fit into our reality rather than trying to make reality fit to the answer.

The first reason that comes to mind is that for us to have free will we have to be able to choose from the whole range of choices including the extremes. To have the choice to be a loving individual one has to be able to choose to be a hateful person. If we can't make these choices we are not free and therefore are making no choices. If we can't make choices what is the point to this life at all? It is not all about choosing though.

Without something to overcome how can you grow? It is in overcoming setbacks, difficulties, and the like that we prove how strong we are and in so doing also become stronger. Without bad events happening you can't become more good. You can't show the love and power of the Divine. Again, if we can't overcome and grow what is the point to this life?

As cruel as it may seem, even these events are part of the Divine plan. We are offered these choices and we have obsticles put in our path so we can choose to follow the Divine way or not. And if we choose to do so we can grow stronger in that way. Otherwise we would all be stangnant automatons. There would be no purpose, no plan. All we would do then is serve the Divine like flesh robots. I think that would be true cruelity.

Real World Interaction with the Divine

2008-08-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

Some folks think that it is no longer posible to have actual interaction with the Divine outside of meditation or dream work. They think that the Divine can not be seen or interacted with in the real waking world. I have to say through my own personal experience that this is not the case.

I have seen the face of the Greenman in the trees. Not only did that image last for several minutes but it was witnessed by another. The timing was also rather stunning in that I was wondering whether to bring a male energy back into my practice. I had been neglecting that for a couple of years and really only acknowleging the feminine.

This experience alone would not necessarily cause me to conclude that the Divine is still very active in the real waking world. Now the fact that an old and forgotten African Goddess first had me draw a portrait of her and then try my hand at sculpting for the first time kind of convinced me. The lack of focus and sleep until these things were done, the very real circles under my eyes, they did give me pause.

I have seen and communicated with the Fey. I don't mean in that place between sleeping and waking either. I mean wide awake, 6 inches from my face, it was looking at me and then a flash bright enough to leave spots and then it was gone.

I have heard a guardian spirit howl a warning. Oddly within a day a non-magick practioner had reported seeing it in her back yard. It was nice validation that what I heard had not been in my head, but the eccho was really all the proof I needed.

Some folks have asked me what's so special about me that I have these interactions. Well the answer is simple and not. I am open to having them. It does not scare me to see the Divine in my real life. I do not draw a line between my "magickal" time and the rest of my life. I found that many people do draw a line and I can not for the life of me figure out why. Your spirituality is what makes all this, this life, worth living. It is the aroma, flavor and color of our world. Frankly, in my opinion it is the main reason we are here in the first place.

Let us know in the comments your thoughts and/or personal experiences.

Love and Light

Timeless Mind

2008-08-26T15:17:00.000-07:00

There are those times in life when one feels more connected to the Divine. These times are brought about, in part, by a state of mind I call the Timeless Mind. The Timeless mind is when your mind is out side of the regular flow of time, helps one pray, perform spells and commune with the Divine. What do I mean when I say outside of the regular flow of time?

The mind uses time to catalog information as it comes in. All information gets a sort of time stamp and is organized by that time stamp. This is so you can learn new things that may counteract things you thought you knew before. In the timeless mind state you are outside of that time flow. You can gain limited knowledge of the future. It must be limited because your mind can only take so much information and if you know to much you also loose your ability to make choices based on this information. You become locked into a view point that is only one of many possibilities. This state of mind also relates to prayer, magick, and communing with the Divine. All of these things function best in this mind state.

These things are improved because this is the state of mind that is most in touch with faith. You know the things you are asking for are attainable because you have already seen them obtained. That is the knowledge of things unseen. It is still faith though because your rational mind cannot believe in such things. It exists totally in the flow of time. It cannot remove itself from that. That is where meditation comes in. Meditation, whether it is said or not, is how one enters this state of mind. I will discuss meditation in a later post. An important question is how to recognize this state.

You can recognize this state of mind by noticing the fact that you have absolute certainty of something that hasn't happened. That is the timeless mind, that is faith. I cannot explain this state of mind to you, you have to experience it to understand it. Any mystic, practioner of magick, or anyone who has felt the presence of the Divine knows this state of mind. You may have experinced this and not even know it. That is part of the purpose of this post. To help you understand this event. So you know you aren't just loosing your mind. It is a state of mind as natural as breathing, but that doesn't mean it comes automatically. Like walking, it has to be practiced to be mastered. Once mastered it can be performed whenever you need to.

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you understand more about what the timeless mind is. I also hope this information has been useful to you.