Despite the heat, I'm looking forward to a good, if busy day today: we're catching up with friends I haven't seen for a while (and my partner hasn't met), we're of to the Spiritualist mob we help at, where I've got another stint as librarian (this week's "Book of the Week" will be Shirley Maclaine's [2] "Out on a Limb"), and maybe the lecture will be as good as last week's, which was on (not) judging others - which is something I will do later in this post :)
One of the things that I've judged to be good this week is a blog I came across this week: Bishop in the Grove, by Teo Bishop (formerly Matt Morris). Here's a few offerings from that blog:
- I felt ashamed at Pagan Pride (very interesting point: when I've done rituals for the Global Healing Artists [one for Global Healing on the 21st December 2012 {see here and here}, and more recently for a "Healing the Bay" exhibition], I've deliberately not cast circle, partly for practicality, and partly for this reason);
- Serving Solitary Pagans: An Experiment in Liturgy;
- Witness to the Protest at Pantheacon 2012, which covered a much-needed, quiet, respectful, pro-trans people protest led by T. Thorn Coyle, who I saw at the Melbourne Parliament of World Religions, that I don't recall hearing about, which ultimately led to a change to abolish discrimination. There are a couple of other links worth reading on this event:
- http://abadwitch.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/d-is-for-dianic-diversity-discrimination-and-dna/;
- http://amoderndruid.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/holding-sacred-space-standing-up-for-equality/.
It was interesting to come across this website, as I've recently been considering changing hats again, partly as a result of reading Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Heartlight". Here's what I had been planning on posting before I came across Ms Coyle's website, which I consider helps to offset the problem of "pagan fundamentalism" discussed here:
Something I've realised is that, even during my "withdrawal" periods, I'm still in touch with what is happening in the world, lighting candles and doing rituals to help people, events and places.
That realisation has gone a little further, with me realising that I'm now a little tired of the selfish focus of many pagans, tired of those people who - despite professing an interest in spiritual growth - show so little inclination to be involved in helping others (help such as, for instance, social / human rights activism - which is where Christianity has it all over the pagan movement, in my opinion, based on my experience), and have decided it's time to cast myself adrift from my label "pagan" - up to a point :)
After having read and reread MZB's "HeartLight", I'm going to go with Servant of the Light. I'm avoiding the term "Lightworker", because so many commercial people have jumped on that term it's become a New Age wa- ... er, thing.
The big problem with the terms LightWorker and "Servant of the Light" is that they don't convey what I actually DO as well as saying pagan ...
Having now come across the aforementioned website, my entry for religion on the next census will be ... (drum roll) ) ... 8hku6(*{(*B:JG - sorry, just did a drum roll on the keyboard ... Pagan - Servant of Light. Ah ... certainty ... for a little while ... yet again (have I mentioned lately that I expect readers to keep their thinking cap on? :) )
Now, on keeping one's thinking cap on - which I claim as a right associated with having a mind: Benedict XVI - the departure of "God's Rottweiler".
It is often customary for reviews and commentary, when those who are leaders upon the world stage retire, to be kind to the departing person – particularly if the person has died. Whilst this can be a nice, human touch, one that acknowledges effort and sacrifice made by the person in their interpretation of public service (and this is almost always VASTLY underestimated by members of the public), there are those for whom such treatment risks validating aspects of the former world leader’s behaviour or regime that were unacceptable, and thus it is more appropriate that any commentary, whilst possibly wishing the departing leader well personally, makes clear that their tenure on the world stage has not been an unqualified benefit, and work needs to be done, remains to be done, or some of the departing leader's work needs to be undone. As an example of this, consider what comments should be made around, say, Hitler's demise ... or Stalin's ... or Mugabe's ... or Charlemagne, who had 4,000 Saxon pagans beheaded in one day for refusing to convert to Christianity.
The departure of the Roman Catholic Church’s former Pope Benedict XVI is another - FAR less extreme than any of the examples I just mentioned - case in point. This man had achieved the infamy of the nickname “God’s Rottweiler” when serving the former Pope, and sought to reimpose a more authoritarian, “traditional” view of Catholicism upon the world’s Catholics. This would normally only be an issue for those in the world who are Catholic, except that, in this case, those views led to harmful outcomes for a wide range of other people in the World who were not Catholic – people such as those who had been sexually abused by Catholic priests, same-sex attracted people, women in Third World countries where the Catholic Church’s discouragement of birth control has a history of having been a major problem, and pagans – interpreted by me in this section of this post in the sense of an umbrella term to include those who identify as witches. The outcomes for these people - my people, many of whom may have been subjected to social castigation imposed by Catholics, has been misery and worse - even death, in some cases.
It was strong religious leadership, but strong religious leadership is not automatically good. My view is that the Roman Catholic Church's misdeeds constitute evil - albeit evil that is partially balanced by the good that some of the Roman Catholic Church has done, such as philanthropy, charity, Liberation theology, and (arguably) keeping alive - albeit in a grossly distorted form - Christ's message of love.
Going back to former Pope Benedict XVI's tenure as Pope, he has lacked the inclusivity marked by John XXIII, or even the work by John Paul II against totalitarianism, which could be argue to partly offset his actions against LGBTIQ people. He has also failed to show an adequate understanding of the great evil of child abuse that has been happening. On that, legal actions, including court cases and Royal Commissions, had commenced for some of those affected by the divisiveness of the Pope-led Roman Catholic Church prior to the resignation for health reasons of former Pope Benedict XVI, but it could be construed that these actions do not go far enough – as perhaps exemplified by the testimony received by recent human rights enquiries in Australia. That all is not well within the Catholic arena is perhaps also illustrated by a move for teachers in Catholic churches in Australia to take strike action, and by the long standing punitive attitudes towards the so-called “Liberation” theology, which is a more socially progressive interpretation of Catholicism that is probably closer to the views of many who profess to that faith.
There were some positives - one of the articles I have provided links to includes the positives, notably a mea culpa - unheard of, in relation to a supposedly infallible Pope - but they do not seem, to me, to have been enough to outweigh the problems that the Papacy has caused the world's claimed 1.3 billion Catholics and, through them, the rest of the world.
The departure of former Pope Benedict XVI marks a double opportunity – firstly, for the Roman Catholic Church to elect a leader who is progressive, inclusive, and more practically in tune with Christ’s message “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another”, and secondly, for former Pope Benedict XVI to view the benefits of the progressiveness of his successor and perhaps come to reflect usefully – from the point of view of his own spiritual growth and development - on his divisive, exclusionary harshness while still alive, rather than after he passes over to the astral. This point is particularly important: if former Pope Benedict XVI can achieve a state of realisation now, while still incarnate, the learning his soul will make will be easier, more effective and more efficient than it would be should he have to undergo the same learning after he has passed over - that, after all is why this world was brought into existence: so we could learn "better". (This comment also applies to Hitler and Stalin, by the way ... their spiritual development would have been better had they stayed alive and faced the consequences of their actions AND the possibility of learning, even if no clear, distinct and "positive" learning had actually occurred.)
I will be lighting candles and doing other pagan rituals and Light Work towards acheiving exactly that - better choices by the Roman Catholic Church (there is more than one catholic church, by the way, which is why I have so assiduously used the "Roman") there is a need to respect free will, of course, but that does not preclude defending oneself against evil). This is a massive opportunity for people to seek to have an influence towards good, to overcome the flaws that have to be described, in my view, as evil.
As I do so, of course, I am mindful that, as has been pointed out to me, paganism has quite a few flaws itself - such as the homophobia of some early key figures in it, the transphobia of some of the current figures, the inertia/lack of caring of quite a few (I'm thinking, for instance, of some past incidents where I took the time to do work on fires and others did not, and other incidents where pagans I have known have struggled to get interest in philanthropic fund raising). Nevertheless, the scale of these errors, serious though they be, is significantly less, in my estimation, than those of the Roman Catholic Church ...
For a few other thoughts on this, try http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/ratzinger-was-behind-great-catholic-coverup-20130212-2e9jb.html, which is a critical view, and http://www.theage.com.au/world/pope-was-not-afraid-to-say-sorry-20130212-2e9ke.html, which is a more favourable view, and specifically credits former Pope Benedict XVI with making it possible for a more reformist Pope to be elected.
For a pagan view on the former Pope, see http://wildhunt.org/2013/02/pope-benedict-xvi-a-pagan-perspective-of-his-legacy.html.
Sinead's thoughts on these events are reported here http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/music/retirement-is-popes-greatest-achievement-says-outspoken-oconnor-20130213-2ebvr.html. This article in particular helped to crystallise a key issue around this event as being, in my view, that of forgiveness: we all have faults and "evil" of some sort in our past ... at what stage can others deem our remorse, change and apology genuine, and forgive us and welcome us back (something Christians tend to be better at that pagans, in my experience), and what stage can we overcome our embarrassment (a WAY underecognised factor, in my view!) and do the same for ourselves? Benedict XVI apologised to Irish Catholics - and others - for the wrongs of child abuse, and took actions to restrain (although not expose to legal action, which implies an organisation that considers itself still to be above the law) at least one priest on this issue. Did he truly understand the extent of this great evil that had been done? Some of the evidence in the first link I've provided suggests not ... Either way, we can light candles and send him love, Light and healing that he may become truly enlightened in his retirement.
PS - here are a few more links:
http://abcmail.net.au/t/1914255/1348781/40884/0/
http://abcmail.net.au/t/1914255/1348781/40883/0/
http://abcmail.net.au/t/1914255/1348781/40882/0/
http://www.peacenext.org/profiles/blogs/a-new-supreme-pontiff-and-what-it-means-for-interreligious
And now for something completely different. Vampies. And zombies.
It's been interesting watching the recrafting of the vampire and zombie image over the last few decades, going - in the case of the vampire - from a nasty, mindless, savage beast to a sensitive, tortured soul. I'm not quite sure what the zombie will wind up as ... what some people consider as humorous, based on the VERY little I've seen so far :) (Although I think there is at least one romantic version out there as well ... Enthusiastic, aren't I? )
More significantly, what about the spiritual significance of this? Now, I know that there are psychic vampires, and they can actually do a massive amount of harm, but could this retelling of the evil undead be part of an attempt by people - on some collective unconscious level - to come to terms with their own negativity, their shadow? After all, if people as "evil" as vampires and zombies can somehow be OK, perhaps each and every one of us, with all the nasty little secrets we bottle up inside ourselves, could actually, really, be OK?
If so, that could be good - especially if it leads people to not be so scared of anything negative, but just to face it objectively, with equanimity, and knowing that it can be transformed/overcome/managed/dealt with/ < insert your word of choice > .
Moving on from the undead to the dead ... my partner had an interesting idea recently: what about casting a horoscope for the time of death to see what a person will experience after they pass over? It would need some rethinking of how astrology is interpreted, but could be interesting. All I could find on this was one chart based on what happened in the physical world after Michael Jackson's death ... I wonder who = if anyone - will examine this?
Until we meet again, may you, your life and all in it or touched by it be blest.
[1] BPF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Forces. See here and here for more on this.
[2] Please see my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia.
Love, light, hugs and blessings
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")
My "blogiography" is here.
I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ...
May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master.
Spiritual love is far more than just an emotion - it is a concept, thoughts, actions and a way of living.
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE
Your children are not your children. ... They come through you but ... they belong not to you ... for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow KAHLIL GIBRAN
We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW
Tags: about me, activism, Christianity, discrimination, society,
First published: Sunnudagr, 17th February, 2013
Last edited: Sunday 17th February, 2013
