As I was driving to work last week, on a typical wintry morning, I realised that what I actually most like in terms of temperature is for my legs and back to be warm
(although that is probably cooler than most people like!), and the rest to be cool
(which is what most people here seem to consider 'cold'). The realisation in that for me is that we tend towards an assumption that 'X' should be uniform - whether that is ...
- temperature (always dreadfully too high in office buildings, and without any variation for seasons or diurnally, and often too overheated in bedrooms for people to sleep properly),
- range of choice (for instance, I was discussing access to government services such as Medicare with a friend who said she would prefer everything to be available on line: for my part, I consider that people should have a CHOICE of on- or off-line - on-line for my very tech savvy friend, and off-line for Luddites such as myself and people who are not comfortable with technology, such as my elderly father),
- attitudes and characteristics assigned to groups (which is the basis of discrimination and bigotry, assuming that 'because I know person Y, and Y is a member of group Z and has characteristic W, all members of group Z have characteristic W ... which if often decided without knowing ANYONE from group Z, actually),
- political preferences (especially those rotten hone pollsters who assume that voters 'really' want to vote only for one of the two major parties, i.e., Labor or so-called liberal, rather than accepting that there are voters who really, genuinely make a first choice to vote for a third party, such as the Greens),
and so on.
Maybe ... just maybe, if we were a little more genuine in wanting people to have a valid range of choice
- and I am including the USA in this royal 'we' - life would be better for everyone.
Oh, and on the 'royal we', I am appalled at just how subservient sections of the Australian media have been recently for the visit of a pommie
(slang for English or British) prince. Notice that we're independent - for over a century, now? Or is this more of that appalling 'cult of celebrity' rubbish?
And on that subservience to the pommie royals, our current appalling
prime minister (his performance in the position means I do not consider the office to deserve capitals), Tony Abbott, recently reintroduced the imperial honours system to override the
Australian systems of honours that we've had for several decades. Whilst that is bad enough
(anyone getting an Australian republican movement vibe here? Am I being too subtle?), what I found appalling was a commentator on ABC radio who carried on as if we had no honours system before Abbott's reintroduction of Imperial subservience. What? Does he actually know what he was talking about?
(He also talked about this being about cult of the celebrity ... well, he said celebrity, as if that was good thing ... :) )
More seriously, subservience
- as opposed to respect - is a form of
fear: fear of independence and being a
mature, self-reliant adult. It is a way of abdicating
(sorry - pun intended) personal responsibility to someone else. It is a form of self-sabotage - not sabotage out of fear of our innate strength, as
Marianne Williamson wrote about, but fear that we are not actually capable of managing on our own.
Now, the truth is, we may not be good to manage on our own, but we won't get to that level of maturity and competence if we wimp out and let others run our lives for us.
These comments apply to us and our lives emotionally, mentally
and spiritually.
Are you looking up to others out of genuine respect, or out of fear? If you are, where is this holding you back in your life, and how can you find the courage to try?
OK, next. Psychic protection of homes
(see here, here, here, here, here and here).
Some time ago, I came up with a sheet of psychic protection symbols which I have
Blu-Tacked to doors etc. The sheet looks like this:
(I'm having some problems getting this to appear in the final post - my apologies)
The original is A3, but I've printed them out mostly as A4 sheets - and have been very surprised by how many people have commented favourably on these. It's just something I knocked up one day when I was more exhausted than usual and thus having more trouble than usual setting up protection.
Now, since then, I've been doing more work to help people with their requests for protection. One such request led to me making the following little gizmo, which I am currently working on making a slightly larger version of
(photos will be posted when I get it done):
I've had, however, a more urgent request for protection from a young member of the family, one that needs more urgent attention than the time it will take me to care and paint more such devices. I've already provided
talismanic tetrahedrons, but more is needed, so ... I suggested the sheets. They are, however, too obvious - too large, as this young person is sharing her home with non-pagans, and she doesn't want to risk causing any tension
(which constitutes discrimination, in my book, but I can well understand not wanting to rock the boat for the sake of an easier life - or survival). So ... I shrank them down to about business size, and pasted a few of these on to a single sheet, with a view to cutting out individual ones:
I was thinking that these could be put inside purse or handbag
(or wallet), but, after I started cutting them out and gave some to my partner, she rolled them up.
Brilliant!
They look natty, fit in a wide range of places conveniently, and as she suggested, they can be used to make a Pagan version of a
Mezuzah.
I'll post a few photos the Pagan version of the Mezuzah when I eventually make it ... it is likely to take some time.
Oh! and feel free to print and use these sheets as you wish :)
And now, finally ... some thoughts for tonight's meditation.
Well, Putin pulling back regarding Ukraine is obviously a win, but there is still unrest and the risk of civil war there, so that remains an area in need of spiritual help through meditation to generate appropriate thoughts of sharing, forbearance and love of peace for the sake of the future and those now children who will live in it. There are, of course, many other areas in the world in need of such assistance, and these two links may help in preparing for tonight's meditation by thinking of them.
'See' you tonight :)
[1]
BPLF = Balanced Positive
(spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.
Love, light, hugs and blessings
My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here, and my glossary/index is here.
- One
size does NOT fit all.
- Don't
be mediocre - seek to excel.
- Gnwmythr's
Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if the simplest solution is actually
recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's
bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
- Our
entire life experience, with all the many wondrous and varied people,
places and events in it, is too small a sample for statistical reliability
about Life.
- May
the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a
master, of the lives of people.
- Ban
the dream interpretation industry!
- A
home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better”
class than others.
- Housework
is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo
or belittle others.
- Being
accustomed to interacting via certain rules makes those rules neither
right nor universal.
- Like
fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad
master.
- Expertise
at intimacy and emotional happiness is generally not the same thing as
spiritual growth.
- Any
person, male or female, who has neither a serious health issue, dependents
nor an agreement about study. yet expects their partner to work to support
them, is, spiritually speaking, little more than a parasite.
- "Following
the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
- Armageddon
is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the
indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or
"Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." and what Bruce Schneier
calls "security theatre"
on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape
the end on the other. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs.
honour.
- The
means shape the end.
- BPLF
restraint of uncooperatives is NOT an opportunity for revenge or getting
even - even unconsciously.
- As
words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as
well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
- My
favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi",
although I've recently come across "Invictus"
and might put that one in to that category. However, I
loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe
many dramas, which are often emotionally
violent, more so in some cases than many war films.
- All
of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context,
perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be
stronger [people].
John F. Kennedy (who was
quoting 19th Century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)
Jesus loves you. Odin wants you to grow up.
We make our decisions. And then our
decisions turn around and make us.
F.W. Boreham
Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent.
Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called
Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to
infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names
we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious.
Jane Elliott
The only thing necessary for the triumph of
evil is for good [people] to do nothing.
(based on
writing by) Edmund Burke
The significant problems we face cannot be
solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.
Albert Einstein
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.
True compassion is more than flinging a
coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an
edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Those whom we cannot stand are usually
those who we cannot understand
P.K. Shaw
Few men are willing to brave the
disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of
their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or
great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who
seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.
Senator Robert F. Kennedy (US
Attorney General, 1966 Speech)
Too much and too long, we seem to have
surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation
of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America
by that -- counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to
clear our highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow
for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of
their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our
marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public
officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor
our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it
measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile."
Robert F. Kennedy 1968
There are risks and costs to a program of
action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of
comfortable inaction.
John F. Kennedy
Tags: artificer, choice, courage, cult of celebrity, discrimination, maturity, personal responsibility, protection, society, subservience, uniformity, variety,
First published: Sunnudagr, 11th May, 2014
Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Sunday, 11th May, 2014
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