Find Religion

The first place to start is to create a sacred space. Find a place in your yard that you can devote making a Medicine Wheel upon the ground. It can be under a tree, in a field or even among a garden or lawn. The first stones you will want to start out with are the sacred 4 directions, North, South, East & West. Using a compass find due North and work from there placing South next, then West then East. Getting to know the different elements of each direction helps give balance & focus for each season. Honoring the cycles of the earth, life and the seasons is a way for us to find continuity and touchstones of connectedness and familiarity that bring comfort and delight.

Use this space to come to to pour out your heart, ask for guidance, give thanks for your many blessings and to open, ask & listen. Making an external symbol of inner sacred workings is a powerful way to raise consciousness and connect with the earth around you.

One of the great ways to connect with nature is to watch & hear the wind. We live in a valley and everyday like clockwork around 3 p.m. the wind starts up. Not only can I stand outside and hear the wind coming before it gets here but sometimes the wind is so high that it’s only in the treetops and not touching the ground. I have several wind chimes hanging on the porch that signal the wind or a sudden, unexpected storm.

Spiritually or energetically, I love to send heartfelt wishes to my loved ones far away. And I love to send random love & compassion on the wind to find an aching heart of someone in need. Wishing on the wind is a lot like praying but instead of sending it up you send it forward to be caught by an open soul, like an unexpected smile, heart to heart. Try to hear if the wind has a song,  memory,  wish or dream upon it for you. Don’t feel silly doing this. If you do feel silly, so what? Do it anyways! We have more to learn from the foolish than the wise! Emotions are energy in motion and even though they are intangibles, they are very real energies. Use them kindly, use them often and use them compassionately. Like a boomerang, they will find their way back to you.

Preserving nature is an integral part of being a spiritual person. Nature has so much to share and gifts to teach us if we will only take the time to stop, look and listen (or ask the right questions!) Be it as simple as letting a daddy long legs spider live in the corner of your laundry room, to feeding and watering the birds, your service to animals will bring you joy. One year we made a Christmas tree for the birds from a tree in our landscaping. We hung pine cones smeared with peanut butter and rolled in wild bird seed. We strung popcorn, suet blocks and apple cores. It was a thrill to see the birds all come and feast in the cold of the season. We felt peace knowing that they would be sustained throughout the cold winter. Not that nature can’t provide, but if we can supplement nature then wildlife can really thrive and do well amid the stresses of modern life.

To nurture nature is sacred. To stop and reflect upon nature is truly divine.

Using your care of nature as sacred ritual is important. Caring for nature puts one in the role of responsibility, which simply means; the ability to respond. To respond to nature’s specific needs is essentially service. And to serve is to find your greatest joy. Find your joy in feeding the birds seeds & millet or nectar for the hummingbirds. You can make butterfly gardens and feeders too. I have a birdbath that at night also serves the nocturnal frogs, lizards and the occasional snake. I feed the wild birds seed and grain that I give to my chickens-cracked corn and wheat. We have a couple of doves who came the 1st year we began feeding the birds and they would always join in right next to the chickens to get their daily grains. The next year they came as a trio, bringing a new little fledgling to feast. We are blessed to live in the forest. This means also we have a forest full of animals & insects. Caring for their needs and fostering an environment for them to thrive in is a great joy and privilege. Caring for nature puts many important things into a perspective that fosters a greater awareness of the world around. There is magic in nature. From the tiny seed that grows into a towering tree to the beauty and form of a spider’s intricate web. Nature has so much to teach us, if we will only stop to notice.

So what is peace, anyways? Absence of war? Silence? Stillness? How do we find peace in a war torn world?

As Mother, war is the ultimate atrocity. It distills down the miracle of conception, creation, birth & child-rearing into a mere industry of human commodity for the consumption of corrupt peoples running powerful governments. It devalues everything we value most;  our children, the children of the world and the future. War is the ultimate disgrace and insult to life & humanity. Can the Mother find peace during war? She not only seeks peace, she seeks justice. She seeks a world where wisdom and grace supersede greed and destruction. She seeks this not for herself but for her children. She would gladly give herself in a pact to end all war forever. That is how far the Mother is willing to go. We will never find peace or balance as a whole until we honor the Mother and her creation as precious and sacred. It is only then that we will have the inner eye to our heart of hearts wide open and functioning as we were intended; intelligently, with thoughtfulness and prevailing compassion and peace. Now that’s is revolutionary!

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.  -Issac Asimov

“… Move beyond any attachment to names.” Every war

and every conflict between human beings has happened because

of some disagreement about

names. It’s such an unnecessary foolishness, because just

beyond the arguing there’s a long

table of companionship, set and waiting for us to sit down.

“What is praised is one, so the praise is one too, many jugs being poured

into a huge basin. All religions, all this singing, one song.

The differences are just illusion and vanity.

Sunlight looks slightly different

on this wall than it does on that wall and a lot different

on this other one, but

it is still one light. We have borrowed these clothes, these

time-and-space personalities,

from a light, and when we praise, we pour them back in.

mevlana jelaluddin rumi - 13th century

Practice moving beyond attachment by consciously using no words. You may have to close your eyes. We have a tendency to name and mentally say names of different things we see in our environs. For this exercise, let’s close our eyes. Have no TV or radio on. Make the sacred sound of the OHM, vibrating the ‘O’ in your chest, the ‘H’ in the throat and the ‘M’ on the lips. OHM carefully over and over until you become a vibrating tone of chest, throat, lip symbol speak. Say it until it makes no sense and you blur into the vibration. This is beyond attachment. This is the the place of wonder,  the child’s eye, that we can hope to distill down into an elixir that vitalizes our life. This is the gateway to the source of exploring the language of the soul. After doing this exercise, I recommend drawing a mandala or wheel of life. Find creative expression for the intangibles experienced and create so you can make your inner language manifest real for you to see.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field.

I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language- even the phrase “each other” -do not make any sense.

This Rumi poem/prayer of truth is the way we are to approach sacred circle. Empty out so the space can be filled with Her grace. Divine femininity is characteristic by the chalice, the bowl; such as the womb. It is hidden, open & receiving of the abundance that is our birthright. She gathers her knowledge and wisdom not thru words but thru sacred imagery and symbol. This is why creativity is so essential to nurture the spirit. Our creative endeavors are Divinity Herself being made real for all to see. This is why beauty is so important not only to the senses but the sensibilities. We were created for ecstasy and pleasure. Art is the God/dess Herself manifest. I can’t imagine much more exciting than that right now. Go create! Let’s see what She wants to say thru You! This is a challenge. Read the Rumi Poem & begin. Be Inspired!

Email me pictures of your creations so I can show them in a future post. Thanks!

Every day, I hear the same complaints from those against the Christian religion. We’re too close-minded. We’re too unappreciative of diversity. We’re too exclusive. We’re too confined.

And you know what? I get it. Some of that is true for some people. I’ll even say that a lot of that is true for a lot of people. But (and there always is a but), is that the religion’s fault or is that the fault of interpretation?

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Prayer tips? Why would anyone need prayer tips? And what does one do with prayer tips? Isn’t prayer supposed to be an “individual” type of thing? How can general prayer help me?

Yes, that’s my first reaction too. But really, finding religion is about being comfortable in your own beliefs, and if you belong to a religion that celebrates prayer, these prayer tips really can help you find that comfort you need. The more comfortable you are with praying, the better your relationship will be with the divine.

Prayer Tip #1: Schedule time for prayer. Praying is kind of like working out. If you don’t schedule time for it, you might just not do it. However, like working out, after you get into the groove, it can be a rush and really make you feel better about yourself. At least for a few weeks, schedule time every day to pray.

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Instead of religious freebies this week, I’d like to note some “free” articles that you may want to read.

You’ve probably already realized that this blog is part of a larger blog network, 451 press. Although the overwhelming majority of bloggers here are not about religion, many still touch on the subject from time to time. After all, religion really does touch every aspect of our lives, whether you are religious or not. Here are some interesting articles from around 451 that you may want to check out:

At Vertical Quilting Curve, Donna has found a story in the Christian Science Monitor about passing down your quilts. Heritage is important part of any religion, and this story is a real tear-jerker!

Speaking of heritage, Gillian at Food History, is currently running the entires for a contest of your favorite recipes and the stories that go with them. Check out the latest entry, and don’t forget to click around her sit to see more stories and recipes.

This isn’t a purely religious question, but how do you feel about the censoring of some books? Is that the librarian’s job of the parent’s job? And, should you (or anyone) stop your child from reading something that goes against your own religious morals/values? At Tiny Treasures, Kelly asks us - Who has balls?

Can you keep a secret? Beth at Spirituality Guide talks about her daughter’s worries that, because of a sin, God wouldn’t love her anymore.

Have you seen a post on 451 that you like? Let us know!

PostSecret has just released a new movie on their site, talking about Frank’s surprise at we happened when he started the site and featuring a large number of secrets, new and old.

Releasing your secrets can help you heal. On this website, I give my advice on how to find religion, but religion is just one part of finding yourself. PostSecret has helped hundreds of thousands of people find that peace we all so disparately want.

Check out the site today if you haven’t already. Let me know your experiences with it.

Have you finished your Harry Potter book yet?

If not, don’t worry–there are no spoilers below. Don’t stone me, but I’ve only ever read the first Harry Potter book, and it didn’t hook me like it seems to have done with so many others. It was ok. But I digress.

What I really want to talk about today is an interesting post I read at Pop Buzz UK. In this post, Harry Potter is compared to Star Wars, and I not only agree, but I’ll venture to say that most of the books and movies we read/see today can fit into this traditional good-versus-evil category.

And the Bible’s no different. In fact, a comparison of the Bible and Harry Potter would be quite interesting, I think. It’s the Divine being versus Satan, with help along the way. It’s morals and values and doing good in the world. It’s an exploration of death and how death affects life. It’s Harry Potter, and it’s religion.

You don’t have to be interested in organized religion to be interested in good overcoming evil, and that’s what Harry Potter is all about (which is ironic, seeing as so many religious zealots protest the series!). Remember that in your daily life–your spirituality doesn’t have to be about strict rules and church and organizations. It can be a personal struggle to overcome the Lord Voldomort (someone spell that…I’m not HP expert!) within and allow the Harry Potter to shine through.

Harry Potter, JK Rowling, Bible, good versus evil, religion, books, spirituality

Today is Friday the 13th…are you feeling lucky? “Luck” is a subject that often comes into our everyday lives, even for those who are religious. However, what is luck? Is it a destiny for us? Is it God’s will? Is it simply the random aligning of aspects in our lives?

And why is Friday the 13th considered to be unlucky?

The best example is probably the 1929 Friday the 13th stock market crash. However, Friday the 13ths have been unlucky in a number of countries and in a number of years:

1889: Friday the 13th was the day of the Johnstown Flood
1945: The largest air battle over Norway occurred on a Friday the 13th
1978: People in a Friday the 13th protest rally were massacred in Iran
1982: The Falklands War began on a Friday the 13th

Legend also has it that Friday the 13th was the day in history when the famous Knights Templer (suspected to be the protectors of the holy grail) were rounded up in France and arrested (and many put to death).

In ancient times, the number 13 was unlucky, as was the 6th day of the week (which would have been Friday by their calenders). So, it has roots in old earth religions as well!

If nothing else, I personally believe that any Friday the 13th is only as unlucky–or lucky–as you make it to be. God doesn’t disappear on Friday the 13th, so don’t let the superstitions of the day interfere with your life!

Friday the 13th, Friday 13th, Friday 13, Knights Templer, Templer, Holy Grail, unlucky days, unlucky, superstitions

Last week, I took a week-long vacation (the first in a long while). I went to the beach with one of my best friends, my boyfriend, and my boyfriend’s two brothers. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that the beach is hard to leave. Staring out at the waves or relaxing in the sun while reading a good book are some of the most calming things I can imagine doing.

The beach allows me to understand why so many people follow nature religions rather than subscribing to more traditional Western religions (ie, Christianity, Islam, etc). If God isn’t one and the same as nature…than what is God? Isn’t nature the basis of religion in general?

My challenge for you today (or sometime this week if the weather isn’t cooperating where you live today) is to go out into nature and just reconnect with yourself. Leave the cell phone and ipod at home, and just take a walk. Read a book, think about your day, spend time with your family, or talk to God. Love nature and let it help to de-stress your life.

I’m out soaking up the sun at the beach for a week, so a number of my bloggin’ friends are guest posting for me! Today’s guest poster is Jean Lockwood from Parenting and Religion. Enjoy!

My personal belief of anyone looking for religion, is that they can find what they are really looking for only through relationship with God.

Relationship is a two way street. You can’t have a relationship with someone unless they participate. I am a Christian, and believe that God participates through communicating with us in many ways-Nature, other people, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is our way to God, He is the one who opens the door for us to have fellowship (communication) with the Father (God). Good relationship requires 2 who are willing to do their part. God has already done His part- sending a way to meet with Him through Jesus. We need to do our part- accepting the way He has made through Jesus, and fellowshipping with Him.

Some people think you have to use certain words or prayers to talk to God, but you don’t. You can talk to Him like you would talk to your best friend; open, honest, and from the heart. He knows everything going on inside you anyhow, so why not be honest? Relationship is about loving; offering and accepting forgiveness; giving encouragement; talking; offering and accepting forgiveness; and living in a way that honors the other.

How is your relationship/religion? I would encourage you to seek God, talk to Him, ask Him to show you how to find relationship with Him. He will you know.

religion, relationships, relationship advice, religious advice, relationship with god, god, Jesus