“Our Earth relies on balance…”

“Our Earth relies on balance in which every being has a role to play and exists only through the existence of another being, a subtle, fragile harmony that is easily shattered.”

~Quote from the movie “HOME”

 

The stunning Mongolian singer and artist Byambajargal Gombodorj, whose song opens the movie and sets the mood for the entire movie…she is amazing… Here is an excerpt and amazing highlight of the movie, the link shared in the link prior to this for the movie “HOME”

 

Just finished watching this. I’m a bit sad to say I had not seen it before. How many of you have seen it already? If not, I highly recommend it to you. It’s been 5 years since this move has been released…. what has changed? ‘HOME’

 

Also check out https://www.facebook.com/sanctuaryasiapage and like… ❤ to all.

Blessings and love to you all. ❤

 

Moro

”To all that is chaotic in you…”

 

 

“To all that is chaotic in you, let there come silence.

Let there be a calming of the clamoring,
a stilling of the voices that have laid their claim on you,
that have made their home in you,

that go with you even to the holy places but will not let you rest,
will not let you hear your life with wholeness or feel the grace that fashioned you.

Let what distracts you cease.
Let what divides you cease.
Let there come an end to what diminishes and demeans,
and let depart all that keeps you in its cage.

Let there be an opening into the quiet that lies beneath the chaos,
where you find the peace you did not think possible and see what shimmers within the storm.”

—John O’Donohue, from “To Bless the Space Between Us”

 

shared by Moro

title: “The Visitor” by artist: purplekecleon @http://www.deviantart.com/art/The-Visitor-183687678

“Make your own Bible…”

 

“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Many of those that walk an alternative path know one version that carries two different names. For others, make it your own “Bible”, “Book of the Sacred”, “Holy Book”, or whatever you want to call it, Those of us with a history, again in an alternative path of paganism and witchcraft, we often call it a Grimoire or “Book of Shadows” but for me, personally, it can also be a book about your life and personal spiritual journey. This can include life lesson, knowledge, what you feel your life’s purpose is, ethics, personal responsibility (ies), ethics from personal experience, everyday experiences, things for reflection, meditation (s), poetry, personal fiction, quotes, inspiration, your spiritual journey, self improvement, teaching and as many forms of wisdom in your life that you create and also find inspirational…. what ever you want. It’s your book. Its your “Bible”. ❤

 

What will you call yours?  What will you put in yours?

 

Who was Ralph Waldo Emerson? 

 

“Ralph Waldo Emerson Biography
Philosopher, Poet, Journalist (1803–1882)

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American Transcendentalist poet, philosopher and essayist during the 19th century. One of his best-known essays is “Self-Reliance.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1821, he took over as director of his brother’s school for girls. In 1823, he wrote the poem “Good-Bye.” In 1832, he became a Transcendentalist, leading to the later essays “Self-Reliance” and “The American Scholar.” Emerson continued to write and lecture into the late 1870s. He died on April 27, 1882, in Concord, Massachusetts.” (1)

 

*(1) http://www.biography.com/people/ralph-waldo-emerson-9287153#awesm=~oEMvku9VE5K1Dc

 

Moro

 

Art title: ‘Run Book’ by artist: Fleurine-Retore- Le Monde de Fleurine @ http://www.deviantart.com/#/art/Run-Book-212964829?hf=1

 

Today the sunset offered…

 

 

 

Today the sunset offered a bright blue sky painted with gentle, flowing, soft clouds. When I looked up, I it felt like I could see eternity if I looked long enough and hard enough. The wind blew cool and clean against me. My husband and I walked through the neighborhood and I repeatedly looked back onto the forest covered ridge that runs parallel to our main road. Between us and them, there was picturesque, open fields and a sense of purity in all things. My spirit felt so free in this beautiful country. We walked into a local EU football field and there we found the bright green grass perfectly maintained, like from a painting, yet no one was there. Standing upon what looked like a green tapestried spring mound, overlooking the field was a tree, which we promptly and with out ceremony sat under, both watching and hearing the wind bristling and moving the leaves and branches. Looking around, the tender, carefully cut grass was covered in daisies… daisies I remember from my childhood. Perfect little things that spread their petals wide, inviting the sun and all that would walk by, “Look at me!”. I did. I picked one, thanking the earth and knowing how hard that plant had worked to make that one tiny daisy and twirled it in my fingers. Before I knew it, I was remembering my children when they were so young and how good life was then. I remembered why I loved being a pantheist and pagan. I remember rediscovering the world through their eyes and how beautiful and epic every small thing was. “Look at this rock mommy!” and I would and we would talk about it.

It was a very good day today.

Love, light and Blessings to you all.

Moro

“The past has no power to stop you…”

 

“The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your grievance about the past can do that. What is grievance?
The baggage of old thought and emotion.”
― Lao Tzu

 

Art title: ” A Path Divided” by artist:  Emerald-Depths @ http://emerald-depths.deviantart.com/art/A-Path-Divided-281916466

“…What are the ethics of magick?”

 

 

 

“…What are the ethics of magick?”

From lovely “Beth’s World of Wonders”

“I’m so glad you asked. The basic rule is: Do as you will, as long as it harms no one.

Sound simple? Not entirely. There are certainly self-centered reasons to go along with “harm none” – as witches, we believe that our actions will come back to us. If you put a curse on someone, you are likely to face some negative consequences down the road. Beyond the effects of individual karma, we also believe in the interconnectedness of all beings, in which harm done to one is harm done to all.

At the same time, it is impossible to live without harming anyone. For one thing, we all eat beings (plants or animals) that had to die in order to feed us. For another, sometimes doing magick to help yourself (e.g. get a job) will inadvertently harm someone else (who therefore doesn’t get the job). We cannot avoid these contradictions; we have to face them squarely and accept the consequences of our actions.

Essentially, magickal ethics are no different than regular ethics. Would you beat someone up if they made you angry? No? Then don’t curse them to make them suffer pain. Would you try to bribe a prospective employer to get a job? No? Then don’t work magick on someone else to make them hire you. Would you try to make yourself look more attractive to an employer by wearing appropriate clothing to the interview and acting the way you think they want to see you? Sure you would. So there’s no reason not to work magick on yourself to attract a job….”

This post come from this fantastic blog. I highly recommend you go over and check it out for more fantastic information! http://www.soulrebels.com/beth/pagan.html   & http://www.soulrebels.com/beth/magick.html

 

Shared by Moro

(I’ve looked on how or how to reblog/sharing her site directly but there isn’t an option, it seems)

 

Title: “Fires of universe” by artist: sasha-fantom @http://sasha-fantom.deviantart.com/art/Fires-of-universe-378874511

“Earth Teach Me to Remember”

 

“Earth Teach Me to Remember”

“Earth teach me stillness

as the grasses are stilled with light.

Earth teach me suffering

as old stones suffer with memory.

Earth teach me humility

as blossoms are humble with beginning.

Earth Teach me caring

as the mother who secures her young.

Earth teach me courage

as the tree which stands alone.

Earth teach me limitation

as the ant which crawls on the ground.

Earth teach me freedom

as the eagle which soars in the sky.

Earth teach me resignation

as the leaves which die in the fall.

Earth teach me regeneration

as the seed which rises in the spring.

Earth teach me to forget myself

as melted snow forgets its life.

Earth teach me to remember kindness

as dry fields weep in the rain.

Ute, North American”

Prayer from: http://nativeamerican.lostsoulsgenealogy.com/prayers.htm

 

Shared by Moro

Picture from: http://hot-wallpapers.net/92-wolf-wallpaper-31-wolf-free-computer-wallpapers.htm

“You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle…”

 

“You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance.

This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.” (1)

by Black Elk of the  Oglala Sioux from “Black Elk Speaks” as told to John Neihardt in 1961.

(This is an amazing book I highly recommend it. ❤ )

 

Who was Black Elk? 

“(Nicholas Black Elk [Hehaka Sapa] (c. December 1863 – 17 August or 19 August 1950 [sources differ]) was a famous Wichasha Wakan (Medicine Man or Holy Man) and Heyoka of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux). He participated at about the age of twelve in the Battle of Little Big Horn of 1876, and was wounded in the massacre that occurred at Wounded Knee in 1890)”(Check out this source for more that inspires you in your life and personal journey) (2)

 

Though it does not in any way take away from it, it is good to also note that while telling the amazing story of his people and his autobiography prior to the influence of both “White man” and Christianity, the fact was that Black Elk had already been a Christian for years. Did this affect his later interpretations and method of his own people and personal history? What do you think?

“In 1904, an incident happened that, according to Lucy,…” his daughter, “… was the catalyst for Black Elk’s conversion. Black Elk was called to perform a healing ceremony for a sick child. During the ceremony, Father Lindebner, from the Holy Rosary Mission at Pine Ridge, arrived to give the boy last rites. He was angry to find Black Elk practicing shamanism and threw Black Elk and his magic props out of the tent. According to Lucy, Black Elk was not angry, but accepted the idea that the white God was more powerful (Steltenkamp 36). That same year, Black Elk was baptized, received the Christian name Nicholas and was thereafter often called Nick Black Elk by both Indians and whites…..In teaching Catholicism, Black Elk used a pictorial device that was common at the time called a picture catechism. This was a strip of paper about a foot wide and several feet long illustrating the Creation at the bottom and Heaven at the top. This pictorial was commonly called the Two Roads Map and contained many colorful pictures of humans and fanciful creatures that might be encountered on the gold road to Heaven or the black road to Hell. There were striking physical similarities between some of the images on this map and the images that Black Elk described in his vision. Black Elk interpreted his vision as a call to heal and to lead his people to a good and spiritual life. However, there was also a part of his vision that indicated that he had the power for great destruction and that he was to lead his people in war against the whites. Intelligent and practical he could probably see the futility in this and was able to reconcile his vision with the idea of leading his people into Christianity. Black Elk’s vision gave him power in the eyes of his people, but was also a terrible obligation to live up to. He spent his entire life agonizing over whether he was living up to the dictates of vision. Converting may have let him off the hook in regard to some of obligations of his vision. Lucy felt that her father saw parallels and connections between old Lakota religion and Christianity (Steltenkamp 102)….What were Black Elk’s motivations for telling his story? Neihardt said that he believed Black Elk’s purpose was to preserve his great vision and Lakota history for his people after he was gone. To the Native American people, ritual and ceremony are extremely important. The very telling of the stories was a kind of ritual that could restore and transmit the power of the vision and transfer some of the burden of his vision onto Neihardt (Wiget 211). Wiget goes so far as to speculate whether Black Elk used Neihardt to send his message to his people before he died (Wiget 214), and that he purposely tried to draw parallels between Lakota spirituality and Christianity to elicit sympathy and help for his people from the whites (Wiget 83).” (3)

 

(1) http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Wisdom/BlackElk.html

(2)  http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Black_Elk

(3) http://archive.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/blackelk.html

 

 

 

Shared by Moro

Art title: “Native American Tale” by artist: da-joint-stock @ http://www.deviantart.com/art/Native-American-Tale-167670912

“The 13 Wiccan Principles”

 

“The 13 Wiccan Principles”

The following set of thirteen principles was adopted by the Council of American Witches, in April, 1974.

— We practice rites to attune ourselves with the natural rhythm of life forces marked by the phases of the Moon and the seasonal Quarters and Cross Quarters.

— We recognize that our intelligence gives us a unique responsibility toward our environment. We seek to live in harmony with Nature, in ecological balance offering fulfillment and consciousness within an evolutionary concept.

— We acknowledge a depth of power far greater than that apparent to the average person. Because it is far greater than ordinary it is sometimes called supernatural, but we see it as lying within that which is naturally potential to all.

— We conceive of the Creative Power in the universe as manifesting through polarity ~ as masculine and feminine ~ and that this same Creative Power lies in all people, and functions through the interaction of the masculine and feminine. We value neither above the other, knowing each to be supportive to each other. We value sex as pleasure, as the symbol and embodiment of life, and as one of the sources of energies used in magickal practice and religious worship.

— We recognize both outer worlds and inner, or psychological, worlds sometimes known as the Spiritual World, the Collective Unconscious, Inner Planes, etc. ~ and we see in the interaction of these two dimensions the basis for paranormal phenomena and magickal exercises. We neglect neither dimension for the other, seeing both as necessary for our fulfillment.

— We do not recognize any authoritarian hierarchy, but do honor those who teach, respect those who share their greater knowledge and wisdom, and acknowledge those who have courageously given of themselves in leadership.

— We see religion, magick, and wisdom in living as being united in the way one views the world and lives within it ~a world view and philosophy of life which we identify as Witchcraft.

— Calling oneself “Witch” does not make a Witch – but neither does heredity itself, not the collecting of titles, degrees, and initiations. A Witch seeks to control the forces within her/himself that make life possible in order to live wisely and well without harm to others and in harmony with Nature.

— We believe in the affirmation and fulfillment of life in a continuation of evolution and development of consciousness giving meaning to the Universe we know and our personal role within it.

— Our only animosity towards Christianity, or towards any other religion or philosophy of life, is to the extent that its institutions have claimed to be “the only way”, and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other ways of religious practice and belief.

— As American {Or World-Wide!} Witches, we are not threatened by debates on the history of the Craft, the origins of various terms, the legitimacy of various aspects of different traditions. We are concerned with our present and our future.

— We do not accept the concept of absolute evil, nor do we worship any entity known as Satan or the Devil, as defined by the Christian tradition. We do not seek power through the sufferings of others, nor accept that personal benefit can be derived only by denial to another.

— We believe that we should seek within Nature that which is contributory to our health and well-being….”

http://www.mysticmooncoven.org/rede.htm

 

(Check out this source for more that inspires you in your life and personal journey)

Source: http://www.mysticmooncoven.org/rede.htm

 

Moro

(I did not write this article in any way. I simply enjoy sharing pearls of wisdom and beauty from different sources into one source for many to enjoy. If inspired to from there, go to the original sources to discover more!)

Art title: “Daybreak” by artist: patriciabrennan @ http://patriciabrennan.deviantart.com/art/Daybreak-66741791

“Spiritual Warrior”

“Spiritual Warrior”

(From Native American Prayers and Poetry)

“Life offers us the opportunity to become a Spiritual Warrior. 
A warrior is one who bravely goes into those dark areas within 
themselves to ferret out the Truth of their being. 
It takes great courage, stamina and endurance to
become a Spiritual Warrior.

The path is narrow, the terrain rough and rocky.
You will walk alone: through the dark caves,
up those steep climbs and through the dense thick forest.
You will meet your dark side. The faces of fear, deceit, and
sadness all await your arrival

No one can take this journey but you.
There comes a time, in each of our lives,
when we are given the choice to follow this path.
Should we decide to embark on this journey,
we can never turn back…. Our lives are changed forever
On this journey, there are many different places we can
choose to slip into and hide. But the path goes on.
The Spiritual Warrior stays the course, wounded at times,
exhausted and out of energy. Many times, the Warrior will
struggle back to their feet to take only a few steps before
falling again.

Rested, they forge on,
continuing the treacherous path.
The journey continues. The Spiritual Warrior
stays the course. Weakened, but never broken.
One day, the battle, loneliness and desperate fights are over.
The sun breaks through the clouds; the birds begin to sing
their sweet melodies. There is a change in the energy.
A deep change within the self.

The warrior has fought the courageous fight.
The battle of the dark night of the soul is won.
New energy now fills the Warrior.
A new path is now laid before them.
A gentler path filled with the inner-knowing
of one who has personal empowerment.

With their personal battle won, they are filled with joy.
A new awareness that they are one with the Spirit beams
as they go forth to show others the way.
They are not permitted to walk the path for others.
They can only love, guide and be a living example
of the Truth of their being.”

(Check out this source for more that inspires you in your life and personal journey)
Source:  http://www.blackhawkproductions.com/poetrynative.htm

Moro

(I did not write this article in any way. I simply enjoy sharing pearls of wisdom and beauty from different sources into one source for many to enjoy. If inspired to from there, go to the original sources to discover more!)

Art title: “Native Silhouette” by artist: Sakaib @http://www.deviantart.com/art/Native-Silhouette-140155759