Blog for FB's Pagans, Witches, Warlocks, Shamans and Sages. Listen to the songs and wisdom of the earth. Embrace the magic in all life. Find your place in the universe and your path.
“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’
“The Circle has healing power. In the Circle, we are all equal. When in the Circle, no one is in front of you. No one is behind you. No one is above you. No one is below you. The Sacred Circle is designed to create unity. The Hoop of Life is also a circle. On this hoop there is a place for every species, every race, every tree and every plant. It is this completeness of Life that must be respected in order to bring about health on this planet.”
~Dave Chief, Oglala Lakota~
“Subject: Dave Chief – Obituary by his family
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 17:38:12 -0400
From: info@leonardpeltier.org”
“…Dave Yakima Chief (Wakinyan), age 74, journeyed to the spirit world on Friday evening, June 10, in Medford, Oregon surrounded by family. A respected Lakota elder, warrior, spiritual advisor, and member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Dave was born on June 25, 1930 at Rapid Creek, South Dakota. He grew up at Red Shirt Table on the Pine Ridge Reservation. His parents were Albert Chief and Hattie Fills the Pipe Chief. Dave worked for the people and for treaty rights for decades, traveling to the United Nations, the White House, the U.S. Congress, and other continents. In 1972 Dave participated in the Trail of Broken Treaties, which culminated in the takeover of the BIA in Washington, D.C. In 1978 he was in the Longest Walk from Alcatraz Island to Washington, D.C. that brought about the Freedom of Religion Act (P.L. 95-341), allowing Native people the legal right to practice traditional spirituality. In 1984, he ran in the Jim Thorpe 54-day run from the Onondaga Nation in New York to!
Los Angeles, after which Jim Thorpe’s nine gold Olympic medals were returned to his family. ” @ http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GRANNYS-NA-PANTRY/2005-06/1118787538
Please also see the book “Ghost Rider Roads” “Overall. Ghost Rider Roads chronicles the roots of AIM via news clips from old activist newspapers (Yippies Judy and Stew Albert), old stories by Robert Robideau (acquitted in the killing of two FBI agents in 1975) and moves into the controversy over the murder of Anna Mae Aquash (1945-1975/6). Ghost Rider Roads reveals the landscape of “Indian Country” from the 1970’s to current day.” @ http://ghostroadsbook.blogspot.de/
“In the second century A.D. the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius may have best defined pantheism when he wrote, “Everything is interwoven, and the web is holy.”
“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”
“1) In all that you do be honest and fair. Always consider how your actions will affect your family, your Clan, and your standing among those Dragons who call you friend. If what you are doing will not bring honor or justice, or improve the world around you by even the smallest measure don’t do it. It is your duty always to ensure that no dishonor or shame comes to those dependent upon you because of your words or actions.
2) Take credit for, and accept the consequences of, all of your own actions, be it for good or ill. Everyone makes mistakes. Shame only comes in not owning up to them. And when you do make an honest mistake, forgive yourself as you would forgive others.
3) Accept no blame for that which you did not do without a very good reason such as saving an innocent from harm. Accepting undue blame to save the “honor” of another is not a good reason, for if they *had* any honor worth saving they would accept the consequences of their own actions rather than trying to pass it on to you.
4) Give your word only after great consideration as to how it may affect your duty to your Gods, your family and Clan. And when you do give your word you are honor bound to keep it. Should you knowingly or deliberately fail to do so, your honor is diminished until you make amends.
5) Do not engage in idle gossip or speculation about the affairs or actions of others. Never reveal the secrets entrusted to you by family, Clan, or friend lightly. To do otherwise shows you to be an untrustworthy person and seriously lacking in honor. The old adage “Loose lips sink ships” applies in all areas of life. The spreading of unsubstantiated rumor brings dishonor upon you and shame to your family, your Clan, and your Dragon friends.
The only exception to keeping a secret is when doing so would endanger an innocent, bring unjustified dishonor to another, bring shame to family or Clan, allow a criminal to go unpunished, or seriously violate the laws of the land. In this matter let common sense prevail.
6) What is yours is yours. Let no one take from you by force or con you out of that which is legally and rightfully yours. But also respect the property of others. Take nothing you are not entitled to or which has been given to you freely and with an open heart.
7) If someone who has wronged you, your family, or Clan comes before you in genuine repentance forgive them with out reservation. However, you have no obligation to forgive those who have wronged you yet made no attempt at restitution. Remember, while holding stubbornly to old, useless anger does you no good, neither does forgiving those who have not earned it. Forgiveness is a gift freely given yet still must be earned. It is not something that can be demanded of you, nor an “obligation” you must submit to in order to “move on.”
If you cannot honestly forgive then don’t… But also don’t let old angers fester in your heart. Instead release them to the Universe that they may be cleansed and dissipated. This does not mean you forgive the offender, it simply means that you to choose no longer let them have any power over you in any form.
8) Never neglect your family or Clan. Have the fierceness of a Dragon in their defense if and when necessary, and always be certain they are provided for before starting any new endeavor or taking any risk.
9) Always remember that having a cool head and calm mind is a virtue. The ability to keep your head when all around you are losing theirs is a benefit that will serve you well in all aspects of life.
10) Remember that you are a representative of your family, your Clan and your Dragon friends. You physical appearance and demeanor should reflect that. Show pride in yourself, your appearance, and your position in the Clan without being arrogant. Always strive to do your best everything you do. Be generous with self-praise (without bragging) and self-forgiveness when warranted.
11) When you gain power or authority, use it carefully and with wisdom. Remember that both power and authority grow with experience, and as a member of the Draconic Tradition you should exercise both with care, dignity and humility. No matter how wise you think you are, or how powerful, if you abuse what has given you there will come a time when the universe may decide to take it back.
12) Do not give your friendship or your allegiance frivolously or without careful consideration. Not all those who seek to be friends with you are worthy of that honor. A false friend can be more dangerous than the most bitter enemy. Make sure those whom you call “friend” are trustworthy and honorable.
13) Unless the lives and safety of your family or Clan are in jeopardy always obey the “laws of the land.” To do otherwise without true justification brings dishonor to you, your family, and your Clan and shames you before your gods.
14) Remember that dignity, a gracious manner and a good sense of humor are traits to be admired and cultivated.
15) Always be prepared for whatever the Future may bring. Life with all of its joys, sorrows and secrets is to be embraced and experienced to the fullest, for this is how one gains wisdom, knowledge and experience. When your time in this Life is done, return to your Gods with joy. Stand before Them with pride for a life lived with honor, and wait with a glad heart until your time of rebirth comes once again.”
Shared by Moro
Art title: ‘ The Day of the Dragon’ by artist: kokodriliscus @ http://kokodriliscus.deviantart.com/art/The-Day-of-the-Dragon-273419243
Beautiful and sad as those that can hear but refuse to listen. Beautiful and sad as the life of a flower in the wilderness that can cure the aching soul but no one cares that it is there.
“Witch”
“She sees faeries
And talks to her herb garden.
And everyone laughs.
She feels colors,
And says there is magic in the moon.
And everyone laughs.
She never hurts anyone
And loves her oak tree like a child.
And everyone laughs.
She always helps a stranger
And the neighborhood strays adore her
And everyone laughs.
She sits and cries
And mumbles to the shadows,
And no one cares.
Once her hair was long and bright,
Now it is a matted mess
And no one cares.
She used to dance among the trees,
Now she can’t find them
And no one cares.
Dreams of magic fill her days;
Magic she can almost touch.
And no one cares.
The day she died her herbs did, too.
And her oak tree bowed its limbs.
A single candle burned in her window
With naught there but the cats.
And no one understands…”
“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?
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)
The “Cherokee legend of the two wolves, myth or fact? The possible damage from FB and other media sources not checking out their information or quotes…
FB memes, blogs and more quotes… without researching on knowing already, being on a meme, FB or on a blog, does that make it true? Does it take away from the story ideal they are trying to share? Not really, but it depends on the meme or source and agenda. Can or do these types of Memes and constantly reinforce ignorance by passing on unsubstantiated “bits of wisdom” ( often taking it for themselves, marking it and never giving credit to the original artist even) cause any harm or damage? In some ways, yes. We look stupid every time we believe something like this. I recently saw a really funny meme on FB that used Einstein as a quote source… .the meme was funny, point made..but Einstein never said that.
This is a humorous but also serious blog from a Native American (labeling him and his people in this way as if they are an object to be idealized and I do think he addresses that point) http://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/02/check-the-tag-on-that-indian-story/
“Wow, I’m just shivering with all that good Indian wisdom flowing through me now. Give me a moment.
Okay. I’m better now.”
..and I laughed here and at the dialogue between the two wolves he has uploaded from this blog.
He also goes on to share this regarding all cultures being both appreciated, idealized and objectified:
“This kind of thing is harmful
These misattributed stories aren’t going to pick us up and throw us down a flight of stairs, but they do perpetuate ignorance about our cultures. Cultures. Plural.
Not only do they confuse non-natives about our beliefs and our actual oral traditions, they confuse some natives too. There are many disconnected native peoples who, for a variety of reasons, have not been raised in their cultures. It is not an easy task to reconnect, and a lot of people start by trying to find as much information as they can about the nation they come from.
It can be exciting and empowering at first to encounter a story like this, if it’s supposedly from your (generalized) nation. But I could analyse this story all day to point out how Christian and western influences run all the way through it, and how these principles contradict and overshadow indigenous ways of knowing. Let’s just sum it up more quickly though, and call it what it is: colonialism.
And please. It does not matter if this sort of thing is done to or by other cultures too. The “they did it first” argument doesn’t get my kids anywhere either.
The replacement of real indigenous stories with Christian-influenced, western moral tales is colonialism, no matter how you dress it up in feathers and moccasins. It silences the real voices of native peoples by presenting listeners and readers with something safe and familiar. And because of the wider access non-natives have to sources of media, these kinds of fake stories are literally drowning us out.”
So, all in all… Wisdom, yes… Native American? Nope…no matter what FB and other blogs says. It’s actually a Christian-style/derived parable from Minister and Evangilist Billy Graham in 1978. (info also from http://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/02/check-the-tag-on-that-indian-story/ )
The various forms this story takes all over the internet from random sources that popped up during my general google search and all said it was “Cherokee proverb/wisdom/legend”:
(See the link at the end of this blog entry for the rest)
“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.”It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf will win?”
You might heard the story ends like this: The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
In the Cherokee world, however, the story ends this way:
The old Cherokee simply replied, “If you feed them right, they both win.” and the story goes on:…”
“One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all”
“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed“.
I happen to know the artist that creates these images and she kindly lets all people have access and use to her works, which she must have done here but is originally from “Mystic Magic” on FB by Dreamweaver.
Many of us also know this one, which has been all over FB for a long time now:
A there is a youtube video on it even:
Shared by Moro
The opening artwork is stunning, despite it too buys into the falsehood of the source: Art title ” Two Wolves Saying’ by artist: IrvingGFM @http://irvinggfm.deviantart.com/art/Two-Wolves-Saying-330891051
by Judy Tatum aka Xia @ http://www.templeofthegoddess.org/FromTheDirector/Separating_Spirit_from_Matter_Mother.htm (The site where I found this a year ago is completely down, thus can not reblog it. I do love this article by her and feel inspired to share it but I take no credit in writing this and it is copyrighted. I mean no disrespect but I dearly want others to have a chance to see this article and somehow be able to look up more of her works.) “As the centuries passed, the once-supreme creative matrix lost more and more of her place in our lives. As the people who worshiped her were conquered and forced to adopt (or adapt to) the religious beliefs of their conquerors (much like the indigenous people of the Americas), the “Goddess became almost exclusively associated with ‘Nature’ as the chaotic force to be mastered, and the God took the role of conquering or ordering nature from his counterpole of ‘Spirit.'”[1]
This split in consciousness, which contains the mythological roots of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam–the three major patriarchal religions of the world today–can be traced to a popular Babylonian epic known throughout the ancient world as Enuma Elish (ca. 2000 B.C.E.). The story of Enuma Elish recounts the defeat of the original mother goddess, Tiamat, by her great-great-great-grandson, Marduk. Tiamat, the Babylonian creation goddess, was seen as the primordial ocean womb whose fertile depths birthed every living thing–including a younger generation of gods who then sought to overthrow the older generation. In this epic, Tiamat is portrayed as a great serpent or dragon (both ancient images of the feminine).
After the conquest and murder of Tiamat, the life-giving nature deity who created him, Marduk uses her body to form creation:
He split her like a shellfish into two parts:
Half of her he set up and ceiled it as sky . . .
He heaped up a mountain over Tiamat’s head,
pierced her eyes to form the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates,
and heaped similar mountains over her dugs,
which he pierced to make the rivers
from the eastern mountains that flow into the Tigris.
Her tail he bent up into the sky to make the Milky Way,
and her crotch he used to support the sky.[2]
The original myth, which portrayed the Creatrix birthing everything from herself, so that she was part of and one with all of creation, was thus transformed into a myth that suggests that “the lord” makes creation (and from her body no less). For the first time, “the god becomes the maker of heaven and earth whereas the goddess was heaven and earth. The concept of ‘making’ is radically different from ‘being,’ in the sense that what is made is not necessarily of the same substance as its maker, and may be conceived as inferior to him; while what emerges from the mother is necessarily part of her and she of it.”[3]
With the acceptance and perpetuation of the Marduk myth, a new order of creation was initiated whereby the feminine, symbolized as the Goddess, became synonymous with the realm of nature as something wild, dark, mysterious, chaotic, and dangerous. Marduk then represented the new “spiritual” order of male deities whose religious imperative was to conquer and order nature. This concept created a split that still affects society today. This creation myth, which became doctrine, is an early example of “priestly politics, whereby the mythology of an earlier age and culture is completely inverted, so that the divinities of an earlier era are named demons and the divinities of the new order are exalted to a position of supremacy.”[4]
While much of the symbology in the Judeo-Christian belief system is based on ancient, sacred Goddess mythology (including the Garden, the snake, the tree), our Western paradigm (by which I mean Judeo-Christian beliefs) is descended from this Babylonian creation myth, which places strong emphasis on the opposition between spirit and nature (implying explicitly that nature is not alive and contains no spirit). This symbology has left us a heritage of thinking in duality and oppositions. “We find this . . . in the common assumption that the spiritual and the physical worlds are different in kind, an assumption that . . . separates mind from matter, soul from body, thinking from feeling, intellect from intuition and reason from instinct . . . in addition, the `spiritual’ pole of these dualisms is valued as `higher’ than the `physical’ pole.”[5]”
[1]. Baring and Cashford, The Myth of the Goddess, p. xii.
[2]. Ibid., p. 278.
[3]. Ibid., p. 274.
[4]. Ibid., p. 280.
[5]. Ibid., p. xii.
Again, only shared by Moro. I had no part in any writing of this article. I am unable to share this by reblogging because the site is down and I found it over a year ago.
Notes from the artist: “I had so much inner pleasure working on this theme : GREED in human conscience. I approached here a personal view regarding this “infection of the human mind”. Having its little seed deep in our ancestral instinct, GREED reached a state of art aside human intelligence.
As a twin of Egoism , GREED dooms humanity to a life FAR beyond any humanist believes, towards a world of “profit at all costs”, which is simply grotesque. The INNOCENCE of BECOMING in many potent noble souls is killed or simply transformed into mind slavery as only tiny, obedient, dispensable “tools”…
I believe that Greed alike as many other “sins” that en-shame Human Conscience will be conquered and subdued in the far future to the potent majesty of an evolving Humanity. An evolving Humanity to look upon itself as whole, unique and aware of itself Organism, choosing Compassion , Understanding and a better way of valuing each one as the main ways of evolving.
S H O R T D E S C R I P T I O N :
—————————————–
Greed is symbolized by a hand grasping the Earth and the merciless eye – symbol of mind flooded with goals of “profit at all costs”.
The Earth globe got broken in the greedy egoistically grasp and it is morphed into gold – the eternal symbol of material value.
The avatar of GREED steals every thing for him, from Earth to Sun and also the future Vitality in others to follow, leaving only painful barriers .
The innocent face is half leached of vitality (leaving behind a cold marble sculpture) by the Greedy grasp, stealing the FUTURE, the INNOCENCE of BECOMING… leaving only the ordeal of consuming life only for “hunting the living to the next day”, instead of a full beautiful potential to manifest. The feeble glowing candle symbolize the fragility in victims of GREED.”
Shamanic Dreams of a Pagan Earth 