Shining Spirituality

Posted on by A Solitary Pagan

Things ARE working for you right now. What’s in your heart, mind, and spirit must manifest. The timing of it is perfect as it is. Don’t judge yourself when you don’t see instant results. Don’t compare your results to others. Your inner world is so unique to you. Be consistent right now. Keep the visualizations going. Keep the affirmations going. Keep being positive about everything. Every moment counts. Don’t judge yourself or even judge the timing of everything. Enter a state of gratitude, celebration, and completion of your manifestations. Everything is already yours. What you think about belongs to you. What you feel is making its way towards you. What you want wants you. What you give your energy to grows and amplifies in your awareness. Stay focused on purpose. Let what goes, go. Let what comes, enter. Just keep speaking, thinking, and feeling power over your life. Nothing is complicated when you learn to just breathe, believe, and trust that everything is already happening for you. You just need to keep shinning from within and being patient with yourself. Be loving to yourself. You are very special and you being here right now shows that your life means so much more than what you can understand sometimes. Start noticing the beauty about existence. The small things like your aliveness and your energy. Your mind. Your abilities. The billion things happening every second for you that doesn’t require your conscious attention. You are being supported so feel light today. Feel warmth and love. Feel energized to be your greatest through recognizing it and allowing it now. Keep going.

The Ancient Midwinter Deer-Mother Goddess.

Posted on by A Solitary Pagan

Female reindeer are unique with regard to other deer species in that they grow and shed antlers. This attribute is part of the mythology and spirituality of the shamanistic Sámi people who tell a story of how at the winter solstice the Deer Mother Goddess flew through the sky in order to help the dying midwinter sun find its way back and begin the process of the returning light.

Male reindeer shed their antlers before midwinter so the association between rebirth and antlers is very much a feminine trait in these traditions.
While some stories remind us of the connection between the world tree, Yggdrasil, and the branched horns of the deer, an often overlooked symbolic connection is the shape of the antlered head of the female deer and the uterus.
Another place we see this depicted in ancient goddess cultures is in the relief’s of the Goddess Hathor and the horned cow.
Incidentally, within Nepalese shamanism, the world tree of immortality is called Kalpa Vriksha, and it looks even more like antlers because the roots of the tree face upwards.
The reason for the roots touching the sky is to show how growth comes from, and returns to, the upper realms.
Many ancient standing stones and carvings depict the deer goddess holding the moon and stars within her antlers.

Although Cernunnos might be a more familiar horned figure, there is much less evidence for his historical worship than there is for the various horned Goddesses of ancient Europe and Asia.
The anthropologist, Karl Schleiser, noted that the deer shaman was one who could traverse all three worlds associated with ancestors and spirits.
So, not only did the reindeer fly to the upper and lower worlds, but it was also seen as a spirit animal which might help those in the middle world. Perhaps,(and this is a personal observation), this is why the deer goddess was so important to people at the time of the year when life was so full of hardship?

The ability of the Deer Mother Goddess to both nurture and sustain life, and the weakened sun until it regained its strength, is a motif which recurs in all of the animistic doctrines, if we can call them that.
This instinctual knowledge was also notice by James George Frazer when he studied ancient native traditions and beliefs.
Although his work, The Golden Bough, certainly shows its age, (and Frazer’s colonialist mindset!), he understood the connection between ancient totemism and inner wisdom very well when he wrote that indigenous peoples, “…conceive of life as an indestructible kind of energy, which when it disappears in one form must necessarily reappear in another, though in the new form it need not be immediately perceptible by us; in other words, he infers that death does not destroy the vital principle nor even the conscious personality, but that it merely transforms them into other shapes, which are not the less real because they commonly elude the evidence of our senses.”

The reason why this is important is because, in her many incarnations, the Deer Mother Goddess was a symbol of much more than the hope of a new spring and the rescue of the winter sun; she was a reminder of the belief that the soul itself was eternal and that even after death there awaited a new rebirth.
When the Scythians moved into Northern Europe and mixed and traded with those already living there, they brought with them their knowledge and practices related to Asian shamanism, as well as the Gods and Goddesses associated with the land, sky and constellations, including the Deer Mother Goddess who incarnated in various forms, depending upon the people who recognised her eternal aspects and nature.
Professor Richard Seaford also reminds us that following Alexander the Great’s conquest of Western Asia, there followed a further syncretism of shamanistic beliefs within the various philosophical and spiritual traditions already existing in Europe.
This resulted in the incorporation of shamanistic ideas within the mystery schools, of which the greatest was the secret knowledge of the invincibility of the soul and the life that awaits following the trials of the afterlife.

The main sun goddess of the indigenous Sámi people is Beaivi, a deity strongly associated with a white female reindeer. At midwinter, a white deer is sacrificed to her in order to ensure the health of the land and herds.
She is also associated with healing mental illnesses which were believed to occur when the sun disappeared from the sky during the winter. For the Sámi, this might be as long as 40 days, so this is interesting in terms of our own knowledge regarding daylight, mental health and vitamin D.

Beaivi shares other characteristics with horned goddesses associated with midwinter in that she flew through the sky as a deer, but also pulled a sleigh, sometimes made of antlers and bone. The goddess Saule of the indigenous Lithuanian people was also said to traverse the sky in this same manner and leave gifts by dropping amber down into homes as she passed overhead.
We have come across other ancient goddesses with similar attributes in previous posts, such as La Befana, for example.

So, we have various ancient Goddesses who flew through the sky at midwinter leaving gifts for households and bringing new light and life.
We know today that the earliest evidence for shaman indicates that they were female, and that the practices and iconography moved into Northern Europe and the Mediterranean regions following the various migrations of the Scythians, and the conquests of Alexander the Great.
Although it might seem as though these beliefs and traditions have been forgotten, in fact they have survived in ways not always apparent.
But, also in ways very familiar, as we shall see in the next post in this short series.

Oshun Oil

Posted on by A Solitary Pagan

( Caridad Del Cobre Holy Oil)
Use this oil to honor the River Goddess and draw love and prosperity.
Use these essential oils to create this holy oil:
*SWEET Orange
*ROSE Scent, which can be one or more of these:
Essential oil of roses( rose otto),
Essential Oil of rose geranium
* CINNAMON
*MAGNOLIA
*Benzion LIQUID RESIN
(You will also need rose petals and cinnamon chips )
****
Blend in a base of grage seed oil to honor the Love Goddess Oshun. Now to the above formula, add rose Petals for enhancing love, and Cinnamon chips for enhancing passion.

Invisibility through fairy magic

Posted on by A Solitary Pagan

This ritual is originally found in the 1584 Discoverie of Witchcraft. I have modernized the English but left the original spell as it is.

(Note: this is a separate experiment with Sibylia.)

This is the way to go invisible by these three sisters of fairies. (Sibylia, Milia, and Achilia.) In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy ghost. First go to a faire parlor or chamber, & an even ground, and in no loft, and from people nine days; for it is the better: and let all thy clothing be clean and sweet.

Then make a candle of virgin wax, and light it, and make a faire fire of charcoals, in a faire place, in the middle of the parlor or chamber. Then take faire clean water, that runneth against the east, and set it upon the fire: and when thou washest thy self, say these words, going about the fire, three times, holding the candle in the right hand: + Panthon + Graton + Muriton + Bisecognaton + Siston +
Diaton + Maton + Tetragrammaton + Agla + Agarion + Tegra + Pentessaron + Tendicata. Then rehearse these names: + Sorthie + Sorthia + Sorthios + Milia + Achilia + Sibylia + in nomine patris, & filii, & spiritus sancti, Amen. I conjure you three sisters of fairies, Milia, Achilia, Sibylia, by the father, by the son, and by the Holy-ghost, and by their virtues and powers, and by the most merciful and living god, that will command his Angel to blow the trumpet at the day of judgement; and he shall say, Come, come, come to judgement; and by all Angels, archangels, thrones, dominations, principalities, potentates, virtues, cherubim and seraphim, and by their virtues and powers.

I conjure you three sisters, by the virtue of all the real words aforesaid: I charge you that you do appear before me visibly, in form and shape of faire women, in white vestures, and to bring with you to me, the ring of invisibility, by the which I may go invisible at mine ownwill and pleasure, and that in all hours, and minutes: in nomine patris, & filii, & spiritus sancti, Amen.

Being appeared, say this bond following: O blessed
virgins + Milia + Achilia + I conjure you in the name of the father, in the name of the son, and in the name of the Holy-ghost, and by their virtues I charge you to depart from me in peace, for a time. And Sibylia, I conjure thee, by the virtue of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the virtue of his flesh and precious blood, that he took of our blessed lady the virgin, and by all the holy company in heaven: I charge thee Sibylia, by all the virtues aforesaid, that thou be obedient unto me, in the name of God; that when, and at what time and place I shall call thee by this foresaid conjuration written in thisbook, look thou be ready to come unto me, at all hours and minutes, and to bring unto me the ring of invisibility, whereby I may go invisible at my will and pleasure, and that at all hours and minutes; Fiat, fiat, Amen.

And if they come not the first night, then do the same the second night, and so the third night, until they do come: for doubtless they will come, and lie thou in thy bed, in the same parlor or chamber. And lay thy right hand out of the bed and look that thou have a faire silken kerchief bound about thy head, and be not afraid, they will do thee no harm. For there will come before you three fair and beautiful women, and all in white clothing; and one of them will put a ring upon thy finger, wherewith thou shalt go invisible. Then with speed bind them with the bond aforesaid. When thou hast this ring on thy finger, look in a glass, (mirror) and thou shalt not see thy self. And when thou wilt go invisible, put it on thy finger, the same finger that they did put it on, and every new MOON renew it again. For after the first time thou shalt ever have it, and ever begin this work in the new of the MOON and in the hour of JUPITER and the MOON in CANCER, SAGGITARIUS, or PISCES.

*Note, instead of heating water as mentioned above, one could adopt the method to take a hot ritual bath in place of this

Gazing at a fire

Posted on by A Solitary Pagan

Gazing at a fire is mesmerizing and trance inducing. When we gaze at a flickering flame, our brain begins to shift out of beta brainwave state, which is associated with thinking and alertness, into alpha brainwave state, which corresponds to a relaxed and creative state of mind.When we join gazing with rhythmic breathing ,we enter a trance like state that takes us even deeper than alpha brainwaves down to the theta brainwave ,which is almost dreamlike state of mind but with control ,that allows us to mentally journey to other realms and worlds .Always remember ,it isn’t the fire we gaze into but the illumination and flicker that entrances the mind

Creating a Garden Sanctuary

Posted on by A Solitary Pagan

A personal outdoor sanctuary is an important part of feeling connected to all of life.
Each of us has been blessed with an innate need to celebrate and glorify life. At a most basic level, we honor the forces that came together to bring us into being by caring for our bodies and our souls. To truly rejoice in existence, we must also learn to cultivate loveliness in those special places that replenish the soul. When we create a garden sanctuary, we are reminded that we are a part of both nature’s essence and something more. An outdoor retreat is a place we can surround ourselves in nature, beauty, and the life force. It is not difficult to create a sanctuary–we should endeavor, however, to create sanctuaries that speak to us as individuals.

Whether we have a yard, a grassy corner, a patio, or a porch at our disposal, our creative potential is infinite. Any of these spaces can become a magnificent garden. When we feel drawn to specific themes such as Zen, angels, paradise, or the ethereal, we should explore them. Décor and furniture crafted from natural materials like wood and stone blend seamlessly into nature. Yet we can also augment the natural world by filling our garden sanctuaries with statues, bells or gongs, or colorful flags. Running water, like that in a created stream or fountain, helps energy flow smoothly. If space is a concern, crystals and mirrors can fulfill the same function. Hidden features like concealed swings and reflecting pools veiled in shadow can surprise and delight. As your garden sanctuary evolves, remember to invite the elemental spirits of nature to assist you in your efforts to create a small pocket of harmony, beauty, and peace in your own backyard. If you have not already felt their presence, sit quietly in your garden and reach out to them. You will feel these earthly guides at your side as you continue to develop your sanctuary.

In the refuge of brilliant color, sweet scents, and stillness you create in your garden, the burdens imposed upon you by a sometimes hectic world will melt away. The splendor and tranquility of what you have brought into being will entrance you, allowing you to forget the constraints of time and space. No matter how large or small your garden sanctuary, the time you spend reveling in its pleasures will refresh your spirit and provide you with innumerable opportunities to celebrate life.

What It Means To Be A Spiritual Person Vs. A Religious Person

Posted on by A Solitary Pagan

What It Means To Be A Spiritual Person Vs. A Religious Person
Knowing the difference will let you discover your truth…

Are you a spiritual person or a religious person? People are inclined to think that these two lifestyles are the same, and on the surface they are.

What they both have in common is connecting to something larger than themselves. And knowing the difference between spirituality and religion will help anyone decide which path they should take to discover their truth.

Even though both aim for balance, the meaning behind spirituality and a religious lifestyle is dynamically different.

Being spiritual doesn’t mean you have the responsibility of worshiping a God. Instead, spirituality helps others focus not just on their own well-being, but for others, nature, or any sacred being. It focuses on the art of understanding the way of life, change, and living in a sacred manner.

Being religious is a personal system in which one follows spiritual guidelines, beliefs, practices, and worship of God or Gods.

Both of these are routes to discovering the divine truth. While religion looks to God for purpose, spirituality looks within life’s foundation.

Whether religious or spiritual, it’s vital that both are used for balance and not for selfish desires. Even though the connection shares a major common ground, spirituality and religion differ in more ways than one.

Here are some examples of the differences between the two.

1. Religion focuses on groups, spirituality focuses on individuality.
Religious people lean on gathering with others, to reach a unison connection with God, but spirituality develops their own belief system. Spiritual people tend to be more individual and less dependent on others to seek a stronger connection.

Sunday services and disciple groups help religious people study the Bible together to understand scripture. Religion is the belief of another man’s experience written down in sacred scripture, but spirituality is the belief of one’s own experience.

2. Religion has rules, spirituality has privacy.
Religion has a set of rules that followers must obey in order to stay “pure” and “holy.” Those rules encourage them to develop discipline to grow closer to God. These rules are public so others draw near, all in order for a church to increase their congregation.

Spirituality is more personal. While religion has various rules that others may or may not agree with, spirituality focuses on an individual’s aspect of a belief.

Spirituality offers an endless amount of potential benefits, while with religion it offers punishments or rewards. Spiritual people listen to their hearts and their own conscious mind in order to do what is right for their unique self.

3. Religion is tradition, spirituality tends to change as we grow.
As a spiritual person grows in life, so will their perception and beliefs. Through experience and self-reflection, a spiritual person will express a different aspect to reveal their version of the truth.

Religion is an ideology that holds ancient traditions that have kept communities together. If a change was to occur in religion, it would be a slow process. For example, churches are slowly accepting LGBTQ acceptance into their congregation, which before was unheard of.

If you notice, others abuse religion to inflict fear into another’s mind. It has caused wars and major conflict between ecocentric groups and countries.

Spirituality focuses on spreading love and selfless acts. It focuses only on good energy to allow people to be the best version of themselves.

4. Religion defines the truth, spiritual people decide their own truth.
Religion includes a preacher or religious leader who defines what the truth is to their congregation. They believe in sacred scriptures and expressing their own translation.

Spirituality seeks its own truth and translates it based on one’s experience. While one truth is being defined, the other is being discovered.

5. Religion intends to please a God or Gods, spirituality focuses on relationships.
Spirituality is a part of humanity that’s seeking a purpose in life. Being religious has a more connotative reaction from others.

It’s common to abuse religious power to degrade others for their lack of “purity.” But spirituality doesn’t aim to please a specific God; rather, it focuses on interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships.

6. Religion can be exclusive, spirituality is inclusive.
Religion is based upon traditional beliefs and teachings that may impose very strict interpretations and limitations, often excluding people of certain communities. Their worldview can isolate people who don’t see it that way.

Spirituality doesn’t make distinctions of that sort. The foundation of spirituality is a pure spirit of unifying force. That is, nobody is left out, behind, or forgotten.

7. Religion leans on faith, spirituality leans on experience.
Religion is faith. There’s no scientific evidence to corroborate its existence.

It’s a blind belief in something with unconditional acceptance of its teachings. There’s no questioning it. It’s believing without having it proven to you.

Spirituality leans heavily on the personal experience of one’s soul. The practices of spirituality, like meditation and yoga, gives people the chance to make “conscious contact” with expanded states of consciousness. This allows those who practice the teachings to experientially validate them.

8. Religion focuses on the future, spirituality deals with the present.
Spirituality focuses heavily on the now. It deals with being fully present and living as it happens. Spirituality embraces everything good, bad, and neutral as it happens without worrying about a future reward.

Religion requires one to worship so they will be rewarded later on. Some religions have a reward that comes after death, like getting into heaven.

Can you be both religious and spiritual?
Yes, someone can be both spiritual and religious.

Spiritual people can feel a stronger connection when their beliefs are intertwined with religion. For example, they may believe in God while asking for positive energy through their journey of self-discovering.

A way to practice both in a healthy manner will take some adjustment. A person will tend to lean on one side instead of balancing both. For example, if a person is more religious, they run the risk of becoming socially dependent on their church peers.

Being too spiritual may also cause long-term separation from loved ones or more concern for their own issues, instead of trusting a higher being for tomorrow’s worry.

Make sure that whatever path you choose to follow you bring a healthy balance to your lifestyle