If you have any kind of a spiritual life, you will encounter obstructors.  Beginning with the obstructors which attack from within and going to those who obstruct from without, there are plenty of obstructors to go around.  To make matters worse, the more spiritual you are, the more obstinate some of those obstructors might become.

Obstructors have been mentioned before, but this time we deal with them head-on, so that you might have a chance to recognize them when you see them.  If you haven't met some of those mentioned in this episode, then you must have led an extremely sheltered life to this point.

And yes, you have to recognize them to deal with them.  And you have to deal with them to put them in their proper place, which is behind you and out of your way.

And how do you put them in their proper place, behind you and out of your way?  The answer is something that we've discussed before, but this time we'll see it in this specific context.  Yet another secret that is hiding in plain sight.

If I were to claim this episode was about ethics and morals, you'd have a pre-conceived idea.  To some, "ethics and morals" brings to mind the image of a schoolmarm or Sunday school teacher wagging a finger, or perhaps a nun with a brass ruler aiming for your knuckles.  For others, it sounds like an opportunity to have a juicy debate over some point that is probably either obscure or far-fetched. 

To me, this concerns how to get what you want or need with a clear conscience and no bad karma.

Let's take a real-life situation and see how it applies. 

The US Department Of Veterans Affairs has been "in the process" of approving the Pentacle as a religious symbol for grave markers for nine years.  During the same time period, several other faiths had their symbols approved.  Of course they know better than to deny the applications, because that would be a religious version of "Jim Crow."  So, they simply keep it "in the works".  In the meantime, Sgt Patrick Stewart, a hero who fell in Afghanistan, is one of many who are waiting for the recognition which would have been theirs as a matter of course if they had not been Wiccan.

There are doubtlessly Wiccans on the VA payroll who are unfortunately not in a position to act on this.  And would we want to phrase our prayers in such a way as to affect a Wiccan nurse in a VA hospital?  But it would be nice to have our power felt by those who can and should act. 

I cannot presribe answers for you, but I can show how I arrive at answers which meet my needs.  That process is one of the secrets which are hidden in plain sight.

Now and then, even the most advanced find it good to review the basics.

Rituals are a part of our lives, even the mundane lives.  From office staff meetings to children going to bed in the evening to family holiday dinners such as Thanksgiving in the US, there are mundane rituals.  And where our spiritual paths are concerned, even more so.

Each ritual can be seen as consisting of a certain set of parts, each of which has its importance in the effectiveness of the ritual.  Certain specified components might be in one part of one kind of ritual and in a different part in another type of ritual, but the parts are there, and each component will fit well into one of them.

The six parts of a ritual are there for a reason, and they're pretty much unavoidable.

Let's look at them, and see how they fit together.  And from there, we can move on to making stuff happen.

You have one magickal tool that is more powerful than all of the rest combined!  I can say that without even knowing who you are.

Everyone on any kind of spiritual path has magical tools, whether or not they want to admit it.  And those who admit it usually have a few - or quite a few. 

But there is one tool which you have which is more powerful than all of the other tools combined, to the point that if you had no other tools, it would not really matter.  But without it, none of your other tools matter.  And that's why some people try to mess with it, to keep you from using it to its full potential.

But some people let their most powerful tool get messed with by not focusing it, by aiming it at targets that are unimportant - or might not even actually be there anymore!  And then there are those who shoot it off in most any direction, like a cowboy in an old low-budget Western movie shooting his six-shooters into the air.

Regardless of the spiritual path you are on, regardless of the names you use in addressing deity, This one magical tool makes all the difference.

And here are some observations on insuring that it is able to be its most effective.

Once upon a time, when Aidan was a Christian, a college sophomore and wanna-be philosopher referred to him as a "zombie-worshipper" because his pantheon included someone who was dead for a period of time and returned to life.

Then, there is the story in which Jesus ascended into a cloud in a scene which, in modern terms, would be reminiscent of "Beam me up, Scotty!"

Christians are not alone in this.  Look at the number of doors in Valhalla and the number of warriors who will go out of each door when the call comes to fight the battle known as Ragnarok!  Interesting how that number relates to Armageddon.

If we stay at the level of the literal words in the stories, we will be left to wonder at the fantasy.  Baldur was killed, and he was cremated, so how will he return after Ragnarok if his body was turned to ashes?

Or is there something more?  And if there is something more, can we see what we're being told at a much higher level, and perhaps unlock the secrets hiding within those words we've seen so often?

Is this a way to unlock some secrets which have been hidden in plain sight?