A recent comment about my podcast, which I much appreciated, said that I had given someone a new perspective on old ideas.  This person got the point!

How many new ideas have there been?  How much of what we are looking at in spirituality is so ancient that it is beyond ancient?  How much is so ancient that it was already ancient when the Ancient Ones were young?  Some ideas might be new to the beholder if they are newly found  by that individual, but how many are actually new?

And what's new?  Problems, mostly.  Things like forcing one particular path down someone else's throat, claims of spiritual superiority, the manufacturing of a spiritual elite for the rest of us to be dependent upon, and an "us against them/ them against us" mentality.

But the worst is a disease, an infectious disease with terrible effects.  I first heard it described by name by a political commentator, but in my opinion the disease infects religion and spirituality even more - with worse effects. 

What is the disease, and what is its name?  Listen to the podcast and you'll learn about it.

Get past such obstacles and spiritual diseases, and hopefully there will be a new perspective.  And perhaps some of the most infamous words might no longer appear to be limits, but a prod to seek something more and better.

At any rate, that's what I am hoping for.

If you choose to believe what certain Christians are claiming, there's a war on - and it's a war against Christmas!

There's a group that wants to boycott stores where employees wish customers "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas".  And there are those who are up-in-arms because some holiday displays are beginning to include symbols appropriate to Hannukan and Kwanzaa as well!  Is this a war on Christmas?

News Flash: Not everyone is a Christian.  Not only that, but most of those who are not Christian are just as satisfied with their own spiritual path as Christians are with theirs!

Does anyone take the time to look to the root of the celebrations going on at this time of the year?  Pagans and Wiccans in the Northern Hemisphere are celebrating Yule.  The Jewish celebration of Hannukah is under way.  African-Americans are celebrating Kwanzaa.   And Christians are celebrating Christmas.  Those are the names of the celebrations.  But what are the celebrations about.

At first glance, you might see the outer trappings and the things that are used and done to celebrate them.  But go deeper, and you'll find something that started each one of them.  Yes, the stories and/or histories behind each are different.  But what is the message and the promise conveyed with each of them?

And therein lies the secret.  Look at what each one promises, and the message of each one. 

If we can look, see, and admit to what we see, then perhaps one more reason to be more together than apart! 

If you are in need and someone says that they'll pray for you, how do you feel?  In some cases, you feel strengthened.  In other cases, it can be a let-down.  Consider the following words written by someone a few years ago:

"For I was hungry and you said you'd pray for me.  I would have rather had a sandwich.

For I was ill and you said you'd pray for me.  I would have rather been able to afford some medicine.

For I was in prison and you said you'd pray for me.  I would have rather that you testified in my defense."

See the point?  But what of the opposite, practical action without the spiritual?  If you have two hands to do a job with, are you going to want one of those hands tied behind your back?

And what are most of us taught about prayer?  Is it to some god way up in the sky, in hopes that he'll pick up his heavenly voicemail?  And what have we learned from those who have no business teaching?  So much spiritual garbage to get in the way!  Some people seem to actually want to out-Pharisee the Pharisees of biblical times. 

Is it any wonder that so many of us have had to leave one path to find what we need?  And what we have left is a bunch of people squabbling over who gets which scraps that fall from a banquet table - when each of us is entitled to a seat at that table!

So, how do we get to that seat and actually enjoy the banquet - that of genuine communion with the Divine? 

It's Happening!

Remember my very first podcast, when I asked the very basic question of why we can't all get along?  I see an improvement in that situation.

The one who seems to be leading the charge is someone who was once expected to be a sitck-in-the-mud!  But, rather than that, someone of major significance to all religious paths has broken with the past and moved to heal wounds which have been festering for over a thousand years.  While some might criticize Pope Benedict as not having done quite enough, what he did accomplish in a few days was more than his predecessors ever did!  And what does that have to do with us?

Well, something similar is happening for us!  The Pagan Headstone Campaign, the Veterans' Pentacle Quest, the Order of the Pentacle all have a couple of things in common.  Besides the fact that they came into being to right an injustice, they have also brought people together.

So, what's the big deal about a single-issue campaign?  The big deal is that people are coming together, putting any differences into perspective, and getting a job done!  And that's the point!  We're learning to come together when there's work to done without homogenizing ourselves.

In light of history, perhaps that's one of the more important things we can do!  The Aquarian Age is beginning and, as the saying goes, it's "a whole new ballgame."  And that means that coming together and working together when there's a job to be done will be all the more important.

 And it's coming to be!

So many times, I've heard the same complaint about Pagan and Wiccan books: so many primers, not enough of the "advanced stuff".

Then again, what is the "advanced stuff"?  And what is in something that is advanced which would not be found in a primer?

Or is the difference simply the subject matter being dealt with and the nature of the magick being done?  If so, then is there something common to all spiritual paths which is begging to be noticed?

Perhaps even more important: Is there something which sometimes is neglected and which might deserve more attention?

Then could it be that building an effective ritual is both basic and advanced at the same time?  Could this be one of the secrets which makes some rituals crackle with energy while others are mere exercises in motion?

A look, and perhaps this won't be directly addressed again for a while.  But it is also unavoidable.