Of all of the words that I can think of, it seems that "freedom" just might be the most over-used, and perhaps the most mis-used.  And where spiritual matters are concerned especially!

I try not to disparage other paths, but there are some times when I can't help it, and this is one of those times.  I will admit to spending some time among the "New Age" folks, but I did not pick-and-choose.  Nor did anyone ever succeed in accusing me of "dabbling."   Either I did or I did not, and there was no in-between.  The New Age are not the only ones who have "pick-and-choosers" in their midst.  We've heard of "Sunday Christians."  And I can't help remembering the episode of the sitcom "Different Strokes" in which the younger brother attends a friend's Bar Mitzvah and decides to become Jewish - until he discovers what else is involved in being Jewish.  And there is one thing I've always wondered about the "pick and choose" crowd: how do they get anywhere, if at all?

Someone I admired greatly wrote in one of his better-known books about how much freedom he had in the Trappist monastery.  Most folks don't associate monasteries with freedom.  Understanding what he meant sheds a whole new light on the concept.

If you draw an analogy to sailing a boat, if you cast off from the dock and went into the middle of the lake/ river/ sea and just got batted around by the winds and the waves, would that be freedom?  No, that would actually be a form of captivity.  Freedom in this context would be the ability to cast off from the dock, and sail to your chosen destination and arrive at about the time you chose to arrive. 


And here you can find freedom.  And with that, you gain yet more power.

Blessed Be!

It's time to talk about obstacles.  I know I've talked about them before, but it's time to discuss them again.

You've seen what I've been talking about in the last few episodes, and the result is inevitable: someone, somewhere, is going to think "it didn't work."  And it is amazing when they ask why it didn't work, the ignorant will give all sorts of pseudo-reasons, generally in either the category of "you aren't good enough," or the infamous "God's will."  And of course, there could also be "God's time" and "God's higher plan" (and what did he have to be high on to make such a plan).

Take a look at the obstacles that I mention here, and you'll see that they all have one thing in common: The Divine, by whatever name or names, is not involved in them.  That is because The Divine wants you to have that which you want, need, and love.  Unfortunately, some people think that they are doing The Divine's work by speaking as if they actually knew what The Divine is thinking.

And there's a way to deal with obstacles.  And, there's a way to recognize what the situation is and move appropriately. 

And with this, you might really be equipped!

Blessed Be!

With this episode, we'll take the previous one to one of its logical "next steps."  I'll also use it to give an answer to one of the questions which every Pagan or Wiccan podcaster has already addressed at least twice, and which every teacher of The Craft probably addresses weekly.  That question is the perpetual one: "Why are there so many primers and so few advanced books?"

A major part of the answer to the question lies in the very nature of our path.  What is the main difference between your Book Of Shadows and either the Maryknoll Missal or the Book Of Common Prayer?  What would your most powerful book begin with - or as?  And where is the pen that can write the most powerful book you can ever have?

But it doesn't end there.  Let's never forget balance.  There needs to be balance.  In the same manner as I enjoy pizza but know better than to have pizza for three meals a day, there needs to be balance in peoples' spiritual lives, too!

And so, let's examine how to step beyond the bookshelf.

Blessed Be!

Snatching Excitement From The Jaws Of Dullness!  Now, there is a topic that most of us would at least like to relate to.

Where would we be in technology if fewer elementary school teachers had used math drills as a punishment?  And had more actual interest in science?  I recall how Miss Lauer, my third grade teacher, managed to make mathematics repulsive to me.  We had the little rhyme "Miss Lauer is sour" for a reason. 

And where our spiritual learning is concerned, how much of our earlier (and even later) learning was so concerned with the form that the substance was almost entirely forgotten? 

We got drilled on memorizing the words to prayers, on when to bow our heads and close our eyes, and even how to fold our hands (should the right thumb or left be on top?), but did anyone bother to consider telling us in plain English what the words to the prayers meant?  Or what the particular exercise was supposed to accomplish?  No, we just learned to recite "la-te-da-te-da-te-da", in some cases while Sister Sweathog hovered over our heads with a brass ruler in her hand!

I admit to being lucky.  Instead of being dragged into a Catholic school, I walked into an Episcopal church on my own feet, and the priests I met were a better kind than most you'd meet today.  And they taught me the substance, and let the form fall into place when it came along.  And so, I came to love and find meaning in something that so many people learned as, in essence, an empty drill. 

And so, let's see what it might be to reclaim something that was made into a hollow rote drill, and let's make it exciting!

I'm telling you how I'm going about it with something that I am reclaiming.  And, I'm giving you some specifics.

So, what might you do?  Find something that you can reclaim, and reclaim it for yourself.

The possibilities are limitless!

Blessed Be!