LEARN TO BE MORE POSITIVE

Why do people go through life dealing with things that just don’t matter?  There have been countless books out about not sweating the small stuff, knowing your worth, and not giving your power over to others.  There is countless knowledge on Spirituality, The power of Positive Thinking and how to tap into your hidden positive gifts.  Why do people, even believers keep the negative going?  We all learn about the Law of Sowing and Reaping, Karma, Eye for an eye.  Most religions, cultures, and societies natural and spiritual have a laws with consequences.  We adults know by mere life experience that this is true.  But daily some open their mouths and negative continues to come out.  Daily even on the pages of Facebook, online blogs,  social networking pages, etc, it continues to be seen.

I am so glad that my fellow ministers and pastors on the social networks that I am friends with are mostly loving and positive.  There are those few family,friends and coworkers who need a little guidance to help them to positive right road.  Know that you have what you say.   There is so much power in what we say, think, write and speak.  Some of us would do good if we could not communicate for a while.  The only thing needed is to educate yourself on this God given power of communication, Sowing and Reaping, Karma, or whatever you call it on your path.  You can change your fateful outcomes by what you think and speak.  We are given choices by the Almighty, Merciful One God for our lives, we aren’t just puppets.  The catch is if it is for The Greater Good for ourselves and those around us;  if also it is to establish the Kingdom of God in the earth.  The thing is getting self out of the way, and helping others.  How can one be of help to others or self when negative thoughts, actions, words, etc are continually coming from ones being.  Stop the madness.  Take control, get your God given power back, so you can be of use to the Divine and your fellow human.  Here are some best selling books that may help.  They only will help if you put the principles, whats in them to use.

 

 

The Bible – www.biblegateway.com

The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale –  http://normanvincentpeale.wwwhubs.com/

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren – www.rickwarren.com

The Secret  by Rhonda Byrne –  www.thesecret.tv

Excuses Be Gone by Dr. Wayne Dyer – http://www.drwaynedyer.com/

The Complete Mind Body guide by Deepak Chopra www.chopra.com

New Earth and Awakening your life Purpose  by Eckhart Tolle

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Kristen and Richard Carlson  www.dontsweat.com

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IS YOUR SPIRITUAL PATH PURE?

This is also posted on my blogs: http://owthena.blogspot.com/    and http://owlthena.wordpress.com/

Is there a spiritual path that is pure? That is free from contamination from other paths? I personally think not. I believe we all embrace aspects of various paths that have meaning to us , that assist each of us to experience both worlds, that of Spirit and Physical in the best way for each of us. Yes we may be more Pagan than Christian, or more Christian than Buddhist, or more Taoist than Atheist but we are a little of many paths especially in this generation of expanding knowledge of the world around us via the Internet. I walk the fringes of many paths , why? because there is not one path that covers all that life is. There is alot within “Universalist Mystical and Celtic ” Christianity that speaks to me, that explains alot of what I see that is going on in life, but I have found that it does not cover all that happens in life, so I find that other paths do fill in the blanks. Paganism does that for me, it explains my physical world, it helps me deal with the dualities in life that must be embraced and not shunned. In Christianity and other paths like it,   teach that we must embrace only the good, the light and so forth, of the concept of the ‘oneness’ of God,I have found that we must embrace many aspects of duality if we are to maneuver through life successfully. Paganism embraces THIS physical life with open arms in ways that other paths can not. I know we need both Light and Darkness in our lives in order for growth to happen, I know  that too much light will burn and kill you and not enough light will cause ill health and death, we need them both. We need both love and anger to deal with various aspects that come at us in life. If someone is holding a weapon on us, and is trying to kill us or our family, I know I need anger and fear to get me enough energy to fight my foe, but I also know it takes love to deal with our loved ones who need a tender compassionate heart. Paganism and Taoism teaches us to handle the dualities in life correctly, not to shun them like Christianity seems to teach. The lessons that Life teaches me , is that it takes 2 , mom and dad to make a baby, I tend to embrace the teachings of nature over what ‘man’ says is true, and nature tells me that what ever is our Creator , it most likely contains Both either as one being with 2 natures or energies, or 2 beings male and female with  a Unity of thought and purpose. I really don’t care which it is , I just know that the duality must exist because all of creation comes from the Creator and therefore we most likely  are a chip off the old block and if we are male and female then our GodParents are too.
Yes we can handle various paths and teachings in our lives, and yes we are able to take what works for us and leave what does not. We each have   unique spiritual paths made up of various aspects of many Spiritual disciplines , no one has a ‘pure’ path and it is wrong thinking to believe you do. Just looking within Christianity one can see all the Denominations within it to see that even on that path they pick and choose what works best for each of their own spiritual make up, you have those that like the formal and the ritual, the quiet and the mystical and then you see  denominations that likes to dance in the isles ,singing and clapping their hands ,speaking in tongues, emotions run  on high,it is not a quiet place to be. You have some that must live within a rigid life of laws of do’s and don’ts and some that believe all is legal but not all is helpful.Then you have all the others that fall some where in the middle.
Each religion places their concepts of ‘God/dess’ in their own little boxes, and many  demands that each of us must conform to the dictates and ideas of those in charge. ( I use the word’God/dess ‘because it contains both the male and the female within that word,unlike the word God which leaves out the best part!:) )But here’s the news flash ‘God/dess’ lives within each of us, and does not fit into any box. God/dess is reflected out from all of us as the Moon reflects the Sun. We , each of us ,is a Priest or Priestess of the God/dess that lives within, and here’s another news flash, that reflection is colored and shaped by who we each individually are.
I embrace aspects of 5 paths which are Paganism/witchcraft, Taoism, Native American Spirituality, Christianity and Shamanism, which   can be placed on each point of a pentagram and works well for that symbolism on my altar .
It is just who we are it is how we are hardwired, each of us need different things in our life, each of us has our idea of what is the perfect combination that speaks to our hearts. What we need to understand is that it is normal and ok to do so. We need to stop passing judgement on each other because we have different needs, and different ideas on what we deem the ‘spiritual’. Lets embrace our differences and our similarities and rejoice that our Creator loves us anyway.
blessed be and Shalom
Owlthena

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Learned Spiritual Beliefs…How did yours come about?

I must say that this group has been very fun and educational, as well as a Spiritual outlet for me. I was raised Pentecostal, very strict Christian background and beliefs from my parents.

Along the road my maternal grandmother and mother practiced Judaism, as well as “mountain medicine.” and native American shamanism as well. What a mixture eh? I, as a child was not to question, but be quiet and learn.

As I grew up I also found that on my fathers side of the family of which I though was of regular black (African American) and Scottish background, I found we were also East Indian, my paternal grandmothers ancestors.
I found that they had a mixture of religious beliefs, of which sort of got lost in my grandmother when they became Episcopalians, and later her and my grandfather joining the A.M.E church (African Methodist Episcopal) after getting married. I come from a really eclectic religious background.

I would love to hear and learn about some of you all out there beliefs and back grounds. So please feel free to share what is inside of you. It is so enriching to know and see how others come into their Spiritual walk.

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What It Means to be a Witch….

Well in this case, what it means to ME….

Everyone knows what it means to be a Christian, at least on a basic level.  To be a follower and believer of Jesus Christ/Yeshua and his message and teachings and to accept him as a Messiah and Saviour.  Pretty simple right??

Well a longtime and open-minded friend of mine asked me, what it really means to be a witch.  At first, I honestly didn’t know how to answer that person, I thought about going into this long winded spiel about respecting nature, gods and goddesses, sabbats, herbs, stones, Tarot Cards, meditation and other New Age” related examples.  But I realized that anybody can rattle off that and never get to the “heart” of the craft.  

I realized that anyone can call themselves a witch, but do they really understand what that means?  I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that know precisely what it means to them, but there are probably just as many out there that use the term, but have NO idea exactly what defines it.   This entire thought process then got me wondering, did I truly understand what it meant to me to call myself a witch?  

At the time this all occurred, I had been studying and learning about the Craft for nearly a year.  Then one day in my studies, I discovered this poem and knew that for me, it was a perfect definition of what being a witch meant.    This was one of the first things I wrote in my BOS&L when I started it and I read it every so often as a reminder of why I call myself a witch as well as a Christian…

So if you are questioning what it means to call oneself a witch, I hope this helps give you some of your answers.  (PS. I made one small change in the original poem to reflect my personal faith in the Divine God/dess!)

To Be a Witch…

To be a witch is to love & be loved.
To be a witch is to know everything & nothing at all.
To be a witch is to move amongst the stars while staying on earth.
To be a witch is to change the world around you & yourself.
To be a witch is to share & give while receiving all the while.
To be a witch is to dance & sing & hold hands with the universe.
To be a witch is to honor God/dess & yourself.
To be a witch is to Be Magick not just perform it.
To be a witch is to be honorable or nothing at all.
To be a witch is to accept others who are not.
To be a witch is to know what you feel is right & good.
To be a witch is to harm none.
To be a witch is to know the ways of old.
To be a witch is to see beyond the barriers.
To be a witch is to follow the moon.
To be a witch is to be one with God/dess.
To be a witch is to study & to learn.
To be a witch is to be the teacher & the student.
To be a witch is to acknowledge the truth.
To be a witch is to live with the earth & not just on it.
To be a witch is to be truly free!

-author unknown-

If anyone has any additional thoughts to this blog post, I’m eager to hear from others on this topic.  What do you think defines one as a witch?  What makes you believe yourself to be a witch?  If you don’t use the term witch, what do you call yourself and why? 

Blessed be!

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My Creed as an Eclectic Christian Witch

In the Beginning Elohim Created Humankind as Female & Male in Their Image
Therefore I believe that God/dess exists as One Divine Entity
Who is both Mother Goddess & Father God

In the first 2000 years of Creation, Elohim was revealed to Humankind as
El Shaddai
The Divine One with Many Breasts
Therefore I believe that Goddess is our Nourisher, our Comforter, our Mother
Goddess is revealed in the Older Testament as Wisdom
Goddess is revealed in the Newer Testament as The Holy Spirit

In the second 2000 years of Creation, Elohim was revealed to Humankind as YHWH
The I AM
Therefore I believe that God is our Protector, our Lawgiver, our Justice
God is revealed in the Older Testament as Shepherd
God is revealed in the Newer Testament as Father

In the third 2000 years of Creation, Elohim was revealed to Humankind as Yeshua
The Christ
Therefore I believe that Yeshua is our Lord, our Saviour, our Brother
Christ is revealed in the Older Testament as The Ancient of Days
Christ is revealed in the Newer Testament as The Son of God/dess

I believe in the Teachings of Yeshua and see the Sermon on the Mount as a
Model for Living to be interpreted in a completely Literal Sense

I believe that the Earth has been entrusted to me for a Temporaral Home and as such
it is my Responsibility to care the the Earth as One of Elohim’s Divine & Living Creations

Scripture states that we are constantly being changed
from Glory to Glory with unending Revelation
Therefore I believe that Inspired Scripture is also unending
and that the concept of a Closed Canon of Scripture
is completely unfounded and is Motivated by Political and Personal Agendas

I believe that it was due to Political & Personal Agendas that two completely different words, the Hebrew word “Kashaph” meaning “to use power gained from the assistance
or control of evil spirits” and the Greek word “Pharmakeia” meaning “the use
or the administering of drugs or poisons” were both replaced with a third and
completely different set of words “witch/witchcraft” and that this ignorance of
Scriptural translation has been the cause of hatred and discrimination
and death for countless numbers of God/dess’ Children

I believe that WitchCraft is simply a Craft or an Art, and as such can be Practiced
within any religious context or outside of any religious context at all

I am an “Old Ager” as described in the Book of Jeremiah:
Stand at the Crossroads and look
Ask for the Ancient Paths, seek the Merry Way
Walk in it, and you will find Rest for your Soul

I believe Divine Magick and Spells simply to be Prayers,
Rituals & Intentions as described in Scripture

I believe in the Power of the Divine to work Magick and that all
Natural & Supernatual Elements & Resources are given for that Purpose

I believe that I am a part of all that is in the Visible and the Invisible Realms

I believe the Words of Christ when He said we would do Greater Works

I believe the Words of Christ when He said He had many more things to tell us

I believe the Words of Christ when He said we would have
no need to be taught by any human
and that the Holy Spirit would lead us into All Truth

I believe that my Highest Aspiration is to love God/dess & Christ
and to also Love One Another
and to live in Peace with all of Creation

This is My Creed

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