Tuesday June 13, 2023
– Third Quarter Moon Phase – realign, revise, reorient, surrender, complete
– Moon in ARIES – Void of Course 2:27 PM – 2:31 PM Moving to Taurus
– Retrograde Planets – Pluto
– Best Days (from the Farmer’s Almanac) – June 13 – Ask for Loan, Jar Jams/Jellies, Dig Post Holes, Advertise to Sell, Get Married, Paint, Mow to Slow Growth
– Planting Calendar (from the Farmer’s Almanac) – June 13th – 14th – Good days for transplanting. Good days for planting root crops.
– Aspect of the Aeon Sophia: (Wisdom): – Chinnamasta – Goddess Who Expands The Mind
– Aspect of the Aeon Thelete: (Will/Desire): Ian – God of the East, God of Wisdom
– Sabian Symbol for the Solar-Lunar Month – New Moon in ARIES SUN/MOON – 30 ARIES: a duck pond and its brood (EARTH – 30 LIBRA: three mounds of knowledge on a philosopher’s head )
– Sabian Symbol for the Solar-Lunar Year: – “a woman has risen out of the ocean, a seal is embracing her”
– SUN – 23 GEMINI: three fledglings in a nest high in a tree
– EARTH – 23 SAGITTARIUS: immigrants entering a new country
Do You Pray?
Or how is it that you address the divine?
It is kind of a simple question. But not necessarily. Ask yourself. “Do you Pray?” and “What do you say in your prayers?”
I grew up in a Christian family. We were Episcopalian. Went to church every week (unless we were out of town camping). 9:00 Church then Sunday School. We would have a special breakfast in the morning (usually scrambled eggs – which beat the shit out of cereal).
We would say a prayer together before the family meal. They were pretty rote. “Bless us oh lord for these gifts we are about to receive.” or “Bless this food for our use and thus thy servants through Jesus Chris our lord. Amen.”
They were easy prayers. Less like the others we memorized in Sunday School. The Lords Prayer. The Apostles Creed. The Nicean Creed. The Prayer of Confession. I can still recite them without thought when forced to attend an Episcopal or Catholic service.
I stopped going to church when I finally had the guts to face my parents down. I was baptized when I was about 5 – so I was old enough to remember it. Then Confirmed by the Episcopalean Bishop of Los Angeles (dressed frighteningly like the pope at the time). That was after 2 years of classes with memorization and tests and all that kind of fun.
In the end, it was more for want of sleep in the mornings than anything else. My older brother hated church – or hated waking up. He had waged a long term war against it – which he always lost.
When we were about 16 or 17, I finally won out over my parents with the logical argument – They wanted us to be responsible adults. We should be allowed to make our own decisions about attending Church. We had to work every Saturday morning. So we should be allowed to sleep in on Sundays. It wasn’t an easy decision. And took more than a few weeks before they relented. My brother did thank me afterward.
It became the turning point for me and institutionalized religion. It was easy to call myself atheist. No requirements for self recrimination. I had logic on my side – with the ability to point to the inconsistencies and historical hypocrisy. It worked for me for a while.
In the Years Since Childhood . . .
Did I discover religion later in life? A religion that I could embrace? No.
I have discovered an interest in the divine. And specifically in searching for the unknown. There is so much out there that we do not know. That these skin suit cannot detect or see or hear or taste or smell or feel. And even the things we can, how much do we really understand.
It was in experiencing life outdoors that I began to accept the divine. Or at least acknowledge it. For me, prayer was experience in the outdoors. Pushing my body to the extreme. Hiking. Biking. Exploring.
A Funny Thing Happened on Monday
My Happy Monday message yesterday got me thinking about prayer.
Happy Monday! “Look to this day, for it is life, the very breath of life.” – Kalidasa
Like who is Kalidasa and where did this prayer come from. I stumbled across it last week. Never heard of him. And a little research told me . . . not a lot. But that he was a pretty wise dude about 1500 years ago. And his words are still inspiring people today.
How many religions out there are like this. The Christians. The Jews. The Muslims. The Hindus. The Buddhists. The Shintos. The Confuscians. The Shamans. I can’t name them all. All of them with the common thread of helping connect people with the divine.
Until institutionalization takes over.
We can talk more about that another time.
But I am presently fascinated with the idea of connecting with and experiencing the divine. And have been searching for ways to do so.
For my part today, I will start with Music. I tend to connect with a song every day. At least one. Sometimes more. And I have been feeling music that connects with the idea of prayer. Two for myself today. Both with a similar theme. All Cats are Gray by The Cure and Begin by Toad the Wet Sprocket. The second is linked below. Enjoy it if you have a few extra minutes.
I leave you with the question I started with. Do you Pray? What do you say? Answer it for yourself. Or share it in the comments.