Child of Wonder

This time of year the early setting of the sun brings darkness at a time when we're just getting comfortable for the day. It's a time for candles, a hot cup of something, and maybe a good book. I use this time of year to study, to re-evaluate and discern my spiritual path in the hope of forwarding my journey authentically, with sincere gratitude.

Since I am a 'night person', the darkness is comforting. It is also the time that I'm my most productive and can take advantage of being uninterrupted by the busyness of others during daylight. I connect well with Midwinter.

By my own admission, I am a festival junkie. I love all the holidays throughout the year (although I have my favorites). I enjoy decorating because I love the special feeling in the air. Most of all, I love the celebrations that express our humanness and interconnection with each other and the world around us. For me, there is an archetypal energy that comes to the forefront, particularly in the festivals of the latter half of the calendar year. They feel like a doorway to other dimensions that we only feel at a distance at other times. There is a deep soul-level alignment from Samhain to Yule that awakens within us which I believe correlates with the myth of the Divine Child.

The birth of that Divine Child of Many Names holds eternal hope in our hearts: we continue in the mundane physical world as the earth receives returning light and warmth with every new day and nature around us slowly awaken from a cold sleep. Spiritually, we see the sacredness of life renewed in the birth of a child of potential which represents our future. We go innocently into the newness of Life mindfully, with the feeling of being surrounded by something undeniably holy. Perhaps for just a time, our communities are united and optimistic. Whatever we call our holidays and festivals, the energy is joyously the same and we are caught up in the wonder and love of it all.

Each year at this time the story of the birth of a vulnerable infant who survives despite being born in an unwelcoming environment with the odds against him echoes throughout many cultures and religious traditions. The motif of the Divine Child is a global one.

The noted psychologist Carl Jung created a list of archetypes which includes "the Child" and had some rather profound things to say about it. Jung's Child appears in our consciousness when we are at our most vulnerable. At a time when we are too emotionally weak and feel powerless, when there is seemingly no way to survive against personal challenge, the birth of potential and possibility takes place within our psyche. It survives and grows in that moment of deep despair when we are overwhelmed and ready to give up. If we are open and receptive to nurturing this newness, it becomes our reality, and that reality becomes a driving force to survive. Jung, who was well acquainted with the metaphysical, understood how to create thoughtforms.

Within everyone of us lies a spark of the Divine represented by this Child of Wonder. The birth of every child is holy. The knowledge of the ages are reflected back to us in the eyes of children, something we have lost as we become older and jaded by society and culture. We come into this world from Spirit bathed in light but soon forget who we are and where we came from. This is what I love about my Pagan spirituality-we have so many ways to remember we too are filled with the essence of divinity. We are god/dess in our own right, created in the image of the Universal Source.

It's a Little Early,But Let's Talk About Halloween and Samhain...

It's a little early, but let's talk about Halloween...mainly what it is and isn't.

When I was growing up Halloween was a night of wonder and magic. For one thing,we kids were allowed to go around the neighborhood collecting treats without an adult if someone's older brother or sister was along.We felt special and the night had a slightly dangerous edge to it; the danger was all in our imaginations-at least that's how it used to be. No one dressed up like a serial killer, or politician, and if we managed to score a Collegeville costume of a nurse, police officer or G.I Joe, well...let's just say we ruled in the cool department.

Somewhere along the mid 70s things began to change. Costumes with the hard plastic mask disappeared and the characters got bloody: gore became a thing. Decorations changed, too with the introduction of vinyl severed body parts and plastic window clings. The inexpensive paper euphemial hang-up skeletons disappeared in favor of more realistic-and expensive-fare.

My childhood Halloween included homemade cookies, slices of cake, and mini cups of cider. A candy apple or popcorn ball was a major score. Much of the candy and gum we got was loose and some of it wasn't even wrapped. We went inside people's houses to see their decorations and if our parents were along, they chatted amicably with neighbors. It was all pretty much over in and hour or so and then everyone in the neighborhood went to the firehouse for a community Halloween party.  Afterward we went home, emptied our loot bags and went to bed because more than likely it was a school night even if it were Halloween.We were home snug in bed before the Witching Hour. No one was afraid of getting tainted candy or poisoned apples. There were no weird clowns lurking by the roadside or other nefarious characters up to no good. It was all good, clean fun-there were no extremist Christians bellowing about it being Satan's Day and no one got possessed by evil spirits just for dressing up and collecting candy on a day made for innocent fun and frolic.

Because I am now a practicing witch (and don't just dress up like one as I did as a kid), I celebrate Samhain as well as the half octave of days made up as Mischief Night, All Hallows, All Saints and All Souls, this time of year has a new and deeper meaning. Samhain, as Summer's end, is the final harvest of Autumn and the time when the Veil is fully open between this world and the Afterlife. I welcome my beloved friends and relatives who have made their transition at my home Dumb Supper and by meditating to bring them closer. I decorate my ancestor altar with as many photos of them as possible and a few of the things that hold their memory dear to me. This includes photos of the many pets I've had throughout my life and my much loved familiar Tinker. I write regrets from the previous year and burn them, then bury the ashes. I make a batch of Samhain oil to use for spirit communication in the year that lies ahead, and a special incense blend to use over the next few days because I also celebrate astrological Samhain on November 7th (which just happens to be my late grandparent's wedding anniversary,too). Every year is different because I always find something else to add to the ritual. At the end of the night, after I have cast a protective circle, I sit in silence and listen for the voices of my ancestor's and the Mighty Dead. I ask to communicate with them in my dreams,too, or if I can stay awake until morning, I bid those who have crossed over for a visit farewell and godspeed.

While the two holidays are intertwined and difficult to separate, each has its own distinctive character. I love them both!

Seeking Light in the Darkest Days

Seeking Light in the Darkest Days-Part Two

                                                Copyright 2003 by Kate Dennis/AmethJera

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Day 8        

F

or Christians the season of the Advent of the Coming of Jesus the Savior begins: in Roman Catholic and many Protestant traditions the four weeks proceeding Christmas Day are marked by the placing of a wreath of greens decorated by purple and pink candles in churches and homes. Prophesy stories are read about the advent of the new age when their Messiah is born into physical being. A purple candle is lit for the first two weeks (purple being the color of royalty and reflection in the Christian Calendar). A pink candle is lit in the third week as a reminder of the motherly love of the Virgin Mary, mother of the child of God. It is a reflection of the love of humanity for one of their own. The fourth week, a purple candle is lit, signifying the continuation of the expectation of the Incarnation. In some traditions a white candle is placed in the center of the wreath on Christmas Day.

Many Pagan traditions have been adopted and assimilated by the Christian Church. The Advent Wreath is one of them. Greenery wreaths were common in pagan homes at all times of the year to signify the Wheel of the Year. Candles were added to decorate the wreath at various Sabats. The purple and pink candles of Christian Advent are quite appropropriate in a pagan home setting today to herald the birth of the Divine Child at Yule. Think of it as a circle of Light at the Coming of Promise.

“Father Creator, Mother of Love, bless all the circles of our lives: when we give rings in promise to one another, circles of friends and making sacred space. Be with us when our circle is broken, and when we ‘come around again’, and when our lives spiral inward and outward. Encircle us in loving arms.”

                                                                       

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Day 9

W

hat color is your aura today? The true essence of the being is reflected by the light surrounding us. We reflect what and who we are, so I ask again…What color is your aura? How are you seen in the world by others? How do you see yourself?

“Creator of Life and Light, you have given the gift of life freely. Freely I offer myself and who I have become and who I am to others in return. Guide me in my personal and spiritual development. Change the color of my soul. Make me a window for the light to shine through.”

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Day 10         

T

en days into the season and we are half way through of the time of anticipation. In the natural world the darkness of shorter days is fully established. Cold has set in. Trees that have shed their leaves show their skeletal branches. Animals have grown their winter coats; some have gone into seasonal hibernation. Animal too, we seek comfort and rest. We regenerate and grow in the relaxing darkness of long nights, awaiting the Light.

“Divine Child to come: Kindle a generous fire in our souls when the world is cold and gray. Make us warm in our hearts.”

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Day 11

“My Soul doth magnify the Lord…”

- The first line of the Magnificat

I

n the opening line of this beautiful song attributed to the Virgin Mary, she sings her joy at being chosen as the human mother of the Divine Child of God. She reminds us of the majesty and glory of what will soon come to pass. This is the realization that even in the pain of labor, the Creatrix should give thanks. Mary has been compared to the Goddess as a counterpart in the mythology of the Birth of the Divine Child. Imagine yourself in her place for a moment, as the one who is about to give birth to possibility and promise in your own life.

“As  we are each a vessel to hold the blessings of this life, allow us to reach deep down into that place where we keep our intimate selves and bring out into the light  our own sense of divinity, so we maybe worthy co-creators with you.”

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Day 12

“Hear the words of the Dark Lord, who was of old called Osiris, Adonis, Zeus, Thor, Pan, Cernunnos, Herne, Lugh and by many other names.

“I am He whose secret is that which opens the gates of life and death, and I am the guardian of the circle of rebirthing. I am the shadow in the midday; I am in the darkest places known and unknown. There I give repose and regeneration. Tell me your most inner secrets, and I will keep them under my wings.”

W

e have heard of the Dark Night of the Soul in common verbiage. It is portrayed as something to be feared, to be fought, to be railed against until the battle is won. In Pagan

tradition, darkness is only the opposite of light. It is assigned no attributes of loathing. Indeed, in many situations, it is the place to look to grow spiritually and develop our personalities. The darkness is a place of coolness from the heat of Life, a hiding place where regeneration can take place.

“Gracious God of Darkness: Restore our souls. Renew our spirits. Refresh our outlook. And when we become tired and overwhelmed in living, give us a sheltering place of comfort with you.”

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Day 13  

I

n ancient times the Sun King - Sol Invictis – was the very sun incarnate. He was the giver of life, the cause of everything from making the plants grow into abundant harvests to the victory in war.He turned the tides of the Nile; it was he who was the protective patriarch of the people. The Sun King made the law and was the administrator of justice. He was the consort of the Mother, providing the seed of the Divine Child, who in turn became the Sun King Reborn. As we travel the spokes of the Wheel of the Year, the Divine Child born at Yule becomes the Young Lord in spring, who becomes the Lover at Beltane and the Sacrificed King at Lughnassah, the Dying Lord of Mabon, and the Dark Lord of Samhain…then to become the Divine Child once again. This is all possible because the gods are not held to the moral standards imposed upon humans by biology and society.

“Illuminate our hearts. Shine light into our minds. Renew our spirits.”

This would be a good opportunity for you to meditate on what the Divine Child archetype means to you:

-          Who is this Divine Child in regard to your personal spiritual tradition?

-          What importance does the rebirth of the Divine Child hold for you at this time of year?

-          Can you identify Divine Child archetypes in other spiritual traditions, and what do they mean in that context?       

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Day 14

“…Ye shall dance, sing, feast, make music and give love all in my praise…”

- Doreen Valiente, The Charge of the Star  Goddess

T

he season of Yule is not only one of devout meditation and personal examination, but of unbridled joy. The Pan pipes play and the wine of Bacchus flows freely. The Saturnalia, a Roman holiday of merriment and feasting was celebrated at this time. In England, the Lord of the Misrule held sway over the population for twelve days. So many examples of this celebration of the essence of life in the midst of the stark bareness of winter show the mood and will of the people. There must be joy –there must be!

“I will be happy today, Bright God, even if the sun is not shining. I will find happiness in my self, and when I cannot find it there, I will seek it out. There is beauty even in the muted colors of the world. Let me shine with what ever light I may find.”

[This excerpt is copyrighted 2003 by AmethJera.All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission of the author.]