Mo Leabhar Págánacht

Nightly and morning rituals

2008-09-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

The following is what I have so far for a morning and nightly ritual... I will be cross posting this in a few of my other blogs:

Nightly Ritual

Circle of Stones

Prayer to the Ancestors - 6 repetitions
Prayer to the Nature Spirits - 6 repetitions
Prayer to the Deithe - 6 repetitions
Prayer to Brighid - 5 repetitions

2. Morning Ritual

Purification

[Take a morning shower]

Connecting with the three realms

May the sacred earth continue to lend life its support...
[touch the earth, then touch my abdomen]

May the eternal sea continue to supply its life giving waters to the world...
[touch some water, then touch my chest]

May the endless sky continue to supply the breath of life to the world...
[point to the sky, and then touch my forhead]

Through the power of the world tree, Bile, may I connect to the three realms through body, spirit, and soul. And may I always seek wisdom, be granted sight, and gifted with health.
[kiss and put on Brighid pendant]

the order and basic design for the morning ritual were inspired by the greeting of the three realms in the Warriors ritual that was a composite work of Lysana, Blackfyr, Alfrecht, Wire_Mother, Erin "Mint" Zelnio, and Erynn Laurie.

Flametending? Women only?

2008-09-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

I have been researching the tending of Brighid's eternal flame. I have discovered that Gerald of Wales says something along the lines of the following:

At the time of Gerald of Wales, writing in the very end of the 12th century, there was a circular fence of hedges and twigs surrounding it that no male was allowed to enter. Gerald relates several tales in which errant men of the area or English knights tried to enter the hedge, or did so, and were punished with death, insanity and mutilation.
~~ Chapter 4 -- Brighid in the Early Medieval Irish Church

This reference seems to indicate that the men who were entering the flame grove were actually committing gross offenses, as they are trespassing on the land without proper invitation into the sanctuary. Additionally this entire passage refers specifically to the Christian nuns, and has no bearing on whether or not men were allowed to tend the flame prior to Christianities arrival in Ireland.

As near as I can tell, given the nature of hospitality laws and the importance of these laws, a violation of the hospitality laws as is demonstrated by a person trespassing on the property of the Goddess, would be just grounds for punishment by the Goddess who is protecting the property in question. So I would wager that had a man asked both one of the nuns / priestesses as well as the Goddess herself for permission to enter the grove and sanctuary, he would probably have been granted this permission.

This theory would seem to be panned out by the recent decision by the Kildare Nuns to open the rite of flametending to the public... and this includes allowing men near the flame. If the Kildare Nuns thought it sacrilege for a man to be anywhere near the flame, they would not have allowed men to participate in the ceremonies, however it seems that they have allowed just this. Granted I will admit that the Nuns are still an all women orginization. However I think that has more to do with how the Orthodox and Catholic Churches view the position of a Nun than it does with the tradition of a Nun being the only person who can tend the flame.

It is for these above reasons and more, that I feel it is okay for me to tend the flame of Brighid, so long as I do so in a respectful manner. Realizing of course that my flame is simply a proxy for the true flame of Brighid, which is the flame of inspiration, and healing that burns within all humans (even if it is dim in some and bright in others). By the logic that the flame of Brighid burns within all people, I see no reason why a guy cannot tend the outward symbol of that flame!

My 9 Virtue List, part 3

2008-09-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

I think I am going to revise my virtue list... here is what I am going to be listing as my virtues from now on... and there are actually 10 of these as opposed to 9, but I think they cover the bases of what I was hoping to go with...

Moderation (something I desperately need to work on...)
Honesty
Honor (in word & in person)
Wisdom
Truthfulness
Hospitality (also need to work on this one)
Justice
Loyalty
Strength
Courage

Comparative Religion and other things

2008-09-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

I have recently started my current Semester at my community College. The class I am taking is Comparative Religion. My Professor is claiming that all Religions need a Creed, Doctrines, and Dogma. I am not sure I am in agreement with him on this sentiment, especially based on what I know of the Aboriginal Religion of Australia, as well as the Native Religions of Africa, and various other regions of the world. None of these was very Creedal in nature, much less Orthodoxic.

I have recently ordered the book "A World Full of Gods: An Inquiry into Polytheism" which is a Philosophy book on the subject of modern Polytheism. I am hoping this book will be able to help me reach a definition of what I consider my Gods to be. I know so far only that I consider them to be wholly real, but above and beyond that I am not sure how I would go about defining them. So we will see what this book provides me.

I am also hoping that I am able to become more determined in performing morning and nightly rituals / devotions each day, so as to cement my connection with my Gods. This is something which has up until now really kind of eluded me. However I am working on a ritual structure, or will be tomorrow I suppose...

Gaol Naofa issues

2008-07-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

due to some personal differences I have had with the founder of Gaol Naofa as well as the person who is currently holding the office of "Vice-President" of Gaol Naofa, I have decided to step down as the Brughaid (public Relations office) of Gaol Naofa. I have further decided that for the time being, that I do not have what it takes to be a member of Gaol Naofa. So for the moment I am going to have to say that I will not be a member of Gaol Naofa any longer.

Gaol Naofa newsletter

2008-06-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

so Thomas has asked me to write an article for the Gaol Naofa newsletter. Unfortunately I am not entirely sure that I am up to the task. I hope that I am able to satisfy the newsletters needs. I am going to be writting on the topic of what people within Celtic Reconstructionism understand death to mean, so I am going to have to post a request for various ideas on the matter.

My Nine Virtues List - part 2

2008-03-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

I think I have found the nine virtues that I am going to use for my Nine Noble Virtues list.... here the list is without further adeu:

Community
Courage
Honesty
Honor (in word, and in person)
Hospitality
Justice
Loyalty
Strength (physical, emotional, and psychological)
Wisdom

These are the traits that I think are most virtuous of the Celtic world. They are also the traits I think I need to work towards the most. So I will be working on these traits as much as possible.

My Nine Virtues List - part 1

2008-03-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

I am going to be writting a blog series starting now chronicling my process to select the nine virtues that I am thinking of using as my nine noble virtues. This is a process that was inspired by reading Erynn Laurie's article on Ethics which can be found on her website "The Preserving Shrine"

Basically the idea is to come up with as many virtues as I can from Celtic Virtues at first, and then to narrow them down until I have only 9, and these 9 will be the virtues by which I will live my life. The process by which I will be eliminating them is based on which of these virtues seems to be the most practical to my modern lifestyle, and which I can implement on a daily basis. So let us get started:

VIRTUE LIST:

honesty
honor in word
trust
loyalty
truth
honor of a person
physical strength
emotional strength
justice
hospitality
fostering
pride
courage
community
gentleness
wisdom

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me in determining what will work for me on a regular basis as far as virtuous behavior goes. All of these things could theoretically work, but only 9 of them will be selected. Unfortunately I have nearly twice as many as I need.

My dream

2008-03-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, so although I have come to the conclusion that this dream was telling me to be appreciative of my Polytheistic beliefs. I thought I would post the content of the dream here on blogspot for those people who are unable to view my livejournal copy of the dream for whatever reason. So here it is:

I dreamt I was me, except I was at home calling into a televangelist to give him a piece of my mind during one of his sermons. Except everything I tried to say to this Televangelist, the guy turned around. He basically said "So the reason you have no hope is because you are without God" to which I replied "I have hope, just not with your God!" It was at that point that I woke up. But I did get the blueprint of the Televangelists church, there was a John 3:16 Courtyard, as well as a huge stage from which he did his services. It was possibly the biggest Church I had seen.

I am not entirely sure what all the symbolism is about, but I do believe that the phrase "I have hope, just not with your God!" is the key to the understanding of this dream. I think it is telling me to be content with the Gods that I do worship, while acknowledging the existence of the Christian God, and possibly even Jesus as the divine messenger of this God. Still I am not 100% sure about this particular dream.

Recently I have been having weird dreams

2008-03-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been having some odd dreams. It seems to me that the Gods are either asking me to bridge the gap between Christianity and Paganism on a grand scale... or to do so within my own personal spirituality. I think it might be far more likely that they are asking this of me within my own spirituality. I do not understand this request on the part of the Gods, and it does deserve some meditation. So I will be going out and purchasing a book or borrowing a book from the Public Library on the processes of meditating and trance work. Hopefully with such a book I will be able to get into contact with the Gods, and be able to answer some of these heart wrenching questions. The real trick is I am not even sure if these dreams are meant to be taken seriously or not =.=

My testimony as to why I am a Celtic Reconstructionist - updated

2008-03-11T20:41:00.000-07:00

When I was younger I was one of the most devout Christians you could find in New Hampshire. I was even what one could call a lunatic fundamentalist. I carried a Bible everywhere with me, even to School. For this I was also one of the most teased children in the Schoolyard.

As I got older (around 11 and 12 years of age, and again at the age of 15 to 17) I developed interests in the Occult, and in Native American Spirituality. I think this was in part due to my membership in the Boy Scouts of America. I would spend hours at a time in the Public and School Libraries reading books on topics as diverse as Nessie and Ghosts to Occult Spirituality. Though at the time I was still naive and did not know that these things were real. I thought that the Occult Spirituality was purely a myth, or that it didn't exist any longer.

When I was 13 to 14 (I can't remember the exact date) I was born again. You might be asking how a person who was born again could ever give up the faith of Christianity... well let me tell you, it was an easy decision. Ever since my born again experience, I never was able to experience the Christian God in the same way again. Whenever I prayed to him I always got the feeling that the Christian God was giving me the cold shoulder. Unfortunately this led to me doubting the Christian faith eventually. I spent many months traveling from one Christian Church to another trying to find the one that was right for me after my 15th Birthday. I thought I had found one when I started going to the First Church of Christian Science in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Unfortunately this would have eventually led to me having a problem with my Psychiatrists, and family as it is a doctrine of Christian Science to take people off of all Medical support, and at the time (and still today) I am on a great deal of Psychiatric Medicine. Ultimately I left that church as well.

Then when I was 17 I got into a yelling match with some of my teachers at school. I decided it better to walk out on school for that day than to remain in an environment that could potentially wind up with me at jail. So I walked the 5 to 6 mile trek home. Fortunately about 2 to 3 miles away from my home when my legs had begun to give out due to the snow I was picked up by the mother of one of my sisters friends and driven the rest of the way home.

When I got home I found that the house was completely locked up, and that no one was home. I was forced to wait in the snow and freezing cold temperatures for a good hour or two before anyone would arrive home to let me into the house. During that wait I got into a very in depth argument with the Christian God. This argument led to me giving up the Christian Faith completely, as not only did I not feel compassion from the Christian God, but I felt emptiness, almost like he wasn't there. However there was something, almost a warmth, and a nagging feeling that someone was telling me that I was never alone, and that I should shape up... it was a feminine feeling however.

Later, when I was 18, I met the first two Pagans (wiccans) I would meet in my life. They introduced me to Paganism, and allowed me to realize that those Occult Spiritualities I had studied and longed for as a Kid still existed today. I would go on to study Paganism, Wicca. I even dedicated myself to the Wiccan God and Goddess. However the entire time that I was studying Wicca, I felt a nagging feeling, that I was being repeatedly drawn to the Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Celts. I eventually talked with some Celtic Reconstructionists on myspace, and have discovered that the experience that I had on that cold winter day, might possibly be attributed to the Goddess An Cailleach and her counterpart Brighid.

My various Blogs

2008-03-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, well I thought I would update those who are viewing this as to my various blogs.... so far I have 4 primary blogs:

myspace blog

Live Journal Blog

Blogspot Blog

Facebook Blog

The last of which is linked to my livejournal blog... I will be reposting this in each of the three unlinked blogs so people can find me :D