Summer Solstice at Coldrum

Friday just gone was the longest day and shortest night of the year, the Summer Solstice. The time of year that celebrates the highest point of the sun in the year and also a time to celebrate completion achievement and to remember our connection to all things. This is a time to remember the departed to also understand that from this day on we slowly progress back to the darkness of winter and to carry the strength of solstice light and energy with us.

I spent this day at Coldrum long burrow in Kent with friends having a small pick nick at the base of the mound after lighting incense and placing offerings and practicing some dowsing at this sacred site. It was a very family centered day and a deep sensation of ancestry was really present at this place.  A very mystic place for quiet personal contemplation and meditation on the solstice energy and the ancestors who rest in the world on the other side of the mound. Beautiful stones and beautiful country side. I love this Solstice time it really helps with a sense of renewal and continued progression for the next half of the year. The first half is done and has passed away and now the new half shall bring prosperity and new achievements.

Thoughts and interpretations of the celtic cross

The Celtic Cross, Solar Cross, Haloed Cross or circled cross has been a subject of interest to many people. Its creation and history is a bit of a mystery, some suggest per-christian origins and being a symbol of life and solar rays with a hint at it representing the four seasons and the cycle of the sun or even Odin's Eye. Others have thought it to be an early form of compos and navigation tool.  Others have highlighted the Christian invention of the Celtic Cross from a story of St Patrick carving a cross over the Circle of a Luna Goddess symbol.

While some are romantic and others are possibly within historic and archeological research, I have been pondering the Celtic Cross for myself and although I have a lot of personal fondness for the romantic per-christian solar origins of the symbol I cant help but keep thinking more about it in a Christian context.


I love Celtic Crosses, the shape and variety of styles and symbolism some even depict stories on them, most are hand carved and very ancient, beautiful pieces of human spiritual invention and creativity. An Icon of devotion! This brings me to my almost epiphany like speculative, but still spiritual, interpretation of the symbol. Could it be possible that these crosses are early representations of the adoration of the Sacrament in Traditional Christian spiritual focus on Christ's sacrifice?

The adoration of the Sacrament is the faithful, devotional and prayerful contemplation of the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the bread and wine of the Eucharist or Holy Communion.
(1 Cor 10:16-17, John 6: 51-56, Luke 22:19-20) A deeply mystic and spiritual remembrance of Christ's sacrifice. Now this is usually the displaying of the Sacrament (communion wafer) as the body of Christ in a monstrance or other type of altar or chapel display and the devote is to pray and in most cases consume Eucharist or the bread and wine of communion while viewing and contemplating the mystery of the sacrifice of Christ as the 'bread of life' and it's meaning to the Christian faithful.   It is my observation that the Celtic Cross could be a representation of this adoration. The circle being the Host or bread wafer and by spiritual extension, the body of Christ crucified on the cross. A simple more graphic form of crucifix or type of possible stone monstrance. Ponder the Celtic cross for your self and see what you think. This is only my own personal interpretation.

Nature and The Divine

In keeping with the this theme I have going on the sacred being seen in the natural world I thought I would share more about a mystic Christian group that I find rather inspiring.

The group is called Communities of the Mystic Christ and is a UK Christan group set up to be a non-denominational Mystic Christian community that has a focus of faith in the individual experience of God and a deep connection to the Natural World and recognising God's presence within us and the whole of the surrounding world. My favorite part is the Forest Church and also how they have adopted Celtic and British ancient sacred days of the year that coincide with the Christian ritual calendar.

A deeply spiritual community that I think many will find fulfilling. To find out more you can contact the community through their web site and also get more information on what they are about.

Nature, Religion and Divine Light

It has been a rather sunny last few days of April and sitting in the sun this afternoon got me thinking of our spiritual relationship with nature and with the many faiths we follow. I came up with some simple spiritual principles of many of the worlds religions that, to me, seem to be a primal spiritual concepts and subconscious need of humanity. The need to be part of the divine and to see the divinity of the natural world.

This is a a very basic and general mystic view of underlying spiritual principles of most, if not all the worlds religions and dose not necessarily include the theology and tradition of scriptural based faiths. However the concepts are there in those faiths and theologies.

1. The Sun and Light is the focus of either spiritual metaphor or actual worship, for example, seen in the direction of worship toward east and the sun rising. Also the Father/Sky god is always observing.

2. There is a divine Mother or sacred motherly woman who brings life to the light of the world or is the life of the Earth its self. (Isis berthing Horus, Holy Virgin Mary and Jesus, Myths of Inanna and Dumuzi, Elysian mysteries, Attis and Cybele...)

3. There is Dankness and Balance of both light and dark night and day is almost always a spiritual concept of most faiths.

4. The dead or ancestors are never forgotten or gone from us and have become part of something bigger than us and are borne into a form of immortality and new life within nature.

5. The presence of Spirit or the Divine is in all things and in us.

Something to think about I guess when you next sit in the sun on a sunny day. This is not meant to discredit any faiths but to show that it is a basic human spiritual need to see the natural world as the movement and dance floor of the divine. That these concepts have always been part of continuing and renewing religion since the first humans had the inclination to see divinity, one of those things that have been with us always. "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be..."

For Mystic Christians

I found this lovely site on mystic Christianity centered round a Christian natural spirituality and thought I would share it here. Hope you enjoy it. In a way this site reminds me of St Francis of Assisi prayer, Canticle of the Creatures.

Most High, all-powerful, good Lord,

all praise is yours, all glory, all honor,
and all blessing.

To you, alone, Most High, do they belong.

No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.

All praise be yours, my Lord,

through all you have made,

and first my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day;

and through whom you give us light.

How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor;

Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

All Praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon

and the stars; in the heavens you have made them,

bright, and precious, and fair.

All praise be yours, my Lord,

through Brothers wind and air, and fair and stormy,

all the weather's moods,

by which you cherish all that you have made.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water,

so useful, humble, precious and pure.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire,

through whom you brighten up the night.

How beautiful is he, how cheerful!

Full of power and strength.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through our Sister

Mother Earth, who sustains us and governs us,

and produces various fruits with colored flowers

and herbs.

All praise be yours, my Lord,

through those who grant pardon for love of you;

through those who endure sickness and trial.

Happy are those who endure in peace,

By You, Most High, they will be crowned.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death,

From whose embrace no mortal can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin!

Happy those she finds doing your will!

The second death can do them no harm.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks

And serve him with great humility.

Obsessions with Spirituality, The Catholic faith and the Anglican Communion

This is a brief personal explanation of my obsessive nature with spirituality in general and my passion for Catholic Christianity and the Anglican Church/ Church of England. I have been very spiritually minded for as long as I Can remember. My family are Presbyterian being of Scottish heritage I guess that makes sense. My uncle is a Minister in the Presbyterian Church and me and my brother were Baptized/ Christened at the Presbyterian Church of South Africa. Trinity Presbyterian Church in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1985.

My mother has always had a diverse spiritual nature her self, and I blame her for mine! My Grandmother also had a very mixed spiritual upbringing. My Grandmother was sent to a convent school in Zimbabwe in the 1940s and she developed a passion for the Catholic tradition and she tells us that she wanted to become a nun but her Mum would not have it, obviously being a very protestant Scottish woman! Any way, My mother would take us to many different churches on most weekends and the ones I remember the most were the Saturday services at the local Seventh day Adventist Church in Zimbabwe. My Mum soon got baptized with them and we became regular members, my brothers and I were dedicated by them, so started the second stage of our spiritual upbringing. My mum was not very absolutist or fanatical in her faith and most weekends we would go to SDA on the Saturdays and then with a friend of my Mum's to a Pentecostal church called Rhema , on Sundays. Holidays were usually at Presbyterian churches.

When my Dad died and my mum remarried spirituality was almost forgotten in our family and we carried on quite well till moving to the UK. My Mum found her faith and started reading her Bible. We were visited by Jehovah's Witnesses now and then and this I think got my mum back to her faith. I began to take more of an interest at the age of 12, and started sitting in with my mum when the JW's were round. However I was not interested in their teachings as I became fascinated with St Swithen's Church in East Grinstead and found my self joining their choir and eventually being conformed. I loved my time there. So many great memories and Spiritual connectedness with friends in the choir and with the beauty of the church icons and Christian faith; there was a real mystic presence there, one I still feel in most C of E churches. A divine presence that fills me with peace and energy and a feeling of connectedness. I Was conformed in 1998 at the age of 13 and loved every minuet of it. I started becoming more and more spiritually aware of things, at one point I wanted to become a priest when I grew up. But I found doubts and confusion setting in and began taking in a new  interest in the teachings of JWs, in hindsight I wish I hadn't. However I did and was baptized at 14 and was an active member till I was 15 and realized I was gay. I left JW, as I no longer agreed with their teachings and started seeing some very obvious unbiblical and even unchristian teachings going on.

I was encouraged to join a Gospel church by some friends from school but my indoctrination from JW was hard to overcome and I soon lost faith in all Christian denominations. I did however have some very interesting spiritual experiences and began to see the biblical explanation for traditional Christian faith and theology. But my path was leading a different spiritual direction and I started embracing alternative spiritual practices on my own. I started with Modern Wicca and Witchcraft and this has always been a fulfilling path for me. I have grown to include a more personal slightly polytheist path and have become more mystic and eclectic in my spiritual views and practice, including Buddhist and Hindu spirituality in my life.

 I decided one Sunday to return to an Anglican Church and take communion and I did,  I had a very interesting experience, a sensation of electricity running through me and a warmth moving over me from my feet up, probably means I'm completely delusional but it was a deep experience and I have been obsessed with every aspect of the Anglican Church since.  Not only that but I have come to a better understanding of the nature of catholic tradition in the Anglican communion and its basis can be found in the bible, contrary to what is misunderstood by many.

Throughout all this though the Anglican Church has always given me a spiritual sense of connectedness and a feeling that it will always be part of me spiritually. From this I have learned to see the Truth of the Church's heritage and history in scripture and to see that it is one of the few Christian faiths that is fully connected to it's tradition and history and yet sill is open to growth and new insight. The Anglican Church, in my view is a Traditional catholic church that is one of change and constant renewal with the Spirit of God through the Gospel of Jesus. I love the diversity and its Unity. In my view the Anglican Church is a reflection of the Holy Trinity, a unity of diversity in its persons but One in its nature and spirit. This needs to be celebrated more in media and in local communities. I can't say I am a Christian,(due to doubts) but I can say I have faith in the Anglican Communion and in its spiritual growth in Jesus.

Spiritually speaking, I will always have an inclusive mystic path to follow but I will never deny the spiritual connection and faith I have in the Anglican Church, its Catholicism and the Christian gospel it teaches.

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me."

- (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Modern Polytheism Creed

I wrote this out of inspiration from the Catholic creeds. I love the Church creeds and find them amazing pieces of writing to read as well as being uplifting decelerations of Christian faith. I am in no way trying to be derogatory to the Catholic Creeds and they have my full respect and sacred admiration. What I have done here is to take inspiration from the beauty of those creeds and apply them to a modern polytheist frame work. It is purely for my own creative gratification and not in any way meant to be an insult to the Church or the creeds. Here I am trying to use the same language for a more mystic modern pagan polytheism, inclusive of the divers traditions of modern spirituality. I hope and pray it is received with an open and spiritual mind and response.

I will include some calligraphy and typographic art work on this creed and the Christian ones at a later time. Other wise I hope this is an uplifting piece of prose for any modern polytheist who may read it.

 

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A Pagan Polytheist Creed

I Believe in Many Gods the Netjer, the Aesir,Vanir the Olympians, the Titans, the Pantheon, the Deva’s and Devi’s, the Kami the Lwa and Orishas and many more. All Unique, individual, Powerful and Almighty forces of nature, united by their nature and known by the titles of Goddess and God.

I Believe in all things visible and invisible. In Universal Divine energy, the Source, the Spark of Life and the formless unity of the Gods known as the Great Mother and the Great Father, or simply God/Great Spirit and by their unity are the Creators of Heaven and Earth, Gods and Humanity. I Believe in the Spark of life, which is the magic in us all.

I Believe in the Communion of Ancestors and the blessing of life, by the power of the Gods, that they have given us.  I Believe in the Mysteries, the secret understandings, the Occult, hidden in the darkness and the light and reveled by the Gods and spirits to the dedicated and devout.

I Believe in the Holy Power of Nature, the Sacred Temple of life, death, our hearts and homes. The freedom of intent and the balance of all things, the ever ancient and ever renewing, mystic cycle of life and the interconnectedness of all things.

Praise be to all Gods and Ancestors, Amen

Eastern Rite Anglicanism

I think this is a fantastic development within the Anglican Communion. It is a perfect example of the growth and continued development of the Anglican Tradition and its diversity of spiritual understanding.

What this means for the Anglican Churches is the option and inclusion of the beautiful and mystic Byzantine/ Eastern Orthodox liturgy in church worship. It is an attempt to bridge the gap between the western and eastern catholic/orthodox traditions of the Christian faith. I support it. The eastern rites are also compatible with Anglican theology as they are Patristic practices, and in some areas share similarities with Anglican teachings.

In my view this should be a welcomed development within Anglicanism and to a further extent all Traditional Christian liturgies should be freely accepted and used in accordance with church Tradition and Scripture.

If you support this join the Face book group and sign up to their newsletters. I have.

So why this blog?

As a type of short introduction to get this blog up and running, I want to just say why I am doing it. In all honesty this blog is more or less for personal release and gratification. I spend too much of my time obsessing about spirituality; I over think, Annalise and argue about many spiritual and religious ideas. I do all this in my own head because I don't fully think any one is really listening or even cares. ( except, I suppose, the Divine in what ever form they my be...)

So this blog is intended to be a small corner of the vastness of the electronic and digital world where I can put all these thoughts, insights and spiritual ideas and devotions; not so much for others to read and debate or argue but for my own peace of mind. I want people to read my words and ideas, (that is what writing is for really) and hopefully find inspiration. But I am not writing for others, I am writing for me, firstly because I want to write and secondly because I have a lot to say on this path and way of life and would rather it was out of my head! Not everyone will agree with my views and that is a good thing. The Divine love diversity. If nature and humanity is a reflection of the divine "In His image He created them...", and the world is obviously diverse so then the Divine must share in that diversity?

If you do stumble on this blog understand that nothing I write is absolute and some things may not have an historical or Traditional validity in terms of theology and established religion. I will however strive to reference as thoroughly as I can and research what I write when I write about other faiths and historical contexts.  What I will mainly write is my own personal insights into a spiritual path I am walking. However, I will write about religions that I have a close connection to spiritually. Namely, Christianity ( from both Anglican/catholic views and extreme Protestant because I have experience of both and wont lie, I will always be a devoted friend of the Anglican communion (catholic) Christian faith...), Modern Paganism, (modern) Polytheism and Reconstruction traditions (because this is more or less that path a walk now), Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese and Japanese Traditional religion and many of the folk mystic a spiritual practices that will always be in the world in some form or another. Again the spirituality of this writing comes from my own insights and spiritual compulsion. I will say it is a motivation of the Spirit, but I will not say these are the words of the Divine because no words ever written by humanity, saints, prophets or otherwise is ever the actual words of the Divine because all humanity is inherently imperfect, however blessed, enlightened or 'touched by God' they may be; as are their written words. (This in no way invalidates the writings/sayings of saints, sages or prophets. Their insight is and was a valid insight for their age and ours, more or less)  With that said the written words can be an insight to the experience of the Divine and that is what I hope for here. I hope this can be a positive place for others to find their own personal spiritual insights on their Mystic Pathways.