Spirituality news!

So the friend of my friend, Rainn Wilson, has come out with a new book, SoulPancake. The website of the same name is where I got the idea to do my Lenten Spiritual Exercise. Boy was that life-changing! I found an interview with Rainn here. Great stuff!

Happy Halloween, Happy Samhain, Good Day of the Dead to you all!

Translating Mary

My dear friend, Mama K has a new blog: Filling the Chalice. It's awesome! [Way to go Mama K!]

Anyways, I can relate to her recent post on "language barrier" in chruch - the spiritual/religious sphere. She and I talk about this a fair amount. But, being raised in the Episcopal church, the liturgical year, and Bible stories are my foundation. So, when people talk using those terms, I "get it". Even though my most "spiritual" (spiritually moving - that brought me back to religion) was during a Wiccan ceremony. That was when I realized that there was a cosmic force that was powerful out there.

But for me to understand and participate in religion, I need to have a community and a structure, I can't create it from scratch (which is how all the Wiccan groups have been that I've been involved in, and it's too hard for me). But, what I love about the Church's liturgical calendar, is that it pretty much follows the Solar calendar* (which is the foundation of Wiccan practice - along with the Lunar calendar, of course).

Anyways, I had an epiphany when I read the Mists of Avalon, and thought about Mary as the continuation of the Goddess in mainstream Chrisitian practice. That she's never gone away. And that is a thought that gives me a lot of comfort.

* I'll write more about this later, but I'm planning a St John the Baptist's Day celebration for our church on June 24th. Stay tuned for more details.

Weekly Blog Round-Up

BELIEF:

* "None" gaining ground - In a USA Today article, found on Hasta Los Gatos Quieren Zapatos, more and more people are listing "none"as their religious affiliation. I was v. interested to read the following quote on reenee's post:

"Meanwhile, nearly 2.8 million people now identify with dozens of new religious movements, calling themselves Wiccan, pagan or "Spiritualist," which the survey does not define. Wicca, a contemporary form of paganism that includes goddess worship and reverence for nature, has even made its way to Arlington National Cemetery, where the Pentagon now allows Wiccans' five-pointed-star symbol to be used on veterans' gravestones." Having just been to Arlington for my grandmother's funeral, this tidbit struck me. Just like how there are now Wiccan Chaplains in the Army.

* A GREAT post on belief, Jesus, the Apostle's Creed and basically sums up my feelings about God, at BlogHer. Just hit the nail on my head!

* Interesting story on Beliefnet about the change from Junia to Junias in the Bible text in 1927. Apparently, Junia was considered a female apostle, until a footnote wiped her out. I read a lot about this issue, and found this link on Christian Feminism thanks!

* On BuzzFeed: Ha Ha:

"Roman Catholic bishops in Italy are calling for Catholics to abandon technologies like text messaging, Facebook and Twitter for Lent. Also recommended: BuzzFeed. So we'll see you in about 30 days have a great month everybody! Just kidding. But seriously, I was just about to poke God. "

* The History of religion from HLGQZ, found here


GREEN:

* I guess it comes as no surprise that in Istanbul, carpet recycling is the big green thing. Found on TreeHugger.

* Earth Hour: found on Green Lent. Let's do it!

* From TreeHugger: Rodale will donate to actual farmers if we buy food from these two companies. Plus! You can get a free subscription to Organic Gardening magazine.

FUN:

* Courtesy of Lakshmi. She laughed 'til she cried. I think it's funny. But then, I don't get Twitter.

* OMG! Dwayne Johnson! He Sings & Dances too!?!?!?! Sheesh, so HOT! From Joe.My.God.

RELIGIOUS ART:

* "View Religious Art For Lent" on Blogging Religiously, Via Iconia.

* PLUS! Church Sign Hackers - awesome. From BuzzFeed.

MENTAL HEALTH for DAUGHTERS:

I found this great list of questions that Reviving Ophelia author, Mary Pipher, PhD, recommends for adolescent girls, to help them stay grounded and healthy. It's a pretty good list for anyone, so I thought I'd share:

How do I feel right now?
What do I think?
What are my values?
Who would I describe myself to myself?
How do I see myself in the future?
What kind of work do I kike?
What kind of leisure do I like?
When do I feel most myself?
How have I changed since I entered puberty?
What kinds of people do I respect?
How am I similar to and different from my mother?
How am I similar to and different from my father?
What goals do I have for myself as a person?
What are my strengths and weaknesses?
What would I be proud of on my deathbed?

From Reviving Ophelia, by Mary Pipher, PhD, pg 255, 1995

FOOD:

* A beautiful, Spring-evoking (INvoking?) poem: "Strawberries" by Edwin Morgan from Queenie Takes Manhattan.

* More news from an Op-Ed in the NYT about how unsafe US food production is.

"So what’s going on here, and where do these antibiotic-resistant infections come from? Probably from the routine use — make that the insane overuse — of antibiotics in livestock feed. This is a system that may help breed virulent “superbugs” that pose a public health threat to us all."

* From my friend Jim's blog "Legend of St Ursula, St Michael Fighting the Dragons" This is a new blog, and this first (post-virgin) post is about illness, Lent and cooking! The Cornbread recipe is an added bonus - along with some fab religious art. Excellent work!

POLITICS:

* In my view, this is HUGE, and SUCH a relief. Way to go Barry! from Huff Po: "When signing legislation, Bush often would use such statements to direct officials to ignore parts of the law he thought were incorrect or restricted the administration's constitutional powers."

Top 5 Spiritual Movies Meme

I just found this meme-ette at BlogHer, which I figured I'd do, and all, I thought I'd share the love! So, here goes: the top 5 movies that have inspired me spiritually, enjoy:

Top 5 movies that inspired you spiritually?

The Last Temptation of Christ - I saw this movie when I was in a pretty non-Christian phase of my life. As in, I didn't call myself a Christian. I was v. upset about the whole "Jesus' death conquers Death" idea and thought that Christians were using an elaborate theology to evade the realness of death. That (they) were focusing solely on the afterlife ("heaven") instead of trying to make life better here on Earth. So, to watch (even!) Jesus struggle, the way that humans do, daily, with temptation, and understanding the "Higher Power's" plan, made sense to me. The story goes that Jesus is BOTH human and divine, and is tempted, sorely tempted, by the devil. That comes across, loud and clear. As does Jesus' compassion for the sick and the poor. The film made me realize that Christianity could be something I could get behind and maybe actually believe in.
Mists of Avalon - I had read the book in high school and liked it. But in the film, the last scene where Morgaine sees the statue of Mary in the convent sealed the deal for me. As with the next film, resilience is a v. human trait that I admire above pretty much all others.
Latcho Drom - Again, resilience. People, including the gypsies, it turns out, survive through all sorts of things, and sometimes, come through the other side with grace and art that surpasses all expectations. The music in this film stays with me, and I listen to it a lot. The similarities of styles. The emotion of the songs is amazing.
Elizabeth - I hate to admit it, but I didn't know much about this period of British history until I saw this movie. I know, I know. But it was through this that I got sucked in. I saw this and realized that the old Book of Common Prayer is actually based on something! It may not have actually achieved all it set out to (which was a mammoth undertaking - trying to unite Catholics and Protestants in England through prayer in the midst of a blood-thirsty civil war!) but it was a start. And it's still with us today. Who knows, it may actually get us through our current Anglican problems. And watching Elizabeth work through it all, watching her manipulate (a loaded word, I realize) the idea of the Virgin Queen, was fascinating.
The Miracle Maker - I just saw this movie recently, and it's a "children's movie" but it's really good. It tells the life of Jesus in such a compelling way - even though it uses PUPPETS! The scenes of Jesus' life use the words, pretty much verbatim, from the Gospels. And it sticks with you. Somehow I keep thinking about this film and remembering details that I have missed from the stories before.... so, I'm including it in my top 5.

How about you?

Happy Groundhog Day (tomorrow)

So, I knew Groundhog Day was also called Imbolc (my Irish is terrible) or Candlemas. But I never knew about the whole "Purification of Mary" aka "The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple" Sunday feast day, until recently.

I love the idea of Candlemas, and how it fits into the Solar Calendar - it's the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Handy, right? The "baby New Year" born at the Winter Solstice, is growing.

February 2nd is 40 days after the Winter Solstice, and so, according to Jewish Law, Jesus would be of the right age to take to the Temple for Presentation, and Mary would have ended her "confinement".

It's just so handy how these ideas mesh together. And helpful to me. I like celebrating of the passage of time in the change of the seasons. It makes more sense to me. Feels more real, more tangible.

I like to make a big deal out of Groundhog Day. That way we remember that Spring WILL come. The darkest days are over. I bet Mary was psyched to get out of the house too. Even if the Temple was just down the block, to be out and about after delivery and all the adjusting that has to happen with a new baby - PLUS royal house-guests on Epiphany - it's a lot! She sure was a trooper. Having also given birth in December, I can tell you, it's no picnic.

We'll see tomorrow what Phil says, but Spring WILL get here!

P.S. Doesn't that chartreuse gown on the lady behind Mary look fabulous!?

Baking Cookies

So, this weekend we made Holiday cookies. What fun! Like bunches of ginger cookies, and chocolate stars with crushed peppermints and chocolate drizzle, jam tots, sugar cookies that the girls decorated with icing and sprinkles, and new chocolate chip-pecan-dried cherry cookies. MMmmmmmmmm good.

What I just learned from the cookbook we were using is that the tradition of baking cookies for Christmas is another vestige of our pagan past that was conglomerated into our celebration of Christian holiday. Which makes it even MORE appealing to me! And so yummy!

Springerle (SPRING-uhr-lee) - These have been and still are traditional Christmas cookies in Bavaria and Austria for centuries. Springerle are white, anise-flavored cookies, made from a simple egg-flour-sugar dough. Usually rectangular or circular in shape, they have a picture or design stamped on the top. The images are imprinted with specially carved rolling pins or flat molds (Springerle presses, or boards). After the cookies are baked, the designs are sometimes enhanced with edible food colors--or with tempera or acrylic paints, if the cookies are to be used as decorations. Hartshorn is the traditional leavening (it is an ammonia compound).

These cookies are made with a leavening agent called ammonium carbonate, or baking ammonia. Ammonium carbonate is a byproduct of hartshorn, a substance extracted from deer antlers (harts horn). This leavener is the precursor of today's baking powder and baking soda .If you sample the dough of these cookies, you will be able to taste the ammonia, but it will completely evaporate out when the cookies are baked

The name Springerle comes from an old German dialect and means "little knight" or "jumping horse." Historians trace these cookies back to the Julfest, a midwinter celebration of pagan Germanic tribes. Julfest ceremonies included the sacrificing of animals to the gods, in hope that such offerings would bring a mild winter and an early spring. Poor people who could not afford to kill any of their animals gave token sacrifices in the form of animal-shaped breads and cookies. Vestiges of these pagan practices survive in the baking of shaped-and-stamped German Christmas cookies such as Lebkuchen, Spekulatius, Frankfurter Brenten, and Springerle.

Scenes from the Bible were some of the earliest images portrayed on the springerle molds. and were used to educate those who couldn't read or write. Eventually, other scenes were carved and the co okies soon reflected images of holidays, events, and scenes from every day life. The cookies were also used to celebrate births, weddings, and used as betrothal tokens. Exchanging springerle during the holidays was a common practice very much like we exchange cards today.

The oldest known springerle mold from Switzerland was carved from wood in the 14th century. This round shaped mold pictures the Easter lamb, and originates from the St. Katharine monastery in Will St. Gallen. It is now in the collection of the Swiss national museum in Zurich, Switzerland. From: http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/CookieHistory.htm

Clotilde & Clovis

Lakshmi and I are both reading "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley, right now. I am fascinated by my reaction to it now, reading it again after 20 years from my first time.

The characters seem less robust to me now. But there also seems to be an agenda to the religious discussion - almost proselytizing for Wiccanism. I don't know if that was actually MZB's goal, but when Lakshmi and I talked about it, we realized how much has changed in the world since the book first came out [1987]. Now there are even Wiccan chaplains in the US military!

Much has NOT changed, of course.

It may sound backwards, but I came back to Christianity through paganism. I dabbled in Wiccan practice, but found that I missed the structure, ritual and readings (Bible stories) of the Church. It was too hard for me personally to create a practice. PLUS, as MoA shows, the basis of the European interpretation of Christianity is heavily influenced by paganism. Start to finish. So, when the seasons turn, as they are now in Philly (Fall has arrived here) I follow the Christian liturgical calendar, and begin to think about Advent. The preparation for the coming baby new year.

Lakshmi and I have also been talking (at length) about open adoption and the process and all the DECISIONS! I have been thinking and praying about the process a lot, and all those involved, and went to my handy-dandy Patron Saints Index to find out who is affiliated with adoption. Apparently it's Clotilde - patron saint of adopted children. I still can't figure out WHY she's the patron, but whatevs.

So, while I was reading about her, I looked up her husband - Clovis I - who she brought to Christianity, and the story sounds EXACTLY like how MZB portrays Arthur's religious conversion around a battle and subsequent struggles. Amazing!

This is a good time of year for adopting - a time of preparation for the joy of a new child.