Damian’s Baby Blessing Ceremony
I wanted to share this ritual that I wrote because baby blessings for Pagans are very hard to find online (or in reference books for that matter.)
Date: August 16th, 2008
Moon: Full in Aquarius
Ritual Type: Family
We call upon the Elemental Spirits of Air, Fire, Water and Earth, to welcome our child on this eve. From breeze to storm, from spark to flame, from stream to ocean, from field to mountain, you bring power to our circle.
We call upon our Beloved Ancestors, blood of our blood, to welcome our child on this eve. A sacred cord connects us back to before time was time, we are honored by your presence.
We call upon the Eternal Spirit of Woman, the Great Mother, and ask that you bless our child on this eve. Sacred nurturer, may your power flows through us in this rite.
We call upon the Eternal Spirit of Man, the Great Father, and ask that you bless our child on this eve. Sacred protector, may your power flows through us in this rite.
Eternal Spirits, we bring before you this being of light, our son, for whom we have chosen the name of Damian Michael Stewart. We give thee thanks for sending Damian into our lives, he is our greatest joy and has grown our hearts a hundredfold. May we always be aware of his origins in your world, as ours are, so that we may reflect back to him the knowledge of the Great Mystery.
Damian, we light this candle [the rose one on the right side of the altar] as a reflection of the light that shines within you. Though its flame may be extinguished, know that your spirit within our lives never will. May your life be a divine work of art upon which all the blessings of the Universe are bestowed. Damian, you are our beloved. We swear to live our life to the highest virtues we know because it is upon this foundation that you will grow and flourish.
Eternal Spirits, we ask that you send Damian a guardian spirit to guide and protect him as he grows his light, until such a time when he can call upon his own guides. May this guardian guide him on the path that is most true for his soul and may the power of the elements ease his travels.
Spirits of Air we ask that you guide Damian as he soars through the skies of imagination.
Spirits of Fire we ask that you guide Damian as he faces all the challenges that await him.
Spirits of Water we ask that you guide Damian as he swims in the ocean of intuition.
Spirits of Earth we ask that you guide Damian as he climbs the tree of knowledge.
So mote it be.
Elemental Spirits, you are the breath, the inspiration, the soul and the body of our world. We thank you for your presence on this eve.
Beloved Ancestors, blood of our blood, your wisdom shines upon us. We thank you for your presence on this eve.
Eternal Spirits of Man and Woman, sacred beings of love and balance, we thank you for your blessings and your power on this eve.
Our circle is open but never broken.
So mote it be.
Baby Blessing by Jaspenelle Stewart is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Prayer
Each morning I do a small ritual which is made up of a short prayer to the Sun, a series of affirmations, and sometimes another prayer. (Yes, I am a creature of habit!) I touched on prayer the other day in my post about Jesus but I have been wanting to elaborate on it.
According to Wikipedia:
Prayer is the act of attempting to communicate with a deity or spirit. Purposes for this may include worshipping, requesting guidance, requesting assistance, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or to express one’s thoughts and emotions. [...] Secularly, the term can also be used as an alternative to “hope”. [...] Most major religions in the world involve prayer in one way or another.
Many of the items included in that description are things I do regularly. Requesting guidance, requesting assistance, and expressing one’s thoughts and emotions. The prayers I send out for other people are also my way of sending hope to them. So yes, I most definitely pray.
Prayer is not a term generally thrown around within the Pagan community. This is, in my opinion, because of mainstream religion. Most of the Pagans I know were once Christian and when they left that faith most of them distanced themselves from all its practices. Prayer is often one of the first things to go, which is really a bit odd when you think about it since prayer was around long before Jesus walked. To an extent, I understand the desire (however unhealthy) to bury ones past. After all, many Pagans had traumatic experiences within their former churches which are what ultimately drove them to seek beliefs that were better suited for their soul. I do think that prayer is a term Pagans have every right to reclaim though.
In my practice, prayer is not the exclusive territory of the gods. Many, if not most, of my prayers are focused towards spirits (elemental or otherwise) or my ancestors. I don’t think it matters what spirit is prayed to (if you want to send your thoughts to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, go ahead) all I think matters is that we take time to send our gratitude, hopes and wishes out into the Universe. I pray because it helps me live my life with reverence, grounds me, brings me comfort and order my thoughts.
Ultimately, prayer is an intensely personal experience and one I don’t think we should be afraid of. It is a opportunity to say exactly how you feel without repercussions, it feels good to get stuff like that off your chest, no matter how silly or serious. No matter what is said it can stay between you, the god or spirit of your choosing and the all-knowing fence post. (And of course anyone else you are comfortable sharing with.) As for me, my prayer this morning went something like this:
Blessed Mother Earth, I ask for your help on this day.
I ask that you send your Spirits of Peace to my dear friend,
She has great trials ahead of her in her fight with breast cancer.
Let her remember that it is the heart that makes the woman, not the body.
Let her remember your unconditional love, let it give her strength,
So that she may grow from this and find some joy in these hard times.
Blessed be.
I must take a moment to admire my friend, in spite of her diagnosis and the looming fear of surgery, her faith is strong and she is at peace with where ever this disease will lead her. I do not know if I could be as strong. As hard as it is for me to admit, I sometimes find myself angry with the powers that be for the trials I find myself in (and those that I love.) It is hard to remember that it is these trials and how we carry ourselves through them are what define us. That is a topic for a future blog post though.
Do you pray?
Lughnasadh: the grain harvest
Though Lughnasadh was a few days ago, I just finished writing my Book of Shadows page about this sabbat. I thought I would share. Let me know what you think and if you see any glaring typos. Dyslexia and proofreading do not always mesh well…
Lughnasadh: the grain harvest
The blistering first days of August are here, the parched earth does not give us much indication of cooling, but crisp Autumn mornings will soon be on our doorstep. Summer vegetables are at their peak and fill the garden and marketplace, corn and grain are being reaped and pumpkins and apples are beginning to ripen on the farms. In spite of the heat this is also a the time to begin laying down the Winter stores.
Lughnasadh is the first of three harvest sabbats in the Wheel of the Year. It is either celebrated around August 1st or the nearest full moon to it. Lughnasadh has a very convoluted history, Which is something I am certain Lugh would find immensely amusing.
Lughnasadh literally means “assembly of Lugh”. It is an Iris festival that traditionally took place at the start of the grain harvest, around August 1st. In Celtic legend, Lugh decreed that a commemorative feast be held on this day in the honor of his foster mother, the Fir Bolg queen, Tailtiu. She died clearing a forest for her people to plant grain. The legend states that she was buried beneath the hill of Tailte, which is where the first feast of Lughnasadh was held. As time passed, traditions surrounding Lughnasadh began to solidify into events and ceremonial activities designed to celebrate Tailtiu’s sacrifice as well as the bounty of the harvest.
In early Ireland, it was considered bad luck to harvest your grain any time before Lughnasadh, since that meant that the previous year’s harvest had run out early, which was a serious failing in agricultural communities. Grain has been a vital crop since the dawn of civilization as it is one of the foods that can easily be stored through the harshness of Winter. This has caused grain to become strongly associated with the cycle of death and rebirth in many ancient cultures. It is important to note that the grain referred to in old texts was most likely wheat, not corn. Corn is a crop of the Americas and did not exist in Ireland at the time Lughnasadh was founded.
Lugh is tied to the bountiful harvest as well, though not in the role of Sun God, as many Neopagans believe. This is a error that appeared in the Victorian era and is still perpetuated by many authors today, who confuse him with John Barleycorn. Lugh was actually a god of many talents, patron to craftsman and bards, who was honored for his cleverness and quick wit. He was fond of games of physical prowess as well as skill, particularly horse racing. Lugh had an affinity with storms as well, and it was considered a good omen for it to be stormy on Lughnasadh. It is Lugh who broke Summer’s hold over the land, heralding the start of the harvest. Lugh is further tied to the harvest through some of his triumph in battles with the land-spirits, in which the harvest was released for the use of Mankind.
Modern day Lughnasadh has a healthy dose of the Christianized “Lammas” mixed into it. This makes the celebration even more strongly oriented around the grain harvest. Lammas is celebrated on the first Sunday of August and is a day when everyone brought loaves of bread to church to be blessed. These loaves were baked from the first grain of the season.
In Wicca, the main figure of Lughnasadh is the Sacrificial King, sometimes called John Barleycorn. He embodies the wheat fields and is reaped/sacrificed so that we can survive the Winter. He is a powerful representation of the life and death cycle as he is reborn again come Spring when the fields are sewn again.
In our modern world, it is easy to forget the importance of the harvest. If we needed a loaf of bread, we can buy a prepackaged one from the store. If it runs out, we can easily go get another one. When our ancestors lived, the grain harvest was crucial. Whether the harvest succeeded or failed was the difference between life and death for many families. By celebrating Lughnasadh as a harvest festival, we honor our ancestors’ hard work. Lughnasadh is a time to reflect on the things we could or could not live without as well as the abundance in our lives.
Jesus
It is perhaps because I follow a Pagan path, but most people are surprised when I tell them I follow many of Jesus’s teachings quite strongly. It is also the main reason I stay away from strictly organized religion, most Christians take issue that I don’t believe Jesus was the Son Of God in the traditional sense. I care more about his teachings then family tree. Jesus also had is own issues with organized religion, I think he would be horrified to see the things that have been done in his name.
To me “God” is simply a universal energy (Great Mystery/Manitou/Qi) that connects us all, from which we create facets that form our individual deities (Yahweh, Aphrodite, Isis, Three Pure Ones, Olorun, Ninhursag etc. Spaghedeity?) to help us better understand our present situation. In that light, I think we are all part of “God”.
Anyhow, about Jesus. To me he was a great spiritual teacher, like Buddha, and when you strip away all the dogma that now surrounds him (and who knows what that was lost in translation) Jesus’s teachings are mostly very basic and immensely powerful concepts.
Jesus taught love. There is no commandment greater than this. He taught this concept through compassion towards others, healing the sick, washing his disciples feet, stopping the stoning of a woman etc. Our actions speak louder the words and compassion is an amazing force I try to live my life by. It is certainly not always easy, especially when it comes to loving your enemy. I try to remember that my enemies can be my greatest teachers though. (This teaching is what drives a huge wedge between me and some Christians who spew hatred towards people who don’t follow their exact flavor of Christianity.)
Jesus taught forgiveness. Beyond requesting forgiveness from God (which I don’t do) Jesus said we must first learn to forgive those who have wronged us, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” This is another exercise in compassion, it can be hard to keep forgiving someone, and sometimes we must determine if they are truly sorry for their actions or if it ourself imposing our own beliefs on them. It is hard to be the judge of such things… which leads to the next point.
Jesus taught us not to be hypocrites. We have all done bad things (”sinned” if you prefer) and it is hypocritical to take an eye for an eye. Our love and compassion should be our guide on how we treat others, not man-made rules. I try to always live what I believe, leading by example? Ultimately I believe we win people over by love, not force (which is probably why threats of damnation and hell never work on me.) We should live and love not “for show” but because we truly want to live by that virtue.
Jesus taught prayer. Yes I pray, though I may not call them that and they are also not directed towards any deity. For me a prayer is simply a silent or vocal acknowledgment of gratitude. It is easier to me to remain in a place of wholeness and love if I take time to remember the things I am thankful for. Whether I am saying a blessing over dinner or taking time each day to list things that bring me joy, I see them all as prayers.
Jesus taught generosity. There is one story in the New Testament, where Jesus and his disciples are watching people donate to a temple. An old woman gives a couple coins, which is nothing next to other donations, but it is everything she had. Jesus says she is the most charitable of them all. When you give with love and expect nothing in return you open yourself to receive a multitude of gifts. I know this to be true in my life through experience, when I give, even in difficult times, new and unexpected ways to flourish open to me. Jesus never said that it is bad thing to be wealthy, but it is a bad thing to become blinded by the need for possessions. When you cannot part with your wealth to share even a little compassion, you become a slave to it.
My beliefs are pretty much a mishmash of everything I have read, which is probably why the Pagan path is so appealing to me. We have no doctrine and are free to make our own and adapt it as we learn and grow. My main spiritual focus has always been around being a steward of the Earth, whom I refer to a Mother Earth, and intrinsic part of that is the practice of compassion because if we show compassion for all things it is easier to nurture healing and growth (in my opinion at least.) Jesus’s teachings certainly are filled with compassion, hence they are solidly integrated with my personal beliefs.
I didn’t realize such a diverse crowd read my blog, thanks for all you comments on my last post!
Blessed Lughnasadh!
Blessed Lughnasadh!
Lughnasadh is going to be quite different for us this year since we now have Damian! His grandpa Tolman will be here to visit. I want to make an effort to celebrate all the sabbats with Damian but this one might wait till next weekend. I like that cross-quarter days are flexible like that! Heck my solstices and equinoxes kind of are too.
This year I am going to share my seasonal feast recipes with you. All my recipes are all very loose and leave a lot of room for personal taste. I rarely follow instructions except if I am making bread… even then I tend to switch to whole wheat.
Speaking of whole wheat, Lughnasadh celebrates the grain harvest so how about we start with a bread recipe:
BREAD: Baguette
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup bread flour
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- In a large bowl combine honey and warm water, stir in yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes, until foamy.
- Add salt. Add flours 1 cup at a time until dough starts to come together. Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed in the rest of the flour until smooth (about 10 minutes.)
- Place dough in an oiled and turn to coat the surface. Cover and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.
- Punch down and form into long slender loaf (approx 21 inches long and 3 inches wide.) Place diagonally on a lightly greased large baking sheet and let rise uncovered for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- After loaf has risen make 3-6 diagonal slashes on it with sharp knife and lightly brush top with cool water. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack. (If you can wait long enough for it to cool, warm baguette smothered in fresh butter or preserves, yum!)
APPETIZER: Bruschetta
There is about a dozen different ways to make this, but this is the way I grew up with, more or less. The ingredients are very flexible and can (and should!) be done to taste.
- 6 tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced (I use a garlic press)
- a handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 baguette (homemade)
- Olive oil
- Toss together tomatoes, garlic and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to allow flavors to meld.
- Slice baguette into 1-inch pieces and toast. Drizzle with olive oil. (Alternately you can cut the garlic cloves in half and rub them against the toast before drizzling.)
- Top with tomato mixture and serve.
MAIN DISH: Grilled Chicken Salad
- 4 grilled chicken breasts, sliced
- Homemade raspberry vinaigrette
- 1 head lettuce, torn up - I like red leaf or romaine
- 2 cups spinach, torn up
- 2 cucumbers, seeded and diced
- 1 cup corn
- 2 or 3 or 4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 1 cup mozzarella, cubed or shredded
- Make vinaigrette. Mine uses about 8 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp raspberry vinegar, 1 to 2 tbsp local honey, 1 tsp dry mustard, 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 2 cloves garlic, salt and pepper. Still all that in a jar and shake. Viola vinaigrette. (I make my own raspberry vinegar but I have seen it in some stores, you could use any fruit vinegar, or apple cider vinegar, or balsamic for that matter.)
- Marinate chicken breasts in some vinaigrette for 30 minutes to and hour. Or you can be inpatient like me and stick some vinaigrette and the chicken in a ziplock and hit with with a rolling pin a few times until it flattens. Force marination.
- Grill chicken and slice. I like it left warm but you could certainly chill if that is your thing.
- In a large bowl toss together your chicken and your other ingredients with more vinaigrette. (Alternately, you could layer it lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, cheese.)
DESSERT: Grilled Peaches
- Peaches, 1 per person
- 2 tsp brown sugar per peach
- Melted butter, enough to brush your peaches with
- Vanilla ice cream
- Cut peaches along the seam all the way around and twist off the pit. Brush cut sides with butter.
- Cook, cut side down, on a hot grill until fruit has grill marks, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Brush tops with butter, turn over, and move to indirect heat. Put 1 tsp of sugar in each peach where the pit was.
- Cover grill and cook until sugar is melted and fruit is tender, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.
If you celebrate Lughnasadh what do you intend of filling your family’s bellies with? Even if you don’t what are you having for dinner? Some local foods too I hope!
The moment of truth…
I feel like I have been either cleaning or in the kitchen all day, and you know what? It feels really good (I think I need a foot rub though…) I feel like I haven’t had time to keep my house in order for weeks. I got a chance to try out the baking soda and vinegar cleaners some of you recommended to me awhile back and wow, they work really well.
Tomorrow Michael and I are going to a Beltane gathering in Medical Lake. It is a potluck so I made my potato salad and a whole wheat applesauce cake. The cake started life as a slightly more elaborate recipe which I have been simplifying over time, today I made the final jump from changing the brown sugar to honey. Now it only contains whole wheat flour, applesauce, honey, baking soda and cinnamon. Except for the cinnamon and probably the baking soda, it is a completely local cake. I canned the applesauce last Autumn (this was my last jar too!). I grind the wheat myself and it comes from this area. The honey I used is from a local apiary (I picked it up in Yokes though.)
I don’t know how many of you modify recipes but if you do, you know that moment of apprehension you have before trying a heavily modified recipe? I just experienced that before typing this entry with that cake. I was pleasantly surprised, the local honey has a really wonderful flavor. I love it, though I must admit I have an urge to cover it in cream cheese frosting. I’d post a picture for you but I seem to have misplaced my upload cable. (They should make wireless cameras for people like me…)
I love the challenge of cooking as locally as possible. I like supporting the local growers and in general I find the local crops to be much more flavorful. We have two farmers’ markets within a 20 minute bus ride of our home and I am really looking forward to them opening (one opens May 10th and the other June 5th.)
Anyhow, now to go chop the potatoes for the salad. Getting local potatoes in never a problem here as Idaho is virtually next door…
Blessed Beltane!
In ancient times, Beltane was a festival celebrated on May 1st by the Celts. It marked the beginning of the pastoral summer season, when livestock were driven out into their summer grazing lands.
Beltane is known as a cross-quarter day as it marks the solar midpoint between the vernal equinox and summer solstice. It is possible that it was celebrated on the full moon nearest to this midpoint as the Celtic year was based on both the lunar and solar cycles.
One of the most significant activities preformed at this time by the ancient Celts was the building of bonfires on the eve of Beltane on top of sacred hills. Those who built these fires would drive the village cattle between them as to purify the herd and bring luck to the community. People would also pass between the fires to purify themselves. Household hearth flames were doused and then lit again from the bonfires.
May Boughs (usually made of hawthorn, which blooms in the British Isles at this time of year) were made at Beltane and hung on the doors and windows of houses. The morning of Beltane often saw pilgrimages to sacred wells where rituals to their spirits were preformed and healing water was drawn.
Maypoles were also erected at this time. These were slender trees that were cut down on the eve of Beltane, their branches were removed and the resulting pole was decorated and erected in the village square, some villages also had permanent Maypoles. Maypole ribbon dances (two circles of people holding ribbons interweaving around the pole) were a common sight on Beltane.
Today, Beltane is still observed by many Neopagans. These celebrations can vary considerably despite the shared name due to the many forms of Neopaganism.
Celtic Reconstructionists celebrate Lá Bealtaine when the local hawthorn trees come into bloom, or on the full moon that falls closest to the cross-quarter day. The traditional bonfire rites are observed as well as pilgrimages to sacred wells.
Wiccans celebrate Beltane as one of their eight sabbats. Their holiday more closely resembles a Germanic festival (celebrated at the same time of year) as it is more strongly linked with fertility then the Celtic one. Many people also consider the maypole to have originated among Germanic tribes. (However, both the Celtic and Germanic cultures became very much mingled over time due to longterm Roman dominance over the area.)
In my personal practice, my main focus is honoring the Earth and the changing seasons. Spokane’s climate is certainly transitioning into summer at this time of year, so the celebration of Beltane seems fitting. As it is an important day to many local Pagans, it touches me on a community level as it is a time we can all come together and celebrate the Earth. On Saturday I will be going out to a bonfire celebration in Medical Lake. (I can’t wait!)
As far as collective modern symbolically goes, this festival celebrates the sacred unity between between lovers and pleasures. As I write this, I am 8 months pregnant with my first child, perhaps this makes this larger connectivity more apparent to me then then ever. I was a maiden at past Beltanes, ready to dance the Maypole, but now I am at the cusp of being a mother, preparing to guide a new generation through the same stages I have passed though. I have noticed that this transition phase is certainly its own trial by fire and I find myself renewed by it.
I took this photo at Fishtrap Lake a couple years ago around Beltane, Arrowleaf Balsamroot is one of my favorite local wildflowers. As I said earlier, honoring the Earth is among the highest of my personal values so I thought I would include a list of all the native wildflowers that are blooming around Spokane at this time of year. I have spotted some so far and I hope to be able to see them before Summer Solstice.
- Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhize sagittata)
- Calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa)
- Dogtooth Violet (Erythronium grandiflorum)
- Fairybells (Disporum trachycarpum)
- Grass-Widow (Sisyrinchium inflatum)
- Heartleaf Arnica (Arnica cordifolia)
- Nuttall’s Larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum)
- Sagebrush Buttercup (Ranunculus glaberrimus)
- Shooting Star (Dodecatheon pulchellum)
- Trillium (Trillium ovatum)
- Western Springbeauty (Claytonia lanceolata)
- Wild Hyacinth (Brodiaea douglasii)
- Yellow Skunk Cabbage (Lysichitum americanum)
- Yellowbell (Fritillaria pudica)
I hope you all have time to spend with Nature today and have a beautiful and blessed Beltane.
Sun Worship
Anyone who knows me even vaguely knows I adore the sun, I love it more then the moon even. (Is that considered Pagan sacrilege? Hehe!) I could care less about tanning though I do love my sun kisses (freckles.) For me it is more the mere presence of the sun that uplifts and empowers me. Every morning, especially when I am up to see the sun breaking the horizon, I say a little sun mantra to myself thanking it for being there for me.
I love drawing styled suns too, even my business logo has the sun in it. I love depictions of the sun, anything that catches the sun’s rays, and solar colors. Orange is my absolute favorite color. I have sun catchers in almost every window of my home, a couple of which are dragonflies, my personal sun totem. The snake, another one of my totems is definitely a sun worshiper like me. When I stand in the sun I feel like the snake, my batteries are charging up.
Whether the sun comes out or not during the day greatly affects my moods, which is evident in the past couple days. The night before last I barely got any sleep and the next day dawned gray and drizzly. I had a miserable day yesterday. Last night I didn’t get much sleep either but it was sunny today and I feel exponentially better even with my body hurting and I am a little wiped out.
What can I say? I must be solar powered!
If I loved the sun anymore I just might start photosynthesizing…
~~~
In news from the swelling baby belly front, Michael and I are pretty sure one of my ovarian cysts ruptured at about 2am last night. I thought my appendix has burst it was so excruciating - but I feel perfectly fine today though and the baby is as active as ever. Whatever twist of evolution caused cysts to exist should be kicked repeatedly in the head.
Happy Lupercalia
(Sunrise in dowtown Spokane.)
The Lupercalia is an ancient, possibly pre-Roman pastoral festival, observed from February 13 to February 15 to avert evil spirits and purify the city, and increase good health and fertility. Perhaps this is where some aspects of Valentines came from, though the history of big holidays is certainly a muddled one. Either way I hope everyone has a wonderful day, I think my Aunt Ruth described Valentines Day best:
Valentine’s Day is not about chocolates and jewelry and special dinners and cards, but a day to think about true love and commitment no matter what our circumstances are.
Other then blogging, Michael and I have been pretty busy lately. Every Wednesday we have our Bradley classes and we are also working on reorganizing our apartment. Mostly I am focusing on tidying up and this weekend we are going to work on moving some furniture around (before anyone says it, yes I will be careful.) I am really grateful for how well Michael and I work together as a team, I know a lot of relationships do not have that good of communication.
Cleaning and rearranging aside, I have spent quite a bit of time in meditation and prayer recently. I know a lot of Pagans who do not pray, or rather, do not use the word “pray”. Perhaps it is too strong of a word implying that we are merely pawns, rather then players in our own fate. for me prayer is a way of connecting with an external divine source (rather then the internal one I access though meditation) to become empowered.
But yes, I have been praying for two people, and my cat too (who is starting to do better, thank you for all the advice!) I am praying for my friend’s daughters has developed PTSD and she is having an incredibly hard time cooping with the events that caused it. She is now back home but it will be a long road to balance for her. I am also praying for my Uncle Stephen who has been diagnosed with something called Horton’s Disease, which sounds infinitely more painful then my simple migraines. Part of me sees events in life such as these as a test of faith, however that does not make it any easier to see those you love in pain.
I should probably get back to cleaning now. I need to reorganized the storage space under the stairs. Who knows that lurks under there…