The Spring Festivals of Imbolc

This entry is from Jose Prado, thank you Jose for another most interesting entry in the Paranormal Corner. Note even though this entry contains instruction for a spell The Paranormal Corner do not endorse uses of spells and are hear by not responsible for any effects or use of the instructions in this entry.

The ancient Celts (peoples of Scotland, Ireland, and even some parts of England and the Iberian Peninsula) believed the year and seasons (like all things) existed as a Circle. A Cycle of life and death with no end similar to to the Gnostic concept of the Ouroboros, the serpent who devours his own tail. The Celtic wheel of the year is symbolized by the eight armed sun cross, a symbol sacred to many cultures from Native Americans, Norse peoples, to Gypsies. In fact the Gypsy flag is an eight armed carriage wheel representing their caravans from times past when they (as well as other mystic nomads like the Irish Tinkers) used them for travel.

Currently we fall under Imbolc, the Celtic spring festival. Now, the day changes by year based on atmospheric conditions, but many modern Pagans who do not have time (or in my case, lack the skill) to determine the proper conditions for when to celebrate this feast choose the designated St. Brighid's day (February 1st). St. Brighid is the Christian name of the Goddess who's original names some say were Brigantia (the most high) and Briganti, an ancient Goddess worshipped by the Celts and Gauls (ancient French peoples) and eventually adopted by the Romans.

The word Imbolc is old Gaelic for "in the belly" the season when various animals including the Ewes became Pregnant. In our Cosmology, this is because the Horned Lord (the God force, creator of all) and his wife the Radient Lady (The Goddess, Creatrix of all) mate and upon Imbolc gives birth to Spring. Similar to the idea of the New Year being symbolized by a new born baby. This is where it comes from. Many have tried to synchronize the Horned Lord with Kerrunos or Pan, the Radiant One with Persephone or Brighid but in reality we don't know much about them.

Though future advances in Archaeology and Anthropology could yield fruit in the days to come. And if that fails we have no shortage of Re- constructionists who zealously attempt the recreation of the Old Religion. While Imbolc is popular among Celtic oriented Pagans, one can find various Spring holidays dedicated to many Deities other than Brighid.

The Norse Goddess, Idun and the Greco-Roman Goddess Persephone. Not to mention (we must not leave out) the male aspect to the season such as the Kemetan (ancient Egyptian) God Khepri who brings about renewal and rebirth , or Leshi the Slavic God of nature from the Ukraine. The Eastern European version of the Green Man. One needs both the male and female aspects of nature to understand and correctly channel the energies of this day.

This is also the time to say farewell to the dead as Samhain (sow-en) and Yule (the Winter Solstice) are now over and it is time for the dead to rest and return to their own realm for us to move on with our lives. It is because off this, that doing a little spiritual spring cleaning (as well as the physical variety) is in order. Remove all you find that you do not use and has no sentimental value to you. Which includes former ways of thinking and old energies you no longer need.

This is where spring cleaning comes from. So get out a trash bag and be sure to throw out anything that can not be used or recycled or donate it to charity. By doing so you are clearing yourself of old, unwanted energy. Just be sure to ring a bell nine times over it or pass it through incense smoke (if it's cloths, wash it) to loose the old energy up and make it nice and clean before giving it to someone else. You do not want to give someone bad or stale energy.

Once you've done that now is the time to clean your home which includes moping and sweeping the floors. In magical tradition, Pagans would use enchanted besom brooms and use them to clear out negative forces. The fact that they were once made with stalks of Lithe only made them stronger. After sweeping the negativity out of your home it's time to mop the floors with a consecrated liquid. In Hoodoo (the folk magick of Voodoo) we use a variety of different potions or plant extracts. The most used is called Chinese Floor Wash and will cleanse and bless the area. Another option is holy water mixed with sea salt, lavender, and white flower petals.

Then to purify the air one must light either a stick of Uncrossing incense or Frankincense-Myrrh to banish the old energy and bring in good energy. Now you are ready to perform your ritual for Spring. The following ritual can be applied to any religion. Mine (since I am Gnostic) combines Celtic religion with Vodoun religion. I see all faiths as one so I don't need some fanatic coming in to annoy me with their Gospel of what they were raised or taught to believe 'genuine' Celtic or Vodoun practices are. This also contains Witchcraft so you will be practicing magick from both religions.

If you are a male, use only female Deities because as a man one have the energy of Gods inside. But women doing this should only call on Gods since they have Goddess energy in them. You can either call on the Cailleach Bheur (old blue lady) or Maman Brigitte to send away the old energy. The Cailleach is the old Crone Goddess of Europe, Maman Brigette is the Goddess of Healing and Death. Wife of the Cemetery God, Baron Samedi (or Ghede). You can also either call on Brighid or Asherah (the Canaanite nature Goddess, feminine aspect of God) or whoever you like to work with in general.

Ingredients : Mortar & Pestle, Crossroads dirt, a white votive candle, Frankincense-Myrrh for the Cailleach and Rose scented incense for Brighid on a white oil burner.

Instructions : Write down what you want to manifest on a piece of paper and with Brighid's candle burn it and send it to the Universe to manifest. Ask the Cailleach Bheur to remove the old, unneeded things from your life while Brighid brings in the new.

Place Crossroads dirt in a Mortar to banish it. The Mortar will represent the womb of the Goddess and the Pestle laid across it the God, to seal it all away.The Crossroads dirt acts as a gateway to banish the old and seal the door closed (based on intent) so that nothing comes back, while the white candle ushers in the positive energy of that which is new to fill in the void.

An easier, less ceremonial way would be to write a letter to the Universe asking what you want it to manifest and what you want it to get rid of and burn it on midnight before Imbolc or at 1:11 am (111 in numerology carries the power to manifest). Plus the Archangel Metatron rules over Thursday and holds the power to manifest thoughts into reality so you can go ahead and ask him in prayer to help you out with this.

Have fun and although this is solitary ritual, you can easily use it for a larger gathering of Witches or even just to be with friends or make merry.

Enjoy.

Why do people feel so confused over whether to have a Christmas tree or not?

Our Christmas tree at night by Dean Beeler 18 December 2004

Courtesy of wikimedia commons

For those who do not know me, I am Reverend Alaina Damewood, and I have been studying religions for more than eighteen years. One of my favorite areas of study is the myths around the holiday traditions.

For all who have a Christmas tree up in your house at this time of the year and have wondered how it fits into the holiday or why we use the tree to represent the birth of Christ, we must go back and look at the history and the heritage behind how our calendar was created.

The calendar we use in today’s time is based off the one created by the Catholic Church of Rome in a time period where the church was dealing with issues related to the pagans in their lifetime.
But how is that relate to our holidays? During the time period in question, the pagan traditions of the early Roman Empire had four major and four minor holidays.

The minor holidays marked the solstices for the seasonal year in celebration for being one step closer to the end of the year. The spring solstice celebrated the growth of the harvest. The summer solstice celebrated the beginning of the summer season. The fall solstice celebrated the change of summer to fall and the time of saving food for the coming winter. The winter solstice celebrated the coming of the new season. We recognize those on the calendar as the days which mark the beginning of spring, summer, fall and winter.

The major holidays were Beltine, which was celebrated for the warm weather that came from the change of spring to summer, Östra, the goddess of fertility, the time mother earth creates life from animals to people, samhine, the day of the dead or what we know as Halloween, and Yule, the end of the calendar year, also the birth and death of the oak king in winter to be reborn in the spring.

The Catholic Church of early Rome recognized the traditions of the pagans practiced in their time, and to get them to convert over to the religion of the Catholic Church, they decided to design their calendar to have the same celebrations.

The most famous example of this is Christmas, the day of Christ’s birth when Mary found out she was pregnant at the feast from the immaculate conception on December 8th. Because the Catholic church could not determine Christ’s actual birthday, they made it the same as the pagans Yule celebration and then adapt the celebration of the death and birth of the oak king for a Christian purpose. Since the burning of the log would not work for celebrating the birthday of Christ, the church stole a portion of a ceremony from the pagan faith again to represent the Norish day of the dead. 

In the same way family members would decorate their tree with ornaments to represent memories of their dead loved ones, Christmas is done the same way, except hanging the ornaments and giving presents to each other is to represent Christ’s birthday.
 
And since then, this has been the on-going tradition for the season to show respect to God’s birth and death no matter which religion you view it from. Whether you decide to put up a tree though, that is up to you. 

                                

Abide With Me: The Power of Hymns

Abide With Me, 

A Hymn by Henry Francis Lyte 1847 and music by William Henry Monk 1861

Wikimedia Commons

I am now going to share with you one of my strongest experiences, and a testimony to the power of hymns in my own life. This is not the only time I felt the miracle powers of hymns, but is defiantly one of the most inspiring and most powerful ones that I have experienced. This happened in Honolulu, Hawaii in June 2005, after months of struggling with emphysema, pneumonia and at this time still unknown to me sepsis, this Sunday was especially struggling and I was only able to take a few steps and speak no more than two-three words before gasping for air, still I felt a strong urge to partake of in church, including the hymns.

As I started to sing "Abide With Me" I felt like a power filled me and I was able to sing fully and with more strength than I could even have imagined, as the verses were sung I felt more empowered and a total feeling of well being replaced the struggle of breath. The beauty of the song bared with me and I felt so filled with joy.

I finished the song to the end, and the guy next to me turned over and whispered, that was truly divine, I have never heard anyone sing like that before, his eyes filled with tears as he gave me a hug, not only was the singing of the hymn helping me but it touched those around me. And I was able to talk and felt unencumbered for the next few hours of church, though everything felt easier even when in struggle, the next week I underwent treatment at the hospital and within days I felt a lot better.

"Abide With Me" was actually written and first set to music by Henry Francis Lyte while he lay dying from tuberculosis; he survived only a further three weeks after its completion in 1847. I believe he was there with me giving me the strength to sing his hymn to the fullest.

The second experience I am sharing with you happened a few years later, my grandmother at the age of 94, was on her death bed and my family were there gathered around her singing hymns, as we sang we all could feel it lift her spirit. The song of the hymn helped her drift peacefully over and as she did she filled us with the glory of her joy of again seeing us all clearly and hear us with absolute clarity again for the first time in decades.

With this I know there are true power in hymns, the power to bring peace at heart, the power to bring healing to the sick and needy, and the power to let the holy spirit dwell in our heart, to let us know the joy that God feel when we cherish the gospel by song.

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Stigmata - The Marks of Crucifixion

Video Stigmata Is it Real? How to make your own Stigmata: From The National Geographic Channel

A Stigmata is when a person bares the marks of the crucifixion of Christ. The first case of Stigmata was that of Saint Francis of Assisi in the year 1224. Saint Francis of Assisi had the marks of the wounds Christ suffered during his crucifixion. The marks appear on the body mostly on the hands and feet of the person experiencing the phenomena. Others that have been reported to experience the Stigmata have been Giovanna Bonomi in the year 1670 and Domenica Lazzari in 1848. There have also been many reports over time that a person heart can show the markings of the stigmata. Back in year 1671 Charles of Sezze was found to have a mark through the middle of his heart as if a spear went through it and in year 1691 Caterina Savell experienced the same. Saint Teresa Avil also had the spear mark through her heart and as Saint Avil along with the other two, these marks through the heart have been discovered post-mortem. The best known Stigmatic is that of Padre Pio. His Stigmata started in the year 1918 and he had his stigmata marks for 50 years. As of date a Stigmata is more often then not associated with the Catholic faith.

People who truly have a Stigmata usually also have paranormal experience as well. The paranormal experiences seem to go hand in hand with the Stigma.
Some of the paranormal experiences that have been reported to happen to those with the stigmata are visions, channeling of  messages and, bi- location, when one can be seen in two places at once.

There are those who say that the paranormal has nothing to do with religion or ones faith. I myself, think that God and Christ are very paranormal due to the fact that they both can do many things that cannot be explained by science or logic and that alone is paranormal.

For further reading and sources here are the pages we used for this entry
The ASSAP entry on Stigmata by John and Anne Spencer
The New Advent page Catholic Encyclopedia
The Franciscan Friars Stigmata of St. Francis
The published research paper Starvation, Serotonin and Symbolism. A Psychobiocultural Perspective on Stigmata By Daniel M. T Fessler
Padre Pio in Encyclopedia Britannica

We at Paranormal Corner wish you all a Very Happy Easter!

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Salt: Mineral, Preservative, Religious Symbol and Spiritual Protector

 Illustration PJ 2011, Salt, upper left Black Hunza Stone Salt, upper right Hawaiian Sea Salt, lower left refined modern tablet salt and lower right Pink Himalayan Salt.

Few elements have had a longer importance in human cultures as regular table salt, both mined stone salt and sea salt has been the prime tool for preserving foods and adding flavor even long before recorded history. Salt also played an important role in many religions and faiths, it was considered one of the prime elements in the European medieval alchemy and therefore essential for the making of the philosophers stone. In Christianity salt is also a religious symbol. Salt is a symbol of the sanctity of Jesus, as a preserving value of his sanctity and, protection it is used to make holy water and also the more powerful exorcised water in the Roman Catholic Church. Salt is also used to make protective circles like described in My First Exorcism by Rev. Alaina Damewood. 

Salt as a sign of bad omens. According to some recollections salt was spilled by Judas Iscariot at the last supper, and since then is seen as a sign of omen and bad luck. If you spilled salt you could avert your bad luck by tossing a pinch of salt over your left shoulder, which was thought to be the devils side. By doing this one would advert any evils that the devils lurking at your left side had in store for you.

In many pagan rituals salt was also important, it is used in magical spells, cleansing rituals, charms and concoctions, and already in ancient Pre-christian Rome salt were a symbol of friendship and spilling of salt, a symbol of ill luck. Later with Christianity a deep faith and salt as a symbol of Jesus, one assumed incorrectly that the pagan witch sabbath everything was salt free. In fact this is a blurring of the terms for witches and demon witches, while a witch is still fully human and not affected by salt,  a demon witch (hag) has started to lose their humanity is such ways that salt would affect and ward them off just like it could ward of full demons.

In Norse mythology they thought that the gods came from a salty ice-block as the cow, Auðumbla brought  Búri the first god in Norse mythology, grandfather of Odin, out of the salty ice block over the course of four days. In general, other than its role as part of Norse creation myths salt had little importance other than a tool used to preserve and condition foods, though later Christianity brought in a lot of their beliefs in salt.

In Hawaii and Samoa sea salt is used for protection both by placing salt in each of the four corners of the house and by poring salt on the door threshold to prevent any spirits from crossing into ones home.

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