Spirituality
From The Inner Circle At Stonehenge
A radiant dusk was upon us when we reached the top of the concrete staircase. Emerging from below, our trivial conversation abruptly ceased. We were stunned into an instant, breathless, respectful silence. Before us rose the towering magnificence of Stonehenge… graceful and glimmering in the late Summer sunset!
Being so suddenly in the presence of the most famous prehistoric monument in Europe, was the most memorable moment of my entire journey. I had the privilege of being a member of a small private party on a special tour to this magical place. Our visit took place after hours, with special permission from the authorities.
The exclusive access we were granted enabled us to visit Stonehenge at sunset, and later under starlight, after the site was closed to the public. Most importantly, we had the unique privilege to enter into the inner circle, which is not accessible to day visitors. Continue reading
The Rosary Is A Powerful Tool
I look at so many people struggling, and so ready to get angry at the littlest things, so disconnected from the divine spark inside of them. I know a great tool to deal with this: I often pray the Rosary and thank God for all of the blessings in my life.
It really works for me. The promise of the Rosary is true, in that it will bring blessings into your life. It has brought so much goodness into mine.
I gave a friend, who is suffering from a horrible depression and feeling of incompleteness, a Rosary to pray. I found that she was happier after learning and praying the Rosary.
I wish I would have known about the Rosary many, many moons ago, but it’s never too late to learn the Rosary and see what blessings it can bring into your life. It really works. Continue reading
What Did You Give Up For Lent?
You’re out with your friends on a Friday night and suddenly you notice that one of them has switched from his favorite microbrew beer to lemonade? Is it time for Lent already?
Giving up something for Lent sometimes evokes head-scratching in non-Catholics, but what might seem like just another Catholic eccentricity can actually be a practice with deep spiritual significance.
Lent, the period of 40 days that precedes the celebration of Easter, has its origin in the early days of the Church. This year Lent began on March 5th and it ends on April 17th.
Converts seeking to become Christian, who at that time were mostly adults, spent several years in study and preparation. Under the threat of Roman persecution, becoming a Christian was serious business, so their process of preparation was intensive. Then they went through a final period of “purification and enlightenment” for the 40 days before their baptism at Easter. The rest of the Church began to observe the season of Lent in solidarity with these newest Christians. It became an opportunity for all Christians to recall and renew the commitment of their baptism. Continue reading
The Disappointed Jesus In London
To be fair, I did not visit to the city of London solely for esoteric purposes, but I found the energy signature quite different and stark there, compared to Athens and Berlin.
I found the atmosphere in Berlin, for example, electric, yet peaceful. Stepping off the U-Bahn at Wittenberg Platz in the middle of the high season, I was engulfed by a comforting low-level hum of German families and tourists doing their Saturday afternoon window shopping. The people here did not seem to have a care in the world. The streets were crowded , much like that of London, but not once did I feel a sense of angst or claustrophobia. The warm buzz was actually quite welcoming and pleasant… and this is major coming from a highly strung empath like myself.
Berlin woke me up on a Sunday morning with the nostalgic chiming of church bells. I was staying inside one of the surviving wings of the Neues Schauspielhaus on Nollendorf Platz, in the Schöneberg district of Berlin. It was built in 1905 as a theatre and concert hall, in the then fashionable Art Nouveau style. Maybe Bertold Brecht was there in the 1920s, discussing his plays with someone in the very room I slept in that night, or maybe the bands Depeche Mode or The Human League used it as a dressing room in the 1980s. While those bells were ringing in the distance, I almost expected Christopher Isherwood’s character Sally Bowles to sneak down the corridor of this old building, back from a busy, decadent night’s work at the Kit Kat Club cabaret. Continue reading
Spiritual Awakening, Now What?
A few years ago, in the time leading up to 2012, I wrote a blog post about the symptoms of spiritual awakening. Well, here we are in 2014 and some of us are wondering what to do now?
Some of us feel as though we didn’t make it. Some of us are wondering if we made it, but don’t know it? Some feel as though they have awakened, but have hit a plateau and are unsure of what to do next.
All of these examples are types of plateaus we must face in our diverse journeys. I can only offer advice on what I have personally dealt with and come to embrace in my own.
The Shaman’s Schmetterling In Gottsdorf
In my previous blog I shared the story of the sign I received from the ancient oracle during my visit to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Well, the magical presence of the butterfly totem did not end with my visit to Greece. In all of the other countries I was to visit on this particular European tour, I would encounter butterflies at every sacred site, and during special moments I shared with significant others.
The miracle continued when I arrived at a country inn in Gottsdorf, outside Berlin, Germany. This was to be the venue for a four day meditation seminar I was attending. The event was set to take place in a cozy Yoga studio attached to the small hotel.
The moment I entered this room, I noticed a small altar the seminar organizer had set up for the time we would be working in this space. The display was charming and colorful, but that was not what drew my attention. No, what struck me instantaneously was the large, vibrant butterfly hanging on the brick wall behind the altar.
Yes, indeed. I had received yet another mystical route marker along this personal odyssey into self-realization. This time the butterfly was not black and white, like the one who came to whisper in my ear at Delphi. Instead a brightly colored paper butterfly waved hello to me from above! It was like a psychedelic kaleidoscope reminiscent of the shapes one sometimes sees in sacred geometry art… or tie-died T-shirts from the 60s. Continue reading
Nobody Deserves To Be Happy!
Many self-help gurus will espouse the virtues, the sheer righteousness if you will, of deserving to be happy. You deserve to be happy? What does this truly even mean? (meant to be read in a most sarcastic tone of voice with a slight touch of incredulity thrown in for good measure).
I take umbrage, I cry foul to this so called deservedness. What makes you so special? For that matter, what makes me so special? None of us deserve to be happy any more so than the next guy or girl.
People, living breathing people, are being subjected to atrocities all over our planet in ways that some of us cannot even bear to think about, because we’d never sleep cozy in our beds at night if we did. Aren’t these people deserving of this ‘happiness’ also? They often times don’t experience it, because of someone else’s pursuit of happiness. Continue reading