Mother's Day - May 8, 2022

 Mother's Day we were scheduled to discuss Motherhood and the Divine. There was no liturgy; rather, discussion was driven by the needs of those in attendance. In general, we discussed the meaning of mothering, being mothered, being nurtured, and nurturing others. Like the previous month, you can watch a short video I made here.

Remember, you can subscribe to the newsletter, Brigid's Arrow, by filling out the form here. Brigid's Arrow is now a quarterly publication, though once in awhile there may be an extra edition here and there. Blessings to all!

Cover of a vintage Mother's Day card

Spiritual Awakening - April 10, 2022

Altar Setup April 10, 2022

This was Palm Sunday, and there was no manuscript or written liturgy for the Gathering. However, I made a short video to share what the discussion was to have been. Though nobody was in attendance that day, it was a lovely spring day. You can watch the video on TikTok here.

The following is an article from the Spring 2022 issue of Brigid's Arrow about Spiritual Awakening. If you would like to receive this quarterly email newsletter, you can sign up here.

Lessons on the Meaning of Spiritual Awakening

from Buddhism and Christianity

Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is within you.” - Luke 17:20-21, NRSV

To begin the journey in the Way...first, set yourself straight. You are your only master. - The Dhammapada

 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”  Matthew 22:21, NRSV

People must store up reserves of faith since true merits cannot be taken away and no one need fear thieves.  Happy are the disciples who have gained faith, and happy is the wise man when he meets such a believer - Udanavarga 10;11

Do to others as you would have them do to you - Luke 6:31

Consider others as yourself - Dhammapada 10.1

If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also - Luke 6:29

If anyone should give you a blow with his hand, with a stick, or with a knife, you should abandon any desires [to hurt him] and utter no evil words - Majjhima Nikaya 21.6

Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me - Matthew 25:45

If you do not tend one another, then who is there to tend you? Whoever would tend me, he should tend the sick - Vinaya, Mahavagga 8.26.3

 The following is an excerpt from
Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings by Marcus J. Borg

 "The way of the Buddha entails a reorientation of one's life from 'grasping' (the cause of suffering) to 'letting go' of grasping (the path of liberation from suffering). The Buddha invited his followers to see that life is not about grasping but about letting go, and then to embark on the path of letting go.

Though Jesus did not generate a systematic set of 'noble truths' as the Buddha did, the images running through his teaching point to the same path. Those who empty themselves will be exalted, and those who exalt themselves will be emptied; those who make themselves last will be first, and the first last. To become as a child is to relinquish one's worldly importance. The path of discipleship involves 'taking up one's cross,' understood as a symbol for the internal process of dying to an old way of being and entering a new way of being. 

Buddhist 'letting go' and Christian 'dying' are similar processes. Dying is the ultimate letting go — of the world and of one's self. The world as the center of one's identity and security and the self as the center of one's preoccupation pass away. This 'letting go' is liberation from an old way of being and resurrection into a new way of being. There is thus a Buddhist 'born again' experience as well as a Christian 'liberation through enlightenment' experience."

 Open your eyes and the whole world is full of God. -- Jakob Böhme

Snakes, Druids, and the Political Mythology of St. Patrick - March 15, 2022

 Again, our meeting was scheduled for a Tuesday evening. It was a very breezy night, which made it difficult to set up an altar. Chairs were set up in a small circle. The discussion was facilitated using the the following notes.

Political Mythology – A political myth is an ideological narrative that is believed by social groups. Political myths simply deal with political topics and always use a group of people as the hero or protagonist

• There are big overarching myths like Manifest Destiny or Rugged Individualism as well as national myths.

• National myths are defined as an inspiring narrative or anecdote about a nation's past which often serve as an important national symbol and affirm a set of national values.

• A national myth that many of us in the United States learned when we were children is the story of George Washington and the cherry tree. The story has been repeated so often for so long it has become a part of our national fabric. This tale of a young George chopping into his father’s cherry tree with the hatchet he received as a gift is a story of morality and the value of honesty. As the story goes, George’s father confronted George about the damage to his tree and George responds with something to the effect of, “I cannot tell a lie. It was I who chopped the cherry tree.”

• St. Patrick is a figure whose legend is a national myth for Ireland. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and people of Irish descent everywhere. In fact, his religious feast day has become a reason to party for a great many people around the world. On St. Patrick’s Day, everyone identifies as a little bit Irish.

• The story is that St. Patrick stood on a hilltop, waved his staff to herd all the snakes into the sea, banning them from Ireland. As a result, there hasn’t been a snake seen in Ireland since 461 AD.

• This legend of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland is a tale that did not become part of his hagiography until the 11th Century, while Patrick himself lived in the 2nd half of the 5th century and the earliest stories of miracles by St. Patrick began in the 7th Century. A hagiography is not just the biography of a person who has been sainted. Hagiographies paint the lives of these individuals in an idealized way, adulating them to raise them into a person with higher ideals than the ordinary person. A hagiography is often written to perpetuate a political agenda.

So, what is the truth about Patrick and the snakes?

• In reality there have been no snakes in Ireland since the last ice age when they were frozen and all perished. When the ice retreated, and Ireland broke off broke off the  European mainland, there was no way for snakes to migrate onto the island.

• Over the years, there have been different theories as to why this myth was added to his hagiography in the first place.

• In the legend, Patrick is the Christian hero who is victorious over the snakes. One theory, which dates back to about 1911, is that the “snakes” were actually the Druid priests who led the Celts in their spiritual lives. 

• In recent times, this story of St. Patrick and the snakes has become a meme within neo-pagan circles. Among pagans, the tale has been flipped, with Patrick becoming the antagonist and the snakes representing the ancient Druids of pre-Christian Ireland. In this case, the Druids become the victims of a relentless genocide at the hands of this one man and the pagans of today are the heroes come to right this wrong.

• Patrick was not, in fact, Irish. He was a Romanized English boy. Patricus, who was kidnapped and enslaved by pagan Irish raiders. He was in slavery working as a herdsman for 6 years before he had a dream that encouraged him to escape. He reunited with his family for a short time. Eventually he traveled back to Ireland to convert the pagans who had enslaved him. From the perspective of the Catholic writers, Patrick dealt fairly with those he reached out to.

• Patrick did convert a great many Irish folks. However, there were pagans following the old traditions well into the 14th Century.

Why snakes, if they don’t represent the Druids?

• Perhaps only to add to the wonders of Patrick’s hagiography using a well-known motif. Many figures in the past had this “miracle” as part of their legends, which would have been known to the Christian chroniclers of Patrick’s life.

• Divine or historic figures helping rid places of snake infestations is recorded by several ancient Greek and Latin authors, ascribing this miracle to a few different ancient mythological individuals.

o 1st century Greek geographer and historian Strabo recreated a fragment of Hesiod’s (8th or 7th Century BCE)—writings in which Eurylochus, known from Homer’s Odyssey, expels a monstrous snake from Salamis.

o In the Fables of Hyginus Medea, wife of Jason, is said to have helped free the people of Absoris from a bunch of snakes by trapping them in a tomb.

o Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote about Hercules driving out the snakes (and other wild creatures)  from Crete.

Patrick and Snakes as Political Mythology

• Alexei Kondratiev wrote in The Apple Branch: A Path to Celtic Ritual that St. Patrick’s day became a very important during a time of English oppression, becoming a “manifestation of both religious and ethnic identity.”

• British involvement in Ireland began with the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169 (or 89?). This was the beginning of over 700 years of English involvement in Ireland.

• Remember, the snake story seems to have developed sometime in the 11th Century, which would make it during the years after 1200 CE, which was somewhere between 10 and 30 years after the invasion. By this time the Irish had adopted Patrick as their patron saint.

• Is it possible the snakes were not DRUIDS, but the ENGLISH?

Other things about St. Patrick:

• St. Patrick used the Shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to teach about God (the father), Jesus (the son), and the holy spirit and Christianity spread like wildfire across Ireland.

• It is said that by the time of his death, St. Patrick had founded about 300 churches in Ireland and converted more than 120,000 people to Christianity.

• The shamrock has become synonymous with St. Patrick's Day celebrations around the world. 

• The 12th-century work Agallamh na Seanórach (Tales of the Elders of Ireland) claims that St. Patrick met two legends of Irish folklore while crossing the country.

• The work says that St. Patrick met Caílte mac Rónáin (nephew of Fionn mac Cumhaill) and Oisín, who went to Tír na nÓg (land of the young). 

• St. Patrick reportedly made an attempt to convert the two figures to Christianity while they ferociously defended their pagan traditions. 

• St. Patrick was reportedly able to raise the dead. The origin of this miracle stems from St. Patrick himself. He wrote that he performed resurrections, but the legend was accentuated in the 12th century when Jocelyn of Furness claimed that Patrick rose 33 people from the dead, some of whom had been dead for many years.

Final Points of Discussion

• What benefit is there to (a) Making Patrick the patron saint of Ireland and (b) having him chase out the “snakes”?

• Is a snake just a snake and a dragon just a dragon? Or must there be metaphor?

Imbolc/Brigid's Day - February 15, 2022

We met on a Tuesday evening to celebrate Brigid, the saint and the goddess. We did not have a liturgy; rather, we shared in setting up an altar and invoking the Divine.There were three of us in attendance that evening. We blessed candles to be taken home and used as "seeds of blessing" in our candle supplies for the year. Then we shared in a reading from Mael Brigde's book, Sun Among Stars: A Brigit of Ireland Devotional. Trusting in the Divine to lead us to the words of our liturgy, we were brought to the poem on page 44, entitled "The Well." Reminded of the healing qualities of water and the calming effects of Spirit upon the human heart, we parted ways feeling whole and blessed. You can read the poem on Mael Brigde's poetry blog, Stonebelly.

Brigid Icon by Joan Robinson

at Issie Madeira

Yule/Christmas December 12, 2021

 You may see this liturgy in its original bulletin form here. 

Gather within. One DEEP Breath

Gathering Words

Though we are in the darkness, we prepare for the light

The days grow short as the night grows long

We look into our hearts to find the light within

The nights are long as we wait for dawn

We bring the light to the ones we love

The longest night comes closer still

We sit in silence to seek our souls

The dawn brings hope to those who seek

One DEEP Breath

Invocation

Holy Beloved, All That Is, we call upon You to awaken the knowledge of Your Presence within us, around us, and between us.

One DEEP Breath

Prayer

Holy Beloved, we give thanks for the silence in a velvet night, where we are cocooned in the darkness, listening for the wisdom in our souls. May we learn to walk in kindness and compassion. May we be strengthened in our purpose and empowered to bring the Light wherever we may roam. Amen.

In these weeks between All Souls/Samhain and the Winter Solstice, the nights truly do grow and the days shorten. This is the time in the Christian year called Advent, for it precedes the celebration of the birth of Christ. It is a time to ponder our lives; to take stock of how we have lived up until now, to consider what we need to change and how we can grow spiritually. There are many ways to go about this.

Here we can have a short discussion of how we take time to be silent and consider our lives.

Guided Meditation

Pastor Suzy will lead us through a short meditation.

Prayer

Help us, Holy Divine, to find the deep mystery within ourselves that we might light our lives with the joy, love, peace, and purpose which we so desire. May we be a light that shines upon others, helping them find their way. So may it be.

Benediction

Let us go forth into the coming days listening for the voice in the darkness that calls us toward the light.

Discussion topics

Celebrations of Light: Winter Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali…There are others that take place in the spring, such as Chinese New Year. The days associated with religious traditions have stories and beliefs associated with them, but light is a major part of the story. Why? Why is the time of darkness important spiritually?

DISCUSSION

We talked about the different celebrations that take place around this time, how they associate with the Solstice, and the importance of both the times of darkness and the renewal of light. As we grow spiritually, we learn that times of darkness are gestational. Christians prepare for the birth of  Jesus by taking time during Advent to consider life without the Light. They return to the darkness during the days of Lent, particularly during Holy Week. Without the darkness, there would be no light. Without the winter, there would be no spring. These holy celebrations across the many traditions honor both the challenges we face in the dark as well as the joy we feel when the new light dawns. When you face the dark times in your life, do you take the time to explore your thoughts and feelings about what is happening? Do you intentionally find the strength you need to come through into the light? When the light returns, do you give thanks that you have made it to the next day? What practices do you have to mark these times throughout the year, and throughout your life?

All Saints/Samhain November 14, 2021

When we returned to 2nd Sundays after the summer break last year, we used a liturgical pattern with discussion occurring after the Benediction. Here I will share the liturgy and some thoughts that came up during the discussion. To see this in the original bulletin form, click here.

Gather within.  One DEEP Breath

Gathering Words

We come to this place with songs of the angels in our hearts

The Wheel of the Year turns evermore

We come to this place hearts on fire, warmed by memories of loved ones

The Wheel of the Year turns evermore

We come to this place knowing we are drops in the eternal ocean of Being

The Wheel of the Year turns evermore

We come to this place on solid earth; roots in those who have gone before

The Wheel of the Year turns evermore

One DEEP Breath

Invocation:

Ancient of Days, speak to us your ancient words of wisdom. It is the time of the final harvest, the last turn of the wheel before the darkness of winter. As we enter into this time, we remember those who have gone into darkness before us, crossing beyond the veil. Help us, Holy One, to hear again the message of love! Change our lives to follow the path of justice and mercy!

One DEEP Breath

Pray:

O Great Mystery, Depth and Breadth and Height of All That Is

Creator and Nurturer, Giver and Taker of Lives, Beginner and Ender of Generations. Forgive us our petty fears and our unworthy hatreds, for though in the darkness we forget the face of the one we have loved, we cannot forget the expanse of their heart, for in You we are One. Give us these moments of remembrance and love with those who we have missed these long days. Bring us together into the comforting Darkness of Your Holy Womb. Make us anew. So Let it Be

This is a time for remembering those we love who have passed away.

Here we take time to remember our loved ones.  Speak the names of those you wish to honor.

Let us take a time of silence, remembering.

The ancient Celts recognized this as the end of an old year and the beginning of the new. We recognize that old things are passing, we know there is a new birth promised at the end of the season.

Here we will take some time in silent prayer, considering our lives. When you are ready, walk to the table, take a card, and write down something you wish to let go of, or the name of someone you’ve lost and wish to remember. Return to your place until all are done.

Prayer: Bring us, Holy Divine, to the deep mystery within ourselves that we might bring into our lives the joy, love, peace, and purpose which we so desire. Amen.

Stand/sit in thoughtful meditation for a time. When ready, take the card to the cauldron, tear it up and throw it in, visualizing that which you wish to release becoming a thing of the past. (Suzy will burn the pieces later today and bury the ashes in the ground)

Suzy raises the Chalice and pours libation to those who have gone before, symbolizing the truth that we are all connected by love even after death. She raises the Cauldron as a reminder that we who live remember those who have gone.

Together we sing the “Benediction:”

For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne. We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang syne.

Discussion topics: How do we remember those we have lost? Are there times we feel close to them? Thin times and thin places. When and where do you feel closest to the sacred?

DISCUSSION:

We all have different ways of remembering those loved ones who have moved beyond the veil. Part of this is informed by what we think about what happens to us when we die. There is no religion, no group, no individual who knows for certain what happens to our consciousness when we leave behind this shell we call our body. Many of us (who were raised Christian) find comfort in the simple answers we were given as children in Sunday School. Yet, now we have been introduced to other perspectives on both life on earth and the afterlife. Now, some of us question the importance of worrying about an afterlife, coming to believe that we should focus on our loved ones when we and they are walking on this earth. Still, we miss those who have gone before. So, as intelligent, thinking, spiritual individuals, we either fall back on what we learned as children or we spend some time considering all we have learned about spiritual growth and perspective, about all the many traditions, and we come to some conclusion of our own. I cannot speak for anyone else, so I will share this about myself: I believe that our spirits are made of energy and that energy is not destroyed, but changes. How it changes is not mine to know right now, but I feel that perhaps our loved ones leave behind a piece of themselves that is accessible to us as long as we remember them. As the Norse saying goes, "What is remembered, lives." I personally find myself closest to those I have lost at times when I am lonely, when I encounter something that reminds me of them, and during those times of the year when we traditionally focus on loved ones, such as All Saints/Samhain, and Christmas/Yule, and at those times of the year that once belonged to them - birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day. When I find myself feeling them close, I try to take the time to acknowledge the experience. Perhaps I light a candle, write a poem, or simply sit with my memories.

May you all be blessed as you remember.