Goddess is Goodness

It is widely understood in religious theology that "God is Good", no doubt why our words for the two are so obviously similar. Many tenets of Christianity also strongly suggests that "God is everything" in fact the Latin definition of "catholic" is "Universal, all inclusive." This makes perfect sense as any religious theology must at least claim to be universal, if it can't explain everything it must be missing something. So the glaring contradiction between being "Good" and being "All" is apparent, if you are everything you are both "Good" and "Bad", or dare I say it "Evil." But the Christian "God" has some external demigod-like enemy super villain named Satan. If God were describing all of this to his therapist he would quickly receive the diagnosis of "Bipolar." And who knows, maybe he has been medicated over the past 2000 years of the Age of Pisces. That would explain an awful lot.

Is it possible that the "Devil" is just God when he's in a bad mood? Looking through his behavior as portrayed in the old and new testaments it's hard not to at least consider the possibility. The word "devil" is semantically related to the words "deviate", "devious", and "deviant." So how can a universal, all inclusive religious theology be deviated from? It's like a rule with one enormous exception, one that undermines any attempt at universality. It is natural to divide the world into duality; masculine and feminine, inner and outer, above and below. What set's one up for disaster is in identifying solely with one half and demonizing the other half. Even if the intentions are "good" the results are mixed and the world seems somehow much too "evil" for our liking. Christianity's' obsession with the "Devil" is an eternal war in the spiritual plane, the only chance for resolution is the illusion of vanquishing evil once and for all.

Paganism is actually universal, all inclusive, with no exceptions. For pagans, the duality of masculine and feminine is enough, there is good and bad in everything. We don't need devils, our gods and goddesses can be mischievous, which is rarely as cruel as the Christian God reportedly was to his devout follower Job. On this day Christians observe "Easter", from the word "Oestara" the pagan celebration of the vernal equinox. It's entirely possible that 2000 years ago "Easter" originally fell on or near the vernal equinox in the same way that "Christmas" falls near the winter solstice. It is widely understood that Christian officials at the time were developing "Holidays" in their quest to convert the pagans in the countryside and all over Europe. The word "Pagan" comes from the Classic Latin "Pagani" which translates to country dweller, or farmer. Christianity was a largely urban affair and when they sent their missionaries out into the country side they met with considerable resistance from the farmers.

It was one thing to get people in the cities of the Roman empire to give up their old gods and goddesses for one really great guy named Jehovah, but the farmers actually needed their gods and goddesses and all of the rites and rituals that kept them in tune with the seasons. The tenacity of the people in holding fast to their ways and customs is the true original motivation behind the two most prominent Christian holidays, or Holy days. Pagans gave Christmas the trees and gifts, and they gave Easter the eggs and bunnies. If the Catholic church did not incorporate these elements of pagan ritual, they might very well have failed to convert pagans to Christianity over time. For pagans Oestara, the vernal equinox was a very important time, the snow had melted and the farming season could begin. Whereas the polarity of light and dark was represented in the summer and winter solstices, the equinoxes represent balance of opposites. Perhaps it is this ancient balance that must be resurrected to end the war between "good" and "evil" on the spiritual plane.

Savior Self

If there is one overwhelming factor that deters me from institutional religions it is that they are an external "authority" on matters that I believe can only be addressed within. I am my own guru, my own philosopher, my own savior. To you I am an external source, or authority if you deem me worthy, but to me I am the one. And to you, you are the one, you can be your own guru, your own savior. Spirituality is not a hierarchal plane of existence, no one should accept such inequities in the spirit realm. If, like me, you are one who chooses to go tell it on the mountain, you may be tempted to join one of the institutional religions. After all, they're already established and you can jump right in and people will listen to you. Choosing to be a priest, preacher, rabbi, monk etc. is like choosing to own a part of the McDonalds franchise, it's already established and you don't need any original ideas.

It's understandable why someone would want to buy into a franchise, starting a new business can be tough. One can spend most of their budget on advertising alone trying to establish a customer base from scratch. If I were to join a religion and align my philosophy with established dogma I would be able to get a gig in a church somewhere where people would listen to what I have to say. As it is, why should anyone listen to me? In fact we have taboos in our society against preaching if you are not a "preacher", against lecturing if you are not a professor. For some odd reason people dislike being preached to unless they're in church, and they dislike being lectured to unless they pay someone to do it. So it is the institutions that we are taught to trust, not people. And these institutions don't just assume their authority in matters of higher learning, they seek it out and undermine the authority of those not affiliated.

In the spiritual world we see this represented in the concept of blasphemy, an actual threat against speaking ones' own truth on spiritual matters. This threat for centuries was two fold, you may first be tortured to death by an inquisition and then spend the rest of eternity in the bowls of hell. And if we lived in those times, I would be on the rack this moment suffering for the sin of speaking my truth. Lucky for me, I believe neither in their dogma nor in their ultimate threat called "Hell." Though the Catholic church has toned down it's more draconian methods of suppression, they are now two thousand years entrenched and far less concerned with the threat of blasphemy. On the political front however, we have relatively young institutions called nations who are so insecure that they still fear the blasphemy they call dissent. There are political prisoners around the world whose only crime is to speak their truth, and there are many more who have died for this crime. If these powerful entities have such fear of an individuals words, perhaps they know something we don't.

Our words have power, in a way our words have a power far greater than any nation, any army. And when one speaks truth, truth is on their side. But there are so many people already speaking their truth, why has it not brought down these giants among us who promulgate fear and ignorance to retain power? They do not fear a handful of people speaking truth to power, they fear everyone rising as one to speak this truth, they fear truth. It's not the spark but the potential for a chain reaction that they wish to avoid. Make no mistake, these secular institutions we call nations are currently the greatest barrier to our spiritual development. They may not seek to be our liaisons to the gods, but they do keep us divided and distracted from our spiritual truths, our true reality. So it is in our vital spiritual interest to speak truth to the powers that be, whether religious or political. Our soul put us on this Earth to be nurtured and cared for and to nurture and care for the planet, it is our political "leaders" who oppose this mission and they are more determined than we at the moment.

Maybe you're not a "writer" or "philosopher," maybe your ideas aren't exactly clear or well formed, speak your truth anyway. You're ideas are unclear precisely because you have not yet begun to explore them. It doesn't matter if you are "right" or "wrong", it doesn't matter what you believe, speak your truth and the universe will correct you over time. Speak your truth even if you disagree with mine, speak your truth even if it causes friction in your relationships. The world is quickly changing all around us, and our words have the power to steer our collective reality. You can hold in your truth, but you may wake up in ten years and not be happy with the direction the world has gone, and then you will wish you had done something, said something. I do not wish to be anyones' guru, I wish for everyone to be their own guru, their own spiritual authority. I may have a gift for lecturing without a lectern, but I prefer dialog to my own monologue, it's true. There is a spiritual awakening taking place now and in the coming years, and it will only fully flower if we all bring our piece of the puzzle to the table.

1: Start a blog (or three)

2: Speak your truth!

3: Encourage others to do the same!

Get Left with Goddess!

There is a common saying among Christians that one must "Get right with God", especially if they're in poor health and just might meet their maker in the foreseeable future. And it becomes an equally common joke when Christians speak of the rapid conversion of an atheist on his death bed. But what of the Pagans who believe in both God and Goddess? Is it possible that when you "meet your maker" it might be "makers?" It's entirely possible, as are all spiritual and religious theories, but it may be even more probable than monotheism. One can certainly understand the spiritual need to "Get right with God" when "right" means "aligned" and "God" means "Spirit." It shows the duality of "God and Man" but not the duality within "God" and the duality within "Man." It's clear that there is duality in both "God" and "Man" and it is the same dual nature, gender. So the pagan would correct the phrase to be "Get right with God and Goddess!"

But there is another way to define the phrase "Get Right with God" because "Right" has more than one meaning. For those on the "Right" of the political spectrum the confusion of this term lends them legitimacy, to be on the "Right" side of any debate just sounds, I dunno... right? A simple mind can believe that, if they are "Right" in a political debate then they are right as opposed to wrong. To those people, I would trump their spurious rhetoric with the very real truth that all of our hearts reside left of center. And this is true in the political arena and in life in general, our hearts are always guiding us to the left. In the duality of gender the feminine aligns with our hearts, and the masculine aligns with our heads, which are sometimes cool and often hot. Neither the masculine nor the feminine are superior, neither are perfect in spirit nor form. Either can be right or wrong, benevolent or malevolent. It is balance that makes one a more perfect soul, not division. Perhaps we should be saying "Get Left with Goddess!"

It's not just in times of ill health for an individual that we hear the phrase, it's also when there are "end times" scenarios in the near future. With the end of the Mayan calendar approaching and the many industrial and natural disasters unfolding we're going to be hearing this call to our very souls beckoning us to come to the church and renew our connection through their devoted liaison. But for those churches built to worship Jesus, Jesus himself would not go. Jesus was a very balanced soul, he showed the power of both the masculine and the feminine, the left and the right, and the wrong. If we are to believe the words of Jesus that have survived so many edits by popes and kings, then it's possible Jesus had no belief in a Goddess sharing his fathers kingdom. But he showed the empathy and passion of someone who was aware of the presence of a Goddess, the equal power and validity of the feminine. And if he spent much time with Mary Magdalene he must have seen the Goddess in her.

As an astrologer I know that we are about to enter a phase of heightened spiritual presence as Neptune, the planet of spirituality and transcendence enters Pisces, the sign that Neptune rules. The planet of spirituality is coming home and in a very spiritual way, so are we. There will be many difficult times ahead but we are heading for a new world that will deliver us from the old ways and power structures. Giants will rise before they fall but the meek will indeed inherit the Earth, and then we need to take very good care of her because our mother is very sick. This is the time to put your spirit first, to align yourself with your heart and balance the masculine with the feminine. We have been worshiping a great Father in the sky for far too long and the imbalance must be over-corrected before it can be corrected. We must take from the Father what we have handed over to him in order to give back to the Mother what is rightfully hers. It is not enough to march woman to the beat of a mans drum and call it womens liberations, we must liberate femininity as a whole.

If you don't get Right with God, you might get Left with Goddess!