Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Top Thirteen Most Influential People in Goddess Spirituality

"Earlier this month I was very interested to see a series of posts on Raise the Horns about the top 25 most influential people in the birth of paganism

When I read Mankey’s post, it reinforced my own conception of Goddess Spirituality as having a distinctly different lineage and flavor than much of contemporary paganism. 

His list, while extensive, useful, and accurate, involves a distinct lack of Goddess Scholars, highlighting to me that Goddess spirituality IS a different movement and isn’t actually just a Goddess-oriented branch of contemporary paganism. Indeed, almost everyone on his list I’d either never heard of, not read, or don’t enjoy their writing. 

I immediately started to draft a list of my own and came up with 13 women, which seemed delightfully appropriate. 

We in the Goddess feminist community have our own path, herstory, and lineage, one that really only began in the 1970’s in direct connection to the feminist movement, rather than the pagan movement.

Not necessarily in a particular order, here is my own list of the top thirteen most influential people in the development and articulation of Goddess Spirituality as its own distinct path. (I’ve been scrambling to finish collecting my thoughts in time to post this list while it is still Women’s History Month!) Only one of my own picks also appears on Mankey’s list.
December 2012 097
  1. Carol Christ–this feminist scholar is the most skillful and intelligent thealogian of the present day. Christ’s influence on my own ideas and concepts has been profound.

    Her work is academic, focused, and deep, and she wrestles with heavy questions.

    I particularly enjoy her books Rebirth of the Goddess and She Who Changes.
     A brilliant, thoughtful, amazing writer, Christ’s essay Why Women Need the Goddessremains, in my opinion, one of the most important and influential articles of our time.
  2. Merlin Stone–author of the classic When God was a Woman, this professor of art history changed the landscape and understanding of ancient cultures and their relationship to the Goddess (and, yes she drew on the work of Murray and Graves, but moved into feminist thealogy rather than pagan practice).
  3. Riane Eisler—author of The Chalice and the Blade, she made a significant contribution to the understanding of the history and development of patriarchy as well as offering a solution in the form of a partnership model of society.
  4. Marija Gimbutas—scholar and archaeologist and author of several books chronicling Goddess figurines from around the world, including The Language of the Goddess, her work has come under scrutiny and criticism, but remains a potent contribution to the lineage of the Goddess movement.
  5. Starhawkthe first of two on my list who bridge the gap between more “classic” paganism and feminist spirituality, Starhawk had a huge impact on the development of a female-oriented spiritual tradition. Her book The Spiral Dance was the first introduction to the Goddess for many women. In keeping with what I find to be a personal lack of click with a lot of pagan authors, I did not particularly enjoy

    The Spiral Dance 
    and actually read it much later than most of the other books about feminist spirituality that I reference in this post, but regardless of personal taste, her influence on the Goddess movement is profound.
  6. Z. Budapest—considered by many to be one of the first mothers of the feminist spirituality movement in the U.S., like Starhawk, Z’s writings are not my personal favorite resources because of their heavy Wiccan orientation, but they are undeniably classics in Goddess circles. Z has taken heat from many pagans for her position on transgender people.
  7. Patricia Mongahan–recently departed author of Goddess-specific resource books like The Goddess Path and Wild Girls, Patricia’s writing is more practical and less scholarly/thealogy-oriented than some of my other favorite authors.

    March 2013 086
  8. Monica Sjoo—radical artist, ecofeminist, and Goddess scholar, Sjoo wrote The Great Cosmic Mother and one of my other favorites, a critique of New Age spiritual paths called New Age Armageddon. Her classic and awesome painting God Giving Birthnarrowly avoided ended up in Court on the charge of “obscenity and blasphemy.”
  9. Hallie Iglehart—while less well-known and influential than some of the other women on my list, Hallie was personally very impactful to my own Goddess path, since her books were some of the first, personal and experientially-oriented Goddess-specific books that I read. She is the author of Womanspirit, a synthesis of feminism and religion, and of The Heart of the Goddess, a visually stunning collection of Goddess images and meditations/reflections.
  10. Cynthia Eller—while Eller’s book focused on debunking the “myth of matriarchal prehistory” made her lose popularity among many in the Goddess community (see her clarifying comments here), her scholarly engagement with the complexities of articulating the concepts of feminist spirituality and of thealogy is challenging, illuminating, and offers the opportunity to dig deeply into one’s own perspectives. Her book Living in the Lap of the Goddess is a thorough exploration of women’s spirituality and the Goddess movement.
  11. Charlene Spretnak–another rocking writer with a thorough grasp of the sociopolitical and cultural context, value, and purpose of Goddess spirituality, her classic anthology The Politics of Women’s Spirituality is one of the best and deepest explorations of the concepts, personal experiences, philosophies, and thealogies of why Goddess.
  12. Karen Tatethrough her weekly radio show, Voices of the Sacred Feminine, I would venture to say that Tate is one of the most influential and dedicated “Goddess advocates” of the present day.
  13. Elizabeth Fisher and Shirley Ranck—authors of germinal religious education curriculums focused on feminist spirituality and woman-honoring traditions, originally published by the UU Women and Religionprogram, their work with Rise Up and Call Her Name andCakes for the Queen of Heaven continues to change the lives of women around the country by introducing them to a vision of what the world could be like if the divine was imaged as female.
Also deserving of mention are:
  • SageWoman Magazine (and her editors)—this specifically Goddess-women oriented publication is a treasure and a delight.
  • Feminism and Religion blog–daring to explore the intersection of religion, scholarship, activism, and community, FAR is not specifically Goddess-oriented, but includes Goddess scholars amongst their contributors and weaves a beautiful, living, organic tapestry of the multifaceted web of feminist spirituality in the present day.
I find that feminist spirituality can be distinguished from paganism because of the inclusion of a coresociopolitical orientation and distinct sociocultural critique.

Feminist spirituality to me is the intersection of religion and politics. It is religious feminism. It may or may not include literal experience of or perception of the Goddess, but it names the female and the female body as sacred, worthy, and in need of defense and uses Goddess symbols, metaphors, stories, and experiences as primary expressions of divinity and the sacred."

Source

Goddess Bless You

Polyamory Definitions, Overview. Poly Defined

Laurie Santos: Are Humans Naturally Polygamists?

Dan Savage: Why Monogamy Is Ridiculous

Expectations of Monogamous Sex; Serial Monogamy; Keeping Commitments; Non-Monogamous Relationships.

Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2013: Dan Savage - Savage Advice


Goddess Spirituality; the Oppression, Domination and Suppress of the Goddess to Dominate Women.

Karen Tate Interview on the Sacred Feminine and Goddess; Goddess Spirituality, the Sacred Feminine Divine, the Feminine Face of God



Posted Here by 
Reverend Crystal Cox
Bringing Back Goddess Church

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Bringing Back the Goddess, Goddess Worship. Bring the GODDESS back to the forefront. We must connect with and Nurture Mother Earth. We Must Worship and Give Thanks to Goddess.

"Bringing Back the Goddess
with Prince Hirindra Singh, PhD
by Julia Griffin
 
The man must worship the Goddess to get what he wants. But men never say this. I'm the only guy I know who is running around saying this.

Prince Hirindra Singh is a well-known vedic astrologer and teacher who has very definite ideas about the Goddess — how she was lost to Western civilization, and what we can do to help bring her back into our lives.

While profound, the solutions he offers are simple. "Truth," he says, "is not complex."

Julia: I understand that your studies have led you to believe that European domination separated us from the Goddess principle. Can you tell me more about this?

Prince Hirindra:  Europe initially worshipped the Goddess — the feminine principle of         heat, warmth, compassion, and love.

The people of India, Tibet, and China still worship the Goddess, as did the aboriginal peoples. 

There are thousands of statues of goddesses, carbon dated to be as much as 40,000 years old, that support the evidence of a worldwide Goddess Culture.

Man was the protector, but spirituality, healing, and compassion were associated with the woman. 

Essentially, the woman was the flame, and the man protected his flame because she gave him warmth, understanding, and compassion.

She was the symbol of "we" because she provided for the family, and he was the symbol of "I" because he protected the family.

There are no real values in the people of government and nations today — it is all about "me." Capitalism has been exported to every country in the world, and it has transported this selfish concept of "me" or an attitude of "my money." It supports competition and not cooperation.

Western Loss of the Goddess

Catholicism is still alive, not because of Jesus Christ, but because of Our Lady. ... 

The only mantra in Catholicism is, "Hail Mary, full of Grace."

The destruction of the Goddess concept began with the Greeks, who depicted Zeus in their mythology as the violator who rapes his sister Hera.

Hera becomes his wife, a demon-like woman who rages with jealousy at the exploits of her husband. Pettiness, manipulation, and cunning were the focus of the Goddess myths of the Greek culture.

Women began to be looked upon as weak, cunning, manipulative, and demonic. Women's power was reduced through these myths.

The Greeks very intelligently imposed this belief system, and the Romans adopted it. Interestingly, the Greeks and Romans never destroyed any religion in their conquering.

The Greeks conquered for knowledge, and the Romans conquered for monetary gain to support their armies. But nevertheless, the Goddess went into the background, and the patriarchs took the power.

Following the Greek and Roman cultures, the ancient Muslims and Mongolians of the Middle East, together with the Europeans, imposed their beliefs upon the world. 

The Europeans achieved this infliction of beliefs through food, education, and violence. The Muslims imposed their beliefs through violence and art.

Five countries — France, Holland, Portugal, England, and Spain — destroyed the world. Holland took the Indonesian peninsula. Then Spain and Portugal took South America, and France and England took North America, Canada, India, and Africa.

The Europeans and Muslims were demons that destroyed the Goddess and, in turn, the family.

They destroyed the beliefs of the indigenous nations who believed in the Goddess, and thus destroyed the culture.


Even after the patriarchs took over Europe, people still continued to worship the Mother, particularly in the south of France, where they worshipped Mary Magdalene, or the Black Madonna. Catholicism is still alive, not because of Jesus Christ, but because of Our Lady.

Europe did not want to accept Christianity, so the Catholics agreed that the Mother was the mother of Christ. Mary was the first principle, and then Jesus. The only mantra in Catholicism is, "Hail Mary, full of Grace."

Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church in order to divorce Catherine of Aragon. He wrote a letter to the Pope protesting Catholicism, and he created the Episcopal religion. He became the head of the Church of England, and his entire patriarchal belief was imposed with violence.


Catholic history is the history of popes; Christian history is the history of kings.

Women then went into the background and began to focus on their children. Their qualities of leadership and inspiration went into the background.

The change came as these beliefs were imposed through the five countries, and, through violence, creating a world where there was no real respect for women. Europe imposed this belief on most of the world in only 500 years.

Coming Back to the Divine Feminine

Woman was once seen as the symbol of love. 

Now, woman has become the symbol of sex.

Julia: What can we do to change the value system? How do we change from this to a system that is compassionate and loving?

Prince Hirindra: How will women today create a rightful position and an edifice for healing, spiritualism, and compassion?

We have to look at how we see the world. 

Woman was once seen as the symbol of love. Now, woman has become the symbol of sex.

Woman is not the symbol of sex. She is the Cosmic Mother. 

When sex is given all of the importance, the woman is diminished. Without respect, there is no love. What people consider to be love today is attachment and passion. It is not love.

We must come back to what is simple — values like love and innocence. 

The woman must be worshipped as a goddess, and she, in turn, worships her husband as a god. This is a natural state of respect.

Abundance comes from the woman, not the man. In the matriarchal countries, such as Tibet, India, and China, we ask the Goddess for abundance, not the God. In these countries, a man asks the Goddess for all that he needs — there is not a single prayer that does not begin with the Goddess. All Hindu prayers call first upon the Goddess and only then upon the God.

The protector is the male, and the nourisher is the female. You always worship the female, not the male.

The man must worship the Goddess to get what he wants. But men never say this. I'm the only guy I know who is running around saying this.

The Goddess gives our daily needs. When we go to the Goddess, there is immediately compassion. With the God, there is the sword or the gun.

Earth as the Center of Worship

The problem is not God; God is Light. 

The problem is the mind. So we must enLighten the mind.

Julia: How can we bring back the respect for the Goddess that the matriarchal societies once had?

Prince Hirindra: The only way to bring back respect for women is to bring about the Mother Earth principle. Earth must become the center of worship. We should worship the extension of God.

In Western thinking, God and his Creation are separate. In India, God and his Creation are connected.

Everything in Creation is an extension of the Mother. For instance, if the Sun is God, then its rays represent Creation. We are the rays of its creation. Your ray or my ray may be 100 watts. The rays of someone else may be 22 watts. A prophet may be a million watts. The wattage of the rays of the Sun is what this entire Cosmos is about.

The Sun is the extension of God's eternal Light. This is what we believe in India, and so we worship the Sun. But God is beyond human comprehension. So if God is incomprehensible, then why do we waste time trying to understand this?

Let us move into what is comprehensible — Creation, or the Feminine.

The problem is not God; God is Light. The problem is the mind. So we must enLighten the mind. Therefore let's bring back the belief that everything in Creation is the extension of the Cosmic Mother. In India, we call this Shakti.

We must begin to worship Mother Earth again. When the Pope gets off the plane, he kisses the Earth. In India, we leave the house, we touch the Earth, and then we touch our Third Eye. All men in India used to do that.

So we start by looking upon Mother Earth, because she is the feminine.

Cleansing Through Fire and Water

It is not the exhaust from SUVs that's polluting the world — it is the energy from living in fear that is polluting the world.

Julia: How will the return to the Goddess take place on a planet-wide basis?

Prince Hirindra: How can this whole planet return to the Goddess? The only way is through a kind of violence. Man has gone crazy.

Only an act of God or the Goddess can make this right — Mother Earth cannot handle six billion egos — and she will use two elements of nature for this cleansing of the six billion ticks that are crawling into her body.

Fire and water will be used for purification. There will be disasters in the world between 2004 and 2012. There will be tidal waves, hurricanes, and fires.

Shouldn't we stop talking about the environment the way they do in California? If we are living in anger, fear, and revenge, then it is not the exhaust from SUVs that's polluting the world — it is the energy from living in fear that is polluting the world.

When we touch the flowers, they smile and bloom for us. Instead of blaming everyone for pollution, we should understand that it is our thoughts that are creating it.

Everyone is afraid of these changes, so the fear is growing. Unless we have a connection with Mother Earth, we cannot be safe.

With the fear, we can either get to the indweller, which teaches us about love, or we can dwell on the outside, with fear.

Let us get to the premise of this thoughtform: There is either love or fear. Where there is love, there is no hatred, revenge, or fear — these reactive emotions that have taken over the world.

You can use either fear or love to go to God. Love has not worked for two thousand years, so Mother Earth will have to use devastation for her cleansing. It will be fear — the thought that my neighbors lost their home in an earthquake, for example — that brings us back to Mother Earth. Then we will connect with the Goddess.

When we worship the Goddess in India, everyone laughs at us, but we don't care. We're not ashamed of the Goddess. Women are speaking about the Goddess, but men don't listen. Men have to talk about the Goddess, or about the greatness of women. Women and Goddess have to come into one breath.

3 Steps to Bring the Goddess Into our Lives

The Goddess will not come back unless we start on a simple level in the home. 

The Goddess will never come back through books and workshops. 

The Goddess resides in the home, and the family must come back.

Julia: If we are looking for the feminine principle in our lives, how can we bring back the Goddess? Many of us don't know how to do this.

Prince Hirindra: The first step is that every woman has to encourage her family to eat together and say prayers to the Goddess before eating food. This is practical. The mother makes the food with the husband if she is married. And if she is single, she must keep one seat empty for the Goddess. She should decorate the seat, put a cloth over it, and put flowers on the plate.

When you pray before eating, you say, "Thank you Goddess for the abundance on the table, made with love. 

Purify this food of any impure thoughts, that it may nurture us in thy highest presence. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to feed you through Julia" (or whoever). The food is now pure.

Think about lettuce. From the time the lettuce is plucked from the field, it is exposed to the thoughts of all those who are in its presence. If someone serves you a beautiful salad, the lettuce in that salad has been exposed to the thoughts of the cook. He may be cursing the people in the kitchen, and those thoughts are in your salad.

Food is contaminated by thought, and we should pray for it to be purified from the thoughts that have entered into it.

When we make food with love, we purify the food. And prayers change the vibratory rate of food. This is quantum physics. When we have offered prayers before eating, we are now ingesting food that vibrates at a higher level with the Goddess energy. When we say our prayer, we bring back the matriarchal energy.

The second step involves intimacy between the husband and wife. The husband must learn to look upon his wife as a goddess, so that she will see the husband as a god. Before they make love at night, they will pray to the Goddess, "Tonight we dedicate our love and joy to you. 

We thank the Goddess and the Lord for bringing us this opportunity to experience intimacy." This will bring the man and woman together. Sex can then become a divine experience.

The third step is that, once or twice each month, we must have picnics and games and fun. We should talk to the trees, birds, and flowers. Ask the children if they can hear the trees talking. Identifying with nature brings the Goddess back. Let the children take the food and learn about the family concept of "we."

We should have prayers and thank the Goddess for bringing us together here in nature and for our time together here. The children can play hide-and-seek. Or presents can be hidden in the forest for the children so that they begin to experience the Goddess. The moment we connect back into the family or a "we" concept, the Goddess comes back.

The Goddess will not come back unless we start on a simple level in the home. The Goddess will never come back through books and workshops. The Goddess resides in the home, and the family must come back.

We have to bring prayer back, because prayer develops our character.

The three actions I have described above, involving food, prayerful intimacy between husband and wife, and playful celebration of nature and the Goddess with our family, will bring out our innocence. God and the Goddess serve those who are innocent.

Today our prayers are so "intelligent." God does not allow himself to become the prisoner of our intelligence. Faith, love, and trust are innocent.

Everyone asks me if this is all that is needed to bring the Goddess back. They say my answers are too simple. And I respond that these answers are simple because truth is not complex.

It is the simple tasks in our everyday life that will change the world."

Source
http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/oct4/hirindra.htm


Posted here by
Reverend Crystal Cox
Bringing Back Goddess Church














Monday, December 15, 2014

SPIRITUAL STATEMENTS - WHAT I BELIEVE by Reverend Steven Cox - Voice of Golden Eagle for those who seek to explore the realities of Spiritual Experience and their relationship to it.

"PREFACE

This document is intended for those who seek to explore the realities of Spiritual Experience and
their relationship to it.  It is a growing testament that continually expands as words struggle to
describe the illuminations contained within.

FOREWARD

In the spirit of communicating that which has been shown to me, I offer these writings as an
explanation of certain Spiritual Truths which seem to have been hidden "in plain view" from most
people. I do not present these Truths as items open for debate, this is simply how things look
and feel to my Spirit from where I am sitting.

If certain things you read here sound familiar, it is because these Truths are being reflected all around us if we just use our eyes and ears. I do not pretend to be the creator of these Truths, just an observer who has jotted down a few things.

I realize that I may even be placing my physical self in possible danger by revealing these Truths
in this fashion, for they contain keys that would free mankind from the chains of his brother and,
if followed universally, would make the spiritual herding of people like sheep an impossibility.

There are many in this world who have a vested interest in making sure this never happens.

To quote one of my favorite philosophical comedians:

“The world is like a ride at an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think that
it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and ‘round
and ‘round. It has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud and it's fun,
for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question - is
this real, or is this just a ride?

And other people have remembered, and they come back to us.

They say 'Hey! Don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride.' And we... Kill those people. Ha ha ha. 'Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride. SHUT HIM UP! Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and family.

This just has to be real!'

“No, it's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice
that? And let the demons run amok. But it doesn't matter because: it's just a ride. And we can
change it anytime we want. It's only a choice.

No effort, no work, no job, no savings, and money.

A choice, right now, between fear and love. 

The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourselves off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one.

Here's what you can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defense each year, and instead spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, for ever, in peace.”

- Bill Hicks

_____________________________________________________________________

PREACHERS HAVE A PLACE

As the Elders have told us, a blind man can be the best guide through the forest on a moonless
night, but only until the Dawning. 

In a similar manner, a spirit who is enLIGHTened is not in need of additional spiritual guidance from any intermediary, be it a preacher or a static text. That includes this text, of course.

With this understanding, let us move on.

CHAPTER ONE - HOW IT ALL BEGAN AND CONTINUES

Grandfather (God) is the All That Is. Grandfather Begat the initial forces of the Universe. His will
created the "Original Cause" from which all other effects have sprung.

This initial force brought into life the two balancing polarities of the universe as we know it. A primary duality consisting of Creator and Destroyer.

The true Yin and Yang. All life is a dance between these two poles. Every action in the Universe serves one or both of these ends. There is no escaping it. There is nothing to escape.

For me, there has emerged a central concept upon which all other Spiritual Truths are based:

When Creator made the Universe, what did he use? My supposition is that, if this is TRULY the
"One God" we are discussing, there was nothing else to use but He, Himself. Creator is the
source of ALL things material and spiritual therefore He comprises the totality of all things.

This means that not only is Creator "in" all things, but all sense of separation is an illusion. There is
nothing in this Universe separate from Creator because all things are made of Creator, by
Creator, for Creator. He is the Dust from which all things are formed.

As a way of understanding this “All Is One” concept in terms that we can more easily relate to,
imagine that you have a vivid dream tonight. In this dream we are sitting at a table and we are
talking. My question for you is “which one is me?” The only true answer is that the question has
no meaning. Neither person in that dream is me for everything is you. It is after all your dream!
In a likewise fashion, we are living Creator’s deeper dream.

The mind of any spiritual seeker thinking along these lines eventually comes to the question; but
WHY did Grandfather make the Universe? In the spirit of being created "in God's image" I
ponder the question from my own limited point of view. I ask myself, if I were the Alpha and the
Omega, the beginning and the end and all things in between, WHAT WOULD BE MY BIGGEST
PROBLEM? The answer came to me as if from the core of my heart in the form of one word...
Loneliness. God, in His totality, is alone.

_____________________________________________________________________

CRYSTAL SPIRIT STORY

Language is very unsatisfactory for explaining spiritual concepts, but it's the best resource we've
got to reach those lacking direct spiritual experience.

As a wise man once said, "it's like trying to describe an Oak grove to an Eskimo who has never seen a tree." No matter how much you explain, they just won't "get it" because their minds lack the direct experience that makes the words truly have meaning. With these limitations in mind, let's play some word games that "talk around" some otherwise wordless spiritual concepts.

Picture in your mind Creator as a huge multidimensional spirit crystal. An infinite gem with an
infinity of facets that make up the All That Is. Now picture that crystal creating the Universe by
imploding into an infinite number of huge shards, each expressing many facets of the total God
Gem. These "pieces of Creator" fly outward from the Center, until each creates and occupies its
own portion of the material Universe.

Once complete in the creation of their portion of the material Universe, these huge crystal
fragments further subdivide into individual Spirits, each carrying on the business of Creation
within their own smaller spheres.

One becomes you... One becomes me... One becomes a dog, - 3 - another a tree. Each Crystal Spirit is Creator Himself now nestled in the illusion of separateness.

Now able, for the first time, to behold Himself. Now able to play a Universal game of hide and
seek with infinity on the time clock.

The huge crystal that made/makes our portion of the Universe... The Gem from which we all
spring... Is called Jesus by some.

This is the source behind the Spiritual Truth that the only way to find your way back to Creator is through Jesus... There is a piece missing from Jesus that fits your exact spiritual dimensions because it is from whence you came. By melding with the crystal that is your source you again become part of the greater whole. That is your destiny.

Again, this story in no way implies that the nature of God is “crystal”. It is just a way of
describing the wordless in words.
_____________________________________________________________________

SPIRITUAL UNTRUTHS FOSTERED UPON US

We have been fed many lies in the guise of truth and revelation. All major living religions started
with Great Spiritual Truths but they have had their core tainted and distorted by those who would
manipulate and control us while we are here in the material world. There is a Dark Age upon the
current Spirituality of man, and it is an intentional one.

In place of true Spirituality, we have been given religion. In place of meaningful rituals and rites of passage, we are taught consumer habits and obsessions. In place of Universal Love, we are given fear of an angry and judgmental God.

The central purpose today behind all major religions is to twist the psyche of the believers into
trusting the religion instead of their own hearts.

"But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his
principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted
into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State."
- Thomas Jefferson

“The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of
Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures,
can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. yet
this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest,
largest, and least productive industry in all history.”
- Robert Anson Heinlein
_____________________________________________________________________

THE REJECTIONS

As I was raised in a Christian Society (called by some the Buckle of the Bible Belt), exposed to
the teachings of the Episcopal and Southern Baptist denominations.

I have spent the largest portion of my reflections on religion with these early teachings as my guide and reference. Accordingly, I have reached several heartfelt conclusions regarding many core teachings of Fundamentalist Christianity:

● I reject the notion that we are by nature unworthy of God. How can that possibly be when we
are made of God!? Accordingly, I also reject the notion of Original Sin. My heart tells me that
these two concepts are interwoven, created by man in order to insert intermediaries between
each person and his personal Channel to God.

● I reject the notion of God requiring the "sacrifice" of Jesus for our salvation.

Why would God need to sacrifice Himself to Himself in order to change a rule He made Himself? I feel that this is simply a ploy inserted into the scriptures to serve two ends.

(1) It neatly ties up the insertion of the concept of Original Sin, giving the priesthood the power of declaring who is saved and (2) it absolves man of facing perhaps his most troubling aspect, namely that when the Realized Son Of God walked this Earth, men had the audacity to kill Him instead of listening to Him.

As I have stated in the Crystal Spirit Story, I believe that we are all literally a part of Jesus and
that our never ending journey to re-join with the Core of Creator requires that we “re-meld with
Jesus” along the way.

This was true before Jesus visited this place, true while he was here on Earth, and it is just as true today. Nothing in this beautiful Truth requires the blood of anything, especially the Creator Son!

● I reject the notion that Creator requires worship and sacrifice. Grandfather requires no
cheering section of happy toadies with harps, nor does He require the smoke of burnt offerings
to placate some holy blood lust.

On the contrary, Creator has made a very wonderful opportunity for us to join Him in this business of Creation. And join Him we do, with every thought and action, regardless of our personal unawareness of the process. That ignorance is where things often go awry.

"I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or
praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it."
- Benjamin Franklin from "Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion", Nov. 20, 1728

●  I reject the notion that Creator has “Chosen People” and view with contempt the concept of
God backing any particular country over another.

● I reject the notion that “Thou Shalt Not Kill” has any provision for governments to overrule it.
"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been
given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice.

This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despiseable an ignoreable war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
- Albert Einstein

● I reject the notion that God created us to judge us. 

He created us to experience this place as a point from which to embark on the infinite Universal Adventure of re-joining with Him. He created us for Companionship.

● I reject the notion of specific “Holy Ground.” ALL ground is Holy Ground. In the same vein, I
reject the notion of physical resurrection of the body after death. When you are through with
your physical body, your Spirit transcends it and has no further need for it.

There is no reason to venerate the graves of the departed except when it is a symbolic veneration of their memory. This misunderstanding of the Spirit’s relationship to the physical body has created much unnecessary bloodshed in the name of “protecting Holy Ground.”

● I reject the prophesies of the book of Revelation as the vengeful dreams of a downtrodden
disciple but, at the same time I fear them. My fear springs from the certain knowledge that all it
takes is enough people believing this horrible nightmare to make the Earthly aspects of it come
true. - 5 -

● I reject the notion that “God is only good.” There can be nothing in this Universe that is not of
the Creator and that includes all shades of experience, all possibilities of being.

At the same time I believe in “vibrational states” in the sense that the higher vibrations of love, compassion, peace draw one closer to Creator and the lower vibrations of hate, lust, rage, repel you farther away.

This is the core Truth behind what has been often misinterpreted to state “God cannot face sin.”
_____________________________________________________________________

DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

I question even the concept of a Devil incarnate. If Satan does exist as a separate being, he too
is a facet of Grandfather. Eastern mysticism seems to have a stronger grip on this issue with their
concept of the two faces of Shiva, Creator and Destroyer. Mythical Christianity misinterprets the
“other side of Grandfather” as an evil being which must be overcome.

A concept which is ultimately as impossible as having light without darkness or wet without dry. A concept which also gives man an excuse to not look for the answers within his own core.

Man, as a species, must rise to the realization that there is not some “outside Devil” making his
paradise less than perfect. That which we call Evil is simply the denial of our own spiritual
responsibility toward ourselves and those around us.

I believe that the sum total of what we define as evil in this world can be explained by the misled
efforts of those beings - both physical and invisible - who lead unbalanced, Spiritually uncentered lives.

The biggest influences working against men are their own powers unharnessed and uncontrolled. In the gospel of Thomas, Jesus says that we MUST bring out that Light which is within us or it will KILL US. Keeping your light under a bushel will burn the basket. That's the core of the sickness... The root angst from which springs all other symptoms.

While there are powerful Spirits at work in this world and the next, alluding to "evil powers that
be" is usually just another attempt at evading personal responsibility... 100% of what most
people experience as evil can be attributed to their own decisions without factoring in any
demons other than those of their own creation. And what you create, you can destroy.

_____________________________________________________________________

THE EFFECTS OF GODLESSNESS

Living in a state of Spiritual Imbalance produces effects which magnify over time, like the
increasing wobbles of a slowing gyroscope. The Spirit so encumbered becomes unable to help
himself, which automatically means he’s unable to help others. In the final throes the Spirit often
injures those within reach around him “on his way out.”

If enough people enter such a state of unhealthy disconnection an entire society decays. The
effects of Spiritual Drought become increasingly apparent as the people reach out to sensational
diversions to fill its increasing void.

Passing on the sickness from one generation to another makes it even more difficult to rectify the
effects of unbalanced lives. For example, there is no “root cause” for the mental illness of
someone who grew up in the shadow of an alcoholic parent. They inherit the problems of their
parent’s choices. ***************************

When an assailant lashes out, he’s striking at the shadows in his own Spirit. The victim becomes
caught in a web of co-creation shared with the attacker and all those who failed to feed his spirit
in the past.

The Spirits of violent men are often so afflicted by their stunted development that they grow
instantly hostile when shown any act of compassion, or indeed, any act of kindness that conflicts
with their own illusions of unworthiness.

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SPIRITUAL TRUTHS AND OBSERVATIONS

● There is no one between you and Creator unless you put them there.

● I believe that each of us has a “bell” inside our heart that rings when Spiritual Truth is found. I
believe the only dogma that is truly needed for Spiritual Progress is the simple commandment, “if
it’s not written on your heart, don’t read it.” The tricky part is getting people to quiet themselves
enough to hear it.

● True Spiritual Progress entails taking personal responsibility for your thoughts and actions.
There is no holy book or ritual to absolve you. There is no shortcut to taking the reins of your
own Divinity and riding it Home.

“THE CENTRAL MOUNTAIN IS EVERYWHERE”
- CHIEF BLACK ELK
_____________________________________________________________________

FALSE AND TRUE

Here’s how to tell a true prophet from a false one. “By their actions ye shall know them.” True
prophets and spiritual guides lead you to the gates of your own Spiritual Dawning and
enlightenment.

They literally tend to you like a loving gardener, growing you into your own Spiritual Independence. False prophets and teachers train you to depend on them for guidance and instruction, telling you that you are not worthy or perhaps just not ready to trust your own spiritual instincts.

True Spiritual Leader = “Follow your heart, I’ll show you the way.”

False Spiritual Leader = “Follow me, I know the way.”
_____________________________________________________________________

●  Spell EVIL backwards and it becomes LIVE.
    And so it is that the truest definition
    of evil is living backwards.
_____________________________________________________________________

In my youth, one spiritual reality in particular bothered me and seemed without answer. The
death of the innocents, as in the classic example of a four year old killed under the wheels of a
bus. No preacher or text could give my heart an answer that made sense or eased the pain until,
one Dawn, a revelation came when I put the question to Creator.

The answer came to me as a light upon my heart that soon bubbled into words I could comprehend. “I am only doing it to Myself. I Am the 4 year old and I Am the wheels. I Am all things and I shall experience all things.” This, finally, gave my heart peace.
____________________________________________________________________

SPIRITUAL REALITIES

● In the material world you cannot destroy anything. You can change its state, but you are left
with the same amount of “stuff” as when you started. I believe that this physical law transmutes
to the Spiritual realm as well. I believe that we are all quite immortal, safe and impervious to
destruction in any sense. Our Spirits, being of Creator, are timeless and endless.

● I believe that all spirits are the same dimensions. There are no “small spirits” for we are each a
piece of the all encompassing whole which is without form, restriction or barrier. An ant has no
less majesty or depth than Man. It is simply Creator expressing Himself as an ant.

● I believe that our Spirits give off a range of vibrational states (or “Spiritual Colors”) according
to our state of being. As Red is a lower vibrational state than Blue in the visible light spectrum,
so also are the emotions of anger and rage lower vibrational states than the emotions of love,
compassion and spiritual awareness. By achieving and maintaining these higher vibrational states
of being, we spiral inward on the Infinite Path, drawing ourselves closer to Creator’s Center.

● I believe that locations and places can in some manner “record” the vibrations of events, even
replaying them in a manner perceptible to our senses when the vibrations were especially strong.
The manifestations observable at some haunted battlegrounds are one example of this.

Like rippling water from a dropped pebble, all events send waves through time and space.
Some Spirits are so willful and yet unbalanced that they literally cling to this place after passing
through the veil of death. 

The walk the halls of their former reality, trapped in a nightmare of their own making. If their personal power is strong enough, they can even manifest themselves to certain sensitive individuals. This, I believe, explains the manifestations (“hauntings”) of individual spirits.

● We are all born with an innate capacity to be “psychic,” but our cultures are, for the most part,
ignorant of this capability - or perhaps even fear it. A lack of proper training plus the clamor and
hustle of day-today life makes so much noise and distraction in our minds that most never hear
the faint voices in their heart. Our inner voices have been drowned out by modern media and
the nightly news onslaught.

This psychic capacity - which in reality is just the capability to pick up the inner voices of the
heart - can be discovered at any age, but much like learning music, it would seem that an early
proper foundation is usually vital for true mastery. Without use, our capabilities atrophy.

_____________________________________________________________________

PROVING GOD

● For those who require proof beyond their own breath of the existence of God, I believe the
principle of “Original Cause” is our strongest logical verification. This series of processes we call a
Universe (Cause-Effect-Cause-Effect, ad infinitum) must have had a first event, a first motivating
cause… A finger flicking the first domino. That first verb, that Big Bang, was Creator.

● To those who view this Universe as a spontaneously generated anomaly, I simply ask,
spontaneously generated from WHAT? The Something comprising this reality had to have a
source. That source is Creator.

● Beyond this and other logical assumptions it remains an impossibility to test for Creator
because, being the core of all things, no instrument can be devised that is separate from what is
being tested. The eye literally cannot see itself and we have no way to construct a mirror
“outside of God” to reflect God.
_____________________________________________________________________

OUR DIRECT RELATIONSHIP TO GOD

Jesus Himself said that we are all “Sons of God”. Look it up in your favorite translation of the
Bible. He did not say we were, "almost as good"... He did not call us "less than but on the same
playing board"... He pronounced you a SON of God... An equal to Jesus Himself. The difference is
that Jesus is a fully REALIZED Son of Creator, free of the shackles created by the illusions of this
world. We are unrealized. And as such, our purpose here is not to learn, but to REMEMBER (remember) who we are.

Just as the younger brother lacks for a time the skills and power of the older brother, we are of
the same direct Spiritual Linage of Jesus, but we have yet to grow into our own Spiritual Maturity
and Awareness.
_____________________________________________________________________

WHY JESUS WAS HERE IN MORTAL FORM

I believe that Jesus, as a fully realized Celestial Son and “director of this region of the Universe,”
has the responsibility of experiencing at least one life cycle of every sentient being under his
Divine Guidance.

I believe in the possibility that Jesus has visited this place on more than one occasion.

GOD PRACTICE

I believe that our dreams serve many purposes, one of which is actually a form of “God Practice.”
Tiny personal universes that we create in the same manner that we are created.

The orders of magnitude are vastly different, but there is a perfect fractal relationship between them.
Reality itself is a fractal. The microcosm reflects the macrocosm and perfect symmetry exists
between them. And that same fractal extends to our dreaming.

“ALL of the universe is one, flowing, fractal mind-form - we call it God, Goddess, Brahman, Allah,
Buddhahood, Ahura-Mazda, El-Shaddai, Jah, Manitou, Tao, math, language, chemistry, history,
religion, humor, evolution, and infinitely more.

It is "center everywhere, circumference nowhere - " we are the center of the universe, because it is infinite. And we are also an insignificant speck, a bubble on the cosmic oceans.” - Unknown
_____________________________________________________________________

MOTHER MUSINGS

● It will not matter for Mother Earth how many feet walk the Spirit Path unless all the others find
their path as well and that will require a planet-wide epiphany. We are one great Global Being
intertwined. Until each piece is whole, no one piece can be The Whole.

● I believe in the possibility that this place, Earth, is in a continual state of upheaval in order to
allow our individual Spirits to transcend it. Global unity and epiphany is a worthy goal and a much
more fitting mindset than Armageddon, but the possibility exists that this place is not intended to
be anything other than what it is now… A melting pot of spiritual levels, voices and choices.

● Let us remember that Mother Earth is also a facet of Creator and She is that from which all life springs in this place and it is to Her that we shall all return.

● I believe that this planet is one of many in this Universe which supports “higher forms of life.”

_____________________________________________________________________

REALITY PLAYGROUND

● I believe that Creator has given us this reality as a safe haven where we are free to experiment
and grow in our own time and at our own pace.

Some of us are immediately drawn to following the Spirit Path while others simply enjoy (and get lost in) the infinite variety of sensations in this place.

The entanglements begin when our co-Creations intermingle and intertwine. Much, if not all, of
what is labeled as “Evil” in this world is a result of this co-mingling.

● I believe that each Spirit chooses much of the reality it experiences, mostly at a level that is
beneath our conscious awareness. Spiritual Maturity means taking the reins of this Creative
Process and becoming aware of our part in the proceedings.

● I believe that Creator doesn’t care what specific activities we engage in and how we choose to
spend our time. Eventually we ALL rejoin the Center and we have infinity to get there.

● Despite all the publicity to the contrary, I believe we are under the auspices of a loving God
who has no trouble relating to us in all our various states of being.

● I personally walk the path toward Higher Vibrational states as an active seeker of Creator in all
His facets. I choose to direct my path instead of just drifting along the sea of sensations.

_____________________________________________________________________

ILLUSIONS OF SEPERATENESS

● I believe the teachings of Elders such as Carl Jung, who postulate that any separateness
between us is an illusion, much as the Hawaiian Islands are by all appearances separate, when in
reality they are but the tips of mountains joined together at the common bedrock. When Jung
speaks of a Universal Consciousness connecting us all, I hear simply another description of
Creator.

● I believe in the possibility of reincarnation, but given the premise that we are all God, the
question ultimately has no meaning anyway.

A better way to frame this inquiry would be, “are our Individual Identities (some would say souls) preserved when we leave this place?” I can only answer that my heart tells me it is so. Contemplations at Dawn reveal to me that each of our identities are sacred and equal to Grandfather. We are here to witness Creation and participate in it. The journey truly is the reward.
_____________________________________________________________________


BECOMING FREE OF IMPOSING INFLUENCES

As shards of the Sacred Crystal, our experiences are what shape us, at least until we learn to
shape our experiences. All reality begins in thought. All thoughts bring with them realities. - 10 -
Clearing the spirit of outside influences and imposed thoughts is a necessary step if one seeks to
be free of the illusions of this co-reality.

For many, the scariest part of the process is trusting their own heart to know Truth when it finds it. They have been told all their lives that they cannot trust their inner voices for they are tainted and impure when, in fact, their very core is the essence of Creator in all His glory.

The act of focusing our thoughts is crucial to Spiritual progress.

"The one thing that we can say about fundamental matter is that it is vibrating. And since all
vibrations are theoretically sound, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the universe is music
and should be percieved as such."
- Joachim Ernst-Berendt
"A STONE IS FROZEN MUSIC"
- Pythagoras (Mystic and inventor of geometry)
_____________________________________________________________________

PEACE MEANS FORGIVING

The road to our inner peace is frequently blocked by our own emotions and the way we cling to
them. There are simple to describe (yet difficult to follow) instructions for dealing with this:

First step... Forgive yourself

Second step... Forgive others

Third Step.... Move on

Most people skip that first step and try to start with the second... But you can't forgive anyone
else until you've truly made peace with yourself. And that, in my mind, includes purging yourself
of the false notions of unworthiness placed upon you by the myth of original Sin.

_____________________________________________________________________

AFTER LIFE

● I believe that this Life is but one chapter in a never-ending adventure whose ultimate
destination is an incredible re-joining with the Creator of All.

I believe that Death, as we know it here, is actually a form of Spiritually Puberty where we, as Celestial Brothers, come of age, reaching a new level of Spiritual Maturity… That is except for those who choose to reject the “graduation ceremony”.

● In death, Spirits depart this reality’s “subset” and enter the “superset” of the larger reality that
encompasses this one. To awake from death is as awakening from a deep dream.

● People generally die with their Spirits in one of 3 conditions, with the state of their Spiritual
Development being the determining factor.

Those operating at the highest vibrational levels gather so much Spiritual Power in this place that their passing is like crossing through a thin veil from this reality to the next. If they so desire, their understanding is such that they are able to pass freely back and forth from the subset to the superset.

These are the teachers and guides that assist the rest of us with our own Spiritual progress and transitions. Many of these Spirits have learned how to “pass back and forth” between realities even before their physical death.

For those whose life held to a more middling vibrational level of existence, the experience of
death is more painful, requiring the ripping of their illusions and the stripping of their pretenses
in one fell swoop. For these Spirits the transition of death is an awakening, often rude, which
then prepares them for their next series of experiences. This is the experience often misinterpreted as “Final Judgment” by many religions.

The lowest vibrational levels consist of those who live out their life in this place without
increasing their awareness, those who float lost upon reality’s ocean of sensations and conflicting
voices.

These poor tired Spirits often spend massive amounts of time after this life in a form of
“Divine Unconsciousness,” rebuilding their Spirit Energy from the traumas they carry with them
still.

I believe that this third group presents the best argument for the possibility of reincarnation. For
various reasons these people cling so obsessively to their experiences in the material World that
they reject even the notion of moving beyond it.

_____________________________________________________________________

ONE PATH - TWO DIRECTIONS

All paths lead one of two directions, either spiraling inward, toward Creator, or outward, toward
the greater illusions of separation and eventual dissolution.

You have the ability to choose the
direction of your path at all times and there is no standing still. This is free will.

_____________________________________________________________________

Just because my understanding may be different from yours,
do not assume I have NO understanding.

We just come from different experiences.
Just because my vision is different from yours,
do not assume I am blind.

We just see things differently.
Just because you disagree with my words,
do not assume you are the only "good person"
in the conversation.
That is called prejudice. The mother of hatred.

_____________________________________________________________________

I pledge allegiance to humanity
And to the Mother Planet on which we stand.

One Earth, under Creator, indivisible,
With liberty, justice and opportunity for all,
Including the generations to come.

Reverend Steven Cox
 Voice of Golden Eagle
 March 15, 2006 "

Source and Full Document
http://ulcmemphis.org/media/ulcmemphis_spiritual-statements.pdf

Posted here by
Reverend Crystal Cox ( no relation)
Mother Goddess Church
Bringing Back Goddess Church
ReverendCrystalCox@Gmail.com