The Goddess

One thing that most people consider a disctinctive feature of Paganism is the Goddess. Granted, many world religions have goddesses, but, in Paganism, the Goddess is revered on equal, or elevated, terms as God. The prescence of the Goddess is worrisome for Christians because Christianity is extremely patriarchal. Only now, with the popularity of The DaVinci Code, are mainstream Christians becoming aware of the feminine prescence within their own religion.
The general consensus among Pagans is: ask 5 Pagans and you'll get 6 answers. Every Pagan has their own take on the God/Goddess concept. I personally acknowledge both a God and a Goddess, with a focus on the Goddess. I focus on the Goddess because, being raised Christian, this divine feminine was a prescence that was entirely denied me growing up.
Other Pagans, particularly those with a feminist outlook, acknowledge only the Goddess. I must admit that I don't know much about the feminist approach to Paganism. The impression I get is that the need is felt to establish a matriarchal approach to redress the male/female balance, which the patriarchal society we live in has thrown off.
The next issue of course is: what Goddess/God to acknowledge. Again, there are many opinions on this. Some acknowledge a generic Goddess and God, using whichever names are appropriate to the work being done. Other Pagans, adopt a particular deity that they resonate with. Since Paganism is about the individual quest for spritual expression, there is no right or wrong about this.

Chakras and the Gay Community

Everyone is probably familiar with the gay pride flag and the rainbow. A few months ago, I had a rather interesting insight on the implications of the rainbow being associated with the gay community. Granted, this is my speculation, but it is interesting to think about.
This insight was brought on by personal events. I was going through a period where I was questioning my ability to find a decent relationship, what my goals were, and what my beliefs were in general. I cannot remember if it was product of a dream or if it was an image that got stuck in my head during the daily daydreaming I am prone to, but I had a very strong image stuck in my head.
The image was of this wallet that I have. It’s a black wallet with gay pride studs on it. In this image though three of the studs were missing. I had the impression that there was a message in this image for me that I needed to discover. So, I started looking around in my books and online to figure out what it could possibly mean. Then, I stumbled across the chakra system.
What I found out was that the Goddess was trying to tell me what was going wrong in my life that I needed to get back on track. The missing studs were representative of the areas that had been thrown out of balance.
Before I go any further in what I discovered, it would be useful to explain the chakra system.

Chakras
The chakra system originated in Hinduism and since then has been appropriated by other related eastern traditions and the New Age movement. A chakra is basically an energy center located in the human body, of which there are seven main ones that are generally focused on. Each chakra has certain associations that help determine which one may be acting up if a person experiences inbalance. For an understanding of the individual charkas and their specific qualities, check here.
In short, the Root Chakra (red) governs the most basic impulses of man (survival). The Sacral Chakra (orange) governs emotions, sexuality, and the creative impulse. The Solar Plexus Chakra (yellow) is the seat of the desire to be an individual, energy, and digestion. The Heart/Lung Chakra (green or pink) relates to feelings of love, compassion, devotion to oneself and others, and healing. The Throat Chakra (blue) handles needs of self-expression, communication and speech. The Third Eye Chakra (indigo) has been associated with intuitive impulses and ESP. The Crown Chakra (violet) serves as the individual’s connection to the divine, the seat of consciousness. It is also the master chakra that governs all others.

Chakras and the Gay Community
If you look at the gay pride flag, you’ll notice that the spectrum places red at the top and goes down to purple. I thought about what this could mean, and I looked at what I noticed about the gay community. My experience is that many in the gay community are more interested in sexual fulfillment, material matters and where their next kick is coming from. There is little desire to search for meaning, beauty and spiritual fulfillment. I think that this is reflected in the gay pride flag. By reversing the chakra path and holding the Root as the highest, the baser needs of humanity are given prominence. For most in the gay community, the flag is an unavoidable image seen just about anywhere gays mingle. This visual reinforcement of a sexual/primal driven life cannot be a good thing.
I would think it would be interesting to see if flipping the flag the other way would eventually have an effect on how people act. I did notice that, to a very small degree, when I started to carry my wallet with the purple at the top, things started balancing out for me.

I hope this has struck interest.

Santeria & Hurricane Katrina

This week I wanted to talk of the religion of Santería. This religion is quite similar in many ways to Voodoo.

Santería is a tradition brought to the Americas by slaves. The word is derived from Santo, meaning “saint.” Santería is pantheistic meaning that it believes in multiple deities, called orishas. Because slaves were forced to adopt the religion of their masters (Catholicism), the orishas were disguised as saints. The basic practice is honor and care for the orishas in return for blessings. Other common practices within Santería include: healings, making charms, speaking with spirits, and holding ceremonies.

Initially the name Santería was meant to be derogatory; other names for this tradition include: Lucumi, the Way of the Saints, and Regla de Ocha. In Brazil it is known as Candomble and Nagos.

Santería honors a supreme deity, called Olorun, who created the orishas and from then on, withdrew his influence from the world. The orishas play various roles and these manifestations are known as caminos. The orishas are members of a family; they interact with each other and humans as well. Each orisha has parents, and the dominant orisha is the eledá. The Siete Potencias are the seven highest orishas and these reside within their devoted priests and lend these priests certain powers. Other orishas exist but they do not mingle with priests.

The power of the orishas is also believed to reside in otanes (sacred stones). These stones cannot be replaced, while images of the saints can because the saints are images to illustrate the corresponding orisha.

There is a good degree of ancestor worship in that ancestors have altars in their honor and may receive rituals. For Santería, ancestors are a source of advice.

Some significant orishas
Obatalá: rules purity and patience
Eleggua: governs the crossroads and the future
Shangó: rules thunder, lightning, dancing, and drumming
Yemayá: is the mother goddess and rules the oceans
Oshún: is the goddess of beauty, sensuality, pregnancy and rivers
Ogún: is the god of iron and war
Oyá: is the goddess of storms who resides at cemetery gates
Osian: is the god of all plants
Aña: is the spirit of the sacred bata drums
Iroko: is a tree spirit that lives within kapok trees
Babalú Ayé: is a god associated with diseases

I feel that knowing about Santería is important because there are some who believe that Santería is somewhat connected with Hurricane Katrina. The individuals who believe this refer to a few facts that make this theory interesting to consider.

For one, these traditions (Voodoo & Santería) are closely tied toNew Orleans. The forms of these traditions found in New Orleans, many believe, are bastardizations of the true practices. Almost everyone is familiar with the voodoo doll from the appearance of these in many movies.

According to the Santería/Katrina theory, one of the orishas reached a point where they were fed up with the disrespect to the practices. If one were to guess from the list given above, Yemayá would be a good guess as to who might have gotten miffed.

This is not to say that this is exactly what happened, but it is important to keep an open mind. Perhaps this was indeed the case; perhaps it wasn’t. The point of the matter is that there is much that we humans do not know, and it would be foolish to discredit anything.

Links of Interest
Religious Tolerance
Google Directory
A Pagan Response to Katrina

Google Group for Discussion

I've been playing around with some of Google's other services. Today I set up a Google Group to try and get some feedback about what readers would like to know. This will help me as I decide on topics to post on and providing resources that might help those who are interested. The link to the group is provided up in the blog description at the top of the page.