Pondering

[Ragnar]

The Ritual is only necessary when you need it to be-
:]

I am largely in agreement with you.

Rirual is to remind us WHAT we are doing.

BUT, when we get to a certain level. we KNOW what we are doing.

If not. we start worshiping fridge lights, e.t.c.

"Oh hail the great god of the freezer box.....-"

Na, the "older" members know what I am talking about.

If you concentrate too much on ritual, it becomes a "Compulsive behaviour problem".

Good for "children" but TERRIBLE in an adult.

[white_harmony]

"Oh hail the great god of the freezer box.....-"

Na, the "older" members know what I am talking about.

Now that brings back some memories ....

[forgotten oceans]

HAHA!! I miss that guy, he was a lot of fun.

[Kitsune]

Interestingly enough Ragnar, that's almost exactly what I do. But I had never heard of that particular practice. Thanks for adding in links. I'm really going to enjoy reading up more on it.

I started doing it years ago, when I first started working on Cross stitch for others, and it just seemed right. It is nice to hear that it has been done for centuries by a culture that I admire so much.

[Ragnar]

It is nice to hear that it has been done for centuries by a culture that I admire so much.

Yes. My Grandmothers, and I have always had a particular "soft spot" for the Japanese and Koreans. They are very...somehow PRUSSIAN in their way of life.

An example. We have NO Japanese/Korean translator on our call out books, because in the last 50 years there has only EVER been two Japanese, and NO Koreans, arrested in Germany!

So, when other people say that Germany is "foriegner unfriendly" and that is the reason they can not "integrate, I always point to the Japanese/Koreans as a perfect exmple of how WRONG they are.

[Kitsune]

From what I understand, that doesn't quite work the other way around... The japanese are nearly xenophobic if you stay longer than a year or two in their country.

[Ragnar]

From what I understand, that doesn't quite work the other way around... The japanese are nearly xenophobic if you stay longer than a year or two in their country.

To be fair, they only stay about that long here. So at least they are consistant.

[Kitsune]

Once again, I can't argue... there is something to be said for consistency.

[Max]

Replying to Arcanum Owl:
Yes, perhaps life issues have got in your way of your spiritual practice (ritual etc), as life tends to distract us like that! Perhaps you need to rediscover your verve for your path, study some books for fun, check out some pagan music, something that can fit in with what you are doing right now. Like Ragnar says, it doesn't have to be a grand ritual, just a nod every now and then to those that watch over us. I, for example, was cleaning my house this morning while listening to a pagan radio station, it made me very cheery for the day

[Rowan]

I've sat here reading all of the responses and while it is "good?"... "nice?"... to know that I'm not alone in this problem, I still feel ashamed that I am not where I ought to be spiritually. I don't like who I've become... coming up with an excuse of why I don't do things. My life feels like it's in limbo and not going in the direction I would like to and I feel it's because of this. Not that I think I deserve anything good to happen in my life...

[Crazy Healer Lady]

Absolutely you deserve to have good things happen in your life.

And if you don't like who you've become, choose again. Choose to become something better. We're recreating ourselves in each moment. Who you are now is only a sum of past choices. Choose again, and let past be past The snake is a fantastic teacher for this sort of thing, and all manners of lizards, for their shedding of skin.

[Hytegia]

I've sat here reading all of the responses and while it is "good?"... "nice?"... to know that I'm not alone in this problem, I still feel ashamed that I am not where I ought to be spiritually. I don't like who I've become... coming up with an excuse of why I don't do things. My life feels like it's in limbo and not going in the direction I would like to and I feel it's because of this. Not that I think I deserve anything good to happen in my life...

Hmm.... It seems like less of a Spiritual problem than it is a Human Problem.

Being Mortal dawns upon us some pretty peculiar habita among the Physical and Spiritual - the main one being that, for some reason, we loose intrest and have mentally-imposed crisi (plural for "Crisis", I do believe) that comes from being Human.
If you want my truest of true advice, and the greatest I have ever conjectured for any friend I have ever had:

Close your Eyes - Follow Your Heart - Harm None

Your Heart will never fail you, and this is the basis of what I believe. No matter what you do, if you just do that, then you should be okay. I've had my harder times, and I just followed that advice. Sometimes I lock myself in my room and only think of that (in one extreme case, I basically scribbled "Follow Your Heart" down for an hour on a single page), and near the end it becomes alright...
I know that my Heart never fails me. :]

Blessed Be, Rowan.

[Rowan]

Yeah that's where my problem is, Hytegia. I those same words you typed to another on this thread and I just thought, "I wish I could." I think my head is having a difficult go of things in that regard. I want to believe that what is in my heart is right, but I see failure after failure in myself and wonder how I can believe and follow my heart.

[Hytegia]

Failure is a fabrication of the Mind and an action of the body...

Your Heart is not made to fail you. It IS your innermost desires. It's your Spirit. It is the God and Goddess thriving within all of us to find our Destiny, and then find happiness. It is the wind on your back, and the sun shining on your face. It is the Promethean of Life, and is what will live on long after the shedding of your body to return to Summerland. It has done this many times fold, and thrives upon the very knowledge that you will follow it.
:]
It's a GPS for Life, Life after Life, and onward and upward into the Heavens.

Now, contemplate this and Meditate upon yourself.......

Follow your Heart, it'll never steer you wrong.

If you fail?
*Censory* that moping around. You just stand back up. Unless you die, you'll always stand up more times than you fall - so just get on your feet and Carry on.

[forgotten oceans]

Hytegia, that is the nicest way I have ever heard anyone say 'suck it up and keep going'. You're a good person.