2009 Director's Message

The Wheel of Life turns, a new year begins, and temple facilitators came together in January to look back at last year’s rituals as well as to vision about the coming year and a theme that would guide our music, song, art, dance, spoken word, and myths. What seemed to collectively emerge was the current political climate as manifested by the election of President Obama: Reclaiming Hope, Healing the Earth/Healing Each Other, Yes We Can. The ascension of Obama’s voice to the American people gave us hope and I couldn’t help but note the Pagan tenets woven throughout his message.

As I listened to Obama speak of change in South Carolina after winning the Democratic Presidential primary, I was reminded of author Dion Fortune’s oft quoted definition of magic. "Magic is the art of causing changes in consciousness according to the will." Obama’s words of empowerment, "Change we can believe in. Change is what’s happening in America. Yes, we can. Yes, we can change. Yes, we can." This speech was nothing short of a life-affirming liturgy as voices of the many responded in a resounding, empowered "Yes, we can."

Obama went on to say, "Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can seize our future. And. . .with the message we carry. . .the same message we had when we were up and when we were down, that out of many, we are one." The most important tenet in Paganism is the philosophy of Immanence, that the world and everything in it is alive and the Life Force which courses through us also exists in everyone and everything–the belief that we are all connected–We Are One. What a profoundly challenging follow-up to his message of self-empowerment, of "Yes, we can."

We can, I can, you can, we each have the power to create change but what is the intention, the purpose, of this power. If we are truly one, is the power to create change used to benefit one, a privileged few, or many–the us, the we. In Pagan cosmology, evil is defined simply as intention. A knife, or any instrument of power, is neither good nor bad. In the hands of a surgeon, the knife is an instrument of healing. In the hands of a murderer, it’s an instrument for killing. It’s the intention–the will, purpose, and determination of the individual wielding the knife which defines its purpose and creates the result, good or evil. The same is true for any instrument of power: money, authority, words. All intention is informed by one of two things: Love or Fear. From these two oceans of human emotion, all intentions emerge and manifest as caring, compassion, respect, peace, joy, generosity OR as greed, jealousy, doubt, lack, hate, war.

Starhawk, author of Dreaming the Dark, says there are two kinds of power. Power Over and Power Within. In the new climate of empowerment which has grown from this past year's political process, the clarion call we must each answer is to find the "power within" that does not require "power over" another to create the change that is desperately needed on the planet today.

Pagans have no Bible, Torah, Koran, or Bhagavad Gita to claim as a central truth. Yet more profound, truthful, and constant than any religious tome, Pagans observe the Earth, Nature, and the Cosmos for our spiritual teachings and guidance. We put our faith in the never-ending cycles of birth-life-death-rebirth. We know that out of chaos, balance and order will assert itself as it has this past year as now- President Barack Obama challenged us to take back our power, both as individuals, and together as a people. The belief in the power of one’s self–the great "I Am" woven with the power of "You Are" makes us one–We Are.

After decades of powerlessness, we have found hope. Hope that stems from empowerment, both as individuals and together as a people. We took back our country. We took back our elections, our political processes. We took back our future. But it is power welded together to create, not to consume for self, to destroy. This power we’re experiencing emerges from love and a belief that everyone is deserving not just those on top. This power is not based on fear but on the belief that we can, together, change our lives, our communities, our country, our planet and heal the Earth and each other. "Out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we will hope." (Obama)

As a temple, a community, we invite you to join us for another year celebrating the holy Sabbats. We keep hope alive by standing up, empowered as individuals, yet joined together in the common purpose of making our families, our communities, our world a better place.

I Am. You Are.

Together, We Are One.

Age 6 and up:

Need a creative way to collect your Valentine's Day cards this year? Try making this great box, perfect for a girl or a boy--your friends will love it!

What you'll need:

• Cereal box
• Construction paper: red, blue, white and pink
• Glitter glue: blue, pink, purple, orange, red
• White craft glue
• Scissors
• Heart-shaped cookie cutter (optional)
• Heart-shaped craft foam

How to make it:

1. Cut cereal box in half, keeping the bottom half. Reserve the remaining cardboard for another project.
2. Cover the entire box with red construction paper using white craft glue.
3. Trace cookie cutters, or draw freehand, to create hearts from blue, white and pink construction paper. You will need two of each color for a total of six.
4. Use glitter glue to write short phrases or acronyms on the hearts. Some examples might include "kiss me," "BFF (best friends forever)," "luv you," "hug me," "be mine," and "cutie."
5. Allow the glitter glue to dry completely, this can take several hours.
6. Glue three hearts, one of each color, to one side of the box, overlapping the hearts, tops of the hearts should stick out above the top of the box. Repeat on the other side.
7. Glue foam hearts to the sides of the box.

Tips:

• Craft foam is available in sheets or in packs of precut shapes.
• Save cardboard snack and cereal boxes for hundreds of different craft projects!
• Buy construction paper in large variety packs to have on hand for impromptu projects.

Continued . . . Stone describes the way the bible distorts the truth of Jewish religion–2,000 years ago the Jews honored Yahweh AND his consort and equal, Asherah. The Goddess was not totally eradicated from scripture, the redactors and editors let enough slip by that we can see Her in the victim of god’s wrath–forcing those who followed the Old Religion to accept the new christianity, and by destroying the old temples and sacred statues.

Most of the discussion fell on present day. What does it mean in modern society that the Goddess has been disconnected from religion, from spirituality? One point made was that men, as well as women, have been damaged because the Goddess and Her attributes of compassion, healing, and partnership have been denigrated and not honored in Western society today.

It was agreed that the only way to change the world is to change ourselves. One by one, as we honor the Goddess in ourselves and in others (men, women, children, and all of Nature) we change the intention of society.

The evening was enlightening and fun–plenty of sweet and salty munchies while we tossed ideas around and tried to make sense of the history of humankind. If you’d like to attend the next get together, we’ll be discussing The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. Unlike Stone’s non-fiction, this one is fictionalized history based on the brief mention of Dinah in the bible. The world Diamant sketches for us is based on fact, straight from the Book of Genesis and histories of biblical times.

Read Dinah’s story and see what it was like then for a woman in her Moon-time. A woman with four mothers, each with something to give to her, she lives her life with wisdom and grace. The blurb on the back of the book states, "Dinah’s story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate, immediate connection."

If sitting around snacking and discussing a powerful, relevant book sounds like fun to you, then read The Red Tent and meet with us. The Pagan Book Club’s next meeting will be announced in the Newsletter and also be posted on the events calendar and listed on the area events page of the website. If you do not already have the book, please buy it from amazon.com through the temple website so the temple may receive a percentage of the sale.

www.http://astore.amazon.com/templeofthego-20