I don’t share it very often, but with posting my YouTube videos, Religion and perspectives on it, against it, and for it have occupied a significant portion of my energy – and it seems more and more that people aren’t interested in a dialogue, but more into just spouting off what they think. Today, my friend, who I have not discussed this with but who is often in my thoughts on this topic, posted her own blog post. I would like to share her words with everyone:
I am going to start this off with a simple statement: I do not believe in God.
I got into a bit of an argument earlier today with someone on a Facebook post. My friend was mocking the people who go door to door with the crazy religious pamphlets about how the world is evil and it’s ending and why we’re all going to hell. I had said that those things are funny and I mentioned that I lost my faith when I was a teenager when “God started murdering all of my friends”. This was a bit of a hyperbole and not quite correct, it was more like God let my friends die, and it was only two, but when you’re 13-14, that’s a lot to loose to violent murder. Never mind that I lost 3 family members around the same time. To a kid, who had no real other form of support, I had felt betrayed. I had prayed and done my devotions and gone to church camp and really did believe. I used to walk down my street when I was a little girl and pretend that Jesus was walking beside me and I would talk to Him and tell him my hopes and fears. I was a child. I did not understand why horrible things would happen to me and when Jenny and Jake were killed, it mostly ended my relationship with God. The real clincher was when the church and youth group that I was apart of decided to ostracize me for not converting my friends to Christianity and basically saying it was okay for them to go to Hell. I had decided, when I was little, that there was no one true way, because I couldn’t figure out why God would let people who had never heard of Him die and go to Hell when they had no chance to ever choose to follow Him. I figured that the people who had other religions were just seeing another part of God.
The person who chose to argue the point with me wanted to point out that if I believed in God, that I must believe in Satan. I will say that my Orthodox upbringing followed by random sundays at a different church every time lead to a mishmash of religious upbringing. I remember talking more about Mary than Satan. I can’t remember when Satan was ever mentioned and when these awful things happened, nobody mention Satan. All they could say to me was “God has another plan for them” or “It was God’s will” and other similar platitudes. I became bitter against God.
As I got older, I found that the Christians that I had lumped myself in with were really preaching Hate. Hate against people who were not the same. Hate against non-Christians, GLBT, and anybody who was a little different. Which I found so against what I thought were Christ’s teachings that I fell even more out of interest with the church.
The person I was talking with went on to say in previous comments and against mine that Christians have a hard life and that the world is a horrible place to live. I disagree. In modern society, it is easier to say that you’re a Christian to fit into mainstream society. I also find that the world holds many wonders. I find that I am inspired and awed by the world around me, and I feel joy that there are so many great people in my life and I try to appreciate them all for who they are. It is my opinion that we make the world what we want it to be, and if you want your life to be horrible, then it will be so by your own doing. I have had some fucked up shit happen to me and I let it get to me for a long time. I am turning my attitude around and trying to be more optimistic than pessimistic, which is difficult in the face of adversity.
A little bit later, I was on Facebook again, and a different friend had posted a video. I watched the video, it was mostly text and music. It told the story of a supposed USC professor of philosophy who had taught for 20 years, teaching that God did not exist and would scare everybody. As the story goes, at the end of the semester he always would say “Who believes in God? If you do, then stand up!” and nobody would, then he would drop a piece of chalk and say something like “If God existed, he could stop this chalk from breaking and prove that he exists. It wouldn’t be much!” and he would drop it and it would shatter. Until one day, a young Christian decided to stand up and the professor became so flustered that someone would stand up to him that he called the kid a fool and the chalk slipped from his hands, hit his arm and pants as it fell and rolled to the ground. Therefore proving God and the professor ran from the room and the kid who stood up stayed in the classroom and spent the next 3 hours talking about Jesus and how God loves 300 people who were in the class. It went on to say things like “faith is the most important thing” “how could you not question the newspaper but you do question the Bible” etc etc.
I would think that to have true faith, you must question and doubt and come to find yourself still believing. That is the proof of true faith- to show that you have thought it through and found that these answers fit your perceived reality. To question and still believe shows a stronger faith than to never really think about what you believe in.
I have friends of ev
ery religion under the sun: Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, Pagan, Athiest, Agnostic, Church of Satan, Pastafarian… and I respect all of their beliefs. I am fortunate to have so many world views in my friends.
Live. Learn. Love. Have Faith. Be open minded.
Nobody actually knows what happens when we die. This is the only life we have to live. Make the best of it.
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Okay, so, today is 350.org’s blog action day – a day for all of us to share what we know about the planet, conserving resources, and reversing/reducing any damage we have done to the environment. This is very important because, so far, we only have the one planet to live on! Additionally, those of us tuned into the more natural energies of our planet, through religion, spirituality or breathing, can have our energy and magic workings effected by the state of the planet!
Most of us are aware of global warming. Most people believe it, some people don’t and are waiting for more proof. The way I look at it, if I get too much proof, it’s already going to be too late. When the glaciers melt and California sinks under the ocean and we have our irrefutable proof, we’ll already have lost California! So let’s not let things get that far. Besides, conserving energy, lowering your ‘carbon footprint’, and treating the Earth well also have economic benefits! Let’s get started!
Wait, what’s this 350CO2 thing in the title?
Oh, right – well, C02 is Carbon Dioxide, an important chemical when it comes to global warming, pollution, etc. 350 ppm (parts per million) of CO2 is what we need to get down to in order to stop contributing to Global Warming. Right now, worldwide, we’re at 387 ppm. The website 350.org is one of many sites trying to get the word out – check it out!
Does that mean it’s too late already?
Heck no! We still have time to bring the CO2 levels down and to stop contributing. A one time raise over 350 ppm isn’t going to cause global warming, it’s maintaining a level OVER 350 ppm that’s going to do it! So let’s stop maintaining it!
Okay, so NOW let’s get started!
Reduce energy use!
- Benefits: reduce your own household’s CO2 emissions, reduce the emissions of the electric and gas companies, reduce the price of electricity (supply vs. demand – right now our demand is high enough that we’re being charged extra for the strain on electric companies), reduce your own electric bill, save money and buy cool stuff!
- Did you know that a HUGE source of wasted energy is caused by leaving things on when they aren’t in use, such as lights, computers, cell phone chargers, TVs, and stereos? Start by turning them off! You’ll save money AND the environment!
- On a more spiritual level - we always strive for applying our energy in the right directions at the right times – this should apply to the spiritual plain, mental plain, AND the material plain! Energy is energy!
Conserve gasoline/petrol!
- Benefits: obviously, saving on your gas bill (and with today’s prices, who doesn’t want to do this?), reducing emissions and pollution, saving wear and tear on your vehicle, seeing more of your neighbors and community, increasing your exercise, fitness, and health
- Did you know that the average vehicle mileage PER DAY in the US is 40 miles? 40 miles! That’s insane! Try consolidating all your trips into just one trip on average – this saves gas AND time! Walk more often if you can – you’ll get more exercise, fit into your skinny jeans more often, get some all important Vitamin D in your system (deficiencies can cause and contribute to depression), and you’ll get to know your neighborhood better.
- On a more spiritual level - your energies will be less scattered and you can bring more calmness and stillness into your life! AND you might be getting outside more!
Enjoy outdoor activities more!
- Benefits: More time where you can save energy (see above), play with the kids/dogs, meet your neighbors, encourage your city to maintain it’s parks and public areas by increasing use, bond with your family more, get out in the sunshine, get away from the TV, video games, telephone, and computer (but don’t forget to turn them off, too), be more relaxed and healthier (physical activity and spending time in nature decreases stress in the mind and body – both of which are unhealthy for you)
- Did you know that going outside improves your memory and attention (just 1 hour increases these by 20%) and gives you the benefits of meditation? Even if you don’t enjoy the outdoors, you still get these benefits AND they’re the same if it’s comfortable outside or not! Not only does it improve your brain function, it also relieves eye stress! Eye stress can actually lead to degradation of your eye-sight (it happened to me), so going outside will maintain your eye sight – check that out! Fresh air also provides the benefits of a jolt of caffeine – without the harmful side effects. A 10 minute trip outside can help you feel more relaxed, energized, and better able to face tasks and problems. If you take your partner, friend, children, or pet, you’ll find yourself developing a closer relationship with them – and outdoor activities – even just a walk – has been show to reduce behavior problems in both kids AND dogs!
- On a more spiritual level you’ll be connecting with the natural world and the Mama Earth directly – what more do you want?
Buy local!
- Benefits: improving your local economy by supporting your friends and neighbors, increase a sense of community in your town, increase local jobs, and a lot of other really good economic benefits! In addition, even if local products are made using the exact same evil industrial processes as foreign goods, you’ll be preventing the damage, both economic and environmental, that packing, shipping and unpacking goods causes! If buying local foods, you’ll be decreasing the amount of pesticides and hormones that you’re digesting.
- Did you know that a carrot on average has to travel nearly 2,000 miles before it reaches your table? That’s just madness! Wheat farmers typically make $.06 cents per loaf of bread created. Farmers selling at farmer’s markets get to keep $.80-$.90 for each dollar they sell.
Of course, there are many other things that you can do that will benefit your life, reduce your waste, save the environment, and contribute to your spirituality. For more information and resources, try some of the sites below.
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I’ve been an astrologer for nearly all my life – ever since learning how to add and subtract numbers. My mother was a master numerologist, among other things, and taught me to keep me busy. I guess it’s better than TV? Haha! I also became very good at math very quickly.
Numerology is based on the premise that numbers contain energy expressive of the 9 attributes of development. Our goals as spiritual and physical beings are to master all of these attributes in balance. Not only do numbers have this energy, but our alphabet corresponds to the numbers in 3 cycles.
Since the letters have corresponding numbers, we can find out a lot about anything with a name. People, especially, we can work with quite a bit since we have first names, middle names, last names, full names, and birth days, birth months, birth years, and full birth dates, as well as having a current day, month, and year and a full current date to work with! There’s a lot of ways we can slice and dice this information to learn more about ourselves, each other, and our world.
For instance, this year is a Universal Year 11 (which effects all of us worldwide as a worldwide society AND as individuals). The number 11 here is indicative of a worldwide spiritual focus and time of development. People will be seeking out the real reality of their worlds and more people will find themselves unified by common goals and concerns. There will be focus on making the world better and more enlightened for everyone in every way.
This month (October) in this year is a Universal Month 3 (still effecting us all). This means a focus on creativity and creative arts. The movie industry, music industry, and any other arts community should be very busy this month with all sorts of new growth, projects, and ideas. This goes nicely with a year 11 in that we’re looking at things in more creative ways and expressing what we think through art and community!
Today (October 8th), is a Universal Day 11. This means that today is a day where we’ll all, worldwide, be drawn to inner contemplation, retrospection, and the questions of who we really are and what our purpose should be, both as a people and as individuals. From the Universal Year also being an 11, there is a strong focus to do this on both a worldwide community, but we will still be drawn to express ourselves through the creative. Keep your eyes open for anything that may inspiring and run with it!
In addition to Universal years, months, and days, we also have our personal numbers that express how we, personally, are drawn to interact with the Universal numbers as well.
Another fantastic use of numerology is in deciding the names of things. Our names immediately give impressions of us and we can effect our impressions by choosing how we are called. For instance, Nathara is a 9 name (for people, you use the full name, but Nathara is my business name). This means I am someone who has a great amount of compassion for others and wishes to be of service to humanity. I operate best when I’m able to do freely in any way I see fit. I need to be wary of becoming over-emotional, though, as I invest myself in all the things I do. Sounds accurate to me!
This is an excellent way to decide between competing baby names – if you and your partner can’t decide on a name, you can use numerology to decide which qualities you would prefer for your child. Another thing I recommend using numerology for is deciding a business name. Let’s look at Microsoft and Apple, two major industry competitors.
Microsoft is a number 1 name. A number 1 name is reflective of someone (or a company) that is committed too leadership, achievement, and self reliance. They are pioneers in their field and continually looking for new ideas to explore and new inventions to create. They need to be wary, though, of egotism, laziness, and resting on their laurels. Sounds about right to me!
Apple is a number 5 name. A number 5 name is reflective of someone who is open-minded and excited by freedom and change. They have a more worldly view of things and are very resourceful. Quick to trim the fat and replace the old with more modern ideas. They like to interact with all walks of life. They need to be wary of thoughtlessnes and irresponsibility as they get caught up in the excitement of new ideas and new information. Sounds right again!
I would also say that fans of either brand would agree and it’s these very traits that have lead them to choose one over the other. What do you think?
This is just a small sampling of the information you can gain – and create! – through the use of numerology. Of course, with all these items we could certainly find much more information, but I think that’s enough for a demonstration.
If you would like a numerology report, please feel free to visit my profile at Liveperson. Mention this blog post for 50% off!
Posted in Numerology, Pagan and New Age Stuff | Tagged apple, baby names, individual, microsoft, Numerology, world | Leave a Comment »
Teehee – okay, so I might be a big dork. I did a vanity search briefly (there was a reason other than vanity, honest) and stumbled across this blog entry and… how very sweet! Sounds like they took the information right off my profile, so I’m not sure if I read for them, but still – it’s nice to see!
>>>>>CLICKIE TO READ<<<< (Edit: Here’s another one with great articles, too! …I might be biased)
In other news, I managed to survive my move and LOVE where I’m living now. I think this is going to be really great!!! Other than having to wait until THURSDAY to get my gas turned on. More cold showers for me! Haha. But, I have several tutorials that I’m working on/planning for, so look forward to those – they should be good – at least, I hope so!
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So, every day, every hour, every minute our minds are assaulted by thousands and thousands of bits of data regarding our surroundings, selves, and what is going on in both of these. On a conscious level we simply cannot pay attention to all of these details and so we have to make some decisions at some level what information is important, on which we want to focus our attention, and which information simply is not. Information that is considered unimportant is observed and discarded and important information is retained. To see a demonstration of this, enjoy the following video:
As you can see from the video, your brain decides which information was relevant at the moment and it was only that information that you were aware of. We can use this method of our brains to pick out information our subconscious wants us to know, but that our conscious mind is unaware of. As an example in my personal life, I have been noticing wolves a lot. I flipped through a book on animals and paused briefly on the wolf page, listened to a song called ‘la loba’ (she wolf), and noticed an ad on Craigslist for a wolf cub. After the third item, it occurred to me that my brain, for some reason, is paying attention to occurrences of ‘wolf’ in my life and my conscious mind doesn’t know why. That is how the Universe gives us signs – for some reason, our unconscious mind will make our conscious mind start paying attention to data usually ignored.
And, just for fun, here’s another video:
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So, this metaphor just occurred to me and I kinda liked it, so I thought I would share. We’ve all seen (if you haven’t, go ahead, I’ll wait) the Indiana Jones scene where they’re racing down mining tracks in mine carts. That’s the way life is to me. You’re going forward in time and you haven’t a choice. You could try the brakes, but who knows if they’ll slow you down enough, just take the edge off, or break ineffectively! You can’t steer, and the mine isn’t exactly safe! To your left – solid rock walls. To your right – more of the same. In front of you – track with no end in sight. Behind you – the same.
So, what do you want to do? We can curl up in the ball and hide – we should be pretty safe that way… of course, we’ll also have no idea what’s going on out there. We could gaze backwards – but then we’d only see the things we’ve already passed (‘been through’) and then – we only see them clearly for a short while – soon they’re obscured by distance and the mine walls. If we do this, who knows what might slam into the back of our heads? And once something hits us, should we stare at it trying to figure out what happened? Or, should we look forward – gazing into the mine/future and seeing all the obstacles before they get there – able to dodge, duck, or use our crazy whip-powers to do something scientifically impossible and hardly even believable.
So, what do you do?
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So, as I mentioned before, I’m now offering new numerology services! While preparing to do reports for clients, I found that the current Universal Year Number, which affects the entire planet for the duration of the year, is 11. 11 is a special number in numerology and indicates that there’s a worldwide focus on spirituality, new ideas, and evolution as a species. As a species, humankind is getting ready to take a huge step forward through breakthroughs in all areas of study. A very fortuitous year! Any personal or spiritual exploration undertaken this year should prove successful and fruitful.
In addition, this September has a Universal Month number of 2, which places the world’s focus on cooperation between peoples and nations.
Posted in Numerology, Pagan and New Age Stuff | Leave a Comment »
So, after having a few conversations with some of my colleagues and friends over at LivePerson, I’ve decided to offer numerology reports as part of my services. Currently, I’m concentrating on personality profiles and compatibility reports, but am also open to requests.
Numerology is a practice that believes in 9 primary attributes that coordinate with stages in life. It also holds that letters have a numerical value. By taking various date and name-based values and performing basic math, we can learn a lot about a person or entity’s inclinations, lessons, challenges in life, talents, predispositions, etc. Curious? Come visit and get your report today!
Posted in Numerology, Pagan and New Age Stuff | 2 Comments »
Hey everybody! If you’ve been paying any attention, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted much recently. I’m trying to decide how I want to handle this blog and my YouTube channel – I feel they should be complimentary but not redundant.
Anyways, I wanted to share with y’all an excellent article posted by a friend and colleague of mine, Azzrian Visions, about how to pick a spell caster for your situation and what you can expect that to entail. This is a fantastic resource so….
Posted in Pagan and New Age Stuff, Tutorials | 2 Comments »
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