Devotional Material
Some Devotional Material
Contents:
My Belief in Deity
Prayer over meals
Reincarnation/The Afterlife
Protection spells/charms for travelers and their vehicles
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My Belief in God/Deity/Divinity-
I came to beleive in the divine by choice. I saw the world and saw that there were two choices.
A.) There is no God
B.) There is God/Divinity/Something. If such a being or energy does exist, it would necessarily be the creative energy that formed the universe out of itself, being thus, it would be everywhere and everything.
There is no proof for either of these choices, nothing to prove or disprove either possibility. I looked at the way human beings have lived and I realized just how important a beleif in divinity has been throughout human history, how much it adds to the human experiance, the things faith allows one to do and how deeply we can explore the human mind when we accept the possibility of some divine energy.
Seeing the benefits of faith and unable to give up the possibility of divinity, I consiously chose to live my life as an optimistic agnostic, accepting, exploring and enjoying the thoughts and sensations that beleif in divinity brings into my life. I have been rewarded for this choice by a sense of peace, understanding and divine love.
Scarlet
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Prayer/"Grace" over meals-
My Aunt has a beautiful prayer that she says at some meals when she feels inspired. It can be picnics, fancy dinners, homemade sandwiches or a quick snack out, but she'll tell everyone to hold hands and she'll say thank you to everyone whos hands touched this food before it came to us and the love they put into it... the minimum-wage fry-cook, the hard-working trucker who shipped the food, the processor who chopped it, the farmer who cared for it and the folks who made the tractor that planted it and all the hard work and good heart that they put into the process to get the food to us. She follows each part of the meal back to its seed or shepherd making us feel blessed, like part of a community network that cares for each other. Makes you see french-fries or BLTs in a whole new way. It usually doesn't take long, but it's a beautiful process.
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Reincarnation/The Afterlife-
I do not believe in reincarnation as it is taught either by Wicca (to go briefly to Summerland upon death and go on to endlessly be reborn over and over) or by the eastern philosophies (that my actions in life decide what I'm reincarnated as and that I must learn lessons until I can escape the endless cycle). I'm not a great believer in karma either. I do however, believe that our spiritual essence goes SOMEWHERE when we pass on.
I believe that the spirits of the dead are spilled back into the universal spirit like a cup of water into a vast ocean. Just like such a cup, it is impossible to scoop out that same cupful again once it is spilled, into the same cup or a new one, but you might get some of the same water in the cup mixed with other water, refreshed and renewed...
In my metaphor, the cup would naturally be the body or form of any living being, the water would be spiritual energy and the ocean would be God.
That all sounds beautiful and all, but sometimes I have a hard time explaining what I believe happens to people who have led especially helpful lives or have been especially cruel and destructive with their lives... it's hard for people to think that the same reward awaits both kind people and cruel people, but ultimately, I do. I don't think we have a clear memory of our lives in the material world, or any memory at all for that matter, once we enter the One energy... why should our neutral energy be punished or rewarded after passing on for the things it has already experienced in life?
I believe that any rewards or punishments for behavior, good or bad, causes pleasure or suffering in the living individual in some way before they pass on. It's not clear what form it takes but in general, I've noticed that if someone is cruel it is because they are already suffering and if someone is kind it is because they are already full of hope.
It doesn't always seem fair, but more observation has led me to see that life isn't fair... that's not the way God made it... God has His/Her own plan, we are their creation to use as they see fit, it's not their responsibility to agonize and worry about how we feel about all of this.
I'm not saying that God doesn't care, just that God cares in a different way than a parent would... it's a complex thing. No matter what, I love God... I choose to love God even knowing that the love that is returned, if any, is of a sort I'll never understand with my human mind and I'm fine with that. My creator has my purely voluntary devotion.
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Protection charms/spells for the road-
These are all ideas that can be used to bless and protect yourself, your loved ones and your vehicle as they travel on the road.
One thing I’ve done is create and bless a protection sachet, one for my house and one for my car using protective herbs (adding small stones or other objects do well also). Right now, I have a japanese blessing card with a bell attached (each time the little bell rings, I feel the car filling with protective energy) and also a rose-quartz stone (Rose Quartz being one stone that's good for travelers, among other things). Also, somewhere I found an alchemical formulae for protection during travel, it was in a sticker form and I just stuck it in my atlas which is always in the car. A St. Christopher medal is handy too... look up deities or protective patrons of travelers, maybe Mercury/Hermes is more up your alley or the Egyptian Min or Celtic Nehalennia.
One thing to note is that I prefer not to hang things (dream-catchers, blessing beads, sachets, graduation tassles or anything else) from my rear-view mirror as it partially obstructs the view and distracts focus from the exterior of the car. If I hang something in my car, like my japanese blessing and bell, I suction-cup it to the rear window in my blind-spot. If it doesn’t need to be hung, I throw it under my seat (as long as I’m sure it won’t roll out and get under the pedals, I've tied a sachet to some springs under there, for example), stick it in the glove compartment, carry it in my purse (which contains my drivers license, so I never get in the car, or go anywhere really, without it) or attach it to any maps or atlas’ that are always in the car if they’re small enough (those ones can help with luck in navigation as well.)
Incredibly, I've also seen elaborate dash-board altars featuring circles of stones, small figurines, even some things that look like whole scenes from mythology glued and pasted to someones dashboard! To each his/her own, right? Note to be careful if you have a passenger-side airbag. Another trick might simply be to cast a blessing on a bumper-sticker and there are a gazillion witch/pagan/Goddess/magick/fairy/world-peace themed stickers that appeal to pagans and newagers available everywhere, especially online (and I've seen the whole lot of them once all on one vehicle, lol!).
Another option would be to take and do a protection spell or a blessing over one of those car air-fresheners and as the scent is dispursed in your vehicle, so is the blessing (this is a very subtle option but as the scent dies off, you would have to replace it or you could dab it occasionally with your own special protective oil mixture. Careful that the scent is not so strong that it overpowers the car and makes driving unpleasant or dangerous). Since most of those things are paper-like and accept ink, you might draw a protective symbol like an athame, pentacle, latin cross, rune or other meaningful protective symbol onto it or even find one that already has a symbol... I’ve seen chunky plastic moon, sun or fairy air-fresheners.
You could also carefully smudge the vehicle with sage or incense smoke. Pamper your car by giving it a thorough cleaning, oil-change, tune-up and filling it with premium gasoline (OK, not the cheapest route), to let it’s spirit (or the spirits within it or whatever you feel is hanging out in your car that would care) that you really appreciate it.
Of course, don’t forget the most practical protective procedures... proper maintainence, safety belts, double-checking safety features like the horn, air-bags, tire pressure etc and not getting into any vehicle driven by anyone who you have any doubts about their ability to drive in their current condition whatsoever (there’s ALWAYS another way to get to your destination instead of getting into a vehicle driven by someone who is drunk, high or just a dangerous driver... there is no way to get there if they crash and kill you.)
So, in short, there are many ways to magickally protect your vehicle and the travelers within it, it’s just a matter of figuring out which way will work best in your situation.
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lilacphilex@yahoo.com
Author: Scarlet