Dare You!

I dare you to step into your full grace, full power, full potential, full glory and beauty, to express all your talent, no matter what pressures you have in your daily survival.  It doesn't matter whether anyone ever see's or hears your creative expression, what is important is that you express it, for it is the key to our very existance.  Without creativity, we are as good as dead.  That special sacred flow of the pencil to create an image or words, on paper, of that which we feel in our souls.  Techniques do not matter, it is a natura flow of energy, something we all did for many hours as children, therefore, we can see, that is holds great importance to us, for lest we be like children, we cannot enter the Kingdom.  We hold ourselves back in so many ways, and think that being 'cool' is to be unexpressive, to not show one's feelings and emotions.  That to be angry is 'wrong', to be depressed or sad is a 'sickness', and that only people who are 'good' or 'talented' at art, writing or singing should be expressing themselves, because otherwise we will be 'seen' as something less than perfect by the world?!  It is terrifying for some people to open up and let their voices be heard. The modern world tells us we should do botox so our faces show no emotion, since emotion will 'ruin' our faces with laugh and grief lines.  We are given the royal families, politicians, church leaders and entertainers as our role models for society. 

So what does Mary Magdalene have to offer us in our modern era?  We have deduced that she was not a prostitute as church leaders fed us for the past 2,000 years..... did you know that the Catholic Church made an 'apology' for their wrong doing to her name, back in the 50's? It was a tiny article, 2 paragraphs long, hidden in the middle of a church paper that was sent out, and unless you read it then, which is unlikely, you will never know that the church admitted it made a mistake by calling her a whore all these years, and that in fact she was not a prostitute, but a disciple.  Should have been front page news as far as i'm concerned!  "WOMAN WRONGED FOR CENTURIES" being the title.....

Mary, also known as Mariamne, or affectionately Marjan, was a devout woman.  She fasted, prayed and took vows of silence for three decades of her life.  She birthed 3 children to Jesus, one girl and two boys, who became the backbone for the stories of the Holy Grail mysteries.  She dedicated her life to sharing what she had learned with all and sunder.  Later in her life, living in Southern France, she founded many churches and became a leader of the new movement which was sweeping through the Western world.  She healed the sick, taught love of God, took people into retreats and fasted intensively with crowds there, to induce a state of trance through prayer.  She was a wealthy woman, and dedicated her life to those in need, becaming a leader in her own right.  She was known to have gone to Rome, where she fought publically with Peter and Paul who were changing the teachings to suit their preaching efforts.  Paul was doing a great job of making new disciples, but he told them that they didn't need to follow Sabbath, and other 'Jewish" laws, Mariamne's argument was "the commandments given are for all man-kind, not only Jewish brothers and sisters, therefore they must follow, just as we must".  Paul defied her.  Hence we have a Christian nation not following one of the basic laws that God gave us "thou must keep the Sabbath holy".  Sabbath was never on a Sunday.... it was always sundown to sundown Friday - Saturday.  The Sabbath is important for us alone, God doesn't 'need' anything from us, He is perfect, complete and fulfilled in allways.  He gave us this law, so that we might have time away from the stresses and strains of survival, and spend quiet quality time with family, thereby keepingthe families intact and whole.  Each Friday night as I light my Sabbath candles, I am so grateful for the space it creates in my family home.  To have no movies for a night, no phone calls, no driving, no shopping, no computers, or socializing.  It is holy indeed for it creates space and peace for contemplation.

The church has been founded on a lifestyle which has no trace or semblance of how Jesus and his followers actually lived and taught. There was no reverance expected or demanded by the disciples, no fancy costumes, or long winded rituals, no places of worship were built wherein people would pour forth all their hard earned money, so that Bishops and Cardinals could govern palaces of great opulence.  The people have been mislead. 

The simple life that Jesus, Magdalene and the disciples lived, was simple.  No expensive robes, or jewels, no fancy hats, cathedrals or lengthy surmons on our evil doings.  Rather, they taught to love one another and to love God, so that we could live a spiritually inwardly focused life.  They gave techniques by which one could attain the Kingdom, such as intensive fasting for extensive periods of time, to purify the mind and body of worms which cause one to think ill thoughts of others, and desire luxurious things to taste and drink.  They never drank wine, nor smoked, nor indulged their senses in extravancies.  They ate a vegetarian diet (they did not eat fish, or meat as church would have you believe!), they donned the simplest of cloths, and let go of all external trappings of wealth, despite, themselves, being Kings, Queens and Princes by royal birth.  Taking their disciples into the cathedral of natures own opulent halls, where they would fast, pray and take vows of silence, as together, they would gain great insights and experience love for God. 

Pracitcal Application for the Week:

Start taking note of where you live in extravagance.  What 'things' are you addicted to, that you 'can't live without' on a daily or weekly basis.  Write them down.  Are you excessive with food, drink and sex?  Do you over shop, and have too many things, such that your house and cupboards overflow with items that are for the most part un-used.  Yet, still shop for more?  Are you addicted to coffee, cell phones, texting, browsing the net, porn, recreational drugs, food?  Where do you spend money and time on things for yourself to make yourself 'externally' feel better, yet internally no change is happening?  At least the internal beauty regime should be equal to the time spent in the outside world nourishing and beautifying the external body and senses.  Is prayer a part of your daily life?  If so, is it something you do ritually, like you 'have to do it', or is it a deep spiritual inner movement done with a heart full of reverence and devotion?  What is the purpose of prayer and fasting?  What is the Kingdom that we have been told to search for?  Where is it, and how can we attain it?

These are some of the things I will discuss in next weeks blog spot!  Blessings to you my dear brothers and sisters.... together we must journey inward..... so mote it be...

What Happened to Mary Magdalene contd.... Part II

What Happened to Mary Magdalene? Part II

So how did the Roman's manage to change the true story of Magdalene's life and lineage, and for what reasons did they go to such great lengths to wipe her name and lineage from the face of the world?

Peter was known to be jealous of Magdalene, along with a handful of Peter's 'followers', who felt women should be seen and not heard.  Jesus would often correct Cephas (Peter) publically for his narrowmindedness, and remind him that we are all created equal in the eys of God.  There is no us and them. 

After the crucifixion, there was mayhem.  Most of the discipes went into deep hiding to avoid possible capture and death.  Jesus' brother James created the Church of Jerusalem.  It was he who then became the head of Jesus' movement for 40 years, before he too was publicly stoned to death by the horribly threatened robed men of Sanhedrin.  Magdalene was ushered out of Jerusalem, by Joseph of Arimathea along with their closest confidants and friends.  Mother Mary and her daugher Salome were among them.  Mary's youngest son Jude stayed with James to run the church.  After some time, it became apparent that they were all unsafe, as the robed men of Sanhedrin, the Judean council of the main Jewish Temple, were after the followers of Jesus, to bring them to silence, permanently. 

Since Jesus' body went missing on that fateful Sunday, the Sanhedrin became extremely nervous, for it would appear to public opinion, that they had made the mistake of indeed killing the long awaited Messiah!  Why?  Because, their scripture dictated that the Messach who was coming, would die and rise on the 3rd day.  But it was two messiah's who both Roman's and Jew's alike were waiting for, not just one.  Most popular belief is that John The Baptist is the other Messiah, who was also killed, but since his head was decapitated, would not rise again.  However, in the book I am scribing all will be revealed.

The Royal Family were moved to Scetis outside of Alexandria (Egypt) in the mountain regions where a group of Essenes lived, called Theraputae.  They were known for their liberalism, and they accepted women and children into their communities as equal, unlike the Essene brotherhoods.  Magdalene was pregnant at the crucifixion.  The evidence is in the bathing of Jesus' feet just 2 weeks before Passover, then by the end of the week he was arrested.  This would be the second time Magdalene publically oiled and washed Jesus' feet. 

In ancient Judean tradition, a woman would bathe and anoint the husbands feet once in September.  Then if in Spring time she was with child, the ritual would be done again, and the marriage would be considered consummated.  If no child was being carried, the couple would refrain from intimacy until September again, when they would once again try for a child.  If by Springtime, the woman was still without child, then the husband could take another wife, as she would be considered barren. 

Magdalene did this ritual twice.  Therefore she was with child, for surely, this ritual would never have happened a second time, any other way, due to the uber strict adherence to Judean laws.  Magdalene's child would be seen as a threat to the Sanhedrin and anyone trying to claim the lineage of the Messiah for themselves (like Peter, Paul and eventually Rome).

Her name would have to be taken out of the history books forever, inorder to satisfy the greed of the men who wanted the power forever in their own hands.  Women were burned, tortured, hung and publicly flogged for 2,000 years after Magdalene's lifetime, just for having red hair (a possible sign of Magdalene's lineage), or having the power of healing in their hands, or even simple knowlege of herbs.  Women could be stoned to death just for having a twinkle in their eye.  It is the most shameful massacre in history, as over 40 million women and children worldwide were killed in the name of "Christ"!  Hard to believe!

So women adapted and learned not to shine, not to use their powers, they disconnected themselves from creativity, from nature, from the Goddess and ultimately from themselves.  It was a survival mechanism.  Still to this day, women's DNA reels in this disfunction that the Church brought upon the whole female race, calling us all whores if we didn't submit to their rule and authority.

Meanwhile, religion was being run globally by the men, and wars ensued.  The Massacre of the Cathars in Southern France on that fateful day Friday the 13th (which is why Friday 13th is still to this day conidered unlucky!), was again, another attempt to wipe out the bloodline lineage of the Messiah, Magdalene and along with it, the true story. 

So what can we learn from Magdalene's story?  How can we create a change in us, in the world, and with one another, as a society, given the understandings of how history lessons were 'fed' to us, by a corrupt lineage of lies?

To be continued......

Practcal Application for the Week: 

See where you have allowed 'society' or group pressure to conform your true self. 

What areas of your life are you afraid of being fully expressed in, without hindrance?

Free yourself, pray for mercy and heal yourself.  Be more honest with yourself, be who you want to be, dress how you love to dress, do what you love to do, say how you really feel!  Speak and live honestly, and be fearless.  This is our birthright.

For we are, all of us, created beautiful, powerful, creative and full of unique wonder. 

 

What Happened to Mary Magdalene?

Artwork by Krishna Rose (copyright 2010)

What Happened to Mary Magdalene?

Why all the sudden interest in Mary Magdalene?  Who was she?  Who is she?  Why is she such a key factor in our current movement towards a feminine divine centered worship? 

Mary Magdalene is a fascinating person in history.  Whether she was the wife of Jesus or not is not the real issue at hand.  Whether she birthed children that created the worlds Kings, Queens and Popes of today, is not even the reason for her speciality.  What makes her special is her story.  I became fascinated by Magdalene after reading Kathleen McGowan's amazing book "The Expected One".  What a read!  My interest in her all these years later has not waned, but rather, increased.  Not merely because she is a woman whose story has many people confused, but because through her we can understand our own femininity and struggle with power.  She was never a prostitute as the Church would have you believe.  There is no documented evidence of this anywhere.  In fact she was a Princess in the line of Benjamin, she was sister to Martha and Lazarus, and was a very wealthy woman in her own right.  She became a principle leader and figurehead in the early Jesus movement, funding all the their tours and retreats that they gave everywhere they went.  The church 300 years later decided to name her "whore' inorder to belittle her station and ruin her pure reputation as the apostle to the apostles.  In fact she was a teacher in her own right, who led the group for many years to come, after the Crucifixon as well as before.  Jesus would often ask her to preach and heal.  It was her who taught Jesus how to heal the blind with dirt and spit from the hands.  The washing of the mans feet and anointing with oil in the ancient world, was a Judaic ritual for engagement and wedding vows.  There is no other reason a woman would ever be allowed to wash and anoint a mans feet, unless she was with his child.  This set apart, her story is interesting since it seems through her life, the current male insitutional religions in the world, have maintained a thoroughly masculine focused dogmatic approach to spirituality.  It is a rare religion that balances the devotion to God, with mention of a Goddess at all.  The hidden aspect of Judaic culture is God / Goddess worship, and is similar in it's essence to the ancient teachings from Vedic Culture, of which Hinduism is an off-shoot.  Goddesses were as much a part of the worlds culture for thousands of years, before Christianity founded be Rome, came along.  The Pagans, Celts, Native Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Vedic Indians (and Hindu's), Buddhist, Jews, Romans, Greeks..... all of them worshipped Goddesses openly.  So what happened?  How did it all begin that the word Goddess was alikened to heresy and would be worthy of good hanging or burning in most cases?

In my next blog, I will explain........

Blessed be,

Krishna Rose

Appropriate Emotion - To Be Or Not To Be - That is the Question

To be or not to be.   This is the question that seems to have plagued society since before Shakespear wroe those famous words!  It is at the background of all that we do. 

When people get down, I hear someone proudly retort:

"Come on, put a smile on your face!" - Is it okay for me to feel unhappy in this moment?  If not, then why not?  Why do we put pressure on ourselves to always be happy?  Does sadness, grief, fear, anxiety, depression and other such 'negative' emotions have any purpose?

"Come on, think positively" - there is a time for positive thought, and a time for honest reflection of our own situation and that of the world.

"Be grateful" - if I am feeling low, does it automatically mean I am not grateful for the blessings in my life? 

There are a deluge of self help books and 'guru's' touting new ways we should be happy, which imlies that we are not happy, and that happiness is some sort of requirement in society.  50% of the population is addicted to one sort of anti-depressant medication or another.  If you are one of those that doesn't take anything for your depression, please reflect, just because you don't 'do drugs' or 'take pharmaceuticals' doesn't mean you don't self medicate.  Overeating, overspending, compulsive sexual habits, addictions of one sort or another to take one out of 'reality' even if for but a moment, seems to be the modern day answer to the blues.  Needing to constantly be busy, whether on your cell phone or constantly needing to be busy texting, or rushing from one 'crises' to another, is a sign of either being genuinely successful in business, or being addicted to the 'need' to be busy and have the appearance of being popular.  It takes one out of the present, into useless chitter chatter, that has become the norm for almost everyone I see.  Distraction is the new drug.  I see people taking a walk whilst talking on the phone, lunching and talking on the phone whilst in good company with their friends, texting whilst driving (not recommended!)..... it's an addiction as much as any other addiction.  What is happening in society, as it speeds up, is we are becoming addicted to adrenaline, which is a hormone released when we are stressed.  We live on it, and eventually learn to love it.

What is wrong with feeling your feelings fully?  Why do we feel afraid to show our true feelings to one another?  It's as if emotion has become the new 'f' word.  Don't show it!  Put on a brave face!  Get botox and don't frown!  Pop a pill if you are sad (avoid feeling your feelings)!  Take this medicine if you have PMS (and avoid feeling your pain)!  Take this drug if you are anxious or insecure (lose your ability to feel your intuiton)!  Have coffee if you feel tired, have a sleeping pill if you can't sleep, distract yourself with shopping, food, or just create a damned busy life!  What are we afraid of as human beings?  Isn't the world perfect just as it is, with all it's ups and downs?  Is this a place where we are supposed to experience only happiness at every moment?  Does sadness and depression not have as much value as joy and happiness?  Forgive me for saying it, but I think both have amazing value!  Is there a fine tuned balance between pleasure and pain?

So next time you feel sad, without reason, perhaps it is a call from nature, for you to slow down, pay attention to the simple things in life, take some alone time away from the busy hustle and bustle of modern day life.  If you have have your moon, feel your feelings fully, and take space alone.  Don't be afraid to be alone.  This is where God and Goddess can be found.  It is not to be found in the fickle fleeting distractions of this world.

To be or not to be.  That is the question.  Is it nobler in the mind to suffer?  Or should we put on a brave face to the world, so that we 'fit' in with a positively numbed societal structure?  I believe feeling every feeling, is a natural experience of life.  It is God given, for a good ultimate purpose, of bringing us to our knees, for honest introspection, and for deepest levels of healing and spiritual growth.  Each emotion carries within it, the remedy and the perfect lesson for our ultimate well being.  Be not afraid to ride the waves of life as it comes, there is perfect grace for us all, in every experience.

Practical Application:  Next time you feel depressed, tired, rundown, anxious, overwhelmed, nervous, afraid, angry or despair, take time for yourself the next available opportunity you get.  Go into seclusion, shut off your phones, shut down the computer.  Gaze at the trees as they twinkle in the sunlight and watch them flutter as the gentle breeze makes them dance.  Perhaps light a candle and burn some essential oils like Geranium or Lavendar.  Go deep within, into the peace and quiet, using your breath to carry you away into the inner worlds.  Say an honest prayers to God or Goddess, or to your Master, and ask for Them to give you help through the difficulty you are having, whatever it may be.  Be as painfully honest as you can with Them, and with yourself, and then the deepest of healings can happen.  If your mind is racing, forgive yourself and ask to be relieved of so many thoughts and desires.  Trust that in your surrender, God will take care of your life, and it is safe to let everything go.  Begin your sadhana (spiritual practice), prayers and chanting from this deep honest space, and real growth, real happiness, will ensue.

The Vine of Intense Longing

Where are you running to?  What is to be found at the end of your pathway?

Should we walk, crawl or run to the Castle?

When one finds oneself unable to fulfill one's heart’s most cherished desire, and still is desperate to achieve the goal, the heart melts. At this point, feeling unworthy the devoted one begins to experience humility. In such a state, the one may cry incessant tears in separation from the object of one's devotion.

All alone, and lamenting with a morose and heavy heart, and a sense of deep longing in one's loneliness, the devoted one takes shelter of the rosary mala by chanting God and Goddess's Great and Holy Names repetitively in the darkness of night, when the rest of world sleeps. The devoted one, living a quiet life, withdrawing oneself from the external fickle joys and sufferings of this world, achieves the desired goal.

Without performing devotion (Bhakti-yoga) like this, with a melted heart and tears of bliss, how will the heart be purified of material desires? The forests within the Kingdom offer the devotee happiness and ecstasy not like anything we could possibly taste within this world. Therefore the devoted one completely surrenders to God's will and most humbly petitions Him to be kind and disclose is what the best way to receive the darshan (an audience with Whom the devotee prays to)?  God and Goddess's Hearts are flooded with mercy. Therefore, be we can pray that They may be pleased with us, even though we may be fallen or weak.  We can petition them to bestow upon us just a drop of real love, thus guaranteeing the devoted one's audience with Them.

We can pray:

"May Your mercy illuminate and overwhelm my heart.  Bowing down before the Two of You I beg, kindly grant me Your service, for You can easily do so.  Let me be with You always.  I place my head at Your feet and request You for the supreme blessing.”

“What blessing do you want?” They might ask you

“Consider me Your property. Accept me as Yours, please hear my intense longing and be gracious towards me. There is nothing you cannot make happen. You are free to do as you anything You like, for you are God and Goddess, supremely merciful and all-loving.  Hear this devoted one's request.”

They repeat, “What is your request?”

The devotee replies, “This devoted one is humbly asking if, for even a moment, I might engage in loving You, together with all of Your loved one's who in the forests of the Kingdom with you.  I have yearned for You for more than a million births.  I have an intense and unabating thirst."

“What sort of thirst is that?” They ask

“An insatiable thirst which leaves me unsatisfied,” the devotee cries...... earnestly.....

"I long for You to appear on the pathway of my eyes. Even though I may lack some qualification, I swallow my arrogance and pride, and unabashedly present my request to You without fear or shame.  When will the beauty of Your Faces shine upon the pathway to my heart, exhilarating me with great spiritual happiness?  I am tired of roaming the streets of materialism, and yearn to walk upon the soft grasses in Your Kingdom, and pick flowers for Your Hair."

Permission To Shine

Permission To Shine

Do you need permission to shine? 

To be as powerful, beautiful, fully expressed and successful as you are in your soul.

Allow the sacred light of your being, to radiate and illuminate within you.  Bless those around us by reminding them subconsciously that there is a greater reality to which we are all connected.  Bless our selves, and allow the Divine to pour through us, and allow the voices 'in the shadows of this fragile human life' to bathe us so that we may feel a more expanded, connected sense of ourselves, as being in relationship with the Divine. 

"There is nothing inside of me that is unholy or unlovable"

"There is nothing inside of you that is unholy or unlovable"

Now take a moment to recognize that we have been created whole and perfect by God's beauty and grace. 

We are made of love. 

There is nothing in this Universe that is not created by God. 

Even the demons were created by Him. 

If everything is made of His energy then everything in you and in me is made of Love

(even those things we believe are not!).

If everything comes from God

then you should know that there is nothing in you, nor in me, that is not acceptable or love-able.

So I say let that person without sin cast the first stone.

If you are a person who judges others, STOP.... take a breath and choose to look for the good instead.

The reflection in our own mirrors is plenty dirty requiring our repentance and forgiveness. 

Surely our own reflections is enough to give us a lifetime of focus within.

Why then are so many looking in others mirrors?

Surely our lives are meant for inspiring one another, and seeing the glory of God's love within the wonder of each individual one of us?  For we are all made of the same essence....... love.

If you look for the good in others you will find it.

If you look for the dirt, you will find it also.

Practical Application for the week:  Notice what you focus on when you meet and spend time with people?  After you have talked with someone, do you then criticize them with your mouth, or inside your mind?  Or do you think good thoughts and focus on sending them love and healing?  Take a week to be honest with yourself and see where you are not shining, such that you are reluctant to give others permission to shine.  See where your judgments lie and cleanse yourself with repentance and prayer until your thoughts reflect the beauty of your true nature. 

Fasting From the World

My family and I decided a few months ago to start following the Holy Sabbath, which is one of the Ten Commandments given to Moses by the Lord. I am not Jewish by birth, yet the thought of fasting from the world for one day a week felt necessary.  I needed my family to come together without the gadgets distracting us from being present with each other. It felt like a survival technique for the sake of my families happiness. The world is chasing after materialism and consumerism at every step. So each Friday as the sunsets, we set the dinner table, cover our heads, light the candles for dinner and withdraw from the outside world for 24 hours. Away from computers, phones, money, cars, movies, tv, shopping and social activities..... it is such a peaceful time for us, a time of renewal for us. We wake up early, pray together, take a peaceful family walk, play games with the children, garden, read books, sing and in general have a wonderful time together as a family. We used to spend our Saturday's rushing around town buying things, coming home exhausted and eating pizza in front of a movie to drown out in blissful unawareness.

God wrote the laws of life not in the pages of books, but upon the canvas of our hearts.  They are in our breath, our blood, our bones, our eyes and ears, and in every part of our being.  They are present in the air, water, earth, plants and in the sunbeams flickering on the edges of leaves.  They all speak to us so that we are reminded to fast from the world for a while. But we shut our eyes and ears so that we may not see or hear.  Yet in truth our happiness lies not in our senses, not in fulfillment of our lustfulness, nor in seeking after riches, or in feeling self importance. It lies in our spirit which is eternal and full of grace. If we feed the body from dawn until dusk but give not one drop of water to our soul, then we live in the kingdom of darkness wherein all unhappy things dwell.  If we fast from the world, and go by ourselves into quietness and show our fasting and prayer to no person of this world, then all the angels of our Earthly Mother and Father come and fill us, and we are nourished and satisfied.

If we do not fast from the world, we will forever be bound to it. Seek the fresh air of the forest and of the fields, and there in the midst of them you will find the angels of life.  Take off our shoes and breathe long and deep, and bathe in the holiness of life, away from the call of illusion.