New Word in My Pagan World: Soulular

Soulular adj (solh-you-ler) pertaining to or characterized the soul on a minute level our compartment.

We often separate the body in the scientific world on a cellular anatomic level;but as healers and shamans we see the human body as two different and equal parts.  We have the tactile human body which posses the muscular system and circulatory system and all manners of structures.  Within this amazing structure lies another huge component which is the human soul, it is scientifically non-tactile but reachable by esoteric/metaphysical means.  The Medical field are doctors of the tactile structure; Healers and Practitioners of the Arts of Energy are doctors of the Soul.    Items I believe attach themselves to minute segments of the human soul, and cause tremendous effects to the human body and the human psyche.  Items like psychic traumas can effect the mind and the body and I believe through soulular energy work can be bridged fixed or repaired, debating on the amount of trauma and its lasting effects.  Even in cases pertaining to human illness as the body is under attack so is the soul, soulular work should be done in conjunction with medical science.  Never recommend Soulular Medicine instead of Scientific Medicine unless the patient has opted out of medical sources.  Being a chronically ill patient, I believe that the work of both medicines strengthens the longevity of life

Walking the Vows of the ifa Root Worker

The road of the Root Worker is more then just spells, and dusts and magic, it is a lifestyle one must live.  Not all who follow the orisha have to follow it, but those who dedicate their lives to the spirits; those of us who are healers, teachers, shamans and priests. We must remember we are a vessel for the divine to work through, so we must prepare our earthen selves accordingly

Obatala when he molded the clay of humanity, he molded us into different shapes and sizes and thoughts.  We must remember that Obatala and Olodumare blessed all with unique gifts, talents, and strengths.  We are not all perfect, just created by perfection.   We have flaws and imperfections which make us beautiful and unique, a rainbow kaleidoscope for the divine.

1 Understand that no one is perfect, honor and cherish what the orisha have given you, and look to find the spark that the orisha have placed in others.

Talking with a Candomble Priestess in Brazil, she said "I am not wealthy but I live a rich life".  The life of a Root Worker should be a simple life, look at every day as fresh new beginning.  The gift of spirit is one of simplicity, when you complicate it it creates a barrier between you and the path way of the spirits  Live life as an adult, but through the eye's of a child.  Nurture your gift as a new present every day, the wealth of spirit comes in the hands of those who honor it

2 Live the simple life allowing the divine to open the path ways.  Watch Ochosi arrow soar and follow Elegba's pathways

Love is one of the most important qualities a Root Worker must posses, he must have the gift of the three loves Philios, Eros, and Agape.  The Love of the Brother, The Love of a Lover and the Love of God.  A Root Worker wears three rings.  The first ring is that of humanity, loving and caring for your brothers and sisters.  If someone needs a home, nourishment or warmth, it is our duty to extend and arm or a hand for help. This teaches us love of care, to emotionally put yourself out for your brothers and sisters.  The Love of a Lover is also a mighty gift, be it man or woman or multiples, it teaches us to be intimate and how to love with the body.  The act of orgasm brings our bodies closer to understanding the ecstasy of the divine, and giving someone orgasm helps us to bring someone closer to their understanding of spirit.  The love of god comes in many components both of care and intimacy.  You must love god with all you heart, body, mind and spirit, creating a connection to the divine.   Dedicating yourself to the spirit as you would a lover and a brother, feeding it caring for it as it cares for you; even becoming intimate with ones spirit, self pleasuring oneself and climaxing fulfilling a need for closeness with the divine.

3 Oshun teaches us the gift of Love, trust and honor this gift and use it to the best of your abilities.

As a divine vessel we also have to keep to the sacred art of prayer, we have the ability to have a less fettered connection with the divine; with this gift allow yourself to help others when they need divine intervention.  Prayer should be done not only for help, but out of respect and love for ones spirits.  We feed the spirit by opening our thoughts and devotion to them, giving the connection between our heartline to the heavens.   Our soul connects with a glow that opens up a celestial communion with the divine creating an un-fettered pathway of spirit. 

4 Prayer, the art of communion and feeding ones soul.  Olokun has one small ear that can hear the smallest of words.

Sacrifice is also the art of a holy one, the ascended ones need to be fed.  As the orisha were once alive and must be sup on the gifts of the living.   This also falls under shrine care, the spirits should be offered food. Offering them their favorite foods and their favorite drink, shows respect and honor to the orisha; it also allows them to shower you with unrequited blessings.  You should never ask for something, if you can not give something in return.   The spirit does not ask for much, just what you can give.

5 Sacrifice the art of giving unto the spirit and feeding the spirit with respect.

Finally, but not lastly is charity; giving aid to ones community.  It is a dog eat dog world, and as children of the divine we must act accordingly.  We are given a special gift and with this gift comes responsibility, we are responsible for the well being of our community as a whole.  Children of ifa need to be the constant caregivers, giving with ones soul and body. We need to remember to help the poor, and the sick and those who struggle to help themselves.   Always remember to help the sick, dying and dead, and also those who are in love and those who are crossing through a new door in their lives.  It is our responsibility to help those people in need to ease transition and calm their soul's strife.

6 Charity, give of yourself

These are the 6 vows of on ifa Root Worker, remember we are vessels of clay but we are adorned with special gifts and talents from the spirit.  Do not fetter yourself with anger and sorrow, this only divides the body from the soul.  Live a life of an ordained vessel, one that is gilded in gold and filled with vibrant colors; a humble yet mystical present cherished by the orisha.

Fiction: The Alice Box

Can’t remember how it began, I just remember it began.  They called it the Alice Box, it was shaped like a Colonial Tea Caddy; a simple oak octagonal box with, brass findings and a black metallic key in the lock.  I sat there and looked at the box, knowing my life would never be the same once I turned the black ominous key.  Crime after the lockdown of the American City State took a turn for the worse, internal terrorists would not allow their freedom to be secured for their own safety; and I was the cop who was crazy enough to get mixed up in this mess.  The Alice Box was made in cooperation with Alchemists and Scientist, maybe they believed this box could turn the steel metal of the city, back into its Golden Age.   I looked at the key and finally decided I can’t turn back and I reached and turned the key.   I began to feel a burning in my hand, I could not release the key from my grasp and I could smell my flesh burning, as the key melted away.  My burned hand ached as I rushed to put it under cold water, and through the shimmering crystal water I could see a metallic gold tattoo of a key branded on my hand.  I grabbed a towel to dry my hands and went back to look at that forsaken box and dried my hands over it.  I then heard the click and then the grinding of gears as the box opened showing eight metal drawers, attached to the first drawer was a  small piece of parchment.  I hadn't seen paper since 2030, so I delicately lifted it up to read it.  Its fibrous texture felt odd but yet comforting under my fingertips.  The paper had a note written in very neat handwriting that said, “All good change begins with a single person, and a drop of heartfelt blood. Godspeed-M”  I placed the paper back into the Alice Box, and a needle jumps out pricking my palm, dripping crimson life onto the paper.  The Alice Box closes and my Journey for Freedom just begins.

Tea Time

I have never been a big tea drinker until I met my friend Katie.  I enjoyed the theory of tea and my friend Eric and I would get a tea service when we went to the Russian Tea Room at NYC, ofcourse that is 12 a perso for a pot of tea and three cookies, but it is an experience. Anyway back to the topic, I decided to look into tea and its benefits, It seems our lovely Boston Harbor favorite has been really healy studied.

Black Tea, the most common type of tea consumed, is the second highest in anti-oxidants after green tea.   This is you average tea bag, orange pekoe is a grade of tea, not a tea type.   The anti-oxidant in tea is Theaflavin, which is a molecule known to scavange foe abnormal cellular bodies.  Black tea is also good for the blood vessels by allowing the vascular sytsem to relax.

Pace University under the supevision of Dr Milton Schiffenbsuer studied that black tea has also a neutralizing viral attributes to it as wel.  Purdue University has studied that Black Tea also aids the body in proper calcium absorbtion.

I also have my tea with a tablespoon of all natural, non pesticide non antibiotic honey.  I  thought since I have a lowered immune system that I would try to have a tablespoon of honey in the morning and at night.  Honey is one of the most ancient of medicines, it is anti-bacterial and anti-microbial

I have decide to study honey  Little as well infact it started me on a quest.  Ayurvedic Medicines that Honey is one of the five nectars of long life and one of the five nectars often given to the Hindu Gods.  The five nectars of the life are Honey, ghee or unsalted butter, Milk, Sugar, and Buttermilk/Yogurt.   So I am going on a quest for health kick using an adaptation of the Five Nectars I will tell you how that goes.

*Their are four types of tea White Tea made from fresh young leaves non-fermented, Green Teawhich is regular tea leaves non-fermentes, Oolong Tea which a tea leaves semi-fermented, and Black Tea which are fermented leaves.

* Also for my Ky friends if you are looking for non-hormone non-pasturised milk I have a dear friend who can supply you also milk, butter and cheese.  The cows are free range.  My supplier also sells free range meat of Lamb, Chicken, Mutton, Pork and Beef  www.willowhillsnaturalfoods.com

Villains and Heroes

Have you ever desired the rescuing by a super hero, or ever read or watched in awe of a super villain?  To deconstruct the human need for super heros and the human awe of the super villian, you have to decide its cultural origin.  If you were born in the western world super heros have been part of our culture, whether it be D.C. comics or Marvel we have lived in a world of super constructs.  The constructs of a super hero are culturaly western in belief, and in the 21st century influenced by juedo-christian ethics. 

No matter what religion you adopted or where born into,  the ethics and super structure of  western world lays in  the cultural ethics Christiandom; due to the Holy Roman Empire and the conquest of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.  The view of our super constructs is based off of celestial inspirtation off of the cardinal sins and the blessed virtues, post 590 A.D. after Pope Gregory I ascended papacy.  Comonly these sins and virtues are know as the seven deadly sins and the seven virtues.  Our heroes and villains are created with the excess of these attributes which make them itriguing to western humanity.

The cardinal sins, post 590 A.D., are: Greed, Lust, Sloth, Wrath, Gluttony, Pride, and Envy.  Western culture takes these seven ideas and makes them into cultural tabboos, creating a decadent need for them.  Very often these are our vices, our naughty pleasures which we often partake in silence or in small groupings, due to there very nature.  Our villains on the other hand thak them into excess, making them very decadent and very intriguing.   Examples would be Lex Luther for the D.C. Universe whose conquest is to take over the world and obvious picture of greed; and another example would be Magneto from the Marvel Universe who is so confident in his mutanthood that he damns humanity to destruction, an example of excess pride.  The construct of all supper villains falls under these vices, Jabba the Hut with Gluttony, Sloth, and Greed, to Harley Quinn with Lust and Wrath.  It is their unrelenting and unremorseful use of these vices that intrigues the human spirit, often with repulsion but also a human need to watch and quitely route for them.

Our heroes posses celestail attributes which are ingrained in western humanity, these seven virtues are Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility.  These are the virtues that bring us close to the divine as pictured by western cluture.  These virtues are found in excess in our Super Heroes, so culturaly we view them with divine attributes which inately make them "good guys".  Most Super Heroes posses multiple attributes, bringing them closer to western celestial perfection.  Superman we never see him copulate with Miss Lane, and he is very temperate with all manners of his life.  Superman is diligent in his actions taking care of all problems, and often giving back to society as an act of charity.  He is patient not willing to jump the gun and just act against Lex Luther, or kill him showing his kindness.   Finaly humility Superman never flaunts being Superman after the deed is done, he goes back to being the mild mannered Clark Kent.   The Marvel Universe tends to leave out all of the seven virtues to give more of a human feeling and appeal, but still will have an excess of one ore more of the virtues.  Example would be Tony Stark with the moniker of Iron Man, yes he is a rich playboy, which removes chastity and humility; but he posses an excess of diligence, charity and kindness.  It is an anti-capitalist thought to take a multi-billion dollar industry, and stop its manufacturing of armaments to save humanity.

Since super heroes have the ability to do some aweful things this brings to light the "God Clause".  Since they are closer to being celestial in action, they then have God charecteristics.  Many super heroes have the ability to see the "complete picture" and henceforth do things that one may consider rash or un-virtuious.  They, like the divine, set on a different scale of time; as humans can only see the momement, super heroes see the big picture.  This God Clause gives us the "ta-da moment", when we realize that the action was broader then our human visual timeline could percieve, such as we see and expect from our divine.

What draws us to these charecters is that they perform their actions with rebroach, the do it with out provication just because it is the right thing to do.  This is often times the antithesis of the the human charecter but the archetypal paradigm found within all western super hero constructs.  Humanity according to Christiandom is made in the "Likeness of God", and within Ancient Greek Mythos, man is created by the fire of the Gods.   With both this being said and the theory of divinty, the divine posses all seven vices and all seven virtues; but humanity just has a peice of divinty within them.  This gives humanity certain God characteristics, without giving them the excess that we find in our fictional super heroes and villains.  This Fire of the Gods and Likeness of the Gods gives birth to morality and aspects perdetermined in our culture of the constructs of good and evil, and our comics play out to inprint the understanding of these western values.  

In 590 A.D. a cardinal sin was removed from the catholic canon by Pope Gregory I, and that was the cardinal sin of Sorrow.   The practical reason was that this was the beginging of the plagues that ravaged Europe, and the previous papal ruler had sucome to the illness.  Europe was not only plagued by great illness, but also by great sorrow.  I look at sorrow as the virtue that was left in the catholic Pandora's box.  Sorrow was something left to humanity and within sorrow we often look for hope.   Which allows us to look to the skies again for a celstial being to fly down and save the day.

How do we end this cycle of good verses evil, it seems that with attribute of sorrow we have created humanity in a cycular pattern without escape?  We have created a co-dependance of divine through our need for salvation and in some times vindicatation, giving up on human will and relying on human faith.  Many western ideas look at a catastrophic end or a celestial battle between the forces of good and evil, but what is a world without Superman? 

Loss and Gain

In 2001 I lost both kidneys, I was very scared not know what was up and what was down; but within me a fire began to burn.  I learned not to take life for granted and to savor every experince that is given to you.  Most people dot realize that little miricales surround us, people move so fast that the forget the beutay and simplicity of divine creation.   Like watering a plant and listening to the water rush and watching bead down from one leaf to the next.  Today I held a rose up to my face and felt its velvety petals, smelled its rich persume and slowly seperated each petal to save for another experince.  Working with that flower became a magical experince.  Just stopping to smell the roses, can change your day.
I was always the child who needed to look at every plant, rock and shell I came across and ponder with such wonder and awe, but after kidney failure I realized how it came alive.  It did not talk to me, but it spoke to me.   Stopping and looking at the stars with childlike wonderment, smelling the honeysuckle like each time was my first time and hugging someone like I could feel their soul in me. This is when the world became magical to me, when my mundane world fractued and I realized the fragilty of all things even within myself.
So now I listen to everyones story, feel the skin of an apple peel, and look at the world with wonderment.  This embracement of the world connected me with God, and opened my eyes to so much beauty.  I lost a life that I was expected to have and gained a marriage withe the divine.  It has helped me to connect and try to help so many people and as I heal them I slowly begin to heal myself. Ase Doc Hava