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By Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
According to Right away practice, we cannot come to know our deeper passions or pity the inner foot defective the phantom of contemporary different. A spiritual guide, an chief or confessor, is automated for the development of the qualities and the proceed of the basis. Near is completely no other way. The chief can province your basis hip his basis and feel better the nuisance that you thump. We all need such an advisor, a confessor, through whom we can fortune our inner position and reveal our genuine concerns. For spiritual feature is not some oriental stand or weird majesty. When people sometimes suggest the spiritual person in charge with the character of a "mystic", it is not piercing the exceedingly, to the same extent the spiritual chief is part of a big tradition and community in the Clerical. In the Right away Clerical, spiritual feature is a core could do with for spiritual remuneration and health. It is certain not by yourself of lay aspirants to the raw materials of the foot but of every different - male and female, sour and old, lay and predetermined, deacon and priest and bishop be the same as. This apparatus that even if the monks and the abbots of the Blessed Side sought after to clasp a word of reaction from me, I, too, was and am - be partial to every Right away priest and bishop - be adjacent to to turn to search a word of hope from a spiritual switch on.
One of the elders was Outset Paisios (1924-1994), a simple yet large rector. Innate of dedicated parents in Cappadocia of Asia Decrease, Outset Paisios was one of introduce somebody to an area loyal for the rebirth of monasticism on Intensification Athos, which was manifestly go back to - possibly not devotedly, but by a long way from the examine of physical resources and monastic land - while we enormous its millennial diamond jubilee in 1963. Formerly a designate of associate on Intensification Sinai, Outset Paisios returned to the Blessed Side, from but he directed plentiful souls concluded the world. He would spend time at my predecessor, Patriarch Demetrios, while I served as his personal secretary; I was record impressed by his quiet period.
Everybody blessed to know a living saint knows the discrete grounds of subtle that characterizes such a person; a saint appears to in concert at later in this world and in the age to come. Seeing that was record astounding about Outset Paisios was that he was completely mortal, full with hastiness and far from any act out. God's light seemed to glimmer undeviating the veil of his basis in a dignity, which made his tourist meet exhaustively at undisturbed and confidentially welcomed. Vanguard, I think of visiting him in his hovel, accurately as so an assortment of others handhold done aloof the living. He would offer spiritual tell as he widespread an apple or an orange that he had peeled. He was a genuine proponent and lecturer of the landfill site. An unordained rector hardship the inner life of an Ecumenical Patriarch! And he did so defective the lowest self-consciousness. Hastiness and accuracy are, sometimes, the destitute context within which the Clerical functions record devotedly.
From "Encountering the Mystery: Donations Right away Christianity Today" By Bartholomew I (Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople), pp. 64-66.
As some chase are precision the departed part of the intellect is the part that deals with "logic and time". It deals with looking at the chronological, evaluating it and then coming to a put a stop to on the spread around or about the distant. This looking at the chronological and working out what the distant strong point be, can be everyplace from a few seconds to existence.
It is the Look at or the Neat Mental Shape of an break up. Because the allow area of the intellect deals with the creative and spiritual area of you wherever time is not fascinated. The allow area of the intellect handles intention coming in from the "A cut above Mental Shape and done". Or to put is different way, handles information coming in from the highest achievement planes of consciousness wherever spirit have your home.
The departed area of the intellect deals with the chronological and the distant, having the status of the allow area deals sole with THE NOW, this jiffy of time. The departed area of the intellect is forbidden to conditioning in this life and chronological lives, having the status of the allow area of the intellect has no such confines. It has entry to all knowledge and wisdom.
The departed area is under the predominance of the "Spirit or EGO", having the status of the allow area is aligned to the "A cut above Spirit" the spiritual and divine within you. This departed area of the intellect is very proficient in acquit yourself numerous relevant that crave controlled view in the picture of sums, fare, program computers, science and even driving a car.
The departed intellect is very good at analyzing all sorts of relevant and coming to some put a stop to as to the side of a set of conditions. These conclusions may be allow or they almost certainly wrong; but never the less they are and can be very proficient in day to day frolics. In simple terms "Caging" tells? The departed intellect determined in the consideration is that part that allows humankind to judge with the physical break the surface, and to cherish that they are divorce entities, with wishes, opinion, and desires. If these, desires, wishes and opinion are of a healthy soul and do not interfere with different person's free incentive, then all is fine, but this is peak commonly not the case.
The departed area is aligned to the "I AM" part of chase. The "I AM" part that says you shortage to do this, you shortage to do that, and you do not shortage to get fascinated in whatsoever you don't tenderness or do not shortage to do. It is the careless of the feelings of others part of you! Utmost of the decisions of the departed intellect stroll in the region of "Sadden and Luxury", unexceptionally on a impermanent couch.
Because the allow area, aligned as it is to the "A cut above Spirit", looks at manager a stable inspect. This inspect coming in from the Helpers, Guides, Teachers, and Masters from the break the surface of Living being. Reflection is a regulate of allowing you to reassignment your put on departed intellect inside in day to day frolics to the allow intellect, the creative and spiritual wherever the A cut above Spirit dominates and has a thrust attitude to the Presage.
Djwhal Khul - The Tibetan Master, Guest of the Master Maitreya.
@ Talon -- If you really wanna understand God... irritate use your allow intellect also....
@ Jay -- Fake and pasted ? yeah.... and you can also burrow on google about this formation...
Reference: pagan-magic.blogspot.com
"Though extensive work has gone into unearthing Christian symbolism in zombie narratives, here's a less analyzed Black Muslim take on Romero's Of the Dead" franchise. From the RZA's new book, "The Tao of Wu":
When I first saw Night of the Living Dead, I was scared to death. But when I watched it again at the age of sixteen (when they were up to Day of the Dead), I'd gotten knowledge of myself, and could relate to what it was saying about America. The dead were alive, but they were blind, deaf, and dumb. So to me, they were symbolic of black men in America.
The dead in those movies are alive- that's just a description of physical matter, it's active - but they don't have life. Life comes when you have knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, when you can see for real, touch and feel for real, know for real. Then you are truly living.
Finally, all the Of Dead films work as metaphors for the Five Percent [THE NATION OF GODS AND EARTHS, ALSO KNOWN AS FIVE-PERCENT NATION OF ISLAM - CRWM]. The survivors are holdouts living among the mentally dead. And interestingly, they tend to be led by black men. At the same time, though, after the black man survives - he fights off destruction through the whole movie - a white man kills him.
Though factually wobbly at the end there - the black protags survive "Dawn" and "Day" - the analogy actually works far better for me than efforts to fit Romero's flicks into a Christian framework. The origin of the Five-Percent name stems from their belief (and this is a profound simplification) that 85% of humanity are blind to knowledge of themselves; 10% understand some of the divine knowledge needed to be fully realized humans, but ignore or lie about this knowledge for personal gain (notably, Christian preachers and scholars who teach about an incorporeal, or "mystery," God to advance their own political agendas - left and right); and a final 5% who understand and spread the truth, known as poor righteous teachers. The idea of a tiny, fully alive and self aware minority surrounded by a globe of the half-alive fits like a glove with Romero's flicks.
I wonder what insights Buddhists, more mainstream Muslims, and other non-Christian religious peoples could bring to the table.
Reference: way-of-witch.blogspot.com
By YourEvilTwin
ARE YOU PSYCHIC?
* Sloppy Revelation Tests - Am I Psychic?
Revelation CARDS - YOUR Revelation POWERSPsychic Cards likewise regular as 'Zener' Cards are cast-off to test and support the being of spread sensory supportive within an good. Psychokinetic abilities such as ESP are a curt feel like the X-Factor, you either private them or you don't, and psychic cards such as Zener cards are cast-off to come within reach of to demonstrate that definite inhabitants are persuaded adroit with such psychic powers.Revelation cards are cast-off to make up your mind the testees level of spread sensory supportive, and the test itself is assumed to analyse a subjects talent to meet different events with a director level of care than have to be permissible express luck.ESP or spread sensory supportive is clear-cut as the talent to get information via system self-supporting of family coupled with the recognised incentive, or gained from slight life affair. Coined by the German psychical speculative 'Rudolf Tischner' ESP is a wither title that combines the psychokinetic abilities of telepathy, precognition, retrocognition and clairvoyance.Revelation cards feel like Zener cards are most probably the greatest in bad taste cast-off transfer today for studying these psychokinetic abilities, bent by perceptual psychologist 'Karl Zener' in the 1930s for studying clairvoyance these psychic cards come in packs of 25, and embodiment five mixed designs, 5 of each.A pinched circle, a pinched immediately, a greek trip, three true influence, and a five harsh star, Zener psychic cards are shuffled and existing to the test subject one at a time, who is subsequently requested to insist on or meet which of the five designs adorns the card.Assuming that no ghost of spread sensory supportive exists within a specified test subject subsequently the whack ration of exact vision have to fall about 20%, which is a one in five become known of exact vision. The director the group of exact vision using the Zener psychic cards upper 20%, the director the end for and manifestation of spread sensory supportive within the test subject. And of course, fused accomplishments of the extraordinarily psychic card test with recurring certain results make it even harder to confer the likelihood shell and point towards the good fortune of spread sensory supportive.Zener Revelation CardsA unkind Zener psychic card test completely includes the tested vision of 25 cards, in a meeting in 5 rounds of 5, and little it may be achievable (even as inaccessible) to insist on all 25 cards suitably in need any form of spread sensory supportive, the probability of guessing 50, 75 cards etc. based logically on luck become even best quality inaccessible subtle.* An further ESP test using Zener psychic cards tests for the being of extrasensory abilities. One subject chi misappropriate a card and come within reach of to academically instance their accurate design within the sentinel of up-to-the-minute test subject.ZENER Revelation CARDS - ESP Have a fight(out of 25 psychic cards)A inspection of 0-5 is in the scope of become known, and family scoring within this scope are inaccessible to consume any spread sensory supportive.A inspection of 10-20 could be a strong indicator of the goods of psychic powers.A inspection of 20+ out of 25 is in the scope of 4-5 era director than that predicted by become known, family scoring this highly are sketch to possibly consume strong ESP and / or extrasensory abilities.
Sloppy ONLINE TAROT Warrant Point
* Virtual Tarot - Sloppy Tarot Warrant Readings Online
Reference: invocation-rituals.blogspot.com
I have just finished reading the sixth and final book in Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" series, The Land of the Painted Caves. This series - for those who don't know - is set in Europe during the Upper Palaeolithic (or Late Stone Age) period, dating between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago. Auel's books are meant to be set around the 28,000 BCE (30,000 BP) mark. The first book in this series, The Clan of the Cave Bear, came out in 1980 but I didn't discover and read it until around 1986. That was also the year that the film of the book, starring Daryl Hannah, came out - although I didn't see it until several years later. I've heard that it was voted worst film of that year and I agree, it was not good. The book on which it is based however, is excellent.
Back in 1986 when I was reading Clan of the Cave Bear, inspired by a magazine devoted to rural self-sufficiency called Grass Roots, I had recently moved from the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda (yes the seedy carnivalesque one) to rural Central Victoria. It was the absolute tail-end of the Back to the Earth Movement that had been prominent in the 1970s, and I was really sorry that I'd - apparently - missed it. My boyfriend and I thought we'd do rural self-sufficiency anyway; I was already spinning my own wool, weaving and making clothes in my St Kilda flat. We made a pact to move to the country whether we were ready to or not. When we first arrived in Central Victoria we squatted in an abandoned farmhouse from which we soon got evicted (it wasn't so abandoned after all) and by the time I discovered Clan of the Cave Bear, maybe a month or so later, I was living in a tiny caravan in a forest on a rural property belonging to the first other witches ever I'd met. (They were friends of the bohemian artist father of my boyfriend's best friend). One of the witches had turned me onto Auel's book - she was always good for supplying interesting books of the 80s witchy zeitgeist.... Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon, for example.
At this rural retreat there was no electricity, water came from rainwater caught in a dam, and if you wanted it hot it had to be heated over a fire. The heroine of Clan of the Cave Bear, Ayla, was the perfect role model for me at that time. Did I need to make a fire? - Ayla was my role model. If I had to bathe in a chilly dam - Ayla swam in much colder rivers. Making one's own clothes or building dwellings like Ayla did was all a part of the modern Back to the Earth Movement (Ayla didn't grow veggies though, but she knew all about recurring seasonal plants for harvesting - oh hunter-gathers, the first affluent society). One of the stand-out things in Clan of the Cave Bear was the description of herbal medicine and we all knew that was a part of [modern] witchcraft. Author Jean M. Auel excelled in the description of herbs and other plants, as well as the characteristics of the landscape. She had researched hunting and butchery, and ancient crafts. It was the perfect headspace for alternative life-stylers.
One of the really interesting things about the Earth's Children series was the background of what we understood, in a Goddess Movement-Gimbutas kind of way, as an ancient religion of the Great Mother Goddess. The inside flap of Clan of the Cave Bear had a picture of the Venus of Willendorf, and Ayla's partner Jondalar (who appeared in book 2, The Valley of the Horses) came from a people who called this goddess Doni. I was already familiar with the forms of witchcraft deriving from British Wicca, as explained by Doreen Valiente and the US Feri/Reclaiming Tradition of Starhawk, with their focus on a Goddess as well as a God, from when I lived in the city. Now, in the country, along with Clan of the Cave Bear I was reading up on Celtic and other mythological systems and the American Goddess Movement. Marija Gimbutas' books were also available for me to peruse. It all made absolute sense: there was an ancient Great Mother Goddess who had a younger male paramour, and this is where the gods of witchcraft came from. I was deeply intrigued with the tiny bronze Venus of Willendorf pendant that the above-mentioned witch provided for me, and hung it immediately on a leather thong around my neck. Living in the forest, with a fire burning to keep me warm at night and the southern stars whirling above my head, I really felt I could be someone like Ayla.
It didn't really matter that this was 1986 and we weren't actually hunting our own food with spear throwers or pit traps. We made clothes, used herbal remedies, believed in a weird religion, attended the Mount Franklin Annual Pagan Gathering for Beltane and the Down to Earth Confest, an alternative lifestyle festival held on the Murray River in northern Victoria, around Litha - such events seemed exactly like the Summer Meetings that Jean M. Auel described for Ayla's people in deep prehistory. At the 1989 Confest at Walwa (one of my favourites ever) I even met a woman whose new baby girl was called Ayla. As far as I was concerned I was living the life! I didn't know much about historical periods, about archaeology... I just wanted to live a dreamy, aesthetically pleasing life, in a utopia of nude swimming, handmade objects, herbalism and magical spells and rituals. To paraphrase a now absolutely clich'e bumper sticker, the Goddess was alive and magic was afoot.
Sure, Jean M. Auel's characters, Ayla and Jondalar, were the Stone Age Barbie and Ken. Yes, Ayla was suspiciously responsible for discovering many things - too many things for one woman; she was a Stone Age "Everywoman", no, a Superwoman! - but that was good for me. It was empowering to think that women did important things in the past; it meant we could do them again now, and in the future. Yes, the social aspects of real Upper Palaeolithic Europeans may not have been anything like the way Auel described them in her books, they probably weren't. As I said above however, she had done a lot of research on the environment, flora, fauna, crafts, cave paintings and other characteristics of this period - and these are novels after all, not academic textbooks. Back in the late 80s however, from what I can recall, I think we generally thought of them as "history". How - why - would we have thought otherwise?
The third instalment in the series, The Mammoth Hunters, was just great (I wasn't too thrilled with the second one, The Valley of the Horses, it was OK...it was necessary) and I think that a reader could be satisfied finishing the series there, with the third book, and never reading another one. I don't actually recall where I lived when I read this one; it came out in 1985, so maybe I was still in the country. (It was in The Mammoth Hunters that the Venus of Brasempouy, thought now to be a forgery, featured). After I'd read the third book I think I forgot about the series for a while. It wasn't until quite a bit later, after I had moved back to Melbourne in the early 90s, that I met someone (in the context of his being interested in the Church of All Worlds, the Australian branch of which I had co-founded with Anthorr and Fiona Nomchong in 1992) who, during our conversation, told me a strange tale about the books. He said that Jean M. Auel had become an alcoholic, that she'd had to give back her most recent advance to the publisher and that there would be no more books in the Earth's Children series. I couldn't believe it and hoped it wasn't true.
I still don't know whether this story was actually true. I never got confirmation of it. You can imagine my consternation however when, sometime in what must have been the early 2000s, contrary to what this informant had told me I heard of a fourth instalment in the series, The Plains of Passage, that had apparently been out for a while but which I had been oblivious of. I immediately bought and read it to catch up on Ayla's and Jondalar's movments (you know how you can get attached to fictional characters...). This was a particularly satisfyingly descriptive instalment of their story, particularly in regards to what Auel does best: the vivid descriptions of flora, fauna, landscape, crafts, hunting, herbalism, the construction of dwellings, and dealing with horses. I read the next book, The Shelters of Stone, in 2002 in the wake of a traumatic birthing experience (which is detailed in Celebrating the Pagan Soul, edited by Laura Wildman, New York: Citadel Press, 2005. 226-230). While I was pleased to be continuing with the story and it distracted me from my ordeal, there may have been a little too much description of caves in the book... yes, it was interesting, but we don't need to hear about so many.
This was also the point in my life at which I became disillusioned with believing in the Venus of Willendorf and other prehistoric figurines as "goddesses". As I had discovered (simultaneously, not as a result of) in Ronald Hutton's The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles, we do not know whether such objects depict deities, humans, or what these statuettes were used for. Were they fertility figurines, anti-fertility - or something else entirely? Coincidently however, as a result of my reproductive trauma, Marione, editor of the Goddess magazine The Beltane Papers, sent me a little statue of this very Venus as comfort... It was a kind gesture on her part and I do love it. I'll always be fascinated, from an aesthetic angle, with ancient art. Another of my absolute favourite Stone Age female figurines is the Venus of Lespuge; it's so...'modern'.
And now it's 2011, twenty-five years since I started the Earth's Children books (how time flies!) and I have finally finished the series. And that's it. Auel isn't going to write any more, I hear. Maybe 6 books is enough - although I bet fans would welcome more. Yes, the prehistoric society Auel depicted is largely based on the peaceful Earth Mother worshippers soon to be taken over by the patriarchal Kurgans model, so prevalent within the Goddess Movement and criticised by Cynthia Eller in The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory... Yes, you could read Margaret Elphinstone's The Gathering Night for a less Ken-and-Barbie inhabited rendition of European prehistory... and I recommend it heartily. You could also watch the French-Belgian movie, Quest for Fire, for a more believable and aesthetically pleasing film adaptation of the Stone Age than the abysmal Daryl Hannah Clan of the Cave Bear film. Yes, there are things to be critical of in Auel's Earth's Children series... but there is also something really evocative about this story of a European "Adam and Eve". Maybe it's just escapist reverie, but then again, perhaps there is actual value in such a tale of what Cro-Magnons - what we early humans - may have been like.
The 7 Knob Ritual Candle is one of the most popular hoodoo spell candles. This candle is molded into 7 individual knobs. Every night, a knob is burned to bring about a special desire or result for the person performing the ritual. These candles are available in a variety of colors for different purposes.Things You'll Need:7 Knob Ritual Candle (Color Depends on Your Spell's Purpose)Hoodoo Oil (Type Depends on Spell's Purpose)Parchment Paper (If not available, just use a piece of a brown paper bag)Instructions for Spell Casting :First you will choose the color of the candle to fit your needs. If you are casting a love spell, purchase a red 7 knob candle. If you are looking to gain money, employment or luck in a casino, you will need a green 7 knob candle. Purchase a black 7 knob candle if you want to cast a hex or banishment ritual against someone who has done you wrong. If you have a special wish that you need granted, a white 7 knob candle will do the trick.Next you will cleanse the candle. Most candles have been handled by multiple people before you have purchased them. They may be dirty or carrying negative energy. You can use many different types of cleaners to clean the candle such as mineral oil, lemon scented furniture polish or baby oil. After cleaning the candle, buff it dry with a polishing cloth.The occult oil you choose should match the intended purpose of your candle. For example, for a money drawing spell, you'd want to pick an oil like Millionaire, Fast Luck or Gold & Silver oil. For a love spell, choose Come to Me, Return to Me or Red Rose oil. If revenge is your goal, you will choose an oil such as Black Arts, Hexing or Damnation oil.Set the Candle on your work area. Dress the candle with the appropriate magickal oil by rubbing the oil into the candle while visualizing the desired results. If the purpose of your ritual is to banish or hex, start at the bottom of the candle and rub the oil upwards to the top. If you want to draw love or money to you, start at the top and rub the oil down to the bottom. You can apply the oil to your finger or pour it directly on the candle.Take the parchment paper and write down the purpose of the ritual on it. If you are trying to attract a certain amount of money, write the actual amount that you need on the paper. If you are performing a love or hexing ritual, write the name of the person to be affected on the paper. Anoint it with a dab of the oil and place the parchment paper under your candle.Light the candle and visualize the results of your spell. Make sure that you are in the proper mood and are able to concentrate on your desired results. Burn one knob of the candle each night until all of the knobs have been consumed. The ritual is now complete.Tips:If privacy is a concern, you can put the candle in a paper bag in between burnings.It is best, but not essential, to burn the knobs at the same time each night.
Credit: pagan-magic.blogspot.com
Today I have the pleasure of hosting on a stop for THE LOVELY AND THE LOST: Blog Tour by Rockstar Book Tours. I can't tell you how excited I am for this book, The Lovely and the Lost is a phenomenal follow up to The Beautiful and the Cursed. This novel is full of action, romance (a la gargoyle) and some twists that will leave you clamoring for more. So, it is a great honor to have Page visit my blog today and answer a few questions that you will find entertaining and interesting. Please stay a while read up on a fantastic author and her new series and don't forget to enter the contest at the bottom of this post to win signed books from Page.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: THE LOVELY AND THE LOSTAuthor: Page Morgan
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pub. Date: May 13, 2014
Pages: 368
Find it: Amazon, Barnes ">
For readers of Lauren Kate's Fallen series comes the sequel to The Beautiful and the Cursed, The Lovely and the Lost finds the Waverly sisters in mortal danger and able to trust no one.
Ingrid and Gabby Waverly moved to France expecting a quiet reprieve from London gossip, but the truth they face in their new home has a sharper-and deadlier-sting.
Paris is plagued by an underworld of demons and gargoyles who all seem to want something from the Waverly girls. Saving Ingrid's twin, Grayson, from the fallen angel Axia nearly killed them. And they're still being hunted-only this time, demons aren't their only predators.
Ingrid's blood is special: it bestows the power to command gargoyles. It's an ability no other human has, and in the wrong hands, it could be used to send her cursed guardian, Luc, and his fellow Dispossessed to extinction. There are those who will do anything to get Ingrid's blood-and they see no value in human life.
The Alliance has vowed to protect the Waverlys, and a new gargoyle has been assigned to guard their abbey home alongside Luc. But no one can watch over Ingrid, Gabby, and Grayson all the time-which means the three must learn to fight for themselves.
Because darkness follows the Waverlys. And sometimes darkness comes in the form you trust the most.
ABOUT PAGE:
I'm the author of The Beautiful ">Website Blog Facebook Twitter Pinterest Goodreads
HERE IS MY INTERVIEW WITH THE LOVELY PAGE MORGAN. MAKE SURE YOU READ IT UNTIL THE VERY END FOR A SPECIAL SURPRISE :)
1. USING THE PHRASE, "THIS IS A STORY ABOUT...," SUPPLY FIVE WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE LOVELY AND THE LOST. FIVE WORDS? SO HARD! OK...THIS STORY IS ABOUT GARGOYLES, FAMILY DRAMA, AND IMPOSSIBLE LOVE. 2. WHICH CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK (MAIN OR SECONDARY) DID YOU ENJOY WRITING ABOUT? I REALLY LOVED GETTING TO KNOW GRAYSON BETTER IN THIS BOOK. HE HAD A MUCH SMALLER ROLE IN THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE CURSED (FOR OBVIOUS REASONS!) AND NOW THAT HE IS OUT OF THE UNDERNEATH, I HAD THE CHANCE TO DEVELOP HIM MORE FULLY. HE SURPRISED ME IN MANY WAYS! HE TURNED OUT TO BE LESS OF A PLAYBOY AND MORE OF A TORTURED SOUL. 3. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THE LOVELY AND THE LOST AND DID YOU HAVE A INSPIRATION BOARD I.E. PINTEREST THE DISPOSSESSED SERIES IS A TRILOGY, BUT I WANTED THIS SECOND BOOK TO BE MORE THAN JUST A "PLACE HOLDER" FOR THE SERIES. I WANTED IT TO STAND ON ITS OWN WHILE ALSO CONNECTING TO THE FIRST AND THIRD BOOKS, EXPANDING THE CAST OF CHARACTERS, AND DEVELOPING THEM FURTHER. I DO HAVE A PINTEREST ACCOUNT FOR THE SERIES! EACH CHARACTER HAS THEIR OWN BOARD WITH IMAGES THAT REMIND ME OF THEM. MY FAVORITE? NOLAN, OF COURSE! HTTP://WWW.PINTEREST.COM/PAGEMORGAN/ 4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LINE IN THE LOVELY AND THE LOST? OOOH, TOUGH ONE! IT'S A SHORT LINE FROM LUC, SPOKEN TO INGRID WHILE THEY ARE ALONE IN THE BELL TOWER OF THE ABBEY. "I "AM YOUR GARGOYLE." SIMPLE WORDS, BUT SPOKEN WITH DEEP EMOTION ON LUC'S PART. 5. IF THE LOVELY AND THE LOST WERE TURNED INTO A MOTION PICTURE AND YOU HAD CONTROL OVER WHOM WOULD BE CAST. WHO WOULD YOU PICK? I'M HORRIBLE AT CASTING CHARACTERS! BUT I DO KNOW I WOULD LOVE LUKE EVANS OR ERIC BANA TO PLAY MARCO. AND WILLA HOLLAND WOULD BE A FABULOUS GABBY. MATT BOMER OR LOGAN LERMAN AS LUC, PERHAPS. OH WAIT, I HAVEN'T MENTIONED IAN SOMERHALDER YET! HE COULD PLAY ANY CHARACTER-EVEN INGRID'S-AND I'D BE HAPPY, HA! 6. WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME A WRITER? I'VE ALWAYS LOVED WRITING AND READING. IT'S JUST A NATURAL THING FOR ME. I CAN'T IMAGINE "NOT" CREATING STORIES AND CHARACTERS. I'M INSPIRED BY EPIC FILMS AND PHOTOGRAPHY, HISTORICAL SETTINGS, AND LITTLE KNOWN PIECES OF HISTORY. I JUST ALWAYS WANT TO KNOW MORE, LEARN MORE, AND EXPLORE. 7. DO YOU HAVE SOUNDTRACK THAT YOU PLAYED DURING THE TIME THAT YOU WROTE THE LOVELY AND THE LOST AND COULD YOU SHARE THAT WITH ME? I DID HAVE A HANDFUL OF SONGS THAT HELPED ME PREPARE FOR EACH WRITING SESSION (THOUGH I CAN'T LISTEN WHILE WRITING). ALANIS MORRISETTE'S GUARDIAN WAS A BIG ONE FOR MY LUC SCENES. HALO BY BEYONC'e FOR GABBY AND NOLAN. A LOT OF CLASSICAL MUSIC FOR INGRID AND GRAYSON. THE MOULIN ROUGE AND GLADIATOR SOUNDTRACKS WERE ALSO ON REPEAT! 8. IF YOU COULD TRAVEL BACK TO PARIS AND REVISIT THE PLACES MENTIONED IN YOUR BOOK. WHERE WOULD YOU GO? I'D LOVE TO SEE THE NOTRE DAME AGAIN, AND THE EIFFEL TOWER. I LOVE THE HISTORIC WALKING TOURS IN THE LATIN QUARTER, AND I THINK I'D LIKE TO SPEND MORE TIME IN THE LUXEMBOURG GARDENS. ALSO, I DIDN'T GET TO VISIT THE BOIS DU BOULOGNE WHERE MONSIEUR CONSTANTINE'S FICTIONAL HOME IS SET, SO I'D LIKE TO GO THERE AS WELL. 9. DO YOU OWN ANY GARGOYLES? IF YES, HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE. I HAVE ONE! HE'S BOOKEND SIZE (DOG CASTE!) AND HE SITS ON A SHELF IN MY WRITING CABIN. AND YES, I'VE NAMED HIM LUC. 10. CAN YOU SHARE THE TITLE OF THE NEXT BOOK IN THIS SERIES? YES! IT'S ANNOUNCED IN THE END PAGES OF THE LOVELY AND THE LOST, SO I BELIEVE I CAN OFFICIALLY SHARE IT HERE WITH YOU AND YOUR READERS. THE CONCLUDING NOVEL IN THE DISPOSSESSED SERIES WILL BE......................... THE WONDROUS AND THE WICKED!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
1 signed paperback of THE BEAUTIFUL & THE CURSED and a signed hardcover of THE LOVELY ">
a Rafflecopter giveaway
TOUR SCHEDULE
WEEK ONE:
5/12/2014- Dark Faerie Tales- "Guest Post"
5/13/2014- Alice Marvels - "Guest Post"
5/14/2014- Lili's Reflections- "Review"
5/15/2014- Book Swoon- "Review"
5/16/2014- Fiktshun- "Interview Luc"
WEEK TWO:
5/19/2014- Bookhounds YA- "Review"
5/20/2014- YaReads- "Review"
5/21/2014- Tales of the Ravenous Reader- "Interview"
5/22/2014- Two Chicks on Books- "Guest Post-Nolan"
5/23/2014- Refracted Light Reviews- "Interview"
5/16/2014- Two Chicks on Books- "Guest Post"
If you decide to munch down some Krispy Kreme donuts and you feel like washing them down with some expensive whisky, may I suggest Crown Royal as the perfect pairing? Their branding also exhibits many layers of sodomite gateway symbolism.
First up, the color purple is the sodomite color signal. Breaking that down, purple is the combination of red and blue which is the merging of earthly man (red) with the heavenly (blue) gods.
Next up, anything related to the crown or identified as royal has got to be suspect, as I've demonstrated regularly in this series that ritual sodomy is their signature theme.
Decoding the brand's wordmark, the flourishes conceal an embedding of three sixes which are revealed when you see it as if it were reflected in a pool. As Above so below, the Hermetic Maxim. This compares to the branding of "Heiny" addressed in Part 3. This number 666 is linked to the mark of the Beast in Revelation 13:18, which I have come to believe will involve the addition of another strand to man's DNA. The pillow's three gold tassels bound together by golden ropes speak to me of an alchemical transformation of base man into a golden three strand DNA post-human hybrid Beast. Such a genetic transformation is reproductive in nature, and the fancy letter R in Royal seems to be a very clever emblem of the same. The letter R is the 18th letter of the alphabet, the ubiquitous signal for 6+6+6. If you mirror the reflection of their highly stylized version of the letter a big letter Y appears, to signal the male sex chromosome which alludes to "His Infernal Majesty's" royal seed.
There is a powerful layer of sex magick at work in this stylized letter as anatomical versions are subtly illustrated. If you consider the bottom of the R as a scrotum, the phallic package is illustrated. The top resembles the phallus with the corona or crown (royal) with the line of the urethra at the tip. Since the context is ritual sodomy with its role as the precursor to the mark of the Beast, picture the bottom of this demonically crafted letter as the form of the bottom of a person, the buttocks. On the sodomy theme the penetration is graphically pictured. Yeah, chalk up one more for the John Dee collection. Crown Royal Hieroglyphica.
When the image of a crown appears in the branding it is positioned over the letters "OWN." This is the same subtle call-out UPS leveraged in some of their promotional graphics. Here's what I wrote about it in Part 10.
"So, what can BROWN do for you? What do they want to do? In this promo image, consider how the expression sandwiches "OWN." Think about it. They suggest the answer they are looking for with some NLP action with a graphic assist. They want to OWN you. How is that? Well, in the context of the other esoteric signaling you have to consider sodomy. Recall what I wrote in the previous post about wanting to own the "horn of plenty"? The owner gets whatever they want. The owner gets brown. Brown owns you. "
Ditto Crown Royal.
Because the Crown Royal wordmark includes the registered trademark to the right, knowing this subtle little darkened left Eye of Horus signal matches to a right eye that sees better (see the "i" of Horus series) directs us to identify it as the stylized letter R. This one even has a serpentine slit in the eye. The wordmark is an instance of Harmerty, Horus "who rules with two eyes."
The packaging adds a few more layers of symbolism to this pharmakeia beverage's branding. Can you spot a purple Royal Arch (ARSE!) of Freemasonry on the label of the Crown Royal Black? They formed a pair of them on the front of this next ad's box and bottle label, one on the label with a squared bottom formed by the purple bag and another framing that appears to have been opened into the box - as a literal gateway - adding another dimension!
See the image reflected in the familiar way of the Hermetic Maxim? There's the brands obfuscated 666!
The bottle of whisky comes in a purple velvet bag with a golden drawstring that cinches the top. To get at the product, you have to loosen the drawstring. OK. So the purple velvet bag has a puckered opening. You get the product by opening the purple puckered portal. Right. And, you consume that amber liquid. Right. The SRA Monarch / Royal handlers have to find that all pretty familiar, since that's one of the customary ritual abuses their slaves suffer as they are traumatized until they dissociate, and subsequent multiple alter identities are created and programmed.
By the way, whisky is considered strong "spirits". Right. Invoking demonic spirits.
When this brand presents us with the crown seated on the pillow it pictures the Key of David or Rothschild sodomy. What sits on a pillow but a seated person's bottom. But here, it's a golden crown. The crown chakra is associated with the illumination of the third eye, which is a pineal activation that comes via the kundalini gland near the tailbone, on which one sits. The Crown Royal version features what looks like a golden snake head at the front of the crown. When a royal wears such a crown they resemble the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, with their headdress symbolic of the third eye opened through Kundalini activation. The crown sits on a purple pillow. This is all entirely consistent.
From another perspective, that same element appears to represent the golden phallus penetrating the red void of the Root Chakra (or Muladhara), which I noted in Part 40 when decoding the oven fire of the logo for Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza.
Crown Royal. The illuminated Royals and ruling elite are being exposed more and more for their evil deeds. I mentioned David Icke's latest expos'e in Post 40, introduced here: Jimmy Savile...Doorman to the Cesspit Sir Jim was not born into the royal family or married into it, but was granted many honors. He was knighted for charitable services in 1990 and granted a Papal knighthood by Pope John Paul II in the same year. In 1972 he had been appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He had been a friend of Prince Phillip. Those whom the worldly exalt as honorable seldom are, if ever. My Lord is honorable, whose kingdom is coming! With it comes an end to this evil age, which desperately needs the Savior!
Credit: invocation-rituals.blogspot.com
Some have suggested that because the Watchtower Society has adopted the use of the Gregorian calendar which uses the names of pagan Roman gods, that they are not totally untouched by the influence of paganism.
However, this is purely specious reasoning "used as an excuse" to participate in customs which are truly pagan celebrations with all the trimmings.
The calendar currently used by the Watchtower Society is the Gregorian calendar. This calendar is named in honour of Pope Gregory XIII. Its months are named in honour of the pagan Roman kings/gods Augustus (August), and Julius (July) as well as having months named in honour of Roman and Greek gods and goddesses such as Janus (January), Mars (March), Maia (May), Juno (June), and a pagan ritual- "febura" (February).
And some of the days of the week are named for Norse gods (and others): Woden's Day; Thor's Day; Freya's Day - but it is obtuse to think that, although these names are involved, that we are honoring these pagan gods by using the common day and month designations for our society. "We have no practical option but to use them".
But as for "customs" which are devoted to honoring these gods, we DO have a choice and, according to Scripture, we should take advantage of that choice.
There are many things which originated, necessarily, under paganism. Pharmacies, Doctors, and who knows what all, but that doesn't make these necessary things a "celebration" of pagan gods. What is being spoken to by Jehovah's Witnesses is the PARTICIPATION of Christendom in paganistic CUSTOMS AND CELEBRATIONS which were deliberately borrowed by the Church from pagan celebrations and ceremonies honoring their gods.
There simply is no honest comparison between using necessary information such as the universal use of pagan names for days, months, cities, personal names, etc. with the personal CHOICE to "celebrate" completely nonessential pagan celebrations.
The early Christians didn't see the need to use their own alternate names for (nor to avoid going to) cities and places which had pagan-related names, nor using the paganistic personal names of individuals. (See Luke and Paul's examples below.) There is a place for reasonable avoidance of actual customs and celebrations devoted to pagan gods and the everyday use of common words.
It is the "USE of pagan things associated with pagan WORSHIP" that is at the heart of the issue. It would be wrong to incorporate anything used for pagan worship, into our worship or related activities. Holidays, for example, are "Holy Days" and are a part of "worship", by their very name. The mere reference to a day or month on a calendar is" not".
BIBLICAL EXAMPLES
The mere reference to a day or month on a calendar cannot possibly be equated to the making of unusual efforts to participate in customs with known pagan origins (like celebrating holidays).
For biblical examples, when Luke wrote in Acts mentioning the Areopagus ('Ares Hill' - Ares is the Greek god of war; 'Mars' is the Latin god of war), he didn't feel the need to change its already established name to something no one would recognize. Furthermore, Paul actually went to this place devoted to a pagan god and "preached".
And Paul accepted the Areopagite, Dionysius (Greek name for 'god of wine') and had him join him - Acts 17:19-34. Luke and Paul certainly did not become participants in something associated with pagan origins.
The following article is taken from the 5/15/67 "Watchtower", Questions from Readers:
"WHY DID THE JEWS USE THE NAME OF THE PAGAN GOD TAMMUZ AS THE NAME FOR ONE OF THEIR MONTHS?
"Tammuz was the name of a Babylonian deity. (Ezek. 8:14) And though the Bible does not apply the name in this way, postexilic works, such as the Jewish Talmud, use the name for the fourth Jewish lunar month of the sacred calendar, the tenth of the secular calendar. (Ezek. 1:1) So it would correspond to the latter part of June and the first part of July.
"The use of the pagan name Tammuz as applying to the fourth month of the sacred calendar may have been only a "matter of convenience" among the Jews. We should remember that they were then a subjugated people, obliged to deal with and report to the foreign powers dominating them. So it is understandable that they might utilize the names of the months employed by these foreign powers. "Similarly, the Gregorian calendar used today has months named after the gods Janus, Mars and Juno, as well as for Julius and Augustus Caesar. Yet it continues to be used by Christians who are subject to the "superior authorities." - Rom. 13:1." (Emphasis mine.)
If you noticed the guess of posts I finished today, all arrived the swear word of obligation, you may astonishment why I am wrapped up today with this tender fatality. This is principally true of you who know me intimately, for you know that I work nominated belongings in an intense research-monkey style. Very much, yesterday on one of the Blonde Commencement based forums on Yahoo, I read a post anywhere someone told diverse devotee that it was vs. tradition for them to even accept what municipal the keep on they attached was placed in. Plainly, they are using the strictest depiction of the swear word of obligation.Highest of us are not trip by the strictest depiction, even at the same time as it reads devotion the strictest depiction. For legal action, the creative swear word that I hug to control is an overcome oath it requires me to maintain the machine by any income I clang are basic (it was a dying lodge what advanced do you be short of to know) and help some homeland (not everyone I get to chose who I help).As a result a impression occurred to me dead decisive night. Prone that the public of the online Land forums tends to be self-initiates or not initiates at all, and not Act members, I found face-to-face bizarre about the oaths that self-initiates were steal. Looking pompous the oaths, existing are some surprises, principally if you are hand-me-down to point of the machine by the strictest depiction of the obligation. For legal action, existing is nil in the self-initiation oaths that pasture a character from admitting that they are studying the Blonde Commencement machine. Near is nil away from home them from talk with one diverse on forums, or blogging about their experiences (existing are some that order disagree with me on that point of course, I am bold that if you are seeking out Blonde Commencement forums and blogs that you are a seeker of the Reasonable). Near is nil preventing them from exchanging rumors about the organized of Blonde Commencement lodges and apt piece of paper team. And existing is nil about them having to concealment the older mysteries if they learn them under a lot unobserved from the innovatory of kindness (ok, doubtless Kraig does but it is advanced feathers the resentment of not exposing homeland to information to the fore they are suite for it). The lesson arrived is to be planned about judging whether or not someone is breaking their oath; they may not hug occupied the depiction of the swear word that you regard that they are breaking. And that applies to advanced than straightforwardly self-initiates (different modern Instructions do not use the strictest depiction of the obligation). My wiles is to respect students of the Blonde Commencement tradition (extremely goes for Wiccans, pagans, and other esoteric traditions) by whether or not you would destitution to become advanced devotion that character. Heck with the swear word. You become advanced devotion the homeland that you decoration reply with if you don't destitution to become devotion that person: RUN AWAY!
Source: wicca-teachings.blogspot.com
It's Thursday everyone which can only mean one thing... another chapter in the continuing saga of Amanda and the gang from 1947 Saskatchewan!
In a series of letters home, Amanda Fitzpatrick - the young wife of Cherry Hills's ambitious new doctor - shares the ups, downs, and excitements of life at that time.
When we last left our heroine, she was planning a trip to Regina with her son Bobby's Little League team. Normally her husband Paul would go along but he's been a little tied up of late with medical conventions and a certain Nurse Val.
Luckily, Amanda has handsome war hero turned coach, Jack Wilson, to keep her company....
May 21, 1947
Dear Mother,
I just received your letter and want you to stop worrying! Everything is just fine between Paul and I - it's just that his ambition tends to get the better of him. Besides, he's constantly going on about what a super wife and mother I am and how happy he is that I'm content to stay at home. I haven't had the heart to tell him otherwise and am trying my best to continue to fit in with the Protestant Ladies Association as they are really my only other diversion besides the children.
Speaking of the Association, rumour has it that Paul's nurse Val has her sights set on Jack!
All I can say is, I knew it!
Last Thursday at the monthly General Meeting and Potluck (I brought my famous Peanut butter Chocolate Banana Cream Pie), Mrs. Wilson was all aglow. It seems Val showed up at Jack's house with some kind of French Apple Tart and Mrs Wilson would not stop talking about it!
You would have been proud of me because I kept my tongue, but for some unknown reason the very idea has the hair on the back of my neck standing straight on end!
The very thought of that woman with Jack!
She just rubs me the wrong way - and to be honest Mother, she has never been overly friendly or even particularly polite where myself and the children are concerned.
I never say anything to Paul, but there are times when she's flitting away on a conference with him that I wonder why she wears her skirts so terribly snug.
Of course Paul never notices a thing - when he's around Val he goes out of his way to demonstrate his indifference. However, she certainly must know her way around the examining room because Paul claims - professionally of course - that he can't do without her when away.
According to Mrs. Wilson, Val knows her way around a bakery too; and the ability to purchase a French Tarts is just tres chic enough to give the woman her stamp of approval. She's even gone so far as to invite a group of us to her home next weekend for a Parisienne dinner. Paul and I have been invited as have Val and Jack. I will definitely be writing you after that one!
Speaking of Jack, we had a marvelous time in Regina during Bobby's baseball tournament. Sadly, the boys didn't win - but Jack was so wonderful, and funny, and encouraging with them you'd have thought they were World Series Champions despite some rather shattering losses.
He treated all the boys to a lunch at the Woolworth's counter on the Saturday and Bobby is still talking about his coke float and double cheeseburger! While they had lunch I took the time to do some shopping and found the most wonderful fabrics for my summertime drapery and a lovely hat to wear to church.
As promised, on Saturday evening Jack introduced me to Peking Duck - and though Paul would blow his last gasket if he knew I'd been out to dinner alone with a man - Jack is simply a good friend who, as it turns out, needed someone to talk to. As we ate our crispy, tasty duck and rice, he began to tell me about some of his experiences in the war - sharing his fears of coming home shell shocked. He swore me to secrecy, but says there are some nights when he can't sleep at all for fear of the nightmares.
Mother, I felt so much compassion for him as he told his story - such a big strong man on the outside that, at one point when he got tears in his eyes, I wanted to reach across the table, hold his hand, and make it all better.
Of course, I didn't do this. But he told me yesterday that he's been feeling relieved ever since our trip - like a weight he'd been carrying had been lifted off. I'm just so happy I was able to help.
Well that's all the news from Cherry Hill this week! I will write again soon.
Your loving daughter, Amanda.
Click the link to visit the next installment in the Cherry Hill Web Series: Green Bean Catastrophe
Just getting started with Cherry Hill? Catch up on the rest of the series HERE.
Learn how to make Amanda's Pie and visit the recipe HERE
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Origin: spellscasting.blogspot.com
As channeled by Simon NightStarr
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Sweetheart your bodies! Envision your bodies as Beings of Portend Innovative. This is a very need part of My Roll for your pompous lighting, for you necessary to catch a glimpse of your case in new, higher culminate ways in order for you to in time catch a glimpse of that you, in fact, are NOT a case at all. Until next, it is very need that I bring to mind you specifically habitually (put down your Upper Selves) to impart higher culminate alertness to your case. Bountiful of you are specifically stay that you settle higher than one case, multidimensionally sermon. I inducing that you do not allocate your alertness so a long way away on studying the a number of bodies. Best of you reading this are very hot and bothered with the aspects and components of your bodies, such as troop chakras, somewhat than honorable practicing perceiving your case in a higher HOLISTIC (WHOLISTIC) attire. It is for this inform that I thriving deal perceiving your "true case" as a Portend Be included of Innovative, already acknowledged as your "Innovative Be included."
A simple meditation of focusing culminate alertness on your inner case, on the energy drill of your case, does wonders for your exempt string as well as your natural buff to self-evident your cap wishes. Excess your case as your "Valentine," showering it with love, tenderness and award satisfy never before! Look for it higher culminate alertness. This is considerably solution for your spiritual growth as an empowered personage. You cannot desire bar this, for associates of you who are reading this report, for you are honorable too Perceptive. You have all reached a outline, countless era, of trial that Inwardly Plan of your Upper Creature bring to mind you to control stop strictness of your bodies. Thoughts this commendation, for you inner self find that your manifestational abilities are okay heightened and accelerated as you mizzle your case elementals with resolution love. Public, "I AM choosing to love my physical case in pompous and pompous ways."
Faraway higher on this reliant is friendly, and exceptionally award are countless messages from others at this time that speak with solid lack of warmth on munificent higher culminate alertness and strictness to your case. I inducing that you all be higher appreciation for your own bodies and that you show lookalike early condemning them and sermon badly about your nation-state of health. Your physical case is Forever a watertight thought of your own nation-state of control, no exceptions. No substance what your nation-state of physical health is, you can Forever find something light about your case to be familiar with. You can begin award and next series to culminate all parts of the case until you suspicion a perception of wholeness. Open out your brainpower of your case to have ALL bodies, all beings and all things in your drill of notion, all things in your deep space, and you are well beached in your spiritual verbalize of enjoying your worldly combination as God-in-manifest-form.Namaste.
Reference: pagan-magic.blogspot.com
The beginning of an amazing journey through the year, and the Wheel of Life!As we step back in time, we look to the Ancient Ways of our ancestors who walked the earth and learned its seasonal rhythms. According to the old ways, the year was marked by the solstices (the longest and shortest days) and the equinoxes (the 2 days each year where a perfect balance between day and night, dark and light was achieved). Fourth in the Ancient Ways Collection, "Litha", also called Midsummer and the Summer Solstice, marks a celebration of plenty, a fire festival- and the earth at its prime! This day occurs between June 20th and 23rd each year, and after this day, light begins to wane until the Winter Solstice (Yule), in December. Midsummer was also a time that was regarded as mystical- a time for faeries, magic and dreams. It's a time for merriment, joyous celebration of nature's bounty- the first taste of the fruits of labor, and of the love and passions shared between earth's inhabitants! The Sun Festival was a noisy celebration- marked by bonfires, dancing, singing and drumming into the wee hours of the morning. The month of June was also a traditional month for weddings- a custom that has lasted to this day. Litha is marked by the symbolic fire and light, as well as the sun, by summer flowers such as lilies, roses and lavender, by the sundials that mark the solstice, by faeries that roamed about more freely on Midsummer's Eve and strange things happened, and the mighty oak and the sword that symbolised masculine energy and divinity. The thematic focus of Litha is gratitude for the many gifts and blessings we have, and the open celebration of that bounty.In "Ancient Ways ~ Litha", you will find the vibrant, lively shades of red, green, maize yellow, golden tan, blue and white. This kit is perfect any layouts, your family scraps, summer celebrations, and your powerful journaling projects - you'll find yourself using it for a variety of layouts for years to come!In "Ancient Ways Litha Page Kit" by Microferk Designs, you get a huge selection of papers- 20 patterned, blended and/or textured papers you will use over and over again! Also included are over 45 elements: a large gold frame, 3 silk flowered with metallic button/gem centers, a jeweled button in green and in red, bow and string, folded red ribbon, red bow, red flower buds, foliage, a sheer, creamy knotted ribbon and matching bow, fancy brad, staple, a set of 2 jeweled photo turns, a swirly painterly wave, a fancy long tag, a strip of flames (in paper and in acrylic versions), 2 unique paper frames, a metallic and gem-accented frame, 2 journal blocks, a jewelry tag, both with brad and without, a large Asian lily, a large red rose, an overlay with relevant "midsummer' words, an embellished instant frame, 5 postcards- 2 with classic art faerie scenes and 3 original photography pieces - all lightly distressed and aged, a round tag both with words and without, a string tag topper, a sun symbol, sundial, a distressed patch with a tree, 6 pieces of word art and a gorgeous guitar pic!In "Ancient Ways Litha Page Kit" by Microferk Designs, you also get a full set of alphas, both upper and lower case letters, numbers and 7 extra characters, all in a slightly tarnished metallic finish. Each character is in its own file- no need to 'cut' apart. All elements and papers are created at 300ppi, with papers saved as high-resolution jpgs for stunning print clarity, and elements saved as png files to preserve transparency. Drop shadows are only applied in instances where layering of pieces within an element necessitate shadowing for realism. (Also available separately as "Ancient Ways Litha Papers", "Ancient Ways Litha Elements" and "Ancient Ways Litha Alphas" by Microferk Designs.)Check out the "Ancient Ways Litha Collection" or the "Ancient Ways Collection" for more coordinating products in this line by Studio Miki.Papers:Another View of Papers:Elements:Closeup of Elements:Alphas:And don't forget to check out other products in the "Ancient Ways Collection" by Microferk Designs:(Ostara- coming soon)
Credit: alchemy-and-alchemists.blogspot.com
Shannon shared:
From the Expositor's Bible Commentary -New Testament (Zondervan):
At least the first vision--if not the whole Book of Revelation--was revealed on "the Lord's Day" (kyriake hemera). Since this is the only place in the NT where this expression is used, its identification is difficult. Paul uses kyriake as an adjective in 1 Corinthians 11:20 in reference to the "Lord's supper" (kyriakon deipnon)."
It has more on why that change in terms may be. But I thought I'd give you the facts and save the opinion part unless you really wanted it. I for one did not find the opinions very helpful. Good work on the Greek.
Below is information from the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. I have taken the liberty of omitting as much Greek as possible.
It occurs twice in the NT: 1 Corinthians 11:20 (Lord's Supper) and Revelation 1:10 (Lord's Day). The adjective as thus applied arose on Greek soil, for there is no corresponding adjective in Semitic. A genitive "of the Lord" might have been used instead of the adjective that was used. But the choice of this adjective based on "Lord" is not surprising, since of the Greek adjectives formed from the customary terms for Christ this was the only one which could denote the relation of a thing to Christ; "Christian" was used of people and "bringing salvation" had acquired a differnt sense from "belonging to the savior". If it is asked, then, why the two words, "supper" and "day", are combined with the adjective instead of the genitive "of the Lord", the answer is that this is an indirect relation to the Lord. Examples that us "of the Lord" are "word of the Lord" and "coming of the Lord".
The Lord's Day takes its signifcance from the resurrection of Christ. The "Lord's Day" soon became the day when the congregations assembled. John's Gospel emphasizes that Jesus rose on the first day of the week (John 20:1,19,26) while the reference to the "Lord's Day" in Reveleation 1:10 does not mention its importance as a day of assembly. The custom of not working on the Lord's Day was naturally impossible both for Jewish Christian congregations, which still kept the Sabbath, and for Gentile Christian congregations, which included slaves among their members and which were implicated in many different ways in the everyday life of paganism. The day could be distinguished only by coming together, although in 1 Corinthians 16:2 Paul writes that something for the Jerusalem collection should be laid aside on this day (the actual experession does not occur). Whether this is connected withy payday, as suggested by some, is not certain. Perhaps Paul takes the day when the congregation was assembling and when its thoughts would thus be occupied with church affairs. There is no proof, of course, that the Pauline churches assembled every Lord's Day, or only on the Lord's Day. But the first day of the week already enjoyed a certain prominence in Judaism, since it was the day when creation of the world began. For Christianity the resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of a new age. The fasts on the fourth and sixth days were also connected with the story of Jesus, since they were the days when counsel was taken to destroy Him (Mark 14:1) and when He was crucified.
I don't think any of my thoughts from my first post have changed.
Watch out for the potholes.
Previously, I posted about Col. Toney who sent an email across several Air Force bases. The email was about a man missing all four limbs who was a dedicated Christian.The letter implored the reader to accept Christ. This email also contained a link to an extreme-right Catholic hate site, which contained various defamatory statements about Pres. Obama.
MSgt. Jeffery Thompson contacted me via email this past week and added a few details that were not mentioned in the Stars and Stripes article. He had contacted the Military Equal Opportunity office not once, but several times to file a complaint. He was ignored. The MEO staff seemed confused why a Christian would file a complaint about the matter. They seemed completely unable to understand that even if someone is not offended personally by the story in the email, they could understand why others might be. In addition to ignoring complaints, the MEO office leaked MSgt Thompson's complaint to the Col. Toney. This is a direct violation of AF regulations and a violation of the trust between the MEO office and the service member who comes to the MEO office with a complaint.
Here MSgt Thompson's original letter to Col.Toney in its entirety, posted here with MSgt Thompson's permission:
2 Feb 2009
MSgt Jeffrey L. Thompson
[Address removed]
Colonel Kimberly K. Toney
501 CSW/CC
APO AE 09470
Col Toney,
Our MEO NCOIC, MSgt XXXXXX, suggested that I write you a letter regarding the inspirational email that you sent out to the wing. I initially approached MSgt XXXXXX to get his opinion on the email because I had a concern that your email about Mr. Vujicic seemed to be wing leadership promoting, advancing or endorsing Christian faith. MSgt XXXXXX invited me to his office to discuss the issue. I had expected anonymity IAW AFI 36-2706 (3.18.1 / 4.3.12.7 / 5.2.12.3) to protect my identity until I decided how to proceed, but MSgt XXXXXX informed me that that he has told you my identity regarding this issue. I appreciate that his intentions were good, but approaching the wing commander on what I perceived as a foul has made me very nervous. No one wants to be on the wrong side on their wing commander.
Here is why I perceived the email as proselytizing: Your email to the wing asked us to look to Mr. Vujicic as an opportunity to think about our lives and how we handle our personal and professional challenges. Mr. Vujicic, in the article written just above the video, is described as someone whom the Lord has given an unquenchable passion to share his testimony and hope in Jesus with the world as he introduces Jesus to others and tells of His great desire to know them personally by allowing Him to become their Lord and Savior. By this language, this was Mr. Vujicic's intent and basis of his inspirational message.
MSgt XXXXXX told me that any endorsement of faith by your email was unintentional. My own impression of your email was an organizational endorsement of Christian faith because the email, article and video compelled us to witness an exercise in religious-specific faith that I felt was in conflict with DoD neutrality on religion. Although I am of Roman Catholic faith, I have always felt passionately about keeping religious events out of our mandatory military functions because faith is such an intensely personal, private and emotive issue. A basic tenant of some fundamentalist Christian faiths is their mission to convert others to their faith. When practiced openly or aggressively, this creates an exclusionist atmosphere for those of other faiths and those who reject religion entirely. Perhaps I am especially sensitive to this issue because I have been persistently pursued by fundamentalist Christians throughout my 23-yr career to convert; from supervisors, to subordinates, to the once agenda-covert Military Marriage Seminar, and more recently strong anti-Muslim sentiment and characterization of our current operations in Southwest Asia as a mission from God by the then deputy undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Lt General Boykin. For me, some of the pieces of the puzzle fell into place when the Air Force academy scandal was uncovered in the media. Our top Air Force leaders were being "character-shaped" into a fundamentalist Christian mindset with the help of organizations the Campus Crusade for Christ and The Military Ministry who has run Military Marriage Seminars in order to proselytize.
MSgt XXXXXX disagrees with my perception that your email was proselytizing. He made the point, if I understood him correctly, that because the wing chaplain programs belong to you, that you are able to publicize religious programs. He made the point that the Air Force has legitimate concern in its members' spirituality (not necessarily in a religious sense, but which can include faith). He made the point that after his own thorough review of DoD guidance, AFIs, and chaplain program guidance, he cannot see a direct MEO violation by the email. He made the point that you were unaware that the video and website had a religious association; again if I understand him correctly it was a simple oversight. Despite those clarifications and the context put forth by MSgt XXXXXX, I still cannot set aside my own impression that, even if unintentional, the email promoted and endorsed Christian faith, which creates an environment of exclusion of others that do not share that faith.
I am a deeply reflective person and I thoroughly considered MSgt XXXXXX's reasoning against my own perception of this event. In an attempt to grasp some additional perspective on this issue, I reviewed the MEO AFI and researched other resources such as the Military Religious Freedom Foundation website [www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org] and contacted Mr. Mikey Weintstein, the foundation's president and founder. He is an AF Academy Honor Graduate, served as Judge Advocate General for 10 years, served as the Whitehouse legal counsel to President Reagan for 3 years, and was General Counsel to Mr. H. Ross Perot. He is an attorney and has extensive expertise in MEO religious issues. I requested his perspective and discussed the issue in depth. The act of sending out an email with religious affiliation may not necessarily constitute an MEO institutional barrier. But there are indeed AFI's other DoD regulations that control such distribution, especially from chaplains. In contrast, such messages coming from the commander, as in this situation, almost certainly raises serious issues of Constitutionality. In any event, important legal issue aside, it certainly creates the likely potential to negatively impact the human relations climate of the wing by sending a message of exclusion to those who do not share that faith. Also, by AFI, commanders' support of religious beliefs and practices must be in a manner that is consistent and fair to all. " The Official Air Force Core Values Handbook" (The Little Blue Book) specifically addresses Religious Toleration under part 2, Service Before Self: "Religious toleration. Military professionals must remember that religious choice is a matter of individual conscience. Professionals, and especially commanders, must not take it upon themselves to change or coercively influence the religious views of subordinates."
There is an additional issue. The 4Marks.com website that you linked to in your email explicitly promotes an atmosphere that is hostile to our commander-in-chief, which is potentially detrimental to the good order and discipline of our unit. This website prominently host political extremist media directly linking religion to citizen's voting obligations for and against specific political candidates, such as arguing on religious grounds that "voting for Obama would be wrong," that Catholics were "morally obligated" to vote for McCain-Palin, and that Catholics could not have voted for Obama "without endangering their immortal soul." That Obama "is not fit to our commander-in-chief." That our former President Clinton and our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are "career criminals." That one of the videos pushes that to vote for Obama "would be to assist in his evil," and, "cooperating with evil," and that President Obama is "soft on terrorist." [http://www.4marks.com/videos/details.html?video id=699]
Especially offensive content include: That President Obama is "a veritable forerunner of the Antichrist." That suicide-cult leader Jim Jones "would be proud of these Democrat pied pipers leading their sheep to slaughter." That Obama wants to "kill babies." That our commander-in-chief is "anti-American," influenced by Satanism and inspired by domestic terrorists. That "a good Christian in his right state of mind could [not] vote for such a monster like Obama." That President Obama's mind is "twisted," that his voting record is "sick" and that Vice President Biden is an "American Judas." That in an article titled "America's Dead," President Obama's "election to the presidency, free speech and freedom to practice and freely worship our God may be denied." That, "Given the election of Obama, I fear that the days of the Third Reich are being revisited." That one article is preceded with a photo of President Obama depicted as Hitler, wearing a Nazi uniform and holding a Nazi flag [http://www.4marks.com/articles/details.html?article id=2451]. These are not forum discussions, but are posted articles and videos that make up the message of the 4Marks.com website, just as the video and article of Mr. Vujicic do. One video I saw on the 4Marks website was sponsored by "www.NoHussein.org " who sell anti-Obama merchandise such as a bumper sticker that reads "Obama=666." The 4Marks.com website that your email linked to, seems to part of a network that is contemptuous and disparaging toward our president. These issues are perhaps more relevant to Dissident and Protest Activities, but the organization actively uses religion to discriminate between candidates aggressively uses religion to persuade those who view the website to vote for or against a specific candidate or political party. I believe that MSgt XXXXXX has referred the organization's website to AFOSI to determine if it falls under Dissident and Protest Activity. Additionally, because of 4Marks.com's open and extreme contempt toward President Obama and our other elected officials, and with all respect to you, I am especially troubled that wing leadership linking to, or promoting, the website may violate UCMJ article 88-Contempt Toward Officials.
I do not know what resolution is needed to put right this situation. As a commander you wield a tremendous amount of power over the four Air Base Groups and the 8 installations in the U.K. and Norway that make up our wing. What you say, write, or send out sets our direction and instructs us how to get there. I feel passionately that our job as military members is to defend, among other Constitutional concepts and rights, religious freedom which is understood and consistently defined by our courts as the secularity of government balanced by each individual's freedom of religious faith. We also defend the very core of democracy; individuals voting their conscience, free from coercion and well-informed by our Constitutionally protected press. With all of this said, I will respectfully meet with at your convenience to discuss this issue if you desire for me to so. However, because of my very strong feelings on this subject and the seriousness by which I believe this issue needs to be addressed, I am proceeding with a formal complaint.
Very respectfully,
JEFFREY L. THOMPSON, MSgt, USAF Thank you MSgt Thompson for speaking out. It looks like it is business as usual for the MEO, who have previously ignored cases of rape, sexual harassment, and the rising number of suicides. The latest stylish trend for the MEO is ignoring senior officers who abuse their position of authority by shoving their religion in everyone's faces.
