Sharing Traditions and Rituals

The Orphic followers declared: 'I am a child of Earth and Starry Heaven'.  If I were to describe my own self in a single phrase, it probably would have to be: 'I am a child of Ritual and Tradition'.  Rituals and traditions are part of ordinary life to a small extent, but during holidays and festivals, they often take centre stage.  Especially at Christmas and Easter, the little traditions and rituals of my own family as well as those that have accrued through the years of being a mother, all assume great significance and value.  I could analyse myself to death but even without doing so, it is clear that an insecure childhood that included one of those 'broken homes' and more than one geographical move, played a part in this.  Rituals and Traditions were my sole security and the touchstone that reminded me that I had a family, even when they were thousands of miles away.

Now that my daughter is at University and no longer living with me,  I can see the fault lines in our family traditions.  I see the advantages, never experienced personally, of marrying within one's own culture and religion.  I wanted to go to Mass this morning but no one would accompany me or even take me to Church.  I was reminded of poor Mum in 'Mother and Son' when she sits disconsolately by the door in coat and hat on Christmas Eve, alternately begging, cajoling and threatening her son in the attempt to get to Church on the 'one day that matters'.  He, of course, had planned a Christmas party with his friends...

Having written that, I have to admit that my daughter and I did go to Mass on Christmas Eve together, but she feels that is the sum total of her duty to the 'Birthday Boy' during the Christmas season.  There were times in my life when I went to Mass every morning.  When I was on a cruise this past Spring on the Queen Mary 2, I did attend Mass every morning for a month on the ship.  Things like that do become more precious when opportunities are limited.  I no longer can drive, so could not go to Mass on a daily basis here unless I had friends or family who did so as well.  I do have neighbours next door who are R.C. and attend Mass fairly religiously (ha ha!) but they sent me a text at the last moment last night to say they were going to the Saturday evening Mass instead of their usual early morning Sunday Mass.  Not being terribly attached to my cellphone and being involved in the preparation of dinner as well at that time, I did not even see the text message until the time was long past.

This all made me wonder what it would have been like had I married a Roman Catholic.   There was a big part of me that did not want to create a family where dogma dictated belief and faith.  Even though my daughter attended parochial school, she attended madrasah at the local mosque as well.  Her father was a Lutheran who never set foot in a church except when he was courting me and acting as though Mass were an exciting venue for a romantic date.  As a consummate salesman, he was able to convince me easily of almost anything he wished.  It was only after I told him I was having his child that he underwent a profound sea change in personality and behaviour.

Be that as it may, by sending my daughter both to a Roman Catholic parochial school and Islamic madrasah, I set myself up for the situation that now exists.  She wrote a long paper for a class at university about her childhood and upbringing, in the course of which she thanked me, her mother, for giving her the freedom and ability to choose her own faith.  So be it.  I cannot deny that I am glad she is an individual who is willing to question every authority.  I could not bear it if she blindly followed any creed or political philosophy.  At the same time, I wish she would go to Mass with me more often.

Most Roman Catholics actually would not accept my own religious creed.  I tend to think of myself as a Pagan Catholic because I am closer to the Celtic Catholics in my beliefs than I am to any traditional, strict organised representation of the Church.  I cannot believe that any true infinite deity could care less how, where or when we pray.  I believe that the rules and regulations are there only to help US and have absolutely no bearing on God or our standing with the Deity/Deities.  Why would any Deity of any significance BOTHER with petty rules and regulations?

I love the traditional Mass.  I think that two thousand years have created an interactive poem that is extremely potent both in magic and the ability to touch the soul.  I love the traditional Hymns and Carols.  At the heart of the Mass is Holy Communion and I agree with a Monsignor who declared long ago that every one ought to be able to partake in the sacred mystery, that the sole requirement should be the desire to share in the sacred mystery that transforms ordinary wafers or bread into the Body of Christ.

At the same time, I love Salat and the sacred mysteries of Islam, especially those of the Shia.  I think that I have been very privileged to have had the opportunity to participate in the rites of Muharram, to follow the coffin of the Imam weeping, to be tied to the alam carried by Abbas.  Again, lack of transportation is what ended that participation.  I know that many members of the mosque would not want me to participate if they knew that I celebrated the Roman Catholic Mass as well, but I believe human beings are wrong to dictate where spiritual traditions and rituals are concerned.  Every sacred mystery in any religion has a magic of its own and the ability to ennoble us.

Unfortunately, if I had married a Shia, he probably would have tried to prevent me from setting foot in any Roman Catholic Church and certainly would not have approved of my participationi in the Mass.  If I had married a Roman Catholic, he probably would not have wanted his daughter to attend Islamic Madrasah.  In either case, my daughter probably would have been far more rigid in her beliefs.

Thus, the loneliness I experience in terms of the religious aspects of Christmas.   I brought it upon myself to some extent.  I have to admit as well that, in the same way that 'stolen sweets are sweetest', the fact that I have no means of transport to the Church makes the Mass far more precious to me.  If I still could drive, I wonder if I would attend Mass on a daily basis.  I certainly did not do so when I had a car and ability to drive.

Christmas may be primarily the celebration of the birth of Christ but the traditions of Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus or Father Christmas are extremely important to me.  Again, it is tradition and ritual that make any festival special for me.   Christmas Eve Mass must share prominence with the trimming of the Tree, the Advent Candles, the wreath on the door, the hanging of the stockings on Christmas Eve and note to Santa or Father Christmas, along with an offering of sweets and eggnog (milkshake in our house!).   Christmas Crackers are an integral part of the festival as well.  Without the popping of the Cracker, the silly paper crowns, the shoddy little prize and the joke that must be read aloud, Christmas would be incomplete.

So... to share this year's Christmas Cracker joke:

What do elves learn in school?
Answer:  The elf-abet.

The Sad Perversion of Boxing Day

Boxing Day is an essentially Anglo-Saxon or British tradition, and it is celebrated primarily throughout the Commonwealth.  It falls always on the day after Christmas or 26 December and was named 'Boxing Day' because it was the day when the Churches opened their alm boxes and distributed all the contents to the poor.  It was the day as well traditionally when servants and those entrusted with deliveries (milk, newspapers and so on) were given gifts.  In other words, it was a day of GIVING. 

Now, however, it has become a day when individuals rush out to BUY items for themselves usually at 'deep discounts', whether in order to purchase the gifts they failed to receive from others on Christmas or to buy items for their own homes or enhancement of life.  No longer does the day focus on giving to others.  It is consumerism at its most blatant, fostered by businesses who are desperate to unload the products of the dying year to make way for new inventory.

On this Boxing Day, let us try to remember others.  Visit a Neighbour, friend or family member even if only to exchange Christmas Greetings and heartfelt wishes for the coming year. 

DIY (not DUI) for Christmas

Although I am not really a fan of primitive hand-crafted items, I do love hand-crafted items when they are elegant, pretty or beautifully made.  Europe is the centre for hand-crafted Christmas Ornaments.  There are villages that are famed far and wide for their Christmas Markets where one can shop for Ornaments and Decorations throughout the year. 

My Mum and her best friend used to make an annual shopping pilgrimage of sorts to Germany and Eastern Europe to visit all the Christmas Markets.  She kept most of them for herself but I do have a handful of lovely little Tree decorations from these expeditions.  When I was in Munich, I bought a painted metal ornament and always wish I had been able to buy more.  (I suppose I am more like my mother than I would like in some respects.  I certainly have inherited her love of luxury items.   She criticises me constantly for my 'collections', pretending that hers are 'accidental' while mine are deliberate.  Oh the convoluted reasoning of parents and their children!!!  I hope I am better with my daughter. )

In any case, one of the most charming of hand-crafted Christmas Tree decorations is the walnut.  Half of a walnut makes a perfect little 'box' or setting for a Nativity scene or a cradle for the Christ Child.  In Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and Germany, these were quite popular back in the day.  Hallmark in the States produced some rather awful plastic versions but it is difficult to find the genuine article. 

At this point in my life, I would love to make a set of walnut ornaments but without transportation, I am rather limited in my ability to obtain the necessary materials.  Although I am not terribly adroit where crafting is concerned, it always fires the imagination.  Invariably, the result is disappointing, far removed from my ideal and often grandiose visions.

A few days ago, I explored one of the boxes that contained my Christmas decorations and had not been opened for over a decade.  I opened a itny box and found a rather charming little Flower Fairy reposing within it.  I was delighted by it... and then I suddenly realised that I had made it myself!  Quite a surprising discovery in a way.  Once i remembered that I had made it, I began to notice the little imperfections.  Nevertheless, it is a charming little fairy and I am pleased that I went to the effort so long ago.

My mother told me that she found a little Cavalier ornament that I had made once upon a time.  I cannot imagine what that looks like, although she told me it is fashioned of silk and other elegant materials.  I was obsessed with Cavaliers as a child.  The Three Musketeers was one of my favourite books and my friends and I used to have sabre duels and played out scenes from 'Twenty Years After'.  I went so far as to cut off a bit of my sister's hair while she slept to fashion a proper Cavalier's mustache for myself.  I doubt she has forgiven me to this day for that.  She is like the elephant, holding grudges forever.    I used her hair because it was thicker and more luxurious than mine.  Mine tended to curl as well, where hers was less opinionated in its directions.

This brings me to a subject I probably have beaten well into the ground by now: Christmas in online games.  I think that one of the aspects of Family Farm that I have enjoyed most this Advent Season is the ability to make decorations for the Farm.  It is very creative as well.  One can make decorations from feathers and fabric, but one also can make them from food items.  There are wonderful little Christmas Trees made from Cherry Tomatoes and blocks of cheese.  There is an elegant, sleek Reindeer Candle made from the metal beaten from Horseshoes one obtains from a specific type of Horse.  Candles often are lit by fireflies in this game.  In the Workshop, one can make a Candy Cane Arch with live fireflies slitting about it.

I wish I could make some of these decorations in the 'real world', but I have to confess that it is rather satisfying to make them even in a virtual world.  If one cannot make them for the real Christmas Tree, still it fills the spirit with the excitement of the Advent Season to make them to decorate a virtual Farm.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

(Screenshot from Family Farm showing the Ornament Machine as well as the Pancake Machine)

There is a song that urges the listener to 'have yourself a Merry Little Christmas', and I always hated it for some reason.  I think it partly was because it sounded so self-indulgent, so contrary to the spirit of Christmas which is one of sharing, and partly because my Mum would quote it frequently, as she embarked upon another project of her own.   I still dislike the song, but I understand the principle better now and I myself would urge people who have no one to help with the Christmas Magic to create a little Christmas Magic for themselves.

Thank God for the internet!  Over the past two decades, in the course of writing strategy guides for games as Freyashawk, I have seen how it can transform the lives of those who for whatever reason cannot leave their homes or otherwise perform the actions that most people take for granted.  Since I became physically disabled, the internet became a lifeline of sorts, not only to allow me to shop for necessities but to distract me from severe chronic pain.

As is so often the case, it was an activity that my Mum condemned outright without knowing anything about it that was a salvation for me.  Gaming saved my sanity.  I wrote an article about it for Pain Management a number of years ago, hoping they would share it with others.  I do not think they did anything with it.  I probably should send it out myself because I believe I am uniquely qualified to write about the subject, not only as some one who is disabled, but as some one who, by virtue of writing strategy guides, came into contact with hundreds of individuals who were in a similar situation.

It is not only gaming and online gaming in particular, that offers individuals a wider canvas upon which to work, especially during the holiday season.  Applications like Facebook, for all their flaws, give people who are lonely or isolated or otherwise incapable of face-to-face social interactions, the ability to share the joys and magic of the holiday season with the world.

Virtual realities never should be mistaken for the 'bricks and mortar' reality in which we exist, but in their own way, they can be as valid as any reality in terms of alleviating depression, loneliness or pain.  'Outreach' gained a much longer reach with the internet.  For those who need the aid of 'support groups' and such, the internet offers them a way of communicating and interacting with others in like circumstances.  For those who simply love to celebrate the magic of Christmas or other holidays but cannot leave their homes, there are many venues where one can participate in the traditional Yuletide activities, from finding and trimming a tree to crafting and sharing decorations and gifts.

I personally recommend the farming simulation games as the most satisfying and least stressful for those who are looking for a virtual reality that acknowledges the Chrismtas season.  In the past four years, I have played FarmVille, Farm Town, CityVille, Lovely Farm, Fantasy Kingdoms, Castle & Co., Gourmet Ranch and Family Farm, to mention a few.  Some, like Lovely Farm and Castle & Co. no longer exist.  These games all have their own unique characters and personal preference determines how much a player enjoys a specific game as much as the actual 'playability' or long-term satisfaction that any game provides.

A friend of mine who loves food and cooking plays Gourmet Ranch religiously.  It is a quirky game that focuses on bizarre Recipes that require amazingly creative Crops and Animals as ingredients.  For me, though, it is Family Farm that dominates and offers options that are superior to any other farming simulation game. 

FarmVille once was the giant among farming simulation games but it has lost much of its following for a number of reasons.  It allowed too many external applications to load advertisements on its page and now takes an unconscionably long time to load.  Often it will crash repeatedly before it loads.  Furthermore, rather than offering one new option at a time, allowing players to explore with ease, it will bombard players with a multitude of new options.  This is counterproductive, in my view.  I continue to play FarmVille, but only in a very basic fashion.  It is exhausting and frustrating now, where once it was fun and even magical.  Furthermore, the very aggressive attempts to force players to spend significant amounts of real money on the game have become off-putting.  This all is a great pity, because I invested over three years in the game.

What does Family Farm offer that other games do not give a player?  For a start, crops NEVER wither.  That eliminates stress.  Other games attempt to force players to invest real money in farm aids that 'unwither' Crops or prevent them from withering.  In Family Farm, every Crop is protected from the moment one begins to play the game.  Another option that is lacking in many other farming simulation games is a significant 'loyalty' reward.  Where many games do not ever give the player premium cash and those who do limit the reward to 1 unit of premium cash each time a player's experience level is raised, Family Farm gives 10 units of premium cash frequently to players who have logged into the game every day.  Even before one is entitled to 10 premium cash, daily rewards will give smaller amounts until one reaches the point where 10 units are given.  I do not know of ANY other game that is as generous.

Some farming games limit energy.  I never would play those games.  FarmVille does not limit energy, nor does Family Farm.  Unfortunately, Crops will wither in FarmVille, unless one pays a fairly large sum of money for an 'Unwither Ring'.  Each Farm in FarmVille needs its own Unwither Ring to protect its Crops.  This can become exceedingly expensive.

The political campaigns that have discouraged, threatened or blackmailed society into designating the Yuletide or Christmas Season as a generic 'holiday season' has affected many online games but Family Farm is refreshingly free of such constraints.  It celebrates St. Nicholas Day and the festival of Sinterklaas.  It celebrates Christmas with unabashed enthusiasm.  That, for me, is an enormous incentive to play the game.

It is fascinating to watch the development of online games over the course of time.  Family Farm began with fairly simple Crops, Trees and Animals and simple Machines that would convert their harvests into Products that could be sold for Coins.  As it progressed, however,  the Crops, Trees and Animals became more fanciful and exotic.  The Machines underwent a transformation as well and became far more creative and interesting.  There now are machines that produce Marzipan and Christmas Ornaments and the graphics are astounding.   The Christmas Ornament machine, for example, features a Snow Globe at the top thar revolves as the Machine works to produce a variety of beautiful Ornaments.

Beyond this, another new option in the form of Crafting has been added to the game.  FarmVille has had Crafting for a long time, but the Items one makes can be used only in trade or as materials to produce other materials for projects.  In Family Farm, one can craft decorations that actually can be placed on the farm or used to Trim a Christmas Tree.  It has been a great joy to be able to craft Christmas decorations during this Yuletide season.

In FarmVille, Christmas has been masqued through the use of Animals rather than the Holy Family.  In Family Farm, this is not the case.  There are decorations that feature Angels, for example.  The graphics have an old-fashioned charm that is very refreshing in this decade.

One may play these games alone but 'groups' exist on Facebook to help fellow 'Farmers' and share ideas and responses to new options.  For the most part, social interactions are positive, even if they may lack any profound social implications.  In all honesty, though, how profound are many of our 'real' social interactions?  We all have close personal friends but in our daily lives, how often are these the people with whom we actually interact? 

Unfortunately, the internet with its instantaneous communications  in a format that usually omits the old courtesies such as greetings and farewells has influenced real-life behaviour.  Too often now, in supermarkets or on highways, people treat others with the quick dismissals and lack of common empathy that is the hallmark of internet communication.  'Friendships' are made and broken on venues such as Facebook in a second with the click of a button.   If an individual can use another Neighbour for the purpose of a game, he or she goes out to find more Friends.  When the attraction of the game pales, those 'Friends' are 'Unfriended' without any explanation being given.  If a person does not like a so-called Friend's point of view on an issue, he/she may be 'Unfriended' summarily.  I have seen it again and again.  Idealistically, one would have thought that online communications would be a means by which individuals could be educated as to the opinions and perspectives of others.  Instead, it is a place where individuals reign supreme in their own little accounts and wield the power of virtual life and death over all others, often with total abandon.  Does the fact that a person holds a political or religious opinion or belief that is opposed to one's own make that person bad or evil or even unworthy of friendship?  In the realm of Facebook or other forums, often that is all it takes to end a virtual relationship that was created with no more thought than that which officiated over its demise.   Likewise, in the realm of reality, one witnesses behaviour of people surrendering to 'road rage' or making other instant judgements that can end in violence based on nothing more than a random gesture during an encounter. 

Despite all of this, the internet offers power to the powerless and it can be positive as long as the user remembers that even virtual realities are inhabited by REAL people.  It is wonderful when a person who has lost all mobility in real life can regain it in a virtual setting, when some one who cannot leave home at all can communicate with others throughout the globe and 'travel' by virtue of shared photographs, articles and personal journals published on the internet.  It is wonderful when some one who once loved gardening but who no longer can tend to any real plot of land can plant and harvest crops and flowers and exercise creativity in landscaping in a virtual setting.  It is wonderful when our celebrations of holidays can be as extraordinary as imagination allows without reference to the limitations of money and space that reality imposes.

I therefore wish that every one should be able to 'have yourself a Merry Little Christmas' this year and may 2014 bring even greater freedom in virtual worlds to those who have lost it for whatever reason in the so-called real world.

The Sorrows and Joys of Christmas

The photograph above was taken by a lady named Bev Jakins.  It is one of the most poignant and beautiful pictures of a Christmas Tree that I ever have seen.  Beautiful and amazing because these are real birds nestling in the boughs of a trimmed Tree.  Poignant because they were her beloved pets who now have departed from this world.  She gave me permission to post the photograph here.

I think now that it was after Ernst's death that I basically gave up on Christmas.  It was that and the fact that Freya had reached a stage where she no longer wished to write a note to Santa on Christmas Eve.  In other words, she was not interested in making any contribution to the magic.  My sister and I continued to write notes to Santa even after we had our own children.  It was part of our family tradition and whenever we were at home, our notes were answered.  Ritual and tradition are sacrosanct to me.  They hold things together even when the core of life falls apart.

Ernst never was anything more than a very good friend, but he probably was closer to being a soulmate in many ways than most people I have encountered.  He listened to me and ALWAYS acted as though he were interested in everything I thought or said.  I would tell him about things that I had seen, that I liked.  Whether or not he sent them was really not as important as the fact that he listened to my descriptions and engaged in my own excitement.

I lived in so many different places when I became an adult and went through so many different relationships that I never really established a proper home.  Christmas is very much a home festival.  Somehow, though, I collected a few ornaments through the years and no matter where I lived or what my financial circumstances, I tried to have a very small real tree, even if I were alone.  When Freya was born, though, Christmas changed into something quite extravagant.  Ernst and I both went a bit mad over Christmas and its rituals and decorations.  Ironic in a way that the person who shared Christmas the most with me lived hundreds of miles away and was not the father of my child.

Years passed and Ernst died.  Freya would not decorate the Tree with me and after I became disabled, it was extremely difficult to haul boxes and boxes up and down flights of spiral stairs before and after Christmas.  I suppose much of the joy had been lost as well.  Apart from that, everything reminded me too much of Ernst.   He really had been Father Christmas both for Freya and for me.  It is odd to admit that, as an adult woman, I had a genuine Father Christmas in my life but that was precisely what he was.  It was not only books and clothes and little luxuries like good soap and toiletries.  He sent the treats that one associates with the Season.  All my favourite English foods like mince pies and Devon cream, lovely preserves and Maple Sugar sweets from Maine where he lived.

As usual, I am not coming to the point directly.  With this move, I have been unable to bring much to the house but I made certain to unearth the Christmas decorations.  After over a decade, I finally opened boxes containing some of my favourite ornaments.  It is a bittersweet experience.  The wonderful friend who gave many of them to me is dead.  My daughter is at University and I essentially am experiencing the Advent Season alone.  When I tried to decorate the room with the fireplace here, my efforts were met with rather violent and bitter hostility, rather to my shock.  So there is no communion here.

I bought a little Blue Spruce Tree and placed it on the landing.  I hope that Freya will want to buy a larger tree and help me 'trim' it when she comes home, but she never has done any of the decorating, so the most I can expect is that we will go on the tree-hunting expedition together and perhaps she will bake while I decorate.    Meanwhile,  the Advent season is here.

I open the boxes that contain some of the most precious memories from my past and I cry a little but there is a part of me as well that takes joy in the beauty of these ornaments.   I know a lot of people who act as though little objects such as these are beneath them.  They like empty spaces and minimalism.  I don't.  I've lived in too many strange, empty spaces in my life.  Even when I stay in a hotel somewhere, I set out a few little personal items to make it akin to some sort of 'home'  I do not delight in sterile environments.   Clutter to me is kind of magical.  It goes back to John Cole's Book Shop and an enormous desk with drawers filled with odd little jumbled assortments of treasures.  One never knew what one would find there and the contents of any given drawer had no real theme or predictability.

My room is like that.  I don't think any one has said anything entirely positive about it actually.  Both my Mum and my daughter were rather unflattering.  Well, as far as I am concerned, it is irrelevant.  It is my only sanctuary and I will surround myself with things that have significance to me.  I'm not looking for a spread in an interior design periodical.

The photographs above are of two Christmas decorations that really belong on a very large, handsome Tree.  As I do not have such a Tree at the moment, I decided to hang them in my room temporarily.

The little angel doll for 'Baby's First Christmas' is very precious to me.  By the time I had Freya, I had become convinced that I never would be able to have a child.  Her first Christmas was an extraordinary event spiritually for me.  The birth of the Christ Child and the birth of my own daughter were both cause for great celebration, despite the rathe difficult circumstances of her birth.

The little white Unicorn is very special for a different reason.  It was a Christmas Gift from a guy who probably was more in tune with my own sense of magic than any one else with whom I ever had a relationship.  Sadly, he was very seriously addicted to heroin.  Despite the problems inherent in that, he made Christmas absolutely magical.  He made me the best Christmas stocking I ever had and one of the few I ever received from a guy.  I had seen the unicorn in a local shop and loved it.  We didn't have much money and I could not afford to buy it.  Looking back, I cannot imagine it cost THAT much, but I simply did not have the money for it.  He surprised me with it for Christmas.

We actually made stockings for one another.  He sewed mine and I sewed his after buying the felt and some embroidered decorations at a shop.  I have the stocking still.  I am almost absurdly sentimental.  He blessedly is NOT one of those close friends of mine who now is dead.  He no longer uses either.  I hope that he is sharing his own special sense of the Christmas Spirit with some one special in his life.

For my part, I am glad that I have so many memories and beautiful reminders of times past, even if there are some tears mingled with the joy of celebrating the birth of the Divine Child.   At Christmas Eve Mass, I always cry when the lights are dimmed, the candles lit and we sing 'Silent Night' while contemplating the creche with the Christ Child at its centre.  The carol is one that inspires intense emotion for some reason but beyond that, it always fills me with a renewed sense of the miracle of Christmas and the faith that we hold close to our hearts despite all of life's disappointments and pain.  I use the word 'Faith' in a wide sense to include the child's belief in Father Christmas as well as the visit of the Three Kings at Twelfth Night.  Faith is not the same as dogma after all.  It is that sustaining belief in Magic that defies the small-minded who claim that nothing exists beyond all that has been proved scientifically.  What difference does proof make to the landscape of the soul?   For me, Christmas is a season of great magic.  Christianity is a part of it but so are the ancient pagan traditions of the Winter Solstice.  Neither is diminished by the power of the other.  A rich inner life can accommodate both and indeed far more.

A Prayer for a Miracle

If God exists and if God cares about the fall of a sparrow, why not the life of a fish?  I do believe in miracles, although I realise they are few and far between and that our concept of what is best usually bears little or no resemblance to any universal reality.  After all, we may pray for a being to remain alive but if there is an afterlife, most of our myths and legends promote it as far superior to this life.  So why do we cling to this life and pray that our loved ones not die?

Oh well... I still am pleading with the Divine Being here and now for the life of little Murdoc, the dragon goldfish that Freya brought home years ago.  He has been with me longer than the Puttikins, oddly enough.  He must be nine years old at least.  I thought he was extraordinarily ugly at first with his huge 'bug eyes' or 'pop eyes'.  As I cared for him month after month, year after year, I bonded with him.  I grew to love him.  He is part of the family... and he has been dying now for three days.  I thought he had died this morning and was preparing a burial shroud when I saw a gill move.

He is on his back most of the time now.  I never knew a fish to recover from that position but... I do believe in miracles, so let's make a deal, God!  A deal that offers you absolutely nothing beyond my boundless and eternal gratitude.  I will not rage if Murdoc dies but I will weep.  I was weeping this morning, even though I do understand more than most people, as I am in pain all the time, that Death is a release from pain and misery, loss and sorrow and everything else that bedevils the human soul and body.  But please... come to my aid here, Divine Mother of All, and hear my prayer, mother to mother, and set Murdoc gently back into balance so he can continue to swim and breathe and be part of this strange little family of mine.

Murdoc died two days later.  I suppose I expected that.   Wouldn't it be lovely though if we could have some miracles from time to time?

St. Nicholas Day

Today is the 6th of December.  It is the Feast Day of St. Nicholas.  The 13th of December is the Feast Day of St. Lucy or Santa Lucia.  These feast days are a part of the Advent Calendar and somehow have become the dates when specific Christmas traditions are celebrated in certain parts of the world.  Gift-giving is very much a part of Christmas in the same way that it is integral to Ramadhan.  Charity towards the impoverished and helpless is a theme in the many myths of St. Nicholas.  The Winter Season in the Northern world always was harsh and the poor would suffer more from lack of shelter, heat and food.  It is ironic that the United States now heralds the Advent Season with a festival of Thanksgiving that is an occasion for consumers to shop until they drop.  The so-called 'Black Friday' when sales are aggressive now has been extended to embrace Thursday, the day of the Thanksgiving Feast.  Fights often break out and the queues before the sales even begin are obscene.  Are people buying gifts for others specifically or are they more concerned with 'bargain-hunting'?  I suspect the latter.  It is greed rather than charity that motivates the Black Friday events.

Whatever the ugliness that has obscured the magic of the season, I would like to share some images of St. Nicholas:

The Divine Right of Humanity to Rule the Earth

Once upon a time, God created the Heavens and the Earth and the Earth was without form, and Void and Darkness covered the Earth.  And God created Light for the Heavens and Earth from the  Divine Light and then created Humanity and Animals and Plants.  God then said:

'You will be my khalifs, Rulers of the Earth, to take charge of the Earth because I have bestowed upon you more power than the other creatures of this planet.  And you will assume full responsibility for the well-being and security of all living things for with the mantle of Power comes the duty to protect and care for the helpless.'

Then God commanded:  'Learn to read and write and write my message so that your descendants will understand their duties and their destiny on Earth.'

But upon the Earth there was a tribe who, having learned to read and write, came to a land of milk and honey and lusted for it.  And what they wrote was:  'And God declared:  You are my chosen people.  Take the land of milk and honey for your own and destroy its inhabitants.  Leave not one single stone standing for you are better than all the other creatures and if they are in your path, you have the right to sweep them into oblivion.'

Many thousands of years passed and the race of humans grew in arrogance and the arts of deception.  The descendants of the invaders who had translated the message of God into their own manifesto persuaded others of their special divine right and the true message of God being lost, all humanity believed in its right to use and abuse the Earth as it pleased.

God does not need to send down a Flood to cleanse the Earth of the arrogant and irresponsible.  When the people themselves destroy the fundamental integrity of the Earth, destruction will follow as surely as Night follows Day.  Poison the soil and those who consume the fruits of that soil will be poisoned.  Remove the backbone of the mountains and all that holds the waters in place and floods will follow as inevitably as Day follows Night.  We are creating our own Doom.  Why should we look to God to save us when we continue to pervert the Divine Message, continue to destroy our inheritance and refuse to perform our duties as the Rulers over all Earth's creatures and all living things?