Quiet

I am finding my way in spiritual terms, and I am not currently in "blogging about it" mode.

Starting to explore the site: www.buddhanet.net, as well as various other spiritual websites, including many personal blogs on spiritual themes.  More links can be found on: http://paulapuddephatt.tripod.com. 

I wrote a short poem, in the build up to this year's Winter Solstice.  I just posted it on: www.paulapoems.blogspot.com.  It also appears on: http://paulapuddephatt.tripod.com/poetry and I posted it on Tumblr.  It was written spontaneously, and didn't go through any real editing process.  It expresses deep emotions, a sense of spirituality, a moment captured - was written in a morning after very little sleep.  I feel that the poem refers to my feelings about the moon goddess Rhiannon.  I have talked about Rhiannon in previous blog posts.

That is all for now.  Blessed be. xxx

taken from Michele Knight's latest newsletter

We are here to love and we do love.  We love people, pets, places, possessions, jobs – all sorts of things.  The Buddha said that the pain of loving and losing is part of the human condition, and that our spiritual journey is to learn to love without attachment.  We can’t not love.  So all we can do is learn to love and let go.

 So what can we love when everything is in a constant process of change?  We can love life itself.  We can love all of its cycles, gifts and challenges.  We can fall in love with our own mystical life force that is a reflection of the energy at work across the entire universe.

Fairy oracle cards

I so don't know what to make of that.  I just drew the "Pregnancy" card.  There is one of the alternative meanings which might be relevant, but I wonder if one of my friends is expecting?  It definitely isn't me.  :-(  I have had that card before, but not recently...I did actually ask about my IBS and physical health problems, but I don't think that I meditated upon my question(s) for long enough.  But maybe the relevance of the card will make sense, when I go away and think some more about it.  I don't normally discuss what cards I draw.  I'm not sure if I should be or not, but on this occasion, it just felt right to do a blog post...

I do feel that using my oracle cards helps, though.  I have tarot cards too, but haven't so far got into them, really.  I got put off early on, as the first card I ever drew for myself was The Devil.  I know that it does have positive as well as negative meanings, but...I don't know, guess I just don't feel comfortable with the concept of "The Devil"...

Cherry picking?

So, there are still aspects that I love about both Wicca and Quakerism, and parts which I'm not sure are "for me".  Is that what my husband would call "cherry picking"?  Or, to use another term - "spiritual shopping"?  Or is it spiritual honesty?  Is it actually wrong to "cherry pick"?  Wicca, Quakerism - and I am reading up on Buddhism, too...

Anyway, I need to read more, and make time to meditate.  I need to feel for the answers and find my own way.

Spiritual poems

I am starting to go back to some of my poems, many of which had spiritual themes, written in 2007/08 (approx.) and discarded, for various reasons.  Some I now feel able to read again, honour, edit a little, and revive. :-)

The Wiccan Rede

"An ye harm none, do as ye will."  I know that there are various versions of the full poem, but that is the important part: the Wiccan Rede.  I'm not really Wiccan, but I'm influenced, and deeply inspired, by Wicca.  And I absolutely love the Wiccan Rede.  It is simple, beautiful, powerful and just so true.

God(dess) comes to all nations...

I just believe that!  So I don't believe that any one religion or spiritual path has "all of the answers".  If that makes me a "spiritual seeker" or "spiritual shopper", so be it.  It is just so hard when you don't really fit in anywhere, but I've had that problem throughout my life.  I persist, and defend what I believe to be right and true.  I am happy with the term "Quagan" - as labels go - but true spirituality transcends all labels.  It isn't a case of which, if any, "club" you belong to.  That's how I see it, anyway.  All religions contain truth and value, and if we have open minds and hearts, we can learn from each other, and be loving and compassionate towards other people - and animals - and trees etc, as they have spirits, too.