Question of the Week: Pagan Authors and Books

So I’m on a reading kick this week.  I got into a good book and now I just don’t want to stop.  This post will be short, sweet, and to the point so I can return to my book!

Do you have any favorite Pagan/New Age/metaphysical books or authors?  Why are they your favorite?

Share your response below!

Finding the Spiritual in the Everyday

Finding the spiritual side of everyday life can feel like a monumental task. How, you may ask, can sweeping the balcony or driving to work be a spiritual act? How could watching a tv program have spiritual meaning?  Such mundane, seemingly unimportant acts can be transformed into spiritual acts if you set the intention to make them so.  For example, playing with your cat or dog can be just play and a good time, or it can be turned into a good time and a communion with Air and the Maiden Goddess (Air for the laughter that moves air through the body; the Maiden because Air is the element of the East, Her quarter, and playfulness is a quality of the Maiden).  What matters is that you set the intention, however briefly, to make the mundane act a spiritual one.  Awareness of the action is important.  Otherwise, it may make you feel good, but it likely wouldn’t have the same impact.

It’s even possible to find spiritual significance in something like a television show.  Believe it or not (and I can’t believe I’m admitting to this, but I am, so don’t laugh), I found a spiritual truth in a key episode of the British show “Doctor Who.”  It was the episode in which Rose, the Doctor’s companion, says “I create myself.”  I had watched that episode so many times, and nothing particularly spiritual or enlightening struck me about that scene.  And then I watched it after a particular class one evening and BAM! everything just clicked into place and I felt this bubble within expand until it filled all of me and burst, and for a moment the lesson resonated and felt so right.  The lesson I had been trying to understand from class, which had never truly made sense before, just all of a sudden clicked within me. I realized that, like this character in a tv show said, I create myself.  I make myself into the person I want to be.  I am the universe and the universe is me.  There’s more than just that, but it’s rather lengthy, and I don’t want to bore anyone with it.  Suffice to say, I found deep truths in an episode of science fiction.  I’m sure there are people out there who have found deep meaning in episodes of “Star Trek,” or “Stargate SG-1″ or “Avatar”.  It’s easier to spot if you’re paying attention, but sometimes they really can just sneak up on you when you’re ready to hear the message.  The same goes for movies.

Back to more mundane tasks.  Anything to do with cleaning–washing dishes, laundry, scrubbing floors or carpets, sweeping, spring cleaning, etc.–can be viewed as a cleansing act of not only the physical environment, but the inner environment as well.  Set the intention that when you clean or wash or scrub or sweep away the dirt, you are also cleaning out your spirit, and the energetic “dirt” from this spiritual cleansing is expelled from you and your space when you take out the trash or let the water drain when you’re done cleaning.

Cleaning is probably the easiest of the mundane tasks to turn into a spiritual activity.  But what about something like driving to work?  Or cooking a meal?  Well, commuting can be turned into an exercise in patience and goodwill toward others, which, depending on your driving habits, may be a challenge.  Cooking is an excellent way to acknowledge the earth and create a connection to the food you put in your body.  I don’t particularly enjoy cooking for myself, but I do like cooking for others.  I’ve noticed that when I cooked the food while in a good mood, it tends to taste much better than it would if I cooked while in a bad mood.  I pay attention when I’m cooking now, and pay attention most of the time to what’s going on my plate and into my body.

Once you start thinking of ways to make your days more magical, it gets easier to see how just about any activity in the average day can be turned into something that has spiritual significance.  This is especially freeing for those who are still in the closet and/or living with family that is not open to Pagan practices.  It’s easier to keep to spiritual practices if you can turn them into everyday actions that wouldn’t tip off unyielding family members.  This can also be good practice for those who are out of the closet as well.  Seeing the magic or spiritual side in the mundane opens the eyes to a whole new magical world in which anything and everything can have significance.

Snapshot Saturday: St. Dunstan’s in the East

I am a big fan of Sara Douglass‘ books.  In one of her series, a particular church in London is featured.  So when I realized I would be stopping in London, I made it my mission to find this church and visit for a while.  I thought it would be so awesome to visit a place used in books I read.

I found it, and it was more incredible than I expected.  The sense of peace emanates from its stones, and even though this church and its walls have seen so much in the city, its  churchyard is still a place of welcome and repose.  To find out more about St. Dunstan’s in the East, see my pictures below or read here or here.

Review: ‘The Celestine Prophecy’, by James Redfield

The Celestine Prophecy, by James Redfield
published 1997 by Warner Books, Inc.
IBSN 9780446671002
246 pages
Author information here
Buy at Amazon
GoodReads
Shelfari
Copy is borrowed
Rating: 1 out of 5
________________________________________________________ About the Book: (from Amazon) In the rain forests of Peru, an ancient manuscript has been discovered. Within its pages are 9 key insights into life itself — insights each human being is predicted to grasp sequentially; one insight, then another, as we move toward a completely spiritual culture on Earth. Drawing on ancient wisdom, it tells you how to make connections among the events happening in your life right now and lets you see what is going to happen to you in the years to come. The story it tells is a gripping one of adventure and discovery, but it is also a guidebook that has the power to crystallize your perceptions of why you are where you are in life and to direct your steps with a new energy and optimism as you head into tomorrow.

My Thoughts: While I found some parts of the book interesting, and some kernels of truth in its pages, I can’t say I would recommend this as a book for spiritual learning or as a book with great literary merit.  The plot is contrived at times, and while I have no trouble believing that the Church would go to extremes to protect its power (hello, look at history), or that a government would attempt to suppress empowering knowledge, I still find it hard to believe that a manuscript with spiritual wisdom could be so threatening to both.  Perhaps that is my own naivete, but I struggled with the premise that the Peruvian government would really care all that much about a manuscript.  The Church, I could believe would be that threatened.

Much of the plot is based on coincidence–which, as many authors knows, is a very wrong move when structuring a story.  Even though Redfield sets it up at the very beginning that coincidences are significant moments (this isn’t a spoiler or anything, I promise, it comes up very early on) meant to guide a person on their path and present opportunities; these coincidences are also the result, in part, of getting what you’ve asked for.  Redfield uses this premise to move the story along throughout the book.

I understand that the plot isn’t necessarily the main point of the novel, but you also can’t get away from the fact that it is a novel.  It’s a work of fiction interlaced with spiritual ideas.  It’s compelling because it presents compelling ideas, not because its plot or its characters are unusual or different or intriguing.

The main character (I don’t think he’s ever named) proceeds to learn about and unearth nine insights via various people, including scientists, priests/monks, beautiful women, and explorers.  All of this builds up to a stunning ninth insight that is so revolutionary it scared the church and the government into action.

I don’t want to tell you what the insights are–if you decide to read it, then telling that much would basically give you the entire book.  If you’re interested in finding out, there are other reviews that detail the entire book.  All I’ll say about the insights and the ninth insight is that while I do find some of these insights applicable and even sensible or wise, I very much doubt the ninth insight Redfield reports.  It describes the next stage of human evolution, but in such a way that I am highly skeptical and, frankly, it was something of a let-down.

The book depends on the reader buying into the insights and the adventure to find them all.  Aside from one or two kernels of truth and actual insight, such as being aware of one’s own actions and realizing we are all connected, the book has no literary value.  It is entertaining, but beyond that, I don’t find much value in it.  The insights presented are the kind of insights we would all be aware of if we stopped to actually think rather than just exist–the insights aren’t really revolutionary insights at all.

Overall, I give it a rating of 2 stars out of 5–it was entertaining, after all.

Question of the Week: Metaphysical Authors

I’m starting to get back into Pagan and metaphysical books–I had gotten out of reading them because I got busy and then I wanted to read more fantasy novels than I wanted Pagan books.  But I’m going to be reading some Pagan/metaphysical books in the coming weeks and this week’s question is a result of that.

Who is your favorite Pagan/metaphysical author? Why?

As always, put your answer in the comments section!