#traditional catholic saints spiritual books

[stjohncapistrano67]

The importance of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Her Son's Salvific Plan. The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The fifth Glorious Mystery of the Most Holy Rosary. Renaissance Catholic religious art. Resources: 1. St. Louis de Montfort's books; 1. The Secret of the Rosary. 2. The Secret of Mary 3. True Devotion to Mary. St. John Eudes's; The Admirable Heart of Mary. 3. St. Alphonsus Liguori's; The Glories of Mary; and Venerable Mary of Agreda's; The Mystical City of God.

[coven-of-genesis]

im a third-generation italian-american looking to get into traditional italian magic. my family are devout catholic, so i wouldn't be able to ask them. where do you recommend i start?

Hello love thank you for the question. I think its great that you want to begin this journey, it will be a bit challenging if your parents are not a fan of witchcraft/magic so here are ways to delve into this subject on your own. Here are some steps to get you started:

How to begin your journey into learning about traditional italian magick

Research Italian Folklore and Folk Magic: Familiarize yourself with the rich folklore and magical traditions of Italy. Look for books, online resources, and academic studies that delve into the topic. Some key areas to explore include the Benandanti, Stregoneria, and the practices of the Mezzadria.

Connect with Italian Folk Magic Communities: Seek out online communities, forums, or social media groups focused on Italian folk magic. Engaging with like-minded individuals who share a passion for Italian traditions can provide valuable insights, resources, and guidance.

Study Italian Catholicism: As your family follows Catholicism, understanding the religious and spiritual practices within this tradition can offer a foundation for exploring Italian magic. Look into saints, rituals, and devotions that are specific to Italy, as they often have intertwining elements with folk magic.

Learn about Saints and Folk Traditions: Italian folk magic often incorporates the veneration of saints and the belief in their intercession. Research saints that are particularly revered in Italian culture, such as Saint Anthony, Saint Lucy, or Saint Joseph. Learn about their stories, symbols, and associated rituals or prayers.

Explore Magical Objects and Practices: Italian folk magic involves the use of certain objects and practices. Look into items like the cornicello (horn-shaped amulet), malocchio (evil eye), or charms known as "cimaruta." Additionally, explore divination practices like reading coffee grounds (tasseography) or playing cards (cartomancy).

Experiment with Kitchen Witchery: Traditional Italian magic often involves practices related to the home and kitchen. Explore herbalism, folk remedies, and the magical properties of Italian culinary ingredients. Experiment with making your own herbal preparations or creating talismans related to food and household items.

Consider Seeking a Mentor: If possible, try to find an experienced practitioner of Italian folk magic who can serve as a mentor. They can provide guidance, teach you specific practices, and help you deepen your understanding of the tradition.

Remember, it's important to approach these practices with respect and a genuine desire to learn. Take your time, be open to new experiences, and trust your intuition as you explore the magical traditions of your Italian heritage.

[the-trans-folk-witch]

The Planets as Angels and Demons

In my tradition I work with planetary virtues by assigning them to days and hours in which certain works must be performed. As someone who also works in a Catholic context, I've assigned Angels and demons to embody the benefic and malefic aspects of these Planets. To me, an angel is not ruled by a planet, but is the planet itself. This is where anism comes into my practice. I acknowledge western occult classifications of angels and their planets, but I rework them to fit my own revelations instead of that according to old irrelevant wiccan men. That said, the 7 angels vs 7 demons lists across the world are heavily influenced by kabbalah. However my own list pulls from Greek Orthodox traditions and Philippino Catholic traditions based in Manila. I also allow the 3 books of occult philosophy to influence my worldview of these spirits and purposes. The 3 books of occult philosophy state that there is a benefic and malefic side to each planet. To copy this within my practice I assign one angel and one demon to a planet. I come to them not in ceremonial methods, but as folk saints.

The angels and their remedies are as followed:

Uriel- (sun/sunday) "regent of the sun" in folklore. He is known for being renowned, amiable, and acceptable; he adds potency in all good works, equaling a man to kings and princes, elevation to high fortunes, and success in all endeavors- I understand Michael as being the Sun in most traditions but I view micahel as being more war-minded and aligned with Mars. Uriel is historically referred to as regent of the sun and that should not be ignored.

Gabriel- (moon/monday) rendering the bearer grateful, amiable, pleasant, cheerful, and honored; removing malice and ill will, security during travel, increase of riches, bodily health, and the driving away of enemies and other evil things. - dreams, blessed pregnancy, prophecy of futures pertaining to spiritual paths and one's fate. Protector of families.

Michael-(mars/tuesday) potency in war, judgments, and petitions; victory against enemies, justice toward enemies for the sake of justice, not revenge. , and stopping of blood. Michael isncommonlynassociated with the color red and as mars is the" red planet" I saw it as fitting. Mars is described as our "sister planet" due to its similarities with earth. Given michael being so close and dear to humanity I saw this closeness and resemblance as representative of his love for us.

Raphael- (mercury/wednesday) rendering the bearer grateful and fortunate to do what they please, bringing gain, preventing poverty, and helping memory, understanding, and divination. He also encourages occult understanding through travel and reading signs given in nature. The protector of travelers and claims vengeance towards thieves.

Sealtiel- (jupiter/thursday) is often seen as the Patron Saint of prayer and worship for members of the Eastern Orthodox Church and some Catholic traditions. In some Orthodox traditions, he is said to help people interpret dreams, break addictions, protect children, preside over exorcisms, and rule over music in heaven. Orthodox Christians will seek his help if their prayer is suffering from distractions, inattentiveness, or coldness. In Catholic tradition, he is depicted with a thurible. He helps fight addiction, helps one seeking gains and riches, favor and love, peace, concord, appeasement of enemies, confirmation of honors, dignities, and counsels, and dissolving of enchantments. "The undoer of witchcraft" which is a title given to St Michael Archangel in traditions that don't recognize this angel.

Jehudiel- (venus/friday) ending concord, ending strife, procuring a woman's love traditionally but all genders apply. aiding in conception, working against barrenness, and causing spiritual abilities in a generation (or gifting a child with the power of prayer). also known for the dissolving of enchantments or lustful charms of a woman causing peace between men and women, making all kind of animals fruitful, protecting pets, curing melancholy, causing joyfulness, and bringing good fortune.

Barachiel-(saturn/saturday) the ability to bring forth, to make one safe, to make one's prayer powerful, and to cause a success of petitions with princes and powers. Marsilio Ficino and others also associated Saturn with intellectuals, whose minds are more lofty and divine than those of common folk. This is because Saturn is the highest planet in occult cosmology and therefore closest to God. this angel brings creativity, good study habits, focus, peace of mind and strengthens decision making skills to ensure good choices are made. -------

The Demons to be shared below are the traditional names of demons taken from Agrippa's 3 books of occult philosophy. It was common in older orthodox beliefs to associate the demons of the 7 deadly sins with the Planets, but I find the demons of the 7 deadly sins to be less influential and deadly than planetary powers would rival. Sin is on earth and changes as nature does. It's not written in the stars and predestined. Therefore, the 7 most well-known known demons on earth would not be fit to personify a planet. Expect a post on the 7 shortly.

After requesting the aide of these planetary demons, always cleanse the soul by prayer to the corresponding angel. Cursing another is similar to rolling in the mud yourself. Wash your hands as Caesar did. Without furthermore, here are the planetary demons that oppose these angels for matters of harming others:

Sorath(sun/sunday)- causing a man to be a tyrant, proud, ambitious, unsatisfiable, and to have an ill ending. Causes requested illness and can only be remedied by the corresponding angel.

Hasmodai- (moon/monday) rendering a location unfortunate and causing people to flee from it, hindering physicians, orators and all men whatsoever in their office. Blurs the psychic senses, hides works, ruins divination, curses divination tools to never work again.

Barzabel- (mars/Tuesday) hindering of buildings/homes, casting down the powerful from dignitaries, honors, and riches; causing discord, strife and hatred among men and beasts, chasing away bees, pigeons. and fish; hindering mills, rendering misfortune toward hunters and fighters, causing barrenness in men, women, and animals; striking terror into enemies, and compelling enemies to submit. Blighting of crops and all works money flows from.

Taphthartharath - (mercury/wednesday) rendering the bearer ungrateful and unfortunate in activities, encouraging poverty, driving away gains, and inhibiting memory, understanding, and divination. Steals spiritual gifts from others and gives them to the witch, can steal luck and good fortune of others. Hides the works of thieves, and protects stolen property from recovery.

Hismael- (jupiter/thursday) attract the baleful influences of Jupiter, of which Agrippa is curiously silent. However I am here with my own thoughts and experiences. This demon quite literally brings an end to the mind. It decays one's thoughts and happiness. It causes lunacy and mania. The hottest of the demons here.

Kedemel- (venus/friday) encouraging strife, driving away a woman's love, blocking conception, encouraging barrenness, blocking generational gifts and the blessing of ancestors, bringing bad luck, destroying joy, and encouraging melancholy. Ruins families, causes miscarriage, and attracts another's lover to you.

Zazel- (saturn/saturday) according to Agrippa includes the hindering of buildings and plantings i.e. growth, casting a man from honors and dignities, causing discord and quarrels, and dispersing armies. Turns one's men against him and creates jealousy. Ends the life of men.

Call on these spirits at your own risk. Always follow it with proper spiritual hygiene.

[enchanted-moura]

I think we should let go of the hyper surveillance when it comes to people’s personal spirituality. Before the “it’s not just Black people” bigot crowd chip in. I know, I actually read books and study documentaries.

Many people have been forcibly stripped of their innate traditions, many have suffered persecution, forced migration and genocides worldwide. The genocide page on wikipedia is very eye opening! If people want to call their Indigenous god by a Catholic saint or sprinkle sprinkle brujeria into their morning devotional, then that’s called survival. Mexican spiritism crowns Mama Death a Saint and I love it 😅

Why do we care so much anyway. As long as your practice works for you!💖

[milfzatannaz]

Hello, so taking your offer about the NOLA questions, though it might be more speculation than anything (or maybe not, I've only seen the show and the 1994 movie and not the books so who knows). I'm from Brazil and I only know NOLA from movies and TV shows really, but there are some social and cultural aspects that feel somewhat similar to my country... Brazil has a large Black population, famous musical genres, traditional dishes etc created by Black people and even though most of the country is Christian (specially Catholic), non-Abrahamic, Afro-Brazilian religions are quite present here too. Now, I'm not religious at all, I have a weird and maybe even complicated relationship with religion/faith/spirituality in general, maybe for being queer and neurodivergent, but that's another convo lol... But I do think it's nice to represent other kinds of faith. I know most of the main characters were raised Catholic, but do you think they could do that on the show with Africa diaspora religions to some extent? Even if it isn't the main focus? And do you think they could do it in a respectful way that doesn't feel like dismissing, stereotyping and demonizing them like we see on fiction (specially fantasy) all the time? Obviously, I'm not making assumptions about your religion or if you even have one, and if you don't know what to answer it's okay, I just think this is an interesting topic that nobody ever talks about. Specially when it comes to American media, because it seems to be more based on Christianity and Judaism, but having a show that is so heavily set in NOLA could maybe explore other types of faith we barely get to see. I think it could be a good opportunity if they can do it right. Anywaaaaaaaay lmao, sorry I rambled so much and this got too long. 😅 Thank you. 🙃

Hi!!!!!! Thank you for your question!!! It wasn’t too long, I loved reading every line.

I think the similarities between black cultures is fascinating, even if our people are separated by entire continents.

As for the inclusion of folk religion into the show, I’m setting that at a firm “maybe…?”. In the 1994 movie and in the original book, voodoo, or voodun, is loosely included. Anne Rice took mild inspiration from that part of New Orleans culture but I think it might be a bigger part of the Mayfair witches, I don’t know.

Louis is a creole Catholic but as an upper class man he wouldn’t have participated in what we call “African folk Catholicism” , considering the time period he was introduced in. Like Brazil, New Orleans has a version of Catholicism heavily informed by the African diaspora. in the show, he attends historically majority black church. St Augustine has always been the church where free people of color and even slaves attended mass.

So Louis’s religion is probably more in line with traditional Catholicism. St Aug as I know it does not perform any rituals outside of typical mass. If season 3 is in the modern era, I’m not sure if the voodoo informed practices would be included. I do trust the showrunners to be accurate and informed, it just probably won’t be necessary to the plot. I’m not sure.

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE THREE ARCHANGELS Feast Days: September 29, March 24 (St. Gabriel's traditional feast), May 8 (St. Michael's apparition at Monte Gargano), October 24 (St. Raphael's traditional feast)

"Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this. And he said to him, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man!'" -John 1:47-51

St. Michael. St. Gabriel. St. Raphael. These are the Three Archangels that is been mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, and they are honored by the Roman Catholic Church.

The archangels are spiritual beings of the highest rank created by God before the beginning of the world. They have no material body and are immortal. Their name is given according to the mission have received from God. The word archangel is only used twice in the New Testament: In the 4th chapter of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians and the Epistle of Jude. 

The archangel Michael, whose name means 'who is like God (or Quis ut Deus?)', was assigned to fight the devil. He was appointed to cast Lucifer out of Paradise, for challenging the sovereignty of God, as according to the Book of Revelation: 'Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.' 

Michael helps us in the daily struggle against Satan, who will be defeated in the Apocalyptic war at the end times. 

In Roman Catholic teachings, Saint Michael has four main roles or offices. His first role is the leader of the Army of God and the leader of heaven's forces in their triumph over the powers of hell. He is viewed as the angelic model for the virtues of the spiritual warrior, with the conflict against evil at times viewed as the battle within. The second and third roles of Michael in Catholic teachings deal with death. In his second role, Michael is the angel of death, carrying the souls of all the deceased to heaven. In this role Michael descends at the hour of death, and gives each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing; thus consternating the devil and his minions. Catholic prayers often refer to this role of Michael. In his third role, he weighs souls on his perfectly balanced scales. For this reason, Michael is often depicted holding scales. In his fourth role, Saint Michael, the special patron of the Chosen People in the Old Testament, is also the guardian of the Church. Roman Catholicism includes traditions such as the Prayer to Saint Michael, which specifically asks for the faithful to be 'defended' by the saint, and the Chaplet of Saint Michael consists of nine salutations, one for each choir of angels. 

The archangel Gabriel, whose name means 'God is my strength or hero of God', received the mission to proclaim God's almighty power. He was sent to announce the birth of Jesus to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Gospel of Luke, when Mary objected that she was still virgin, Gabriel replied: 'Nothing is impossible from God.' 

Gabriel has the power to assist us in the most desperate cases, and to protect those who announce the Good News. It is said that Gabriel is the destroyer of the sinful city of Sodom.

It is said that Gabriel played some important roles: he taught Moses in the wilderness to write the Book of Genesis, the revealing of the coming of the Savior to Daniel, his appearance to Joachim and Anne the birth of Mary, and the appearance to Zechariah to announce the birth of John the Baptist. 

In the Gospel of Matthew, Gabriel may have been the unnamed angel, who appeared to St. Joseph in his sleep and instructed Joseph not to divorce Mary quietly, and explained that Mary’s child was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and that He would be named Emmanuel, which means God is with us. And in the Gospel of Luke, Gabriel may have been the angel who appeared to the Lord Jesus himself, in the Garden of Gethsemane before His Passion, to strengthen him. 

The archangel Raphael, whose name means 'God has healed', was appointed to cure the sickness of the spirit and of the body, and appeared in the Book of Tobit, and is also identified as the angel who moved the waters of the healing sheep pool.

After getting blinded, God hears both Tobit and Sarah's prayers and Raphael is sent to help them. Tobias is sent to recover money from a relative, and Raphael, in human disguise, offers to accompany him. On the way they catch a fish in the Tigris, and Raphael tells Tobias that the burnt heart and liver can drive out demons and the gall can cure blindness. They arrive in Ecbatana and meet Sarah, and as Raphael has predicted the demon, named Asmodeus, is driven out. Tobias and Sarah are married, Tobias grows wealthy, and they return to Nineveh (Assyria) where Tobit and Anna await them. After revealing his true identity, he said to him: 'I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who enter and serve before the Glory of the Lord.'

Tobit's blindness is cured, and Raphael departs after admonishing Tobit and Tobias to bless God and declare his deeds to the people (the Israelites), to pray and fast, and to give alms. Tobit praises God, who has punished his people with exile but will show them mercy and rebuild the Temple if they turn to him.

Michael is the patron of the military and police forces, Gabriel is the patron of messengers, those who work for broadcasting and telecommunications such as radio and television, postal workers, clerics, diplomats, police dispatchers and stamp collectors, and Raphael is the patron of the blind, of happy meetings, of nurses, of physicians and of travelers. 

[tarragonblack1235813213455]

THEOLOGY

ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS ->

THE THREE MAJOR ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS are, in order of appearance, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, and ISLAM, but there are other MINOR RELIGIONS.

■JUDAISM is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the covenant shared between God and Abraham.

The holy scriptures of JUDAISM are called the TANAKH, after the first letters of its three parts in the Jewish tradition. T: TORAH, the Teaching of Moses, the first five books. N: NEVI'IM, the books of the prophets. KH: KETUVIM, for the Writings, which include the psalms and literature for the wise.

ORTHODOX JUDAISM is the belief in a strict interpretation of Jewish law, which should be grounded in the Torah. As such, the revelation given to Moses from God on Mount Sinai is made glorious and just.

CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM is the belief in marriage and membership as a Jew. Other characteristics will include support of the Zionist movement and the rejection of the immutability of the "Torah" and the "Talmud" while still having faith in the eternal truth upon which it is based.

REFORM JUDAISM is the belief of the renewal in our living Covenant with God, the people of Israel, humankind, and the earth by acknowledging the holiness present throughout creation – in ourself, in each other, and in the world at large – through practice that will include reflection, study, worship, ritual, and much more.

■CHRISTIANITY is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centered around the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

THE BIBLE is the holy scripture of the Christian religion, purporting to tell the history of the Earth from its earliest creation to the spread of Christianity in the first century A.D. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament have undergone changes over the centuries.

□ROMAN CATHOLICISM

Roman catholicism is a branch of Christianity which has its belief about the sacraments, the role of the Bible and tradition, the importance of the Virgin Mary and the saints, and the papacy.

HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION

THE REFORMATION was a reform movement in religious belief that swept through Europe in the 16th century. It caused the creation of a branch of Christianity called PROTESTANTISM, a name used collectively to refer to the many religious groups that separated from the Roman Catholic Church due to their difference in doctrine.

□PROTESTANTISM

Protestantism is a branch of Christianity which will deny the universal authority of the Pope and affirm all of the Reformation principles of justification by faith alone, the priesthood available to any practitioner, and the Bible as the only source of revealed truth.

□QUAKERISM

Quakerism is a branch of Protestantism

Follow your "inner light"

The Bible

Equality for all

God is accessible to everyone

No clergy

No religious ceremonies

No sacraments

LOCATION -> England

WHEN -> 17th Century

Adventism

Anglicanism

Anabaptism

Baptism

Irvingianism

Lutheranism

Methodism

Moravianism

Pentecostalism

Waldensianism

■ISLAM is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion that was revealed to Muhammad, a prophet of Allah, and written down in the Qur'an years later by his followers.

SUNNI

Muhammad did not specifically appoint a successor to lead the Ummah before his death. This sect did, however, approve of the private election of the first companion, Abū Bakr. In addition to the previous mentioned, Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib are also accepted as al-Khulafāʾ ur-Rāshidūn. After this, they believe that Muhammad intended that the Muslim community choose a successor, or caliph, by consensus. A practitioner of this sect will base their religion on the Quran and the Sunnah as understood by the majority of the community under the structure of the four schools of thought. These are HANAFI, MALIKI, SHAFI'I and the HANBALI.

SHI'A

Muhammad's family, the Ahl al-Bayt, including all of his descendants, have distinguished spiritual and political authority over the community. It is believed that Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the first of these descendants and the rightful successor to Muhammad. As a result, it was rejected that the first three Rāshidūn caliphs have legitimacy.

------------------------------------------

ETHICAL RELIGIONS ->

THE THREE MAJOR ETHICAL RELIGIONS are BUDDHISM, TAOISM, AND CONFUCIANISM.

■BUDDHISM is an ethical religion that was revealed by Siddhartha Gautama for anyone to gain spiritual enlightenment if that person followed the eight-folded path along with a personal commitment to any noble truth given to him/her through the journey of life in order to reach nirvana.

■TAOISM

■CONFUCIANISM

[2q5b]

VAYECHI

By Ezra

December 26th, 2023

I am a diaspora Jew. This is partly by accident and partly by choice. I was born in the U.S. My Jewish grandparents came to Boston from Poland and Germany after the Nazis made them into child refugees. My mother, raised Catholic, chose Judaism, married my father and converted.

As for me, I could move to Israel, the Promised Land, anytime I want. Many people I know have done this. But I don’t want to.

How can this be? I am a religious person. My prayerbook is dripping with longing for this land, full of texts written by people who couldn’t get there. The Torah that I study week after week is in large part a chronicle of my people inhabiting that land and then trying to return to it. And even if I prefer to stay in the US, how is it that millions of traditional religious Jews are happy to live all over the world, when they could easily relocate to their beloved spiritual homeland?

Today, that land has descended into hell. The IDF perpetrates mass murder, Hamas insists on acts of war, prisoners suffer in desperate conditions, Palestinians starve en masse in a Gaza that has become a ghetto.

It is more obvious than ever that Jewish statehood in the Holy Land has not ended our spiritual exile. A Jewish state may be a political reality, but it is not a spiritual solution. It cannot satisfy our longing. We yearn for something far, far deeper. We yearn for the repair of the world, the end of falsehood and bloodshed, the reign of peace and justice.

I think this deeper yearning, not satisfied by land acquisition, goes way back, back before the Exodus, back to the late chapters of the book of Breishit.

In this week’s Torah portion, Jacob and his children are living happily in Egypt. Before Jacob dies, he asks that they bury him in Canaan. After his death, the Jewish people travel together to the Promised Land for his burial and funeral. It’s not that big a deal. It doesn’t take forty years. They just ask the Pharaoh, he says yes, and they go. And then they come back to their homes in Egypt.

These are, maybe, the first diaspora Jews, and their exile seems voluntary. They could move to Israel, but that’s not where they live, that’s not where they’re raising their children and involved in government and generally thriving. And more: there is a deep purpose, perhaps one they’re not even aware of, for their exile in Egypt.

Jacob’s death ends the period of the patriarchs and matriarchs, the avot and imahot. These iconic three generations of ancestors–Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel and Leah–are credited as the originators of our spiritual tradition. Genesis has been largely a book not so much about a community as about these towering individuals, whose personalities and accomplishments still reverberate in our liturgy, our mythology, our souls. 

And from the beginning there is this strange pressure for each of these generations to have one single spiritual inheritor. A chosen child to continue the mission, to receive messages from God, never mind the familial discord this may create. It’s Isaac, not Ishmael. It’s Jacob, not Eisav. And Jacob seems poised to father the next great inheritor.

But something changes in Jacob’s generation. His plan to marry Rachel goes awry when he is tricked into marrying Leah first, and he eventually also marries two of their servants for a total of four wives, with whom he fathers thirteen children. Rachel is the last one to give birth, and her firstborn son Joseph seems, early on, to be that special chosen one, the one Jacob favors. But that plan, too, goes awry. Joseph has ten older brothers who are not happy about this favoritism, ten Eisavs to worry about compared to his father, who had a hard enough time fending off just one. And the old model, of one saint passing the torch to the inheriting saint, finally breaks. The brothers turn on Joseph and sell him into slavery in Egypt.

Joseph, like the three patriarchs, is a singular personality. His individual story is dramatic and righteous. But what he’s not is the next Isaac, the next Jacob. There is no next Jacob. A new era has begun: the era of B’nei Yisrael, the children of Israel (Jacob’s alternate name). This becomes the name of the nation which will be used throughout the Bible. The dynasty is no longer a dynasty, but an expanded family in which all are equal inheritors of the tradition, with no single clear leader. A large group in solidarity and spiritual alignment.

Simultaneous with this shift is the movement from Canaan to Egypt. Our parasha is the end of Breishit and the beginning of Shmot, the second book of the Torah, which will be radically different than the first. Jacob gives his parting blessings to his children at the dawn of the exile and transmits a crucial message: “God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your ancestors.”

They could return right now. The text makes sure we know that they are able, shows us how easy it is. But they don’t. Instead they allow their holy land to exist as a horizon of spiritual possibility. Here the Promised Land becomes what it remains for the rest of the five books of Moses: an ever-receding myth, somewhere we approach, but never fully reach.

And this is how the Jewish people as we know it is born.

Exile is dangerous, make no mistake. Though Joseph wants his family to live with him in Egypt and share in the power and abundance he has attained there, Jacob needs explicit encouragement from God before going. “Have no fear of descending to Egypt,” God told him in last week’s parasha, “for I shall establish you as a great nation there. I myself shall descend with you to Egypt and I myself will also surely bring you up.” Jacob is right to be afraid: in Egypt, his descendants will face mass enslavement and murder. And yet there is something about exile that is necessary to the Jewish mission in the world, that both expands and deepens it. As Joseph tells his brothers when they are first reunited, “Don’t be distressed…God has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival in the land and to sustain you for a momentous deliverance.”

Exile is not all bad, the Torah tells us. In fact it is indispensable. It has a very real purpose. It widens the capacity of the Jewish people. It allows us to grow beyond a closed-off little family that talks to God. It allows our spirituality to impact history.

The late 19th-century Polish hasidic thinker known as the Sfat Emet is one of my personal favorite Torah commentators. I doubt my love for his teachings can be separated from my love for my own Polish grandfather, z”l. Living amidst rampant and institutionalized anti-Semitism, the Sfat Emet taught, “This is the purpose of exile: that Israel make visible God’s kingdom, which is indeed everywhere. The true meaning of the word galut (exile) is hitgalut (revealing), that the glory of God’s kingdom be revealed in every place.” 

These two Hebrew words share a root for a good reason. Exile is dangerous, one is uncovered. Without protection, vulnerable. Showing oneself, speaking truth, can be dangerous in the same way. The faith of the Jewish diaspora is that this kind of vulnerability can be worth it. If you stay in your fortress, you are safe but you are cut off, you cannot communicate. If you grab your flashlight and walk into a dark, uncertain world, you light up the road on which you walk.

The transformation of the patriarch era into an era of communal expansion in Egypt has a similar kind of opening quality, an uncovering that also entails a loss. The patriarchal intimacy with God, a clarity and protection, give way to an imperfect but much more widely shared relationship with God.

Jacob himself feels this loss as it happens. His blessing of his twelve sons in this week’s parsha begins with a mysterious introduction. “Assemble yourselves,” he announces, “and I will tell you what will befall you in the latter days.” B’acharit ha-yamim. But he never seems to get to that information, nor does he specify what days he means. What follows instead is an oblique poem containing cryptic blessings for his children. An old midrash sheds light: “He wanted to reveal the end of the exile, but the Shchinah (the Presence of God) departed him, so he began to speak of other things.” 

This failure to communicate is connected to exile. Far from home under foreign rule, Jacob is in some way blocked from prophecy. A kind of perfect awareness has been lost to him, signaling the end of his era of patriarchal perfection and the beginning of something else, something larger and deeper.

When the Sfat Emet, a wise man living in the exile of his own time, tries to teach about this midrash, he too is partly blocked, his memory fails him. He teaches, “I believe my grandfather quoted the Rabbi of Pr-shiss-cha (Przysucha) as wondering why Jacob wanted to reveal the end. His answer was that when the end is known, exile is made easier. That’s all I remember, but it seems to mean the same: revealing the end means knowing there is an end to exile, and that shows it to be but a matter of hiding, not a force of its own… Jacob our Father just wanted there to be no mistake about this, that it all be obvious, but that goal eluded him. You need to struggle to find truth.” 

The contemporary spiritual exile, the one you and I are living through, is not easy, at times it is horrific. How it will end, how a better world could be revealed, is not yet clear. But if we are struggling to find the truth, struggling to uncover it, then we will not have wasted our time. Wherever we are in the world, it is our task right here and now to reveal and enact the good and the holy, the better world that is possible, hiding in plain sight.

Chazak Chazak v’Nitchazeik.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (June 28)

Celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church on June 28, and by Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine tradition on August 23, Saint Irenaeus of Lyons was a second-century bishop and writer in present-day France.

He is best known for defending Christian orthodoxy, especially the reality of Christ’s human incarnation against the set of heresies known as Gnosticism.

Pope Benedict XVI spoke admiringly of St. Irenaeus in a 2007 general audience, recalling how this early Church Father “refuted the Gnostic dualism and pessimism, which debased corporeal realities.

He decisively claimed the original holiness of matter, of the body, of the flesh no less than of the spirit.

But his work went far beyond the confutation of heresy: in fact, one can say that he emerges as the first great Church theologian who created systematic theology; he himself speaks of the system of theology, that is, of the internal coherence of all faith.”

While some of St. Irenaeus’ most important writings have survived, the details of his life are not as well-preserved.

He was born in the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, likely in the Aegean coastal city of Smyrna, probably around the year 140.

As a young man, he heard the preaching of the early bishop (and eventual martyr) Saint Polycarp, who had been personally instructed by the Apostle John.

Irenaeus eventually became a priest and served in the Church of Lyons (in the region of Gaul) during a difficult period in the late 170s.

During this time of state persecution and doctrinal controversy, Irenaeus was sent to Rome to provide Pope St. Eleutherius with a letter about the heretical movement known as Montanism.

After returning to Lyons, Irenaeus became the city’s second bishop, following the martyrdom of his predecessor Saint Pothinus.

In the course of his work as a pastor and evangelist, the second Bishop of Lyon came up against various heretical doctrines and movements, many of which sounded a common note in their insistence that the material world was evil and not part of God’s original plan.

The proponents of these ideas often claimed to be more deeply “enlightened” or “spiritual” than ordinary Christians, on account of their supposed secret knowledge (or “gnosis”).

Irenaeus recognized this movement, in all its forms, as a direct attack on the Catholic faith.

The Gnostics’ disdain for the physical world was irreconcilable with the Biblical doctrine of creation, which stated that God had made all things according to his good purpose.

Gnostics, by contrast, saw the material world as the work of an evil power, crediting God only with the creation of a higher and purely spiritual realm.

In keeping with its false view of creation, Gnosticism also distorted the concept of redemption.

The Church knew Christ as the savior of the world: redeeming believers’ bodies and souls, and investing creation with a sacramental holiness.

Gnostics, meanwhile, saw Jesus merely as saving souls from the physical world in which they were trapped.

Gnostic “redemption” was not liberation from sin but a supposed promise of release from the material world.

Irenaeus refuted the Gnostic errors in his lengthy book “Against Heresies,” which is still studied today for its historical value and theological insights.

A shorter work, the “Proof of the Apostolic Preaching,” contains Irenaeus’ presentation of the Gospel message, with a focus on Jesus Christ’s fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.

Several of his other works are now lost, though a collection of fragments from them has been compiled and translated.

St. Irenaeus’ earthly life ended around 202 – possibly through martyrdom, though this is not definitively known.

[apilgrimpassingby]

What type of Christian are you?

I've got this in my pinned post, I think, but I'll answer it anyway.

I am an Evangelical Arminian complementarian evolutionary creationist (of the British variety; we're a lot less political and legalistic than the American ones) who accepts many Catholic and/or Orthodox views*. Specifically: Church Tradition is important to properly understanding the Bible (want to understand the Bible? Look at how it was viewed by wise Christians through the ages), the Apocrypha are canonical and inspired (and, hence, prayer for the dead is, as the Catholics put it, permissible and profitable), salvation requires a degree of works (it's not as though God is going to cross your name out of the Book of Life because you haven't reached your annual prayer quota or anything like that, but to retain the spiritual life that grace gave you you need to commit to it with work) and asking the saints for prayers is permissible and profitable. I did consider leaving Evangelicalism (which I grew up in) for Catholicism, but ultimately decided to stay in because my disagreements with Evangelicalism and agreements with Catholicism were insufficient to make a wholesale changeover.

Hope that makes sense!

*Any Orthodox Christians reading this, sorry for lumping you in with Catholics. You're probably tired of being either ignored or lumped in with Catholics, but I'm doing it because A) I was converted to a lot of these views by Orthodox blogger Joel Edmund Anderson but mainly considered them in light of Catholicism and B) while there are important distinctions, the two are a lot more similar to each other than either is to Protestantism.

[coochiequeens]

All Christian churches, no matter how liberal they present themselves now, never had trouble telling the difference between men and women before.

PORTLAND, Ore.— Something as small as signs that say "men" and "women" on the bathrooms in a house of worship can shut the door to trans people. 

"For me as a non-binary person, I've been to so many churches where they don't have a bathroom that I feel like I can use," says AJ Buckley, an Episcopal priest in Portland, Ore. "And so I'll just not go to the bathroom there."

Churches are tasked with living out the Bible's message both from the pulpit and in the pews.

And it's hard to connect to spiritual concerns if people there to sing and pray literally can't be physically comfortable. 

That's why Saint David of Wales Episcopal Church in Portland, where Buckley has been associate rector for the past year, has made changes like putting up signs that say anyone can use any bathroom, including pronouns on name tags and preaching to "siblings in Christ" rather than brothers and sisters.

"Sometimes we'll say, 'God loves you,' but then not live that out in the church always," Buckley says. "And so, having those things say you're actually wanted here, [means] we're excited that you're here."

Pro-trans voices are emerging within Christianity 

Evangelical Christianity has played a big role in the political debate around transgender issues, and the spate of legislation it's led to. And so that position is widely known: God created humans, separated into male and female – categories that are innate and immutable.

But religions speak with more than one voice. And other Christians are using their sacred texts to embrace a broader understanding of gender. 

Shannon TL Kearns is the first openly transgender man ordained in the Old Catholic Church, a denomination that split from Rome after the first Vatican Council in the 19th century. He's co-founder of QueerTheology.com, and author of the book In The Margins: A Transgender Man's Journey with Scripture.

"The world of gender in the Bible is much more complex than I was taught growing up as an evangelical," says Kearns, pointing to numerous stories of biblical figures transgressing gender norms.

"We have women who are judges. We have men who spend their time in the kitchen. There are eunuchs, which were considered this kind of other third gender," he says.

Many Christians are rethinking the biblical stories they think they already know

Theology is stories. And Kearns says figuring out the Bible's message on trans people is partly about rediscovering these particular stories. But, in a larger sense, it's about asking harder questions of the stories Christians think they already know. 

For example, in Genesis, angels come to Sodom and Gomorrah, and the townspeople threaten to rape them. The destruction of those cities is often seen as God's condemnation of homosexuality. But it could be read as a lesson in welcoming the stranger.

"When we look at a passage like Sodom and Gomorrah, we're looking at the places where — where might we still be inhospitable to people today?" asks Kearns. "Are we benefiting from systems that are hurting other people?"

Sometimes, showing hospitality is as easy as a sign on a bathroom door. And sometimes it's harder. Not every congregation, not every Christian, welcomes these changes. Theologian and ordained Baptist minister Robyn Henderson-Espinoza says conflict is not new to Christianity and that it's central to understanding the story of Jesus.

"I follow the story of a brown, Palestinian Jew who was executed by the Roman empire," says Henderson-Espinoza. "And that story is painful." 

But Henderson-Espinoza, author of the book Body Becoming: A Path to Our Liberation, says this re-centering of the story from the point of view of the powerless rather than the point of view of the powerful is the work of Christianity. And that re-centering has implications for trans people today. 

"I think that's how we bring heaven to Earth: Having these hard conversations and creating more relationships, and creating more opportunities to be in relationship with difference."

Trans people read themselves into scripture the same way all people see themselves in biblical characters 

If you look in the Bible, stories of difference are there as well says theologian Kearns. The arc of scripture bringing the most marginalized people to the center has always been there. But he's not surprised it hasn't always been told that way.

"White, cisgender heterosexual men — they're reading from their specificity and particularity and calling it universal. And that's the real damage," Kearns says.

Kearns says it's not that reading from a particular perspective, a particular experience, is bad — it's how scripture has always been read and interpreted. People just need to be aware of what they're doing. And to expand the conversation to include all voices.

"I think that we all read ourselves into scripture," Kearns 

says. "I think the kicker is that folks from marginalized communities are being honest about the fact that that's what they're doing."

Trans Christians practice a faith that fits their bodies 

Good narratives survive because they welcome a range of readers into their world.They don't define meaning — they reveal it for those who enter the story. 

Austen Hartke, a Lutheran theologian and founder of the Transmission Ministry Collective, asks the question, "If you believe, like I do, that God made me trans on purpose, then what does that mean that I am allowed to do to steward my body, to live a healthy and full life?"

Hartke, who's also the author ​​of Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians, says, "In the same way that if God made somebody nearsighted, they're allowed to get glasses."

He says it's part of Jesus's call to abundant life. It's not desecration; it's co-creation. Holy work.

"Yes, our bodies are temples," Hartke says. "But temples change."

And Hartke says the blueprint for that change is in the text.

"Even though Genesis One talks about binaries in the world, we know that those binaries aren't as clean cut as they are in this one piece of writing."

It's not just man and woman, land and water. 

"So for instance," he says, "God creates the day and the night — it says nothing about dawn or dusk."

But these in-between places exist. Hartke says there's a richness to them and to the theology that emerges from them. Because they tell a fuller story of existence in this holy world. 

"If we say God is the alpha and the omega, we don't mean God is just A and Z," Hartke says. "We mean God is all."

[stjohncapistrano67]

A high middle aged Catholic religious painting of St. Gertrude the Great. Artist unknown. I hope this holds you over until I can post regularly. I'm also reading the book " The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great.

[angeltreasure]

(whether you actually post this or not is up to you. On one hand my sad rant has some educational content, on the other hand I don’t want to scandalize Catholics or other prospective Catholics like myself)

“If you can’t find it there, ask your Catholic priests, bishops, nuns, and our Pope.“ All of whom mess up sometimes. All of whom have occasionally said things contrary to Catholic theological consensus and Tradition. The more and more I learn about Catholicism (I’ve been discerning conversion for years) and how exactly “official teachings” are promulgated, the more confused I become. The catechism and the words of priests are just the absolute bare basics. “Pop apologetics” sources are often full of garbage (secularly influenced garbage at that). Even books marked Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur only mean “this one bishop approves” not “the whole Church, Scripture and Tradition approves”, and cannot be blindly obeyed. I am very confused, your Church, as much as I admire it, is frankly horrible at catechesis (granted it’s still better than my natal Church). Apparently your Church has been “in crisis” regarding catechesis for generations now. Even those who are earnestly trying and devout still have occasionally said questionable things regarding the nature and licitness of certain things. The more I learn, the more conflicted I become.. God have mercy on all of us.

Well, you aren’t wrong. The Catholic Church does have a problem with catechizing people. That’s why a lot of people have left the Catholic faith and why a lot who do claim to be Catholic go about their lives believing in other ideals (for example, President Biden seeming to be pro abortion). So many of us just don’t understand fully our faith. Half of Catholics believe in the true presence of Jesus Christ body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist. Without understanding the basics, without respecting Jesus through Transubstantiation in the Eucharist, without seeking to constantly learn, one can easily fall away and become disconnected, to be come lazy, to be lead astray and by doing so, perhaps without our knowledge, can make others leave. With Catholicism though, you don’t have to know everything in order to become Catholic. It takes time to learn and to discover the beauty of the faith is a treasure. That is why I always encourage others to keep praying, keep learning, keep exploring, keep connected with others and reach out to those seeking. Alone, we accomplish nothing. As the body of Christ together, we can learn our faith for what it truly is.

That’s why I want to learn my faith, my goal is not knowledge itself or any earthly thing, but my goal is to get to Heaven where I become a saint. No one is perfect but God alone. Our clergy is not God and we as lay people are not God either. We can learn our teachings and traditions through texts of the saints, the Catechism, and Bible. Some resources are better than others. I find the Good Catholic website to be amazing. Word On Fire is also very powerful. I also love watching old videos of Mother Angelica Live, of Fulton J Sheen, and newer ones like Explaining the Faith. Once we learn more and more, we can be spiritual mentors to others. We don’t have to become priests or nuns, but we can certainly be spiritual mentors as lay people. I’m 29 and I’m still learning my faith. It’s ok to have questions and reach out to others who have more knowledge. It is our way we seek out God, Who has reached out to us first. You don’t have to be perfect. I pray more of us feel excited to learn our faith and have respect for the Eucharist and each other.

[eternal-echoes]

“It seems like there's a new book every week almost; or there's some new article on how bad everything is. People say “father have you read this? father have you read that?” I'm just like, “I've seen it all. I don't need to read it to know it.”

And I’ll ask these people, when was the last time you read a book on the saints? And they say “Well I find that literature boring or difficult.” Well what's that mean about your spiritual life?”

- Fr. Chad Ripperger, 10 Problems in the Traditional Catholic Movement

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Tuesday, July 2, 2024

june 19_july 2

HOLY APOSTLE JUDE, THE BROTHER OF THE LORD (80)

The holy Apostle Jude, one of the twelve Apostles of Christ, descended from the stock of David and Solomon and was the son of the righteous Joseph the Betrothed by his first wife.

The holy Apostle John the Theologian writes in his Gospel: For neither did his brethren believe in him (John 7:5). Hierarch Theophilact, the Archbishop of Bulgaria, explains these words thus: at the beginning of the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sons of Joseph, including also Jude, did not believe in His Divine essence. Tradition indicates that when the righteous Joseph the Betrothed, on having returned from Egypt, began to divide the land belonging to him among his sons, he desired to allot a part also to Christ the Saviour, Who was born supernaturally and incorruptibly of the Most Pure Virgin Mary. The brethren opposed this, and only the eldest of them, James, accepted Jesus Christ in the joint ownership of his share and for this was called the Brother of the Lord. Later, Jude believed in Christ the Saviour as the awaited Messiah, turned to Him with his whole heart and was chosen by Him to be one of His closest twelve disciples. But the Apostle Jude, remembering his sin, considered himself unworthy to be called the brother of God and in his catholic epistle names himself only the brother of James.

The holy Apostle Jude had other names also: the Evangelist Matthew calls him Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus (Matthew 10:3), the holy Evangelist Mark also calls him Thaddaeus (Mark 3:18), while in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, he is mentioned under the name of Barsabas (Acts 15:22). At that time this was the custom.

After the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Jude set out to preach the Gospel. He spread faith in Christ at first in Judaea, Galilee, Samaria and Idumaea, and afterwards in the lands of Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia and came, finally, to the city of Edessa. Here he completed what had not been finished by his predecessor, the Apostle Thaddaeus, of the number of the seventy. Information has been preserved that the holy Apostle Jude went to Persia to preach and thence wrote his catholic epistle in the Greek tongue, in the brief words of which are contained many profound truths. It contains dogmatic teaching on the Holy Trinity, on the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the difference between the good and the evil angels and on the future Dread Judgment.

In the moral respect, the Apostle persuades believers to keep themselves from carnal impurity, to be correct in their duties, in prayer, faith and love, to convert the erring to the path of salvation, to preserve themselves from the teachings of heretics. The Apostle Jude teaches that faith alone in Christ is insufficient; essential also are good deeds, appropriate to Christian teaching.

The holy Apostle Jude died a martyr about the year 80 in Armenia, in the city of Arat, where he was crucified on a cross and pierced with arrows.

Source: Russian orthodox Cathedral of St John the Baptist

VENERABLE PAISIUS OF HILANDAR, Mt ATHOS (18 th. c.)

Saint Paisius of Hilandar was born in the year 1722 in Bansko into a pious family. One of his brothers, Laurence, was igumen of Hilandar Monastery, and another was noted as a generous benefactor of Orthodox temples and monasteries. Saint Paisius himself went through his obedience at Rila Monastery.

In 1745 at age twenty-three, Saint Paisius went to his brother in the Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos, where he received monastic tonsure. The ascetic matured spiritually on the Holy Mountain. He studied Holy Scripture and he was found worthy of ordination to the holy priesthood.

In the year 1762 Saint Paisius wrote The History of the Slavo-Bulgarians, a book upholding the Christian Faith and awakening the national self-awareness of the subjugated Bulgarian nation.

Amid the darkness of foreign oppression the saint rekindled the lamp of Orthodoxy, lit formerly by Saints Cyril and Methodius (May 11). The time and place of the saint’s blessed end is unknown.

On June 26, 1962 the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church under the presidency of His Holiness Patriarch Cyril, and with the participation of all the Metropolitans, expressed the indebtedness of the Church and country to Saint Paisius. They decreed that Paisius of Hilandar and Bulgaria be glorified as a saint, and directed that his memory be celebrated on June 19, “when, according to the Orthodox calendar, Saint Paisius the Great is commemorated.”

The name of Saint Paisius is borne by a state university in Plovdiv, and by many institutes and schools in other cities and villages of Bulgaria. This testifies to the deep veneration of the saint by the Bulgarian nation.

Source: Orthodox Church in America_OCA

JUDE 1:1-10

1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. 5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.

JOHN 14:21-24

21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" 23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

[beyondcuckoo]

The Human Aura: A Fascinating Dive Into Energy Fields (Shared from Mu the Motherland) has been published on Elaine Webster - http://elainewebster.com/the-human-aura-a-fascinating-dive-into-energy-fields-shared-from-mu-the-motherland/

New Post has been published on http://elainewebster.com/the-human-aura-a-fascinating-dive-into-energy-fields-shared-from-mu-the-motherland/

The Human Aura: A Fascinating Dive Into Energy Fields (Shared from Mu the Motherland)

The Human Aura: A Fascinating Dive Into Energy Fields

~Elaine Webster (Shared from Mu the Motherland)

It takes a spiritualized person to see an aura of another, which is often described as a subtle field of luminous radiation that surrounds a person. The concept of the aura has ancient roots, with references found in various religious and spiritual texts. In Hinduism, the aura is related to the chakras, or energy centers, within the body. Similarly, in Buddhism, the aura is connected to the concept of prana, the life force. Ancient Egyptians also depicted auras in their art, showing halos around the heads of deities and enlightened beings. In Christianity, the halo around saints is a representation of the aura.

The aura is believed to consist of several layers, each associated with different aspects of a person’s being. The most common interpretations include:

Physical Layer: Closest to the body, reflecting physical health.

Emotional Layer: Associated with feelings and emotions.

Mental Layer: Related to thoughts and cognitive processes.

Spiritual Layer: Connected to one’s spiritual well-being and higher consciousness.

The colors of the aura are also significant, with each color representing different energies and states of being. For example, blue is often associated with calmness and communication, while red may indicate vitality and passion.

In many spiritual and metaphysical traditions, the aura is seen as a reflection of the soul or spirit. Practices such as chakra balancing and aura cleansing are integral to maintaining spiritual health. In these traditions, the aura is not just an energy field but a vital component of one’s spiritual journey and growth.

In contemporary holistic healing practices, the aura is often included in discussions of wellness and personal development. Many holistic practitioners incorporate aura reading and healing into their sessions, believing that a healthy aura is essential for overall well-being. Workshops, books, and courses on aura reading and healing are widely available, reflecting a growing interest in this aspect of holistic health.

Even though most of us do not readily see others’ auras, we do sense and feel them. A bright person will exude positivity, love and caring, while negative people often show their “dark” side. How often have we described someone as having a “dark cloud” over their head? Or described someone as “shining” or a “brilliant light”?

In the spiritual classic by Paramahansa Yogananda, ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, the author describes the aura of Mahatma Gandhi as an “all-pervasive aura of peace and devotion.” Similarly, he remarks that the aura of Therese Neumann, the Catholic Stigmatist, as an “aura of peace and joy” And when Yogananda met Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, the inspired poet of Bengal, he said, “He emanated an aura of charm, culture, and courtliness.”  And in his excitement of seeing his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, arrive on a train in Serampore, India, he exclaimed, “The whole train is filled with the light of Master’s aura! He is there.” These occurrences could be explained away as simple expressions, but those close to Yogananda had no doubt that he saw and read auras.

In the Renaissance art world painters regularly encased their subjects in halos of light, and Jesus Christ continues to be pictured with a halo of white light around his head.  (White light includes all the wavelengths of the visible spectrum at the same intensity.) The other aura colors coincide with the body’s chakras. For instance, warmer colors such as red, orange, and yellow indicate a high level of energy—which are also tied to the three lower chakras. Blue, indigo and violet emanate from the top three chakras, which have loftier energies. Then right in the middle at the heart chakra we find green, As the fourth chakra within our energy system, it governs unconditional love, empathy, and emotional equilibrium.

Auras, however, are not limited to humans. Places have them too—not as colors but as vibrations. We feel quite differently in our own home, saturated by personal energy, than we do in a place where we’re less in tune. There are light places, and dark places, busy places, and calm places—each with their own vibrational patterns that can be translated into colors.

There has been much research into communication between plants, especially trees, that suggests that they too have auras. Many believe that it is normal to see a tree’s aura if you normally see auras. Trees are living things that produce energy, which is essentially what makes up an aura. Science has discovered that trees communicate with each other via the root system and hormones. So, if trees communicate with each other, why wouldn’t they have an auric field? Trees are well known for being grounding in nature, which is why we love our forests. In Japan, and other places, tree bathing is the thing to do when one is depressed or stressed. Being in a forest environment, park, or atrium, can bring peace and balance to an individual and if in tune, one can certainly feel subtle energies, even if you’re not able to see them.

Aura photography has recently gained popularity amongst kirlian photographers. (Kirlian photography is a collection of photographic techniques used to capture the phenomenon of electrical discharges.) It is also said that a person can see their own aura by staring into a mirror, resting their eyes and using their peripheral vision to capture the edges of their aura. However, our auras change, maybe even minute by minute, depending on the circumstances. If we’re stressed, sick or tired we may see our darker side. If we’re happy and excited another set of colors will appear. If furious blackness, or loss of aura, could predominate.

For those that regularly meditate, concentration on the spinal column and it’s chakra colors (often accompanied with specific intuitive sounds) can help elevate consciousness and spiritual advancement. In meditation the devotee can bring energy from the base of the spine upward through the spinal column to the crown chakra. This kundalini technique can elevate and influence their aura colors as well; strengthening the aura to bring peace, wellness, and good health.

Other practices that can strengthen the aura and increase energy, include:

Yoga poses.

Positive thinking.

Devotional chanting.

Some pure metals such as gold, silver, and copper, worn as amulets or bracelets.

Certain gemstones used in various ways.

Incorporating pleasurable colors into your environment and clothing.

Including mantras (spiritual sounds such as Aum) into your meditation technique.

Practicing creative visualization to adjust your mood and to bring positive changes into your life.

It is no secret that the earth and its inhabitants are struggling on many levels. Our energies, spiritual development, wisdom, and priorities are in a dark phase. Most religions and historians agree that planetary life moves in circular paths. We have been here before and we will get through once again. However, it is up to us on how difficult the darkness will be before the dawn. Here at “Mu the Motherland” we believe that the last time humanity was at this developmental phase, it failed to bring in enough light and high vibration (humanity’s aura) to stop a massive planetary destruction. However, it is never too late to change direction. First, we must have that intention.