It's definitely time we clergy take a stand. 

It has come to my attention that more and more people are recognizing a Calling to the Sacred in their lives, but who also believe that spirituality reaches far beyond denominations, traditional paths, and religions.  The Great Source has been the recipient of many simple and spiritually elegant names such as God, Goddess, Spirit, Great Spirit, Brahma, Allah, Buddha, Jehova, Father, Kether, and has placed within human nature the longing for reconnection with their Source. 

We all experience a spiritual Calling on some level, and we may find that connection through prayer, contemplation, meditation, yoga, service to others, or maybe musical or other artistic form of expression.  But a Priest will feel it on all levels.  A Priest experiences the Calling as one of the main drives of life, no less than the drives for food or air.  Priesthood is not something that one becomes, but rather something that one is, was, and forever will be.  There is no question, once the Priest's Calling has been heard, about what that person has been been put on this Earth to do:  to gather, to heal, to help, to teach, and to love.

The above photo is of the author of a beautiful website that I found today.

http://the-k-files.20m.com/

There are lots of good articles and experiences of friends of his who have experienced a spiritual event known as Kundalini Awakening. 

I wonder why more people don't know about this?  How did the entire medical community miss the entire realm of research on this very real evolutionary spiritual biological mechanism?

My world is changing rather quickly bit by bit recently, and it sometimes feels a bit dizzying, like I’m on a ride.

Last night I had a dream. It was extremely clear, and I was talking to someone who was a teacher or a spiritual guide or something similar. He was pointing forcefully to something he’d written on a large white paper tablet sitting on an easel, saying, “You don’t NEED anyone else to give you ordination! Ordination never was, and never will be, a matter that a church or religion can bestow on someone. True ordination is between a priest and her or his God. It’s up to you to decide whether to live your life needing approval, or to be Who You Are.”

I snapped awake and grabbed the notepad and pen by my bed to write this stuff down. While I was writing, another thought came to me about ordination — the Constitution (I believe) decrees a separation of church and state, so there really is NO SUCH THING as a “legally ordained” priest.  The law of a state or community may decide under what conditions a priest may preform civic duties like marriages, funerals, or baptisms, but no governmental agency can determine whether one is a priest or not.  And a church, religion, or denomination may say they determine who can act on behalf of their organization, but even they do not determine who is a priest and who isn't.  "True ordination is between a priest and her or his God."

I went back to sleep, and immediately dreamed of shooting an arrow into the dead center of a bullseye. I woke up again and knew immediately that this meant that my line of thinking on this was right on target.

I’m in a state of floaty, giddy, smiley, contentedness today. I am a mystic; that is Who I Am.  I’ve reached a connection with my Higher Self that I didn’t have before, and I'm beginning to care less and less about ego-related matters. I’m not saying I’m enlightened by any means. I’m just really glad this is happening.  It feels good. :-)

I am sincerely going along for the ride right now.  I'm watching this all happen from hyperspace or something.  I seem to be going in the direction that is being dictated by a higher aspect of myself.  It's beyond "following my bliss," this is "being driven by your guardian angel."  Or in my case, Merlin.

I seem to be founding a religious order of some type.  I know there are other "wandering priests, "but I think we need a different name.  I want to bring others along with me on the ride that is spiritual awakening, and bring home those who know where Home is.

Now, I'm not talking about drinking KoolAid and catching a ride on the tail of a comet.  I'm not saying that the Pleadians are coming to take me away (although they very well could be).  But I am saying that I'm riding on a stream, and I'm excited about where it empties....

Despite my desire to "go with the flow" and detatch from the various thoughts and emotions I experience, I still haven't figured out how to "flow" with clinical depression.  I say "clinical" because there's a difference between feeling sad because you have a good reason and feeling emotionally flat yet despondent because your neurochemicals are messed up.

Basically, I need to get a full-spectrum light.  I get this when the sky turns grey.  I love night time, I love looking at the stars, I even love rain, but grey days make me want to sit on my porch in a rocking chair and yell, "Get out of my yard!  Damn kids!"  I think I turn into those two old guys on the Muppets Show.

I've been drawing up my vows.  Discipline is the heart of the Holy Life, and I want to put some restrictions on myself.  Nothing austere and certainly nothing prudish, but paths are much easier to travel when they have a fence or two along the sides.

I'm starting with wearing only priestly garb (a women's clergy blouse) on weekends for the purpose of getting out and walking the walk.  I did this when I was in seminary, and if nothing else, it's a wonderful experience when people decide to automatically trust you.  It's also a very big responsibility. 

I found a very nice website today called Global Mindshift.  Check it out!

Their mission is "to help bring about a new era of cooperation and creativity on the planet."  How?  Well, like Zaadz, it's a place for people to share new ideas of a spiritual nature, but it also includes a MEMEbase, which is a depository of "cultural information that can be transferred from one individual to another," usually in the form of videos.

I have yet to explore all the site has to offer, but if you're a fan of Zaadz, you'll probably be a fan of Global Mindshift, too!

I read a current article in the magazine What Is Enlightenment? about Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now.  I could hear his voice in my head as I read, just as it sounded on the DVD of one of his teachings (I forget which one).  Eckhart always affects me the same way when I hear him or read something by him -- I am suddenly able to focus on the moment, whereas a few moments before I was mentally running in circles.

I'm not the only one amazed by this German mystic.  In an recent article by Tom Huston entitled, "Getting Clear on Enlightenment," Huston raves about Tolle's book:

Published a few years ago, but just recently released in paperback, German mystic Eckhart Tolle's lucid and accessible exegesis on the highest of spiritual attainments has sold over two million copies (sales that were due, in no small part, to Oprah Winfrey's 2002 televised endorsement of the book as one she has read eight times and keeps on her bedside table). The endless popularity of New Age and self-help books notwithstanding, these figures are surprising because Tolle's mystical manifesto is popularizing and conveying a level of spiritual depth that has typically remained inaccessible to all but a chosen few. In fact, with its constant emphasis on transcending the “egoic mind” and powerful transmission of the awakened state of timeless presence, The Power of Now is like pop spirituality on steroids. Yet it is also merely the most visible book in a genre that over the past decade, has been working harder than ever to bring enlightenment down from the mountaintop of esoteric traditions like Zen and Sufism and cast it free into the secular mainstream.

Of all the "enlightened masters" I've read about, or read articles by, or saw on TV or on DVD, Eckhart Tolle leaves no doubt in my mind that he is exactly what he says he is.  Just looking at him speak, you can see that he lives truly in This Moment.  His presence, or should I say Presence, transmit his teachings just as well, if not better, than his words do.  I'll have to cause myself to meet him someday.

Ordination?  Apostolic Succession?  Ecclesiastical Sanction?

Phooey.  I think.

If one is called to help others develop their spiritual life, and if one can do absolutely nothing else, why on Earth (or anywhere else) would that person need to join a line of Apostolic Succession?  I wonder if any these lines can be proven.  Does this "lying on of hands" make any difference in the life of a priest?

I waffle back and forth between considering going back to seminary and getting a "real" ordination to being true to my Self and continuing on as I have.  More than anything, I want to share with others the Spirit that I've found, and come together in acknowledgement of the Divine in a way that fulfills all our hearts.

All of us know what to do in any given situation.  Somewhere, deep down in our souls, we know exactly what our next move should be.  Much of the time, though, we don't like to listen because doing what we "ought" sometimes leads in a less-than-exciting, or less-than-pleasant, direction.  Yet this time, I am truly stumped.  There is a part of my spiritual life that is not being fulfilled, and I don't know why I feel this way.

I need to be true to myself; otherwise, I'm no priest.  I know, deep down, that only God can ordain.  It's a conversation between the Holy One and the heart of Her priest.  Ultimately, no matter which direction I choose to go in, it's up to me to make sure that I'm being true to my own Gnosis.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

I heard a story from a fellow seminarian a few years ago about an old woman he knew, named Viola, who probably had the most grateful heart he'd ever known. 

Every time Viola sat down to eat, she would bow her head and say, "Thank you, Spirit."  My friend asked asked her once why she did that since the food would be there even if she didn't thank Spirit.  (My friend understands gratefulness, but wanted to hear the woman's story.)

"Oh, sure, I have food, but it makes everything taste better to be grateful. Looking for good things is a kind of game an old preacher taught me to play.  Take this morning.   I woke up and thought, What's there to praise Spirit for today?  You know what?  I couldn't think of a thing!  Then from the kitchen came the most delicious odor that ever tickled my nose.  Coffee!  'Much obliged, Spirit, fo the coffee,' I said, "and thank you, too, for the smell of it!'"

Many years later, my friend saw this woman on her deathbed (he was now her minister).  He could see a lot of pain on her face, and he admitted the question popped into his mind of whether she could find anything to be grateful about at this time. 

Just then she opened her eyes.  As she saw him and the others gathered around, she folded her hands and said with a smile, "Thank you, Spirit, for such fine friends."


Blessings,
Asterysk