I love being a pagan!!! I really do….but…I didn’t start out that way….and my annoying past seems to have followed me…far….far from home. I love the seasonal holidays/festival/holy days….whatever you wish. I feel that there is great power and meaning in these days. Even as the Church tried to co-opt them and as Public Relations and Marketing has tried to do the same….just as they have left so much chocolate…hollow inside.
On such days….I seem to be possessed by a spirit of fun, joy, play, and generosity. I love to buy stuff to give others on these days. Recently I really had fun buying a whole whack of chocolate eggs for friends. In the small hours of the morning…maybe it was even at 3am! 
I snuck around and left these little bags of chocolate eggs for my friends. In one situation. I left eggs to two neighbours. One family is Filipino…basically Roman Catholic..if anything….and they have moderate muslim neighbours from South Africa. Apparently they ended up having quite a conversation after discovering these eggs. The father of the muslim family was familiar with “easter” customs…such as giving kids chocolate treats…but he had no idea of it’s current “christian” status…let alone it’s more accurate historical roots. Apparently the father of the Roman Catholic family and he had quite a conversation over it. The R.C. may have ruined it for the Muslim. 
I think the Filipino guy…told him some story about the importance of making coloured eggs to them…in their traditions…and they seemed to be drawing that “christian” connection…..which is …in case you are unaware….is a rather unfortunate innovation on a great tradition. You name the Holidays….I’ve always loved the pagan traditions….without knowing it…sure I came to love singing the hymns…but in my heart was a rabbit spirit of fertility….ready to hop towards the next opportunity to spread my eggs.
+ Robyn Graves +
Filed under: Art, Misc., Politics, Society | Tags: Canada, Peace, Political Parties, Politics, The Conservative Party of Canada, The Liberal Party of Canada, The New Democratic Party of Canada, USA, War
Greetings Folks!
There are a lot of exciting developments in North American Government and Politics. Well….I predicted the huge win by Barack Obama and am certainly very excited about his forthcoming presidency. I even applied for a job…. you can too if you so wish at change.gov But…he had to mobilize a huge grassroots movement to pull it off. If he had depended on the regular voters for support than we would be likely to see John McCain sworn in on January 20th, 2009. It was a remarkable Revolution….Americans were mobilized….particularly the young and disenfranchised to push their nation into a new direction. I think this was a renewal of democracy in the U.S.A which was absolutely vital to it’s future…without it…it surely would have lurched further towards fascism. I just hope that President Obama will be able to effect enough change so that a truly new direction will occur…a new tragectory will be gained and maintained in the following elections. Failing that…the know-nothings will support Sarah Palin or someone even worse and there would be great risk of a Fascist State….as social order would likely disintegrate under their policies.
Meanwhile in the Great White North, Canada had it’s own election. And Canadians have a much greater variety of choices for their vote. In their election…like in the previous 2…no political party had enough seats to form a majority government….and so…The minority government of Stephen Harper, of the Conservative Party, appeared likely to continue…however…..the political landscape has evolved a lot in Canada in these last years. After only recently having the election….Stephen Harper seems to have over played his hand. He recently has not preposed any new stimulus projects for Canada in spite of the current global economic turmoil…but…he has preposed trying to destroy his political opposition….by preposing an end to government financing of political campaigns….a very cynical…machiavellian ploy to try and turn his political minority into a majority by forcing repeated elections on the other parties until he had turned off enough voters that he would have gained enough seats to form a majority government. Canadians have been very hesitant about giving him a majority government….and with good reason…his policies and philosophy seem much more at home in the Republican Party of the United States….than in a Canadian Conservative Party…..the last Canadian “Conservative” Party….also had the word “Progressive” in it’s name…and Mr. Harper doesn’t seem to reflect anything like Mainstream Canadian Life….he’s anti-multiculturalism, anti-arts, anti-social programs, anti-parliamentary,….pro-business, pro-small government, pro-republican, pro-life, pro-bible thumper…as I say…completely at odds with Canadian Mainstream….but he has tapped into frustrations over the traditional parties and garnered alot of support…but clearly not enough. He’s just too ideological and not predisposed to working with other parties. And to get back to my earlier point on the recent election…although the Conservatives ended up getting more seats in the House of Commons….they received less votes than the last time. Hence we have a historic moment in the offing. Two of other parties in parliament, the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party……appear to have forged a coalition alliance to bring down the current government and offer the country a truly historic government for Canadians….a Coalition Government. This will be the first time in Canadian History that a truly Coalition government will exist. It shows the tremendous evolution that Canadian Politics have gone through….moving from an essentially two party political system….with a third on the margins….to a truly multi-party system in which…a once inconsequential NDP party will apparently take up a quarter of the cabinet positions. The Liberals have the most to lose from this…if they waited long enough…then they probably would have been able to unseat the Conservatives…..but this coalition gives the most opportunity to the NDP. The NDP, Canada’s Premier Social-Democratic Party, has had mixed results in Provincial Politics and has never had the opportunity to be part of a Federal Government. Even if this coalition fails….the NDP will have gained for it…as they will be seen as having been trying to serve it’s constituents, while the Liberals would likely be seen as desperate to return to power. It seem the Governor-General is no longer the powerless rubber stamp of our Queen…but in deciding on giving this coalition an opportunity to form a new government will surely be exercising a truly monumentuous act of political enpowerment. Canadians overwhelmingly voted for parties other than the Conservative Party….I’m excited to see this evolution have revolutionary consequences…The Political Parties of Canada will now be under even greater influence by the people of Canada. If it’s a choice between the American Style 2 party system and the European style Multi-Party Coalitions….I’ll take 500 years of Peace and the cuckoo clock versus 300 years of War and the Atom Bomb any day.
+ Robyn Graves +
Filed under: Spirituality & Religion | Tags: Assimilation, Dark, Light, Shadow
Light and Dark. Both are alike just as they are different. The light that is embraced by so many, clutching at the hem of mothers or their religious beliefs, is so often seen as the purging flame, the bastion of all that is good. In contrast, the dark is seen as the succouring blanket of all that is evil, the realm that many fear to tred.
In truth, the light is as burning flame. It consumes everything in its harsh, unending, judgement. It offers no salvation or warmth. It is cold and pallid in its blinding brightness. One cannot think or reach conclusions. The answers are obscured. One may find no rest where light burns eternally bright.
The dark offers rest and recuperation. It offers contemplation. It does not judge in that it allows you a depth that you might contain your secrets, for good or bad. There is nothing to fear except that in which you bring yourself and therein lies the true danger. It is not the dark itself but that which we carry within. Here, one might look into the self and understand.
Without doubt, we need both light and dark. Too many seek to live within the extremes of either. It is the balance between both that we must find. The shadows that stretch between both light and dark. The understanding, the assimilation, of both aspects within the whole. The centre point. The nexus. We need light to find the answers held within the dark of our subconscious.
Where darkness prevails, the answers remain hidden to us just as where light is eternal we remain blind to ourselves. It is the shadow of ourselves, the border between the two extremes, where the burring of ourselves draw everything together as one. Only then might we truly know ourselves
+ Blaze +
Just recently, a close friend of mine was recently married. While I myself have not travelled along that well-trod path (and cannot foresee that I ever will), I wish them great happiness and good fortune in the life that they have chosen to share.
I had wanted to write something, sort of as a gift, and found that my mind was blank. I could not come up with the words to any poem and so I came out with this that you see below. It is something that has seen many forms over the years but finally, it all came together for me to see completed. I put it here now for others to see. These are my own thoughts on that most elusive and yet sought after emotion… love.
+ Blaze +
