What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden

Remember back a few weeks when I reminded everyone that God made man in OUR image, both male and maid.? That was Adam and Eve married as One with no secrets. When the serpent tempted them to eat of the Tree of Life; unfortunately they did. After eating of said fruit they noticed one another and became afraid and hid themselves from one another. They noticed that they were naked and hid their nakedness form one another.

When you are married and as One under the eyes of God, there are no secrets. You intimately know each other; because you recognize your soul twin; and there is no embarrassment. What happens when you hide from one another? You start to keep secrets. When you are One with each other, there are no secrets between you.

The Divine Feminine, Eve hid from Adam and also from God the Father as they were no longer One. She became but a shadow in the Garden of Eden, aka: Earth. Because she remained in the shadows, she became a shadow within a shadow; and Adam believed she was lost forever. As he perceived the shadow within a shadow move, Adam believed that it was not his Eve (the twin of his soul) but that of evil. The image became that which is of the Earth was evil and the dawn of Dualism began.

Thus, we see the start of the Jewish religion with a knowledge and division between good and evil. Over the eons, this dualism became ingrained in the faith of the Jewish people. They began to believe that those born of the earth were born of a certain evil and then only recognized God the Father as the one only true God. It became fate that ultimately evil was going to win the war between good and evil. It was through adhering to the Laws of Abraham and those of Moses’ Ten Commandments that you would skip the damnation. It was further believed and still today believed by many including some that claim to be Christian, that we are all born with “Original Sin” and that it is not in our hands to rise above. It was up to a terrible God who was filled with anger towards his children.

This is what caused the daily struggle to survive. We need to remember that Dualism has existed for most of mankind; Ancient Dualism had multiple gods, like Rome. These gods became angry with one another, argued and warred with one another. Like the Viking warrior, the most valiant who laid down their lives for the good of all was taken to Valhalla. There, they were conscripted into the army of one of the warring gods; because they were fierce warriors on earth.

Dualism is a religious/spiritual belief that we are all doomed. It was a matter of FATE. According to these Dualists we are all destined to be cast into a fiery hell to live out eternity. The Yeshua came into focus; because he was preaching that God was a loving, nurturing God, who provided us sustenance, who provided or us all our needs and who loves us unconditionally. In other words He was a warm loving God. Time and Time again, Jesus reminds us that God is the One God and that way to God is trough Him. He further reminds us that we become whole as One in the bed chamber. Yeshua, also reminds us that Our God in Heaven loves us unconditionally we do for our children. Yeshua also reminds us that to reach God through Him; In other words through His ministry. When asked, “Master how do we pray?” Yeshua gave us the Lord’s Prayer. In any version that I have seen, not one of them says “In Jesus name we pray” at the end of that prayer. I find that quite revealing and interesting.

What has Yeshua done? He has come full circle with Adam and Eve. He has given us a direct way to speak with God. He has ended Dualism in the guise of religion. He tells us that when we become One through Holy Matrimony, we are to awaken within this body and recognize our twin. He shattered Dualism because there is no longer any secrets, no hiding and no embarrassment.

Yeshua did something very revolutionary; He brought back the balance between the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine; thus bringing back harmony. He decided once and for all that evil is vanquished forever for both Jew and Gentile. There are no more warring gods. We no longer have an Angry God who says the female is responsible for all the bad and evil that occurs in the world. He gives hope through Love and not through adhering to a strict code of laws. He lets us know that the Garden of Eden is back.

Six Petal Rose Needed Now More Than Ever

Now is the time we all need to take the moral high ground. We would all be wise to admit that we cannot do it alone. I for one seek guidance. After Yeshua and Mary Magdalene invaded my dreams at 3:15 AM this morning and kicking me out of bed at 3:45 AM, telling me to rise and start writing, I took a hot shower; which is a blessing on a cold Northern Plains morning in South Dakota. After my shower and getting dressed for the day, I spent twenty minutes mentally going through the Six Petals of the Sacred Rose.

1. I sought my Father in Heaven, knowing that between him and my Mother in Heaven they would give me the words
2. I honored Him as we have been taught over the ages
3. I beseeched Him to enter my heart so we can make Heaven on Earth by being of service to our society
4. I ask for nourishment of body and soul; so I can have an abundance that can be shared with others.
5. I asked Him to forgive my transgressions of thought, word and deed and that I would be able to forgive others in the same manner.
6. Finally, I asked Him to help me overcome my shortcomings and to lend me His strength to carry out my Promise and my Mission.
7. In the Center of the Rose is the heart of the flower, Love. This is where I actually speak with my Lord and turn over my concerns; so he can help me with answers.

When I was done, I realized that God our Father reminded me of what Yeshua and Mary told me what I needed to convey to all my readers. And, that was, “Take the moral high ground. Tell everyone to do the same. Remind God’s children that we must always love the person, even when we have issues with their actions. Also, remind everyone that this can happen to each on a personal level and that we need to relate that to the politicians and celebrities; for they are in a fish bowl that most of us would not want any part of.”

We have all read the headlines or at least heard the news. Over the last couple of months Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacy, Al Franken, Charlie Rose and others have admitted to harassing or abusing women; because they felt superior to them. I am sure as more stones get over-turned we will be hearing more of these foul and despicable acts being committed by others, regardless of their religious, political or social background.

It is and will be easy to condemn the person for these actions. We need to ask ourselves before we condemn the person; have we, ourselves had thoughts, spoken words or acted out in a manner that is less than honorable? I dare say that we have done so on more than one occasion.

We need to become beacons of Light and forgive the person while we condemn the action. It is not easy to separate the action(s) from the person. If you have children or pets you love them unconditionally. There will be nothing that will change that, ever. When we get mad at them, it is because they had thoughts that turned into actions or words that are not acceptable in a family or society. Did you toss them out of the house forever, disown them, or cease to love them? I doubt it very seriously. We made them atone for what they did, and not who they are.

We need to be bigger than the problem. I say we need to forgive the persons who commit these vile acts against God’s people, while we make them atone for what they did. This is taking the moral high ground. I am thoroughly disgusted by what these women had to go through. I am convinced those who committed them need all sorts of help and to answer for their deeds against society.

This for all the Men

Women are our equals. They are not a door mat to be walked upon. They are not chattel to be bought and sold. They are not objects to dangle on our arms. My wife is my partner. When we married, we became One.

Would you not walk across fire to rescue or to keep your mother from harm? Do you like the way your mother cares for you, listens to you, hugs you? Isn’t she the Divine Feminine in your life? I would dare answer that with a profound yes. So, if that is the case, then you need to treat all women as you would want your own mother treated. If you are not, you are not honoring your Mother in Heaven; for she is one-half of our One God in Heaven. It takes the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine to make One in Heaven. As the Son of Man (Yeshua) became One on Earth with his twin the Divine Feminine (Mary Magdalene) we should do ourselves; and then honor that relationship and all that entails. This is the philosophy we have all witnessed; What God puts together, no man should tear asunder. Put your egos in check. Remember, what is good for the female is good for the male.

This is for the Women

Honor and cling to your man. You do this by not bearing false witness against others. Make sure your man knows that he is honored, just as you honor your Father in Heaven. As you honor your Father in Heaven, you love your man with all your heart. That does not mean that he does not commit harm against you.

You need to forgive your man; but not his actions that disrupt the harmony in the marriage. Remember, since Yeshua was hung on a tree by the Romans, the Romans usurped the teachings of Yeshua. The result is the exalting of the Divine Masculine in complete disregard of the Divine Feminine. This translated into society as it is ruled by man using man-made laws, increasing the male ego to a point where the female is nothing more than a slave, a piece of property. It has taken twenty-one centuries for this societal error to surface and become a subject of common discussion.

For all my followers, there needs to be a balance of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine in all of our lives. We cannot exist on Earth as it is in Heaven when we are not balanced in ourselves, our lives, our relationships and our marriages. Men honor and provide for your wives. Women nurture and support your husbands. We each have our duties and they should be in harmony with each other.

For those with eyes that see and ears that hear. Blessings to Our Father and Mother in Heaven.

The Truth About The Picts

The Picts were an important indigenous peoples who occupied Northern Scotland and the Orkney Isles. Over history since the times of the Roman Empire, they have been depicted as painted savages. In addition, it has been reported that the Picts were wiped out by the Vikings. The Vikings who settled the Orkney Isles and Northern Scotland were farmers, craftsmen and merchants. What happened to the Picts was they married the Vikings. What happened to the Vikings who settled Orkney and Scotland was they married the Picts. They became the Scots of the Northern Highlands. The article below by Ian Johnston published in the Independent News is a good representation how History as we know it, is tainted by the prejudice and political leanings of the scribe writing it.

Clan Gunn was the result of blending the cultures of the Picts and the Vikings.  In Lore, the headsman of the Clan married King Arthur’s sister, Morgause. Subsequently, their children migrated to the Northern Highlands of Scotland. King Arthur was considered by some to be from the blood line of Yeshua and Mary Magdalene.

 

By Ian Johnston Tuesday 5 August 2008 23:00 BST

 

The Picts have long been regarded as enigmatic savages who fought off Rome’s legions before mysteriously disappearing from history, wild tribesmen who refused to sacrifice their freedom in exchange for the benefits of civilization. But far from the primitive warriors of popular imagination, they actually built a highly sophisticated culture in northern Scotland in the latter half of the first millennium AD, which surpassed their Anglo-Saxon rivals in many respects.

A study of one the most important archaeological discoveries in Scotland for 30 years, a Pictish monastery at Portmahomack on the Tarbat peninsula in Easter Ross, has found that they were capable of great art, learning and the use of complex architectural principles.

The monastery – an enclosure centered on a church thought to have housed about 150 monks and workers – was similar to St Columba’s religious center at Iona and there is evidence they would have made gospel books similar to the Book of Kells and religious artefacts such as chalices to supply numerous “daughter monasteries”.

And, in a discovery described as “astonishing, mind-blowing” by architectural historians, it appears that the people who built the monastery did so using the proportions of “the Golden Section”, or “Divine Proportion” as it became known during the Renaissance hundreds of years later. This ratio of dimensions, 1.618 to one, appears in nature, such as in the spiral of seashells, and the faces of people considered beautiful, such as Marilyn Monroe. It can be seen in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Alhambra palace of Granada in Spain, the Acropolis in Athens and the Egyptian Pyramids, but was thought to have been too advanced for the Picts.

“The Picts have always been an attractive lost people, they are one of the most interesting lost peoples of Europe,” said Martin Carver, a professor of archaeology at York University who has worked on the site since the mid-1990s, and recently written a book detailing the findings. “The big question is what happened to them and did they ever really make a kingdom of their own.”

The answer to the latter question seems an emphatic yes, based on the findings at Portmahomack, which is remote today but would have once been a key point on sea routes in the North Sea. “They would have been dreaming of a New Rome and a new world connected by water rather than Roman roads,” said Professor Carver. “They were the most extraordinary artists. They could draw a wolf, a salmon, an eagle on a piece of stone with a single line and produce a beautiful naturalistic drawing. Nothing as good as this is found between Portmahomack and Rome. Even the Anglo-Saxons didn’t do stone-carving as well as the Picts did. Not until the post-Renaissance were people able to get across the character of animals just like that.”

In addition to stone carving, the archaeologists found evidence that vellum, chalices and other religious artefacts were being made at the site on a considerable scale. Vellum, a form of paper made from animal skin, would have been used to make highly decorative gospel books. The cemetery, containing graves of middle-aged and elderly men almost exclusively, and a piece of stone bearing a tantalizingly incomplete inscription provided other key clues as to the Christian nature of the site.

“The most important piece had a Latin inscription. That’s as common as muck in the Mediterranean, but extremely rare in Scotland,” said Professor Carver, who previously led research into the Anglo-Saxon burial mound at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk. “It says ‘This is the cross of Christ in memory of Reo…’ and the rest is broken away. Unfortunately the key bit, the name of the person, is missing. It means there’s someone around there who knows how to write in the eighth century. That itself is a revelation.”

A Pictish wall, which is believed to have formed part of the original monastery’s church, was discovered in the basement of the derelict church on the site, which has now been turned into a visitor center. But it was the dimensions of another structure within the complex, the “Smith’s Hall”, that attracted particular attention as it was made with “a startling symmetry offering us more than just competence in construction”.

A detailed study was made of the horse-shoe shaped building, searching for the unit of measurement used by the Picts. Professor Carver said a “Tarbat foot” of 12-and-a-half inches seemed to have been the standard measure used to make hall and other parts of the monastery. He also found the ratios of lengths of different walls and bays inside the window conformed to the architectural principle called the Golden Section. “The Golden Section, together with its inverse, the Golden Number, 1.618, has been valued by artists for millennia … and it is a true delight to observe it among their architects,” he said. “It shows the importance of symbol and worship in everything done in the service of the Christian God.

“There is something rather intriguing in the learnt character of them. This is a building put up to house metal workers. It’s the idea they were all possessed of the same kind of knowledge and all trying to serve it.”

Jean Gowans, who recently retired as chairman of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland, said the idea the Picts had been using the Golden Section was “wonderful, astonishing”.

“It really is absolutely fascinating. It’s mind-blowing stuff,” she said. “This is staggering to hear, but I’m not totally surprised. I think they were pretty sophisticated, when you think of all the Pictish stones and the wonderful carvings that they made, a lot more sophisticated than perhaps they are given credit for in public perception.”

The monastery at Portmahomack suffered a major fire in the ninth century and several stone sculptures were smashed, suggesting it was sacked by an invading force, likely to be Vikings intent on expanding their territories in northern Scotland. The site continued to be occupied but at this point evidence of a monastic settlement disappears.

However, the shared religion of the Picts and Scots may have helped them unite against a common enemy, ultimately creating the kingdom of Scotland. “There was a war as important as Alfred’s against the Danes [in England] and the Picts got really battered. In the Annals of Ulster, there are records of battles where the flower of Pictish aristocracy is killed,” Professor Carver said.

“Portmahomack got burnt down pretty definitively round about 820. The idea is they were under new masters. It could be the Norse or the Men of Moray, MacBeth and his family. I think Portmahomack was captured by the Men of Moray. The Norse wanted it badly but they didn’t get it. There is no Norse material there. There was no more vellum-making and sculpture and it stopped being a monastery. In the ninth to 11th centuries, they are making metal work, but that’s the real Dark Age.”

Portmahomack: Monastery of the Picts is published by Edinburgh University Press

Tribes that resisted the Romans

Picts was the name which the Romans gave to a confederation of tribes living beyond the reach of their empire, north of the Forth and Clyde.

The name makes its first known appearance in the works of a third-century orator, Eumenius, and is assumed to come from the Latin word pingere, “to paint”, suggesting they painted or tattooed their bodies.

But what name they called themselves, or what language they spoke, we do not know.

One thing that puzzled outsiders is that they were the last people on these islands to trace their lineage through their mothers. The Venerable Bede, writing in 731, said that the Picts had come from mainland Europe, presumably Scandinavia, to Northern Ireland to ask for land, but the Irish sent them on to Scotland.

Hence a myth that the Picts were given Irish wives, on condition that they became matrilineal.

Other wild stories included that they were dark-skinned pygmies who hid in holes in the ground during the afternoon, but had magical powers at night.

Probably they were a coalition of indigenous tribes brought together by the Roman threat.

In Bede’s lifetime, the Picts were defeated in war by the Northumbrians and converted to Roman Christianity.

Medieval Cyclical Romances And The Holy Grail — The Historic Search for the Divine Feminine

As I have mentioned previously, at about age ten when I was in 3^rd grade I pulled a book from my parent’s book shelf called The Once and Future King by T.H. White. As a child in elementary school in the late 1950’s, a book about Knights and tales of high adventure were really attractive. The story immediately captured my attention and that is all that I did in my spare time for the next five days. When I wasn’t reading, I was dreaming that I was young King Arthur, who Merlin called Wart. When I got done reading, I became curious about what the Holy Grail was. My parents told me to look it up in the dictionary and encyclopedia. I found that the word “Grail” meant a cup and that the Holy Grail was a cup or chalice that in medieval legend was associated with unusual powers. That began my quest. Now in the twilight of my years, I am finding answers to that quest. It has been quite a journey.

One of the good legacies my parents gave me was that my sisters and I could read any book; so long as we understood what we read, how it was relevant to society and we could differentiate between which had worth and which provided no moral or ethical truths. In college, I continued my pursuit of books, truth and the Holy Grail. I graduated with a BA in English & American Studies with minors in U.S. History, Social Anthropology and Linguistics. I temporarily pursued an MA in Medieval Cyclical Romances for one semester.  My resources were limited and I was not able to obtain the materials to gain the results I have been in the last twenty years.

In the year 1970, my conclusions were accurate; but severely limited by lack of resources available. King Arthur and all the knights not only were real, but all their stories had become legends. They all pursued Grail Quests and I became convinced, even at that time that the Holy Grail was not a drinking cup or vessel and was not a plate Jesus used for eating at the Last Supper. It was something much more profound and transformative.

With the advances of technology and the internet, those resources I did not have access to have become available. My conclusions are coming to fruition. I am currently reading Montségur and the Mystery of the Cathars by Jean Markale. In the first three pages she makes the same assertion I made in my college thesis, written in 1971. She has been able to draw a firm connection between King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the Cathars and the blood line of Yeshua David (Jesus of Nazareth). That is correct, Yeshua was married and had a family and that each soul has a twin of the opposite gender. The Holy Grail is when the twin souls meet on earth and recognize each other, to become One just as Yeshua and Mary Magdalene did; with at least one being a direct descendant of that Holy Marriage.

Below I have attempted to give a brief taste of each Knight of the Round Table, including King Arthur. Each to their own learned courtesy, loyalty, fairness and the nurturing needed in every relationship, thus each became chivalrous. Each gained the understanding of the Divine Feminine.

On a side note you will find that several of the knights came from the Isle of Orkney. This was a fact that I had paid little attention to in my previous studies. This fact kind of slapped me across the face when I was doing my research for this piece. My last name is Hendricks. This name over the centuries was transformed from the name Enrick. Enrick is a sept of the Scottish Clan Gunn. The origins of this clan came from Gunni the Viking. Gunni settled on the Isle of Orkney and intermarried with the Picts who inhabited Orkney. Since I was a wee child, I have held a deep love of history, especially family history. This might explain my reluctance to “let it go” when it comes to the Arthurian Legends, the Holy Grail and the search for the Divine Feminine.

King Arthur

King Arthur is most known for his Kingly leadership, his loving rule, and even his ruthless judgment of Lancelot and Guinevere. But often a very important part of Arthur’s life is forgotten: his skills as a general and knight.

The name Arthur may be a form of Artorius, a Roman gens name, but according to J. D. Bruce, it is possibly of Celtic origin, coming from artos viros (bear man). Bruce also suggests the possibility of a connection with Irish art (stone).

King Arthur was the son of Uther Pendragon and defeated the barbarians in a dozen battles. Subsequently, he conquered a wide empire and eventually went to war with the Romans. He returned home on learning that his nephew Mordred had raised the standard of rebellion and taken Guinevere, the Queen. After landing, his final battle took place.

Tradition has it that after King Uther’s death there was no king ruling all of England. Merlin had placed a sword in a stone, saying that whoever drew it out would be king. Arthur did not know his true status but had grown up living with Sir Ector and Sir Kay, his son. The young Arthur pulled the sword from the stone and Merlin had him crowned the King of Britain. This led to a rebellion by eleven rulers which Arthur put down. He married Guinevere, whose father gave him the round table as a dowry.

In the war against the Romans, Arthur defeated Emperor Lucius and became emperor himself. The last battle of Arthur took place between He and the forces of his evil nephew, Mordred. Arthur delivered the fatal blow to Mordred in the battle, but in the process Arthur was struck a mortal blow, himself. It was then that he commanded Sir Bedivere to throw Excalibur back into the Lake.

The date of Arthur’s death is given by Geoffrey of Monmouth as AD 542. Malory places his life in the fifth century. Geoffrey Ashe puts forward the argument that Arthur is, at least to some extent, to be identified with the historical Celtic king Riothamus. Was Arthur fictitious or did he really live? Was he really a composite of a number of persons living at different times in British history? That is for all of us to decide for ourselves.

Sir Gawain

Gawain is generally said to be the nephew of Arthur. His parents were Lot of Orkney and Morgause (though his mother is said to be Anna in Geoffrey of Monmouth). Upon the death of Lot, he became the head of the Orkney clan, which includes in many sources his brothers Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth, and his half-brother Mordred.

Sir Geraint

The eldest son of King Erbin of Dumnonia who was a Knight of Devon. After the death of his his wife, Prince Geraint spent much time at King Arthur’s Court, looking for action and adventure. It was during this period that he encountered the Sparrow Hawk Knight and came to marry Lady Enid of Caer-Teim (Cardiff), a story told in the ancient tales of “Erec (alias Geraint) & Enid” and “Geraint mab Erbin”.

 

Sir Geraint restored Sir Yniol all of his possessions and then married his beautiful daughter, Lady Enid. Later Geraint heard Enid bewailing his sloth as a knight; he was stung with shame and mistakenly believed Enid to be unfaithful to him. He took her on a journey through a series of trials until she convinced him of her constancy. They returned and lived in happiness for the remainder of their lives.

He inherited the Dumnonian throne in c.497 (or 480) and is recorded as one of the great “Fleet Owners” of post-Roman Britain His castle was once called Caer-Gurrel or Fort of the Ship. He died fighting the Saxons with King Arthur at the Battle of Llongborth (Langport, Somerset) around 480/510. This recorded in a long Welsh poem called the “Elegy for Geraint”.

Sir Lancelot Du Lac (Launcelot)

Lancelot was the son of King Ban of Benwick and Queen Elaine. He was the First Knight of the Round Table, and he never failed in gentleness, courtesy, or courage. Launcelot was also a knight who was very willing to serve others.

It has been said that Lancelot was the greatest fighter and swordsman of all the Knights of the Round Table. Legend tells us that as a child, Lancelot was left by the shore of the lake, where he was found by Vivien, the Lady of the Lake. She fostered and raised him, and in time Lancelot became one of history’s greatest knights.

Legend also says that Lancelot was the father of Galahad by Elaine. It was another Elaine, Elaine of Astolat, who died of a broken heart because Launcelot did not return her love and affection.

Many sources tell us of the love shared toward each other of Lancelot and Queen Guinevere. There may be some truth to this since Lancelot was a favorite of the Queen’s, and he rescued her from the stake on two different occasions. It was at one of these rescues that Lancelot mistakenly killed Sir Gareth, which led to the disbandment of the Round Table. After the Queen repented to an abbey as a nun, Lancelot lived the rest of his life as a hermit in penitence.

Did Lancelot originate in Celtic mythology, was he a continental invention, or did he really live as a famous knight and hero? We may never know… but Launcelot will always live in our imaginations as one of the greatest knights in history.

Sir Gareth

Gareth was the youngest brother of Sir Gawain and the son of Lot and Morgause of Orkney. He played a significant role in Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. Malory’s “Tale of Sir Gareth” was apparently created by Malory. It presents Gareth as an exemplar of chivalry who is knighted by and devoted to Sir Lancelot and who acts chivalrously towards Lynette despite her abuse of him.

This picture of Gareth, who avoided even his own brothers when they acted less than chivalrously, is one of the elements that comes together in the final scenes of the Morte to produce the tragic ending. Lancelot blindly slayed Gareth in his rescue of Guinevere from the stake. When Gawain heard of this, he turned against Lancelot and demanded that Arthur pursue him to punish him, thus setting the stage for Mordred’s takeover.

In Tennyson’s Idyll of Gareth and Lynette, although Gareth, like almost everyone in Camelot, is not what he seems, he proves himself better than he seems to the sharp-tongued Lynette and the misjudging Sir Kay: he defeated a series of knightly opponents and rescued Lyonors. Gareth also figures in modern works like T. H. White’s The Once and Future King and E. M. R. Ditmas’s Gareth of Orkney (1956).

Sir Gaheris

Sir Gaheris was the son of King Lot of Orkney and his wife Morgause, sister of King Arthur, before being knighted he was squire to his elder brother Gawaine. Sir Gaheris married Lynette on the day his brother Gareth married her sister, Dame Lionesse, of the Castle Perilous.

The two brothers were slain in the struggle following the rescue of Queen Guinevere from the fire, though this was by accident as Sir Lancelot did not recognize them in the crowd. Sir Gawaine for a long time held Sir Lancelot in bitter hatred.

Gaheris, like his other brothers, first visited Arthur’s court when Morgawse arrived following the Battle of Bedegraine. When Gawaine returned to be made a knight at Arthur’s wedding to Guinevere, Gaheris was by his side to act as his page. In a way, he acted as Gawaine’s conscience, cooling his hot temper when Gawaine wished to challenge Pellinore, praising him for his skills in his combat with Allardin of the Isles, and admonishing him after his failure to show mercy causes the death of the lady of Ablamar of the Marsh.

But throughout Gawaine’s early adventures, Gaheris was his steadfast companion. There were two Gaherises that were Knights of the Round Table. This one was the brother of Gawain, Gareth, and Agravain.

 

Sir Bedivere

Sir Bedivere was a trusty supporter of King Arthur from the beginning of his reign, and one of the first knights to join the fellowship of the Round Table. He helped Arthur fight the Giant of Mont St. Michel, and later he was made Duke of Neustria.

Bedivere had only one hand later in life, having lost one of his hands in a battle. He had a son called Amren and a daughter named Eneuavc.

Bedivere was present at the Last Battle, the fateful Battle of Camlan. He and Arthur alone survived the battle, and he was given the command by Arthur to throw Excalibur back into the Lake. After lying twice to Arthur, he finally tossed the precious sword out into the lake, and the hand of the Lady of the Lake came up and retrieved the sword to its watery home.

The name Bedivere comes from the Welsh Bedwyr. His grandfather was also named Bedivere, and he founded the city of Bayeux. Bedivere was killed in the Roman Campaign.

 

Sir Galahad

Galahad was the natural son of Launcelot. His name may be of Welsh origin or come from the place name Gilead in Palestine. His mother was Elaine, and he was placed in a nunnery as a child, being that the abbess there was his great aunt.

One day a sword in a stone was seen in a river by Arthur’s knights, and it was said that only the world’s best knight could pull out the sword. Galahad was led into Arthur’s court where he sat in the Siege Perilous and then drew the sword out. It was later on when the Grail appeared in a vision at Arthur’s court that Galahad was one of the three knights chosen to undertake the Quest for the Holy Grail. He was given a white shield, made by Evelake, with a red cross which Joseph of Arimathea had drawn in blood. In the course of the Quest he joined up with Percivale, Bors, and Percivale’s sister. On board Solomon’s ship, Galahad obtained the Sword of David; and after the death of Percivale’s sister the trio split up for a while and Galahad traveled with his father, Launcelot.

When the three rejoined forces they came to Carbonek and achieved the Grail. Galahad mended the broken sword, and therefore, He was allowed to see the Grail. After beholding the Holy Grail, Galahad requested of Joseph of Arimathea that he die, which request was granted unto him. Galahad was always known as the “Perfect Knight”. He was “perfect” in courage, gentleness, courtesy, and chivalry.

Sir Kay

Sir Kay was the son of Ector (Ectorious) and the foster brother of King Arthur. History records Kay (Cai in Welsh) as being a very tall man, as shown by his epithet, the Tall. He appears in the Mabinogion tale of “Culhwch and Olwen” as the foremost warrior at the Court of the King Arthur, and apparently had mystical powers and was called one of the “Three Enchanter Knights of Britain” for:

“nine nights and nine days his breath lasted under water, nine nights and nine days would he be without sleep. A wound from Cai’s sword no physician might heal. When it pleased him, he would be as tall as the tallest tree in the forest. When the rain was heaviest, whatever he held in his hand would be dry for a handbreadth before and behind, because of the greatness of his heat, and, when his companions were coldest, he would be as fuel for them to light a fire”.

Sir Kay at times had a volatile and cruel nature, but he was Arthur’s senechal and one of his most faithful companions. Kay married Andrivete, daughter of King Cador of Northumberland, and he is credited with sons called Garanwyn and Gronosis and a daughter called Kelemon. Some sources say that Kay was a Saxon, but was unlike the heathen Saxons because he was a Christian.

There are different accounts of his death: throughout Welsh literature it is claimed that he was killed by Gwyddawg who was, in turn, killed by Arthur; but he is also said to have been killed by the Romans or in the war against Mordred.

 

Sir Bors de Ganis

Sir Bors was the only knight to survive the Quest for the Holy Grail and return to court. His father’s name was Bors, and he later succeeded his father as King of Gannes. Bors was a chaste knight, but the daughter of King Brandegoris fell in love with him, and with the aid of a magic ring forced Bors into loving her.

As a result of this union, Bors became the father of Elyan the White, later Emperor of Constantinople. Bors undertook the Quest for the Holy Grail along with Galahad and Percivale. Bors was the only one of the three to return to Britain, and after the Quest, he returned to Arthur’s Court.

Bors was the cousin of Sir Lancelot, and he steadfastly supported him against Arthur during the conflict between the two. After the death of Lancelot, Bors returned to the Holy Land where he died fighting in the Crusades. It has been suggested that, in origin, Bors may have been a character who figures in Welsh legend as Gwri.

 

Sir Lamorak

Lamorak was the son of King Pellinore and in some legends the brother of Percivale. He was one of the strongest Knights of the Round Table. Lamorak was the lover of Morgause, whose husband King Lot of Orkney had been killed by Lamorak’s father, Pellinore.

Lamorak was one of three knights most noted for their deeds of prowess. At an early age he received a degree for jousting, at which he excelled. There were several different occasions in which Lamorak fought over thirty knights by himself.

Some sources say Lamorak was killed by Mordred who crept in behind him and stabbed him in the back, but most stories refer to Lamorak as being killed by Gawaine in retaliation for Lamorak’s relationship to Morgause, Gawaine’s mother.

Sir Tristan (Tristram)

Tristan, or Tristram in Old English, was a contemporary of King Arthur and a Knight of the Round Table. He was the nephew and champion of King Mark of Cornwall and the son of Meliodas, King of Lyoness. Tristan’s mother died when he was born, and as a young man he took service with his uncle, Mark.

Tristan became the champion of his uncle after defeating and killing Marhaus of Ireland in a duel. That defeat led to a truce with King Anguish of Ireland and he arranged for his daughter, Iseult to be married to King Mark. It was Tristan who was sent to Ireland to fetch the would be Queen. While in the process of bringing her back to Cornwall, Tristan and Iseult fell helplessly in love with one another. Therefore, they fled from Mark and lived the rest of their days on the run.

Legend has it that while Tristan was playing his harp for Iseult, Mark snuck in behind him and killed him with a dagger or a lance in the back.

The Fowey Stone in Cornwall is thought to bear an inscription about a Tristan, son of Cunomorus, to whom the tale may have been transferred. According to the Italian version of the story, Tristan and Iseult had two children, bearing their names, while the French view gives them one son, Ysaie, and a grandson, Marc.

The name Tristan may be Pictish in origin. It is interesting to note that the Pictish King Talorc III was succeeded by Drust V; were these the Protagonists of the original Tristan story? No one may ever know.

Sir Percivale

Percivale was raised by his mother in ignorance of arms and courtesy. Percivale’s natural prowess, however, led him to Arthur’s court where he immediately set off in pursuit of a knight who had offended Guinevere.

Percivale is the Grail knight or one of the Grail knights in numerous medieval and modern stories of the Grail quest. Percivale first appears in Chrétien de Troyes’s unfinished Percivale or Conte del Graal (c.1190). The incomplete story prompted a series of “continuations,” in the third of which (c. 1230), by an author named Manessier, Percivale achieves the Grail. (An analogue to Chrétien’s tale is found in the thirteenth-century Welsh romance Peredur.)

Chrétien’s story was also the inspiration for one of the greatest romances of the Middle Ages, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival (c. 1200-1210). As in Chrétien’s story, Wolfram’s Parzival is initially naive and foolish, having been sheltered from the dangers of the chivalric world by his mother. In both versions Percivale/Parzival is the guest of the wounded Fisher King (called Anfortas by Wolfram but unnamed by Chrétien) at whose castle he witnesses the Grail procession and fails to ask–because he has been advised of the impoliteness of asking too many questions–the significance of what he sees and, in Wolfram’s romance, what causes Anfortas’s pain. This failure is calamitous because asking the question would have cured the king.

Other medieval versions of the story of Percivale can be found in the French texts known as the Didot-Percivale and Perlesvaus (also called The High Book of the Grail or Le Haut Livre du Graal). Percivale is the central character in the fourteenth-century Middle English romance Sir Percivale of Galles which is apparently based on Chrétien’s tale but which omits the Grail motif entirely. Percivale is one of three Grail knights in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, the others being Galahad and Bors. Percivale functions as the narrator of the dramatic monologue which comprises most of Tennyson’s Idyll “The Holy Grail.” In this idyll, much of what Percivale tells focuses on Galahad as the central Grail knight. Richard Wagner, drawing his inspiration primarily from Wolfram von Eschenbach though greatly simplifying Wolfram’s plot, wrote the opera Parsifal in 1882.

As in the medieval stories, Parsifal is presented initially as a fool, but is pure enough to heal the wounded Anfortas and to become himself the keeper of the Grail. Among the twentieth century works to deal with Percivale/Parsifal are the poem “Parsifal” by Arthur Symons, several of Charles Williams’s Arthurian poems, Robert Trevelyan’s The Birth of Parsival (1905) and The New Parsifal: An Operatic Fable (1914), and the novels Percival and the Presence of God (1978) by Jim Hunter, Parsifal (1988) by Peter Vansittart, and Richard Monaco’s tetralogy (containing Parsival [1977], The Grail War [1979], The Final Quest [1980], and Blood and Dreams [1985]). One of the most interesting Arthurian films is Eric Rohmer’s Percivale le Gallois (1978), a fairly faithful rendition of Chrétien’s Conte del Graal. The story of Percivale is recast in a modern setting in the film The Fisher King (1990).

New Readings On The Divine Feminine

In today’s mail I received three books that will be capturing my reading time for the next few weeks. Here are the tomes:

The Church of Mary Magdalene

by Jean Markale

subtitled:

The Sacred Feminine and

Treasure of Renne-Le-Château

Montségur and the Mystery of the Cathars

by Jean Markale

The Gospel of The Beloved Companion

The Complete Gospel of Mary Magdalene

Translated and Commentary by

Jehanne de Quillan

You can expect some really good notes and quotes from these tomes in the coming posts. Please be patient as to give me time to read them. I am excited to see what enlightenment these will reveal.

The Lost Divine Feminine In Christianity

Today, I am making a case for the Divine Feminine that was left out of the New Testament. Why is it so important that Jesus was a celibate, single male figure? In my sixty-eight years on this planet, I have not figured out how that makes him more divine. I am putting in an argument that Jesus was the son of man and as such would have been a fully participating male in all that entails.

Let’s look at the Book of Genesis. From the very beginning we are told that God made man and maid in OUR image. When we get to the New Testament, Jesus tells us that when we marry we become One in God. What Jesus is telling us is that to become One we need to marry. If we were made in the image of the One God then God is the marriage El and Asherah who became One.

There are several female Deities that can lay claim to the title Christian goddess. Mary, the Mother of Jesus/Yeshua, first comes to mind. There is Mary Magdalene the “Goddess in the Gospels” the Church refused to acknowledge as the wife of Yeshua and probably co-Messiah. “Mary” is a Greek pronunciation of the Hebrew name Miriam or Miriamne. There are many theories about this name, such as Mary might not even be a name, but a title meaning Priestess of Goddess.

Many theologians and scholars believe the Holy Spirit written as, Pneuma in Greek every time it appears in the New Testament, is a feminine being. Note that Pneuma is a neuter word in Greek, but in Hebrew the word Ruah (Spirit) and in Aramaic the word Shekinah (Presence) are feminine words and imply a feminine divine presence. The Holy Spirit is possibly a Christian Goddess, not a mysterious invisible member of an all-male Trinity “club.” Or more provocatively, maybe there is a Feminine Trinity of God-the-Mother (Sophia and Mary?), God-the-Daughter (Mary Magdalene) and Goddess-the-Spirit-Presence (Shekinah, Ruah). The Holy Spirit appears at Yeshua’s baptism in the form of a dove. The dove has long been a symbol of the Goddess in the Ancient Near East, and was never used to symbolize any male Being or God.

We must also look in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, and consider the Goddess Sophia. Her name means “Wisdom.” She is the Goddess of Wisdom referred to repeatedly in scripture as the wife of God-the-Father. See Proverbs, Song of Songs, (also called Song of Solomon) in the Hebrew Bible, and see the Book of Sirach and the Book of Wisdom in the Apocrypha found in the center of any Catholic Bible.
In Greco-Roman Christianity, probably because of the dangers of Gnosticism, the biblical images of God as female were soon suppressed within the doctrine of God. God as Wisdom, Hokmah in Hebrew, or Sophia in Greek, a feminine form, was translated by Christianity into the Logos concept of Philo, which is masculine and was defined as the Son of God. The Shekinah, the theology of God’s mediating presence as female, was de-emphasized; and God’s Spirit Ruah, a feminine noun in Hebrew, took on a neuter form when translated into Greek as Pneuma. The Vulgate translated Ruah into Latin as masculine, Spiritus. God’s Spirit, Ruah, which at the beginning of creation brings forth abundant life in the waters, makes the womb of Mary fruitful. In spite of the reality of the caring, consoling, healing aspects of divine activity, the dominant patriarchal tradition has prevailed, resulting in seeing the female as the passive recipient of God’s creation; and the female is expressed in nature, church, soul, and finally Mary as the prototype of redeemed humanity. Because God as father has become an over literalized metaphor, the symbol of God as mother is eclipsed. The problem lies not in the fact that male metaphors are used for God, but that they are used exclusively and literally; because images of God as female have been suppressed in official formulations and teaching, they came to be embodied in the figure of Mary who functioned to reveal the unfailing love of God.

God The Father Has A Wife

The Lord’s Prayer, often called the “Our Father,” only addresses the masculine side of Divinity. It is a prayer to Yahweh, the Jewish and Christian Father-God. But what many have forgotten, or refuse to admit, is that Yahweh had a wife.

Asherah, the Shekinah, was originally worshipped right alongside her lover/husband Yahweh, or El, as He is also called in ancient writings. You’ve probably noticed His name in names like Mi-cha-EL, Gab-ri-EL, Rach-EL, which mean respectively, “Who is like God?”, “Power of God,” and “Fair One of God.”

In Genesis, God the Father turns to some companion, we are never told whom, and says, “Let us make man after our own image.” Jewish mystics and scholars of the Kabbalah have pointed out the obvious: Yahweh is talking to His wife.

Even more intriguing: many researchers say it is She that is speaking to Him. The Hebrew word used for “God” in Genesis is Elohim, the plural of Eloah, a feminine title for the Goddess. Eloah (sometimes spelled Elat) is the female “half” of El. This Hebrew Goddess in Genesis is Asherah, the Shekinah, the Lady, speaking with Her mate.

They agree to create, and so here we are. Perhaps a little sex magic is used in their grand creation project, who knows? It would be logical for the Divine to have intimate physical relations, since they made us such wonderfully sexual beings. We should never feel ashamed of, nor try to suppress, our sexual natures.

When two people, committed to each other and to Goddess & God join in sexual communion they are actually performing an honoring, a ceremony of worship toward the Divine Couple. They are the great original Masculine and Feminine. They wish to channel into, and through men and women of their creation. You and your partner might try channeling the Lady and Lord the next time you are intimate.

Many ancient religions, including the Greeks, believed that heaven is a male God who “covers” the feminine earth, Gaia in an intimate embrace. The earth, thus regularly impregnated, bears fruit.

 

The Gospel according to Mary Magdalene

Pages 1-6 are missing.

     “… Will m[a]tter then be utterly [destr]oyed or not?”
The Savior replied, “Every nature, every modeled form, every creature, exists in and with each other. They will dissolve again into their own proper root. For the nature of matter is dissolved into what belongs to its nature. Anyone with two ears able to hear should listen!” 

Then Peter said to him, “You have been explaining every topic to us; tell us one other thing. What is the sin of the world?”
The Savior replied, “There is no such thing as sin; rather you yourselves are what produces sin when you act in accordance with the nature of adultery, which is called ‘sin.’ For this reason, the Good came among you, pursuing (the good) which belongs to every nature. It will set it within its root.”
Then he continued. He said, “This is why you get si[c]k and die: because [you love] what de[c]ei[ve]s [you]. [Anyone who] thinks should consider (these matters)!
“[Ma]tter gav[e bi]rth to a passion which has no Image because it derives from what is contrary to nature. A disturbing confusion then occurred in the whole body. That is why I told you, ‘Become content at heart, while also remaining discontent and disobedient; indeed become contented and agreeable (only) in the presence of that other Image of nature.’ Anyone with two ears capable of hearing should listen!”
When the Blessed One had said these things, he greeted them all. “Peace be with you!” he said. “Acquire my peace within yourselves!
“Be on your guard so that no one deceives you by saying, ‘Look over here!’ or ‘Look over there!’ For the child of true Humanity exists within you. Follow it! Those who search for it will find it.
“Go then, preac[h] the good news about the Realm. [Do] not lay down any rule beyond what I determined for you, nor promulgate law like the lawgiver, or else you might be dominated by it.”
After he had said these things, he departed from them.
     But they were distressed and wept greatly. “How are we going to go out to the rest of the world to announce the good news about the Realm of the child of true Humanity?” they said. “If they did not spare him, how will they spare us?”
Then Mary stood up. She greeted them all, addressing her brothers and sisters, “Do not weep and be distressed nor let your hearts be irresolute. For his grace will be with you all and will shelter you. Rather we should praise his greatness, for he has prepared us and made us true Human beings.”
When Mary had said these things, she turned their heart [to]ward the Good, and they began to deba[t]e about the wor[d]s of [the Savior].
     Peter said to Mary, “Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than all other women. Tell us the words of the Savior that you remember, the things which you know that we don’t because we haven’t heard them.”
Mary responded, “I will teach you about what is hidden from you.” And she began to speak these words to them.
     She said, “I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him, ‘Lord, I saw you today in a vision.’
He answered me, ‘How wonderful you are for not wavering at seeing me! For where the mind is, there is the treasure.’
I said to him, ‘So now, Lord, does a person who sees a vision see it <with> the soul <or> with the spirit?’
The Savior answered, ‘A person does not see with the soul or with the spirit. ‘Rather the mind, which exists between these two, sees the vision an[d] that is w[hat … ]’

(Pages 11-14 are missing.)

” ‘… it.’
“And Desire said, ‘I did not see you go down, yet now I see you go up. So why do you lie since you belong to me?’
“The soul answered, ‘I saw you. You did not see me nor did you know me. You (mis)took the garment (I wore) for my (true) self. And you did not recognize me.’
“After it had said these things, it left rejoicing greatly.
“Again, it came to the third Power, which is called ‘Ignorance.’ [It] examined the soul closely, saying, ‘Where are you going? You are bound by wickedness. Indeed you are bound! Do not judge!’
“And the soul said, ‘Why do you judge me, since I have not passed judgement? I have been bound, but I have not bound (anything). They did not recognize me, but I have recognized that the universe is to be dissolved, both the things of earth and those of heaven.’
“When the soul had brought the third Power to naught, it went upward and saw the fourth Power. It had seven forms. The first form is darkness; the second is desire; the third is ignorance; the fourth is zeal for death; the fifth is the realm of the flesh; the sixth is the foolish wisdom of the flesh; the seventh is the wisdom of the wrathful person. These are the seven Powers of Wrath.
“They interrogated the soul, ‘Where are you coming from, human-killer, and where are you going, space-conqueror?’
“The soul replied, saying, ‘What binds me has been slain, and what surrounds me has been destroyed, and my desire has been brought to an end, and ignorance has died. In a [wor]ld, I was set loose from a world [an]d in a type, from a type which is above, and (from) the chain of forgetfulness which exists in time. From this hour on, for the time of the due season of the aeon, I will receive rest i[n] silence.’ ”
After Mary had said these things, she was silent, since it was up to this point that the Savior had spoken to her.
     Andrew responded, addressing the brothers and sisters, “Say what you will about the things she has said, but I do not believe that the S[a]vior said these things, f[or] indeed these teachings are strange ideas.”
Peter responded, bringing up similar concerns. He questioned them about the Savior: “Did he, then, speak with a woman in private without our knowing about it? Are we to turn around and listen to her? Did he choose her over us?”
Then [M]ary wept and said to Peter, “My brother Peter, what are you imagining? Do you think that I have thought up these things by myself in my heart or that I am telling lies about the Savior?”
Levi answered, speaking to Peter, “Peter, you have always been a wrathful person. Now I see you contending against the woman like the Adversaries. For if the Savior made her worthy, who are you then for your part to reject her? Assuredly the Savior’s knowledge of her is completely reliable. That is why he loved her more than us.
“Rather we should be ashamed. We should clothe ourselves with the perfect Human, acquire it for ourselves as he commanded us, and announce the good news, not laying down any other rule or law that differs from what the Savior said.”
After [he had said these] things, they started going out [to] teach and to preach.

 

Note: Square brackets in the translation indicate that a gap exists in the manuscript where writing once existed; the text within the brackets has been restored by scholars.

 

Atheist Tells A Girl “There Is No God.”

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, “What would you want to talk about?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said the atheist. “How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?” as he smiled smugly.

“Okay,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?”

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”

To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss God, Heaven and Hell, or life after death, when you don’t know crap?”

And then she went back to reading her book.

Lord’s Prayer A Meditation – Petal Six

Without God our nature is to follow the path of least resistance. Does it take an army to follow the path of Truth and Light? No, it does not take an army to stay Right on the path; but it surely helps. As humans, we need to fight temptation at every turn. It is a constant struggle between love and war. I am of Scottish descent through the Clan Gunn. Our clan motto is “Aut Pax Aut Bellum”. Translated that is “Either Love Or War”. So I am quite familiar with that struggle. Today, we are going to visit that struggle in Petal Six:

Lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

To acquire the power of the final sequence of Our Lord’s Prayer, we need to define these terms: sin, temptation and evil. Let us begin with evil; for it is the basis of both sin and temptation. Evil takes on many forms, uses many words and coops a lot of the media we use today.

We are always being asked to define evil. All we have to do is to listen to or to read the headlines over the last two weeks. Evil has been debated by scholars and theologians for centuries. It is not the purpose of this writing to go into the depths of scholastic and theological discourses. We want to focus on what defines evil in our lives. Kathleen McGowan reminded me of a passage I was given when I was researching my thesis on Cyclical Romances:

That which keeps us from

Accomplishing our mission

And fulfilling our promise

To Our Father in Heaven

Is defined as evil

Evil is not that horned beast standing in a sea of fire holding a trident. It is within our heart. It is the failure to stay on the path of our own nature and the path to the Truth. It is the path of least resistance.

I am sure if you have any history in a church, you know of the seven cardinal sins: ego, anger, envy, complacency, greed, indulgence and lust. How many of you recognize any one of these leaking into to your life on a daily basis? When was the last time you saw something you wanted that cause you a desire and to say to yourself, “Oh, that would be nice, someday?” When was the last time you saw someone sleeping on a sidewalk, saw someone struggling with a disability, or someone being abused due to their ethnic background; and then went on about your daily routine and did nothing about them?

In just two sentences, we have witnessed two of these sins, ego and envy. You can see how easily evil can seep into your daily lives. It takes effort to avoid them. As I mentioned previously, I live in South Dakota, a very rural state with a total population of less than a million people. Farming affects the daily lives of everyone, including those who live in the major population areas of Sioux Falls and Rapid City. I’m sure at one time or another you have seen photos of row crops all lined up in straight rows. With farmers farming hundreds if not thousands of acres at time, do you know how that farmer gets the row so straight? In today’s technological age, it is done with GPS. Before, there were manual methods. The farmer marks the beginning and the ending of each row. As he begins each row, he keeps his eye on the marker at the end of the row. The farmer knows that there will be rocks and other obstacles that will veer the tractor from the keeping the straight line. He also knows that if he keeps his eye on the end of the row, he will automatically do small course corrections along the way to keep the row straight.

Okay you live in a big city and may have never walked through the mud and manure of a farm; and you are asking how this makes a difference in your life. Use an analogy that fits your circumstances; such as driving a car, steering a boat, preparing up through presentation a proposal or speech. Let’s look at another evil that can seep into your daily lives. When was the last time you got angry?

This is an easy one to recognize. All one has to do is to look at the news headlines for the past year in the U.S. I am not taking sides of the political discussion; however I am going to use show how Anger can have an unholy effect on a person. The Republican candidate won the election; and the Democratic candidate lost. Of course there is going to be immediately angst from the losing party. Looking at the news, this angst has been going on for 365 days with no end in sight. The ones on the losing side are still angry. They scream, they yell, they demonize the winning side on a daily basis. Those who are doing most of the public debating show the physical signs of how far they are letting it take over their lives. Some have trouble breathing, other can be seen with veins popping in their necks or foreheads, and others continue to cry to grieve. There are some who are taking to the streets, destroying cars, store windows, buildings and just recently one attacked a standing U.S. Senator at his home breaking six of his ribs. This is letting the evil of anger rule your life. Who wants to be around someone who is hot that angry.

Sometime we can turn anger into something positive. We all experience anger. The key is how release that anger. This last summer, I got angry at several drivers who acted extremely stupidly. I had a good case of road rage. I bottled it up; because I was driving a three-thousand pound vehicle at 70 mph. And, that could be lethal for both them and me. I waited until I got home. Not wanting for my lovely bride to become the recipient of that anger, I excused myself to our yard. I mowed the front and the back twice each from different angles and then I went to our raised garden. I turned over the soil between the rows, picked weed, thinned out the carrots and radishes and then sprayed for insects using a biodegradable insect repellant. I didn’t want to harm any bees or other pollinating insects. Two and one-half hours later, my anger was quelled and my yard looked really nice. This fall I harvested 50 lbs. of tomatoes; and had such a wealth of hot peppers and kale, I had to give some of them away. The one thing I did was to avoid my woodshop. There were just too many sharp objects that I could have hurt me. This is but one way to channel your anger into something positive.

In the past month we have all read or hear of the dark path that greed and lust can lead. Just keep in mind that greed and lust in our lives can hurt to the core those who we love. Look what it has done to the careers of Weinstein, Spacy and those involved with the Uranium One deal.

This leaves us with complacency; a smugness that leads to apathy, indifference, lethargy, laziness, unconcern dispiritedness, and lack of concern. Such smugness aids and abets the evil that we have promised Our God to eradicate. This can be the worst of all the cardinal sins. It is insidious and worm its way into your very essence and it is quite contagious and pervasive. If you try to please everyone; you will end up pleasing no one!

As we embark upon our mission, there will be all sorts of temptations. Those purveyors of evil are very good at lying and deceiving. We must keep our eye on the target in order to avoid the pitfalls put in our way to distract and disorient us from God’s path. Those with eyes that see and ears that hear must be ever vigilant, with God’s help. We need to pray and pray often.

This is the end of our lessons on how to meditate on the Lord’s Prayer.  Print yourselves copies and use them as guides. Each of us has a different promise and mission. We all need to speak with Our God and Jesus told us this is how we should be doing it. Who am I to deny the word of Our Lord through Jesus of Nazareth? Mary Magdalene, lawful wife of Jesus has been begging me to reach out to you. God gave me the written word to use. Both Jesus and Mary have encouraged my writing of murder mysteries. The evil people of this world do not look like the sharp toothed, horned monsters we see in the movies and cartoons. They look just like us. They act just like us, most of the time. They have job they go to, just like us. That is why we must constantly reflect on the prayer Jesus gave us nearly two-thousand years ago:

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

 Your kingdom come, your will be done,

 On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'”

Lord’s Prayer A Meditation – Petal Five

When was the last time you forgave the sins of your own heart? There is a cliché that abounds: We are our own worst enemy. The funny thing about clichés, they are all based on a simple truth. Didn’t Jesus remind us that before we can remove the splinter from another’s eye we must first remove the board from ours? Today’s petal is about forgiveness:

Forgive us our sins,

As we forgive those who sin against us.

Jesus gives us a revolutionary task. No longer are the Children of God punished for not obeying to the letter of the law. As every father knows, his children will not always obey every command to the letter. God gave us “Free Will”. When we give into temptation (and we all know that we will do so) we need to speak with Our Father in Heaven seeking forgiveness. Isn’t that pretty much what we ask of our children. I am a grandfather to four wonderful grandchildren. Each and every one of them is quite willful. My bride of forty-three years, Lynda and I when discipline is needed, remind them that we love them unconditionally; which is very true. Then, we let them know that we are extremely disappointed with their Actions.

Our Father in Heaven expects nothing less from us. The truly revolutionary concept of this part of the Lord’s Prayer is for us to forgive those who sin against us. In this modern age, we have all heard the following, “Keep your friends close; but keep your enemies closer.” During the Second World War, did the people of England hate the people of Germany? Did the people of the United States of America hate the people of Japan? I think not. They had rightful issues with the actions of their governments. The United States helped the people of Japan rebuild. And, rebuild they did; to surpass those who helped them economically.

I strayed from the subject, I am sorry. As in Petal Four, we must take care of ourselves before we can assist others. There are many of us out there in a state with what I call the Walking Dead. These many are not awake to our Parents in Heaven. They don’t seek the forgiveness of their Father and don’t seek the nurturing of their Mother. You can see them in your daily lives. These are those who when you look into their eyes, they look empty. These are the people walking around, performing their jobs with the pilot on automatic – just to get through the day. They are letting their guilt build each day, weighing down their hearts. They wear that guilt like a shroud; thus they are not letting their light shine. Just like asking God Our Father for abundance, we must specify what we are guilty of. We have all either read or watched a “Police Procedural”. These are the crime stories, my favorite genre of which I am an author. My son is a Deputy Sheriff and he will attest to the fact that the police will try to get a detailed confession from the criminal. When we confess our sins to Our Father, we need do no less. With each sin we confess, a layer of guilt is lifted from our heart. Let us not put a lamp shade around the light of God; which shines in our heart.

In a parable, did not Jesus say, “The one who has no sin in his heart may cast the first stone.”? Not a stone was thrown that day. The Lord Our God asks no more of us than did Jesus in that parable. How do we pretend to know what is in another’s heart? We cannot; and should not. We cannot condemn someone until we have walked a mile in their shoes.

Guess what, even if we dress in that other person’s shoes, our path will not be a mirror’s image of the path they took. We need to ask ourselves, “How many layers of guilt are shrouding their heart?” Only God Our Father knows that. In Petal three, did we not promise God that we would make it on earth as it is in Heaven? How can we do that if we do not have forgiveness in our heart; especially we are asked to have forgiveness for our enemies? The other day on FaceBook, another user, who I do not know and have never met disagreed with my opinion with the most vile, cursing rebuke. I wrote back, “Lord please forgive him for he knows not what is in my heart. I forgive you; and may the white light of Jesus fill your heart.” His reply was, “Oh, here’s another one of those Christians who are trying to interject “F#^&^%#” Jesus Christ into every discussion. You are disgusting.”

I immediately got on my knees and prayed for Jesus to light his soul on fire with goodness. In our lives, we will come across those who want to do us harm either physically or emotionally. God expects us to forgive their actions as he forgives ours. How many of you were taught the “Golden Rule”; Do unto others as you have them do unto you? Isn’t that what Jesus was trying to teach us?

Remember back to Petal Three and Four where I shared the story of my mother’s and my relationship up through high school. My mother died in 1990. I was never able to forgive her while she was alive; because she was constantly trying to exert the same control over my life even though I was 41 years old at the time. She was an expert of laying guilt upon me. Within ten years after her death, my wife became seriously ill. God sent two of his angels to be with me and my children while he took care of her. In tears, I broke down and forgave my mother for all that she laid upon me during my life. It was as if ten pounds of guilt were lifted from my chest. I was very specific about what actions I was forgiving.  Jesus and Mary, his lawful wife came to me and smiled. They told me that she was at that moment able to move on; because after death she realized how she ruined my sense of self-worth.

To this day, I still have lingering problems. I have problems initiating a conversation. I have problems in selecting the right words in an argument; so I clam up. I always think of what I should have said after the fact. I am comfortable in knowing that God knows that I am a work in progress.

We should all be a work in progress. Ask yourself, “Am I a work in progress? How am I doing in forgiving those who do not have our wellbeing in their heart?” I constantly remind myself that I am far from perfect; and that there has only been one perfect person to ever walk on earth. I am ever asking my older Brother in Heaven to teach me how to improve. I still struggle forgiving others; therefore I ask for Divine Intervention.

For those with eyes that see and for those with ears that hear – May the blessings of Our Lord, Our God be with you always and may the White Light of Jesus shine through you to light the world.