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SPIRITUAL MEANING:
There are two meanings for bonds in dreams. One is as in savings bonds (promissory notes) and the second as in bindings and cords. Spiritually, the significance is that of an undertaking, the changing of conflict into law and order, of chaos into cosmic order. Evil can traditionally be contained by binding it, whether by magical technique, symbolism or visualization. Depending on whether the dreamer is being bound or doing the binding, it shows submission to a greater force.
PSYCHOLOGICAL / EMOTIONAL PERSPECTIVE:
Depending on whether we are giving or receiving promissory bonds, we need to consider our emotional commitment to ourselves and our own concerns. To be aware of being fettered, snared or held fast by chains or other such bonds indicates the possibility that our emotional selves may be out of control.
EVERYDAY MATERIAL ASPECTS:
To dream of promissory notes indicates that we have a sense of commitment to a person or a principle - that we are capable of making promises which we can keep. To dream of other bonds deals with the binding or holding that can occur in situations and relationships.
"You might like to consult the entries for Chains, Chaos and Halter. "
Origin: http://spellscasting.blogspot.com
"When the Indianapolis Star" decided to stop printing a daily Christian prayer, something they had been inexplicably doing since 1963, they made a deliberate editorial decision:We appreciate that this has been a long tradition in The Star. But we are re-evaluating our mission and all that we do. I believe that prayer is a very personal thing and that offering prayers is something for individuals and their churches. We are a newspaper, not a church.
Also, we do live in a society in which there are many, many different beliefs. We respect all religions, and the prayer was written only from the Christian perspective.
Because of those issues, we have decided to drop the prayer. I'm confident that people will continue to offer their own prayers reflecting their own lives and faith needs. It will surprise no one that they have received their share of complaints from Christians. Suppose for a second that the situation was different and a paper that had not previously done so announced that they were going to start printing a Christian prayer each day. What would happen?
Assuming that atheist readers noticed, I suspect that some would complain. Some might go so far as to cancel their subscriptions to the paper. Some atheist bloggers might opine that it was a mistake for a major paper to promote religious drivel, and I'd likely be one of them.
Christians would rush to the defense of the paper and argue that they had the right to print a prayer if they so desired. They would say that atheists could complain all they wanted but that it was up to the paper to determine whether they wanted to do this. After all, the paper is not a part of government. These Christians would be correct. The paper would indeed be free to make such a decision, just as we atheists would be free to complain about it.
I wonder how many of the Christians now complaining realize this. Of course, they have the right to complain, protest, boycott, etc. I value these rights and encourage upset Christians to exercise them. I only wish that they would extend the same courtesy to we atheists instead of immediately trying to make the issue into one of good and evil.
H/Ts to Pharyngula and Negligible Knowledge Base
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Roots of Asia (AG Muller 2001)
'Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,The tree of life is blooming there.' ~WB Yeats
Today's draw from the Roots of Asia Tarot by Amnart Klanprachar and Thaworn Boonyawan is major arcanum number 13-Death. This is one of the most striking Death cards I have seen. We have two curious rock formations such as sometimes seen in images of Asia, but as the eye moves down the card, you realise that the landscape looks like a woman lying on her back, arms outstretched, knees up. The knees become the mountain formations. Growing from her heart centre is a tree. Her hair streams into the water. Her body is slowly being changed from its human form and becoming a natural landscape. You get the feeling that in time, she'll have disappeared completely into the land. At the top of the card, the sky is dark and there's a glowing orb, could be either sun or moon, encircled by three rings, then the curious wispy orange sky that features in nearly every card in the Roots of Asia pack. The woman's 'body' lies in an abundance of water in rivers, pools and streams, and on the twin peaks of the mountains, there are spectacularly high and dramatic waterfalls. A mist rises over the entire scene from the water. It is a card that is both earthy and ethereal.
The element of this card that I find most appealing is the tree growing from the heart chakra. To me, it is the Tree of Life, a concept that is present in some form in nearly all world religions. The Tree of Life is archetypal to the ancient religions of the world, the ecology of tree and water reflecting the interconnectedness of life on the physical plane, and our rootedness in forces unseen. The trees roots plunge into the earth and draw on the water, its branches reach toward the heavens, all representative to me of our physical and spiritual natures. And the place where these aspects of self converge, to me, is the heart chakra. The little Tree of Life emerging from the heart chakra of the inert figure in this Death card reminds me that my essential nature is more than my physical body, and deathless.
The Divinatory Key to this card in the deck's LWB states:
"'New opportunities and transformation. Redemption through putrefaction.'"
The phrase 'Redemption through putrefaction' is unnerving. Putrefaction is not something we talk about much when we begin to wax poetical about the transformative powers inherent in the Death card, but it is an inescapable part of the process of death and rebirth. 'Putrefaction' is an ugly word. To a native speaker of English, just saying it makes you have that cloying feeling of nausea in the back of your throat, at least that's the case for this native English speaker. Putrefaction is the destruction of soft tissues in the body, resulting in the production of foul-smelling matter. It is not pretty. The figure in the card is not pretty. Her legs are turning to misshapen, melty-looking heaps. She's only got one breast left. Her arms are gone. Perhaps that miasma of mist rising up from the water is not entirely made up of freshness...And yet, there's a beautiful little green tree, topped with its own divine spark, rising from her heart, reminding us of all that we are that is beyond the confines of this limited and imperfect body, and its continuation after that body is long forgotten.
Nobody said transformation was pretty. But it IS beautiful.
Credit: http://invocation-rituals.blogspot.com
Galatians 5:16-24
Luke 17:11-19
This Sunday's Collect draws from a passage that was last read in Church on Quinquagesima. It draws from the famous thirteenth chapter of St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, the chapter that describes charity- the love that is itself the very character of God. In recent decades many people have staked a claim to this kind of love, and they have no valid basis for their claim.
An error that defines love incorrectly is repeated in every generation. We all know of another case in the Episcopal Church, the facts about a man who left his wife and daughter, and yet was not disciplined by his own church. He was a priest, and has been elevated to the office of bishop, even though he left his family to live in a sinful relationship, in his case with a man. Had he merely left his wife to marry another woman, the immorality would still have been a scandal, though it would have gotten less press coverage. Let us look at these examples and take note of the truth taught by the Law and the Prophets, and most clearly by our Lord Jesus Christ: Love that is blown about by every wind of emotion and that has no sense of obligation and responsibility is not love at all, by the Divine standard. It is, I suppose, a kind of love; the lowest kind, not worthy to be called charity. As I have said before, you may say. "I love a big juicy steak." But, you cannot say, "I have charity for a big juicy steak."
To quote Pope Benedict from his first encyclical:
"Nowadays Christianity of the past is often criticized as having opposed the body...Yet the contemporary way of exalting the body is deceptive. Eros, reduced to pure 'sex', has become a commodity, a mere 'thing' to be bought and sold, or rather, man himself becomes a commodity. This is hardly man's great 'yes' to the body...Christian faith, on the other hand, has always considered man a unity in duality, a reality in which spirit and matter compensate, and in which each is brought to a new nobility."
That famous chapter in First Corinthians describes love, and in it we see the picture of one Man; we see Jesus Christ. Most especially we see the motivation he had for going to the cross, for letting Himself be nailed to the tree whereon He poured out is soul unto death for you and for me. And, it is this same picture we see in today's Epistle when we read about "the fruit of the Spirit." This love gives and gives without any reservation. The opposite, all of the works of the flesh, are selfish in nature. Each of these sinful things we read about in St. Paul's list is based on the desire to experience gratification, or it is based on the fear of loss that creates greed and covetousness. These things, selfish desire, fear and covetousness are the very opposites of Faith, Hope and Charity, these three that abide now and forever. In place of Faith is fear, in place of hope is despair, in place of love is lust. About that last one, the world does not know the difference; and, in this day and age neither do many people in the Church.
Without sacrifice, without giving, without responsibility and commitment, love is reduced to the lowest kind that merely enjoys the juicy steak, or the good times. The "flesh," when the word is used in this negative way by St. Paul, is really meant to signify the weakness of a fallen nature that, due to sin and death, cannot rise above the drive for gratification and the instinct for survival. It needs to have even these parts of its nature transformed and converted, so that gratification is sanctified in the sacrament of matrimony where, by God's grace, it is not the central part of the bond between man and wife. Where, in a marriage, sexual gratification may become impossible for a temporary or even a permanent or indefinite period, the sacramental grace of marriage keeps the love aflame, a truer flame than mere passion.
The love that is the Fruit of the Spirit is love that goes to the cross rather than seeking its own desire. The joy mentioned here is not extinguished by pain and death, for it looks ahead as our Lord did to "the joy that was set before Him," so that he "endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2)." This peace and this patience trust in God. This gentleness needs no strength but that which comes from above. This goodness is more than anything human strength alone can achieve, for it is the attribute of Almighty God grown and nurtured within you. This faith is one with hope and charity, and does not need gratification or even survival, but instead is able to lay down life itself without fear. This meekness inherits the earth, for God gives grace to the humble. This temperance sees even food and drink as mirrors of the Blessed Sacrament, receives all good things with thanksgiving, and treats the things of earth as transformed and sacramental; because "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory..."
This has everything to do with the gratitude of the Samaritan leper, the one man who returned to give thanks for his cleansing. May we all give thanks for our own cleansing, and allow to the Holy Spirit to grow within us "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance," those elements of "faith, hope and charity" that are the mark of true conversion. In this way we have joy even as we follow the Lord all the way to the cross, and beyond the tomb into the light of day.
Source: http://33witches.blogspot.com
Merry Meet :)))
I took the day off to enjoy Autumn with my children yesterday. It was beautiful. I love when fall comes and the air turns crisp, and the colors get so vibrant when the sun hits the leaves on the trees. It's just magickal to me. The smells of autumn as well. :) In my opinion none can beat them. The smell of the fires burning in the homes, and home cooking, and apples, and that fresh air.
So my little ones and I went to get pumpkins yesterday. We went to several farms looking for the perfect pumpkins. They even took a haunted trainride at one of the farms. It was a little train the farmers had built over a tracter. The kids loved it. It wasn't too scary, and the ride featured a lot of characters from their favorite shows. There is nothing better then watching your kids run about with rosy cheeks and big smiles on their faces. We each chose a pumpkin to bring home. My son chose a white one, the rest are orange.
To make our day even better we finally got a new couch. We have been needing a new couch for quite some time now. Our old one was over 10 years old and really falling apart. We got a four piece leather sectional that has a chase lounge on the end. I'm sitting on it right now as I write to you. It's a higher sofa so I am sitting next to the window in the front of my house watching the son light up all the different colors of the mountain. It's absolutely beautiful.
We also decorated for Samhain/Halloween this weekend. So my house is filled with orange lights and all sorts of decorations. Add to it some apple and pumpkin scented castles and you have a happy girl over here. :)))))
Hope all of you are doing well as well. Did you get your pumpkins yet? How are you decorating this year.
Love and Blessings to You All,
Jasmeine Moonsong
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ABOUT ERIC
Born near the banks of Black Bayou in northwest Louisiana, Eric Wilder grew up listening to his grandmothers' tales of ghosts, voodoo and political corruption.
He graduated from what is now the University of Louisiana at Monroe with a degree in geology. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, then graduated from University of Arkansas with a master's degree in geology.
Eric began his writing career following the 80s oil bust, and now lives in Edmond, Oklahoma with wife Marilyn, daughter Kate, three dogs and two cats.
MY REVIEWS
The Big Easy
Wow! amazing book! Eric Wilder is a a amazing writer. I Loved Primal Creatures and when Eric asked if I wanted to review this one too I was so excited! I can't get enough of Wyatt Thomas! he is great at what he does and there is no one he doesn't know! and I have a big old soft spot for Inspector Tony he is just a big ol' sweetie...lol
This book The first of the Wyatt Thomas novels centers around Murder, Voodoo, family intrigue and Lost Heritage. It all comes together in a chilling tale of torture as a serial killer threatens the Big Easy. Wyatt and Tony enlist the help of the local Voodoo Mambo Mama Mulate in order to help solve the case.
Meanwhile Wyatt is trying to help Celeste and her Father Maurice find his family. All he remembers from his life in new Orleans as a boy is his mothers funeral, a strange service and tomb in an old graveyard, a tomb with no name just x's written on the tomb. Wyatt is sure he knows what tomb it is but is it worth their lives to find out?
I couldn't get enough of this book I loved it from beginning to end! if you like murder mystery's then you will definitely like this! I don't read a lot of mystery In This book Wyatt Thomas Takes on a case of New Orleans most social elite Mr. Gordon Vallee. Someone is spreading nasty rumors that Mr. Vallee is a Passeblanc (half black and half white). Mr. Valle is pretty sure the person spreading the the rumor is his rival and ex-best friend Mr.Claude Sonnier. Sonnier has based his claim's on a ancient curse and the word of some 100 year old ghosts! never a dull moment in the Big Easy when Wyatt's on the case.
Meanwhile Tony and the New Orleans Police are trying to track down a wanted F.B.I escaped criminal. He is almost 7 feet tall and on the loose killing people in New Orleans, and he has already put several people in the hospital, including Tony's partner Tommy. Tony is going to bring this guy down no matter if he has to beat everyone in town for information to do it, and no one is going to stop him.
Amazing book I couldn't get enough of it! I never wanted the book to end! Eric is a master at creating a scene and making you feel like your living right in it. You can taste the food, hear the music, and feel the fear right along with the characters. Eric is a Master at what he does and I am on pins and needles to read his next Wyatt Thomas adventure!
Primal Creatures
This was a really awesome book! It isn't really what I would normally read as I am not much into P.I stories but this one caught my attention right away as well as the fantastic cover. Eric Wilder is a superb writer I felt like I was immersed inside the story and my heart pumped right along with the characters.
My favorite Characters would have to be Jean Pierre and Landry their witty banter made me laugh even when things were at their worst for the characters and they were defiantly people who I would like as friends.
the Story starts out with a P.I. named Wyatt whose pretty much down on his luck when the case of a life time falls in his lap, 50 miles South of New Orleans on Goose Island is a Monastery the home of Tracists Monks. The Monastery also doubles as a resort and spa for Actors, Writers, etc. in the Hollywood Industry. When one of these people turn up dead and torn apart P.I Wyatt Thomas is hired to find out who did it and why, only he finds a lot more then he bargains for as the local Voodoo woman tells Wyatt that he is up against a rougarou, a Cajun werewolf, and there is no way to kill one. Are the locals just a little loopy and wild animals kill the man instead? or is there really a rougarou on Goose Island? Wyatt doesn't know but with the help of his friends he is going to find out cause no one else is going to die on his watch.
This was the third book I believe that Eric has written about the P.I Wyatt Thomas and I admit now that I have read this one I am curious about the others and will have to get them as well...lol...fantastic book and a definite read for one and all!
MY INTERVIEW
I had an amazing time interviewing and getting to know a bit about Eric he is an amazing writer and a amazing person. When I first contacted him about reading Primal Creatures I was a little on the fence about it but I love werewolf stories and love New Orleans/Louisiana so it was a safe bet I would prob enjoy the book even though murder mysteries aren't much my thing.
Eric sucks you into every story until you are helpless but to know what happens next, so when he asked if I wanted to review Big Easy and City of Spirits I jumped right in with both feet! I couldn't wait to read more of Wyatt thomas 's adventures.
Eric creates a world you never want to go but at the same time never want to leave, your so intrigued by what is going on you don't see the edge you are about to fall off, but then when you do you relize that while you fell you learned so many amazing new things and experienced a brave new journey and now you wouldn't trade it for anything.
"Q: CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND HOW LONG YOU'VE BEEN WRITING?"
I grew up in Louisiana. My Aunt Carmol, a school teacher in New Orleans, introduced my brother and me to the city when I was eleven and I've loved it ever since. I wrote several short stories in college, then took an unexplainable twenty-year hiatus before writing my first novel.
"Q: CAN YOU PLEASE TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR BOOK PRIMAL CREATURES AND WHAT INSPIRED YOU WRITE IT?"
Primal Creatures features my French Quarter sleuth Wyatt Thomas. He's a disbarred attorney and recovering alcoholic who has trouble with relationships. His friend and sometimes business partner Mama Mulate is a voodoo mambo and Tulane University English professor. I wanted to write something about the south Louisiana wetlands where an area the size of a football field erodes into the Gulf of Mexico every day. While there's no moral message, hidden or otherwise, in Primal Creatures, I hoped to introduce readers to the local Cajun culture, and to an area that has, quite possibly, the largest migratory bird population on earth. It's a part of this country few people know about, yet too important to lose because of neglect.
"Q: DID YOU ALWAYS KNOW YOU WANTED TO BE A WRITER, AND HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO GET PUBLISHED?"
I'm an avid reader and began devouring
As a scientist, I know there are all sorts of fantastical things we humans know little about. The word rougarou is as old as the original settlers to the swamps of south Louisiana. They believed in rougarous then and still do now. If I crossed paths with a rougarou, I'd run like hell. If I could get my feet moving, that is.
Q: How did you get the idea to put Tracist Monks into your story?
There really is a monastery across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans where monks host a writer's and artist's retreat, and also make coffins. Other than those two facts, the Tracist Monastery came from that mysterious location up in the ozone where all writers harvest their stories.
"Q: IF YOU COULD GO BACK, WOULD YOU CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR STORY?"
I wouldn't change anything. Before beginning a story, I try to do an outline, both on note cards and in my mind. Once I start pecking on the keyboard though, the characters come alive and their stories begin echoing in my ears. Whatever I'd originally planned usually winds up being very different. I know it sounds crazy, but I believe all stories are part of our collective consciousness. Writers just tap into this ethereal data bank, and then transfer what they hear and feel to paper.
"Q: IF YOU COULD BE ONE OF THE CHARACTERS IN YOUR BOOK WHICH ONE WOULD YOU CHOOSE?"
Jean Pierre, the Chalmette detective, is perhaps the wildest, most swashbuckling character I've ever had in a novel. Though he's nothing like me, it would be fun and exciting to fill his shoes for a few days.
"Q: WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT / NEXT?"
In City of Spirits, my second French Quarter mystery, Wyatt learns from an old voodoo woman that he is a "traveler." My next book is tentatively titled Black Magic Woman. Wyatt travels back to old New Orleans, circa 1830s, during the time of big cotton, slavery, and a strong belief in voodoo. He meets the most famous voodoo woman ever, Marie Laveau herself, and she helps him solve an old mystery.
"Q: HOW HARD WAS IT TO WRITE A BOOK LIKE THIS AND WHAT KIND OF TIPS WOULD YOU PASS ON TO MAKE THE JOURNEY EASIER FOR OTHER WRITERS?"
Search your imagination for that story begging to be told. You have one; we all do. I promise. The rest is simple. Plant your butt in front of a keyboard and start pecking away. Keep writing and listening to your muse, and don't stop until you have the story on paper.
"Q: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR INTERVIEW, ERIC. WOULD YOU LIKE TO TELL MY READERS WHERE THEY CAN FIND YOU ON THE WEB AND WHERE EVERYONE CAN BUY YOUR BOOK?"
Thank you, Amanda. My website is ericwilder.com. My blog is Eric's Blogspot. I'm also at facebook.com/louisianamysterywriter, and on Twitter at "@WILDERINOK". My
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