The Dangers of Sitting in Judgment (or Have a (Blind)Side of Karma Courtesy of the Gods)

Here's a scenario we can all identify with:  A person does or says something you don't like.  (Maybe they said your idea was stupid or that your outfit was dated or too tight.)  That person then goes on as though he or she did nothing wrong.  You, not liking what was said or done, think about that 'slight' every time you see that person.  Then, you nitpick his or her every move for months.  You stop talking to them.  You go out of your way to make him or her feel uncomfortable or stumble.  You intentionally stir up trouble for that person weeks or months after the initial 'slight'.  You hold on to your anger and righteous indignation declaring it to any who would listen because that person is a 'bad' person.  Half a year later, you still sit upon your Throne of Judgment because you didn't get what you want.  Eighteen months later, you still look for ways to dig at that person.  In five years, you can't even remember why you don't like that person, but you are certain that he or she is evil and everyone should avoid them at all costs.

We have all been there.  None of us sit in a place of pure love all of the time (and if you say that you do, then you are also a liar).  We all sit in judgment of another, whether or not it is the right thing to do (and the Ego always says it is right and justified).  When we do that and, especially, when we allow revenge, pain, or stirring trouble against that person to consume us, we have climbed upon our Throne of Judgment.  What our Ego doesn't tell us is that Throne of Judgment is flimsy.  It isn't sturdy.  It falls apart easily.  It is constructed full of holes and rotting wood.  Maybe a leg is missing.  We look at this Throne through the eyes of the Ego and this wobbly, rotting, bit of wood and glue becomes this glorious oaken seat with velvet cushions, gold-capped nail-heads, a fur wrap for those drafty days, and a matching velvet-topped ottoman to rest your righteous feet.

The problem with sitting in judgment (and the danger of it) is that the other person may not even realize you are still angry at them.  If that person has moved on then your anger is wasted emotion.  If that person has walked on up the path they walk, then the boulders you call yourself throwing may only be pebbles to them.  If that person has no feelings of ill toward you, then what you see as stumbling blocks, they crawl on top of to get a better view of what lies ahead.  Your judgment isn't causing that person any pain, resentment, or other negative emotion because they are beyond your realm of influence.  You are only fighting with yourself when you hang on to the 'slight'.

Another problem with sitting in judgment is that, ultimately, the self righteous hanging on and self-justification of all of those negative emotions creates an imbalance within the spiritual self.  If the Ego is in the driver's seat, then the Higher Self can not be accessed as readily.  Well, what does the Universe do when there is an imbalance?  Yep! It seeks to create balance.  If there is a huge amount of Ego, then the cure is humility. So smash, bang, crack, pow! Some part of your life gets banged up a bit.  Maybe that part is your job or your finances or maybe that part is the disintegration of another friendship or maybe your spouse cheats on you.  The karmic repercussions don't necessarily happen in the same area of your life.  Balance is balance.

So, if 'bad things' are happening in one area of you life as you sit upon your Throne of Judgment, it isn't the other person throwing bad juju at you, it's your own accumulation of bad juju as you sit upon your Throne.  Having constant headaches?  Your third eye or crown chakras are likely clogged or closed shutting off the flow of energy and severing your connection to your Higher Self.  Feeling tired all of the time and having low energy?  That's from constantly searching energetically for the 'bad things' that other person is 'focusing' upon you.  Another word for that is paranoia.  Want to go crazy quickly as a magical person?  It is very, very easy to do that when one walks between the worlds and is in constant contact with the energies around us.  The Ego can filter anything in a way to make you think someone is out to get you.

Unfortunately, the Universe does not revolve around any of us as single entities.  So, your judgment of another is your own.  The price you are willing to pay for 'being right' is your own.  However, as you sit upon your Throne, do not blame others for the karmic debt you incur.  When that Throne finally collapses into a heap, do not point fingers.  When the illusions are finally disbursed and you can see clearly the unfiltered situation, remember that cause always leads to effect and that what we put out always comes back to us.  Magical people tend to quote that, but then forget it when they want revenge.  They tend to forget it when they get butthurt and want to hurt another back.  For Wiccans, the last few lines of the Rede is good to remember:

Mind the Three-fold Laws you should three times bad and three times good.

When misfortune is enow wear the star upon your brow. 

Be true in love this you must do unless your love is false to you. 

These Eight words the Rede fulfill: 

"An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will"

For those not Wiccan, the Universal Law of Cause and Effect will do:

"Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law." — The Kybalion.

Or maybe the Law of Polarities:

"Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled." — The Kybalion.

No matter what, there are certain universal truths out there, laws that must be followed.  When we sit in judgment, others judge us and that is not something we want.  We yell 'live and let live' but then do not.  When does it end, the cycle of judging?  When is it okay simply to let it go?  When is it okay just just let someone else be right, even when they are wrong?  That's my personal choice.  Hell, their being 'right' doesn't hurt me in any way and they will be the ones to have to deal with the karma of it.  I do not have to love or hate them for their blindness.  I just have to keep walking my own path.  Their being 'right' has no bearing on my purpose in life, even if they are sitting in direct judgment of me.

Brightest of blessings, friends!!

Karma: What We Aren't Getting (or are Forgetting) About It. (And I'm just talking about this lifetime.)

Today, I'm setting the intent for this calendar year.  I'm am going to live today in the same manner I intend 2015 to go.  Hence, a mid-week blog.  This topic is something that I think is very, very important to remember for us pagans and, honestly, I don't see many pagans who actually understand how karma and the Three-Fold Law, the Law of Returns, or the Law of Polarity work.  Any of these particular words or phrases will work in the sense that I am using.  They are not all simply Wiccan in nature and are, in some form or fashion, laws of the universe, so we can't get around them no matter our belief.  For the sake of simplicity, I will use the word Karma for this writing.

I have, through the years, watched those around me revel joyfully when "good" comes into their life.  They reap the bounty of the "good" with the fervor of a child.  However, when "bad" things happen, these same people bemoan their fate and proverbially shake their fists at the sky.  They cry victimization.  They blame the gods or someone else in their lives.  I have watched those I love struggle in their day-to-day.  They struggle to pay bills.  They struggle to put food on the table.  Every day is like an uphill battle.  Why is this?

Obviously, these situations are not totally karmically connected, however, every day, in our words and in our deeds, we do build karmic debt.  Every word and every action creates a ripple in the pond of the Universe.  What happens when we drop a stone in a pond?  Ripples form.  They bounce along the water (not just the surface) to the edge and then they bounce back to center.  In a pond, the surface eventually becomes still again,but in the Universe, those ripples keep going in and out through this life and the next, becoming weaker but never going away.

So, when I hear people (especially pagans) getting upset because some unpaid bill from six years ago has come up and they can't get financing for a house, I have to wonder if they understand karma at all.  Just because you didn't pay that bill doesn't mean that it just *poof* into the aether and it disappeared.  This example is a great example of karmic debt.  Karmic debt works in much the same way that our banking system does.  

When someone lives in a small town and cheats on his or her spouse (or is the interloper), it does not matter if the extra marital relationship put both people where they needed to be on their life path.  Because of the pain caused, there is a karmic debt to be paid (regardless of how the spurned spouse reacted, as that is part of his/her karmic debt).  Living in a small town means that the cheater and the interloper are both going to have people and places they can not go.  Living in a small town means both people will lose friends.  It means both people in the new relationship will have a reputation to contend with.  If both people are not willing to contend with the consequences of their actions, then why are they acting as such?

As pagans, we are taught that it is okay to do things that 'feel good', but we should be honest about them.  You know, it feels really good to me to buy books with the money I work so hard for, but if I don't pay my electric bill, I have no lights.  I can't be mad at the electric company for shutting me off, can I?  Is there a difference between that and speaking ill of someone?  Energetically?  I don't think so.  Is there a difference between defaulting on a loan with the bank and purposefully pursuing your own happiness without regard to those around you?  Energetically?  No.

We all encounter stumbling blocks in this life.  Sometimes, they are there by design (i.e our soul puts them there before we reincarnate).  Sometimes, those stumbling blocks are a direct result of karmic debt from this lifetime.  In being honest with ourselves, as magical people, can we really complain about a stumbling block that we tossed into our own path because of past, careless actions?  What complaint do we really have, even when that same block keeps tripping us up 5 years or 10 down the road?  We can not whine that it isn't fair.  We put that energy out there.  While we are free to act as we so choose (being adults over 21 and living in a free country), we are not free from the consequences of those actions.  Every thought, every word, every action counts.  Are you digging a karmic hole to fall into later or are you building stepping stones to the future?  It's just something to think about as we begin this new calendar year.

May 2015 bring you the brightest blessings, Friends.

Yultide Blessings!

My dear readers, I must apologize for the absence of the past, nearly, two months.  I have been traveling through my own, personal Hell.  For those of you who have seen me, no, there was no overwhelming outward stimulus.  Personal difficulties?  Yes, but again, nothing so terrifying as anything I do to myself.

I woke this morning after the sun had risen, so instead of drumming up the sun (like I was planning on), I have decided to sing to the young sun god today, in addition to the normal lighting candles in his honor.  I plan on keeping them going from about dark until it is time for bed.  My whole day is going to be my ritual.  I have a solstice movement workshop to go to and then my own family Yule with my partner.  Maybe we will even eat by candlelight.

It seems the magic of this day is doubled with both the Sun and Moon entering Capricorn within just a couple of hours of each other, and I can feel the new beginning.  I can feel the proverbial corner being turned as the light grows stronger, yet tonight, the longest night, must be conquered.

Like any other time in life when the light conquers the darkness, now is a time to take stock.  Are our words and behaviors still serving us?  If they do not, what must we do to change that?  Should we, like the light, work at it a few minutes a day until the new behaviors have grown strong and become habits?  Is that not one of the lessons that the coming light teaches us?  Persist within your desire for illumination and all shadows will burn away. (At least the unnecessary ones will.)

I know this isn't a very long post, but it seems that I am being succinct today (that's unusual!!).  Have a blessed Yuletide, my dear friends and readers.  May the new born Sun illuminate your path and burn away all obstacles.




Blessed Be.

Daily Tarot 2 Nov 2014

Today's tarot reading goes right along with my Samhain ritual last night.  While I got no direct words from the Goddess, this ritual was as poignant  as the one I did in 2008 where Hekate claimed me as her servant.  After half a decade in Her service, I rededicated myself to walking with Her last night, giving up what is unneeded in my life, moving away from what has gone stagnant and dead in my life, and stepping back on that path for my own highest good and doing Her work.

Today the Second Quarter Moon is in Pisces.

The Daughter of Knives in my spiritual arena is the manifestation of what I have put out.  It symbolizes steady thought, fortitude, resiliency, and sacrifice.  The 3 of Earth in my emotional arena indicates bounty, abundance, happiness, health and wealth.  While the 9 of Wands reversed indicates not giving up too soon.

What I see here is the cards telling me to hang on for just a while longer, what I need is going to manifest and I will be all the better for it, even if I have to walk through a little bit of fire to get there.  Let it go.  Let it happen.

Daily Tarot 1 Nov 2014

Today is Nov. 1.  The Second Quarter Moon went void of course at 1:22am and will enter Pisces at 11:37am.

Today's reading feels different.  I can't place my finger on it, but it simply feels different than the others have.

Spiritual: 10 of Skulls (Reversed)
Emotional: Imbolc (The Star)
Mundane: 7 of Chalices

The reversed 10 of Skulls indicates a lack of.  Something feels like it is missing, empty, needing filled.  Next to it, though, Imbolc/The Star indicates hope and illumination.  The vessel is being emptied back into the depths of the pool after being heated within the cauldron.  While that may not seem to do much, the heating does allow some of the water to escape as steam, to change from a liquid, fluid, able to take the shape of any container, to a gas, so expansive that it can not be contained without being changed back to a liquid (i.e condensation).  So, there will be change for the better.  Within the mundane, the 7 of Chalices indicates potential.  Seven potential futures sit within a chalice, the lady at the desk daydreaming about them all, unable to decide which she wants to focus on manifesting.  Now is the time for focus.  What is my true desire?  Where should my energy go that I should manifest?  These are the questions of the day.

Daily Tarot 31 Oct 2014

Today's tarot reading was, again, interesting. :)

The Moon is in Second Quarter and in Aquarius.

Spiritual: Lord of Grails
Emotional: Yule (Death)
Mundane: The Empress


This is a very 'masculine' reading.  However, it feels as though a corner has been turned.  I need the active dynamic of the masculine energy to get me pushed forward.  That's one thing this is telling me.

The Lord of Grails has been in my Spiritual arena 2 days in a row.  However, today, it seems to have flipped on me.  The Lord of Grails is the active aspect of water: intuitive, visionary, healing, graceful and ego transformative.  Emotionally I got Yule.  Yule is the Death card.  Death is change, transformation, and the ending of a cycle.  I find it quite appropriate to get this card in a reading on Samhain.  Change is coming.  Identifying and leaving behind old emotional patterns, thought patterns, behaviors, and those things that simply no longer serve me.  Within the Mundane realm of my Self, today I drew The Empress.  The Empress card is like the Mother.  She cares ceaselessly for her realm with grace and love.  She is kind and compassionate to those around her, helping when and where she can, but that lovingkindness is tempered with common sense.  Giving is good, to help inn a pinch, but teaching is better in the long term. "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime."

Daily Tarot 30 Oct 2014

Today's tarot was a bit heavy feeling to me.  I'm learning quickly that 'masculine' cards carry a seriousness that I interpret as a heaviness.  There is also that warrior aspect that 'feels' dangerous that, somehow, adds to the heaviness.  And, on we go to the actual reading!!

Today the Moon entered Aquarius at 8:52am and will go into its second quarter at 9:48pm.

This reading feels slightly heavy, burdensome.

The Lord of Grails in reverse speaks of discontent, impatience, anxiety, and conflict, all of which I have had my share of in the preceding months.  I have gotten to the root of some of it, some of it, I haven't.  The Maiden of Water, coming in my emotional area, says that it is all going to be swept out to sea with the tide.  She says that one should always remember to play joyfully in the deep of the ocean, never being afraid of what lies below, in the blackness of the deep.  Of course, within my own mundane, the 6 of Swords in reverse speaks of willfully staying in a bad place.  Sometimes, we torture ourselves, sometimes it is for good, sometimes, it is masochism.  Which is it?