  Spiritual
This week: Honoring our Ancestors Edited by: Sophy  
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Hi, I'm Sophy ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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Honoring Our Ancestors
In the Christian tradition, All Saints Day falls on November 1, followed by the observance of the Day of the Dead or All Souls Day on November 2. Not coincidentally, All Saints falls the day after Samhain, the pagan sabbat celebrated on October 31, which coincides with "summer's end" and is one of eight pagan high holy days. It is considered by many to be the most important date on the pagan calendar, the beginning of their spiritual "New Year," which falls halfway between the Autumnal Equinox and Winter Solstice.
Pagans believe their ancestors marked the end of the harvest season and the coming of winter with ceremonies, feasts, and other observances. Today, modern pagans reflect on that transition in nature as well as in their own spiritual lives. As they look back in remembrance, pagans honor their ancestors and loved ones they have lost. And at the same time, they look ahead with renewed spirit for the coming year. In addition, they believe that the veil between worlds becomes especially permeable at this time, the veil between worlds lifts, and "thin places" more accessible.
Pagan author and teacher Starhawk writes that Samhain is..."the night when the veil is thin that divides the worlds...when the harvest is gathered and the fields lie fallow. The gates of life and death are opened and to the living is revealed the Mystery: that every ending is but a new beginning. For Pagans, death and birth are intertwined. Our goddesses and gods all represent aspects of the cycle of birth, growth, death, and regeneration. Every good gardener knows that fertility is born out of decay. Every fallen leaf becomes part of the soil that feeds the roots of growing trees. At Samhain, we take time to remember and commune with those who have gone before, to express gratitude for what they've given us. In our frantic pace, we tend to forget our past. Few of us know much about our families beyond a generation or two back. Remembering the dead can help us keep a sense of connection to our roots."
Thus, the celebration and practices of Samhain have a long history, certainly predating Christianity. Christians started observing All Saints Day sometime in the early 7th Century as far as church historians can ascertain, using the occasion to honor the lives of the early church saints before branching out to commemorate all who had passed on the following day, which came to be known as All Souls Day, or the Day of the Dead. All Saints/Souls traditions were similar to those of Samhain wherein special attention was given to praying for the souls of the dead and honoring the influence they'd had in their lives. Originally celebrated in May, Pope Gregory moved the observance to November 1 - obviously part of the then common practice of "christianizing" the pagan holidays.
Why am I telling you about this on November 14? Well, I recently returned from a couple of weeks in California where my sister and I started going through my mother's things to sort through what to throw away, what to give away, and what to keep as we prepare her house to sell. It was an amazing experience on a spiritual level, as well as sparking my creative writing muse, because in the process of going through the countless boxes in my mother's house, we uncovered things about our family history that we didn't know much, if anything about, and felt a profound connection with our parents and others who had gone before us - some we knew, and some we never met. I was in California on this "treasure hunt" during the time of Samahin, and the days following - and it wasn't until we realized one day as we were going through boxes that it was November 2, the Day of the Dead, that we acknowledged significance of what we were doing and when we were doing it.
There can be little doubt that the observances of All Saints and All Souls have their roots in pre-Christian traditions, including those of pagans as well as many native peoples. One such native people are the African Mende tribe portrayed in the movie “Amistad,” which recounts the true story of 53 West Africans and their bloody rebellion aboard a Spanish slave ship, the Amistad, off the coast of Cuba, which was later captured near Rhode Island. Defending them on murder charges and fighting for their return to Africa is a young, struggling idealistic lawyer named Baldwin, played by Matthew McConaughey. Slowly winning their trust and friendship, Baldwin later wins their freedom and clears them of murder charges, but the case is appealed to the Supreme Court by President Van Buren, concerned about America's relationship to Spain if they are allowed to return, free, to Africa. Enter John Quincy Adams, played by Anthony Hopkins, whom Baldwin implores to argue the case before the Supreme Court, since he has no experience before them and Adams, a former President, has won cases before them in the past. After much cajoling, Adams agrees, and meets with one the leaders of the rebellion, Cinque, in his own home.
As they wander through Adams' greenhouse, he says to Cinque, "You know this is going to be exceptionally difficult."
Cinque replies, "We won't go in there alone. Many will be us."
Adams: "True, but good feeling and political support only go so far."
Cinque: "I mean we will have my ancestors. I will call into the past ~ far back to the beginning of time and beg them to come help be at the judgment. I will reach back and draw them into me. And they must come, for at this moment, I am the whole reason that they have existed at all."
I am the whole reason that they have existed at all – what a wonderful image for the role ancestors play in our lives. According to Cinque, his ancestors lived and breathed and had their own lives, obviously not knowing any specifics about the people who would exist in the future, but still, in a sense, living for these future West Africans, for their sakes, so that their strength and honor could be called upon when needed. Cinque would live his life in the same manner, with awareness and attention for those whose lives would come after his, as well as calling upon the ones who came before, continuing the cycle as well as the obligation. That’s pretty powerful stuff, and ideal for us to consider as we acknowledge that we are a part of a "communion of saints" that stretches through time carrying a story that is about us, but transcends us. We are stewards of this present moment but we are also surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who are not only with us but also within us. They are a part of us. They are our people.
My parents were born in 1927 and 1928, both the oldest children of depression era families. Mom was born in California, while Dad was born in Oklahoma. We've always had some information about my paternal and maternal grandmothers sides of the family, but we didn't know as much about either of our grandfathers sides of the family. In going through things at my mother's house after her death, we found boxes and boxes of unorganized family history about all of them, and started what will be a long and worthwhile process of putting missing puzzle pieces together. This process not only brought us closer to each other, but also to our ancestors. And we look forward to continuing the journey.
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Here are some responses to my last newsletter "Spiritual Newsletter (October 17, 2012)" about listening:
From creativequill  :
For me the word is retreat. I have taken a few in my time and it does wonders. At the beginning I feel ready and eager to be on my own and taking time for myself to just ponder on my life and which direction I am taking. Soon, I find that I miss the kids at home, miss being home, miss just being who I have been being. Always seem to find out that I am grateful for the life I have and everything else and everyone else in it. Now that is the best part of the retreat. I am always grateful to just get back and get on with my life.
Thanks for sharing this - I too try to go on a retreat at least one weekend a year, and find it refreshing for body and soul.
    
From Rev.B :
Hi,
On Sabbath, I am a firm believer in taking time out to rest and be with God. There are three parts to a goal or cycle of action. Start - Change - Stop, or Begin - Continue - Complete. There is a time to start doing and a time to stop doing and just Be.
Thank you for this insight.
Love
Rev.Bola (aartisans)
Thank you for your insight as well - we do tend to DO so much, what a blessing sometimes to just BE.
From Seamus Leo  :
It would be nice to see a bibliography for research purposes.
Now the conduction of the ritual entrances and exits into the Sabbat day and calculations of rest and the mysteries behind the veil in which you are describing would be interesting to review.
Thanks for your comment. When I quote or cite a source, I usually link to it, but don't typically create a bibliography for this newsletter.
From Quick-Quill  :
Thank you for sharing my note!
You are welcome!
From ellen_granger9:
I wanted to ask - can we volunteer to be a guest editor? What is the process of selection like?
Newsletter editors come from a pool of site Moderators+, so you are unable to volunteer as an editor at this time. However, you can write into the newsletter with comments on that week's topic, feedback on the editor's letter, and questions for the editor, as well as recommend items on Writing.Com for inclusion in the "Editor's Picks".
Thanks for all your comments - keep them coming!  Until next time, Sophy |
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Spiritual: November 13, 2012 Issue [#5366]
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