Mr. Keegan goes to the Cathedral, and thoughts on Christening

I don’t often get the opportunity to visit Christian churches, but still oddly enough find myself in one around once or twice a year.  I know that during the yuletide my wife and I join her parents for Christmas eve services at their Lutheran church both because we knowit is important to them and because they ask us to play music during the service.  I grew up in the Lutheran church and can appreciate the service, but sometimes times it is hard to keep an open mind.  If nothing else it stands as a reminder to my wife and I of what we left behind re-affirming our own Pagan faith.  We leave the service with mixed feelings about the message from the Homily given but proud that as Wiccans we are open-minded enough to subject ourselves to it.  It does indeed feel like service putting ourselves aside to be there for other people.  Recently however I got a real treat as my niece was Christened in the Catholic faith.  It has been ages since I have been in a Catholic church and the ones I remember were no where near this magnificent.  The Rite was held in one of the oldest Cathedrals in Texas located in downtown Austin,  St. Mary.

Copyright (c) Dave Wilson, 2009

You walk up the short concrete steps and are greeted with massive wooden doors surrounded in gothic architecture that otherwise seems quite out of place in the heart of downtown Austin.  The building itself is so moving as a work of art and is steeped in history, symbols, community, amazing art, and lots of care.  You can tell as you enter that this is sacred space.  You can tell because of the way you are overcome as you pass over the threshold.  The church itself greets you both with a hello and warning.  I wont say that I felt magick inside, because I know the Church wouldn’t want it to be refer to that, but I certainly felts the hearts and prayers of over a century of religious work.  There is also a spacial trick that happens with all of these types of buildings.  From the outside they look huge, but when you step inside the space seems to double.  It may all be a

matter of perspective but it is a great effect that adds to the experience for sure.  The symbolism and religiosity inside is quite overwhelming.  Surrounding the great length of pews in the center of the Cathedral are styled walls, stain glass, and statues.  40 foot columns rise from the ground to touch the ceiling which is decorated in Gothic trusses  and amazing patterns of light and color.  It is simply beautiful, but honestly as I acclimated to the surroundings I began to miss something…

I was surrounded by the supernatural.   This was all a great feet of inspired Human ingenuity and religious incitement, but it lacks what really stirs my soul.  The cool Earth, an awakening breeze, a warm fire, and refreshing water.  Granted all of those things were present in the Church.  The stone beneath our feet, the atmosphere of the space, the flickering of the lit candles, and the font filled with fresh water for baptism.  Even still, it wasn’t same.  The man-made becomes the focal point and the most precious gifts, our natural elements, become  the accents.  I am opened minded enough to know how amazing this place is and how much it must mean to the people who worship here, but aware enough to be reminded of my own path and what stirs my spirit.  There was comfort in those thoughts.  It was an exercise to find worship surrounded by dogma.

As for the Rite itself, it was amazing.  There is so much imagery and mysticism in the Catholic Church.  My wife pointed out to me at the beginning they asked the child’s name and what they wanted to achieve here today.  This was so much like every time we as Wiccans enter the circle and are asked for our name and purpose.  We looked at one another and smiled, or in her case smirked.  She is very smirky.  I’m fortunate to be able to share little moments like that with someone.  This was a lot of things during the ceremony that I couldn’t agree with, after all I am Pagan for a reason, but I just put that under differences in religion and do what I can.  That is be there for my family, shower this babe with love and hopeful energy, and say my own silent prayer to the God and Goddess of thanks.

Blessed Be.

Thoughts on the Cold and a new tarot spread!

Texas.  Texas is a funny place when it comes to winter time and colder weather.  With less than 2 inches of snow/wintery mix on the ground schools and businesses and life in general have closed down for the entire week.  It is funny that just a few weeks ago my wife and I were talking about how we wish life were a little slower moving.  Well it looks like we got our wish.  Indoors for the last few days, not counting the daily walks with the dog or trip to a nearby grocery store, we have settled in to madness quite nicely.  Personally I prefer the short cool winters over the blazing hot never ending summer, but when the temp hovers in the teens and lower it really starts to get to me.  I remember growing up we had a quarter basket ball court in our back yard and every time the weather would threaten to snow or freeze we would go out late at night and spray it down with water.  It was our hope that a few Texas boys would be able to enjoy not only a day off from school but that we could have a home made hockey rink by morning.  The next day we would put on our warmest clothes, or actually just more of our everyday clothes, and head out to the back yard.  With gardening tools for hockey sticks and a tennis ball as a puck we would awkwardly slip around pretending to play hockey with the pros.  Only now am I old enough to realize this probably scared the hell out of our mother.  I can see her standing in the kitchen window looking out at the wintery scene and all of us falling down on the iced over concrete like a bunch of new born baby dear.  Now however I take the weatherman’s advice to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.  I did get two new mandolin books via mail right before the weather turned south, and have been enjoying sleeping late and taking long hot showers.  I wish I could count on the power to keep me entertained but the power company has been “balancing the system load” with rolling blackouts.  Thats right folks, in Texas they have to start turning off your power if it stays in the teens for more than a day.  With Imbolc here and March right around the corner I glad to see the snow, but I won’t miss it when its gone.

I am happy to introduce to you my latest creation, a new tarot spread which I have named “The Road Less Traveled”.  I will have it posted in the Tarot section along with a reading soon for myself using it for examples sake.  So here is the background on it…  Being self employed with no boss or set in stone schedule can be tough from time to time.  Lately I have found it difficult to find the motivation to pick myself up and go into the office to get some real work done.  I do have the luxury of working from home but I am never as productive when I do that.  I really needed motivation and was having a hard time finding it on my own so I turned to the Tarot.  Over a couple of weeks I started to think of a creative solution to find that motivation, or rather a way to explore the benefits to putting in a little extra hard work to get the job done.  What came out of that was this spread.

1:  This card represents your current situation.  You may be just starting the journey or may be well on the way to your destination but this describes the state of things.

2: This card represents how you arrived at your current situation or what “crosses” or affects the current situation.

3: This card represents your destination.  What is waiting for you when your goal is complete.  If you know what the goal is this card with tell us about it, if you are not sure about the destination this card offers a possible end and may reveal a goal you haven’t thought of yet.

4: This card is the easy way or path of least resistance.  It might very well lead to your original goal, but what of it effects?  Is the short cut always worth making up the time to an outcome?

5: This card is the road less traveled.  Is it full of heartache and hardships, or does it offer an rich experience more important than getting to the end of your journey?  I turned this card sideways to represent the fact that its harder to traverse and sometimes out of the way.

From using this spread I have seen some interesting insight.  Ultimately I am finding that inspiration I need to self motivate.  It has acted as a good reminder that it may be more effort and harder work to get to the same result but that I am better off and that sometimes I should focus on the how and not the what.

Tell me what you think! Blessed Be.