May 30, 2014

Pope Francis on the "Black Mass" of Sex Abuse

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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It would appear that Pope Francis has taken to heart criticism for his lackadaisical attitude on sex abuse, as well as a scorching report from the UN. With bold rhetorical flourishes like comparing sex abuse by priests to a "black mass," he suddenly seems more proactive on the issue. Whether it's a lot of political theater or a genuine effort to address the biggest issue facing the Catholic Church remains to be seen.

Pope Francis announced Monday he would meet soon with a group of sex abuse victims at the Vatican and declared "zero tolerance" for any member of the clergy who would violate a child.

Francis also revealed that three bishops are currently under investigation by the Vatican for abuse-related reasons, though it wasn't clear if they were accused of committing abuse itself or of having covered it up.

"There are no privileges," he told reporters en route back to Rome from Jerusalem.

The meeting with a half-dozen victims will mark the first such encounter for the pope, who has been criticized by victims for not expressing personal solidarity with them when he has reached out to other people who suffer.

May 27, 2014

James Ray's New Tune

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.



I saw this on Connie Joy's Tragdedy in Sedona page and, well, yuck. As we know James Arthur Ray was unfortunately turned loose on the public a while ago and he's plying his craft once again. He's posted some clips of his new spiel. I hate to give him the traffic but ya gotta see it to believe it. As with his recent, hideous appearance on the since canceled Piers Morgan, he's a font of crocodile tears and self-pity. It's so sad that a "terrible accident" claimed his "3 great friends." No mention of how he was convicted for causing said "accident" with his own gross negligence.

Note the comment from Liz Neuman's son Bryan in the comment thread on Connie's page. No, he did not even deign to visit his "great friend" as she lay in hospital, for nine days, dying from hyperthermia. I would add that friends don't let friends remain listed as Jane Doe in the hospital registry when they have all their paperwork on file, but are too busy hiding said paperwork from law enforcement to consider their medical needs.

I'm still waiting for this man to have a single, genuine moment.

Oh, and he's an alchemist now. Sure. Why not? Alchemists, you see, turn bad things into good things, which seems to be how he's interpreting the whole lead into gold thing. Mmmkay... He's an alchemist who quotes mysterious high level Zen masters -- the kind that don't have names, apparently. This one, though, is "the highest ranking outside of Japan." Seriously, I've searched his site and found a few references to various Zen masters. None of them have names. Well, sure. Because we all know what happened the last time Ray gave the name of one of his super, high level teachers. He turned out to be a tour guide. So best to keep those identifiers on the DL. 

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Around the Web, Around the World


"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Children and Shamanism: Teens

Shamanism is misunderstood, occasionally maligned, and still considered to be on the fringe even in alternative circles. Yet contemporary practitioners remain undaunted and the range of resources on shamanic practice continues to grow in books, gatherings, podcasts, and classes. What was a solo path for many only a decade ago, often filled with frustration, doubt, and reinventing the wheel, can now be shared with mentors, peers, and viable community. A new resource for teens has been published by author and shaman, S. Kelley Harrell, called "Teen Spirit Guide to Modern Shamanism: A Beginners Map Charting an Ancient Path". Join us this week as we continue our exploration of shamanism and children. Kelley shares her book and ways to make learning about shamanism less about acquiring techniques in how to do it and more about learning how to incorporate and deal with the changes it brings to everyday life.

This week's guest:
Kelley Harrell


Kelley is an author and neoshaman living in North Carolina. Her new book "Teen Spirit Guide to Modern Shamanism: A Beginners Map Charting an Ancient Path" offers a much needed resource for teens who want to explore what may be a calling and her memoir, Gift of the Dreamtime: Awakening to the Divinity of Traumachronicles her pivotal step into the role of shaman. She has been on a shamanic path for over 20 years, works locally and with an international client base. Kelly is an Ascension and Usui Ryoho Reiki and Master, an Ordained Priestess by Global Goddess, and she honors the path of the modern Druid in her practices. She incorporates these other trainings, ways of knowing, and modalities into her shamanic practice, Soul Intent Arts, LLC.

Kelley writes the syndicated column Intentional Insights - Questions and Answers from Within, is a contributing writer for The Huffington Post, and a contributing book reviewer for SageWoman and The Beltane Pages. She is also the proud founder of The Saferoom Project, a non-profit support network for sexual assault survivors, and their partners, family and friends. She joins us today to talk about her work and the re-release of her book, Gift of the Dreamtime.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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May 20, 2014

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Shamanic Life with Kids

"Children arrive animists," says author and shaman, S. Kelley Harrell. "They learn about life, themselves, and empathy by imagining the liveliness of everything they come into contact with." In your efforts to live a shamanic life with your kids you have to remember that they are already there. You are actually playing catch up... and you need to catch up so that you can stay out of the way and support the natural growth of their spiritual life. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores the damage we do to our children by passing on our fears, misunderstandings, and ignorance about what is going on in the energetic reality of the world around us. Luckily there is great benefit in simply learning to journey to support our efforts to raise children who feel spiritually whole and energetically alive. With the challenges that face the next generations what better gift could we give them than a strong and intimate working relationship with their own spirit help?

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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May 13, 2014

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Children and Shamanism: Infants

Sacred space is created for ritual and ceremony, but rarely for conception. For a human there are few actions as sacred as the creation of another human being, yet we rarely consider the creation of sacred space for the miracle of conception. This week host and shaman, Christina Pratt, begins our series on Children and Shamanism at the beginning, exploring the application of shamanic skills during pregnancy and infancy. The principles of shamanism offer countless ways to engage the spirit, power, and being of your child. Shamanic healing can also help you to heal in ways that allow you to stop patterns of abuse handed down to you, freeing you to create a new way of being present, engage, and responsive with your children. There is no better reason than children to sort the unresolved issues out in your ancestral line, open up to singing power songs, and learn to journey yourself.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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May 7, 2014

Satanists Fight for First Amendment as SCOTUS Shreds It

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.



An excellent column in the Chicago Tribune underscores the pernicious effect of this week's Supreme Court decision allowing prayer in town council meetings. Eric Zorn asks readers to try a thought experiment. Imagine moving into a new town and finding that getting the required variance for a small home construction project means sitting through a homily by an LDS Bishop on the wonders of Joseph Smith and the supremacy of Mormonism. You'd probably get your variance, but if you're anything but Mormon, you'd also feel a lot less comfortable in your new home.

Switch around the variables in my hypothetical if you want. Make the community leaders predominantly Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or adherents of Scientology. Put yourself in the role of The Other.

Such basic empathy is notably lacking in a spate of legal fights over First Amendment protections. Freedom of religion is being redefined as the right of some groups to impose their religious beliefs on "the other" and with state sanction.

This recent SCOTUS decision bodes ill as we await a decision on Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Inc.

Not only do such decisions entitle some religious groups to disenfranchise people who don't want to be bound by religious authority, and don't want their life choices to be dictated by religion-based decisions of any public or private entity, they disenfranchise people of different religious conviction. They actually restrict the religious freedom.

May 6, 2014

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Visionary Power and Shamanism

The Visionary capacity in shamanism manifests in many forms from the healing visions that come in altered states, to your own capacity for vision in the sense of seeing what is possible, as well as the capacity to see through the impossible and draw out your own uniqueness. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores why we keep reaching incessantly for the next bigger vision abusing this rich resource we could use to transform our lives and the troubles in the world around us. The regular practice of the most basic shamanic skills- like shamanic journeying -allows us to develop not only our vision, but our intuition, or seeing with all of our senses, our perception, or discerning accurately outside of oneself, and our insight, or seeing accurately within oneself. In this we realize how our dreams and vision are already changing the world.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Why Shamanism Now? on Co-Creator Network
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