The Pagan Heart
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August-September 2005 Issue
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Comments from the Pagan Community Hurricanes and other Natural Disasters - What Do We Do?
By Axiom This last year Mother Nature has thrown a lot at people around the world. I do not know if it is more than in years past, or simply that this time we have the technology to capture it, but I suspect the later. Some time spent searching online showed a long-standing history of natural disasters and widespread destruction. If it is indeed common to life on earth then why are we so devastated when it happens? So shocked and puzzled. What makes each new event so unique? Strange as this may sound, I find it heart-warming that it is so shocking. Considering the deaths in the Middle East over the last few years from earthquakes - and the lack of public interest. Or the starvation and disease in parts of Africa. Niger has between 2.5 and 3.6 million people starving to death right now, despite appeals to the UN and the international community for aid. Tens of thousands are dead this year already. Think about that for a moment - these are not people suddenly wiped out by an earthquake or a storm - tragic though that is. These are people who are dying of starvation over days...weeks...months, while the world sits by. Makes me uneasy seeing my well-fed children, my husband's pot belly from too much food, my own extra rolls. It would be easy to state that as a race we have become blase about suffering and death - and indeed I think some have. We become inured to anything if it carries on too long. But I really think it is not so much a blase nature as a human tendency to want to avoid that which is uncomfortable, or ugly, or distasteful. "I cannot feed the child who's starving face I see on the television, and I dislike feeling so guilty, so I put it aside. I hide." I know there are thousands out there who strive to help others. Maybe those people reading this already help in some way. But there are millions who do nothing. Wouldn't it be so much better if that was reversed? The tsunami, the various earthquakes, and the recent hurricanes have all scraped our senses raw. Awake and aware, humanity is paying attention and trying - successfully or not - to alleviate the pain. People are mourning the deaths of those they've never met. Reaching out to help people they will never meet. Taking in families they don't know. Doing without so someone else can survive another day. Many of these people (from my own observations only, mind you) are not regular contributors to charity. They don't pass on things they no longer use, or set up a regular financial contribution to a shelter. They aren't supporting starving children in another country. Usually, they don't care. Don't care. I don't mean they actively don't give a damn about other, less fortunate people. I mean the thought of those people usually doesn't cross their minds. They don't feel empathy for them, or take the time to help. It isn't important. Or rather wasn't. But this last year they have woken from their sleep. They have looked around and realised how lucky they are in comparison. And they have begun to care. It remains to be seen how many will continue to care. And how many others will once more become inured and slip back into oblivion. It's not that hard to care - arrange an automatic monthly deduction to a charity of your choice. Clean out your spare change weekly and drop it in a collection box at the supermarket. Collect your cast-offs and drop them (cleaned) off at a local charity, or church, or shelter. Or volunteer a few hours a week or month. There are ways to contribute - financially or otherwise - if you look. It really isn't that hard. A Drop in the Bucket... Awareness is the first stage of compassion. And I do not mean self-awareness either. What good is contemplating my belly button if in doing so I become blind and deaf to the poor, the sick, the dying? Being consciously aware of how the other half lives and dies brings the possibility of help and solution that much closer to becoming a reality. How aware are we as a race, a society, and as individuals? The small drop that we each have to offer may not seem like much. But together we can change everything. Afterall, it only takes one final drop to overflow the bucket.
By Albineus Equinus Here we sit, facing the oncoming Autumn and its attendant Harvest festivals. Winter, Spring, and Summer have all come and gone as the Wheel turns. It is time to take stock of our blessings...and also to turn and face death squarely in the face. For this is the Harvest time - and we need to remember that the fields are not the only crops gathered. From the Autumnal Equinox until the Winter Solstice we are held firm within the grasp of night - and the weeks preceeding that time are ones we should use to prepare ourselves spiritually for the coming winter of the soul. I am not talking about dying as winter arrives or spending it deep in depression or dispair - but rather that this is a time to explore our shadow selves. A time we are physically closer to those who've gone before us as the veil thins. A time to meditate and a time to let go. We have experienced a number of deaths in my family over the last year. And no matter how comfortable we are with our faith and belief as to what happens after death, the reality is that we who still live have to deal with the loss of people we love. They may be wandering the Summerlands safe in the arms of the Divine, or reborn already - but for us, they are gone. Most likely for this lifetime. And when we do find them again, who knows if we will recognise and remember each other? So our grief and mourning is very justified for the person we knew and loved now is no longer and never will be again - this shell, once cast aside, is not picked up and reused. My family holds to a tradition concerning grief. We believe that the deep grieving of loss is paid when we lose a loved one. But the later, calmer grieving of the mind and soul for things that will not be, for change, for the path walked alone, takes longer to manifest. My family sets aside the time from Autumnal Equinox to Winter Solstice as the time for working through that and letting go. Each winter we spend time meditating, praying, and holding rituals of release. We also apply this winter time to working through imbalances in ourselves brought on through significant changes within our lives. The theme this month (dealing with the verbal vomit that comes from knowing that this is the path) reflects that concept. Whether we are happy, sad, angry, or confused, a common reaction for many people is verbal diarrhea. Often meaningless babble, sometimes relevant. There are of course those individuals who clam up. Neither reaction is wrong, but they are also not healthy long term. They prevent serious thought about the change. And even affect the ability to process it and move forwards. This is a time to redress that imbalance. This brings us peace and many insights into ourselves and each other. As you celebrate your faith in the coming months, may you find peace as well. |
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