Teary Moments

Links to childhood come from the oddest places. There are some foods that bring back a childhood memory, or a song or a word or a movie.

I was talking with a friend last night who mused about how she watched the old Haley Mills/Rosalind Russell movie, The Trouble With Angles. We are both Pagans so it is interesting how we will watch religious themed movies reminiscent of the faith of our youth even though we have walked from it.

We were both raised Catholic. There is nothing wrong with anyone who practices this faith. It is just that for us, our spiritual path took us elsewhere yet, I admitted to her how I love this movie too despite being as far away from the tenets of Catholicism.

She shared that at the end of the movie she felt foolish to admit she cried! I shared that I get misty eyed when I watch that movie too. So, the question for these two Pagans was why? Why would we cry? Why would we get misty eyed? It is very simple.

This is symbolic of a childhood lost during the process called life. It is also symbolic of so many things that happen in life that, as children, we could have never envisioned: the experience of the death of a dearly beloved, the disability of a parent, alcoholism in the family and so on.

Crying at a movie such as this brings waves of remembering the childhood faith that seemed somehow to insure nothing could go wrong because we just believed and we cry because we mourn that wonderful naiveté that is intrinsic with childhood. As we get older we seek to recreate this feeling as a tool toward success. We seek to find hope, trust and faith.

Many of us seek this reinstatement of the self through business and others, like myself seek spirituality first as the springboard of coping with past hurts and toward evolving into a mentally healthy person that can see and grasp success.

Regardless of what we may have achieved in our personal goals, there will be that word, song, movie and memory that can make us cry, make us grieve for what we perceived as lost forever. But reactions such as these can also mirror the work we have yet to do on ourselves as we travel the path to meeting our personal best.

Tears are healthy. They release toxicity from the body, mind and spirit so a few tears now and then regardless of the why is actually healthy and, in terms of self inventory tears can help us take the next step to personal healing.

I guess if we ever feel blocked in anyway watching a movie we know will stir our emotions just might help us discover what we need to work on in order to remove a temporary block.

In short the trouble was not with “Angles”, as far as my friend and I were concerned, perhaps the trouble was temporarily with us.

In HER GODMOTHER the troubled little girl that is the main character comes to terms with her heartache...

HER GODMOTHER BOOK TRAILER, produced by Valkyrie Publishing, theresachaze.com

The Question of Religious Freedom

Author and publisher Theresa Chaze has written a thought provoking article on the subject of religious freedom. This article makes one stop and think about what is religious freedom and the law that separates church from state, especially as it applies to the public school system. Her article can be found here: http://theresachaze.blogspot.com/

My comment on this topic varies from some and it is simply that I do not believe one set of religious principles should be emboldened as primary within any governmentally funded program or institution. I do, however, find nothing wrong with anyplace, including a school giving a few moments for students to commune with their God, Goddess or any other deity for guidance or reflection.

To carry this further I feel very strongly that Pagans, especially students, should be able to wear their pentacle without fear of reprisal which has sadly happened to students in schools in a number of districts. After all, it is no different than a Star of David or a cross from a spiritual point of view. On the other hand I feel Christian students who choose to meet during lunch to do Bible study should be able to do so and that Muslim students should be able to bow to Mecca during school if it is the time to do so. If students during a free period choose to read religious materials or other spiritual literature, they should be able to do so.

Frankly I believe the law of the land is largely influenced by the Ten Commandments and honestly have no objection to it being displayed in a courthouse or any other public building alongside with the Code of Hammurabi which was the very first code of laws from which all others sprang. In other words, there are many inspired sources that have dictated what is just and fair and they too should be acknowledged.

When one group insists that their way is the only way there will always be problems with mutual respect and acceptance. As I see it, the focus of religious freedom has been on how it affects Christians but the truth of the matter it is a matter of religious "expression" concerning all belief systems. There are a diverse number of belief systems in this country and until all of them can become somewhat familiar to all of us, fear will continue to pervade and invade our society.