h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Prelude: "Legacy of Ancestors" Tos-Khol (Yakut)

Mindfulness Bell

Opening Words

Give thou thine heart to the wild magic,
To the Lord and the Lady of Nature,
Beyond any consideration of this world.

Do not covet large or small,
Do not despise weakling or poor,
Semblance of evil allow not near thee,
Never give nor earn thou shame.

The Ancient Harmonies are given thee,
Understand them early and prove,
Be one with the power of the elements,
Put behind thee dishonour and lies.

Be loyal to the Lord of the Wild Wood,
Be true to the Lady of the Stars,
Be true to thine own self besides,
True to the magic of Nature above all else.

Do not thou curse anyone,
Lest thou threefold cursed shouldst be,
And shouldst thou travel ocean and earth,
Follow the very step of the ancient trackways.

carmina gadelica - ancient celtic oral tradition

Hymn : # 123 Spirit of Life

A Story:

Ingrid gave me permission to tell this story.

Mary and Ingrid were discussing the ethics of eating animal products. Mary said that the only two foods that could be eaten without harming animals were milk and eggs.

Ingrid thought for a moment and said. "Actually, it would be possible to get cruelty-free lard by liposuctioning pigs."


Children's Story:

When man was created, Creator thought this man should serve the land and the kingdom of animals. The man served Creator well for a long time, but one day this man grew tired of this task and decided to be served by the land and the kingdom of animals instead of him doing all the work.

So it went for a short while until Creator saw what was going on. Creator didn't like what was happening, so he decided to teach man a lesson.

Creator summoned the Thunder People, the Thunder People summoned the Sky People, the Sky People summoned the Feather People, and the Feather People chose a bird in their realm that matched the task that Creator needed to teach the man.

Suddenly, thunder roared and from the fiery sky descended lightning, striking the man and he began to transform into a gigantic bird. The man was frightened, but none the less, Creator was firm in his decision, for he loved this man he created and needed him to be in a good way with himself. In this man's struggle to free himself, his legs changed into feathery legs and claws, his arms changed into wings that went for miles and his head formed into that of a bird.

Still struggling, he asked in vain, "Creator, what have I done to dishonor your greatness?"

Creator responded, "Now you will learn the lessons you need in order to grow humble and defeat your greatest enemy - yourself."

Creator continued, "At the end of this storm you will meet with an animal, this animal will teach you what you need to learn about yourself and after you have learned from this animal, there will be more storms to teach your heart and spirit for the purpose of growth."

Then after the storm ended the man descended as a bird to sacred Earth Mother and met with a bear. The bear taught the man things of the spirit and things of the heart and the man learned how to be humble. In time all the animals became this man's teacher.

Each time there is a storm, look at the stormy sky and remember that you too are learning how to live and to be humble.

Joys and Concerns

Go Now in Peace

Reading 1

"El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer"

The Scene: At the chili cook-off, Chief Wiggum's imported insanity chili peppers send Homer on a hallucinatory spiritual journey that makes him question whether Marge is his soulmate. His guide is a coyote with the voice of Johnny Cash.

Coyote: Fear not, Homer. I am your spirit guide.

Homer: [warily] Hiya.

Coyote: There is a lesson you must learn.

Homer: If it's about laying off the insanity peppers, I'm way ahead of you.

Coyote: I speak of a deeper wisdom. The problem, Homer, is that the mind is always chattering away with a thousand thoughts at once.

Homer: Yeah, that's me all right

Coyote: Clarity is the path to inner peace.

Homer: Well, what should I do? Should I meditate? Should I get rid of all my possessions?

Coyote: [snorts] Are you kidding? If anything, you should get more possessions. You don't even have a computer.

Homer: You know, I have been meaning to take a spiritual journey, and I would... [the coyote is chewing his pant leg] Hey! Knock it off! [kicks him]

Coyote: [sheepishly] Sorry. I am a coyote.

Homer: Look, just give me some inner peace, or I'll mop the floor with you.

Meditation Music: "Birds and Bird Imitations" Huun-Huur Tu


Reading 2

Richard

My brother Richard recently
stripped his veins of our family's blood
and transfused to Native American.
He's now Merlin -
his totem the blue heron.
Don't ask how he's doing.
We never hear.
But when the herons fly
my body tingles.

--Marie Bahlke

Offertory: "Chiraa-Xor" Huun-Huur-Tu (Tuvan)

Totem:
a. An animal, plant, or natural object serving among certain tribal or traditional peoples as the emblem of a clan or family and sometimes revered as its founder, ancestor, or guardian.
b. A representation of such an object.
c. A social group having a common affiliation to such an object.

Familiar: An intermediary in the spiritual or natural world. In the Shamanic traditions, the familiar was one that provided insight, acted as messenger, spy, guide, or even provide a second skin. We are most familiar (if you pardon the pun) with the witches familiar.

Animae: soul, spirit, vital principle; life; breathing; wind, breeze; air (element);

Discourse 1: Bonnie Lee

Discourse 2: Diane Schmolka

Discourse 3: Marlene Eckstrand

Discourse 4: Totems, Familiars, and the Vox Animae - The Voice of the Soul Anneke

One of the more familiar sights along the West Coast of North America is the totem pole. As familiar as we are with the sight of them few of us really understand what they symbolize, what they really mean.

In fact, they are an outward sign of an extremely complex and ancient system of personal identity, family identity, clan identity, and cultural identity.

Totem poles, carved from the giant cedars of the coastal rainforests, embody not only the identity of a people, but the spirit of the natural world, and by extension, the spiritual world of the peoples who craft them, and the patrons who commission them, and/or the person whom they honor. A totem may be placed to honor the dead, commemorate an event, represent a person or family, a ritual obligation, an act of atonement, or for a myriad of other reasons.

However, as varied as the reasons for their erection, the common denominator in all of them, from place to place, and people to people, is the physical representation of animals and humans, together "explaining" a pole's purpose and defining its cultural connection with those who placed it.

To ancient peoples, and to a growing number of aboriginal people, in the process of rediscovering their cultural roots, the "Totem Animal" is not an unknown. In cultures across the globe personal encounters, either in the day-to-day or within any number of spiritual or ritual contexts were always viewed as something fraught with mystic overtones. A person encountering a particular animal repeatedly, while dreaming, or on a particular ritual journey such as a vision-quest, views such encounters as an extra-ordinary contact with the spiritual world.

According to the Australian Aborigines, their entire culture is locked into the animal world, and thus directly to the spirit world. A man may have a totem animal - an animal that has come to him in a dream, which acts as a guide, advisor, or model. His clan will have totem animal given directly by the spirits during the Dreamtime, the ancient era of creation. A clan's totem defines its "place" in the world and ties them directly to the Dreamtime, and to the great living organism that is Australia.

According to Aborigine belief, all life as it is today - Human, Animal, Bird and Fish is part of one vast unchanging network of relationships which can be traced to the great spirit ancestors of the Dreamtime. All are connected to the Songlines, the spiritual story of the World, which is physically manifest in the earthly map of the Australian terrain.

In pre-Christian Europe, animals were seen as having a connection to the gods and spirits. It was believed that one could draw power from a particular animal to aid in the hunt, to act as messengers to the gods, and even to enable the shaman to enter into the spiritual world during rituals by donning the physical form of a particular animal.

The introduction of Christianity brought a new dimension to the inter-relationship between man and nature. In Genesis 1:28 it says "Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

While man was seen to have "dominion" over the natural world as a God-given right, the power of Nature as was still at close at hand. As the early Church had not yet eradicated the deep-seated belief systems of the Pagan, merely superimposed one form of ritual upon another, it was inevitable that the Church's deep distrust of power of nature and the common man's dependence on the land, and spiritual ties to it still fresh, conflict arose.

Particularly threatening were those whose ability to use nature for the healing arts, or who were seen to have a close relationship with animals outside the realm of the "domesticated". They were, for the most part, women, past childbearing, living on the fringes of society, and who often surrounded themselves with animals. In the pagan past, animals connected one to nature, to the Church they connected one to the Devil. Labelled "familiars" they were seen as messengers of the Devil.

And so it began. We know the result.

It is estimated that as many as 2 million people died since the Inquisition as the Church effectively "purified" Europe of its traditional Nature cults, beliefs and practices. Dying with them was the close spiritual connection with the Earth.

However, what remains deeply rooted in most of us is the mysterious "animal connection".

A Story

Not so long ago, there lived a woman.

This woman was deeply troubled. She had suffered one misfortune after another in her life. She was unhappily married. She had lost several children before they were born. Her childhood had been painful. She had reached a point where she did not want to live. Hoping for some respite, she went away to visit relatives.

One day, as she was travelling down a road, looking out over a long field towards a deep, dark forest, she knew she had reached the end. She had decided that she was going to kill herself.

Making careful plans, she gathered together some medicines she knew would make her sleep and die. She wrote a note to her relatives, and slipped out to commit the deed.

They say that in choosing the place to die, one makes a statement about how one sees oneself. Over and over in her mind, she saw the place where she had chosen to die. It was isolated, cold, and lonely and no one would ever find her. She was, in her mind, cold, lonely, and no one had ever tried to find the real her.

A deep calm came over her. For the first time in weeks, she was at peace. She approached that which was to be her dying place. She looked for a place to enter. Suddenly, her eye caught sight of something on the other side of the road.

A small gravel road to the left led off the main road. On the left side of the gravel road were green bushes, to the right, a bubbling stream. Some inner voice said, "Go there". Turning off the main road she moved a little ways onto the gravel road and stopped. Sunlight filled a meadow and glinted off the quickly moving stream. And there, in the middle of the stream stood a Great Blue Heron.

The Heron and the woman contemplated one another for several minutes, and then, with a great sweep of its wings, the Heron lifted into the air and, like and arrow flew off into the sunlight. The air was crisp and clean, the stream burbled and she knew this was the place. She swallowed the medicines and slipped towards death.

Serendipity: The making of fortunate discoveries by accident. Horace Walpole coined the word, explaining that "this name was part of the title of a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip; as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of ..... You must observe that no discovery of a thing you are looking for comes under this description".

Was it Serendipity that caused the woman to, at the last moment, pick that place of pure beauty, so close to a well-travelled road, rather than the lonely forest at the end of a long walk across a field? Was is happenstance that the Heron stood so long that she chose this place instead of the other, where some hours later passers-by found her and she was revived?

Ah! Who can say? However, the Heron holds a special place in her heart. It is her totem - her Vox Animae.

Closing Words: # 701

We receive fragments of holiness,
glimpses of eternity, brief moments of insight.

Let us gather them up for the precious gifts that they are and, renewed by their grace, move boldly into the unknown.

Postlude: "Cave Spirits" Sayan Bapa (Huun-Huur-Tu)

CD: "Tuva: Among the Spirits Sound, Music, and Nature in Sakha and Tuva"
Various Artists Smithsonian Folkways SFW 40452

Too many words

Arghh! I cannot believe somebody posted "too many words"! I just finished reading this very moving service and found that that was the only response you got to it?!! That is pathetic! Maybe they were joking?

Mudhooks, Allow me to introduce myself. I'm JEllen. I don't think we've really "met" on hootoo, but I have been noticing your wonderful posts on the Retail Rants thread. That is the best thread I've come across here on h2g2, it is really too funny, and as a former retail worker, I could really appreciate it. Anyway, your posts led me to come by your page, were I found that you are Unitarian. Which was rather neat, because I am exploring Unitarian Universalist faith myself. I was actually raised Catholic, but fell away from Catholic teachings when I went to college. I have a *lot* of issues with what the Catholic church teaches. Well, I've been looking lately for a place to express my faith that matches what I think. Everything I've read about Unitarianism has been so on target. I am planning on attending a Unitarian service soon -- it will be a little tricky, because I am a night person, and the only time they meet is Sunday morning. I am so enjoying your journal postings of the service you attend - do keep posting them!

The story of the woman and the heron really strikes a chord, for personal reasons. I loved it.

JEllen

Glad to hear about your personal search.

You might want to check and see if there are any UU services or groups geared to people who cannot get to "regular" services. There is also the "Church of the Wider Fellowship" which offers support to people who either cannot get to a congregation or cannot find one that answers to their needs: http://www.uua.org/clf/

One thing i would say is that congregations and fellowships vary widely. In Ottawa, we have two groups. The one I belonged to all my life had grown so big that I found myself lost in it. Where I am now is very much smaller and I find most of my needs met with it. The message in that is to give it several tries and if the fit isn't there, see if another does meet your needs.

Also, there are workshops and other programmes which are often offered, and are open to every one, where you can explore your own spiritual landscape in a smaller, more personal setting. If you thought there wasn't a fit in the larger congregation, you may find something which does fill your needs in the smaller group.

Here, you can find a congregation near you: http://www.uua.org/CONG/index.html

It is also alright if you don't find what you are looking for with UU. Life is a personal journey and your "place" may require more searching. Don't be afraid of NOT finding it. It isn't the finish line that is important, but the journey there.

I will tell you that Unitarians are no different than other people, and there are people who have issues with the faith they have left, even many years later. A friend of mine, who is Catholic, went to a service and really liked it. He went to Coffee Hour afterwards (sometimes MORE fulfilling than the service, itself!) and was chatting with a woman who, when she found he was Catholic, erupted in a tirade about the "evils" of the Catholic church..... He was so offended that he never went back.

This woman obviously had "issues" and certainly did not exemplify the UU openness to other religious values. It was unfortunate that that was his first view of what UU is. It certainly is not what I have found in ANY of my many years as a UU.

Good luck with your spiritual quest, wherever it leads you. Keep me posted!

P.S.: Thanks for the comments about the service. I don't think the person who commented on it actually read the part at the beginning which noted that it was a service....

Thanks for the links. As far as I know there are two UU churches in the greater Memphis area. All my plans are on hold at the moment, because a really bad storm hit Memphis. (see my journal) Power is still out where I live, but luckily I am over at my brother's house, enjoying his electricity.

Holey moley!

Hehe, holey moley is right. Our storm hasn't gotten much press coverage nationally for some reason, which is odd, because the winds equaled those of a hurricane.

I visited the site for the "Church of the River" in Memphis.... it is beautiful! It sort of reminds me of First Unitarian, here in Ottawa. The roof is not unlike it in feeling, and the view out the windows at the river is nearly identical to the one out First's windows during the first 10 years or so, until the trees grew tall enough to obscure some of the view. AND... it is First Unitarian, too.... nearly clones.

Too bad the Fellowship listed doesn't have a website.

http://www.churchoftheriver.org/

Yes, Church of the River has a splendid view! Too bad I live way out in East Memphis.

I've attended two services at Neshoba Unitarian, and really like it! The readings and songs are nice - I love the fact that they draw on such diverse sources. The people there seem quite friendly and welcoming. I'm currently taking their "Roots" class, which gives some history of Unitarian Universalism.

JEllen

Well, I wish you the best in your searching both for a place to worship, and your spiritual home. I believe that the latter is lifelong. I believe that expanding faith and spirit should be a task that never ends.

I know how fulfilling it is to find each piece of the puzzle and its place. The trick is to savour the of putting each piece. To many people look only at the goal of finishing the puzzle, and not at the process as a pleasure.

Do let me know more about the church.

Do they have a choir? We are too small to have a choir (and the average age of the Fellwoship is 65, so many of them are too tottery to be able to get to practices. I am one of the younger members of the Fellowship.

We are dependent, for the most part, on recorded music in our services. Luckily for me, the pew-warmers are pretty open to just about anything I or my alternate play for them. I have played everything from Beethoven to Balck Sabbath for them and had appreciative comments about everything.

The joy, too, is that with a small congregation, one is more likely to hear praise than complaints.

They recognise that if someone isn't willing and able to to the job, it ain't gonna git done.

Yes, they do have a choir, not a large one, but they are pretty good.

I really like the readings in the Unitarian hymnbook. I wish I could take one home and read straight through it.