Blog may be signing off

22 May 073

Dear Friends,

 
I have received notice that my up-graded blog is about due for renewal. At the present time, I have no plans to renew.

 
I wish to thank those of you who have been faithful readers.

 
Please remember that the discussion group for the Thean Church is:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Theanchurch/ which is open to men and women who worship our Father and Mother and for The Hestia Temple Sisterhood: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_elfs/ which is open to all women who are devoted to our Mother God.

 
Friday is Flori-maia, the beautiful Festival of Flowers.
Blessings to all!

The Sisterhood of The Hestia Temple

21 May 272

The Sisterhood of the Hestia Temple is now forming. It is open to any female above the age of 18 who is devoted to our Divine Mother God.
“The Hestia Temple:
A feminine religious order for devotees of Mother God
Each member’s home hestia is a feminine sanctuary.”

For inquiries, please email either myself: moonlakemists@gmail.com or Bishop Madria Georgia: geographinks@yahoo.com.
The discussion group may be found here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_elfs/

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Modest swimwear

11 May 072

Dear Friends,

 
I’ve decided to add a category for modest clothing in the links section. I will add a few more links to it down the road, but for now.. I thank Madria Chantresse Georgia Cobb for bringing to our attention these modern modest swimsuits. There’s an orange one that’s not immediately pictured that is quite nice, as well.

 
Hopefully, the time for more modest swimwear has come…..not only for the sake of modesty, but also to put a lot less pressure on women and teens as far as body focus is concerned.

 
http://www.simply-modest.com/posecom/categories.php?category=Swimsuits/Ladies-Swimsuits-Sizes-XS%252dXL

Follow up on Head Coverings

26 Apr 018

Cora, from the Iconoclastic Domina site (link to her blog is at the upper right of this page) had the following follow-up to say about those who choose to cover:
“My personal belief is that for a religion that honours the Mother, then the option of head covering should be there for the women whom are called. Also, the emphasis should be made that it’s from the Mother to empower Her daughters and not a commandment from men.”

A Jewish member of our discussion group added the following:

“Dear honoured friends, I liked what Cora said about empowerment from our Holy Mother, since this is what RivkaMalka.com states.This is the source of Divine empowerment from the Shekinah in Judaism.Jewish women don’t find it oppressive but express the view that they are wearing a Crown on their heads when they wear scarves and Tichels.I am so happy my daughter and granddaughters are now doing it in their spiritual lives and practice.”

Again, this is all simply to encourage and support those who choose to cover for religious or modesty reasons. No-one should ever feel obligated to wear a head-covering. This is a very personal decision.

Mitera Pamela

The Religion of the Future

24 Apr 049

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Theanchurch/  Our discussion group is open to all. One does not need to be a member of the Church of Thea to join our discussion group.

 

 

As we form the Thean religion a question that I keep asking myself  is, what kind of Church would I like to come back to if I reincarnate in the future?

 
No-one really says this out loud, but for many, their faith makes them feel safe. God hears their prayers. They feel protected or that God is near; God cares about them and is watching over them. Of course this doesn’t answer the question as to why so many horrible things happen in the world, I am speaking of personal faith.

 
To attain this feeling that God (both Mother and Father) are personally with us, the religion must be worthy of belief, it must be authentic, it must ‘ring true’. Belonging to a community of believers strengthens faith. A person knows that they are not alone in their beliefs. While there is nothing wrong with a person being alone in their convictions or beliefs, we are social beings and we are One Consciousness and so a community of believers helps to validate what we are doing and what we believe.  We know there are others out there like us even if they do not reside in our immediate community.

 
From childhood on, I would always pray that Our Lady’s mantle of protection would be over us and over my family. We wore the scapular of Mt. Carmel (which, funnily enough I had a dream about before I woke up this morning) as an extension of Our Lady’s mantel. Whenever I prayed a novena, it never occurred to me that Our Lady would not answer my prayer. She always did.

 
Whenever we left the home for a trip, we would pray to St. Michael that he keep our home safe from fire.

 
We knew that performing certain devotions would have particular results as those results had been promised to us by Our Lord (Jesus) and Our Lady (Mary) in visions. Now, of course, I am not so trusting in those visions and that may be healthier in the long run, but our faith was completely certain and completely real.

 
Our Lady was as real to us as if She was constantly by our side day and night. As a young child, I would recite my rosary at night before falling asleep. I would envision Our Lady hovering over me, bending low, to hear my prayers. I really believed that She was there.

 
When we prayed our rosary in Church before Her statue, of course we weren’t praying to the statue, we knew it was carved stone;  but we felt that Our Lady’s Presence was there… that She was with us and was listening to us.. almost as if the statue were a window to Heaven as, indeed, the Orthodox teach regarding Icons. They are considered to be literal windows to Heaven just as the Church is considered a meeting place between Heaven and Earth.

 
We had such certainty in our Faith.

 
So, if I come back I would want a Church that is valid and authentic so that I can feel ‘safe’ and certain in my faith, knowing that Our Lord and Our Lady are near, that They care about me personally and hear my prayers both for my family and for others. I desire to know that my faith, my religion is as important to Them as it is to me.

 
I would want a joyful faith. I would not want a faith whose concentration morbidly centers around the sufferings and death of a sacrificial savior but rather one that teaches us how to achieve devotional union with the Divine in our daily lives.

 
I would not want a religion that teaches us to disdain this world but rather one which teaches us that we are here to learn for the growth and evolution of our souls.

 
I would want a faith that teaches us how to live good lives of purity, humility, chasteness of soul (soul chastity is different from bodily chastity) in a way that we would want to emulate these virtues out of love and desire rather than fear of punishment or eternal suffering.

 
I would want a religion that allows me to see Our Lady as God, Divine in Her Own Right and not just as a glorified human being. One that says.. it is ok if you feel closer to the Mother than the Father as long as you love and honor both.

 
I would want a religion that celebrates feast days like the Feast of Flowers as found in the Filianic religion. Joyful, vibrant wonderful feast days that celebrate nature and creation alongside Mythos.

 
I would want a religion which teaches us how to keep our homes sacred, holy and dedicated to Thea as an Hestia.

 
I would want a religion which teaches us to recognize the truth in all religions.

 
I would want a religion which teachings that the Gods and Goddesses of other religions are all One and so we are all brothers and sisters of the One and not enemies because my God is true and yours is false.

 
I would want a religion that appeals to the awe of the child within while yet allowing me to be an adult in my personal decisions.

 
This is what I hope the Church of Thea to be.

 
Mitera Pamela

addition to Head Coverings

23 Apr

Additionally, I once read the blog of a Jewish woman who wrote that while she is not as strict in her own covering practice as say, the Orthodox, she feels that as long as she is even wearing a wide headband, she is remaining within the Spirit of covering.
I would add that even a nice scarf, many of which can be found here: http://www.modestworld.com/products.asp?cat=8 tied head-band style offers a nice alternative.
Mitera Pamela

Reply to Head Coverings

22 Apr

One of our group members has given her permission to post her reply to this issue:

“Headcovering used to attract me, as I am delving into Arabian (pre-Islamic) traditions, but not as an everyday thing. Only while praying, and even then I’m waiting for an appropriate scarf.

 
My issue with saying that women head-cover to emulate the Goddess is because, well, Goddesses aren’t always wearing veils.
Isis, Hathor (and pretty much all of the Egyptian goddesses), al-Uzza from the arabian tradition, Moist Mother Earth from the Slavic, Norse goddesses like Freya and Frigga and Hel, Chinese Goddesses like Xi Wangmu and Ma Gu, the Goddess in Malta – all are uncovered/not veiled. Priestesses of the Goddess in Minoan Crete did not veil and even left their chest uncovered as a way of identifying themselves with the Goddess and as a symbol of power.

 
In fact, the only Goddesses I can think of that are veiled are of Greco-Roman origin, Guan Yin (whose veiling dates only back to the Song Dynasty and was originally male anyway), and Allat from the arabian (but then again, this is only later, when Arabian tribes adopted Greek statuary for their bigger public temples. Arabs did not depict their gods as people at all, so there is no question of whether Allat was veiled or not). Hindu goddesses too, but not always.

 
Saying that the Goddess is usually veiled is a rather Eurocentric (Greco-centric?) thing, I think.

I respect a woman choice to veil. That is between her and her deities and is none of my business. If she’s doing because she’s Pagan and/or in the devotion to Hestia or another Goddess that veils, then more power to her!
But please, can we not say that most Goddesses are veiled? I think that puts some undue pressure to veil.

I understand veiling to not distract from prayer. In which case, I’d wish men have to veil/cover their head too – their hair can be just as distracting.

If I may add as well, that I think Hindu goddesses are depicted as veiled in statuary, but probably because veiling is part of Indian culture ie married women were veiled and so the goddesses who are usually also married, are also depicted as veiled. This may be a chicken-or-the-egg issue as to which came first, but considering that most early depictions included headdresses rather than veils, as we see now, I’m tempted to say the women were veiled first. You can find a statue of Saraswati in a headdress, sans veil, as late as the 9th century. Besides, I don’t think that the veil has any great religious significance in Hinduism. Other symbols, such as mudras, beads, flowers, and books, as well as certain animals, had greater importance.”– Sofiya


Thank you, Sofiya.

 
I would only say as a reminder that many modern women who decide to cover or wear a head scarf or hat do not do so because the hair is considered a distraction during prayer. It is more out of a sign of respect for the Divine. This is especially made clear when many will veil during solitary prayer.
Additionally, the scarf is not just worn during prayer but as part of every day life upon leaving the home.
You are correct in that many Goddess Images are not depicted wearing a veil and so I will re-word my blog.  ‘Covering’ is not for everyone, not even for a majority. It’s simply nice for those who do feel called to cover to know that they are not alone, there are others who feel the same way.  Also, there there are men out there who wear a hat for similar reasons. There is actually a Catholic priest who once wrote how he keeps his head covered out of humility before God.

Mitera Pamela

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