Do you Still Get Ashed
I'm talking to the Catholics, current, ex, or recovering. Did you get ashed when you were little? I did. All through grade school I was ashed after the morning mass that the whole school attended, then walked around all day with them on - even after I got home from school - but mostly because by that time I had forgotten that they were there. I wonder what my (non-Catholic) friends thought. They never said anything to me about it one way or the other.
The only other ritual I've ever participated in that comes remotely close to it was getting a red dot put on my forehead by (two different) East Indian Saints. It was their way of giving their blessing at the ens of their visits. I remember my Mom not liking it when I came up to see her once after a lecture by Shree Maa. That was the time that I felt something when Maa gave me her blessing. She held me down just a bit longer that with the others who were in line. I felt a small surge of energy pass through me. DH told me he thought that she was probably helping me with shaktipati, or an awaking of the Goddess within me. Alas, I never worked hard enough at it to awaken my inner Goddess. It's much harder than one might think.
But that little red dot on my forehead pushed my Mom's buttons. She thought I was off doing some weird stuff all under the influence of DH. And this from a woman who had already given up on the Catholic Church - until she was ready to die, of course. Both she and my Dad wanted traditional catholic funerals, and we saw to it that it was so. Yes, hypocritical I know. She wanted me to be married in the Church, too. I held firm. I got married in the back yard by a Unity minister who wrote the ceremony based on the teachings in A Course In Miracles.
Where religion stands, I am not a hypocrite. I embrace no religion and respect almost all.
Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,
The only other ritual I've ever participated in that comes remotely close to it was getting a red dot put on my forehead by (two different) East Indian Saints. It was their way of giving their blessing at the ens of their visits. I remember my Mom not liking it when I came up to see her once after a lecture by Shree Maa. That was the time that I felt something when Maa gave me her blessing. She held me down just a bit longer that with the others who were in line. I felt a small surge of energy pass through me. DH told me he thought that she was probably helping me with shaktipati, or an awaking of the Goddess within me. Alas, I never worked hard enough at it to awaken my inner Goddess. It's much harder than one might think.
But that little red dot on my forehead pushed my Mom's buttons. She thought I was off doing some weird stuff all under the influence of DH. And this from a woman who had already given up on the Catholic Church - until she was ready to die, of course. Both she and my Dad wanted traditional catholic funerals, and we saw to it that it was so. Yes, hypocritical I know. She wanted me to be married in the Church, too. I held firm. I got married in the back yard by a Unity minister who wrote the ceremony based on the teachings in A Course In Miracles.
Where religion stands, I am not a hypocrite. I embrace no religion and respect almost all.
Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,
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