The Power of Prayer

Sometimes I forget to pray. I go for days, sometimes weeks without praying. Eventually, this catches up with me and I start to feel disconnected from my higher self. Or from God. Or from Spirit...whatever. I just know that something isn't right, that I am too much of my problems, my frustrations, my worries, my jealousies, my insecurities... too much of day to day. That's when, something or someone steps in and reminds me to pray.

This time it was the book Trust Your Vibes by Sonia Choquette. I was listlessly reading it, agreeing with some of it, and came upon the chapter about praying. ahhha, that just what I needed to be reminded of. Praying.

It's funny how something as simple as a heartfelt plea to make the day better can work. I don't formally pray. I just ask for God to relieve me of my current negative feelings and thoughts, because I so badly need a break. And my prayers are answered. Except for the one where I win a huge amount of money in a lottery (and I get the feeling God does know what's best for me, and apparently winning a lot of money probably wouldn't be in my best interest. I would actually like to test that theory.)

Now we can get all analytical with this and discuss whether God actually steps in and helps, or it's our subconscious responding to our desire, or it's a placebo effect with prayer being a talisman "make my day better" bingo the day is better.

I don't have the answer, all I know, is that when I resumed praying (for a better day, giving thanks for a better day, asking for guidance) my day got better. And I am more at peace.

Pentacles and Pentagrams

At Moonstone Path we sell sterling silver pentacles and pentagrams. I am embarrassed to say that I did not know the difference between and pentacle and a pentagram. Every once in a while someone would say that they heard that pentacles were evil, a symbol of devil worship. Even though I knew zilch about pentacles and pentagrams, I never sensed that they had dark energies. Pentacles are stars and circles, those two things can't be evil in my point of view.

After looking on the Internet I found some information that clears things up somewhat.

An upright pentagram is a 5 pointed star with one point aligned upwards.
An inverted pentagram is a 5 pointed star with two points aligned upwards
An upright pentacle is generally defined as an upright pentagram surrounded by a circle. The circle represents protection, and the cycle of life.

Both the pentagram and pentacle have similar meanings. In the early days of Christianity, the pentagram and pentacle was worn and used as symbol of Christ. Here's an interesting fact. The inverted pentagram (which is used by Satanists today) was actually a symbol of the divine Christ descending to earth in the flesh.

Both symbols actually were around millenniums before Christianity. These are very old symbols.

The five points of the pentagram have been known to represent the five wounds of Christ. It is also a representation of humankind, the five points corresponding to the head, two arms and two legs.

Nowadays, most people in Wiccan and Pagan circles give the pentacle and pentagram very positive meanings. The pentacle's four lower points represent the elements of the world: earth, air, fire and water. The corner of the star pointing upward symbolizes divine Spirit.

Interesting fact: The pentagram was used by the Hebrews, and was sometimes called the seal of Solomon. More specifically, the pentagram was used as the seal of the City of Jerusalem. There have been fragments of jars dating back to the 4th century BC with a seal impression of a pentagram with the Hebrew letters YRSLM (Jerusalem).

Now I know a little more about pentacles, I can understand how synchronicity worked, by me having the desire to include these wonderful pieces of jewellery as part of our stock even though I knew very little about their history and symbolism.

So if someone asks if pentacles are evil, or of the devil, the answer is a resounding NO

What is my purpose?

I wrote in my last blog about working with a life coach (who was completing the practice part of her training). We discussed my networking fears, how I never have a great answer when asked what does my store sell (it's usually something like this: "We sell...er...crystals...um...and books and ahh...silver jewellery....oh and and statuary, you know Buddhas") Not proud of myself on that. Speaking to my life coach about this issue made me really think what my store was about.

It's about it being an extension of me. I sell healing crystals because I believe they can be useful. Being a skeptic, I don't blindly accept that they can replace conventional medical or psychological care, but I have had enough experience and heard so many stories that I believe with all my heart that crystals have some ability to help us heal be it in little ways or in major ways. It is different for everyone, as we are all unique.

I sell self-help books because they have helped me, and continue to do so.

I sell Buddha's, singing bowls, prayer flags and so on because I have found solace in the Buddhist philosophy.

I sell fairies and fairy doors because it satisfies my whimsical side.

I'm not sure why I sell gargoyles, but I think it's because ancient art has always fascinated me.

Smudging items, native spirituality and the respect for mother earth is profoundly moving.

This is just a sampling of what I sell and why. What it boils down to, is that when I originally conceived this business, it was with the intention to give customers and wanderers different spiritual options without foisting any of my opinions on them. Everyone has the right to choose his/her own path. All paths have meaning to all people.

We all on some level want happiness, security, a meaningful life. Sometimes we have to search for the answer outside ourselves to get to the answer within ourselves. Books, meditation tapes, visual imagery such as statuary, sacred rituals, aromatherapy, conversation and whimsy.

These are the things Moonstone Path offers.