Cernunnos

– “Cernunnos” by Salem Beiruti
(Model: Francesc Gascó)

In the latest issue of Witches & Pagans magazine, author and Pagan clergyperson A.C. Fisher Aldag has an insightful article about the ancient archetype (or god) known as Cernunnos [KER-noo-nos].

As I’ve noted previously, I’m drawn to Cernunnos because of what he represents for humanity – and for men in particular. In terms of the latter, what the Antlered One represents stands in stark contrast to the vision of men and masculinity that is generally put forward by the patriarchal Abrahamic religions. Neo-pagan and eco-feminist scholar and author Starhawk sums up this difference succinctly in the following excerpt from her book The Spiral Dance.

If a man had been created in the Horned God’s image he would be free to be wild without being cruel, angry without being violent, sexual without being coercive, spiritual without being unsexed, and truly able to love.

I’ve also previously noted that my interest in the Pagan spiritual path and, in particular, the figures of both Cernunnos and Pan, has introduced me to a much broader and inclusive understanding of the “sacred masculine,” one that welcomes and celebrates queer incarnations of both masculinity and union with the Sacred. And for that I’m very grateful.

Given all of this, you can imagine how happy I was to see such a lengthy article about Cernunnos in Witches & Pagans, one of a number of alternative-type magazines displayed and sold at my local co-op. Following, with added images and links, is an excerpt from this article.

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Cernunnos is instantly recognizable to almost any Wiccan or neo-Pagan. The Horned Lord, antlers sprouting from his head, cavorting in the woodlands as the God of the Beasts. A figure of fertility, fatherhood, and fatality. Yet his name is rarely mentioned in historical documents or on artifacts, and actual literature about him is scarce. What we have learned about Cernunnos – or an entity identified as the Lord of the Forest – comes from a plethora of ancient artifacts, works of art, folklore, rirualized dramas and dances, and the speculation of archeologists and cultural anthropologists. Not to mention our own spiritual journeys.

The being we know as Cernunnos has parallel representation worldwide, in every location where cervids (the deer family), antelopes, or wild sheep and goats can be found. There are whole herds of anthropomorphized beings with animal features and human consciousness, mostly male, horned, and hooved. Hunting rituals evoke the image of a frolicking deer-man, a spear-carrying hunter, a guardian of the wilderness. Ceremonial dances, sacred masks, folkplays, and illustrations or statuary give homage to a wild forest deity or spirit on every continent, in a multiplicity of cultures.

• There are deer entities in Asia: the masked dancers of Japan, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan.

• There are multiple antelop beings portrayed in African cultures from Sierra Leone to Mali.

• Mexico has the deer dance of the Yaqui people, also found in the southwestern USA.

• The Italian island of Sardinia has the Mamuthone, who appear during Carnival.

• Also in Italy are rock carvings or petroglyphs of a deer-man . . . and in France, and in Texas.

• Siberian shamans wear antlered headdresses during rituals.

• Bulgaria has deer mummers, dressed in colorful garb.

• Ancient Rome boasted a mosaic of a horned, bearded man.

• Mainland Europe has Mesolithic cave drawings, as well as Roman-era statuary and frescoes.

• There are over fifty images of the horned entity in what used to be the Roman-Gaulish territories.

• Denmark has the silver Gundestrup Cauldron, with its image of Celtic deities, animals, and a seated figure identified as Cernunnos.

• And the British Isles have plentiful legends, artifacts, coins, dances and folk dramas, all related to the sacred man-beast.

The fact that he has representation worldwide shows that the Horned Lord was a universal concept amongst any society which relied on hunting or agriculture for sustenance.

The mainland European images of the entity we call Cernunnos were likely the inspiration for Dr. Margaret A. Murray’s theory about a horned forest lord, which she wrote about in her book God of the Witches in 1933.

The romantic notion of a Lord of the Forest has been embraced by neo-Pagans ever since Murray published her books. The founder of Wicca, author Gerald Gardner, caused Cernunnos to gain a new recognition amongst modern magick-users of the Western Esoteric Traditions, as well as those who rediscovered the old-line folk practices of the British Isles. Since Gardner originally called the entity “Kernunno” (according to his priestess and author, Doreen Valiente), this leads me to believe that Gardner had heard the name and spelled it phonetically, and did not actually read material about the Roman inscription until later, and then adjusted it in his writings. Gardner wrote that Cernunnos was worshipped by the common people as a god of the hunt, who was an aspect of a “higher power” that they really could not understand. Gardner and Valiente viewed Cernunnos as “our Lord, the Horned One” equated with the “dread lord of the shadows” ruling the underworld. However, the God of the Woodlands had been lurking around Britain and France for a long time prior to the establishment of the Wiccan religion.

– A.C. Fisher Aldag
Excerpted from “Charismatic, Enigmatic Cernunnos”
Witches and Pagans: Earthwise Spirituality for Today
Issue 39, Spring 2022

– “Cernunnos” by Qviron Lethebain

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Beloved and Antlered
• Integrating Cernunnos, “Archetype of Sensuality and the Instinctual World”
• Cernunnos in Autumn Light
• The Devil We (Think We) Know
• A Day to Celebrate the Survival of the Old Ways
• The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
• Biophilia, the God Pan, and a Baboon Named Scott
• Pan’s Labyrinth: Critiquing the Cult of Unquestioning Obedience
• Pagan Thoughs at Hallowtide
• The God from the House of Bread: A Bridge Between Christianity and Paganism
• The Pagan Roots of All Saints Day
• Celebrating the Coming of the Sun and the Son
• Advent: A “ChristoPagan” Perspective
• I Caught a Glimpse of a God
• The Prayer Tree

And at The Wild Reed’s brother site, The Leveret, see:
• The Divine Masculine Principle
• In the Image of the Horned God
• I Call to Cernunnos . . .

Photo of the Day

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A Wondrous Sight
• Photo of the Day – May 23, 2021
• Photo of the Day – May 14, 2020
• Photo of the Day – May 27, 2010
• Afternoon

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

“For the Love of Our Children, Let’s Not Shut Up”

Her parents came to her award ceremony that morning.

They took her picture and oohed over her achievement.

They went home while she finished her school day.

Then they spent their night waiting for news about her.

They had to give DNA samples and wait for the results because the bodies of these children were too mutilated to identify.

Late last night, it was confirmed she was gone.

Just like the teacher that made her certificate.

~ Katherine Lillian

Image: Amerie Jo Garza, 10, one of nineteen children shot to death by a mass shooter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.

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Following is spiritual author, activist, and former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson’s response to Tuesday’s mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.





5/28/22 UPDATE: Writes Marianne Williamson:

Millions of people have awakened to some truths that while deeply unpleasant, spur us to action if we allow them to. That unpleasant truth is how many powerful forces in our society really don’t care who lives or dies as long as their profits continue to soar. That immoral perspective belongs to many corporate interests in this country – gun manufacturers are just one of them – but a complete lack of ethics on their part is now a direct threat to our children. And we must stop them.

The vast majority of Americans want common sense gun safety laws, but we’re living at a time when Lincoln’s notion of government “of the people, by the people and for the people” feels more like a taunt than a political reality. Today we’re a government “of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations.” When it comes to gun policy, it’s “of the NRA, by the NRA and for the NRA.” It is truly sickening.

There is a bill in Congress that all of us should know about. It is HR8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021. The bill was originally introduced in 2019 by Democratic Representative Mike Thompson of California's 5th district and passed with some bipartisan support. The bill would expand background checks to be required on all firearm sales, closing the gun show and online sales loopholes. It would require background checks on firearms sales or transfers throughout the U.S. Background checks are not currently required for sales or transfers by unlicensed and private sellers.

Ninety per cent of the American people are on record for wanting expanded background checks, yet Washington does not now reflect the will of the people. The panic and upset about Uvalde seems to not have penetrated the walls of the Capitol. While HR8 passed the House in 2019, Republican Senators are blocking it in the Senate. When the leadership of one party is soulless and the other is spineless, there seems to be little that we can do.

And even that bill does not go far enough. As I discuss in the video above, we need a ban on AR-15 and AK-47 assault weapons. These guns are meant for one thing only, and that is to massacre people. When we had an assault weapons ban from 1994-2004, mass shootings went down 43%. After it expired, mass shootings tripled.

The NRA-inspired propaganda of the week is to distract us, arguing that the mental health issue on the part of the shooter is the only real culprit. But I get a sense that isn’t working quite the same way now. People more willing to protect their right to own an assault weapon than they’re willing to protect the life of a child are holding less and less sway over the American mind. America’s gun fetish is itself a mental health issue.

At this point, it’s up to you and me. There will be protests for gun reform in various cities on June 11, but it’s direct lobbying of our Senators remains most needed now. That is where the greatest pressure lies, and we need to make it happen.

The Capitol switchboard is 202 224 3121. For the love of our children, let’s not shut up.

Related Off-site Links:
Gunman Kills 19 Children, 2 Adults in Texas School Rampage – Acacia Corondo and Jim Vertuno (AP News, May 24, 2022).
Vote Out These Death-Dealing, NRA-Enthralled Republicans – Now – Thom Hartmann (Common Dreams, May 25, 2022).
Why Are We Here? When Are We Going to Do Something?! – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, May 26, 2022).
Republicans Don't Want You To Know The Truth About Texas School Massacre – Lawrence O’Donnell (MSNBC, May 26, 2022).
A Decade of Congressional Inaction on Gun Control – Mary Clare Jalonick (AP News, May 25, 2022).
Is Mass Death Now Tolerated in America? – Michelle R. Smith (AP News, May 25, 2022).
“A Uniquely American Problem”: Pressure Grows for Gun Control After School Massacre in Texas – Democracy Now! (May 26, 2022).
Mass Shootings: American Exceptionalism of the Worst Kind – Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan (Democracy Now!, May 26, 2022).
“Enough Was Enough”: How Australia Reformed Its Gun Laws and Ended Mass Shootings After 1996 Massacre – Democracy Now! (May 26, 2022).
U.S. Right-Wing Supreme Court Poised to Make US Gun Carnage Even Worse – Kenny Stancil (Common Dreams, May 27, 2022).
Science Journal Editorial Says “Minions” of NRA “Must Be Defeated” to Save Nation – Kenny Stancil (Common Dreams, May 27, 2022).

UPDATES: Real Change Will Bubble Up Not Trickle Down – Michael J. Illuzzi (Common Dreams, May 28, 2022).
As U.S. Mourns Shootings, NRA in Turmoil But Influence Remains – Lindsay Whitehurst, Brian Slodysko and Juan Lozano (AP News, May 28, 2022).
5 People Dead at Tulsa Medical Building, in the 233rd Mass Shooting of 2022 – Fernando Alfonso III (NPR News, June 2, 2022).
Mass Shootings at Home, Mass Arms Exports Abroad: A Look at Deadly Role of U.S. Weapons Across Globe – Democracy Now! (June 2, 2022).
President Biden Calls for Assault Weapons Ban and Other Measures to Curb Gun Violence – Ximena Bustillo (NPR News, June 2, 2022).
26,000 Kids Could Be Alive Today If U.S. Had Same Gun Mortality Rate as Canada – Kenny Stancil (Common Dreams, July 8, 2022).
The Staggering Scope of U.S. Gun Deaths Goes Far Beyond Mass Shootings – Mark Berman (The Washington Post, July 8, 2022).
Nearly 400 Officers Raced to Uvalde School Shooting. Why Did It Take 77 Minutes to Confront Gunman? – Democracy Now! (July 19, 2022).
Uvalde School Police Chief Fired Three Months After Botched Response to School Shooting – Camille Phillips and Dan Katz (NPR News, August 24, 2022).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Social Roots of Yet Another American Tragedy
• Something to Think About – December 14, 2012
• Paula Simons: Quote of the Day – December 15, 2012
• Rejoice?
• “I Pray, I Pray”
• Prayer of the Week – June 19, 2016
• Jamelle Bouie: Quote of the Day – October 2, 2017
• Discerning and Embodying Sacred Presence in Times of Violence and Strife
• Questioning God’s Benevolence in the Face of Tragedy
• Emma González: Quote of the Day – February 17, 2018
• Signs of the Times
• Jason Stanley: Quote of the Day – May 16, 2022
• Something to Think About – May 26, 2022

See also:
• Now Here’s a Voice I’d Like to Hear Regularly on the Sunday Morning Talk Shows
• Marianne Williamson and Cornel West: “Two of the Most Dedicated and Enlightened Heroes of Present Day America”
• A Deeper Perspective on What’s Really Attacking American Democracy
• Marianne Williamson on the Tenth Anniversary of Occupy Wall Street
• Cultivating Peace
• Marianne Williamson on the Movement for a People’s Party
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – June 2, 2020
• Deep Gratitude
• “A Beautiful Message, So Full of Greatness”
• Marianne Williamson: “Anything That Will Help People Thrive, I’m Interested In”

Something to Think About . . .

NEXT: “For the Love of Our Children,
Let’s Not Shut Up”

Related Off-site Links:
Gunman Kills 19 Children, 2 Adults in Texas School Rampage – Acacia Corondo and Jim Vertuno (AP News, May 24, 2022).
Vote Out These Death-Dealing, NRA-Enthralled Republicans – Now – Thom Hartmann (Common Dreams, May 25, 2022).
Faith Leaders and Teachers Mobilize for Protests at NRA’s Houston Meeting in Wake of Uvalde Massacre – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, May 26, 2022).
A Decade of Congressional Inaction on Gun Control – Mary Clare Jalonick (AP News, May 25, 2022).
Thousands of Students Walk Out Nationwide to Protest Lawmakers’ Inaction On Guns – Sarah Ruiz-Grossman (The Huffington Post, May 26, 2022).
Is Mass Death Now Tolerated in America? – Michelle R. Smith (AP News, May 25, 2022).
Mass Shootings: American Exceptionalism of the Worst Kind – Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan (Democracy Now!, May 26, 2022).

UPDATES: Gunman’s Final 90 Minutes Fuel Questions About Police Delays – Jake Bleiberg, Jim Vertuno and Elliot Spagat (AP News, May 27, 2022).
Too Many Doors and Liberal Teachers: Here’s What the GOP Blames For the Uvalde Shooting – Amanda Terkel (The Huffington Post, May 27, 2022).
Justice Department to Review Police Response to Texas School Shooting – Zeke Miller and Michael Balsamo (AP News, May 29, 2022).
Pulse Nightclub Massacre Survivor: Delayed Police Response in Uvalde Shows Pattern in Mass Shootings – Democracy Now! (May 31, 2022).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Social Roots of Yet Another American Tragedy
• Something to Think About – December 14, 2012
• Paula Simons: Quote of the Day – December 15, 2012
• Rejoice?
• “I Pray, I Pray”
• Prayer of the Week – June 19, 2016
• Jamelle Bouie: Quote of the Day – October 2, 2017
• Discerning and Embodying Sacred Presence in Times of Violence and Strife
• Questioning God’s Benevolence in the Face of Tragedy
• Emma González: Quote of the Day – February 17, 2018
• Signs of the Times
• Jason Stanley: Quote of the Day – May 16, 2022

“We’re Standing in the Place Where a Black Man Was Lynched in Public”

Remembering George Floyd,
Two Years On

Writing today on the second anniversary of the police murder of George Floyd, Matt Sepic of Minnesota Public Radio News examines the lack of any substantive change in how police treat people of color. Following, with added images and links, is an excerpt.

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Wednesday marks two years since a police officer killed George Floyd [right] on a Minneapolis street corner, setting off global racial justice protests. Derek Chauvin is in prison for murder and even though the three other former officers on duty with him are also likely to face prison time, many Minneapolis residents say that the systemic changes needed to prevent such killings are still far from reality.

At 38th Street East and Chicago Avenue South, where George Floyd was killed, cars and trucks trickle through a makeshift roundabout that encircles a Black Power fist sculpted of steel. Soon after the murder, people from around the world began coming here to pay their respects to Floyd and to join the calls for racial justice that his murder ignited. And they’re still coming.

LaMyra Sanders of Columbia, S.C. stopped by on Friday. Sanders says she’s hopeful that the movement will bring a fundamental shift in American policing. But she concedes that it won’t happen overnight.

“There’s a place of sadness that still looms here. And it is our prayer that one day justice will be served, and that this will not be a problem. There’s plenty of work to be done.”

While countless numbers of people have passed through George Floyd Square over the last two years, Marcia Howard has been a constant presence here, leading a protest occupation of about a dozen people who keep the area tidy and watch for trouble. Her group met recently to discuss how they’ll welcome the throngs of visitors expected for anniversary events, starting with Wednesday’s candlelight vigil.

Minneapolis city leaders want to build a permanent memorial to Floyd as part of work to repave the street and upgrade public transit. But Howard, a Black 49-year-old high school English teacher and retired Marine, vows not to let that happen until there’s a substantive change in how police treat people of color.

“The only thing that seems to change anything in the city of Minneapolis is collective action. We’re not burning down Lake Street. We’re not walking down University Avenue,” Howard said. “We’re standing in place, in situ, where a Black man was lynched in public. And we’re saying we’re not moving.”

Those calls were loudest immediately following the killing. Less than two weeks after Floyd’s murder, nine Minneapolis City Council members, a supermajority, stood on a stage at Powderhorn Park and pledge to “dismantle” the MPD. At their feet in large block letters were the words “DEFUND POLICE.”

That did not happen. The council has continued to fund the department, including new recruit classes to replace the hundreds of officers who’ve left.

Despite an opinion poll showing low trust in the MPD, 56 percent voters in November rejected a proposal to replace the department with a new city safety agency that would have included armed law enforcement “if necessary.”

The plan was bold, but its lack of details likely scared off voters, said Kami Chavis, who leads the Criminal Justice Program at Wake Forest University’s law school.

“I think it was probably just a bridge too far for some people to say: ‘Wait a minute. We’re going to do away with what we have, and we’re not sure what this new thing is that you’re proposing,’” Chavis said.

Chavis said that any transformational shift in policing is likely to come from the courts. Last month, Minnesota Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero called for judicial oversight of the MPD after releasing the results of a two-year investigation that found a “pattern or practice” racial discrimination. The U.S. Justice Department began a similar investigation more than a year ago.

– Matt Sepic
Excerpted from Two Years After George Floyd’s Murder,
Changing the Minneapolis Police May Be Up to Courts
MPR News
May 25, 2021

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Following is a 9-minute segment from this evening’s broadcast of PBS Newshour. In this segment, Fred de Sam Lazaro interviews Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, the authors of the recently published book, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice. It’s a landmark book, one that powerfully examines Floyd’s life within the context of America’s ongoing struggle with systemic racism.





Related Off-site Links:
Two Years After George Floyd Murder, Biden to Issue Executive Order on Police Reform – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, May 24, 2022).
In Focus: George Floyd’s Legacy and Impact – Angela Davis, Rachel Yang and MPR News Staff (MPR News, May 25, 2022).
Making George Floyd’s Square: The People Who Transformed 38th and Chicago – Christine T. Nguyen, Megan Burks and Evan Frost (MPR News, December 2, 2020).
Historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad: Policing in U.S. Was Built on Racism and Should Be Put on Trial – Democracy Now! (April 21, 2021).
“His Name Is George Floyd”: Two Years After Police Murder, His Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice – Democracy Now! (May 23, 2022).
George Floyd Biography Explores the Systemic Racism That Contributed to His Death – Fred de Sam Lazaro and Sam Lane (PBS Newshour, May 25, 2022).
His Name is George Floyd by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa Review: The Murder That Shamed the U.S. – Kehinde Andrews (The Guardian, May 22, 2022).

UPDATES: Minneapolis Renames Intersection to Honor George Floyd – Mohamed Ibrahim (Associated Press News, May 26, 2022).
Investigation Shows Minneapolis Police Show Pattern of Violating Rights, Attorney General Merrick Garland Says – Steve Karnowski and Jim Salter (PBS NewsHour, June 16, 2023).
Department of Justice Finds Minneapolis Police Had a Pattern of “Unconstitutional Policing” – Martin Kaste and Don Gonyea (NPR News, June 17, 2023).
8 Takeaways From the Justice Department Probe of Minneapolis Police – MPR News (June 17, 2023).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “I Can’t Breathe”: The Murder of George Floyd
• He Called Mama. He Has Called Up Great Power
• Honoring George Floyd
• “New and Very Dangerous”: The Extreme Right-Wing Infiltration of the George Floyd Protests
• Mayor Melvin Carter: “The Anger Is Real, and I Share It With You”
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – June 2, 2020
• Trevor Noah on the “Dominoes of Racial Injustice”
• Emma Jordan-Simpson: “There Will Be No Peace Without Justice”
• Out and About – Spring 2020
• The Language of the Oppressor
• A Very Intentional First Day of the Year
• The Problem Is Ultimately Bigger Than Individuals. It’s Systemic
• Minnesota Governor Tim Walz: “We Need to Make Systemic Changes”
• “Let This Be a Turning Point”
• Remembering George Floyd on the First Anniversary of His Murder
“An Abolitionist Demand”: Progressive Perspectives on Transforming Policing in the U.S.
• Hamilton Nolan: Quote of the Day – August 3, 2021

See also:
• Rallying in Solidarity with Eric Garner and Other Victims of Police Brutality
• In Minneapolis, Rallying in Solidarity with Black Lives in Baltimore
• “Say Her Name” Solidarity Action for Sandra Bland
• “We Are All One” – #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation
• Nancy A. Heitzeg: Quote of the Day – March 31, 2016
• “This Doesn't Happen to White People”
• Remembering Philando Castile and Demanding Abolition of the System That Targets and Kills People of Color
• “And Still and All, It Continues”
• “This Has Got to Stop”
• Love, Justice, and Amir Locke
• Photo of the Day, 5/3/2015: “Black Is Sacred”
• “And Still We Rise!” – Mayday 2015 (Part I)
• “And Still We Rise!” – Mayday 2015 (Part II)
• Something to Think About – March 25, 2016

Image 1: Mourners gather at a tribute to George Floyd in Minneapolis at the site of his death. (Photo: Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Image 2: Artist unknown.
Image 3: Michael J. Bayly.
Image 4: MPR News.

Returning the Mind to God

I share this evening a reflection written by Lana Carolan, one that she recently shared on the Facebook page for the Foundation for Inner Peace. This foundation is dedicated to publishing, distributing and discussing the writings collectively known as A Course in Miracles (ACIM).

I find Lana’s words on returning our minds to God to be both wise and helpful. They are words that ring true for me. They also align with Lana’s understanding of what it means to live the Course in Miracles. This living, says Lana, is all about “training my mind to begin each and every day with the choice for God.”

Such a choice, Lana says, means “keeping my mind present and mindful of what I am doing here and now, and being fully invested in this present moment. . . . It means bringing God with me in whatever I am doing. For me, that means bringing Love to everything I am doing.”

Beautiful and challenging words! Following are Lana Carolan’s thoughts on how to respond to “any perception that does not represent the Peace and Love of God.”

__________________________

Mind Training is simply keeping the mind aligned with the Mind of God. That is where our power is found. For there we find the Truth of who we really are. For me, this is what the process looks like. It begins by becoming the observer of my thoughts rather than a participant. One learns to do this by practicing mindfulness, by maintaining a present state of awareness. Within this present moment, I am not time-traveling, that is thinking of past regrets or worrying about the future. ACIM says that the present (or now) is the closest approximation we have to eternity within the realm of time/space.

In practicing this over the years, I’ve come to recognize differences between the thoughts I think with God and the thoughts of the ego thought system. First and foremost, the thoughts I think with God are delivered to my mind via the Holy Spirit. It is not a "thinking" process. Rather, the stillness of mind allows their entry. They are welcomed and received. I notice their arrival and they are always accompanied with clarity, certainty, and peace. These are my real thoughts.

Ego thoughts are quite different. Thoughts of the ego do come about through what seems to be a "thinking" process. In fact, it is experienced as though I thought them up myself. Yet, they are entirely of the ego’s making. They are not only unreal, they do not exist at all. They are, for the most part, related to past regrets or present or future worries. Ego thoughts are accompanied by confusion, doubt, and conflict. In every way, they are the opposite of the thoughts I think with God.

Enter Holy Spirit, guardian of my mind. Holy Spirit sees only the true, the real, and the lovely within the mind I share with God. Holy Spirit discerns for me what is real and what is not, even when my mind is so confused it cannot see the difference between night and day. Holy Spirit looks beyond the ego thoughts just as if they were not there because they are not there. Holy Spirit sees but ONE Light shining in my mind and that Light of Love knows only what is like Itself.

There is but ONE mind. There is but ONE Power, the Power of God. We have made up a second power that is not real. It is held in place by our belief in it. You could say this is an "unGodly" power that could be called the Anti-Christ in the mind. It stands for anything that is in opposition to God and Truth. Since God has no opposite, we know this second power cannot be real. It is a counterfeit power whose sole purpose is its own survival, regardless of the horrendous misperceptions it makes up to secure its safety.

Our belief in a second power will of its own accord diminish as we consistently align the mind with the ONE Power that IS Real. These are our real thoughts. Our Power in God will validate itself in our experience and through its validation, a belief in a second power will naturally begin to dissolve.

Training the mind is like planting seeds in the ground. We don’t initially have any great sensation of anything happening, and it does not seem possible that the soil has any special power. But the seeds when planted, initiate a creative process that produces a plant. The plant is an effect of this creative process, just as Peace is an effect of the creative process in our mind.

To the degree that we consciously accept a true recognition of our perfection and are receptive to our Truth, we stay in right-mindedness which produces effects that reflect the attributes of God; peace, harmony, health, and security. We have discovered the portal to our Divine Nature and learned to live there. As Jesus taught us, "Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free."

It is our responsibility to train the mind to seek only the Power of God, to think only the thoughts of God, which is the same as saying to think thoughts that reflect only the Truth of who we really are. It is trusting in God and making God the Sole Authority of our mind and in our world. There is no limit to our mind training. There can be no limit to our devotion to the Truth. The more we train the mind, the more we experience an Awakening in God.

Over the decades I’ve learned that the one solution to any and all perceived problems is returning the mind to God. Whenever I bring all of my focus and attention to this present moment, I have made the choice to abandon the ego thought system and embrace the loving arms of my Creator. ❤

– Lana Carolan
via Foundation for Inner Peace Group
April 16, 2022

Related Off-site Links:
How to Live in the Present Moment – Courtney E. Ackerman (Positive Psychology, January 30, 2021).
The Incredible Power of Being Present in the Moment – TheJoyWithin.org (May 31, 2019).
Being Present as a Spiritual Practice – Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat (Spirituality and Practice: Resources for Spiritual Journeys).
What Is the Present Moment? – MyrkoThum.com (August 31, 2008).
Freedom Is Being Present – InnerPeaceFellowship.org.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment
• I Need Do Nothing . . . I Am Open to Living Light
• Cultivating Stillness
• Be In My Mind, Beloved One
• Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• A Sacred Pause
• Aligning With the Living Light
• Mystical Participation
• The Source Is Within You

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

Quote of the Day

The president has just approved a new $40 billion aid package for Ukraine rushed through Congress – an even higher figure, you’ll undoubtedly not be surprised to learn, than he asked for. More than half of that package will go for military purposes, which means the outlook for firms like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin couldn’t be brighter. Add to that new sales to NATO allies beefing up their military budgets in response to the Russian invasion, as well as the Pentagon’s own astronomical budget – slated to exceed $800 billion for 2023 – and the opportunities for profit seem nothing short of endless.

And it’s true that Ukraine does indeed need weapons to defend itself. In the context of a policy in Washington designed, as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently put it all too bluntly, to “weaken Russia” rather than simply end the war, there is, however, a danger in sending too much, too fast. After all, escalating the conflict in this way could possibly lead to a direct confrontation between the U.S. and Russia, two nuclear-armed nations.

Putting that nightmarish possibility aside, there’s another question that comes to mind (mine, anyway): Does arming Ukraine really make Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and their cohorts “defenders of democracy”?

As someone who has followed Washington’s arms production and its global weapons sales for decades now, my answer would be: far from it. At best, those firms are opportunists, selling their wares wherever they’re allowed to, regardless of whether their products will be used to push back a Russian invasion of Ukraine or fuel the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe of this century in Yemen.

If they were truly to become part of an “arsenal of democracy,” those militarized mega-firms would have to trim their client lists considerably. I suspect, in fact, that if we were looking at their global sales in a more clear-eyed way, we would have to come up with a more apt term for them entirely. My own suggestion when it comes to Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and similar firms would be “arsenal of autocracy” . . . [as] U.S. weapons contractors aren’t exactly fussy about which regimes they send weapons to. Quite the contrary, they seek out as many sales to as many places as the political market will bear. [Not surprisingly] executives in the American weapons-making firms [have not] expressed the slightest qualms about their role in fostering human rights abuses and/or fueling destabilizing, unnecessary conflicts.

– William Hartung
Excerpted from “Not Only in Ukraine:
Major Weapons Makers Profiting Off War Worldwide”
Common Dreams
May 24, 2022

NEXT:
Phyllis Bennis On the Need
For a Ceasefire in Ukraine


Related Off-site Links:
U.S. and Russia’s Imperialist Wars Are Waging Global Devastation – Winslow Myers (Common Dreams, May 24, 2022).
Biden Rebuked for “Openly Praising War Profiteering” at Lockheed Martin – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, May 4, 2022).
This Is How the United States Could Help Bring Peace to Ukraine – Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies (Common Dreams, April 28, 2022).
There’s No Justification for Russia’s Aggression, But U.S. Double Standards on Illegal War Are Hard to Stomach – Stephen Zunes (The Progressive via Common Dreams, March 1, 2022).
Putin’s Criminal Invasion of Ukraine Highlights Some Ugly Truths About U.S. and NATO – Jeremy Scahill (The Intercept, March 7, 2022).
Transcending the Certainties of War – Robert C. Koehler (Common Dreams, March 17, 2022).
Phyllis Bennis: The Best Way to Help Ukraine Is Diplomacy, Not War and Increased Militarization – Democracy Now! (March 17, 2022).
Ukraine Doesn’t Need to Match Russia’s Military Might to Defend Against Invasion – George Lakey (Waging Nonviolence, February 25, 2022).
U.S.-NATO Militarism Is the Cause, Not the Solution – Khury Petersen-Smith (In These Times via Common Dreams, February 9, 2022).

UPDATES: As U.S. Funnels Money and Arms to Ukraine, Independent Media Faces Pressure to Parrot Official Narrative – Democracy Now! (July 12, 2022).
House Votes Down Amendments to Cut “Outrageous” Military Budget – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, July 14, 2022).
Noam Chomsky: Six Months Into War, Diplomatic Settlement in Ukraine Is Still Possible – C.J. Polychroniou (TruthOut, August 24, 2022).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The War Racket
• The Ongoing Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen
• Jeff Cohen: Quote of the Day – February 28, 2022
• Yanis Varoufakis: Quote of the Day – February 24, 2022
• A Prayer for Ukraine
• A “Post-Cold War Train Wreck Long In the Making”
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – November 11, 2021,br> • Cultivating Peace
• Rallying to End U.S. Militarism
• Sinan Antoon: Quote of the Day – March 20, 2018
• Caitlin Johnstone: Quote of the Day – November 11, 2018
• Saying “No” to Endless U.S. Wars
• Michael McPhearson: Quote of the Day – November 10, 2015
• Vigiling Against Weaponized Drones
• Seumas Milne: Quote of the Day – September 7, 2015
• Jeff Cohen: Quote of the Day – January 30, 2011
• John Pilger on Resisting Empire
• In Search of a “Global Ethic”

Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images.

Celebrating Tuesday’s Progressive Wins in the Midst of the Ongoing “War for the Future of the Democratic Party”

I was happy to hear that a number of progressive candidates, including Charles Booker (left), won their primary contests this past Tuesday. Ever since the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, I’ve been doing my best to learn about and support progressive “down-ballot” Democratic candidates as opposed to corporate or establishment ones.

Why is this important? Well, author and former progressive presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has been a key proponent for electing progressive candidates. She’s hosted various online down-ballot progressive summits and established a helpful website to help in this regard. Here's what she recently said about the importance of working to get progressive candidates into congress.

– Via CandidateSummit.com

As I said, this past Tuesday saw a number of progressive victories in key primary races in the U.S. Following is a compilation of media coverage of these victories and the ongoing “war” between corporatists and progressives for the future of the Democratic party.

________________________

Not every left-leaning candidate was victorious in Tuesday’s primary contests, but on the whole, the Democratic Party’s progressive wing had a successful showing despite the best efforts of the party establishment and millions of dollars in right-wing super PAC money.

While progressive candidates came up short in North Carolina, their counterparts in Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Kentucky notched important wins that set them up to take on Republican opponents in the fast-approaching November 8 midterms, with control of Congress on the line.

. . . Despite the setbacks in North Carolina, commentators were quick to note how much better progressives fared on Tuesday compared with corporate Democrats.

The “Manchin wing of the party [is] getting utterly routed tonight,” tweeted journalist Ryan Grim.

Tuesday’s flurry of progressive victories, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept, demonstrates “the strength of the growing, organized progressive and [democratic socialist] electoral movement.”

– Kenny Stancil
Excerpted from “Big Wins, Tough Losses
in Key Progressive Primary Fights”
Common Dreams
May 18, 2022

The stunning [progressive] wins come as the party debates who is to blame for Biden’s sinking approval rating and increasingly dire forecasts of upcoming midterm losses. Party establishment figures have pointed the finger at the left for making unreasonable demands couched in slogans like “defund the police” that turn off voters. The progressive wing has countered that Biden’s popularity has sunk as centrist Democrats have slowly murdered his agenda, while the left has fought to enact it.

Tuesday’s results suggest that Democratic voters – at least those in Pennsylvania and Oregon – would prefer that Democrats do more rather than less, delivering a stinging rebuke to the Kyrsten Sinema-Joe Manchin wing of the party. Next week, voters in Texas will cast ballots in a number of runoffs that pit progressives against super PAC-backed centrist Democrats.

Big-money groups spent some $15 million in those three House races – two in Oregon and one in Pennsylvania – while outside progressive groups managed just over $2 million yet prevailed in all three. In North Carolina, the super PACs had better luck, spending $7 million against former state Sen. Erica Smith and Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam. The spending came from AIPAC, Democratic Majority for Israel, and Mainstream Democrats, the super PAC organized and funded by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.

– Ryan Grim
Excerpted from “Democratic Voters Deliver
Stinging Rebuke to Manchin-Sinema Wing”
The Intercept
May 18, 2022

What you’ve seen is a surprising backlash, at the voter level, to all of the money that flooded in [for corporate/establishment Democratic candidates]. And it’s been a pretty good night for progressive candidates, despite all that money. . . . [The] argument [is being made] that Democrats have to win back the working class, and the way to do it is to make more progressive populist arguments.

– David Sirota
Excerpted from “Progressives Win Key Primary Races
Despite Millions Spent to Back Corporate Democrats”
Democracy Now!
May 18, 2022

Charles Booker – the progressive former Kentucky state lawmaker with a plan to tackle rampant inequality – cruised to victory in Tuesday’s U.S. Senate Democratic primary, setting up a November contest against two-term Republican incumbent Rand Paul in which the challenger is vowing to “make history.”

“We’re going to beat Rand Paul. And let me be clear with you: We’re going to blow Rand Paul out,” Booker said during an appearance on The Young Turks. “We’re gonna do it by doing two things. One, [by] inspiring a vision that encourages people to believe things can be better.”

Booker touted his Kentucky New Deal, a plan to curb runaway inequality “which is really about us fighting for family, pushing the partisan divides aside, lifting up our common bonds, and really doing issue-based organizing.”

“We’re gonna work our asses off,” the 37-year-old Louisvillian vowed.

“But on the second side of it, we’re gonna beat Rand Paul by naming Rand Paul,” he said. “A lot of people don’t know what he does; he's a crisis actor, he’s a contrarian, he’s a fake libertarian, he stokes conspiracy theories.”

“We’re gonna help people see that he’s blocking disaster relief, that he’s blocking investments in infrastructure, that he’s opposing expanded healthcare – he called it akin to slavery – that he opposed the Civil Rights Act,” Booker continued.

“He doesn’t believe that we should invest in our home or that we should support our allies abroad,” the nominee added. “He’s a joke, and we’re gonna call him out.”

In a separate interview with Lex 18, Booker said he believes his campaign can reach Kentucky voters on both sides of the aisle.

“I’m fighting for issues regardless of party because at the end of the day, putting food on the table, keeping your lights on – doesn’t matter what your party is,” asserted.

If Booker defeats Paul in November, he will be the first Black U.S. senator in Kentucky history. He would also be the first Democrat from the commonwealth to win a U.S. Senate contest in 30 years.

– Brett Wilkins
Excerpted from “Kentucky Progressive Charles Booker
Wins Democratic U.S. Senate Primary”
Common Dreams
May 18, 2022

On Tuesday night, Pennsylvania state Rep. Summer Lee [right] declared victory in her hard-fought primary election for the state’s 12th Congressional District. Lee, who had built a comfortable lead early in the race as an outspoken progressive leader with a record of local organizing, saw her frontrunner status evaporate by election day amid an onslaught of deceptive out-of-state attack ads funded by a variety of pro-Israel groups.

If she wins the general election in the deep-blue district, Lee, who In These Times interviewed in 2018 after she won the Democratic nomination for the 34th Pennsylvania state house district, would become the first Black woman and the first democratic socialist to represent Pennsylvania in Congress. She is running on a platform of enacting policies such as Medicare for All, a Green New Deal and carceral reform while calling for ending the filibuster in the Senate, expanding the number of Supreme Court justices and ending cash bail.

“They can’t say Black women can’t win,” Lee said to supporters on Tuesday night. “When we come together, we can’t be stopped.” In a statement released after declaring victory, she said: “We built a movement in Western Pennsylvania that took on corporate power, stood up for working families, and beat back a multimillion-dollar smear campaign. This was never about one candidate – it was about the people of this district who have been left behind by corporations who put their profits over our lives.”

Polling from early April showed Lee with a 25-point lead over the second-place candidate, millionaire Pittsburgh lawyer Steve Irwin. But by the end of the month, according to reporting from Jewish Insider, private polling found that the aggressive negative campaign waged against Lee had been successful – Irwin had erased her lead, leaving the two candidates in a statistical dead heat. As of Wednesday evening, Lee was leading Irwin 41.7 percent to 41.3 percent, with 99 percent of the vote reported.

In total, pro-Israel groups spent at least $2.5 million on the race, almost all of it attacking Lee. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s political wing, the United Democracy Project (UDP), spent more than $2 million running attack ads and a direct mail campaign. Despite being funded by a pro-Israel group, none of the UDP’s ads or mailers mentioned Middle Eastern politics, Israel or Palestine. Instead, the ads questioned Lee’s Democratic Party credentials, highlighted her 2020 criticism of then-candidate Joe Biden, and cast her as a threat to the party.

For her part, Lee has objected to claims that she’s anti-Israel, while also voicing criticism of U.S. politicians who haven’t spoken out against attacks on Palestinians. Lee has said she believes aid to Israel, as well as all American allies, should be conditional on their adherence to human rights.

– Nick Vachon
Excerpted from “Overcoming an Onslaught of Dark Money Attacks,
Progressive Summer Lee Declares Victory in Pennsylvania”
In These Times
May 18, 2022

Sen. Bernie Sanders doubled down on his criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] and its newly created super PAC on Friday, telling The New York Times that the powerful anti-Palestinian rights lobbying group’s foray into Democratic primary politics is threatening the future of the party and of U.S. democracy.

As Common Dreams reported this week, AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project (UDP), is spending heavily in several Democratic primary races to defeat progressives who support Palestinian rights and are critical of the billions of dollars in U.S. funding that goes to the Israeli military annually.

AIPAC’s spending in key races in North Carolina, Texas, Pennsylvania, and other states is in service of the group’s goal “to create a two-party system, Democrats and Republicans, in which both parties are responsive to the needs of corporate America and the billionaire class,” Sanders told the Times.

“This is a war for the future of the Democratic Party,” the Vermont independent senator added. “They are doing everything they can to destroy the progressive movement in this country.”

UDP has focused much of its spending this primary season on the race between progressive Pennsylvania state Rep. Summer Lee and former Republican attorney Steve Irwin – pouring $2.3 million into ad campaigns including one which accused Lee of being disloyal to the Democratic Party, only to have Lee narrowly defeat her opponent.

That attack ad garnered outrage from progressives including Sanders, who pointed out that the group has also donated to dozens of Republicans who objected to certifying the 2020 presidential election results.

“Why would an organization go around criticizing someone like Summer Lee for not being a strong enough Democrat when they themselves have endorsed extreme right-wing Republicans?" Sanders said to the Times.

. . . [H]istorian Jacob Remes [says] that critics like Sanders, who is Jewish, threaten AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups because they “actually represent the majority of U.S. Jews (especially U.S. Jewish Democrats), so they expose AIPAC as actually representing Republicans and Christian zionists.”

– Julia Conley
Excerpted from “‘This Is a War’ for Democratic Party’s Future,
Says Sanders of AIPAC’s Super PAC”
Common Dreams
May 20, 2022

The corporatist wing of the Democratic Party will do anything to try to defeat progressive candidates. We cannot stand for that. We must continue to fight. And we will. . . . The Democratic Party as a whole has to make a decision: Is it the party of the corporatists, or is it the party of the people?

– Nina Turner
Excerpted from “Nina Turner: Democrats Must Decide
If They Are ‘Party of the Corporatists or Party of the People’”
Democracy Now!
May 18, 2022

Related Off-site Links:
“She Can Win If We Stand With Her”': Sen. Bernie Sanders to Rally for U.S. House Candidate Jessica Cisneros in Texas – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, May 18, 2022).
Rep. Kurt Schrader, the “Joe Manchin of the House,” Nears Defeat in His Oregon Primary – Austin Ahlman (The Intercept, May 18, 2022).
“We Have to Flip This Seat”: After Senate Primary Win, U.S. Senate Candidate John Fetterman Shifts Focus to Beating GOP – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, May 18, 2022).
They Are Not Even Pretending Anymore: Democratic Leaders Are Joining With Oligarchs to Try to Permanently Destroy the Progressive Movement – David Sirota (The Lever, May 17, 2022).
Democratic Insiders Keep Bashing Progressives, But Progressives Keep Winning Key Elections – John Nicols (The Nation, March 3, 2022).
Bernie Sanders Says Democrats Need “Major Course Correction” to Prevent GOP Takeover – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, January 10, 2022).
To Govern and Win Elections, Democrats Must Defeat Corporate Lobby – Not Surrender to It – Jeffrey D. Sachs (CNN Politics via Common Dreams, November 5, 2021).
Our Government Isn’t Progressive — But America Is – Julie Olicer (Data for Progress, October 22, 2020).
Progressive Policies Are Popular Policies – Robert Weissman (PublicCitizen.org, May 1, 2020).
Majority of Americans Support Progressive Policies – Steve Liesman (CNBC News, March 27, 2019).
The United States Is a Progressive Nation With a Democracy Problem – David M. Perry (The Nation, February 6, 2019).

UPDATES: Progressive Delia Ramirez Defeats Billionaire PAC Money to Win Illinois Primary – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, June 29, 2022).
“We Just Broke a Thick-Ass Glass Ceiling”: Progressive Candidates Rack Up Some Big Wins – Nick Vachon (In These Times, June 30, 2022).
The First Gen Z Candidates Are Running for Congress – and Running Against Compromise – Elena Moore (NPR News, July 6, 2022).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Michael Starr Hopkins: Quote of the Day – May 6, 2022
• Ricardo Levins Morales on the “Deepest Political Fault Line” Separating Democrats
• Maebe A. Girl: A “Decidedly Progressive Candidate” for Congress
• Nina Turner: “A Candidate Who Can Make An Enormous Difference”
• Progressive Perspectives on Nina Turner’s Election Loss
• Will Democrats Never Learn?
• Colin Taylor on the “Moral Obscenity” of Obstructionist Democrats Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema
• Cornel West on Responding to the “Spiritual Decay That Cuts Across the Board”
• Hamilton Nolan: Quote of the Day – August 3, 2021
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – July 8, 2021
• David Sirota: Quote of the Day – January 26, 2021
• Cornel West: Quote of the Day – December 3, 2020
• Progressive Perspectives on the 2020 U.S. Election Results
• Biden’s Win: “As Much the Sounding of An Alarm As a Time for Self-Congratulations”
• We Cannot Allow a Biden Win to Mean a Return to “Brunch Liberalism”
• My Summer of Supporting Progressive Down-Ballot Candidates
• Marianne Williamson on the Contest Being Played Out by Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Quote of the Day – March 10, 2019

Photo of the Day

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Moon Over Minneapolis
• Photo of the Day – May 8, 2010
• Photo of the Day – September 1, 2012
• Photo of the Day – July 4, 2014
• Photo of the Day – October 14, 2014
• Photo of the Day – June 11, 2016
• Ride to Sundown
• High-Rise in Afternoon Light

Image: Michael J. Bayly.