Mama Donna Henes March, 2012

Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more.

*Ask Your Mama™

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Spirituality and Didn’t Know Who to Ask™

by

©Mama Donna Henes, Urban Shaman

A Question of Keeping Balanced in Rough Seas

Dear Mama Donna,

I came out of work at 9PM tonight and found my Honda Accord where I had left it in a gigantic parking structure surrounded by cars. It was minus all four wheels — rims and tires. Vandals, probably four of them, did a quick job. I freaked and started shaking. 2 1/2 hours later, I’m home with no car. AAA had a huge job towing my car to my shop in Del Mar. I have a $500 deductible. That equals one week’s pay. AAA says it happens all the time and I’m lucky to have my car. I got a ride home with Del Mar Police. You are always writing about balance. So what does balance say about this???????????????? The hell with balance. I’m getting into bed, going into the fetal position, hiding under the blankets, and turning the air conditioner up to 9.

Disgusted and Catatonic in California

My poor dear Catatonic,

How can I break this to you? It’s not all about you, honey. Balance did not forget you. You forgot balance. It is a huge universe, and it is completely counterproductive to take hard times personally. Our personal problems, our dizzying ups and downs aside, the forces of the cosmos continue to operate in perfect balance around us. Clearly you had a lousy time of it, but take a deep breath and look around you. I think that, if you are honest with yourself, you will find that a broken car, no matter how inconvenient, seems fairly inconsequential given all that is going on in the world these days.

Though you didn’t recognize it at the time, your miserable evening had everything to do with balance. It was an important aptitude test on keeping your balance during rough, rocky times. Life is nothing if not a balancing act. Not that it is easy to be balanced all of the time. We are human beings, after all, being human. We get pissed when things don’t go our way.

We are constantly bounced around by forces beyond our control. Each bump is like a subpoena for the soul. Every time that fate deals us a blow, we find ourselves on trial to determine how we handle ourselves in disruptive circumstances. Do we fall off the tight rope and crash and burn at the slightest inconvenience? Or do we gather our resources, fine tune our sense of perspective, and go with the flow with good humor and grace?

Blessed are the flexible for they shall not break.

The AAA was right. In balance, you were lucky not to lose the car, or your life, for that matter, had you happened upon the thugs mid-theft. You had a home to go home to, a computer and an electric blanket. Get a grip, girl friend. This is not the end of the world. Count your blessings and be grateful. Be very, very grateful.

Yours for keeping in balance,

xxMama Donna

If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look squarely in the eye and say, “I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.”

Ann Landers

*Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more. Send your questions about seasons, cycles, and celebrations to Mama Donna at: CityShaman@aol.com.

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Donna Henes is an internationally renowned urban shaman, ritual expert, award-winning author, popular speaker and workshop leader whose joyful celebrations of celestial events have introduced ancient traditional rituals and contemporary ceremonies to millions of people in more than 100 cities since 1972. She has published four books, a CD, an acclaimed Ezine and writes for The Huffington Post and UPI Religion and Spirituality Forum. Mama Donna, as she is affectionately called, maintains a ceremonial center, spirit shop, ritual practice and consultancy in Exotic Brooklyn, NY where she works with individuals, groups, institutions, municipalities and corporations to create meaningful ceremonies for every imaginable occasion.

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Tags: balance

• Advice

Morika Bernhard July, 2011

With Litha (mid-Summer/Summer Solstice) just passing us, I thought it apropos to do a spell this month focusing on ‘balance.’  Please take this spell and do it as you see fit.  It can be done indoors, outdoors, wherever you feel most comfortable.  May I suggest that you have something representing the four elements with you (earth, air, fire and water) and remember to protect your ‘circle’ or environment from outside energies.  Focus on balance in your life…what that means to you and the ripple effect it will have (in a good way) for others around you!  May your month balance out just perfectly!  ‘Till next month, Blessed Be.  ~~Morika

BALANCE

– a Prayer/Spell

“Balance is a must-have friend

To know it not, is to know an end

To go to one extreme

Then another

Is tantamount

To stress and bother

Therefore I plea

To set ‘Extreme’ free

And ‘Balance’ I pray

To come and stay.”

Tags: balance

• Spells & Rituals

Hally Rhiannon Nammu December, 2010

Self Knowledge to Create Balance

I had the unique experience of completing my accreditation in behavioural profiling. Whilst this may be all good and well from a behavioural perspective what does this mean on an energetic level?

It is interesting to consider how each of us are “wired” I remember a time where personality profiling was the latest and greatest providing us with an analysis of ourselves from the conscious. We ended up endeavouring to fit into a perfect box that somehow was supposed to be the answer to all of our questions. I wonder how many of us decided to amend ourselves to reflect these results, and even more interestingly, how long did it last?

Now the latest and greatest is behavioural profiling, which is taken from the unconscious level. This is a reflection from a natural and core state in a specific time. After I had my analysis done I could feel myself decide to take on even more of the key traits. It reminded me of when seeing a psychic and manifesting the positive results irrelevant of their validity.

Whilst we all endeavour to fit in, be part of something greater and ultimately feel understood mechanistically we have a tendency to put things, items as well as ourselves, in a box – nice, simple, and black and white. However, the problem in doing this is that it creates limits around our individual potential and it diminishes our unique energetic signature.

Whilst I was undertaking this course I noticed a change occur within me that I had not noticed before. I noticed myself become more present in the physical realm. Whilst this may seem an expected state the more my energetic awareness evolves the more the physical becomes a chosen state rather than being automatic. At times this can be difficult in switching between the two and the term “keeping it real” can come into play. This got me thinking.

We are energetic beings within physical matter. For us to exist in harmony the two must align. This can become a challenge when working with energies as this strangely enough is our most natural state.

On the path to discovering the specifics of who you are, the attributes that allow you to be unique and the constant need to connect through belonging to something bigger, this is determined by the amount of people as opposed to being superior; all the while within our energetic self encompasses the unfolding layers of evolution and transformation.

Behavioural profiling gave me a gift I had not expected. It gave me the awareness and lucidity to know that which I already know. It is this familiar resonance that has left me feeling as though I have come home to me. The simple knowledge and awareness of clarity can be extremely grounding.

We all aspire to be better than what we already are. Imagine the sensation to know that through being open to you, it allows your energetic self to align on a higher vibrational level through the physical.

We often believe we must keep the two separate however, when integrated the result is so calming it provides a sense of peace and bliss.

You are one and when you play as one there can be only one result – harmony and balance.

By Hally Rhiannon-Nammu (copyright 2010)

Tags: balance, help, self

• Articles

Hoi Sum October, 2010

Yin Yang: Finding the Balance-Part II

Last month I wrote about the Chinese concept of yin and yang. I was inspired to write that article based on my own journey from a masculine-based religious practice to a female-based spiritual practice. One way Pagans try to find balance within their spiritual practice is to work with both male and female deities. This is only way example of balance though. Being a balanced witch does not simply mean working with both male and female deities. In fact there can be Dianic witches who are much more balanced than their Pagan counterparts.

We need balance in all areas of our lives whether mundane or spiritual. I often find myself so focused on one area of balance in my life that I let the other areas of my life become unbalanced. What good is it to be balanced in one area of your Pagan practice, but completely unbalanced in another? It is not easy to find balance in our lives. It takes focus, discipline, and practice. It also takes harsh honesty, honesty with ourselves and each other. If we are to find balance in our lives we must be willing to hold up a mirror and to be completely honest about what we see in our reflections. Do you see equal amounts of light-dark, positive-negative, masculine-feminine etc., when you look at your life?

It is often the fear of being unbalanced that leads us to actually being imbalanced. For example, if you are too afraid of becoming one of those “fluffy bunny-rainbow loving-the world is a perfect happy place” witches, you run the risk of allowing too much negativity and darkness into your practice. All the same, if you are too afraid of becoming one of those “scary-dark-sociopathic-goth” witches, you can become out of touch with your darker emotions, among other things. We cannot be afraid to embrace the “other” side if we are to become balanced. In order to do this, we have to step out of our comfort zones. We have to push ourselves to experience new things and new ideas within our mundane and magickal lives. Remember the concept of yin yang; the idea that two opposing forces come together in equal amount to make a perfect whole. What do you need to start embracing to become a balanced or “whole” witch?

Tags: balance, yin yang

• Articles

Hoi Sum September, 2010

Yin Yang: Finding the Balance

Yin Yang is the Chinese philosophical concept of balance. It is the idea that there are complementary opposites in everything and that those opposites come together to exist as a whole. It is the concept that you need the light and the dark, the feminine and the masculine etc. to function as a complete whole. Unfortunately this concept of balance has been lost in most the of the world’s major religions. For example Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are all patriarchal religions. Their religions are based solely on male dominated spirituality. This is not yin yang!

I use to be a Conservative Christian and my spiritual practice was definitely dominated by male-only concepts. I wish I could say that now that I am a Pagan witch I have complete spiritual balance, but that would not be the truth. The Pagan community is not immune to spiritual imbalance. In fact, it is often the patriarchal world religions that are to blame for our imbalance. Many Pagans come from a Christian background before turning to Paganism and witchcraft. They are often so burnt out from the male domination in their spiritual pasts’ that they turn to a female dominated practice as a counter balance. This is exactly what happened to me.

I was so angry and tired from all the male dominance in my religious upbringing that I only worked with Goddesses and the Sacred Feminine when I first became a witch. I will admit I still mostly work with female only deities. I have started to notice that this is not healthy for my spirituality though-I am unbalanced. I cannot create balance by only working with the feminine, just like Christians cannot have balance by only working with the masculine. I must accept the God side of the yin yang as well.

Admittedly, I am a little scared to do this. I have so much bitterness built up from working with God (Yahweh) in my past, that I am tentative to begin working with male Pagan deities. It is important to remember that the concept of God in Paganism is not the same as the concept of God in Christianity though. I do not have to fear the Horned One!

The little work I have done with the Pagan Gods has been amazing already. Pagan Gods are strong passionate warriors. They protect us, love us, and give us strength and vitality. They are an important part of our Pagan spirituality! One of my favorite things about working with a Pagan God is that unlike Yahweh, Pagan Gods are sexual beings. They bring passion and lust into all that they do. At first their sexuality made me uncomfortable, after all, in Christianity having sexual thoughts while praying or meditating with God isn’t exactly kosher. I am learning to accept the sexual energy they bring though and to see it as an integral part of my spiritual practice.

We all need to have yin yang in our spiritual practices.  If you do not have balance in your spiritual practice, if you do not work with the male deities, be careful they will find you eventually. The Gods won’t hold back. They will find a way into your practice.  Don’t be afraid when this happens-embrace it, enjoy it, and learn from it. As SJ Tucker says in her song Hymn to Herne, “You best be ready when the Horned One comes!”

Tags: balance, yin yang

• Articles

Charlynn Walls June, 2010

Tags: balance, meditation

• Articles