Meaning of the Phrase, The Bell, The Book and The Candle

Meaning of the Phrase, The Bell, The Book and The Candle

One of two things usually happens when a person hears the phrase “bell, book and candle”, they either think of the movie with James Stewart and Natalie Wood or they picture a witch riding a broomstick across the full moon.

Actually, neither of these impressions are correct.

The phrase is actually a reference to the Catholic excommunication ritual. Although many suspect witches have been excommunicated in Europe and in the U.S., the ritual is not for witches alone, but for any lucky excommunicant.

In the actual ritual, a bell tolls sounding a death, the death of the excommunicants’ soul.

The Bible is slammed shut, exemplifying that the word of God is closed to the excommunicant.

Finally, a candle is blown out, symblozing the soul being banned to eternal darkness, no longer privy to the light of God or to His Word.

The saying became associated with witches when the witch hunts were rampant in Europe and witches and warlocks were being excommunicated and then executed.

Now, I was raised Catholic and educated in Catholic schools and I have studied many religions over my lifetime. I find that Gods and Goddesses of every religion are forgiving and would never excommunicate any soul that was willing to learn and grow.

I believe that all Gods and Goddesses are universally forgiving and that they would never kick us out of their church, their religion, their world or their universe.

Blessed Be! Brigid Bishop

Where Did The Devil Come From?

Where Did The Devil Come From?

Where did The Devil come from?  Why is he depicted with horns and hooves, or by a goat-like creature.  Is this what he really looks like?  Is he real?

Well, in my personal belief system, evil does exist.  It manifests in many ways, and I do believe there are evil entities in the supernatural world.  I also believe that The Devil manifests in this evil energy, but where did he come from?

Ancient man was a nature worshipper.  He was in awe of the Sun, and the Moon, and the rivers and the weather.  These became his “Gods”.  As nature worshippers, when ancient man had a productive harvest or a successful hunt they celebrated by worshipping and giving praise to the natural world around them.  Celebration of past successes evolved into rituals in advance of future endeavors to ensure success, so, after a successful hunt and prior to embarking on a hunt, ancient man would don the pelts and skulls and remains of there last successful hunt.

Ancients placed the head of their game over their own to dance and celebrate around that ancient fire……….they used “sympathetic” magick to achieve their goals.  Dancing around with the head of a deer on their shoulders prior to embarking on a hunt made them feel ritually charged with success, one of the earliest forms of magick.

New religions evolved.  Religions that worshipped a supreme being rather than the natural world around them.  Whenever a new religion evolves, recruiting converts becomes a primary occupation, whether through violence or education, it has happened throughout history.

When a new religion evolves, what happens to the Gods of the old religions?

They become The Devils of the new religion.

For some reason, in human nature, mankind has been unable to co-exist in harmony with those that have a differing belief system, and the easiest way to populate a new religion is to create a fear of the beliefs and symbolisms of an old religion.

Hence, the Judeo-Christian Devil was born from one of the Gods of an ancient pagan religion.

The Devil, to me, is an energy, not a manifested being as depicted herein.

Brigid Bishop

Hey Jude! The Patron Saint of “Lost Causes”

Hey Jude!

The Patron Saint of “Lost Causes”

by Brigid Bishop

Desperate times may call for desperate measures, but please, do not fall prey to those who may be unscrupulous.

In today’s economic climate, it is of no surprise to me that many of my clients are experiencing extreme difficulties.  Financial stress can weigh so heavy upon us at times like these that we fear losing our homes, possibly being unable to provide for our loved ones, and at times, have difficulty securing employment.

These extreme stressors can cause serious relationship problems and health issues inclusive of, but not limited to depression.

Some folk, in desperation, may fall prey to those that offer a “quick fix” by trying to market them spells and magickal cures to solve their problems.  As I have written in my previous blog, “Magick is NOT Magic!”, a spell is nothing more than a very powerful, heartfelt prayer and is most effective when done by oneself and within the boundaries of the religious dogmas that they are familiar with.

In times of struggle many Catholic Christians call upon Saint Jude for help.  This prayer, in effect, is a “Catholic Spell” or “Catholic Ritual” and you may find yourself more comfortable saying this prayer if you are a Christian, than calling on the deities of a Pagan Religion.

The Apostle Saint Jude Thaddeus is “The Miraculous Saint,” the Catholic Patron Saint of “lost causes” and “cases despaired of.”  When all other avenues are closed, he is the one to call upon, and his help often comes at the last moment.

He was one of the Disciples of Jesus, he is distinguished by the fact that he often wears and holds a golden metal pendant of the type carried by people seeking his aid. Additionally, in some images of Saint Jude, there is a small flame atop his head, signifying the Baptism by Fire (also known as the Baptism of the Holy Ghost) which was received by the Disciples of Jesus at Pentecost.

Saint Jude is one whose aid is sought when all hope is lost, especially in grave health matters and life and death situations. It is customary to make a vow that if he helps when called upon, one will publish a notice of thanks in the newspaper. Thus there often appear in the personals column of newspaper classified ads notices to this effect.

The typical wording is a terse, “Thank you, St. Jude.” or “St. Jude, I thank you for your intercession in response to my prayers.” Each one of those notices represents a prayer that was answered by Saint Jude. This magnifies the saint’s name and gives hope to those who read the notice and realize that they too may find, through Saint Jude, the help they sorely need.

PRAYER TO SAINT JUDE

Oh Most Holy Apostle,

St. Jude,

faithful servant and friend of Jesus,

 People honor and invoke you universally,

 as the patron of hopeless cases,

 of things almost despaired of.

Pray for me, for I am so helpless and alone.

Please help to bring me visible and speedy assistance.

Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and help of heaven in all my necessities,

tribulations, and sufferings,

particularly (state your request)

and that I may praise God with you always.

I promise,

Oh Blessed St. Jude,

 to be ever mindful of this great favor,

 to always honor you as my special and powerful patron,

and to gratefully encourage devotion to you by publishing this request.

Amen.

 

I hope that my Christian brothers and sisters out there who choose to utilize this powerful novena will find success with it and that you find this ritual brings you some peace and faith in God.

Blessings.

Brigid Bishop

The Vatican Announces Seven NEW Deadly Sins

The Vatican Announces Seven NEW Deadly Sins

Just when you thought you had a shot at heaven…

The Vatican has announced seven NEW “Deadly” sins to add to those of Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride.  Since the original deadly sins are those that cause us to self-destruct, I wonder what the “NEWEST” deadly sins do to us.

Here are the Vatican’s first additions to sins that cause damnation in 1,500 years.  What do you think of them?  How will they influence how you live?  Will they influence you in choosing whom you vote for in this Presidential Election?

There are some very key modern issues here that the Vatican is speaking out against.

1        Genetic Modification

2        Human Experimentations

3        Polluting the Environment

4        Social Injustice

5        Causing Poverty

6        Financial Gluttony

7        Taking Drugs

Our lifestyles our greatly affected by these new sins if we are practicing Catholics.

Recreational drug use has been a widespread generational influence for decades, now the Vatican has taken a firm stance against the practice of taking drugs will that stop Catholic marijuana users from lighting up, or just lengthen the time they spend in confession and doing penitential prayers?

Will Catholic scientists refrain from researching cures for cancer?  Stem cell research is a hot topic, what about that?  Catholic doctrine would rule that out in its entirety, ANY stem cell research would be a sin.

Polluting the environment, well, now that’s a broad topic, every time we start up our cars, we are now sinning.

Social Injustice?  Wow!  That’s a big one, and it is very biased, what is an injustice to me may not be to you.

Causing Poverty?  All of our governments, state, local and national may well be going to hell.

Financial Gluttony?  Our capitalistic American Society et al will be at the depths of hell.  Does this mean we are not to aspire to be prosperous?

I was raised Catholic and spent many years as a Catechist and a Lector, attended Catholic School and am more well-versed than average in Catholic Doctrine, but I have to say that I must study up further on these new sins and what falls into each category.

This DOES mean, that if we are to be obedient to our Catholic Faith, that we MUST become more socially responsible.  If we stick strictly to these guidelines, we would definitely be pushing the Catholic vote to the right.

Not saying where I stand on these individual issues, I am a moderate conservative, but very interested that the Catholic Church is making it a little harder for us to get to heaven.

Just my thoughts, and hopefully you will think about this too.

 

P.S.  Does that mean that anyone who has died prior to these sins being “DECLARED” will now be booted out of heaven or do they get a “GET OUT OF HELL FREE CARD”? 

Is ignorance of the law no excuse here, or does it only count if we were aware that these sins were deadly?

Think about it!