KyotiRose

Faith. One word that sparks flames of war, or the candlelight of peace. The term alone speaks to my memories of childhood and what I know now as a sacred communion that I sought with Deity in a way that I could understand, quite apart from the teachings I was being pelted with in Southern churches of my youth. The deepest silence within ourselves carries the still waters of what we truly believe ourselves to be, what we exist as, if indeed we self-identify as individuals. I believe that there is a point deep inside ourselves where we all connect with one another and the boundaries of individual identity fade to nothingness. It is that point wherein we are reconnected with Deity by our very essence, and Faith is the vehicle that keeps us believing this when all outside pressures would have us convinced we have lost that connection. To live with Faith is to soothe the hunger that begs us to return to the arms of safety that we feel when we achieve communion with the sacred. To find our Faith is a homecoming of the spirit and a joyous rebirthing of personal integrity. To lose our faith is a catastrophe of a proportion similar only to the loss of personal identity, the loss of a parent, the loss of a lover. To live outside of our Faith is a deception to the soul, an abuse that grieves one’s self and those whom hold you as close as family.

Children have deep wellsprings of faith, you can hear it in their play as they believe miracles are simply one more bright moment wherein the impossible is mundane – you just have to be a little more patient. Children have that sacred belief that if you only believe, anything can and will happen. No matter what path they are raised in, they have an inner knowing that “the good guys will win out” and that “dreams can come true” – just ask one any time between Samhein and Yule! Adults too, have an inner foundation that stems from these beginnings – and when we lose sight of this, we are in our deepest danger. To lose our faith is to abandon hope, and lose ourselves in despair. Yet, somewhere in the burning times of adolescence, we lose our childhood faith in the Universe and ourselves. We re-create ourselves in the Image and Likeness of our own choosing and sometimes forget to recombine the wonderous magick of Faith into the mixture of the new “Us.” Sometimes, if we are very lucky indeed, we have the Hand of Deity lovingly reminding us with a “thunk” to the back of the head that we are truly children of the Divine, and as such that Faith needs to be a part of us again.

One could allegorize that faith is the weave of community; we gather in hopes that all will be better when we remember that we alone cannot keep the tapestry threads of hope together for long, one set of hands is not enough. We could paint the picture that Faith is the name of the blade of Truth; a decisive edge that severs the facade of lies from the meat of reality, best handled by those couragous enough to wield the weapon without hesitation lest they lose a digit or two in the process. We could further discuss Faith as the source of energy that keeps the engine of spiritual practice pumped and ready to start when we first awaken to the stirrings of a new dawn or the first glimpse of the moon as she rises, full and serene.

I would not call the breath-taking awe of a moment of sacred communion, “wishful-thinking” – that would defile the sanctity of Deity, that which is larger than ourselves. In mundane terms, to belittle my personal faith would be like robbing Superman of his cape, or worse yet, blowing your nose on an altar cloth. Its’ simply something not done, and stirs the ire of pagan and cowan alike. Personally, I feel that the entire Universe lines up to address the challenge of one who states that Faith is for the weak-willed and simple-minded. Makes me almost want to start selling popcorn and hot dogs to the crowd gathering to watch the fella “Learning his Lessons” on the Karmic stage. That is, until I remember that I too, could be right where that precious child of the Deity is – and most likely before my first cup of coffee!

Is the concept of Faith illogical? There seems to be no basis for dry logic within the Universe that I know of. While there may exist a framework for Order from which all Creation grows, after that point all life seems to enjoy the chaotic miasma of the Hand of Deity stirring the pot, so to speak. Universal Law is a constant, but the spirits that we are have no seeming end to the countless combinations we interpret that Law to be. Thus, it is with Faith. Whatever Faith may be as a concept, what we individually interpret Faith to be is uniquely ours alone, shared only with that aspect within the definition of Creation. No one dogma, tradition, people, sect, religion, spiritual practice or nation holds the corner on Faith. I believe it to be a gift, a birthright if you will, to humanity granted by the Creative Energies of Deity…and one we forget to utilize when all appears to be without hope. When we light a candle, chant words of strength, become still and silent in reverent pose, when we live in the joy our lives should be, we express Faith – we reconnect to what we are, what we share. In truth, when acts of horrific hostility and rage slap us in our collective faces, it is not Faith that is shaken, but our vision of reality that must be altered. Our faith in ourselves and in Deity is still there – we all reach out for each other, and for God/Goddess within. Did we not all move to gather in circles, at hearths, over phone lines and in person when recent events reminded us how fragile thislife is?

Whether we pause for a moment in a synagogue, a temple, a cathedral, a church, a circle, a grove of trees, or a street corner, we as the beloved children of divinity, will exercise our spiritual heritage however we see fit to reconnect, reaffirm and recharge ourselves. From the dawn of time to the present and as long as Existance deems, we will gather in spirit and in person in response to a tide of belief that is the heritage of our souls; faith.