Easter with the Catholics and the Pagans
For those of you, who don't know, I grew up in the church. My parents raised my brother and I Catholic, and I found a lot of comfort in the church, because of the age of three was when my parents realized that I was speaking with the dead. So, being in a church felt comfortable, because there were so many spirits around, and even though I think a lot of the people inside of the church didn't recognize that they were directly communicating with spirits. I could tell they were. Of course, as I've gotten older, I've had my fair share of disappointment in the church and moving myself away from Catholic practices. But as an eclectic practitioner, I will always have a lot of love and reference for what religions are at the core. When I was younger for many years, I was either an altar server at an Easter mass, or I was the Cantor (singer), and then my family would go out for breakfast with my moms side of the family and then my dads side of the family would get together and have Easter dinner.
Life, of course, has changed, and I have also changed with it. This morning I rose here in the Sacred Valley of Peru, and was blessed to have a very small intimate Cacao Ceremony hosted at my home. We share a backyard with a lovely Peruvian family, who set their ancestral altar outside for all of us to see! It’s so funny how regardless of language barriers and cultural differences, some thing’s are the same - except our ancestral altar is inside haha.
I want to take a moment to really connect the teaching of Easter from a Catholic lens, to the teaching of the spring equinox, Ostara, from a Pagan lens. After we wrapped up the Cacao Ceremony, we sat down to listen to a Catholic homily given by an Indian Priest, Father Errol Fernandes. Father Errol reminds us of a TON of important pieces of the beautiful puzzle that are the teachings of Jesus, humanity and faith. I’ll do my best to recap.
First and foremost, for those of you who haven't read the book, The Yoga of Jesus, I highly recommend!
The story of Jesus rising from the tomb is a reminder of hope.
All of the male disciples completely lost hope when Jesus was condemned to the cross, and because of that, they spiraled into pits of despair. And I think many of us can relate to that on a very human level that when people that we look up to have something terrible happened to them, or do something terrible we begin to lose faith in what we were once trusting of.
And I'm so glad that Father Errol pointed out as many do not - the women never lost faith. The women stood by Jesus’ side while he walked himself to his crucifixion and after he was buried in the tomb continued to pray into Christ Consciousness. This really speaks into the role of women and the strength that lies within femininity. And I'd like to connect that to the strength of the Earth, our forever home, and the symbol of our Mother and cyclical wisdom.
But when Jesus did rise again it restored hope, connection and promise within those disciples who had just so quickly and easily lost faith.
The resurrection of Jesus reminds us that death is truly an important part of life.
And it does not mean that we die, it just means that we change.
Without death, we don't have birth.
We can look at how the death season, winter, is a reminder that if we want the birthing season to go well, and we are really aiming for that renewal of life once again, we must dive deep into the energy of death. What needs to die off in our actions, current every day lives and surroundings so that for next coming season we can be hopeful and prepared to bring in the new.
From a pagan perspective, the spring equinox is completely about rebirth and renewal. But rebirth and renewal also means cleaning up the garden in your heart, the garden of your life! Because every single year, following the cyclical beauty of the Earth, life will rise from deep within the soils again. Seeds will be planted and our roots will grow deep, so that for summer our tops can grow outward and upward. And if we ever lose faith it’s important to check in with the wisdom around us. And the easiest wisdom around us is to be able to look at the Earth! And that's why I have become so dedicated to working with the Earth, and not against it.
And I love that Father Errol reminded us that Jesus and Christ are different, the beautiful man who walked the lands of Palestine, and Christ who rose from the dead are two completely different beings. And the reason why I love that he pointed that out, is the fact that Christ Consciousness is an energy, and it’s alive within everything around us. The soil, the waters, the winds, the Sun - so on and so forth. And we turn to Christ consciousness in times of faithlessness, to remind us that Faith is an Energy. And I literally do not care what the fuck you believe in, even if it's just simply believing in a singular tree growing in your front yard. Having faith is a reminder of connection, and a reminder that we always have a chance to begin again.
Whatever you've celebrated this season, many blessings to you and to yours. I would love if you would leave a comment below and let me hear your thoughts. Blessed be!
And if you’re looking to practice with me there is a Spring Equinox class I posted for sale! It’s an energetic cord cutting along with some folklore of the goddess Ostara. Or a Wild Dance class for the Equinox. Click the link below.