I have enjoyed the most blissful of activities - and God said I was to share this secret, ancient ritual with you.  Every day, I spend some magic time just HANGING OUT WITH GOD.  (and having my morning coffee with God).  It is such a necessary part of my daily life that I wonder how I ever lived without it.  We think together, I pray, I meditate, and I write in my journal.  I laughed one day and told God, it was like a BLOG.  (A Web-Log).  Only it was

a "Hanging Out With God" Log - thus H.O.W.G.  (Sounds like HOG)  :o)  Which has a rather unsightly connotation.  Then I thought of Peter in the Book of Acts.  (10:13)  In a vision, Spirit showed him a vision of "unclean" animals and told him to ingest them.  He protested that he never touched that which was unclean.  The vision came again and he was told once more to ingest them.  Again he stated that he couldn't.  Then Cornelius (a Gentile) came and he went to his home.  He realized that God is no respecter of persons.  What God calls clean is spiritually clean, and who are we to judge otherwise.

When God says share H.O.W.G.'s - well guess who passes the pork?

Reminds me of a Dr. Suess book, "Oh, The Places You'll Go. . .The people you'll meet." 

Good motto:  Always Expect the Unexpected.

So, Dear Ones, Welcome to my H.O.W.G.'s.

____________________________________________________________________________ 

Carolyn's HOWG - Star Date June 19, 2006

True honor glorifies God, not the person.  We call cultural habits "honor" which have no real bearing on the self.

Once I saw a movie about Eskimo customs. it starred Anthony Quinn, and I do not know which tribe it was meant to portray.  In the movie, he loved his wife dearly. During those long, cold, winter nights they often "laughed" together.

One day a stranger came to the igloo. The stranger was shown the social amenities of iglooism; he was fed and cared for.  When night came, Anthony Quinn was faced with a dilemma.  Honor and duty required that he offer his wife to the stranger so he could "laugh" and keep warm.   Even though he felt in honor that he must follow his tribal culture, he did not want to.  Social custom demanded it of him - even if it hurt.

Across the world in Europe, honor would have consisted of killing a male that had a sexual encounter with another man's wife (or daughter).

As "they" say, "Different strokes for different folks."

What is the underlying truth here?  One offers wife through "honor" as a courtesy,  another gives death as a punishment to one who dares to "dishonor" (insult) one's manly possession of a female.

A better question may be: "What does the woman want?"

Society (custom) differs on fundamental truths.  As Lucretius said so long ago:  "What is meat to one man may be fierce poison to another."

The REAL question:  "Is Society, custom, and popular opinion Our God?"  (Ah, Thou knowest, Great Spirit!)

____________________________________________________________________________

Carolyn's HOWG - Star Date June 20, 2006

"BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD"  (Psm 46:10)    (WOW!  Heady stuff.)

Our minds have received the vibration of the original essence of that truth - which can be dissected in the following manner:

GOD.  The All.  The One.  The Is.

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM.  I AM is the name of God individualized in/as you.  Only you can say "I am" and mean your own unique identity - as different as a snowflake one from another, but yet of the same essence (oneness) with all others.

The I AM power is awesome - and we use the magic words so cavalierly:  "I am sick" or "I am miserable" or "I am depressed."  (etc.)  "I am" - you name it, and by doing so you claim it.  :o)

Then comes the next step:  BE STILL AND KNOW THAT.  There is an ancient declaration (knowingness)  - THOU ART THAT.  God (Thou) vibrates Itself into THAT - everything.  All is God expressing.  All is THAT!

Then comes BE STILL AND KNOW.  Strange, it doesn't say "Be frantic and hope."  It doesn't say, "Think about what the priest/preacher told you to think."  One has to know for one's self.

"Knowing" is that mystical experience of awareness.  As I have often said - the greatest prayer is to know that you know that you know - because you know!    :o)  (Not just believe, think about, or hope.)

Believing involves a certain aspect of will; choice, whereas knowing is being flooded with the essence of God.   There is no room for doubt in knowing - no room for intellectual speculation.  To know The Mystical Presence is to feast at the banquet table.

BE STILL.  Why?  Because God speaks in a "still, small voice." (1 Kings 19:12)  Usually we are so busy and our minds so congested with thoughts that we cannot hear the Blessed Spirit.  We drown out the gentle murmurings of sweetness. We are not aware of the butterfly kisses of dearest Love - nor do we bask in the warmth of our Sonship.  We run a frantic race.  In our temper tantrums and hissy-fits; in our insecurities and deepest fears; in our cacophonic vibrational energies and hustles and bustles, we just cannot seem to hear that magic melody that seduces our hearts and captivates our minds.  Thus the need for quietness; for stillness.

BE .  Be "THAT."  Be a  "hu-man BEING,"  not a "hu-man doing."  (HU=Breath; Man=mind) To be a human is to be the "Divine Breath of God who is also a Thinker."  We get so caught up in "doing it rightly" that we forget who and what we really are. "Remember from whence you have fallen."  (Rev. 2:5)

What a beautiful cycle.  We began with "Be" and ended with "God." "Be Still and Know That I Am God." Sort of like the Alpha and the Omega - The first and last.  God is the beginning, or Source, of all   S/He expresses into creation  S/He begins to be. . . . .And like the Eqyptian symbol of the serpent biting it's tail, the never ending Oneness of Spirit, the Divine Instruction ends with God.

We go through many experiences; play with many colors; savor many flavors, and find ourselves (finally) where we began:  At home in God.  (Only with our souls infinitely richer because of our incredible journey.)

_____________________________________________________________________________

Carolyn's HOWG - Star Date - June 20. 2006

ON TEACHER'S:

A spiritual teacher is meant only to stir awareness within us - to light a candle in which we "see the Light".  The real Teacher is within you.  As the "Wise Guys" (wise and learned) say:  "GURU spells Gee, You are You.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Carolyn's HOWG - Star Date - June 23, 2006

ON CHANGING AWARENESS

There was a lizard on my desk this morning.  (The top of the desk is brown.)  The lizard appeared green.  It saw me looking at him, became still, and started changing colors.  Brown streaks appeared in it's body.  What a gift!

Are we not chameleons in human form?  We tend to take on "colors" of the vibratory energy we immerse ourselves in.  Can be very revealing - our choice.  One chooses to sit in bars, in "strip" clubs, and absorb the vibration of that energy.  Another revels in the peace and quiet of meditation, prayer, candles, incense - sanctuary - the indescribable happiness of "hanging out with God."

My little lizard must feel assurance now.  He is sitting on a water bottle cap and is green once again.  Spirit does that to us - calms us down and makes us "green." Green is the color of the heart chakra and beautiful new growth.

In the movie "The Rainbow Connection,"  Kermit the Frog sang, "It's not easy being green."

Bur that's for exploration another time.  

____________________________________________________________________________

Carolyn's HAWG - Star Date June 26, 2006

ON BEING KNOCKED ON ONE'S BUTT

The Holy Spirit came as a "rushing wind."  Honest!  Some people need to be "knocked on their butts" to awaken.  The Holy Spirit has the power to do anything:  Appear as  wind, appear as fire, appear as power, itself.  Truly, "Our God is an Awesome God."

In ages past, people recognized the Spirit. Emptied themselves to enable the Spirit to appear in and through them.

I was sitting in a business office today and actually heard a sound (for no reason) of a rushing wind.  No, not felt - heard.  The Spirit was there.  (And everywhere)

____________________________________________________________________________

Carolyn's HAWG - Star Date July 2. 2006

GOD IS THE ETERNAL NOW

God (Chiros - Time) goes not backwards.  Futile to ask to repeat anything from the past (man's time - Chronos).

The lesson we seek may come again (and again) as needed, but it will be in different clothes, with different people, and different circumstances.

The energy of God (Te Tao) (Life) is ever moving.  An old Eastern proverb states: "One cannot stand in the same river-water twice."

The only security is to be awakened in the awareness of God's Omnipresence:  "There is no spot where God is not."

Ah, little godling, thy Creator loves thee with an everlasting Love!

____________________________________________________________________________

Carolyn's HAWG - July 3, 2006

ALWAYS FREE TO BE - YOU AND ME

Tomorrow is the fourth of July - A day when many will celebrate freedom.  Ha!  People will celebrate "party time:"  for some, with great noise (fireworks); for some, an accumulation of burnt offerings (ribs, burgers, chicken, hot dogs); for many, with cold beer and mind-altering substances.

What is really cause for celebration is that the great day of freedom is already HERE - and it is NOW!

"Ye shall KNOW the Truth (THAT which IS).  In the KNOWING of this Truth, you will be "set free." - from the illusions of the world of form: time, space, and circumstances.

_____________________________________________________________________________

                          HAPPY HOLIDAY (HOLY DAY) DEAR ONES.