Asherah's Place

Hi, everyone!

It's been a bit over three years since I began this blog. I've enjoyed posting here, and have greatly appreciated your comments. For now, however, I've decided to make it a private blog -- more of an online journal, really. To do this, I've deleted my friends list -- I wanted to let you know that it's not about any friend/s in particular, and there's no problem that's prompted me to do this -- it was simply the easiest way to make the blog private. If you'd like to reach me, feel free to e-mail, or comment here if you prefer.

I'll be leaving a number of archived postings available.

Thanks for your understanding, and have a blessed summer!

Here is the Amazon.com URL for those who are interested in the book.

Mazal tov, Jen!

"The higher goal of spiritual living is not to amass a wealth of information, but to face sacred moments."

- Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath

You can read the accompanying article and watch a video at the Unitarian Universalist website.

Wishing you all a joyous and blessed Shabbat!

Source: http://www.shabot6000.com

Wishing you all a joyous and blessed Shabbat!

Source: http://www.olyoptics.com

Also, check out this cartoon.

Wishing you all a joyous and blessed Shabbat!

Gacked from phaedress. If you're familiar with the work of Spider and Jeanne Robinson (and even if you're not), and you want to help support their Stardance Project, with its aim of filming dance in zero-g, then click here.

It's iconic, this idealized meeting. The young, inexperienced and confused person embarks on a quest for knowledge and Self, and encounters the wise, all-knowing authority. Usually, this is an elder who bestows pearls of knowledge upon the initiate. At every stage of advancement, the youngling becomes stronger, and the elder entrusts and invests the neophyte with ever-growing amounts of knowledge, power and authority. At its best, the image is literary, and represents the best of mentorship. At its worst, it's a stereotype and a cliche. I'm not writing this about anyone in particular, but we see the dynamic throughout our culture.

The truths are somewhere in between. There are elder authorities who are recognized as such, and invested with power, and there are those who prefer not to lead. Some young people have a wisdom deeper than their years would betray. In the main, however, it might be said that the process is relative. The old can learn from the young, and vice-versa. In my experience, those who set themselves up as ultimate authorities lose out because they're then afraid of admitting they don't know something. That would involve losing face, so they stop asking questions, and their learning remains frozen in time.

Those who know me well probably also know that I've generally shunned the idea of authority. I've never much trusted the concept, and I am leery of power and its ability to corrupt. This is why I've never been able to latch onto a guru, a specific elder or a path with clearly defined lines of authority for very long. When I notice draining power-plays or authority games, I make myself scarce and go elsewhere.

Why am I writing this right before Shavuot? Well, this is a holiday traditionally commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments to the Israelites. This is the ultimate in authority -- authorship and leadership combined. It's a real top-down mode of imposing belief and control on a society. In a top-down system, the law is given and the individuals obey. We are almost-Borg. Resistance is futile.

By contrast, in a bottom-up system, religious authority is given from below (if at all), and invested in those who have proven themselves trustworthy and competent. The ideas, beliefs and goals of the individuals within the system are the guiding forces, and plurality is embraced. I like structure, but I also need to know that my individuality is not overshadowed by a cult of personality, or indeed, by a cult. And perhaps this is why, at Shavuot, I think not so much of the Ten Commandments, but of the bikkurim, the first fruits of thought I bring to the table -- about my own relationship to authority, and ultimately, of the order required to achieve a good, ethical life.

Wishing you all a joyous and blessed Shabbat!

Has the Messiah arrived already, and nobody told me?

Bill Gates Checking Out Gemora

Wishing you all a joyous and blessed Shabbat!

To see your own headline in print, visit this site.

Image source: http://www.isen.com/blog/billday.gif

Wishing you all a joyous and blessed Shabbat!

Inspired by a recent posting by shades_of_nyx, I thought I'd post some info. about Jungian/type tests which are essentially online simulacra of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. There are variations here and here, among other places.

According to these, my type is INFJ. Info. about the INFJ type can be found here and here.

There appear to be a lot of INFP and INFJ Pagans at this site.

What's your type?

Okay, you're going to think I have nothing else to do lately but post cute little tchatchkes to my blog. So, just one more, and off I go to think of ever-more meaningful, serious postings. ;)

So it is that I present you with The Dialectizer, a hilarious web-site translator. Enter the URL to this blog, or any other web site, and translate it into a number of dialects. (I find the Swedish Chef dialectizer to be rather amusing, especially when translating some of the Hebrew and Yiddish phrases you see here. In particular, you might want to check out the recent Omer update. Hurty flurty schnipp schnipp!)