Tag: Literature

November 4 – Daily Feast

November 4 – Daily Feast

At one time or another we have watched someone and wondered how long it would be before we reached their stage of distress. We have been made to believe that if someone in the family has had a problem that we must have it as well. Even with our tendencies to be like someone else, we are still individuals and what we see should teach us to avoid the same pitfalls they had. More is decided in our minds and spirits than we can imagine. We have the creative power of speech, the determination and the grit to stop falling because someone else falls. Deny every thought and every suggestion that we have to be the victims of anything.

~ We were becoming like them, hypocrites and liars, adulterous lazy drones, all talkers, and no workers. ~

MA-KE-TAI-ME-SHE-KIA-KIAK – SAUK AND FOX CHIEF

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II’ by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Let’s talk Witch – To Rhyme or Not To Rhyme

Witch-Spell-witches-and-wizards-18449264-394-498

To Rhyme or Not To Rhyme, That is the Question?

It is traditional to have spells rhyme; it is said to give them more power. Who said this, and whether or not it is true, I can’t say. That’s tradition for you. But I can tell you that I prefer, most of the time, to have my spells rhyme (sometimes just every other line). Rhyming adds rhythm and a sense of formality to a spell, and that can also help to focus your will.

On the other hand, if rhyming makes you uncomfortable, and you spend most of your time struggling to find something that rhymes with “checkbook,” then by all means, don’t bother. In the end, it is better to be at ease with what you’re saying than it is to follow tradition, don’t you think.

No matter which God or Goddess you call on or how beautiful your rhyme scheme, if you mean to ask for “the perfect man for me” and actually ask for “a good man” –and end up with some guy literally name Goodman–you’re going to wish  you’d spent a little more time picking the right words instead of the rhyming words.

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 31

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

James Russell Lowell once wrote, “No man is born into the world whose work is not born with him.” Each of us has been given a talent. It may not be some great shining thing that will attract attention and bring fame. But living has become so intricate, so great in detail, so fine in its workings, that it requires that skill of all men.

Every time we touch something, hear, see, and feel, we are using the results of other peoples talents. Too many take their own abilities for granted and see a task as just another job. But that isn’t true, because no matter how small your part may seem, it takes its place in the world of living as important and necessary as the greatest talent.

The secret of a successful talent is in its use. The most minute gift was put there for a purpose and we should never belittle it but gratefully devote our attention to developing its perfection.

There are a number of self-improvement books on the market today. Among them are excellent etiquette books teaching us the correct way of doing things and how to live more graciously with our fellow man. But one can be quite learned and lose the benefit of keeping the social graces with oneself.

You owe it to yourself to quit belittling your abilities in thought or word. Self-respect is a necessity in order to keep on good terms with oneself

You owe yourself spiritual growth – the ability to enter a church reverently and to sit quietly in your own preparatory service before the formal service begins.

It is your duty to fill your mind with the better thoughts, the sweetening of the nature and a measure of tolerance – for you will make mistakes, but there should also be the power to forgive oneself, to go on from there.

To be on good terms with oneself is to worry less about violating the rules of good behavior with all others

_________________________________________

Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

October 30 – Daily Feast

October 30 – Daily Feast

In retrospect, we have ignored common sense in favor of doing what we wanted to do. We wish we had not done it, but we said what we wanted to say, spoke out when it would have been better to stay quiet – we have overruled our common sense. Looking back again, when did we get off track? What little thing stung us into action? If we learn to hear the voice of wisdom we can overcome our foolishness. Wisdom never lets us down, but ignoring it will put away from us the best friend we can have.

~ I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. ~

CHIEF JOSEPH – NEZ PERCE

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II’ by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

THE AUTARCHIC CREED

Celtic & British Isles Graphics
THE AUTARCHIC CREED

We of the Old Religion have our own particular compact with our
deities that charges simply, “An it harm none, do as ye will.”
And our gods do not despise us for being human but delight in our
celebrations of life and love. We are ageless souls, only for a
while within bodies – merely visitors upon this plane. We are
brothers to the gods and only temporarily cousins to the ape,
and our lives belong to us, not to this world nor to its earthly
governors. We are not doomed to shame and decay; not lost; not
indentured to perish with earthly manifestations; not disposed
to eternal misery for any past or present lapses of courage or
wisdom. We are as children in the school of life who must learn
our lessons, on life at a time, before we graduate. Our lives
span the march of time, striving upward, subordinate only to our
individual probity and growth.

But in this mortal life, greedy, trivial hierophants and mundane
rulers have perpetrated a fraud upon humanity. They have purloined
for profit and temporal power, our legitimate heritage, and that of
all society, and have substituted for it shame, despair, and fear,
inventing evil deities to terrify and to constrain mankind from the
exercise of his own native conscience.

Still we take our uncertain portion time and again, joining with the
species on this plane, only to meet with earthly disunity and distress;
only to be told by bogus, uncelestial shepherds that we are deficient
and fundamentally iniquitous; constantly rebuked that our natural
birthright is insubstantial or even sinful, and that we must cleave
to the pious injunctions of reigning mortals, no matter how oppressive,
or suffer beyond measurable time, yearning for some mythical golden
glory just out of reach, but somehow never quite worthy of it.

That is the apocryphal hell and the fabled satan; they are of mortal
creation; they are now, not in some remote bye-and-bye; and those who
choose to believe in them perpetuate them in this earth. But nevertheless,
by by sublime design, despite narrowness, folly or fear, we all, each
and every one, possess this wonderous legacy:

that each of us sustains a singular covenant with the cosmic, in that
the soul is and ever was, one with the universe, conducting itself in
concordance with the absolute. And whatever paths it may walk, or
whichever faith it may follow, on sojourn at a time, each shall as a
consequence of that oneness, and attuning with its destiny, eventually
return on its own to its source to again be part of that totality,
atoned, aware and unshackled.

“JUSTIFICUS”

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 29th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’

By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

We have often heard it said that God never closes one door unless He opens another. It is a great comfort to know we never really lose when we believe, for any defeat can be turned to good if we will absorb the lesson in it.

And yet, how often we refuse to go through that door that has been opened for us. It is so much easier to stand back and wail about the closed one. There seems to be a certain amount of glorification in defeat. It is a subtle something that hides in us and keeps us from doing well that which we know we are capable of doing. If we show strength, we are afraid we will have to stand alone.

Sometimes a door will close for us because that particular one would have caused us more unhappiness, but it never closes for punishment. God is love and love does not punish, nor does it have any power but to give what is right and good for us. With this knowledge, we can by grace walk through those doors that open to us and know it is right.

____________________________

Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’

By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.
Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.comClick Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com


Elder’s Meditation of the Day By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

Today’s Charm for October 28th is The Menat

Today’s Charm for October 28th

The Menat

Today’s Meaning:

A few prayers to your deity of choice would serve you well when dealing with this aspect. Your questions or requests stand a better chance of being answered in the next few days if you do so.

General Description:

This elaborately ornamental charm, worn by Egyptian women, was supposed to bestow upon them all the blessings of their powerful Hathor, goddess of the sunrise, whose worship was universal in Egypt. Health, strength, happiness – all these were the gifts of this their goddess of love. She was regarded as a loving, protecting mother, both of the living and of the dead; was the deity who filled both heaven and earth with her beneficence, and the dispenser of all the blessings of life.

Your Ancient Symbol Card for Oct. 27th is The Green Man

Your Ancient Symbol Card for Today

The Green Man

Where the Green Man appears the mystery and untamed energy of nature abounds. The Green Man indicates the presence of choices and powers that have not been muted by civilization. The Green Man represents the antithesis of technology and industrialization. He offers primal energies veiled in mystery and derived from the spirit of nature in its purest form.

As a daily card, The Green Man indicates you are in a place where you will be well served by exploring your place in the natural world. At the moment the wisdom that will serve you best cannot be found in books or on talk shows or extracted from today’s headlines. What’s called for is an affirmation of your place in the natural world.

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 25th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

When there’s thinking to be done a person does well to have a little private retreat….a place where there’s no worry that any minute someone will interrupt. And at the very ease of knowing that here is a little time to do nothing but just think.

Except that I must carefully direct those thoughts so to never let them roam to things that serve only to disturb. But where does one find a place these days that affords a time alone?

It doesn’t take much room to think. Some have little special places hidden from view….a hillside maybe….a sunny spot along a path….a closet not so large….a park bench….or they may even take a drive.

But that place that is always available to us is that place within our own selves. This is the secret place within the heart where desires are stored. And no matter what we do, where we go, thoughts are productive.

Here is where thankfulness is stored….here is where love is born….here is where the very life of life is built and rebuilt. This is our retreat when there’s thinking to be done.

___________________________________

Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

THINK on THESE THINGS for October 23

THINK on THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

When there’s thinking to be done, a person does well to have a little private retreat….a place where there’s no worry that any minute someone will interrupt. And the very ease of knowing that here is a little time to do nothing but just think.

Except that I must carefully direct those thoughts so never to let them roam to things that serve only to disturb. But where does one find a place these days that affords a time alone?

It doesn’t take much room to think. Some have little special places hidden from view….a hillside maybe….a sunny spot along a path….a closet not so large…..a park bench…..or they may even take a drive.

But that place that is always available to us is that place within our own selves. This is the secret place within the heart where desires are stored. And no matter what we do, where we go, thoughts are productive.

Here is where thankfulness is stored….here is where love is born….here is where the very life of life is built and rebuilt. This is our retreat when there’s thinking to be done.

________________________________

Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

October 23 – Daily Feast

October 23 – Daily Feast

Opportunities abound to us every day. There is an opportunity to be sick, the opportunity to argue with someone, the opportunity to be discourteous, the opportunity to believe something that is not true. Stop thinking you have no opportunity. You have had every chance to do many things and some of them you have received. You were led astray by thinking you could not help yourself. We can help ourselves. By the words of our mouths, by what we say, how we think, what we believe, we help or break ourselves. Victory comes because we are consistent in saying we are well, we are strong, we are enormously happy.

~ They told us not to drink whiskey, yet they made it themselves and traded it to us for furs and robes. ~

PLENTY COUPS – CROW

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II’ by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Your Ancient Symbol Card for October 23 is The Green Man

Your Ancient Symbol Card for Today

The Green Man

Where the Green Man appears the mystery and untamed energy of nature abounds. The Green Man indicates the presence of choices and powers that have not been muted by civilization. The Green Man represents the antithesis of technology and industrialization. He offers primal energies veiled in mystery and derived from the spirit of nature in its purest form.

As a daily card, The Green Man indicates you are in a place where you will be well served by exploring your place in the natural world. At the moment the wisdom that will serve you best cannot be found in books or on talk shows or extracted from today’s headlines. What’s called for is an affirmation of your place in the natural world.

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 21st

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

There is an old Arabian proverb that if you pitch a lucky man in the Nile he will come up with a fish in his mouth. Just to come up would be enough for most of us, but still we do so many things – perhaps half in jest – that we have hopes will throw off the evil spirits and bring good luck to the rescue.

The tokens we carry we’ve carried from childhood, when we were careful never to step on a crack in the walk, or pick up a pin – the silly poems that fascinate children, and sometimes follow them into adulthood when the laughter is gone.

Who are the wise? Those who can rise with the sun letting yesterday go…..and feel within their hearts the gratitude of being alive…..to have the opportunity to glean from their mistakes something that will take them far over that place if ever they pass it again. They know that luck must have a “P” before it to keep them from waiting, to help them turn up something rather than waiting for something to turn up.

And yes, they are lucky who have love to give and the ability to receive it. They have faith in good. And no small amount of peace when they think not how lucky they are, but how blessed!

________________________

Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

October 21 – Daily Feast

October 21 – Daily Feast

Don’t condemn yourself. Who of us have not made mistakes? No one is perfect, but we are too quick to call ourselves stupid. We have condemned ourselves for eating – even though that is what we have to do. It’s just that we eat because it is convenient, we see it, we eat it. If we can get it without having to cook it – all the better. And all the worse – because it doesn’t have in it the nutrients we need and it is gone too quickly and we are not satisfied. Laziness has overtaken our good sense. We let ourselves fall into making it easy on ourselves – and in turn we open the door to making it hard. It is a matter of choices, but not solved by self-criticism.

~ The ground says, “The Great Spirit has placed me here to produce all the grows on me, trees and fruit. ~

YOUNG CHIEF – CAYUSE

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II’ by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 18th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

I don’t know what time it is, It may be very late,
But I have dreams to dream and thoughts to think that simply cannot wait.
I don’t know what the weather is, it may be sun or snow.
But in these books and at this time are things I need to know.
I’m not so sure that I’m alone, or if there’s someone there;
It would be nice to hear a voice, for there is much to share.
I don’t need to know your faults, they may not be for me.
No critic enters in this place, nor do my faults they see,
For only One Pure Being knows the time, or shows through your dear face,
Only the One Presence fills our hearts to share this quiet place

Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

Invocation of Being


Witchy Comments & Graphics

Invocation of Being

Long have we wandered and been apart from her shores.
Long have we flown on unseeing wings.

The eagle soars high on boundless feeling.
Long have we felt the groundless without root, or presence.
Long have we been valiant in the name of love.
Long have we allowed nameless fears to limit our possibilities.

The forest continues it’s endless cycle of ages.
Long have we felt alone in expectant solitude.
Long have we danced our own lives to the dream of wisdom
to the unbearable void of ourselves.

The tide washes evenly on deserted shores.
Forever we are one. Forever we ignite out being in the elemental fire of our spirit.

The golden age dweller.
The playful sprite.
The hooded wanderer.
The tortured seeker.

The power of being is ours to hold.
The beauty of now is here for the taking.
Forever and tonight,
we bathe in the majesty of wonder.

Author Unknown

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 14th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

When there’s thinking to be done a person does well to have a little private retreat…..a place where there’s no worry that any minute someone will interrupt. And the very ease of knowing that here is a little time to do nothing but just think.

Except that I must carefully direct those thoughts so never to let them roam to things that serve only to disturb. But where does one find a place these days that affords a time alone?

It doesn’t take much room to think. Some have little special places hidden from view…..a hillside maybe…..a sunny spot along a path…..a closet not so large…..a park bench…..or they may even take a drive.

But that place that is always available to us is that place within our own selves. This is the secret place within the heart where desires are stored. And no matter what we do, where we go, thoughts are productive.

Here is where thankfulness is stored…..here is where love is born…..here is where the very life of life is built and rebuilt. This is our retreat when there’s thinking to be done.

Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

Your Animal Spirit for October 12th is Mockingbird

Your Animal Spirit for Today
October 12, 2013

Mockingbird

Mockingbirds are master imitators, and can mimic the calls of many other birds. They’re also fearless protectors of their nest, and will attack any bird (no matter how large) to protect their young. Mockingbird’s lesson for you today is twofold: to listen to how you might be mimicking others—instead of listening to your own true voice; and to examine the value of what you defend. Hmmm?

October 10 – Daily Feast

October 10 – Daily Feast

If you argue with stupid reasoning you end up being stupid. Expressing an opinion can run you out of bounds and into areas that are not yours to argue. And no one has any business matching wits with someone who hasn’t a notion of honor. Consider what good can possibly come from a heated debate with someone who is in it for the argument alone. When there is noise and insult, the reason is weak. Someone said ignorance is behind every argument – but let’s not let it be ours.

~ You pretty good fighter, Quanah, but you not know everything. ~

QUANAH PARKER – COMANCHE, 1800s

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II’ by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 9th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

It has become increasingly noticeable how the power grab has reached even the lower levels of living. It is a right thing for us to try to raise ourselves. To fail to try would earmark us for failure….and yet up the shaky ladder of success climb so many bodies without spirits, so little understanding of what is ahead….and often less of what is past.

If we could only realize our power comes not from grasping the coattails of others, but from a higher source that knows the way….that places before us the right steps, the correct manner, the much needed wisdom and inspiration.

Why is it that when all this guidance is available to us, we let the littleness of our souls hold us back, believing all the time that any forward motion is because we have learned how to twist situations to our own avail.

How sad the lot of those who discover all the rungs on their ladder are on the same level. “Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads,” wrote Caleb Colton. “No man is wise enough, nor good enough, to be trusted with unlimited power.”

 

Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org