NMR ISSUE 44

Astrological Forecast 44
Celtic Perspective on Samhain
Editorial 44
Empowering Your Imagination
Esoteric Symbology of the Tarot
How to Vote for Your Kids
Jaguar
Letters 44
Murry Hope
Namaste, Part II
Other Editorial 44
Pagan Safety
Ritual for Samhain
Spirit's dance
The Angel's Kiss
The Corn Wolf
Things That Go Bump in the Night
Wasp, Bobwhite & Barracuda

Articles
Authors
Rituals
Book Reviews
NMR Issues
NMR Covers

The Other Editorial

By Judith Wise-Rhoads

Just Because They're Out to Get You Doesn't Mean You're Not Paranoid

My husband Scot (Mr. Editor) asked me to join him in writing for New Moon Rising since I am not teaching at the moment. (I guess this makes me Mrs. Editor.) What a subject he picked for my first co-editorial, the government and conspiracies!

Our government has many watchdogs. My sister is one of them. She is a concerned citizen and mother and grandmother. One of the most loving, generous and kind-hearted people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She is truly concerned about the condition of the planet and the debts we are leaving for our children. She listens intently to the news on TV and on Talk Radio. She tells me there is a great difference between what is told to us on National TV and what, more importantly, is left out but can be heard on Talk Radio shows.

Because of her love and concern for her family and friends and the planet, she gets outraged at some of the conspiracies that go on in our government. Any sane, loving person would feel outraged, powerless and frustrated, perhaps even desperate when a conspiracy hits close to a personal fear, like the fear a mother has for her child's safety. But we should beware when our buttons are being pushed. Don't panic!

People who are not balanced, not quite sane or loving, who want to blame anything or anyone but themselves for their lives, such people respond to bad news with glee hidden under a see how awful expression of I told you so. The government is to blame for how bad my life is, not me. See, I have a legitimate reason for hating and wanting to destroy. These people boil until enough hate energy builds and they do something destructive out of fear. Get them before they get me. Fear and Doubt are the human race's biggest problems. We doubt ourselves, and by extension, others; therefore, we fear what others will do to us, secretly knowing what we would like to do to them. I've been hurt, I want to hurt someone else. Someone should pay for my bad feelings. Since everyone has felt something like this sometime, it is obviously a test or growth issue in our maturity (evolution). We need to learn to handle such feelings without going to war, hitting, or somehow getting back at the supposed cause of our pain.

Repressing the memory of the pain is not mature either. These repressed pains do not go away, they need to be released. When we repress, things pop up in our world, seeming to come from outside of us until we learn the lesson. So if the things happening around us are not the real lesson, what is? As Scot wrote, it is always ourselves; the part of the whole that we truly can know and control.

When, like my sister, we are outraged no matter how justifiably. We add to problems. Thoughts are energy. What we think and express goes into our world, making our reality. This comes with the great gift of free will given us by a loving Goddess or God/Goddess/All That Is. The Goddess knew it would cause us pain on this level to learn about our free will, but that it would be worth it. You must look at the big picture, the overview of all our lives and what maturing can lead to: crafting our lives and our planet into paradise, becoming co-creators with what we came from, the Goddess! It is wonderful that She loves and trusts us enough to share Power, real Power, with us. The Goddess is confident that the Light in us will win out over the chaos in us. I am too!

Blessed Be!

JR