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Our Real Wealth and Bounty, by Karen Tate

Our Real Wealth & Bounty

Excerpted from Sacred Sunday Service

“Our Bounty, Prosperity and Good Fortune”

By

Dr. Rev. Karen Tate

Special Note: Every fourth Sunday, Karen Tate and the Sacred Sunday priestesses facilitate a gathering geared toward Goddess-inspired living and remembering who we are as Goddess Advocates.  The blog entry below was a recent Sunday message.

Let’s talk a little about our bounty, our riches, our fortune.

We all play the lottery probably.  I know I do.  We think if we just made more money or had some kind of windfall it will make our lives better.  We even say when we do prosperity rituals, let the riches comes from whatever source the universe might provide, as long as it harms none and it’s best for all concerned.  But let’s look at this a bit closer.

What are our REAL riches, bounty, good fortune?  The operative word being REAL.  Where do the REAL riches come from?  What’s the source?

When talking to the other Sacred Sunday priestesses about this homily they both gave me inspiration for what I’m sharing.  I asked Marsha to remind me which Hindu Goddesses one sees  on banks, and we think it’s Lakshmi, who is the goddess of bounty in all things.  Marsha recalled how some Hindu families will refer to the wife or daughter of the family as their Lakshmi.  Their off-spring embodies their good fortune.  Case in point, one of Marsha’s students at the library came to the United States while she was still in high school and stayed with her aunt because they had no girls in their family.  They believed that the niece would bring some Lakshmi into their lives.

What about knowledge?  Certainly that’s our bounty – and especially knowledge that comes from Goddess Spirituality:

For instance, we learn in male-dominated society we define power as power over others and the desire to control.  But we learn in women’s studies, within Goddess Spirituality, that’s not a healthy definition of power – in fact, we might discuss if power over is bounty at all.  What a double edged sword that is.  Real bounty comes not from having power over, but the confidence in oneself and real power for oneself.  This reduces the need to have power over others or to control them.  We don’t have to diminish others to assert our own strength.  What a bounty it is to know the distinction of this important concept and work toward creating a society using that ideal!

We know that many Goddess temples of the ancient world were centers of financial power and were presided over by priestesses – even though today most of the financial institutions of our society are still presided over by men.  It’s important to know women once wielded the bounty of the people.  Barbara Walker cites silver and gold coins were manufactured and were valuable not only by reason of their precious metals, that came from the earth, Gaia, from the body of Goddess, but because the coins were believed to be blessings of the Goddess herself which was believed to bring good fortune and healing magic – so money was a magical invention!  Let’s consider the Goddess, Juno Moneta.  It’s interesting that Moneta means She Who Gives Warning.   That’s a perfect segue for the rest of what I want to share with you.

Coming back to the lottery, some of you may have heard anecdotal evidence for lottery winners being cursed.  I know within Kabbalah teachings they believe that because they say something not earned cannot bring you long-term good fortune.  I’m not saying life isn’t easier with money, but again, money is a double edged sword.  When you have a lot of it, you have to wonder if your friends and family love you or your money.  Look at the care you have to take to keep it and grow it and not be robbed.  Someone I’ve known a long time  has been a good teacher for me on this subject.  The man is rich.  His father is richer.  Has a huge house in Beverly Hills with more solar panels on it than the apartment complex where I live.  My friend is so busy running the family business, keeping the money flowing in, he has no life.  I pity him because he rarely seems happy.  I would describe him as trapped by his wealth.

You might say, well, that’s just what people who don’t have a lot of money say.  They marginalize money.  Well, I think it’s about balance.  I think we need enough money, but we need to know when enough is enough, otherwise it turns into greed.  Kabbalah studies can be very interesting.   In their teachings you learn you should desire more and more, but not for yourself.  The abundance is really  to make the lives of others better.  In fact, giving is your security.  Giving and sharing is your “ticket” to being safe in a dangerous world.  Your blessings, your bounty, comes to you when you give to others – in fact, they think if you give until it hurts – your time, your care, the benefit of your skills –  you get even more bounty or good fortune.

So let’s think about bounty beyond money.  What floats your boat?  What makes you feel rich?  Happy?  Fulfilled?

Personally, I’ve come to know for myself, things do not make me happy and feel fulfilled.  I’ll confide that I was married to my highschool sweetheart.  Early on, in my twenties, I already had a house and two cars and as much money as I needed and my husband was a nice guy, but that was not my bounty.  I was not happy or fulfilled.  I was yearning, seeking, empty and unfulfilled.  There was a hole in me I filled with doing ceramics, raising spider plants, all sorts of things to keep me busy.  I don’t even think I was consciously aware of the hole in me.  I know I just never felt ful-filled.   I had what everyone strives for, didn’t I?  I had what everyone says is what we should want out of life.

Fast forward ….life is very different now. My husband, Roy, and I have been married 27 years.  Having the right partner in my life has been the foundation for my bounty.  I could make more money working in corporate America but I don’t.  I’ve traded off money for quality of life.  Finding Goddess and sharing those ideals, being in service to HER, to the community, is probably the most nourishing thing I do – next to learning and being with those I love and having women who challenge my thinking and ideas.  This is my PURPOSE.  I think getting older and having experience, acquiring some wisdom has also contributed to my riches and good fortune because I have liberated myself from worrying so much about what people say and think about me and I no longer feel I have to be perfect in everything I do.   I just have to do my best.  When my cats come up and sit next to me, with one on each arm of my chair, they make me feel like I’m Cybele sitting on my throne.  Or when someone emails me thanking me for doing my radio show because it’s their life-line. these are the kinds of things that help me know I”m rich.

So these are some examples of what I’d say are my riches.  What are yours?  What is your purpose?  That’s important to think about because how often do you hear about someone retiring from their job and they drop dead because they have nothing to life for.  Their purpose has ended.  Or they win the lottery and they get arrogant, stop caring, drop out, stop relating, and don’t make wise investments in their life – and I’m not just talking about money.  They become an empty vessel.  How many people think gold, diamonds, drugs, alcohol, even food will fill that gaping hole inside of them?   Does the latest computer or gadget fulfill you?  What about designer shoes or clothes?  A new car every year?   Do they fulfill you? But for how long?  Is it real fulfillment?  Or is it fool’s gold?  Does that brief glimpse of happiness fade?

What fills your vessel to overflowing?  Is it good friends?  Supportive family?  Great conversation?  Making discoveries?  Going to the ocean and feeling at one with the ebb and flow of the Mother?  Laying in the grass looking up at the sky?  Maybe it’s music?  Learning?.  Being appreciated?  Helping others?   Debating a concept?

 What feeds you?  That’s your real riches and bounty.  That’s what will bring you good fortune.  Remember Joseph Campbell said “follow your bliss.”  Follow your bliss and riches will flow.

And most importantly, when you find what feeds you, Goddess teaches you to nurture and tend to those things that feed you.  Just like you tend a garden.  Tend your friendships.  Nurture the things that fulfill you. Whatever it is that makes you feel rich, don’t neglect it.   If you’re finding yourself feeling empty, at a loss, poor – then maybe you haven’t been tending your life’s garden.  As we say I Sacred Sunday services, what we tend to and nurture thrives.  What we neglect withers and we’re left with nothing.  And that’s real poverty.  So, to conclude, we are probably all rich.  We just have to focus on defining what our bounty and riches are and what’s the source of our good fortune.

Karen Tate

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*Please note each Blog is the unique expression of the Blogger and does not speak for The Green Man as an entity…but rather is one of the many diverse colours that make up our Green Man Tribe.

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