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My Blog: Spirit on the Web February 17 The Changing Catholic Cafeteria Back in the 1980s, during the reign of Pope John Paul II, conservative Roman Catholics minted a pejorative term for their coreligionists who thought independently, sometimes daring to differ with the Vatican over matters including contraception, homosexuality, women priests, and eating meat on Fridays. (Oh, right, the Vatican canceled that... Read the Rest October 31 Practical Wisdom of Spiritual Masters: A U.N. Talk As he lay dying, one of the last acts the Prophet Muhammad performed was to use a twig called a miswak to clean his teeth. According to oral tradition, the Prophet often advocated the use of a tooth stick, made from a twig of a tree (Salvadora persica) that is... Read the Rest October 19 Keeping Occupied "Involvement is its own reward," my therapist Gary used to say, back when I thought psychotherapy could help me. If that's true, I've wondered for the past few decades why young people weren't involved in political activism. "What happened to the '60s?" my friends would say. "We stopped the Vietnam... Read the Rest July 5 Food Is a Right, Not a Privilege The essence of Christianity can be found in several passages from the Gospel of Matthew. One is the Sermon on the Mount (Chapters 5-7), which appeals to us to go beyond the letter of the law and act always in compassion and humility. Another key passage is the parable of... Read the Rest July 5 3 Days of Peace, Love, and Music--with Jesus! According to The Economist,  "AT LEAST 25 Christian music festivals are held each summer in America, but they have never catered for theological liberals. Until this year, that is, when the Wild Goose Festival--named after a Celtic symbol for the Holy Spirit--kicked off on June 23rd on 72 wooded acres... Read the Rest July 2 Christians and Dinosaurs I was recently watching the old monster movie, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and realized that when I watched these movies as a child I believed that humans and dinosaurs lived together on the earth. I know the fossil record doesn't support this, but this article makes an intriguing argument:Most... Read the Rest February 6 One Love, One World . . . One Hand!   One of the more exciting developments in the mass demonstrations in Cairo over the past two weeks has been the coming together of Muslims and Christians in opposition to the oppressive government of Hosni Mubarak. Coptic Christians make up roughly 10 percent of the Egyptian population, or about 8... Read the Rest

Quote for Thursday, May 17 For far too long has contemplation been regarded as the private domain of contemplatives.- Brother David Steindl-Rast, Gratefulness  Email   List   Click here to sign up for Peter Occhiogrosso's email list. You'll receive notice of new blog posts, workshops, and other goodies. Peter's Blog, which has replaced his Newsletter, covers a wide range of contemporary spiritual topics, including the interface of spirituality, science, and politics. Past Newsletters are archived on this site; past blogs are also archived on this site. Archetypal Readings I am now offering Archetypal Readings and Counseling for individuals. Perhaps the most compelling set of hidden powers within our psyches that I have worked with over the last decade are the Archetypes — ancient patterns of behavior like the Queen, Warrior, Child, Saboteur, Victim, and Mystic. They are part of our Collective Unconscious, and understanding how they work can give us a valuable tool for gaining insight into our motives and appetites, strengths and weaknesses. Most of the people whom I've helped to gain insight into their Archetypes have been extremely enthusiastic about how well this fits with their desire to understand their lives without endless therapy sessions. They have said that a familiarity with archetypal patterns has also helped them enormously in the work they do, whether as schoolteachers, yoga instructors, life coaches, therapists, actors, writers, or business people. But most of all, they use the insights they learn to see themselves and others in archetypal terms. A reading and possible follow-up sessions can help you: Gain clarity about your life choices Identify and manage fear and other emotions Get insight into health issues Enjoy more satisfying relationships Read more and Request a Reading I'm excited to announce that the popular deck of Healing Cards that I created with Caroline Myss a few years ago has just been made into an iPhone app. Healing Cards iPhone app. | Healing Cards. World Religions Visit the all new World Religions section with detailed material drawn from my book The Joy of Sects. More Info Order Now New 8 CD Set: Creating a Personal Spiritual Practice Peter Occhiogrosso and Lench Archuleta Many people on the spiritual path have expressed the desire to create a personal spiritual practice that can be integrated into their daily experience. In this CD set, recorded live at a three-day workshop held at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y., in August 2007, Lench Archuleta and Peter Occhiogrosso present a diverse array of wisdom, rituals, and traditional methodologies from which to create your own daily practice. Working separately and together, Lench and Peter draw on both Native American and Eastern traditions that connect Body, Mind, and Spirit. More Info Order Now New DVD: Building a Personal Spiritual Practice Peter Occhiogrosso and Lench Archuleta Discover elements of a Personal Spiritual Practice that you can integrate into your daily life. Learn to build a home altar. Yaqui healer Lench Archuleta joins author, spiritual writing teacher and breathing instructor Peter Occhiogrosso to show how to create a sacred space almost anywhere in your home. Lench explores the sacred in urban and country landscapes, including how to create a sacred circle in the woods. Peter demonstrates a classic Qigong exercise called the Swimming Dragon. Together, Lench and Peter offer an interactive combination of Native American and Eastern traditions based on workshops they have taught together at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, and The Crossings in Austin, Texas.

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