PBP Catchup: Z is for Zoe

Image from Baubo's Garden

Zoe is the Greek word for life, but specifically in the spiritual sense. Each of us has one, regardless of our belief in deity. I know many atheists who have a very deeply spiritual life. One can certainly find wonder in the natural world, in the cosmos, in mankind without attributing it to deity. However, there are those who do find a deep spiritual walk in their belief in deity, spirits of the earth, etc... I strongly believe in order for us to have a sense of our wholeness, we need to feed our physical, emotional, spiritual and mental natures.

I have found this to be especially true in the path of the witch. Our connection to Zoe or Spirit is critical to our well-being, and I have noted that both me and those witches with whom I share a close relationship definitely feel it when we have allowed our practice to suffer.

Many of us allow the mundane things like work, family, friends, chores, shopping, etc... to take up the time we would normally devote to ourselves in whatever capacity- be that working out for physical strength and stamina, reading a good book to stimulate our minds, doing something we love to feed our emotional need, or just taking a walk in the woods to feed our spirits. When we do, we find we feel out of balance, and it affects us on every level. We feel tired, run down, we may get sick, we feel cranky or irritable, and may even become depressed. It can become a vicious cycle, too. We feel like we just can't get back to where we once felt our connection, felt balanced and whole. The truth is, our connection is always there. We simply have to remember who we are.

For me, I find my remembrance in Ly De Angeles's or Charles De Lint's books, going to the river with my wolf-dog, writing, organizing my supplies, smudging, meditating, even baking with magical intent.

It doesn't take much to get back there again. Staying there is where most of us struggle. It requires work, and for many of us (especially in America) that's almost become a dirty word (at least if you listen to the Logos of the day through American media). Hard work feels good, bring us satisfaction on many levels, and creates something beautiful. It should be welcomed and treated well. Too many times, we escape our lives through television, gaming consoles, online social media, etc... rather than creating and working toward our own growth and the good of all. We tend toward the negative in Western society. Cynicism is rewarded. Hope, Spirituality (in its best sense), Kindness, Faith (in its best sense) are all disparaged.

We had a saying when I was in the Navy in regard to computers: "Garbage in, garbage out". In other words, what you fed the computer was what it would produce. The same can be said for our spiritual lives, our zoe.

If we feed ourselves the garbage of the day, the gossip, the slander, libel, zeitgeist, et al.. it is what we will produce.

So many of us are good parents. We carefully screen what our children are exposed to on television and in the media. We even watch closely what they are being taught in schools, and do our best to raise our children to believe in themselves, in others, and to remember the magics of the world and the universe (or multi-verse)... but, how careful are we with our own well-being? Our own psyches? our own spiritual, mental and emotional health?  How about our physical health? More and more people today are realizing that the garbage in/garbage out philosophy works in our eating habits. We try very hard to ensure our children are getting proper nutrition and exercise. What about the child within ourselves? Do we care enough about US to do the same?

We can be the change we want to see in the world by making the changes within ourselves first. At this time of  New Year's Resolutions and Goal-setting, perhaps we should resolve to care for our selves first on every level. Instead of 4 hours on Facebook, how about just 1? Instead of 5 hours with the television on, how about reducing that to just a couple (or turn it off completely for a chosen day of the week) and use that time to feed our minds? How about committing to just 30 minutes a day of some kind of exercise? Walking is easy, cheap and the most beneficial exercise there is. How about 10-15 minutes a day of meditation or just "me" time to sit quietly and contemplate? 15 minutes for writing in a diary or making a craft or something that makes you feel good about you, emotionally?

We can make small changes that are like dropping a pebble in the pond.. the ripple-effect is amazing. Try it. Let me know what happens.


This concludes my contribution to the Pagan Blog Project 2012. I want to thank Rowan Pendragon for running this project. While I didn't keep up with it weekly, I did appreciate the exercises as I completed them. It was a good mental and spiritual exercise for me, and I am thankful to her for allowing me to be a part of it.
2013 PBP is coming up, and if you'd like to participate in that, here's a link to sign up: http://paganblogproject.com/?page_id=215

Thank you as well, to all of you who have read these and commented. Your feedback means so much to me.  I hope you've found something  useful in them.