What Do I Know?

  

This week, Amber introduced us to the subject of palmistry, and as I stated in the podcast, I know zip-zero-zilch about the subject. Nevertheless, we did have a lot of fun drawing lines on our palms with our pens and comparing what we saw there. I don’t know how much of what we learned was true, or whether it can predict your fate, but it’s often fun to explore different ideologies if for no other purpose than to firmly cement the things we do believe in. I also think that anything to do with spirituality, lifestyle, and goals is very personal and that we are free to pick and choose what works for us as individuals.

This idea reminds me of a sermon presented by Rev. Dennis Hamilton at the Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church here in Carrollton many years ago. Dennis is a former Jesuit priest and an eloquent speaker. The lessons he taught were almost magical, and always eye-opening. You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t present this idea as gracefully as he did. I don’t know the exact date, but it was closing on the beginning of Hanukkah, and he spent a bit of time in a discourse about the Maccabees and the miracle of the oil, and how an obscure holiday has now become a Jewish favorite, encouraging hope, faith, family, community, and, of course, giving gifts for 8 days. Dennis wrapped up his sermon by bringing his lesson to the point: celebrating Hanukkah – or any other holiday, for that matter – whether you are Jewish or not, is not cultural misappropriation. 

No religion or belief system is as pure and undiluted as it was in the beginning; all religions and beliefs have been influenced, embellished, and altered over time. Cultures adapt and adopt the beliefs that are appropriate or that suit them until it becomes mainstream. He argues that as long as you stay true to your belief system, then it’s okay to celebrate Hanukkah or any other holiday. Several well-known cases in point include the Christian use of Christmas trees and Easter eggs, Hispanic/Latino Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and even Halloween*. Most of us don’t consider those things to be “idolatrous” or “satanic”, so, the use of divination such as palmistry, astrology, runes, cartomancy (such as Tarot), etc., is not either. If you think palmistry tells you about yourself, your past, or your future, then go with it – there are always lessons to be learned and powerful insights to be gained. And if you think it’s all just a fun game and that it was your friend pushing around that pointer on the Ouija board, that’s okay, too. We all get to create our own beliefs and find our own way, and no belief or spiritual practice is “right” or “wrong” or exclusive. You do you.

I don’t know if I believe in palmistry. As I mentioned, I don’t know that much about it. I do know that years ago, someone read me and told me things that I knew without a doubt were not true, but now, some 40 years later, I look at it again with fresh eyes and wonder. I know that I would love to have a transcript to look back and remember all of it just as I wish I had some record of every tarot reading and horoscope…it would be interesting to compare. For now, I will leave my mind open to the possibilities. Open to the idea that I don’t know everything. Open to the notion that I am still growing, learning, and finding my spirituality. It is always changing, contracting, expanding, absorbing, releasing, and developing, which is the essence of spirituality. I plan to embrace it. I hope you embrace your spirituality, too.

I encourage you to think about your own spirituality. What truths do you know? Where do you have room to grow? Are you open to digging deeper and learning more? Tell us about it in the comments below or start a chat about it in our MMC Chat Facebook group.

*For more about Pagan beliefs in our everyday lives, check out my blog “What is Pagan” on June 13, 2022.

Wednesday's Child

On Monday, Amber shared information from her natal chart, and we talked about our signs and personality traits on the podcast. I read Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs and Love Signs as a teen, happily absorbing as much as I could about the specific traits assigned by the order of the celestial bodies at the time of our birth. I’ve seen enough in my lifetime to believe it, but still, I have to wonder whether we are somehow influenced by that belief so that it becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. And what about our environment and experiences? How do upbringing, genetics, and personal history fit into the equation? It’s the age-old debate about nature vs. nurture.

Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace.

Wednesday's child is full of woe,

Thursday's child has far to go.

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for a living.

And the child born on the Sabbath day

Is fair and wise, happy and gay.*

In her blog, Amber mentioned being born on a Monday, and the associated characteristics of someone born on that day. When I first read it, it reminded me of a song I heard as a child, performed by singer Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders. The folksy ballad, renamed “Wednesday’s Child,” played with the arrangement of the words a bit, but the poignant message remained…some of us seem to be born with a little black cloud over our heads. Aside from my love of Paul Revere and the Raiders, one of the reasons this message stuck with me is because I am a Wednesday’s child.

In the song, Lindsay croons, “...but Wednesday’s child is full of woe. Woe, I know, for I am Wednesday’s child.’ Even as a young child, that verse haunted me. I feared it because I didn’t want to live a life of woe, but I felt I was destined for it. And in many ways I have. I was first diagnosed with anxiety and depression when I was 21, following my divorce from my first husband. I’m sure my doctor prescribed the Xanax thinking it was a short-term solution to the situational stress of suddenly finding myself a single parent of a 2-year-old with no way to support us. It only made me feel worse, so I stopped taking it. Over the years, I’ve had multiple doctors prescribe various antidepressants without so much as a suggestion to get counseling or any indication that they understood my mental state was more than “situational.” Even though I repeatedly informed them that my melancholy had been present since I was a child, doctors always treated me as though a few weeks of pills would get me out of my slump and I’d go back to being the happy housewife and productive employee, but it never worked that way.

Throughout the years, I would have happy times and sad times that would cycle like a roller coaster, but through it all, even in the happy times, there was this underlying feeling of disappointment, loneliness, and neglect, often associated with my derelict upbringing. I felt out of place, unwanted, unloved, and desperate to feel better – so much so that I made plans with my sister to run away when I was 10, and I actually did it when I was 15. Was this all because I was born on a Wednesday? Or rather, was I born on a Wednesday because this sadness was my destiny? 

Believe me, I don’t think God or the Universe conspired to make my parents poor, or that they were forced to marry when they were young and immature just so that I would have to live with the consequences. I don’t know if I was meant to be sad, or if the sadness affects everyone who is born on a Wednesday, but I don’t think I willed myself into sadness so that I would fit the lines of some nursery rhyme. There is no doubt that the circumstances of my childhood were fraught with significant experiences that created a profound sense of despair and anxiety.  It was bound to happen. A perfect storm, as they say. And I was born on a Wednesday, as was my mother. Oddly enough, though, Mark Lindsay was not actually a Wednesday’s child, but rather Monday’s child…fair of face (certainly).

What do you think? Do you fit the poem? Do you know others who do? Share your thoughts with us here in the comments or join the conversation over on our Facebook group MMC Chat.

*  Wednesdays Child, Wikepdia.org