Talismans

Talismans video: youtube.com/watch?v=ML-sED3fAzY

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S4E18 TRANSCRIPT:----more----

Mark: Welcome back to the Wonder Science-based Paganism. I'm your host, mark,

Yucca: And I'm Yucca.

Mark: and today we are talking about talismans and touchstones and things that we do during the course of our day to remind ourselves that we are on a naturalistic, pagan, pagan path and to remind ourselves of our practice.

Yucca: Right. And these could be things, we could have objects that help. Remind us but also moments in the day or activities that we're doing that we can use as, as metaphorical touchstones, right?

Mark: Right, right. I mean, we've talked about a daily practice before. Those tend to be. In the beginning and the ending of the day, not in the sort of rush of the middle of the day. So what we're really focusing on, on with this podcast is more about what do we do just to bring back to mind that we're on this path and that these are our values and that kind of stuff, while we're in the midst of all the various business that we have to take care of during the day.

Yucca: Right. So why, actually, why don't we start with one? You were just telling me about that. This was one of Michael's suggestions who we've had on the podcast before he was on the council. And you were saying it was 13 o'clock.

Mark: 13 o'clock.

Yucca: o'clock, yeah. So what's this 13 o'clock thing?

Mark: Which is one o'clock in the afternoon of course. Michael is Irish and apparently there is something that happens at noon every day in Ireland on the public television stations which is called the Angelus, and it used to be a. Catholic thing with, you know, images of the Virgin Mary and all that kind of stuff.

And the idea was that you were supposed to stop and pray or contemplate or just kind of remember, you know, that this is your religious path. Well, it's, it's become much more secularized now. They have images of the Irish countryside and. That kind of stuff instead. But it's still kind of a lovely idea.

And so Michael suggested that because we have 13 principles and there are 13 moon cycles, and we just like that

Yucca: 13. It's just fun. Yeah.

Mark: Yeah, it's, it's a cool prime number. That we celebrate something like that at 13 o'clock every day. And just take a minute. That's all, you know, 60 seconds, that's all that it takes.

What I do, I've put it in my phone as an alarm to remind me when it's

Yucca: buzzes at you at one o'clock,

Mark: Well, I actually get a 10 minute warning so that I can finish up whatever I'm doing right there and have a minute, but at, at, at the stroke of one. What I do is I just grasp my suntry pendant that I always wear, that I got at the Suntry retreat last year, and just imagine that I am floating in space, looking down at the earth.

Yucca: Mm-hmm.

Mark: Watching it slowly turn underneath me and just recognize, you know, as Carl Sagan said, this is everyone you've ever known. Everything that's ever happened in human history, all that you'll ever

Yucca: king, every baker, every, yeah, every conflict we've ever had. Right. Every.

Mark: event, every birth, every celebration, every cataclysm, all those things are embodied in this little planet floating in space.

And so I just sort of meditate on that for about a minute, and then I let go of my pendant and go about my day. But I find it's a really wonderful addition to my practice and it's nice to have a little intercession in the middle of the day. That's about my spirituality.

Yucca: Hmm. That's great. I love that idea. That's, that's where noom comes from the term originally, isn't it? Weren't there

Mark: I think it, yeah, because it was originally Noce

Yucca: Yeah.

Mark: Noce, which is one of the. Catholic masses that celebrated through the course of the day.

Yucca: Yeah.

Mark: I don't know what I, I know the first one is Matins and the last one is Vespers. Leys in the middle.

Yucca: Yeah. So I think that's where the term is coming from, but I don't know enough about it. I just remember hearing that at one point that that's the origin. So it's a but I, I very much like those. I. And Islam has a, a similar structure of throughout the day having the different, the, just a small ritual throughout the day just to remind us.

Right. And I think that there's a lot of, of power in that. Just stop for a moment and kind of have that reset. Right.

Mark: Right. Yeah. Because I mean, it's so easy to get caught up in all the busyness of everything we have to do in order to keep the functions of our lives going. But one minute of time just to. Refocus on the big picture I think is really, for me, it's been very meaningful and has kind of contributed to my happiness.

So, it's something I'm doing and I really appreciate Michael for suggesting it.

Yucca: Yeah, that's fun.

Mark: So what are some other things that we either practices or. You know, carrying of objects or keeping them in a, in a, a bag or a purse or putting them in our car. What, you know, other things that we might do to remind us during the day of our path.

Yucca: Well, there's one that in my family on my adopted side, my stepmother is having a by the door.

Mark: Mm-hmm.

Yucca: Which is like a the other versions what might be like a Honda Fatima or it's like a protection against the the evil eye, but it's this beautiful, stylized hand. And the traditional belief behind it was, you know, it's protection from the evil eye.

But that's something that, you know, growing up we would always have by the door and it would be something that We would just touch on the way out of the door,

Mark: Hmm.

Yucca: Not as a belief literally that that's somehow going to protect us. But just as a reminder of, hey, I'm stepping out of the home. I'm going out into the world and just to be more aware.

Right. And just to kind of, you know, shields up, right? So it's almost like the button of like shields up right? Going out, leaving the, the sanctuary of the home. And so having something like that and I actually have the one that, that I grew up with in, in my home now, and it's just by the door and it's.

It's just a nice reminder every time of coming in and out of the home space.

Mark: And does everyone in your household do that?

Yucca: The grownups do, it is too high at the moment for these smaller hands, but as they get older, I think they, they will.

Mark: Ah-huh.

Yucca: the one that we have is, If enthusiastically touched, could come down and break, so

Mark: Oh, okay.

Yucca: get a little bit older. Yeah. It's one that's made from broken pottery.

Mark: Oh

like

Yucca: made from broken.

Yeah. It's a mosaic made from broken pottery from Jerusalem. So it's, it's really beautiful and I would rather it not get crushed, but when they're when they're a little bit calmer, Then maybe they'll get, they'll get to do that particular one.

Mark: Okay.

Yucca: So in the meantime, they're, they've got plenty of other stuff to do.

But that's, that's a type of object that's really nice. And I, although I don't drive a lot anymore in my hanging on my rear view mirror, I have a little bead that when I get into the car, it's just a, I just kind of give it a little boop. And just as a reminder of, Hey, I'm getting into the car, I'm taking on a big responsibility with the life of the passengers, my life, the life of anyone else on the c the road.

And just take a moment to center and ground and then, then be on the way before just rush. You know? Cause a lot of times we're so tempted to get in the car. You've got the keys, you know, you've turned the car on before your seatbelt's even on and just, no, hang on. Slow down. About to drive this, you know, very, very heavy piece of equipment, very, very fast.

So let's take a moment. So those are two that I have on a kind of a very practical level, but they, they really have that special …