What predictions have you mad? Predictions? Yeah, predictions.
This is going to be a year of unprecedented religious zeal like the world has never seen. Actually, 2012 may be the swan song for a few major religions. To ring in the New Year, CNN's Belief Blog asked experts in religion,
faith leaders, and a secular humanist about how the forces of faith and
faithlessness will shape the world in 2012, 15 faith-based predictions for 2012.
Whatever transpires 2012 is going to be one for the record books. Are you ready! I am!
The picture above is of two of my change containers. The one with the handle is a five pound pickle jar, and the other is a half filled mason jar just for pennies. Saving pennies will not get you too much fast, but saving all your change like in the pickle jar could easily save you more than a $1,000.00 a year. I have been doing this for years and it is the best cushion you can have for yourself. The containers are so heavy no one can lift them so even if your were (God forbid) burglarized no one could carry the containers away.
Think what you could save if it were Euros? I imagine it would turn into thousands of euros quickly with one and two euro denomination coins being routinely added. It would work well with any currency and I encourage you all to do it.
The money saved acts like a cushion for emergencies.
With all the natural disasters occurring you never know when you'll need to leave quickly, and you'll have unexpected costs for gas or lodging. After a few months you should have a few hundred dollars. Really it adds up that fast.
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005 I was disturbed by how many people refused to leave. To this day visions of people helplessly stranded on their roofs with rising waters all around them fill my memories. Most of these folks were extremely poor with no bank accounts, credit cards, or relatives on higher ground. They did not want to go the the storm shelters, and after the violent acts that happened at the civic center who could blame them. Seems they knew their neighbors well and decided to take their chances at home.
But what it they did this simple act of depositing their daily change in a jar? They would have been able to take a Greyhound bus somewhere, and find themselves a cheap hotel to have ridden out the storm. In this situation spare change could have possibly saved lives.
Put the money in an annuity or IRA.
When the jar is full take 3/4 of it out and deposit it into an annuity or an IRA. Never remove it all because you need to leave a balance there for emergencies. Put the money into your annuities or IRA or buy stocks with it. Make it work for you somehow to make even more. The rich aren't better than you they are just very disciplined in how they handle their finances.You can be just as equally committed without getting a raise in your pay check.
Stop giving the store clerk the exact change. Change the way you think about change. It isn't disposable, it adds up quickly and can really make a difference in your life. Make this a part of your daily routine and you will have added considerably more to your finances.
Use the money for Christmas.
Here in America not having the funds for Christmas is a huge problem. Christmas leaves people feeling strapped and sets them up for credit card debt. When I was young they had Christmas Clubs and you put money into the club each week and the bank sent you a check after Thanksgiving each year. Banks do not do this anymore, as they would rather you charge things. I do not charge things at Christmas if I can avoid it.
As a matter of fact this is how I first started saving like this. I wanted to see how much I could save and whether it would really help me at Christmas time. When I first started doing this there was some work involved as you had to roll the change up. I can still remember the first time I did this and went to the bank with a pillowcase full of rolled coins. It was years ago, but I do remember I had enough for all the presents I needed and the bank teller was very impressed. She even said said she should start doing the same thing. Today there are Coinstar machines in banks and supermarkets and they take a little to pay for the convenience of not having to count and roll it yourself ... believe me the cost is nothing compared to the tedium of rolling coins.
Use the money for a Holiday Trip.
Everyone needs a break once in while, but the pocketbook sometimes really can't swing it without taking out the credit card. I can assure you if you religiously save your daily change you will have a very sizable amount to add to your holiday enjoyment, and depending on where you go you might be able to cover the whole cost. You can enjoy yourself and feel relieved that it is paid for.
Use the money to pay off debt.
Like I've stated over and over the money adds up quick. After six months you would have enough for an extra mortgage payment, or to take a nice chunk off the credit card bills. It really does add up that fast. Do a Google search on how much you can save on your home ownership by making a couple of extra payments a year. Here I am giving you a real easy way to do that without you feeling it in your daily life. Make a couple of extra payments on the credit card over the year, or just add the change to what you were going to send in each month. Just make sure you send the minimum from your normal resources, and then add the change on top of that to pay it down faster. It really will help.
This is a great New Year's Resolution.
This is a no fail New Year's Resolution. Have you ever kept a resolution? I have, and it feels absolutely spectacular on New Year's Eve knowing you have succeeded in keeping your resolutions. This is a way to make an improvement in your life without a lot of sacrifice, because lets face it most resolutions are sacrifices we really aren't prepared to make. Here is one where you can't fail. If you save change routinely, and do not hit it up for cigarette money or coffee money then you should be on your way to improving your financial picture.
A Recap
Just remember that this is a two purpose process. Foremost it is an emergency fund for you and your family in case you need to bug out because of a natural disaster. In a disaster ATM's may not be working, and change is "legal tender"and may be the only way for you to pay for supplies, and to buy a ticket out. Secondly, it is a resource for quick cash for other things, but only after about six months or so, as you need to let the emergency cushion grow first. Never take all the money at once. Leave 1/4 or 1/3 so you always have something to depend on at hand.
If you have a spouse or partner have them join in. As children we always had piggy banks? Remember how quickly they filled up? Our children learn from us. This year my 14 year old had $157.00 to spend for Christmas gifts. He was beaming with pride over that. Just think how much you could save?
If anyone has tried this before please comment and let us know how it worked out for you?
We are now into the Twelve Days of Christmas ..... the 12 days leading to the Feast of The Epiphany which is celebrated on January 6th. The Epiphany is the day we celebrate the arrival of the three astrologers who have journeyed many miles to see the infant child born in Bethlehem. I have always enjoyed the story of the Three Kings/Three Wise men but always thought it odd that the only fact we really know for sure are their names and that they were astrologers. Now, I was born a Catholic and astrology is very frowned upon. That's very odd to me since astrologers were among the first to welcome the Son of God to the planet. If they were welcomed and received by the Holy Family who is the church to say someone can't look to the stars. I was young maybe 12 or 13 when I realized this little religious contradiction. Yes, in the Old Testament it talks about astrologers, but Christ came to change the world and in his environment astrologers where there from Day One in Bethlehem.
I an not an astrologer by the way, although many metaphysicians are. I have however developed my own little custom involving the Three Wise men every Christmas season. I am like a little kid opening Christmas gifts everyday leading up to Christmas hoping I get a card with a picture of The Magi on it. I take any Christmas card I get depicting The Three Astrologers and I hang it on the inside wall over my front door. This way every time I leave my house I am reminded to follow the star and stay on course to being a better person. It is a simple practice that serves as a reminder all year long for me to keep my dreams alive and to never give up. That is the gift of The Magi to me.
The Nativity Story (2006) is a very good dramatization of the Birth of Christ. I hope you enjoy it!
Here is what Biblos.com
has to say on Chemosh, so where the author from the above book and the
man in the Santa suit below got there information would be interesting
to know. I would especially like to know where the historical references
to Childmas can be found? I did a Google search for Childmas and found
none.
If people do not believe in Christmas that is fine by me. I do however have a problem with making things up to better your case (cough,cough). I also know for a fact most Christians know Jesus was probably born at some other time of the year. So you cannot base your argument around that.
Yes, Christmas was developed from a pagan practice but that doesn't mean it is an abomination and that if you "practice" Christmas you are going to HELL. Which is what the man in the red suit in the video above will tell you. Although to me he seems quite cozy dressed as Santa and sitting in front of his pagan fir tree. Did he hang ornaments of Ra's Testicles on it?
First off who practices Christmas? He must mean celebrate? No, he means practice, because pagans practice things not Christians or Jews waiting on the Messiah. Once again a tricky use of semantics to make a case as weak as that case may be. He is right that the Puritans didn't celebrate Christmas but who in their right mind practices Puritanism anymore, and when where they ever a model held up for a good Christian to follow? Another empty fact to add to a weak case.
Christmas as we know it came into its present favor via the Victorian Days. Our Christmas as we celebrate it today is a relatively new holiday. Any pagan roots are long obscured. It became Christmas (not Childmas...where is a historical reference to this?) in celebration of Christ's Mass. It makes sense as newer religion's gain power and influence to usurp former days of importance as their own. However, that does not mean the new holidays hold the old significances? See my point?
Christmas has a wonderful message about peace and good will. Any semblance to Chemosh or Molech is a real reach today and quite insulting. Yes, it has become a commercial holiday. Yes, people do commit suicides at a higher rate this time of the year, but that is because of factors having to do with them as individuals and their personal hardships and shortcomings, be they real or perceived, and nothing to do with the celebration of any holiday. There is also a medical condition known as SAD which could be a much more likely culprit for their suicidal actions than the doings of a little old man in a Santa Suit.
Christmas means many things to many people and no doubt it can be stressful especially for people who are unattached or far from home. That is not evidence though of it being a pagan influence of which if you participate damns you to HELL. Heck we could be living in HELL right here presently. Who knows? Hell or Heaven could be nothing more than what you make of your life. Maybe they are metaphors for your own devils within.
Celebrating a Birthday of someone who spread Good News to all who would listen shouldn't be demonized so as to gain converts to your own belief systems. Don't you have anything magnificent enough to influence people other than damning them to HELL for their current beliefs?
With all the different religious denominations that exist and with all of them extolling the truth, it seems you have a better chance of hitting the lottery today then hitting on the one TRUE WAY. Maybe the true way is the way that makes you the best possible person. You know the type of person that doesn't judge his brothers or sisters and then damn them to HELL for believing something that you don't.
Any religious denomination that declares theirs is the only way to go or else, is a problem for me. Three of the world's most popular (only by the numbers of supposed followers) are the biggest cause of the unrest on this planet. What I call....the God Wars. My God is better than yours. I say supposed followers, because one of these current religions will kill you if you convert. The fear of death will I assume make you outwardly say you believe even if inside you think .... this is NUTS. And nuts it is. Trying to make religious texts that were written thousands or even hundreds of years ago fit in today is ludicrous. God gave men free will and part of that gift was developing as a people and adapting new discovered knowledge in a positive way. How does killing nonbelievers serve any purpose? That is a million dollar question I'd like anyone to answer for me. Isn't a religious belief supposed to make you a more enlightened person? Isn't religion supposed to make you a better person?
This is a new millennium and time to recognize that something is truly wrong. Maybe it is time to believe in yourself and your own vision of God. If you follow your heart and mind you actually might come upon something that works for you. In the end you'll need to answer for your beliefs to God when your life is judged. Part of that will involve explaining away the negatives of whatever organized religion you follow. Do you have your arguments ready? If you do are you convinced of there validity?
I believe in Christmas because it is a time to celebrate our families and communities. What is so awful about giving to charity, or buying gifts for those you love, or having a few days off to relax? Why must my giving a gift to my boss or co-workers be evidence of my unknowingly paying homage to some pagan God, when all it is really is a show of appreciation for having a job that allows me to pay my bills and exist. Why must it be demonized?
The apocalyptic crowd got their first sign that the end is nigh. The
chamber at Newgrange was not bathed in light because of severe cloud
cover. What does this warn us of?
Maybe we are being told to find our own light within ourselves this year.
By the way, just because I am a metaphysicist in the new age era does not mean I buy into all the nonsense being peddled about. For one thing I do not have any belief in the Mayan calendar and the end of the world occurring on 21/21/12. Only Christians view things with an all apocalyptic view. I do worry about nut jobs trying to prove the Mayans correct. Man made apocalypses scare me much more than make believe ones.
For more than 5,000 years on this very day, December 21st, the passage way of Newgrange has been bathed in sunlight for a brief fifteen minutes during the Winter Solstice.
I've been inside Newgrange and the experience is something that will always be with me. Standing inside a passage tomb that is even older than the pyramids is mind boggling. I'm Irish by birth, and the sense and wonderment that I felt for my fore-bearers is almost impossible for me to put into words.
This You Tube video gives you a very good idea of what Newgrange is thought to be, and some ideas as to what it may have meant to the people who built it.
It is fascinating to me how much the ancients knew about the world about them. So much was refused to be seen for so long. I can relate as metaphysics is experiencing the same indignity now. Here is a direct link for those who want to learn more.
ArchaeoastronomyFor a long time now
the scientific establishment has shown a resistance and even disregard to the idea of
astronomy having been practiced in prehistory. Thankfully, the question of
whether astronomy was practiced is now beyond debate, and the doors are open for us to discover the extent of this important
development in human awareness.
I think in 2012 I will be arranging a metaphysical journey to Ireland so I can bring a select few with me to commune with their forebears. That would be good fun and very good for the soul. There is nothing the smell of peat can't fix. It is our mother Earth, and it gets deep inside your nostrils and it becomes a part of you.
Archeologists tell one
story and the locals tell another. Ireland is steeped in folklore and
Newgrange is considered by many to be
sacred ground and home to the Sidhe (the gentry or good folk).
It is under what the Irish call the fairy influence and it is nothing
to tinkerbell with, that's for sure.
