Soul’s Code

Vatican takes on New Moon while Pope courts artists; Mel Gibson goes rogue; Marriage myths busted

The Vatican demonstrates full on hate-on for New Moon

We are as (not) shocked as you are to hear that The Vatican condemns New Moon.  The Vatican’s Culture Council leader, Monsignor Franco Perazzolo isn’t down with the film’s “deviant” message to youth, but perhaps it’s all the fit shirtless dudes adorning the flick that really have his knickers in a twist.

Continuing in a cultural “vein”, the Pope met with 250 artists (500 were invited), including singer Andrea Bocelli, on Saturday, November 21st in a cozy little place called the Sistine Chapel.  His message, to encourage artists to inject more spirituality into their work, and in aid of “renew[ing] the Church’s friendship with the world of art.” Suggestion: a starting place may be for The Vatican to get out of the business of movie critic/censor.

Worried about war, depression, global warming and the price of gas? No wonder everyone’s talking about the year 2012

BY VAISHALI, author of You Are What You Love® and Wisdom Rising

Everywhere I go I hear conversations — rumblings about 2012. As I watched the Dow zig-zag across 10,000 and Congress authorize trillions of dollars to rescue us from the financial crisis, the rumblings got louder.

What exactly is 2012, and why all the buzz about it? Google “2012,” and you’ll get a quarter-billion hits. Now, two years in the making, Hollywood’s publicity machine is adding to the uproar with the marketing campaign for Roland Emmerich’s holiday-season disaster blockbuster, 2012.

Mark your Calendars for LDS Endowment

A site called Hot Mormon Muffins has created an attention getting calendar picturing luscious Mormon moms in appealing poses, after the style of 1950s pin-up artist Joyce Ballantyne.  The idea is to be a “vehicle to create dialog and deliberately debunk the subservient stereotypes of women’s roles within the Mormon Church.”  Note that a men’s version of the calendar, Men on a Mission, is also available.   The site founder was raised in a 6th generation Mormon family and has been excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for pushing this particular envelope.

Overcoming ego-related barriers will allow this admirable triad to flourish

DAVID RICKEY — One of the most favorite New Testament passages used at weddings is First Corinthians 13,  the passage about love. . .well faith, hope and charity/love, depending on which translation you use.

Given this popularity, do we really know what those terms mean, and more importantly, how many newlyweds (or even those married a long time) actually practice these highly touted qualities?

Faith is often misunderstood as “belief.” The Greek word “pistis” means conviction or belief but with the emphasis of trust, not so much in an idea as in a relationship. For “believers” this is a relationship with God, or Jesus.

Do you believe in material magic? A self-styled “financial alchemist” shares her 3-step formula for translating vision into action — and goals

GUEST COLUMN: MORGANA RAE — You don’t have to call yourself a magician, mystic, psychic, priestess or Wiccan to be magical. Every wish, prayer, business plan, and affirmation carries magic.

The question is, how do you get better at making things happen?

How do you increase your experience of ease, flow, and synchronicity?

My mother introduced me to my awareness of magic. No one casts a circle or leads a ritual like she can! Maybe it’s because she’s my mother, or because she’s a triple Leo, or because she has a special talent for it, but there always seems to be stronger magic when she plays High Priestess.

Sometimes the best resistance to a sense of “raging chaos” is non-resistance

GUEST COLUMN: JANET SMITH WARFIELD — A good and spiritual friend of mine once posed the question: “How do you resist insanity?”

Then she answered her own question.

“The only way for me, as an individual, to resist is to hold on to who I am amidst all of the forces that want to turn me into something else.”

At first, I thought: “What a wonderful answer! It truly is all about staying centered when external chaos swirls around us. Each of us must stand tall when insanity claws at our clothes.”

But then I thought about all the physical forces in my life that have swept me away from what I thought was solid ground, and into the raging current.

What was the purpose of those experiences?

A Soul’s Code reader’s meditation on pain management begins with her own “Good Hair” journey, and a childhood brush with suffering

GUEST COLUMN: ELLEN FENNER— When I was a young girl I had long, thick hair. A few years ago, an old schoolmate told me that when she first saw me in the classroom, she stared with fascination at the sheer size of my braid, but when I turned and swung another one around, she nearly fell out of her chair, amazed that anyone could have that much hair!

My mother’s hair was thin and fine by comparison, so she was similarly awed by my coarse mane. But, like me, she dreaded having to deal with it when the braids had to be unraveled, especially when they’d been in for a while.

She would sit me down, and, with a brush and comb, we’d begin the process of returning my hair to “normal”. The mere anticipation of the pain for both of us was almost as bad as the reality.

Online Porn SEO owns “Carrie Prejean”

First it was gay marriage, then a “solo” sex tape (and apparently there are way more of these coming), then a hissy fit on Larry King Live.  Now former Miss California Carrie Prejean explains her views on how there is nothing in the Bible saying that sporting breast implants makes you less of a  Christian to Christianity Today.

But internet searchers beware: even modern monastics with an electronic scriptorium (i.e. computer) will find some searches for “Carrie Prejean” littered with porn sites and deadly viruses (as we learned the hard way).  The solution: an end to Prejean’s 15 minutes of fame, or good protection for your computer.