Soul's Code

Ever wonder how bunny eggs, death and resurrection fit together?  A pagan history of  the goddess, and how the church stole Easter
GUEST COLUMN: DANNY KENNY — Ever since I was an angelic little boy, there are many reasons why I've always loved Easter. But I would no longer be angelic in good Irish Catholic [...]

Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies, the resurrection of Christ: How much do you know about the true origins of our Easter traditions?

Easter to many of us means egg hunts, sunrise services and Honey Baked® ham dinners at which to stuff ourselves while catching up with relatives we (gratefully) see only a few times a [...]

A Jungian psychologist's take on Eros and Valentine's Day
BY PAUL KAIHLA — This is the one day of the year in our secular society where a celibate Catholic gets top-billing, marquee treatment. There were probably three saints called Valentine, one of whom history says is entombed in Rome's catacombs.
But the origin of Valentine's Day is [...]

The sacred day of the Irish Saint Patrick is actually on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 but Americans of Irish and non-Celtic origin are already going holy-roller

BY BRIAN CAULFIELD — In the United States many of us will get quite drunk as St. Patrick's day rolls around once more. But on the last Sunday in July, [...]

If happiness equals slimming-down the ego, the Imposition of Ashes on the first day of Lent is a powerful and public ritual of spiritual self-immolation
BY ANONYMOUS — I did confession (Ash Wednesday) and received the imposition of ashes. I've never felt so stripped naked in public as when I kneeled below the altar, and the [...]

A ritual for Lent: make a daily list of what brings you joy, and what brings you closer to Spirit

No, we don't mean our favorite song by the Psychedelic Furs, which was given a short second life a couple of years ago by the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore vehicle 50 First Dates.
But now that we brought [...]

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down. How would ashes on your forehead translate into a reorientation of your heart?
BY DAVID RICKEY — In the Judeo-Christian tradition, ashes are a symbol of penitence and mortality. In the Old Testament, Job sits in ashes both because he has lost his children and all his livestock and because [...]

Tom Hanks newest patron of Da Vinci Code church
Tom Hanks has personally donated to help restore Scotland's Rosslyn Chapel, where part of The Da Vinci Code was filmed. According to Dan Brown's novel, the chapel was built by the Knights Templar, marks a point on the "Rose Line", or prime meridian, and contains several  esoteric [...]

Ashes to ashes . . . this Wednesday
Christians this week celebrate Ash Wednesday in commemoration of Jesus' sojourn in the wilderness where he faced demonic temptation.  Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, where Christians share a similar journey in a spiritual desert. Lenten practices usually involve fasting, penance, making confession, praying the stations of [...]

8: The Mormon Proposition, a movie on spiritual politics
Utah not only hosts the annual Sundance Film Festival; in the 2010 edition of the film fest, the state's (unofficial) church has a starring role in the line-up of movies.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is taken down in a documentary about the 2008 initiative that successfully banned [...]