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{"id":203,"date":"2011-10-14T11:40:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-14T11:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/10\/your-sovereignty\/"},"modified":"2011-10-14T11:40:00","modified_gmt":"2011-10-14T11:40:00","slug":"your-sovereignty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/10\/your-sovereignty.html","title":{"rendered":"Your Sovereignty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Sometimes dreams are psychological sorting and filing and sometimes they\u2019re messages. And sometimes they\u2019re messages for other people.<\/p>\n

A friend told me about a dream she had that featured a raven. Ravens are associated with Morrigan<\/a>, primarily from her role as battle goddess and psychopomp. But Morrigan is also a goddess of sovereignty. <\/p>\n

Calvinists claim that God\u2019s sovereignty is absolute<\/a> \u2013 since he made everything and everyone, he owns it all, and he has the right to do whatever he wishes with it, including casting millions of his creatures into eternal torment. That\u2019s one of the many reasons I could never be a Calvinist.<\/p>\n

The Pagan concept of sovereignty<\/a> flows not from ownership but from being. Everyone and every thing have inherent value and inherent rights in and of themselves. <\/p>\n

Our secular laws are a mixture of the two concepts. They recognize that owners may in general do what they wish with their property. But our laws also recognize that living beings have at least some rights of their own. There is much legal leeway with what you can do with, say, dogs and cats \u2013 but it is not legal to starve or torture them. Parents have much discretion in how they treat their children, but it is not legal to abuse them or to fail to provide education and medical care. <\/p>\n

Further, our laws are evolving away from the Calvinist view of sovereignty and toward the Pagan view. Less than 150 years ago, in parts of this country it was legal to own another human and to do what you wished with him or her. 50 years ago Michael Vick would have never seen the inside of a jail. But earlier this year Bolivia passed a new law proclaiming The Rights of Mother Earth<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Living things are never simply the property of another living thing. Not pets, not children, not Nature. They all have inherent rights. They all have sovereignty over their lives, sovereignty we must respect.<\/p>\n

And so do you. <\/p>\n

Sovereignty is the right to rule. We give our sovereignty \u2013 in part if not in whole \u2013 to parents and teachers, to partners and spouses, to employers and to governments. That\u2019s not always a bad thing \u2013 children don\u2019t have the experience and judgment to make many major decisions. The rule of law promotes orderly and ethical interactions within society. <\/p>\n

But it can be a bad thing. We see plenty of examples of abusive parents, controlling spouses, tyrannical employers and corrupt governments. <\/p>\n

Who have you given your sovereignty to? Who controls your life? Who do you allow to rule over you? Who is your king<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Are they ruling effectively and justly? Is your life flourishing under their rule? The land and the king are one.<\/p>\n

Is it time to reclaim your sovereignty? <\/p>\n

The Goddess of Sovereignty doesn\u2019t tolerate ineffective or unjust rulers. Neither should you.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"