Some of you may already know about St. Anthony of Padua and the Egyptian goddess Ma'at, but for those of you who don't, I'd like to introduce you to these two very helpful spiritual beings.
St. Anthony of Padua
St. Anthony of Padua is the patron saint of lost or stolen items. He can be called on to help find things that are missing (or simply misplaced). If you are like me you probably get very frustrated when you are looking for something and just can't find it anywhere. Instead of feeling upset, stop a moment and call on St. Anthony with this little rhyme:Something's lost that must be found.
Then - and this is important - you must stop looking for whatever it is! Let it go, do something else to distract yourself. Let St. Anthony do the work and in a short while you will find it!
When you do it's good manners to say thank you to him so that he'll help you the next time. This has worked for me in as little as a few seconds, but more often it takes 10 minutes to a half hour. Once it did take a whole day but that is rare.
A Catholic friend taught me this and the first thing I asked her was isn't that a disrespectful way to talk to a saint? She laughed and told me he didn't seem to mind. And I think she must be right because he has helped me many, many times since then!
Ma'at
Ma'at is the Egyptian goddess of truth, balance, and justice. In this image we see Anubis weighing the heart of a person to see whether they would be allowed to enter the realm of the dead.
On the other side of the scale is a feather. This is the symbol of Ma'at. The heart is being weighed, judged, by her truth.
Ma'at is a goddess with no sense of humor when it comes to injustice. To invoke her help I take one or more of her white feathers and imagine it floating over the head of someone whom I think needs to be brought to justice. Instant disclaimer - I leave the judging to Ma'at! It is the truth I am seeking, and I understand I may never find out what happens.
But sometimes, a few times, I have been allowed to see the results. And then I see that she has a sense of humor after all!
Perhaps the best example is the first time I called on her. One of my customers came in and told me her apartment had been broken into the night before and all the electronics had been stolen. I asked her to visualize with me the white feather of Ma'at floating over the heads of those responsible and ask for the truth to be revealed and justice to be done.
Talk about quick work! The next day she came in to tell me the thieves had been caught that same day! What she hadn't told me was that her boyfriend was a Deputy Sheriff. He and his partner stopped a car for some traffic violation. They opened the trunk – and there were all of his things that had been stolen the night before!
I could tell you many stories like this! I can assure you that if you ask Ma'at for help you can trust that justice will be done. You may never hear about the results, but her justice is quick and sure.
Photo credits Pixabay.com