I have been astonished to read the savage comments on Facebook about the ‘mosque’ that is being planned a couple of blocks away from what is called ground zero of the 9/11 incident. What was apparently planned as a conciliatory gesture was turned into an insult by the spinners.

I am a Reiki Master in two traditions of Usui Reiki and have taken dozens of students from beginner through Master Teacher certification in Reiki at the Ministry of Sophia. A not unusual question from those who first experience the flood of energy through their hands that apparently does good things to improve the health of their clients is: “Was Jesus doing Reiki? Is this how he healed people?”

Since I wrote about the way people deceive their children about Santa Claus in Part 2 we have had an article in the local paper giving people advice on how to tell their children about Santa. They are advised to tell their children that Santa is a nice guy so that they aren’t scared when they are plunked on his lap.

Instead of threatening that Santa will ignore them if they don’t do their little chores we are advised to tell them that not cleaning up their room will made Santa sad, and that they may not get any new toys if the old ones are left scattered all over the floor.

Let’s investigate now what is known about a myth associated with Christmas that many people believed in, and were encouraged in that belief, until they grew up somewhat; I refer to Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle and others. It’s an amazing smorgasbord of interweaving stories and shows how stories can grow and spread out tentacles that become stories in their own right.