Friday 25 June 2010

A sense of genetic entitlement - part 2 (the other tags)

The other tags (labels) from the post "A sense of genetic entitlement"

Post No. 125 - A sense of genetic entitlement

In my travels through various spiritual and psychic paths in this lifetime, I've come across some people who think they are - or would be if they were - inherently more psychically gifted because they are the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, or have some gypsy blood in their veins, or maybe because they have some Celtic or Nordic heritage. As an example of the latter, in the Dutch occultist Freya Aswynn's otherwise excellent book "Northern Mysteries & Magic" (pub. Llewellyn, 1998, St. Paul, Minnesota, ISBN 1-56718-047-7; I particularly enjoyed the connection of the order of the runes to the Northern creation myth, and also the explanation of the difference between invertible and reversible runes), a revised edition of her evocatively titled "The Leaves of Yggdrasil", the author writes (on page 98):

A parallel can be drawn between runic divination and a system of divination and insight found in the Far East. Anybody can read the I Ching (an ancient and very accurate Chinese divination system) in English translation and derive some value from meditating on the hexagrams, but only a Chinese person working with the I Ching in his or her native language will manage to penetrate much more deeply and correctly into its mysteries, through an understanding of the subtleties and poetic expression of the Chinese language - which is an expression of the person's own folk-soul.

The same applies to the runes. Language is an expression of the soul of a nation, and the runes are indeed a language, one useful for communicating at all levels, from the straightforward written messages to focal points of concentration and communication with the gods, who are the guardians of the evolution of the Northern group-soul. Because the runes operate as a language, they communicate information about questions asked or readings done and allow the rune reader to make contact with the deeper layers of the querent's unconscious.

OK, so here are my reactions and comments to that passage:
  • Firstly, what about someone who has, perhaps, had three or four lifetimes working actively with the runes, who then reincarnates in a different situation (perhaps Africa)? Are they going to lose the three or four lifetimes' worth of skills? No - in fact, one of the benefits of past life regression (see my workshop notes) is helping rediscover and bring to consciousness past life skills (although, hopefully, with suitable adaptations for improved circumstances - see here).
  • There is an issue of talent vs. hard work here. In competitive sports such as football or sailing, that is discussed, with, in general, a consensus towards the view that someone who works hard is better than someone with talent who coasts along (although, to be fair, someone with talent who also works is best of all: such people may well be bringing through skills from previous lifetimes of hard work - as I did with my competitive sailing, where I drew on many past lifetimes at sea). I recall several successful sailors (world champions and Olympic gold medallists among them) who commented to the effect that others thought they were "lucky", and the harder they worked, the "luckier" they got ...
  • There is also an issue that I can only think of as describing as self esteem/worth, or maybe it is an attempt to escape from oneself. There have been many times when people have seen something "other" as exotic and desirable because it is "other" - for example, a few centuries ago "the noble savage" ("nature's gentleman") was considered desirable because it was different to the European "civilisation" of that era (gotta tend to agree with that one, actually ...). More recently, Druids and Celts have been seen as good to have in your history: again, there is an element of truth to that, but then, they were also head hunters ... As another example, look at the number of people (in Western cultures) who have stereotypical North American Indians as guides [2]. You don't need to look outside yourself: YOU have a spark of the Divine in you: it is your essence - it IS enough for all that you wish to, or could, be. YOU can achieve mastery of whatever skill or attribute you wish to - you just may need to be prepared to work at it, and, rather than look outside yourself for the exotic, be all that you can be [3].
Of course, maybe I'm just p*ssed off 'cos I can't find any such clearcut reason to feel superior :) but truth is I find such a sense of genetic entitlement narcissistic (see also here). ALL people are entitled to be psychic. In fact, I agree with Lobsang Rampa that the coming new world religion will be open to all, and a key feature will be (in my words) that ALL people will understand that we can ALL be "masters" ...

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Notes:
  1. Just in case anyone should be inclined to draw the wrong conclusion about Freya Aswynn, have a look at her post Troth to the Aesir, which is an argument for inclusivity that I will be including in a post on some other views of the "Northern Traditions" (including another post by Aswynn on some problematic aspects). One key sentence from that post is "Being Asatru is open to every one, the Gods will accept the Troth of a sincere person of whatever genetic or cultural origin". The quote I have given above is about, in my words, "natural talent", which I am arguing is due to hard work in previous lifetimes - and I'm going to basically suggest that, if you want to have a "natural talent" for something, start working - HARD! - at it in this lifetime, now, as an investment in your future. After all, even if you don't accept reincarnation, perhaps you consider that you have an eternal Soul? :)
  2. I have some stereotypical guides, including a North American: he was, in that lifetime (NOT on the Plains, it was up around the Great Lakes), I was responsible for his death ... which makes for some interesting dynamics :) I also have some more or less "everyday" people as guides - which basically means the image they present is of fairly ordinary people (from time in American history). The image guides present can and does change: in my case, the "North American Indian" guide chose an image which would make me feel that I owed to that entity to listen (oh stop chuckling, White Waters Fall!), but one of my teachers relayed a story of one of his guides, who initially chose to present as a Nun, thinking it would have an association of spirituality, but, when the guide found it didn't (because of some unpleasant experiences as a child in a [Christian] religious school), the guide chose another image (which, interestingly, was male this time - for those who get hung up on gender!) On that topic, one of my patron deities is Yemaya, who claims me from the time when I was incarnated in Africa ... yet I still work with runes: things can blend!
  3. When I took a year off in the 80s to study alternative healing, and wound up at ASPECTS studying and learning both healing and many other skills (such as past life regressions, crystals, mediumship, etc), I - and others - spent up to 15 hours da day, seven days a week, studying and APPLYING these skills. Nothing I have now has come easily, or without effort - as another example, I have been studying the runes for around fifteen years now, under the tutelage of my friend "Venerable Rune Master from the Bush", and I still don't feel like "an expert", let alone a "master" - and I'm nowhere near being ready to move off the Elder Futhark onto the other futharks ... (and, as I mentioned, I learned some interesting things from Freya Aswynn's book). Then again, we are always learning ... I even learned some new and interesting things in my day job just yesterday, after three decades working as an engineer: learning never stops, and Lobsang Rampa often quotes a saying "the more you know, the more you know there is to know" (more or less - can't guarantee that that is word perfect!).


This post's photo is yet to be posted

Tags: about me, attitudes, courage, I Ching, Lobsang Rampa, mediumship, perceptions, personal responsibility, personal characteristics, religion, workshop notes, heritage,arrogance, genetics, heritage, psychism, spirituality, Northern Tradition,

First published: Saturday 26th June, 2010

Last edited: Thursday 5th August, 2010 (added more tags)

 


 



 

Sunday 20 June 2010

Post No. 124 - Shock! Horror! Expose on Guides!

Sit down ... take a breath ... ready?

Guides are not always superbly highly spiritually evolved beings who are spiritual saints beyond sinning or having to reincarnate. Sure, they must be more skilled and aware than the person they are guiding, and they need some skill at guiding someone on a different level of reality (think of herding a [physical] cat using feather-soft telepathic rods in your left and right hands, and you're probably at about 10% of the technical/practical challenges of this role) but they are not always perfect, nor are they saints who are completely beyond making any mistakes. (Keep in mind that guides generally work in consultation with other guides, including astral experts in various skills/areas, so they have ways to overcome personal shortcomings.)

I have found a few situations where I was more knowledgeable/skilled than someone else's guides, and have done work (clearing, healing, etc) to help the person's guides as much as to help the person - or maybe that's all just because the guides have become exhausted and overwhelmed at trying to help the person?

Guides are skilled and trained (to the necessary extent) for helping their charge - but, keep in mind that the charge may have the negative karma of not being helped well ...

This is, to some extent, a counter argument to the view I presented in another post. More usefully, it is worth keeping in mind that:
  1. Your Guides and helpers are doing an incredibly difficult task, and you should think of their well being occasionally (e.g., send them some healing, much as you would send healing to the place that any crystal you had had come from).
  2. Your Guides are, as with all creation [1], ever learning and growing: the task that they are undertaking with you is a tool to enable them to grow, learn and possibly repay some karmic debt. That means, there is some benefit for them in doing this, so, even though they may well be people you are close to (maybe even family or closer relationships in other lives), you should not be so overwhelmed by gratitude that you don't feel you can say when you don't understand something, or the message isn't coming through clearly (which may oblige them to "lift their game", or study/consult/grow in order to do better). Of course, the technical difficulties (and your own karma) may impinge on their attempts, so you may not get the results you want, but you can still ask - respectfully.
  3. I will emphasise that word: respectfully. As mentioned in the first point, they are doing a very difficult task, one that is aimed at benefiting YOU: show due gratitude, and a bit of manners.
  4. This can be considered an exercise in learning to ask respectfully, and with consideration of what it will cost the other to accede to the request, which will be required when working with Deities - particularly patron Deities.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: guidance, gratitude, communication, planes of existence, spirituality, growth, evolution, personal characteristics, respect, responsibility,

First published: Saturday 26th June, 2010

Last edited: Thursday 5th August, 2010 (added more tags)

Saturday 19 June 2010

Post No. 123 - Midwinter (Yule), and the downside of mythologies and other reality maps

One of the things which goes with my various wanderings and questing around what to call myself / what path I will follow/identify with is that there is a shortcoming that goes with having a mythology or some other reality map.

Oh, I should probably explain that, shouldn't I? OK, well, reality map is a term I first came across in Christopher Penczak's "The Temple of High Witchcraft" (Llewellyn, 2007, ISBN-13 978-0-7387-1165-2), where he expalined that the Qabbalah and other mythological systems could be considered as being a map of reality - like a road map, but of non-physical reality, states of mind, astral and etheric powers, and so forth.

To simplify a very great deal, my personal reality map includes:
  • various high frequency levels (spirit/soul and higher [causal, Monod, etc])
  • a few levels of astral
  • etheric (possibly the level of the collective subconscious?)
  • physical (with funny things happening at extremes, such as near absolute zero, blakcholes, etc)
  • the shamanic underworld (which may actually be an etheric level)
I consider the powers that we personify as Deities exist far above the astral level, but may manifest into, or affect, all levels down to and including the physical.

A Christian's reality map may include:
  • heaven
  • physical
  • hell
A shaman's reality map may include:
  • overworld
  • physical
  • underworld
Got the idea? I hope so, 'cos I'm about to move on :D

There can be very real advantages in having a reality map, particularly if it is agreed and shared with others: it gives a common framework for discussing things that are, essentially, insubstantial. It is much easier to say "I found a groovy new temple on the highe astral" than "I had an experience which seemed very real, but it wasn't actually reality, and I seemed to be in a building which was a bit like a church".

It is much more effective to say "Watch out! Check your etheric around the solar plexus chakra!" than to say "I have a bad feeling, and think you may be about to experience something unpleasant, but possibly not physical in origin".

As a digression, this is part of the drill that I am developing for my planned "Rangers of the Inner Plane" (formerly "Rangers of Gyhldeptis" - mentioned previously here and here, for instance).

The problem with reality maps is that they can restrict your experience of the complexity of reality to what has been described by some of those who have gone before you. This may mean you simply don't see something.

This is a bit like the idiotic delusions that SOME Neo-Christians have of LGBTIQ people: they simply don't see REALITY because they have been blinded by their reality map

Another good example of this (from science fiction) is the "Somebody Else's Problem" field from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series.

In my case, right now I am preparing for a (Wiccan) Winter Solstice (Yule) ritual, but I would rather be off in the bush, with no-one other than my partner for miles (kilometers) around, sitting, quietly enjoying the solitude, the peace of the bush (which I was able to do for a couple of hours last weekend), the cold, the drizzle, and the energy of this time of year.

I've realised that I rarely get much out of the energy of Solstices (except for MidWinter/Yule and - ALWAYS - Samhain), and feel more from the Esbats. However, I've felt that I should be celebrating the Solstices because that was what was a key part of my Wiccan training, and what is emphasised in some other forms of training (e.g. Druidry). The truth is, though, a lot of that was about social celebrations of milestones - parties, and if there is something I am not into (and haven't been MOST OF MY LIFE, it is parties :)

However, if I take my own advice, I don't need to focus on Solstices ... I can do the Esbats (I mainly feel the full Moon), and the Solstices that I feel something for, and leave the rest to the others ...

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

PS - I very greatly enjoyed the ritual we had for this year's Yule: a friend joined my partner and I, and we blended some Druid, Wiccan and personal elements, and had something which felt very ... nice, for want of a better word

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: about me, expectations, group dynamics, rituals, Sabbats, Esbats, limitations, religion, socialisation, reality map, shamanism,

First published: Sunday 20th June, 2010

Last edited: Thursday 5th August, 2010 (added more tags)

Wednesday 16 June 2010

Post No. 122 - The down side of things getting better

Believe it or not, there IS a down side of things getting better. In a nutshell, it is that you no longer have the chance to prove your quality under the most trying of circumstances.

That perception is highly arguable, as it implies that there is a restriction to what can learned when conditions are good, but some things can only be done in trying circumstances. Of course, there is a view that this whole planet Earth has been created as a school [1] for somewhat recalcitrant souls (joke, Joyce [2]), but consider, for instance:
  • overcoming socially accepted values, or not doing the "milestone" thing as I posted about recently, or
  • proving you are not bigoted by reacting to new experiences without prejudice.

Let's consider those points in a little more detail.

A few centuries ago, when slavery was considered "normal" (socially acceptable - even the foundation of the economic system), the people who were courageous, spiritually advanced and admirable were the people who went against the social flow, who stood up to what "everyone" considered normal - in fact, essential for the continued existence of the world (as they knew it, at any rate). Now, slavery in most nations is banned (although it still exists), and the "normal" view is that slavery is wrong. People who speak out against slavery now are doing something that is right, admirable and useful ... but it is NOT in the same category of courage and spiritual vision as those who did so when the world was not so advanced (and, on this topic, although it is not perfect, it nevertheless still IS better than it was a few centuries ago).

So ... being spiritual and inclusive when others are not shows your spiritual mettle far better than simply going along with the crowd when everyone else is being inclusive and spiritual.

Another example of that is not going along with undesirable behaviour, simply because "everyone else does it". In a small way, this means NOT doing drugs when you're young "because everyone else does it", or not trying stealing because your peers say it is a thrill. This sort of behaviour, when magnified, becomes the driver who obediently takes Jews to be gassed ... SERIOUSLY!

It is not very fashionable to look at extreme degrees of such actions, but - apart from being wrong in and of itself! - "small" misdeeds really do have an active influence psychically towards greater evil in the world, and they do open the possibility of the person concerned, at some later date, in some later situation, doing the same thing, but to a slightly greater extent ... a bit like a junkie "needing" a bigger hit each time ...

Not everyone goes along with such things: some Germans refused to obey orders, and were declared by Israel to be "Righteous Among the Nations". Those people had courage and spiritual insight: I admire them for that. Have a look at some of their stories - for instance, here, here, here, here, here, and here, and here, here, here, here, and here.

Today, there are fewer opportunities to be so spectacularly humanitarian. They still exist (e.g., see the film "Hotel Rwanda"), and the caution I gave about the dangers of doing small evils also applies - in a positive way - when it comes to doing good: it may not be as spectacular as saving the lives of groups of people, but doing something like accepting the gender of trans people WITHOUT having to have prior education (as some people do: they don't have to have principles of human rights explained to them, they simply know that to do otherwise would cause serious distress, and choose not to do so) counts as effectively the same sort of spiritually advanced action.

When the world is a better place - and it WILL become better, some of the chances now about to show your spiritual mettle will be lost forever. So ... get in while you can, and rise above the world's circumstances as much as you can ... NOW.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Notes:
  1. This concept is discussed by Lobsang Rampa in some of his books. From the index is "The Thirteenth Candle", this is mentioned on page 194 of "Cave of the Ancients", pages 92, 114, 126 and 144 of "Your Forever", page 85 of "The Saffron Robe", page 20 of "Chapters of Life", pages 113 and 139 of "Feeding the Flame", and page 130 of "The Thirteenth Candle".
  2. This phrase comes, I understand, from one of Graham Kennedy's early TV shows.

This post's photo is yet to be posted

Tags: attitudes, leadership, personal characteristics, personal responsibility, selflessness, society, socialisation, violence, courage, challenge, evolution, learning styles, evil,

First published: Wednesday 16th June, 2010

Last edited: Thursday 5th August, 2010 (added more tags)

Tuesday 15 June 2010

A New Universal Religion and being an Energy Psychic or a Shamanka - part 2 (the extra tags)

The extra tags for my post A New Universal Religion and being an Energy Psychic or a Shamanka

Post No. 121 - A New Universal Religion and being an Energy Psychic or a Shamanka

Waaay back when … I was writing about the Parliament of World Religions, I mentioned that I would give an explanation of why I see myself as an energy psychic. This is not that explanation :)

Of course, the reason it is not that explanation is that I have changed, and am considering the issue of identification further (I should point out that this not an angst ridden consideration; it is now at the level where it is fun): I have changed (yet again), so if I tried to give the explanation I had in mind back then, I wouldn’t be being true to myself.

Basically, at the time of the Parliament I was experiencing considerable disillusionment with people who identified as one particular brand of Paganism or another – that disillusionment was largely over people big-noting themselves over other people’s adherence of a particular path (basically “You don’t do X, so I’m better than you ‘cos I’m doing it properly. So nyahh to you”, or “You do Y, which no-one who does it properly does so I’m better than you ‘cos I’m doing it properly. So nyahh to you”: think spoilt three year old brat when you hear those voices in your head and you’ll be pretty close to reality [Note 1]).

I’m not interested in being part of a faith which is populated by hypocrites:
  • so-called “Sunday Christians” did a lot to put me off Christianity;
  • one particularly narky person who thought that Buddhist monks and nuns should get special consideration and not respond to an invitation for papers to a conference that I was helping to organise, along with hypocritical Westerners who had lots of head knowledge but nil application of Buddhist principles, put me off Buddhism;
  • the same sort of narky attitudes have put me off being part of the broader pagan community, although I was for a while.

This is one of the main reasons I decided, after thinking carefully about what I actually believed in and what I actually did, that I realised I should probably use my own description of my version of paganism. I do believe in pagan viewpoints on reality, which ties in with my personal experience based on decades of psychic perception, so I do consider that stating I am a pagan is a statement of reality. However:
  • my earliest practices were based on the Qabbalah, but that doesn’t draw me innately the way other paths do
  • I have some affinity with the intellectual rigour of high magick, but dislike "enslaving entities to do my bidding", as one author put it, and like the everyday-ness of “low” magic, but dislike the snobbery that goes with both
  • I do have some affinity with shamanism, but not in a reconstructionist or fundamentalist way, and feel a little reluctant to identify myself as a shamanka (shamaness) as a result (I consider that the view that European religions are derived from forms of shamanism to have some validity – and possibly that applies to other forms as well)
  • I don’t belief in only a dual polarity version of Deity (I accept a number of Goddesses and Gods, and know – from personal experience – that the binary (dipolar?) model of gender is complete and utter rubbish)
  • I am drawn to the Northern Traditions, and am writing a review on a couple of books on this topic (Galina Krasskova and Raven Kaldera's book "Northern Tradition for the Soilitary Practitioner", published by New Page Books in 2009 (ISBN 978-1-60163-034-6), and Pagan Resurrection: A Force for Evil or the Future of Western Spirituality", by Richard Rudgley (ISBNs 0-7126-8096-9 and 978-0-712-68096-7, pub. Century, 2006)), but I
    (a) have just had the misfortune of spending a weekend with a crowd of around 30 people which included some know-it-alls who were actively seeking to belittle others who professed to be connected with a Northern Tradition (it was a WONDERFUL weekend apart from that aspect - I've been hanging out to get some solitary time in trees for around nine months now ... and I was able to do a few shamanic practices while off in the trees on my own ... ahhhhh, bliss :) ... my enjoyment of those exercises is why I have also been rethinking whether or not I should, perhaps, "admit" to being a shamaness: maybe that "fits" what I do as well?), and
    (b) have MAJOR concerns with those who have sought to subvert this faith for racist reasons (and will not identify as Asatru largely for that reason, but also because I rate the Vanir quite highly)
  • I do accept the notion of “Unverifiable Personal Gnosis” discussed in Krasskova and Kaldera's book, and reject some past pagan practices such as human and animal sacrifice, so I am drawn to some New Age practices, but I reject the wooliness and wishy-washiness that can be found there …
  • I am very drawn to the tree reverence, honour and intellectual rigour of Druidry, but I have a personal problem accepting some versions of reparative justice [Note 2]
  • I have been doing (spirit) rescue since the early 1980s, based on what I learned at spiritualist churches, but I don’t identify in any way whatsoever with the paternalistic, Christian-centric faith of Spiritualism (and there were some group dynamics issues [read: backbiting, sniping and gossiping] in some of the Spiritualist groups I have experience of, but that generally was less of a problem there than in other groups I’ve been in) – and I utterly reject their Christian-derived fear of Wicca/witchcraft (in fact, I have refined my application of spirit rescue by what I’ve learned since then through Wicca)
  • in terms of what I actually do, a lot of it has been based on perceiving and working with energy – whether that is doing personal healing; spirit rescue; teaching others how to work with crystals, karma, past lives, psychism or spirituality; researching the Deities, correspondences, etc and planning a ritual or busting my guts to help larger situations ranging from human rights abuses overseas or human rights shortcomings at home to aiming for world peace or an end to world hunger: it is ALL about energy … to me.

So … I consider myself an energy psychic.

I actually wound up having a go at explaining that to someone recently. I stuffed it up, but next time I’ll do better (particularly after having written this post). It does have that advantage – no-one else has a clue about what I mean, so they can’t just automatically lump me in a box of their choosing, and they do have the option of – if they are interested – asking what the hell I mean. (They also have the option of ignoring me as an annoying eccentric, and that is PERFECTLY fine by me :D )

The other aspect of all this that I have been considering is one I wrote about once before (see also here), which is the evolution of a possible new, more universally based religion. I have several patron Deities: these come from a range of lifetimes, and I feel very much that it is not a case of me “choosing” a patron Deity, they choose me. However, I have also had lifetimes on other worlds – in fact, one of my parallels passed away not long after I discovered he was incarnated on another world (this was a couple of decades ago now). Given that, what patron Deities may I “belong to” on other worlds that I don’t know about now? How much of a claim do they have (or “should” they have) given that I am no longer living on “their” planet? What about Deities that are associated with (“own”) space, or life in a more universal, fundamental way?

Given all that, is there a fundamental, universal set of principles underlying all religions, or applicable to all life across the Universe?

As it happens, I consider there is, and that these, to some extent, underlay many of the religions that evolved as we evolved on this planet, and on other planets as life there also evolved. I just don’t what names and characteristics to ascribe to them …

I know this probably sounds a bit von Daniken to older readers, but I am actually asking about broader, more Universal aspects of religion, rather than simply looking for an “other-worldly” source as an explanation of what has happened on this planet. (See also here.)

I find the concept quite fascinating. I suspect I will never know, during this lifetime, what the underlying bases are, but I will continue searching …

As a final point, for another, slightly related point of view on searching for pantheons, have a lok at this Witchvox article.

Notes:
  1. What is wrong with people having a genuine interest in other people’s experience of a path or tradition? What is wrong with saying “Oh that’s interesting: I haven’t come across that before. Something I’ve found useful for me is X, which I heard about after a few years on that path. Have you heard of it? No? Well, here’s some info for you – you might find it useful: let me know, I’d like to know how you go with it, so I know whether I should pass it on to others or not” - which I have used despite knowing full well that X is how the person “should” be doing whatever it is being discussed. Or how about using “Oh that’s interesting, you’ve been able to get Y to work for you. I had problems P, Z and W when I tried that. Have you found anything like that? No? I’d like to know how you avoided those problems” (which I have used – and generally found that the people concerned weren’t noticing the problems, or hadn’t looked for them, or were so focused on needing Y to work that they wouldn’t associate the problem with what they were doing (“Oh, trying to prove your divinity by flying by jumping off a tall building seems to have caused you to stop breathing: that’s strange, I wonder why that happened?”), but by being non-threatening about it, I was more likely to get them to change: I was not threatening their sense of self esteem – allowing them to keep face, if you prefer. Of course, I suspect the reason people don’t do this is ego: trying to big note themselves so they can feel better about themselves. I’d say “how pathetic”, but I know how easy it is to do that, and I’m not going to guarantee that I don’t do that :D (have I mentioned my past post “Don’t overrate me”?)
  2. When I was at school, I experienced quite a bit of bullying. These days, there seems to be some attempts at managing this (which is, I consider, a massive improvement over what I had to go through), but one aspect of that I have is telling bullies the emotional damage the victim is receiving (i.e. “how you ‘make’ me feel”): I consider that to be giving the bully exactly what they want. That type of “justice” is something I am not interested in: if I want to feel better, I will talk to friends, or people I trust – not my enemy who has succeeded in harming me. Similarly, if someone has, say, damaged my car, I am not interested in having more of that person’s essence attached to my car: I am interested in them paying for someone competent and objective and trustworthy to me to fix the car (that is based on an actual event from my past). I do see that there may be an advantage in, say, having graffiti vandals clean off graffiti vandalism (some of it IS street art; a lot of it is scribbling rubbish). So, I have to say that I am not an unreserved supporter of reparative (“Brehon”) justice.



Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted

Tags: about me, attitudes, awareness, Buddhism, change, crystals, energy work, evolution, growth, pagan, parallels, past lives, purpose, religion, rescue, spiritualism, trees, syncretism, Energy Psychic, Christianity, northern tradition, Qabbalah, deities, Druid, spiritualism, von Daniken,

First published: Wednesday 16th June, 2010

Last edited: Thursday 5th August, 2010 (added more tags)

 


 


 

 

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Post No. 120 - Tiw's Day: Juliet, gender stereotypes and some thoughts about the novel "The Betrayal"

Let me begin this post by saying that I consider the person we know as Jesus Christ [1] to be a real historical person. I also consider it a very real chance that he did perform miracles - or what seemed like miracles. However, I consider what is preached by many neo-Christians to have as little to do with Christ's message as ... well, very little. So ... I was intrigued to come across an archaeological view of Christ's life and what was factually erroneous in the reports on his life (i.e., the Gospels), and some explanations of what was being done in terms of what was happening at those times. [2] The view was written by the archaeologists Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear, and formed the basis of their book "The Betrayal", which I read about in an interview on the Gear's website.

I first came across the Gears when I started reading their First North American series of novels, which covers early North American cultures, combining archaeological research with knowledge of shamanic practice. I haven't read all that series, and am looking forward to finishing it (now that I've rediscovered them - I lost the name of their series [and the authors] for a few years ... but then, I did have other matters to attend to).

In terms of their book. "The Betrayal", the interview was fascinating, and I am hoping to track down a copy of the book and add it to the list of books I am reviewing .... (almost finished the next review now :) )

Now, on other matters: while driving home and planning this brief post, I was listening to the BBC's "World Update" on ABC's News Radio, when I heard a story that enough people write letters to Juliet of Verona (i.e., the Juliet in Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet", that someone (I think "The Juliet Club") employs up to fifteen secretaries to open, read and reply to the letters.

How sad! Most of these people are lonely, have had bad experiences in love, or have self esteem issues. We do some ... strange things when we get hooked on searching for intimacy - no, we can do things that make us look sad, mad, or bad. I've seen people behave in incredibly unethical ways to try and "win" over someone else - which, ultimately, is self defeating. I also think the focus of society these last few centuries on romantic love, with its corresponding view that there is something "wrong" with you if you don't find romantic love, is unhealthy, unjustified and just plain WRONG. It's bad enough with the idiotic rules put on love (I'm in favour of polyamory for a whole range of reasons) and the generally sex-negative views found in too much of society as it is ... (This previous post may also have some relevant thoughts ... )

A friend of mine (hello Venerable Rune Master From The Bush [3]) occasionally laments the loss of the words bachelor and spinster and being reasonably acceptable, albeit maybe somewhat eccentric, terms for people who, for whatever reason, don't wind up in an intimate romantic relationship.

After listening to that radio story, I'm with him. May the Goddess help all who feel they have lost in (romantic) love find a worthwhile way to pass their lives. Such things do exist - I'm blessed by a wonderful loving relationship now, but have spent most of my life single, and that let me explore my spirituality/psychism and personal growth in ways I could never have done otherwise (largely because of the commitment required for some of that work, but also because you sometimes best find your personal demons by being alone).

Of course, what has helped me is being - or rather, becoming - somewhat inured to society's expectations on gender expression and, well, pretty much anything. Nevertheless, I find the idiotic sorts of remarks made about President Obama's nomination for the US Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, idiotic and abhorrent. Amongst all this, the woman who said Kagan doesn't sit like "all other women" because she (Kagan) doesn't sit with crossed legs has never met any dykes. What an incredibly un-informed, SEXIST thing to say!

And, as a final point, I thought I'd just add that I think I've written previously the best way yo prevent you from radiating out negativity is closing your aura: another key aspect of this is simply to have the intention not to leak or project energy. A lot of people think about magical intent in the sense of having the intention to DO something (e.g., shileding your aura),but it can also be viewed as having the intent NOT to do something (e.g., not project or leak, or not break you word, or not break the law, or not forget to make your partner a cuppa before you leave for work). Bit arguable, given the notion that if I say "don't think of a pink elephant" the first thing most people do is think of pink elephant, but I personally find it useful from time to time (particularly the concept of not breaking my word - which, if I want to phrase in a more "constructive" way, I would term "adhering to my personal code of honour/ethics/behaviour).

Anyway, time to get ready for the day: may you be blest in your day, wherever you are.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Notes:
  1. I feel like I should be writing "Jesus the Christ": somewhere, I think I've read (maybe that should be some wheres) that "Christ" means "enlightened", so we should refer to "Jesus the Christ", meaning "Jesus the Enlightened".
  2. For instance, there are errors in the terms used for Pontius Pilate and errors in the story around the release of Barabbas.
  3. This Bush is, for overseas readers, an Australian term for "wild countryside", NOT Dubbya

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: about me, daily life, emotions, lifestyles, life lessons, love, romance, intimacy, relationships, media, socialisation, O’Neal Gear, archaeology, polyamory, sex, Shakespeare, Obama, indigenous,

First published: Wednesday 9th June, 2010 (I thought about the post overnight, which is why it didn't get posted on Tiw's Day [or Tysdagr, to use the Old Norse]. I had planned a fifth point (originally third in the sequence :) ) in response to the BBC programme, but can't recall what it was)

Last edited: Thursday 5th August, 2010 (added more tags)

Sunday 6 June 2010

Post No. 119 - Hatred, and pouring oil onto ... oil


This morning, while meditating, I continued doing some energy work to help in whatever way I can with the terrible Gulf of Mexico oil spill - actually, I should first expand on that point.

It is a bit of a personal philosophy - that I was taught by various people: didn't come into this life with it - that there is ALWAYS something that one can do. In the case of the oil spill, I can send healing to those who are working to clear up the spill, or those about them. I can send "clear thinking" energy (healing, but at a mental level rather than a physical) to those trying to develop ("plan") a solution - including those at BP, and healing on all levels to the Guides of those involved.

Guides tend to get taken for granted - as do crystals. I make a practice of sending healing and thanks to my Guides from time to time (I try to make that as regular as I can), just as I send healing and thanks to whatever part of Mother Earth my crystals have come from

I have to say, it isn't actually literally ALWAYS, or doesn't seem that way: when my (adoptive) mother had cancer, I couldn't cure that. There are, of course, issues of free will (especially at soul level) that come in here, but there was also quite simply a limit to my healing abilities: I don't do miracle cures ... BUT I could and did send healing to Mum and my family to help with our attitude and adjustment to what was happening. Maybe that worked, or contributed in some way, as I noticed my Dad had a major change of heart towards talking about things (including emotions), group work and other alternative approaches. (Mind you, he had taken part in some fairly early experiments with meditation through his job: we have often joked about how the whole family would be lying on the loungeroom floor, "being fluffy white clouds" - this was back in the 60s: now, I know how stressful a job [1] he must have had, probably for us [have a stressful job now myself, largely for the {extended} family :) ], and also how surprisingly advanced his employer [a bank that was swallowed up by another] must have been.) In particular, for a male of his generation, talking about emotions is a major breakthrough. Maybe that was why Mum chose (at a soul level) to go early ...

Anyway, going back to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as I wrote, there is - more or less - always (no caps this time!) something you can do. In my case, that involves sending healing on all levels to as many people as possible who are involved - whether for the better or for the worse.

Yes, I wrote "for the worse": I am sending healing to the executives and engineers [2] at BP AND Transocean, the company who owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon rig (and may have more than covered their costs through overinsurance, although I couldn't find the article I recently read about that - hope it wasn't removed for factual error; ultimately that will probably be changed by their share of final costs), who are responsible for this situation occurring, and any ongoing actions - good or bad - in response to it. I want those people to minimise or avoid totally the bad, and maximise what they can do that is decent (the "good"). What I have found from past work in such situations, including lobbying that I have been involved in, is that these people are mostly human beings (well, all are, actually), but they have values different to mine. They mostly DO have families, and people they care about in some way (NOT all, in this case - some do actually care for profits as if the money was a person: I have had the profound misfortune of working for such people in the past, decades ago, during the years of "greed is good"). In any case, making them feel attacked and trapped is rarely, if ever, going to get them to change: providing facts in a calm, clear way is, in my experience, the most effective way of getting them to change.

With respect to energy work, triggering their conscience is, in my experience, the best thing someone not directly involved can help. This is also where marches and other public action can help, by showing that actions taken by companies are cared about by consumers (yes, you ARE ethically responsible for what you buy ...) and DO matter - public campaigns about sweatshops and other wrongs have been absolutely invaluable, and is another form of activism that I take part in.

However, the hate energy that I found being directed to these people while I was meditating this morning (it was definitely not "just anger") is not helpful. It makes the efforts of people such as myself harder, as the first thing we have to do is fight the inflammatory energy which is being sent - what is the "oil onto (non-burning, in this case) oil", in a sense, has to be cleaned up before we can get to the underlying problem.

It is understandable that such hatred exists: this disaster WILL destroy lives - human lives, affected by the loss of income (I've heard one fisherman talk about the trouble he experienced after Hurricane Katrina, and how he expected the loss of income from this disaster would put him in jail because he couldn't make his family support payments [3]), just as much as it will kill birds, fish, crabs, trees and other animal, insect and plant marine and littoral (coastal) life. All that is perfectly understandable. But it still doesn't help the situation ...

You know the old religious admonitions to have unconditional love? Well, apart from the philosophy and ethics of this, it is good, PRAGMATIC psychic advice. Damn hard to do, mind you, requires looking at your shadow self and changing as a person, but still good ...

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Notes:
  1. Dad actually told me of having people he was managing in tears in his office because a loan they had authorised, for significant amounts of dollars, had been defaulted on. In those days, however, banks actually had a bit of common sense, and would work to bail out customers if they could (some are starting to again), although there was a limit to how much "good money would be thrown after bad". Dad was - still is, bless 'is cotton socks - scathing about the changes in banking in the 80s and 90s here in Australia.
  2. There seems to be some evidence that the engineers at BP overruled concerns raised by one of their number about the casing wall thickness.
  3. The Obama administration has reportedly send a bill to BP for their costs to date. Well, that only covers the direct clean up costs - what about loss of income? Is the US Government going to force thousands of small people to take a gamble (and it IS a gamble - if they lose, they could be slugged with BP's legal costs [don't EVER believe the rubbish about no win-no cost legal actions: it is no win-no fees from your legal reps by maybe other sides legal fees awarded against you by the court]) by joining in a class action? That is, of course, IF they can - what if, for instance, the fisherman I heard being interviewed has already been sent to jail? How will he be able to join in? Is the Obama administration going to stand up for the small people affected by this, as well as for government costs - are they going to make sure the small people get some relief from mortgage and other payment requirements? BEFORE anyone is driven to commit suicide, or suffers serious loss of wellbeing from worry ... Not to mention the environment ...

This post's photo is from a time when I was living in small yacht on Western Port (often incorrectly referred to as "Westernport Bay"). Where I lived was a former mangrove swamp (which, sadly, was damaged for construction of the marina): we had fish breeding in the marina, crabs living in the mud - it was a plethora of life. It was also exceedingly fragile ... Westernport has lost seagrasses, sometimes thought by people to be as a result of a steel mill and oil & gas terminal (where they receive the raw product, and then pump it around 50km or more for processing; this is done because of the massive risks involved in oil/gas ships entering through Port Philip's heads (Port Phillip is also often referred to as "Port Philip Bay", or just "the Bay") although the loss may be due to agricultural effects - see here. Either way, I'm very aware, as a result of what happened in a place I was living, of the impacts humans can have on the environment.

Tags: attitudes, personal characteristics, personal responsibility, emotions, energy work, ethics, environmental, gratitude, guides, crystals,

First published: Sunday 6th June, 2010, D-Day

Last edited: Sunday 6th June, 2010

Saturday 5 June 2010

Post No. 118 - Saturday morning: rescues, blog maintenance, sleep ins and UFOs [Content Warning - violence]

Last night I had the impression (i.e. psychic impression) that I needed to do some rescue work. I was too tied to do so, however (end of the working week), so left it until this morning. When I arose, lit some patchouli, did the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (see here for a description - fairly long post, though), invoked Kether, sat on my 12kg chunk of rose quartz (it's nice and flattish - and has a tendency in the morning to be cold-ish ... ), and started.

First up was a woman who had died around 50 years ago in childbirth, and spent the intervening time looking for her child. She sort of knew she was dead, she definitely knew she was in pain - physical pain and other pain, but her mothering instinct drove her to put finding her child to make sure he was safe ahead of looking after herself. She didn't know she had spent 50 years doing this: the "concept" of time is a bit different in the astral. With the Guides help, we arranged for the soul who had been linked to the child, who had been still born but had passed over to the Summerlands without problem, to present as an image of a mature young adult, and that was enough to gain the mother's attention, and she readily moved over to be with her child. The woman had been drawn to my primary partner, who has suffered dreadful period pain all her life since puberty: the link was the physical pain, and unfortunately the earthbound mother's pain was contributing (a tiny amount) to my partner's pain.

Next up was a thug, who tried to challenge me by getting up close - "in my face", so to speak. That made my job ridiculously easy, as I simple grabbed him and pulled him into my aura, kept him there, and pulled the anger and rage units he was using out of our shared aura. After a few minutes of this, he meekly followed the Guides into the Light, as did his rather brow-beaten followers ... Such entities do exist, and do actively and intelligently seek power over others: they were quite possibly like that in life, and found the "invisibility" of being dead and earthbound a useful tool.

Finally, there were a few people who were differently-abled. Some of these people had never known a wheelchair, and had perceived themselves as being unable to pass into the Light. A few astral thought forms of chairs, and they were away. Somewhat disturbingly, one of these people was someone I knew from primary school, where I had been somewhat keen on her: she must have passed fairly recently, I felt. I can't check that, though, as we lost contact decades ago ...

This all took about ten minutes - it took longer to write about it, with the "help" of various cats seeking attention ... Rescues are not always as tricky as shown on Ghost Whisperer ...

I also, after having done this formally since 1984, have decided to start keeping a diary of my rescue work. It might be interesting to look back at that in years to come - might even help with my writing.

I've written about rescue previously, including "Shades of Exorcism", "Mediumship (Part Three)", "Know Thyself, Be Thyself and Occlumency: A Mediumship Primer", "A service to guide to souls of the Dead", "Families, Funerals and Bev Brock", and a few other places.

Now, blog maintenance. I'm currently working on making an off-line copy of my blog - partly in case there is a recurrence of recent problems, and partly to make it easier for me to do things like check for previous posts ... I started this once before, but didn't bother to continue it. Now, I've made good progress, and am at a stage where I can at least start to use it. Some of this I can do while on-line, but with my battered lap top, with only three quarters of the screen working and a predisposition for keys to decide to get sticky or inoperative at times (not all the typo's are my fault - really :D ), the off-line option gives me more flexibility (and there is the back-up thing ... :) ). As part of this, I am planning on updating the tags I've applied to my earlier posts for the more extensive list of tags I've developed as I progressed ...

Unfortunately, I'm not going to try and fix up the typo's ... that's too much work!

Now, we come to the last topic: sleep ins and UFOs. Yes, these are connected :) To set the scene, when I was in my teens, I was fascinated by - amongst MANY other things - astronomy (for navigational purposes), and spent quite some time late at night out in the back yard of a small country town in Queensland (hello Mackay!) - in fact, it was small enough, and the place we were in isolated enough, for me to get quite a good view of the stars back then, in the 1970s. I also saw ball lightning (chased it from the back yard to the front: it was about 2' in diameter, floating just above the eaves of the "Queenslander" [two storey house, with the lower 'storey' open]), and on occasion, had the impression that I should turn round: I did so, and saw a small, bright light, larger than the largest star, which as soon as I made eye contact, rose vertically until it disappeared - at a speed that was simply not possible for any sort of plane (keep in mind that my father was training to be an RAAF navigator at the end of the Second World War, and I have had a fascination with planes most of this life - the local airport was favourite haunt of me and a friend of mine, and he even managed to talk us into the control tower once; up shot is, I've been making objective assessments of planes since I was small, so that is not an idle statement). Later, in my 20s, I had the habit of going for a run every morning, at around 5am. I was an early to bed, early to rise person back then (I refused to have a TV, or even a phone, for much of the time I am writing about, so would often read and then have an early evening; more importantly, in the tropical heat running early was often the only safe time to do vigorous exercise). Anyway, one morning I woke up feeling a bit tired, and decided to stay in bed. I enjoyed the sleep in, and dreamed on being on a UFO. Later, I found out that a large cigar-shaped "mother ship" had been seen off the beach I normally ran to, at the time I would normally be there ... AUUUGGGHHH!!!!!!!

Oh well, at least I clearly visited the UFO astrally ...

Now, I've done it again. I woke up early-ish for a Saturday, about 6am, while it was still dark, and went back to sleep. Later, as I drove about the 'burb attending to various chores (like paying the rent), I found out (on a radio news broadcast) that UFOs had apparently been seen up and down the east coast of Australia - and I'D SLEPT THROUGH IT .... AGAIN! *sigh*

3rd time lucky?

Anyway, at least I'll enjoy heading over to MUFON and CUFOS to see if I can find out more about it (although I find it hard to get the sites to respond at times: maybe they don't like Firefox or NoScripts?). Interestingly, I'd had the urge to look for UFOs from a few weeks ago until a week or so ago. Did I miss a message this morning? I'll have to do some self analysis/investigation ... Maybe if I had done the rescue last night I would have got a wake up call ...

I also acknowledge that working astrally with aliens is feasible, and probably has some benefits - such as sleeping in when exhausted, and it seems I woke later than the sightings anyway ...

My previous posts on this include " "Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth" and "Aliens Among Us": a Personal View", "Working Together", and "Aliens, and the ubiquity of the "Book religions" symbology".

PS - the sightings may actually have been a rocket that developed problems and left a spiral trail behind it. See here


 



 

 



Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: about me, aliens, earthbound, rescue,

First published: Saturday 5th June, 2010

Last edited: Sunday 6th June, 2010