Post No. 711 - Some thoughts on reincarnation from a dream, and the Pagan Community Statement on the Environment

I'll actually begin with the Pagan Community Statement on the Environment, over at http://www.ecopagan.com/. I see that is now over 5,000 signatures, and so is well on the way to their target of 10,000 signatures by Southern Yule (midwinter) / Northern Litha (midsummer). It is fascinating to browse the signatures - there's a couple of Christians (at least), a Russian film star - and many other Russians, someone whose location was described as "Earth" and a wonderful array of all the various nations thereon, a South African author/environmental activist who included hermeticism in his path details, people from other continents, and a list of traditions that is richly diverse (Truth, Bhakti Wicca, Polynesian Polytheisme, a Buddhist in Ireland, a Warrior Priestess of The Divine Feminine Spirit/Mother [Yes! Yes! Yes!], and others), and leaves me wanting enough time to explore them all :)

Most of the signatures are individuals, but there are a few organisations signing up. I'll have the time to read them properly one day, I hope: I think it is going to be a fascinating exercise. No names I know personally as yet ... I'll have to email a few people and give them a nudge :)

One of the prime movers of this project, John Halstead, has written a few articles on this - see here, here, here, and here. (And I wrote - briefly - about signing up here.)

Now, my dream.

Basically, I do rescue work - basically, helping souls transition. Most times, that is helping people to pass from this world to the astral, which I do both consciously and while asleep. At times, I also help spirits come into this world - sort of a spiritual midwife - which is work I have thus far done predominantly whilst asleep. My mind has interpreted the imagery associated with this in a number of ways (symbols of travel, such as planes or trains, are fairly typical interpretations for me of the movement between levels, for instance - and of progress through life, in many instances). This time, I had the sensation of being the pilot (actually, one of a group of three, amongst many other pilots) for a fly-in-fly-out venture.

The sensation was of:

• the continuing cycles of lives, with each life being equated to a time on site working; 
• the return to the Summerlands/Astral/Land of the Golden Light in between lives, with a great relief at casting off negative energy, much as a traveller washes dirt off them after a day on dusty trails.

I actually found the second point quite reassuring, given the amount of problems and energies I am attempting to deal with.

Anyway, there it is: another, modern world analogy for reincarnation is: spiritual FIFO :)

[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.

[2] Please see here, here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy").

[3] I apologise for the formatting: it seems Blogger is no longer as WYSIWYG as it used to be, and there are a lot of unwanted changes to layout made upon publishing, so I often have to edit it immediately after publishing to get the format as close to what I want as possible.

 

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr, Wéofodthegn

(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux … aka Morinehtar … would-be drýicgan or maga ... )

My "blogiography" (list of all posts and guide as to how to best use this site) is here, and my glossary/index is here.

I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ... See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "Pagans for Peace" project (and join me for a few minutes at some time between 8 and 11 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate-clear for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour, and see also here and be flexible.

Tags: commitment, dreams, environmental, reincarnation,

First published: Wodansdagr, 27^th May, 2015

Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Wednesday, 27^th May, 2015

Post No. 312 - Pagans for Peace - the List

Following from my introductory post to this idea, here's the list:

• Gnwmythr, Australia, Energy Psychic, Level 8 (c)

As a reminder, the levels of commitment are as follows:

1. The first, most basic and most essential step of all: that of committment to the principle of:
   (a) world peace;
   (b) committment to the principle of world peace and an end to world hunger;
   (c) committment to the principle of world peace, an end to world hunger and a more caring, spiritual (in a genuine, mature sense) world;
2. I will light a candle, cast a spell, do a ritual or do what I can, when I can for that which I have committed to.
3. What I can do, when I can, and also joining in the Hope, Peace, Love and Prosperity spell on the 11th of each month.
4. What I can do, when I can, and meditating or doing rituals regularly (e.g. weekly) for what I have committed to.
5. What I can do, when I can, and meditating or doing rituals regularly (e.g. monthly or weekly) with others for what I have committed to.
6. What I can do, when I can, and aim to make charitable donations equivalent to what the "Make Poverty History" (see here and here) Campaign recommends for my nation's government.
7. What I can do, when I can, and print, make, and charge a Talismanic Tetrahedron for World Peace.
8. All of the above.

Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")

Tags: energy work, meditation, network, peace,

First published: Sunnudagr, 4th September, 2011

Last edited: Sunday, 4th September, 2011

Post No. 207 - Ageing and retirement

I first started this post when I wanted to put some thoughts down about retirement. Basically, I was going to comment about how that would, in reality, be progressive (which is better, in my opinion, than stopping suddenly - I recall the problems my adoptive father had when he did that). The "obvious" way to do that would be to cut down to 4 days a week (mind you, I've often joked about cutting down to 5 days a week!), then 3 days per week, and so on.

Well, that's nice.

BUT ... what I would like to do is have my initial stage (well, the stage after 4 days a week - that one I do like!) as: don't work during my favourite times of the year, which are - to use the European terms - autumn and winter (in the Kulin people seasons, that would be Waring, the Wombat season).

This would allow me to be quiet and introspective during the - to use the Wiccan cycle of the year - dark half of the year

Hmmm. Nice - I like that.

One thing I also like, is being healthy and active. In my particular case, I have done quite a bit of exercise for most of my life, and I enjoy being physically active, and it is very beneficial to me. In fact, I once read (and regret not having kept the citation) an article which reviewed the evidence cited as the basis for saying being overweight is bad for one's health, and the review found it was actually being inactive that was the problem.

This is something which is commented on in "The Only Planet of Choice", to the effect that, as one ages, it is important to maintain some physical mobility in order to prevent one's mind locking up. Well, I can't comment on that (although I know many people who successfully follow the "young at heart" attitude), but I have watched my adoptive father as he wastes away - particularly after my adoptive mother, his wife of over 50 years, passed.

Now, to some extent, that IS ageing - I should know, I have greater recovery time and more aches and pains (and a back that has arthritis, scoliosis and collapsing disks - my birth mother has just had a spinal fusion, so I'm thinking I have about 16 years to go ... and I am very aware not everyone CAN be active for reasons of different physical ability due to illnesses etc), but I have long held a theory that it is also lack of physical activity. Again, going on my personal experience, when work started to become more demanding, and I acquired family responsibilities, I know how hard it was to keep exercising, and how much my health suffered as a result.

On the other hand, I read a few years ago of an ex-commando who died at 102 and, until he became ill with the pneumonia that claimed him, did weight training for 2 hours a day plus a long walk. I would like to be able to do 2 hours of exercise (although much of my exercise is relatively gentle things like Tai Chi - which can be done sitting - and circling joints and stretching) - and 1 hour of meditation, breathing exercises and psychic exercises - every day. I can't at the moment, but I am working up to as much as I can.

If I can keep that going, it will be interesting to see if I can overcome the effect described in "The Only Planet of Choice" of the thinking of people on this planet contributing significantly to a much shorter lifetime ...

And in case I can't, I will live to the full - in MY way, which is a more reflective way than many others would be comfortable with, I suspect. (It certainly does NOT involve parties!)

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: health, ageing, attitudes, breathing, The Nine, commitment, love, about me, work, lifestyles,

First published: Laughnasdagr, 15th January, 2011

Last edited: Saturday, 15th January, 2011

Post No. 202 - Passing on by ...

I read a story in "The Age" a few months ago, an article which was basically a response by someone to a news story, about a young person who died after being stabbed in a raiway station car park, a young person who had three people working to help him whilst other commuters rushed by. You can read the article for yourself here (although, after some time they archive the original article).

It's shows both the best and worst of people: those who cared enough to stop and try to help - which can be scary. When I was a student at uni, I was jogging round the uni late one night when I saw a car hit a roundabout and roll over into the path of an oncoming car, which hit the roof of the rolled over car. As I went over to see if I could help, I was dreading what I would find, thinking of head injuries in particular, but it turned out that all the drunk driver had done was get a few scratches.

More recently, a few months ago, I came upon an accident when I was on a deadline to pick up someone after work. There were people already giving assistance, so I didn't stop, but it was clearly pretty bad.

If other people hadn't been helping, would I have been affected by the phenomena mentioned in the university experiment in the article? (I would have been affected by my dislike of not being able to do enough, my fear of being inadequate, if you will - and my dislike of seeing real life physical injuries. [1] ) Would my commitment to pick up someone close to me and take them to something important outweigh the drive to be a decent human being? Clearly, based on the uni study mentioned in the article, it is for some people.

If you had been there, how would you have reacted? Do you know that for sure?

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Notes:

1. To some extent I can trace this to an incident when I was in my early 20s, when I helped at an accident where an idiot in a car had cut in front of a truck on a wet day: the truck had locked up its brakes, and wound up skidding off the road and running over three teenager girls who were walking their pushbikes along the side of the road. There was no blood, but one of the girls clearly had a broken neck, and was in an immence amount of pain and VEY distressed.
   
   I can trace this also to past life influences - for instance, in my last life I was trying to stop bombers. If I didn't, I often got to see the slaughter a day or so later ...
   
   There are other past life influences as well: I'm working on all of these.

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: attitudes, commitment, fear, helping others, time constraints

First published: Sunnudagr, 2nd January, 2011

Last edited: Sunday, 2nd January, 2011

Post No. 138 - Training

As I was driving home this evening, I was listening to the BBC's World Update being transmitted by the ABC's News Radio; in particular, a segment on the coming 2012 Olympic Games to be held in London. What struck me, as it has before when considering elite athletes, is the hard work and dedication which goes into their sports - you can argue about the ethics of their decision (as I have - and as I personally contemplated when I was younger, given my relative local successes in sailing [1]), but you cannot argue that they put a massive amount of intelligently directed effort into bettering their performances.

Now, in many circles I move in, it is fairly fashionable to "bash" (that's a bit harsher than the reality: "be dismissive of" is more accurate) sports people, who - in, some cases, by their own admission - are not much for spirituality or political pursuits. (There are exceptions: for instance, the former Richmond player Brendan Gale has a good reputation on inclusion; the former Melbourne player Jim Stynes has done quite a bit for kids wellbeing [although the organisation he is associated with [the "Reach Foundation"] seem to be reluctant to acknowledge LGBTIQ issues - based on the lack of response to correspondence I've sent to them], and former cricketer Steve Waugh has worked to improve situations in India [e.g. a leper children's colony, "Udayan", in Calcutta.)

Probably worst of all is the macho culture around race car drivers - but you do have to (in my opinion) give credit where it is due, and acknowledge that many of these drivers do have courage. They may not have courage when they start, being, perhaps, blinded by the view of some youth that they are invincible, but after a few prangs, they know what they're in for, and yet they still give it their all - and that includes physical training as well as practising, in many cases.

I started writing this post a long time ago, when I read about the work that football player Nathan Buckley did (before he retired) when training. My reaction was, at that time, if psychic/spiritual people showed 10% of his dedication, they would do exceptionally well - as, in fact, those I know who do make such an effort do, in fact, do :)

As an example of this, consider Charmaine Wilson, who I wrote about in my post Reading and registers.

By being open minded, it is possible to find inspiration and ideas in a wide range of places.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Notes:

1. I chose not to pursue competitive sports because of the time, energy and commitment required, but I do value and advocate for exercise, team pursuits and getting out into the natural world - which are things that some sports can help with. I am also VERY aware of the potential mental-emotional benefits which potentially can come from being physically active. In my case, sailing kept me alive in my teenage years - it gave me a way to cope with the travails of being trans. If, however, I had not been successful at sailing, that may not have been as rewarding - which leads me to the downside of some sports, particularly for younger people, who may be, for instance, given a hard time by peers or parents.

Tags: commitment, cross-fertilisation (ideas), courage, training, dedication

First published: Tuesday 27th July, 2010

Last edited: Tuesday 27th July, 2010

Post No. 071 - Disenchantment and labels

I've posted a few times about labels, and about the various changes of spiritual
path/identification that I have made in the journey I am on in this lifetime. Well, I'm about to do more of the same :)

In a nutshell, I've been thinking about what labels feel satisfying to me in terms of my path:
labels that are useful in terms of communicating my beliefs to others (which rules out
almost everything except a multiple paragraph list ...), and that I feel proud to use. The
stimulus to change identifications in the past has been, to some extent, because I was no
longer "proud" (pleased, "OK with" may be better phrases: they just don't roll off the
keyboard as nicely :D ) to identify as, for example ... oh, say ... Christian (because of the
Sunday Christians - people who went to church on Sunday and stabbed you in the back on
Monday: but I tend to think of them as mostly being neo-Christians now anyway).

Well I've realised what my main discomfort with the term "Wiccan" is: people whose sole
or main focus is celebrating Esbats and Sabbats, and do not think to apply their skills
(whether those skills are rituals or magic or both or other) to trying to make this world a
better place. We've recently had some major earthquakes and some tsunamis: how many
Wiccans did a ritual for the survivors, let alone a ritual for the planet herself?

Some will have - I'm lucky to know such Wiccans, both here in Australia and overseas,
who would in fact have done exactly that. Unfortunately, I know others who wouldn't have
thought to.

That lack of awareness and lack of caring was made very apparent to me during the tragic
bushfires earlier this year here in Victoria. I was moved to go and start performing rituals, while some others I happened to contact at those times were barely paying attention. (That certainly cannot be said to apply to all the Wiccan and pagan communities: others organised public rituals, relief fund raisers, etc.) It is, however, on reflecting on the reactions of people now, as the bushfire Royal Commission progresses its work, that has led me to decide I will no longer identify as Wiccan.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted

Tags: attitudes, change, commitment, daily life, energy work, evil, healing, judging others, love, morality, personal characteristics, personal responsibility, responsibility, respect, self knowledge,

First published: Satuerday 17th October, 2009

Last edited: Saturday 17th October, 2009

Post No. 070 - Practising or non-practising: how many full moon rituals can I miss before I lose my status as a witch?

When I was growing up, it was a perfectly acceptable response to answer the question
"What religion are you?" with something like "I'm a Methodist [or Anglican, or Christian, or
X], but I don't practise". That was generally interpreted as meaning one had been raised in
a family which said it was Methodist, maybe because they had got into the habit of saying
it, but no-one went to church, or did any of the things one was supposed to formally do.

Actually, maybe their practice of their faith was simply not based around the outer
dressings of their faith. As an example, when my (adoptive) mother died, I found out how
many church activities she had been involved in (day trips, fund raisers, social groups,
volunteer work), but she had never been strong on going to church. I don't think she liked
the sorts of sermons they dished out in those days.

Well, this is a topic that has been exercising my mind lately. I missed the last full moon
again, though illness, and started thinking: at what point should I say I'm a practising or
non-practising pagan/Wiccan/Druid? There are quite a few aspects of being
pagan/Wiccan/Druid that are about your attitudes and thinking processes, so the rituals
are, to some extent, merely the outer trappings that result from your inner thoughts and
attitudes - which is something Rampa wrote about.

On that, I've been rereading some Rampa books, and getting annoyed at the sexism and
misogyny as much as enjoying aspects of the books. I've also realised that one of the
problems I had with being Buddhist, back in the days when I was, was that when people
asked me about being Buddhist, they really meant "what are the outer manifestations of
your inner state of being that you do?" They didn't care that I was committed to being as
decent (compassionate) a human being as I could be: they wanted to know if I meditated
naked round the may pole under the full moon. OK, so I mixed my stereotypes then, but -
hey! I mix my paths as well :D

On questions about being Buddhist, that also applied to questions I had about what version
of Buddhism I followed - questions usually asked by people who knew a little about
Buddhism. Well, even that was problematic. For a start, when I "converted", people talked
about Mahayana and Hinayama, which is a split that I understand dates back to the fourth
Great Council, held in Kasmir in the first or second century CE under the patronage of the
Kushan Emperor Kanishka: suddenly there was all this talk about "Theravada": Theravada?
Where the hell had that come from? (I've also since discovered that "Hinayama" may be
seen as a pejorative (abusive) term for what is now more widely known as Theravada,
which is probably closest to the original teachings of Buddha. I guess all my early texts
had been written by Mahayana Buddhists!)

I've now realised that, effectively, what I was following was Vajrayana, sometimes called
Tantric Buddhism, which - to simplify it to the elements I practised - means "self
generation as the Deity". In other words, being the change you want to see. BEING
compassionate and caring and aware and responsible in your thoughts, attitudes,
emotions, actions and deeds. It didn't matter what rituals you did or didn't do, it mattered
how you lived your life. (I used to think this was a division of Mahayana Buddhism, en
Buddhism is a division of Mahayana Buddhism, but Vajrayana really is a third "version" of
Buddhism.)

I guess, in that sense, I was an actively practising Buddhist despite not being able to
answer with the appropriate label. My mother was an Anglican despite not having set foot
in a church since I'd dragged her in there when I was confirmed (yes, I had a Christian phase too!).

And I'm pagan now whether I do the rituals or not.

But I might just say I'm a non-practicising pagan occasionally, just to stimulate a bit of
thought :)

I'll also answer any question about "So what do you do as a 'X' [insert religion of choice]?"
with "I think like one."

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted

Tags: attitudes, Buddhism, commitment, communication, daily life, interpersonal interactions, growth, life lessons, personal characteristics,

First published: Saturday 17th October, 2009

Last edited: Saturday 17th October, 2009

Post No. 056 - Musing: a new "world religion"?

One of the things the controversial author Lobsang Rampa (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobsang_Rampa) has written about is the development of a new "world religion", in the sense that every few hundred years a new major religion seems to come along (e.g., Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc). He predicted that a new religion would come, with an inclusive basis (although I suspect his interpretation of "inclusive" may have been cultural and/or racial; Rampa suffers from being quite sexist at times, and shows a limited understanding of homosexuality etc). At the time I read that, when I was young (a teenager), I was quite happy to be Buddhist, and didn't put a great deal of effort into thinking about it. Now, a few decades later, I have been spiritualist, shamanka (which I understand to be the female version of the word "shaman"), Druid, Wiccan, etc, and have friends, family and acquaintances of many other faiths (including Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam) I have asome experience of the commonality behind these various religions. (I also know of some of the differences, but thjat is a topic for another time and place.)

I've talked to people doing religious study courses (and am doing a Coven based study course [see Septen Seethers] which covers a dozen established pathways). Maybe there is "room" (or perhaps "need"?) for a new, major world religion which facilitates bringing people and other paths together?

Rampa said, back in the 70s, that the leader of the new world religion had not yet been born, but that some of the coming leader's supporters were active, and preparing the world for this. I'm not aware of being one of those "supporters", incidentally :) However, it would be nice to be able to contribute to the world being better in a big way, so I'll do that in my little way by suggesting that it could be worth you, dear Reader, thinking about what you would like to see in a new "world religion", what could possibly lead you to change any current belief/disbelief system you have and join it, and what type of movement would lead you to want to be a better person.

Happy musings :)

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: religion, about me, change, control, inventiveness, commitment, communication, leadership, personal characteristics, personal responsibility,

First published: Saturday 8th November, 2008
Last edited: Saturday 8th November, 2008

Post No. 048 - Opportunities

Last night I took my partner’s daughter’s dog for a walk. It was a pleasant experience, and good exercise to boot. More than that, though, it was an opportunity.

I’m generally wary of saying things like “do good”, but I have to say that is possibly one of the best phrases I could apply to this opportunity. As I walked the streets, I can lay a trail of positive energy and – in my case – remove any undesirable (I’m aware there’s a whole debate in each of these terms!) energy, such as clearing clouds of anger energy that others may have left floating round the place.

Other psychic opportunities present themselves to us, concordant with our abilities.

To understand this, think about attitudes to littering: in the 70s (if you were there). I can recall many people not caring about dropping rubbish: now, most people won’t litter, and many will actually pick up rubbish (or join in things like Ian Kiernan’s “Clean Up Australia” day). This is the psychic equivalent: caring about our psychic environment and (psychic) pollution in it as much as the physical environment.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is of Mt Wellington, which is near Hobart, Tasmania (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Wellington_%28Tasmania%29)

Tags: attitudes, commitment, daily life, energy work, mirrorology,
First published: Thursday 7th August, 2008
Last edited: Thursday 7th August, 2008

Post No. 033 - Links to interesting reading

Here are a few other interesting articles for you:

From Lipstick Mystic (at http://www.lipstickmystic.com), an article "Happy Earth Day and a Meditation to Help You Feel More Grounded - 4/22/05 " which talks about grounding, including the Earth Star chakra below our feet:

http://www.lipstickmystic.com/articles/articles042205.html

An article from the excellent Witchvox website: "Grounding: Cultivating Your Root", by Quinta Essentia Healing, which is also about grounding - see http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usri&c=words&id=12058

Another article which talks about a bfew chakras is at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/reiki.sounds/THE%20MAIN%20CHAKRA%20SYSTEM.htm

MM dear Reader,

There have been some interesting articles published recently on various sites. For a bit of a change from my voice, the links are:

From the Druid Journal blog (at http://druidjournal.net/):
“The Tao of Leadership”, URL http://druidjournal.net/2007/11/14/the-tao-of-leadership/

From, of all sites, Crikey (http://www.crikey.com.au/):
“Whatever happened to moral leadership”, by Denis Muller, URL http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20071120-Essay-whatever-happened-to-moral-leadership.html

From Witchvox (http://www.witchvox.com/):
“Blood Oaths: Making Them and Breaking Them” by Caelum Rainieri, URL http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uswa&c=words&id=12108

“The Mayan Prophecy for 2012”, by (Mayan Priest) Bob Makransky, URL http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=gtxx&c=words&id=11971

“The Dragon in Wicca and Witchcraft”, by Draconis Wierinsan Kinthasil, URL http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usmi&c=words&id=12048

“O Say Can You See?”, by Luna Morgan, URL http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usca&c=words&id=11973

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

 

This post's photo was taken near Lancefield in August, 2004: it is dawn, taken on a work trip.

Tags: personal characteristics, responsibility, respect, prophecy, commitment, leadership, morality

First published: Thursday 22nd November, 2007
Last edited: Sunday 13th January, 2008