Post No. 2,872 - Some interesting reading/viewing

Here are some llinks that might of interest or value:

• “5-years No-Contact!?”   https://youtu.be/78uLDx2FeT8   Although this no-contact was likely initiated by attitudes to autism, the principle of using this for our mental health & wellbeing applies to other areas as well      

• [CW - language]   “Realness, Rebellion and Sovereignty | The Self-Loving Witch”   https://youtu.be/DKot5Ot_9Zs   This is excellent on personal sovereignty - including self-love and personal responsibility/accountability, and has some excellent social commentary, including on amathiac assumptions by outsiders about witches/spirituality/mystics ... and I like the term “real life mystic”      

• “Are You Angry? It Means You're Smart”   https://www.okdoomer.io/are-you-angry-it-means-youre-smart/   “So, watch out when someone bashes their opponents simply for using anger to get things done. They'll try to tell you that anger doesn't work, when in fact anger does work. That's precisely why they don't want their opponents to get angry. They don't want to listen to you or treat you with the respect you deserve. If you never get angry, it means nothing ever has to change.   Neoliberals love it when vibes displace action.”   And as someone who has seen what angry bigots can do, I’d argue there’s a case for managing anger as well ... Furthermore, I have seen and experienced what long term gains can come from other emotions - but the arguments in this article deserve genuine consideration       

• “Can you spot autism?”   https://youtube.com/shorts/pqjRHB40yUE   This is an outstanding short video     

• “Is #ActuallyAutistic invalidating to Self Diagnosis? (Short)”   https://youtu.be/05brZwjUUr8   I might have to explore that channel a bit more ... especially as it also includes   “Shaming Disabled Kids (Short)”   https://youtu.be/NAW2y-Nn7As   (I have subscribed)  

• “When Autistic YouTubers COLLIDE!”   https://youtu.be/9SXFTWQoIjs   This was a very engaging and interesting chat between two Autistic YouTubers       

• this week’s “afterlife report” by the  Zammits:  
     https://www.victorzammit.com/September6th2024/  
  

• my   candle magick for the world  and   candles in the service of life incl human rights & democracy & caring for the world; 

• my recent posts on my political blog:  
• “Israeli anger at Netanyahu   [Note: Content Warning - links to reports on violence/abuse/war. Reader discretion is advised]”   https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2024/09/israeli-anger-at-netanyahu-note-content.html      “On responsibility and accountability   [Note: Content Warning - links to and discussion on violence/human rights abuses/war. Reader discretion is advised]”   https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2024/09/on-responsibility-and-accountability.html      “Some thoughts on digital safety and more on activism”   https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2024/09/some-thoughts-on-digital-safety-and.html      “A question: where does cluelessness / being out-of-touch come from?”   https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2024/09/a-question-where-does-cluelessness.html      “Ambitious plan by ALP Albanese government against domestic and gender based violence”   https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2024/09/ambitious-plan-by-alp-albanese.html     
  
  
• also from YouTube:
  

• from YouTube and elsewhere on neurodivergence: 
• redefining relationships for autistic people - it’s time for respect; 
  
  
• autistic meltdowns are NOT temper tantrums: emotionally distressed reactions;
  
  

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below, and there’s also Instagram. 

Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here. 

(Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear)   

Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither).

 

Copyright © Kayleen White 2007-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-ShareAlike basis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/   

 

 

 

Post No. 838B - the third set of keywords

Owing to Blogger's limits on keywords, when I have a lot I have to post them in batches. This is the third lot of keywords for this post.

Keywords:

abuse of power, anger, animals, artificer, attitudes, authentic presence, awareness, balance, Balanced Positive, Bhakti, blackmail, blood, challenge, change, chaos, children, circle, clairvoyance, concentration, consequences, control, death, Deities, dimensions, discrimination, divination, dowsing, Earth (element), earthbound entities, elements, emotions, energy work, equal and opposite reaction, ethics, evil, faery, faith, family, fear, fight or flight or network and nurture, Fire (element), focus, folk lore, forgiveness, friends, genes / genetics, gifts / giving, grounding, growth orientation, guilt, healing, history, honour, ignorance, informed decisions, insularity, invisibility, invocation, isolation, judging others, justice, knowledge, language, levels, limitations, love, Mӕgan, magic, magickal language, magickal techniques and styles, magickal tools, manifestation, metaphysical mass, metaphysics, moral courage, motivation, mythology, myths, names, neochristianity, nightfall, Paganism, pain, Pentacle, pentagram, personal responsibility, perspective, phenomena, power, prejudice, preparation, prophecy, protection, psychic attack, psychic development, psychism, psychology, racism, reincarnation, rescue, residue, responsibility, revenge, risks, rituals, sacrifice, scepticism, Seelie, self knowledge, sexism, shielding, (the) Sight, society, spells, Spiritual Maturity, spirituality, subconscious, submissiveness, sunrise, survival after death, teaching, telepathy, temperature, tests, thaumaturgy, the Greater Good, train others how to treat us, uncooperative, understanding, undetectability, Unseelie, ward, werewolf, yoga,

Post No. 811 - The search for community

When I was a kid, I learned how to sail, and became involved in the sailing clubs of a couple of places we lived. The experience was novel to me and, with my enthusiasm for history, I became fascinated with the “traditions” of the sea –things like always going to help vessels in distress, and “the romance” of sail (no Internet links as everything seemed to be based around finding a relationship partner  “romantic” cruises and the like).

Now, although the traditions of the sea and romance of the sail do exist, I was a bit naïve about all this:

• there were economic drivers behind many of the situations that put people at risk, economic drivers (e.g., enabling the growth of empires) that I do not see very favourably now;
• there were “less admirable” traditions that I selectively didn’t acknowledge (although my adoptive father pointed me in the direction which led to me finding them out), things such as bullying crews, insurance claims that killed crews, and the appalling working conditions and life expectancy generally of crews from the era I was holding in such esteem – see here, here (and here), here;
• there was also the involvement of marine traffic in slavery, and things like gunboat diplomacy.

(Incidentally, real historical pirates were sadistic and violent  criminals, doing things like rape, torture, murder and locking women and children in a burning church, although they did have some democratic aspects.)

Closer to home, there was the aggressive behaviour of many competitive sailors (usually not the case with the best sailors, I have to say) – a fault I also exhibited at times, to my eternal shame, and which is a small part of the reason I am not rushing to get involved with sailing clubs again. (I avoid yacht clubs because, in my parlance, they’re the province of the upper class / elite, and involve expenditures of money that are, at times, truly obscene [if you don’t have money, most sailing dinghies need crews, so go to a sailing club, learn how to sail, make a commitment, and enjoy :) ]. And I have been treated shabbily by some of those four decades ago although I was welcomed and very well treated by two such clubs in Melbourne when we were training for the Gay Games in Sydney, so things have probably changed.)

There is also endemic discrimination in most of the sailing clubs I’ve been to – even nominally LGBT sailing clubs have discrimination, and the vast majority are white people from the middle and working class. My experience of such discrimination is something I’ve contributed to those trying to stamp that out (e.g., see the AYF’s policy – which has a few key gaps and silences, particularly on the offence of misgendering and the vexed issue of access to changing rooms, but is a start in the right direction), but it has left me with a profound wariness of returning to those environs at any time soon. I also want to write about the discrimination against women and others I’ve come across in sailing clubs in a “how to” book on sailing that I’ve started (and may not finish this lifetime … SIGH). To quite an extent, this problem reflects the problems of society – hence, in the 70s, women were largely expected to run the canteen, whereas now, there is an increasing acceptance of women as active participants in a range of sports, not just sailing – although there is still a way to go …

Elsewhere, I’ve generally been much warier of any sense of connection, belonging or community  – for instance, I never expected – nor received - that from work (I’m there to do a job and get paid), nor – perhaps because of my early experience with “Sunday neochristians” - from many of the religious / psychic / spiritual pathways I’ve been on (and I have been particularly surprised by, for instance, some of the nastiness of western followers of Buddhism, and some of social/human rights backwardness of some Spiritualists), until I came across Wicca. Finally, I though, I had found a place to “belong”.

In terms of some of the people I found there, that was certainly true, but I’ve subsequently discovered that there are some inherent problems in Wicca with respect to LGBT people (because Wicca is, when all is said and done, a fertility religion, and that has been broadly interpreted with a heteronormative bias), and I wound up identifying as a Pagan – a step taken knowing the tensions, splits and altercations in those communities. (Incidentally, I’ve never considered following Asatru or becoming Heathen because of the minorities there who are racist – and are opposed [see here, and here, for instance. This site is also a good source of objective information.)

So … from a generic point of view, what I’ve written about so far suggests that groups one can apply to join or have events one can go along to are rarely perfect (that includes my experience of nudists and polyamory groups – for instance, I’ve come across blatant transphobia in both). That just means you have to decide whether membership involves any unacceptable conflicts with your principles, and, if it does, either leave or, if it is for the Greatest Good, possibly consider advocating for change.

What about other groups – ones you don’t formally apply to join.

Well, most people would probably consider family to be a “good” example of such a group. I, on the other hand, am aware of the problems – sometimes quite profound – that can exist in families: control, abuse, domestic violence – including abuse by children, and so on. Many families are either good or no worse than neutral, but the simple truth is that families as a generic group cannot be relied on to be a nurturing community for everyone.

In my opinion, the best source of community comes from those people I term “my family of choice”: friends.

Of course, I have expectations around such friendships built predominantly on acceptance, compassion and liking –the sort of so-called friendship where people think they can be interventionist – particularly over what are essentially differences of opinion – do not, in my view, count as a friendship.

 

[1] BPM = Balanced Positive (spiritually) Mature. See here and here for more on this.
[2] Please see here, 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, Pagan Energy Worker, 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.

The real dividing line is not between Christianity and Islam, Sunni and Shia, East and West. It is between people who believe in coexistence, and those who don’t.

Tom Fletcher, Former UK Ambassador to Lebanon

• If your “gut” (your instinct/intuition) is telling you something is wrong, but logic and the available evidence is saying otherwise, the proper conclusion to draw is that you need better, more personally credible evidence. Your “gut” could be wrong, right, or missing the nuances / “shades of grey” . So could the available evidence.
• All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...

Tags: about me, connectedness, discrimination, family, friends, history, sexism, society, well being,

First published: Manadagr, 11^th January, 2016

Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Monday, 11^th January, 2016

Post No. 791 – Monday’s Maunderings

Well, now that my partner is out of hospital and recovering in a more bush-like suburb, I thought I’d put a few thoughts down on my Monday “off”, before I feed the cats in a couple of households and then head up to see her. I’ll begin with the limitations of family.

Now, I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog that not everyone is blessed when it comes to family: that view is based on the notion that families are capable of being beneficial – “good”, in a sense. Of course, that sense varies from person to person – some treasure the emotional support of a good family, others find their life’s meaning (which becomes unhealthy and harmful if it becomes obsessional, or to the exclusion of other families and individual humans) in families, some a way to pass the time.

Sadly, there are also grey areas, where a family that is superficially “nice” may be a hotbed of guilt trips for control, or the family – much as, in the Deverry series, slavery is described as “bad” because it accustoms people to being cruel – accustoms people to conflict, aggression and control, or family values that are nonBPLF (e.g., criminal conduct, which I have seen in some families).

Those, however, are topics for another time.

(Conflict in a family, incidentally, is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can – if done constructively – be a resolution of past conflicts / karmic issues – which is often best resolved when both sides agree calmly to let the other be.)

The main thing I want to cover here is that some otherwise genuinely good families can be a constraint on individuals - which is nothing to do with idiocy along the lines of people "not being good enough" for others. As an example, when studying metaphysics / spirituality in a serious way, it is often necessary for people to focus their time and energy on that. Now, this is NOT the problem of trying to deal with being “born on the wrong side of the tracks”, as that is a manifestation and exercising of society’s bigotry and prejudices, and thus is nothing healthy; but there are times when other interests validly supercede those of family.

Such circumstances are also a test of that family: if they are genuinely BPLF loving, they will not only accept, but embrace that individual moving on to something greater.

Unfortunately, in real life, such situations are often cursed with lack of vision / selfishness, or things such as people planning on being supported, rather than making a genuine effort to be an independent adult. Too often, some people make the mistake of assuming that THEIR need to learn in a family environment means everyone should learn in a family environment, which is a mistake that I have written about before.

Next, I’d like to move on to the possible use of education as a preventative influence.

The background to this is that I was watching the UK TV series “House of Cards”, and in one episode a group of thugs decide to run the Prime Minister off the road and bash him (which is a little improbable, but then, this is TV, and the shooting of the thugs afterwards is even more improbable). Now, I can understand the frustration, pain, isolation and desperation of people who have been devastated by that sort of government, but expressing it violently actually undermines society as well as making a constructive resolution of what is harming them less likely. From there, it was but a small intellectual hop, skip and a jump to note that the violence at anti-Muslim / pro-humanity rallies is counter-productive, and that the cretins spouting hate are doing the work of Da’esh (as mentioned in an article on a senior counter-terrorism police office, “bogans with slogans” do not help).

Clearly, however, these people do NOT understand that they are doing harm. So … what should be done about this (apart from the staples of energetic work)?

Well, to some extent, the topic has been partially considered in the debate over what to do with those who have become or are becoming violent extremists (e.g., see here and here), and, at those stages, the options can probably be simplistically summarised down to educate them - if they’ll listen and someone with eloquence will teach, or otherwise do some form of harm minimisation.

However, in my view, we ideally would cast our view further back, to when these people are being raised, and their characters are being moulded.

Now, we’re born with  our basic character, as a result of what we have done, learned and developed, and what we have failed to do, learn or develop, in our past lives – as well as a few things we take on or block temporarily for specific incarnations, but that is shaped by our experiences in this life. In a sense, what we bring into this life is the clay, and this life is the shaping and firing.

Families are one of the shaping influences, and this where “bad” families can be such a problem, but, in today’s world, peer and other influences are probably at least or even more significant. I think some neochristian once made a statement along the lines of “give me the child until seven, and I will give you the adult” – which is a chilling allusion to the last two millennia of neochristian social engineering.

What if, on the other hand, education also addressed students’ character? They are well placed to do so, and it has been done before – “classical” education in recent centuries, as well as in other eras - and those past experiences are good examples of why it won’t and, under current circumstances, shouldn’t happen.

Past examples have effectively been passing on the values and mores of society – e.g., militarism in ancient Rome and Sparta, neochristian “values” in the last two millennia, dedication to imperialism in British “public” schools over the last few centuries, etc.

Furthermore, many parents have the tragically wrong “mini me” approach to parenting, where they – incorrectly - think children exist to promulgate their own personal world view and values, and thus they would oppose anything even if it was genuinely BPLF “good”.

Nevertheless, in an ideal world (you know, the one so populated by unicorns there is a Department for Recycling Unicorn Droppings :) ), education would pick up the inadequacies of parenting, and would also correct the errors, in a BPLF sense. It would be something which avoids the “one size fits all” flaw of so much current thinking (e.g., this review is, in my opinion, probably fatally flawed by the assumption that something is only of value if it can be applied to a majority  whereas it SHOULD be more like this [thank you, A :) ] ), and would focus on the individual and their spiritual needs.

And, since that doesn’t exist now, all people can do is turn to their BPLF Guides – who have always been available, for those who care to listen, throughout the existence of this Universe …

For more on this, see here and here.

I was also going to discuss the fact that emotions are not more important than principles, but that is large topic, and will require its own post.

[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, Pagan Energy Worker, 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.

The real dividing line is not between Christianity and Islam, Sunni and Shia, East and West. It is between people who believe in coexistence, and those who don’t.

Tom Fletcher, Former UK Ambassador to Lebanon

• If your “gut” (your instinct/intuition) is telling you something is wrong, but logic and the available evidence is saying otherwise, the proper conclusion to draw is that you need better, more personally credible evidence. Your “gut” could be wrong, right, or missing the nuances / “shades of grey” . So could the available evidence.
• All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...

Tags: anger, children, control, education, emotions, family, growth, history, love, neochristianity, one size fits all, parenting, personal characteristics, stupidity,

First published: Manadagr, 30^th November, 2015

Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Monday, 30^th November, 2015