Post No. 441 - Reading

Well, I've been trying to read Lyn Webster Wilde's book "Becoming the Enchanter" (pub. Rider & Co, 2003, ISBN: 0712662294), and, at just over two thirds of the way through the book, have given up.

I've skipped ahead a bit, and it seems to be the same so I'll get into my problems with the book, which are:

1. EXTREME heteronormativity; and
2. that it is, despite the claim to the contrary, fairly standard paganism.

This sort of heteronormative [3] approach to paganism is a major problem for a good portion of those who are not standard cisgendered, heterosexuals. In fact, to be blunt, I know of groups where this has led to bigotry, prejudice and discrimination - some due to the absolute stupi- er, "lack of awareness" of people who have either grossly limited life experience and a pathological avoidance of media such that they do not even know of the L and G part of the LGBTIQ communities, let alone people who are not cisgendered. I have absolutely no idea whether or not Ms Webster Wilde has awareness of, or acceptance of, LGBTIQ people  but her book has the potential to exacerbate the problems that we do have.

Next, there was absolutely nothing in this book that I have not come across elsewhere, other than the DETAILS of the examination of the legends around Arianrhod [2].

Fairly early on, I began to suspect that the author may be playing a trickster role, similar to that which my Coyote ally ("power animal") and Carlos Castenada play. It was, therefore, no surprise to come across a statement, near the end of the book, where the author states that this book is indeed part of a test set for new members of the group she is in. After I gave up trying to read the book, I came across a review by Ayanna Haynes/Nimue at http://druidnetwork.org/reviews/books/becoming_the_enchanter.htm which further discussed this aspect of being the trickster, and also set out other sources of discomfort I have.

All in all, I personally wouldn't bother with this book, knowing what I now do - but if you do, be objective, thoughtful and detached / objective.

And now, some reading that I DO recommend (but provided you keep you thinking cap on!):

• https://returningtohouse.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/sunspot-cycles-and-human-behavior/;
• http://mariuveren.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/russias-unorthodox-worshippers/ (from The Wild Hunt), who wrote about the persecution they are experiencing;
• http://blogs.reuters.com/photographers-blog/2013/03/26/recharging-the-mystical-powers/ (of tattoos);
• http://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2013/04/pagan-groups-why-not.html;
• http://www.dailylife.com.au/health-and-fitness/dl-wellbeing/is-this-the-best-body-image-message-ever-20130312-2fxxp.html?rand=1363136724608;
• "Hunting for the Real Witch in Film", by BellaDonna Saberhagen: http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uspa&c=words&id=15360;
• http://arcane-asylum.blogspot.com.au/;
• "The Collective Shadow", by Diane Awenydd-Evans: http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uspa&c=words&id=15321;
• http://www.thorncoyle.com/blog/2013/04/11/margaret-thatcher-the-cosmos-and-me-2/, which is quite good to read in view of the vitriol against Thatcher because of the incredible damage she caused the UK and other nations who followed suit;
• http://spiritrescue.ning.com/forum/topics/energy-cords-1;
• http://www.h2g2.com/approved_entry/A1000774, which is probably one of, in not the, best short expositions on the cause of the Second World War that I've ever read;
• http://iands.org/home.html;
• http://spiritrescue.ning.com/forum/topics/the-unknown-lightworker-the-lightwarrior;
• http://wildhunt.org/2013/04/legend-tripping.html, which should be read while being mindful of Alaric Albertsson's WWSD idea - that is, "What Would the Saxons Do?", which is a guide to consideration of Unverifiable Personal Gnosis (UPG) type material, based on an acknowledgement of the change that would inevitably have occurred had Saxon paganism have continued to the present day without the slaughters and suppression of neo-Christianity.

[3] For an explanation of terms like heteronormative, cisgendered, etc, try here, here, here, here, and here. If you do not already know, the acronym LGBTIQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual/transgender, intersex and queer.

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

[2] Please see 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").

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")

My "blogiography" 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, and here and here for my "pagans for peace" project.

• May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
• A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
• Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
• Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other. 
• The means shape the end. 
• Spiritual love is far more than just an emotion - it is a concept, thoughts, actions and a way of living.

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY 

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE

Your children are not your children. ... They come through you but ... they belong not to you ... for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow KAHLIL GIBRAN

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW

People I'm currently following or reading, or have considerable respect for, include: 

• Red Catherine, a Romani woman living on Artemis, in South Australia; 
• T. Thorn Coyle; 
• The Wild Hunt; 
• Under the Ancient Oaks; and 
• the Order of Scathach.

Tags: Arianrhod, attitudes, Celtic myths, discrimination, groups, hate, health, history, links, negatives, paganism, prejudice, Sun, tattoos, violence, war,

First published: Manadagr, 15th April, 2013

Last edited: Monday 15th April, 2013

Post No. 396 - Negative learning and Mediocrity

Negative learning

There is a tendency to assume that, simply because we try to have a positive, effective learning environment in schools and elsewhere, that the only learning we can do is as a result of positive experiences.

That is not so. If, as a child, I am burned, I learn that fire can be dangerous, and that is actually a useful lesson. Mind you, yes, it would be better if I had simply listened, but some people NEED to learn "the hard way". (sigh ... :) )

The other thing to keep in mind is that we do experience a form of learning or training from negative experiences in life that may be less useful - in most cases, it seems that being disappointed or hurt by others (especially in love - e.g., having a partner die on them which, despite our best attempts to be rational if the death was accidental or from illness or other causes out of direct control, can still be perceived as abandonment) can contribute to being wary or reticent about being involved with others in future. That is a form of learning. Counselling will help overcome that to an extent, but then determination and effort is required to unlearn the habits that have been set in place by the negative learning.

This also applies to negative experiences from past lives. As an example, if you had been burned to death as a witch, you may be reluctant to get involved in anything connected with Wicca/witchcraft/paganism - you may, in fact, seem to be irrationally and vehemently opposed to such matters. The perception irrationality is simply because so few of us can perceive from one lifetime to another. In this case, a past life regression will help, and is the equivalent (if properly done!) of counselling now. Having done that, however, some persistent effort is required to break the habit that was taught and ingrained by our past, negative learning experience (look up Trauma Encoded Emotional Memory, or TEEM, which I think was developed by the author of the Neanderthal Predation theory).

Personally, I look further back (see here and here), to see if I had that experience because of a wrong I had committed previously - i.e., was this a negative karmic return? If it WAS, I celebrate - because undoing karma is actually a lot easier than having to do the learning that is required if the experience was to force you to look at some part of yourself that you've been avoiding.

Of course, it could simply have been due to, in modern lingo, "randomness" ... I suppose :)

Mediocrity

I recently read a comment somewhere about the extent of training that Vikings underwent, and how, as a result, they could do things that seemed terrifyingly impossible or miraculous to militarily untrained farmers and monks they raided.

The issue of training to the extent that one seems to be almost miraculously skilled or gifted is what I want to cover here.

I've seen videos of experts with the long (two handed) sword, and they are every bit as spectacular as Samurai with katanas (especially the disarming of an opponent move ... ). In fact, the Mongols needed to use their numerical superiority to defeat highly trained knights when they started invading Europe. More recently, some people may well be looking at the coverage of the Olympics in the media and marvelling at what elite, trained athletes can do ... which depends largely on training, including an objective ("scientific") assessment of what works and what doesn't, which has been developed over several decades.

The same applies to psychic matters.

When I was learning my psychic work seriously, back in the 80s, we practised our clearing and energy work intensely, and could do what others would think miraculous - including getting by on little sleep.

Consider this: is there a skill you have, or wish to have? How well developed would that skill be, if you worked genuinely and intensely at developing and refining it:

• 10 minutes per week, for say, one month;
• 1 hour every day, for a year;
• 12 hours a day, for ten years (now you're getting close to what elite athletes and mediaeval knights worked);
• 8 - 12 hours a day, for most of three incarnations (do you work full-time? If so, think on what you spend doing for 8 - 12 hours most days ... is it just work? What are you training your mind to be or do? Complain and be unhappy much during this time?);
• 24 hours a day for 200 years.

Huh? How can one work at something for 200 years?

Answer: in between lives - and think how skilled you would be when you arrived in your next life, and now think of some prodigies, like Mozart.

If you really want to excel at something, you will have to work at it - no if's, but's or maybe's. If you're already good at it, you have already put in the hours - no if's, but's or maybe's.

Now, here's the big question: what "should" you be seeking to excel at?

Basic/Underlying Concepts for this Post:

•  (will be posted in the next few days)

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")
My "blogiography" is here.
May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
The International Labour Organisation's definition of "full employment" is wrong, useless and misleading.
Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." on one side, and perspicacity on the other.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. EDMUND BURKE

Your children are not your children. ... They come through you but ... they belong not to you ... for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow KAHLIL GIBRAN

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

 Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW

Tags: attitudes, clearing, cross-training, education, excellence, karma, learning from mistakes, learning styles, negatives, negativity, past life regression, past lives, practice,

 First published: Laugardgar, 4th August, 2012

 Last edited: Saturday, 4th August, 2012

Post No. 268 - Thou shalt not say not, and addiction to chakras

In my early New Age experiences in the 80s, one of the accepted "rules" of wisdom, was that one should not use a negative in affirmations. Hence, for instance, if one wished to give up smoking, the affirmation would be along the lines of having a positive, such as clean breath, or better lung capacity, etc - smoking was not to be mentioned. There can be a point to this, and the example I often use (from my early learning) is "don't think of a pink elephant" - to which most people's response is to think of a pink elephant, and then banish the image.

However, as I was re-reading (actually, re-skimming; it is useful to go through something you've read as a bit of refresher from time to time - assuming it was good or useful - but it may not be necessary to re-read every single word) one of Katrina Raphael's first three books on crystals (she has apparently recently written a fourth), I came across a statement about - in effect - using a generator crystal to programme "not smoking" into one's being.

That got me thinking: is there a time when it is useful to use a negative - as in the sense of "not smoking"? How about "I will have the strength to not smoke"? Contains a negative, but maybe that is something which is needed as some stages of dealing with an addiction - which generally involves a series of steps along the lines of:

• naming the problem;
• acknowledging that the problem is a problem;
• wanting to be helped with the problem;
• seeking help with the problem.

If you're hooked on avoiding negatives, naming a problem may be a problem ...

The big step in my experience (which includes an ex-partner who I consider used to be alcoholic - although she no longer is) is that acknowledging a problem as being a problem is a big issue. I personally consider that this is relevant to the negative state of the world, as many people tend to become fixated on living in one chakra (see this post for an explanation of this concept). Typically, this involves living in the personally focused chakras, resulting in people who are selfish and/or materialist. That may be something they need to do for their evolution, but my experience is that many people have, in effect, become addicted to living in that chakra.

This could happen for a range of reasons, such as not knowing there is an alternative, socialisation, even advertising - whatever the reason, it is undesirable.

The spiritual ideal is being able to "live in" (or manifest the energies/attributes of) whatever chakra or combination of chakras is ideally suited to a particular circumstance. Too many people, in my experience, are unwilling to do so, and hence are inarticulate (shut down throat chakra), unloving (shut down heart chakra), emotionally crippled (shut down solar plexus chakra), unaware of spiritual aspects of life (shut down third eye or crown chakra), or uncaring about the physical world (shut down Earth Star chakra), etc, as a result of being focused on only one or two chakras.

In fact, I would go so far as to say they are addicted to living in that chakra, and need to treat the problem along the lines of it being an addiction.

In this case, education is key part of addressing the problem - perhaps much as education about the dangers of smoking have helped address the problem of smoking. The education about the problem of being addicted to living in only one or two chakras may include education being framed with a view to forming a balanced person as a whole. Recently one of our Universities decided to split undergraduate degrees into a general degree first, and then a specific degree. Their arguments for this confirmed my view that secondary education is failing, as it does not develop the person as a whole human being.

It would be interesting to see what would happen to this work if we were not generally so focused on such a small portion of ourselves.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")

Tags: negatives, affirmations, chakras, attitudes, personal responsibility,

First published: Tysdagr, 17th May, 2011

Last edited: Tuesday, 17th May, 2011