Post No. 501 - Being organised

When I was a kid, I catalogued my books the way my primary school library did, and then tried to charge my friends 20 cents to borrow them - mercenary intentions, I know (I wanted money to buy more books), but I was too soft a touch and don't think I got any money from anyone :) What was more to the point, though, in the context of this post, is that it was the beginning of my attempts at being organised.

I've run several cataloguing systems with my books, and the old card index system I had was probably, in many ways, the best, but I do have to admit the advent of affordable personal computers (not the ones that initially came out, costing around $5k a pop) has made life easier - mainly because of the search function. All I have had to do is get to grips with what search functions won't do, and develop a minimalist system to cater for that.

This also applies to my day job, where it is often more important to know where to get information, than to try to become a walking, sitting and coffee guzzling encyclopaedia of knowledge ... and just managing (up to a score or so, for me) work assignments can be an issue in itself, and I've tried whiteboards on my desk, formal calendar systems, etc, before finding that entries into the spreadsheet I use to record my hours so I can enter my timesheet each week probably the most effective.

In terms of my spiritual life, remembering things like Sabbats and Esbats is easy enough, but finding the time and energy to actually do something about them is more of an issue ...

As far as this post goes, what I wanted to cover was how I keep myself organised in terms of lighting a fortnightly cycle of candles (on the nshrine site). As for that, I basically have a Word document where I have headings for each day in the fortnightly cycle (e.g. first Monday, Second Wednesday, etc), and then under each day heading I create sub-headings for the purpose or destination of candles, and then under each of those I write the text I wish to use and a hyperlink to the shrines I wish to paste that into.

So, for example, the index looks like this:

and a particular entry may look like this (without the actual words, which range from personal and/or sensitive through confidential to sacred):

I used to have entries for each goal, but that wound up having far too many candles to be lit, so I collated them under the candles I would light for each rune, for instance, which helped enormously, and them more recently added the hyperlinks which made another major improvement in reducing the time required to do this.

This is all fairly trite, but it is worth thinking about how to organise one's practice to be efficient and effective, I suggest.


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

[2] Please see 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"). 

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr 
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux? Morinehtar? Would-be drýicgan ... )

My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) 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 at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag.

• One size does NOT fit all. 
• Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if  the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
• May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
• Ban the dream interpretation industry! 
• A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
• Housework is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo or belittle others.
• Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
• Expertise at intimacy and emotional happiness is generally not the same thing as spiritual growth.
• "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
• Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." 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. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
• The means shape the end.  
• As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
• My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films. 
• All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ... 

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (who was quoting 19th century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)

Jesus loves you.  Odin wants you to grow up. (Facebook meme, according to John Beckett)

Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious. JANE ELLIOTT 

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

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN

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

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech) 

Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968

Tags: about me, professionalism,

First published: Sunnudagr, 29th December, 2013

Last edited: Sunday, 29th December, 2013 

Post No. 383 - Guilds

Guilds, when I first came across them, were explained to me as being a bit like a union, only also concerned with making sure their members had the appropriate skills to be able to practice their work. Now, I'd say that's not quite correct, and that I tend to see guilds as a bit of a gatekeeper deciding who is and who isn't allowed to practice a particular job first, and the worrying about skills comes second.

As an engineer, I am a member of a professional body: the Institution of Engineers Australia. That body doesn't decide who can and cannot be an engineer (that depends on universities and a few sets of Government regulations), but it does provide a Code of Ethics, ongoing training to help maintain standards and competence, and - very importantly - audits to make sure of things like doing enough ongoing training (I passed my last audit, just over a year ago, and have just under a couple of years until my next one). They also receive and investigate complaints about the conducts of engineers, but complaints can also be made to several Government bodies, and through the courts.

Unions act to get the best employment deal possible for the workers they represent (and there is, by the way, a union for engineers in Australia - APESMA).

So, in my experience, guilds don't seem to exist much anymore - but they have been around, and fairly recently. The friend who started my journey with runes has referred to a rune guild when talking about this early training (and I know, for instance, that they use slightly different pronunciation on some words than I do). Has the ready access to information of the Internet killed off such matters as guilds? Has more widespread democracy and the social changes of the last century and a half or so, with the reduction of the class system and the notion that some people are better than others (mind you, I actually do hold to that view - and I note that Dr Martin Luther King Jr never said people shouldn't be judged, only that they shouldn't be judged by the colour of their skin ["where ... are judged, not by the colour of their skins, but by the content of their character" - or words to that effect]) made the notion of someone choosing who can or can't be "in" unacceptable?

I tend to think demonstration of competence is the best way to demonstrate one's suitability to do something, but that relies on giving people tests albeit under supervised circumstances - and ignoring clashes of personality, notions of having "served one's time", etc. It also assumes that such matters can be adequately tested - which they could, in the case of a trade-based guild from the Middle Ages, but is harder to do so in the case of a complex profession such as engineering.

When you come to something like runes, or psychic ability in general, where do you begin?

I've been led to this contemplation because I am rereading some of Jim Butcher's "The Dresden Files" books, and am somewhat unimpressed by the Council he describes as overseeing wizards. Mind you, in one of the books (I'll post the reference if I can find it again PS - it is "Turncoat") he also gives a fair defence of their apparently simplistic, off-handed attitudes towards enforcing the rules around magic in the Dresden-verse.

In real life .... I think a visible and genuine commitment to a credible Code of Ethics is probably the best we can do [1]. There is just too much in the realms of psychism for any one group to have a realistic hope of enforcing standards (for instance, think of the broad range of paths in Wicca: who would presume to enforce anything in that world????).

Hmmmm. Not sure where this leads me to, but maybe it is of some benefit to someone out there.

There's another thought I've had as I re-read Jim Butcher's "Summer Knight" for the third time, and it has come about as a result of his commentary on the alienness of meeting someone in the fae, and how the Unseelie weren't all anti-human (my words), and the Seelie weren't all pro-human. The problem is the arrogance of humans, who see themselves as being above other things. This is a little like an earthquake, which possibly causes damage, injury and illness. The earthquake didn't say "I will seek to be evil", it was something that relieved stress in the Earth. Our problems were ... too small to register in that awareness, in a sense. Ever step on an ant? Ever think anything of it? I know some people - particularly Buddhists, Jainists and those in some Asian cultures - have, but for the rest of you, think about what you did (even if it was  accidental) from the perspective of the ant: maybe you will feel a little like the human suffering from the effects of an earthquake. Were you evil? If you did that deliberately, perhaps; if it was genuinely accidental, and there was some valid reason for you not to notice the ant, possibly not.

As another example, consider what happens on a playground. Some adults consider kids should sort their arguments out themselves; based on my experience, that risks leading to an opinion that the so-called "Law of the Jungle" applies, and that physical strength matters more than right. Others tend to do the helicopter parent thing, and get over-involved, which prevents kids from learning and developing in much the same way that an environment that is too clean can prevent their immune system from developing. Very few are capable of keeping an appropriate perspective on their kids' problems, and help the kids see that and grow the character strengths and skills they should.

There are greater forms of life than humans in this universe (there is even an idea that the ultimate expression of life is as a sun, which then gets into the whole solar systems are like atoms thing, and maybe all the suns together are art of something greater, just as each of our individual cells is part of something - well, bigger (us).

And now, more reading.

• http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/04/just_how_powerful_are_you.html;

• http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/05/01/8-rules-to-stay-productive-when-you-work-for-yourself/;

From "The Age":

• "Australia's jobless figures need some work" (about the stupidity of some statistics), 11th May, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/business/australias-jobless-figures-need-some-work-20120511-1yhea.html;

• "Good news: the world's not ending, according to the Mayans" (a bit of common sense that I've actually come across elsewhere), 11th May, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/world/good-news-the-worlds-not-ending-according-to-the-mayans-20120511-1yhuu.html;

• "Housemate lottery" (my father once had a lot of trouble understanding why I wasn't moving in with others: this explains some of the problems fairly well - and then there is the psychic side of things ... ! ), 10th May, 2012: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/housemate-lottery-20120509-1ycuo.html;

• "Rise of the twitchfork mob: how to civilise the web", 9th May, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/rise-of-the-twitchfork-mob-how-to-civilise-the-web-20120509-1yc2f.html;

• "Both sexes are to blame for misogynist vitriol against Gillard", 8th May, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/both-sexes-are-to-blame-for-misogynist-vitriol-against-gillard-20120507-1y8zg.html;

• "Bikies little threat to society - police study" (to assess this properly, though, one needs to know whether the percentage of the population who are bikers is more or less than 0.37%), 7th May, 2012: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/bikies-little-threat-to-society--police-study-20120506-1y73e.html;

• "Reason and rationality alone are unlikely to change minds" (particularly well worth a read!), 7th May, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/reason-and-rationality-alone-are-unlikely-to-change-minds-20120506-1y6yh.html;

• "Top policeman lashes out at drug 'national disgrace' in wake of rave arrests", 7th May, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/top-policeman-lashes-out-at-drug-national-disgrace-in-wake-of-rave-arrests-20120506-1y73y.html;

• "Hitting a high note for reconciliation" (also well worth a read), 7th May, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/national/melbourne-life/hitting-a-high-note-for-reconciliation-20120506-1y71l.html. 

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear") 
 May the world of commerce & business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.

Notes:

1. Consider the following, from my post "Reading and registers":

• through this book, I came across an organisation called the Australian Psychics Association (which voted the author "Australian Psychic of the Year" in 2005), which has a Code of Ethics for members, and obliges prospective members to provide both a Statutory Declaration that they are who they say they are (i.e., an accurate psychic), AND three Statutory Declarations from satisfied past clients.

I think the idea behind the Australian Psychics Association is interesting, but my Wiccan background leaves me wary of the prohibition they have against misuse of spells in their Code of Ethics: it is well intentioned, and I can't specifically fault it, but I consider recommending that any use of witchcraft/spells be in accordance with the Wiccan Rede would be more appropriate.

There are other matters I would include also: directly mentioning respect for free will, acknowledging that all this is subject to the law (it is, you now - you can no more deliberately commit an act of fraud as a medium than as any other person), and specific coverage of avoidance of discrimination. In fact, I think this (a register of mediums/psychics/alternative healers who are ethical) is something that can go over to the Order of Hermes, with appropriate checks on prospective listees around their knowledge of and attitude to LGBTIQ people, different races, different religions, etc. (A comment should also be included for anyone who uses the website to find someone, that customers are ALSO obliged to obey the law, and are as ethically/morally bound to be honourable as the psychic/medium - so no lies, abuse, etc.)
Tags: ethics, perspective, professionalism,

First published: Laugardagr, 12th May, 2012

Last edited: , 12th May, 2012

Post No. 302 - Professionalism

We have been watching the BBC TV series "Primeval" of late. As a digression, that has led to some fascinating things for me such as lucid dreams where I have met some of the nonphysical inhabitants of oceans - creatures like ocean equivalent of Nature Spirits ... and blue whales, which I have loved ever since I was a kid. (My primary partner pointed out that it was a bit ironic that my first ever Haiku was about blue whales ... )

Now, this series possibly has a smallish budget, which means "not a lot of actors:, but even so, this bunch of allegedly professional characters is, at time, not very professional. Some examples:
- approaching and entering a building without having scouted and secured the perimeter - which is like doing psychic work without establishing protection? (I know a few ex-military people, and many of them still circle a new place - even if that only means drive round the block - before they go there - and a few other people who have not had military training do that.)
- going through an anomaly without basic, obvious stuff like water, weapons, ways of sheltering oneself in extreme conditions - perhaps even a small bottle of oxygen?

Still, the series is entertaining - and one statement was made which is the core of professionalism: a comment to the effect that, despite "good efforts", the team had failed at achieving something it wanted to do.

Now, this is a core part of rescuing uncooperatives: don't fail.

Valiant efforts don't count: results do, as these entities are actively causing very considerable harm. More importantly, if you do fail in rescue of an uncooperative, then you have just told all the world of your limit, and every uncooperative you come across may well have arranged sufficient support to push you just beyond that point.

If you wish to get involved in rescue, and do not want to take on that level of responsibility, then specify such to your guides.

Oh, by the way, I think there is a place for professionalism elsewhere as well - for instance, see here. I have had a policy for several decades of only taking payment for a service (if it is something I would consider taking payment for - many things I refuse payment for) to the extent that my client is willing to pay. There are energy benefits for me in that, as I don't wind up with the negative energy of resentment being given to me, but it also has given me a strong driver to be as good as possible in the work I do. I don't say "that's the best I can do given the resources I have", I consider how to get the resources I need if I actually, genuinely do need more resources in order to accomplish something.

In the case of much psychic work, that comes down to being prepared to ask for help - and accept it (which can be a very hard lesson for many of us! Especially proud, stubborn, independent people like me ... but I have got better at accepting help, and am now grateful for the support I have), including the help that is most common: non-physical help from people like Guides. This is particularly important in the case of rescuing uncooperatives.

Oh, that help from Guides may include being told off if you're not being professional enough :)

This is particularly important in the case of rescuing uncooperatives.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")

Tags: attitudes, rescue, responsibility, rofessionalism, uncooperative,

First published: Sunnudagr, 21st August, 2011

Last edited: Sunday, 21st August, 2011

Post No. 233 - Professionalism

One thing I have posted about previously is professionalism (for instance, see here). This is a topic I know a fair bit about, as my day job is as a professional (an engineer, who is just about to be audited on her Continuing Professional Development :) ), and I have tried to have a professional attitude to whatever psychic/spiritual work I do.

I think professionalism as an attitude is something that can be sadly lacking, at times. For instance, one member of our family was once falsely diagnosed with an infection by a doctor many years ago, basically because the doctor disapproved of anything other than "standard", "normal", hetero lifestyles. (I was EXTREMELY glad when that doctor's lies were exposed, although the quack got off lightly, in my opinion, as no legal action was taken - understandably, given that the whole episode had been VERY traumatic. Mind you, should we have started a "doctor X is practising evil medicine" page on Facebook? ... Hmmm ... no, we shouldn't have :) [1] )

I think too many New Agers/psychics/pagans are naive, and ignore things such as laws about fraudulent claims in the interest of seeking verification on any grounds - verification by numbers: it's bit like fundamentalist Christians seeking converts ...

If they had a professional attitude to things like .. providing a service to others, they would make sure they AND THEIR CLIENT are properly prepared, and not take full payment for half-service. They would be honest about problems, which is something I like about Charmaine Wilson - mind you, Charmaine posted recently on Facebook (I'm not there, by the way, but my partner is) about never using protection: I consider that unprofessional and irresponsible. Charmaine is doing a lot of good work, and the good karma that creates, together with the importance of her "mission", can be enough to adequately protect her: that doesn't apply to many people, and others need to accept personal responsibility for their psychic state of being and safety when doing psychic/spiritual work ( for instance, see here and here, which are two of the 58 posts of mine which touch upon this topic to greater or lesser degree ... ).

Charmaine also mentioned in that post about the need for mediums in the world. It's interesting that, since I launched my website, I have had such little interest ... maybe it's a case of people wanting to avoid the Light? Of course, if you're disinclined to email, you could always try asking mentally for help, as one family member did during a dream - and apparently I did turn up to help. (If you do, let me know if turned up or not, and whether I was any help, please :) )

Anyway, I am now going to go and watch a DVD with my partner, using my most professional attitude towards DVD watching :)

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Notes:
[1] Mind you, I did seriously plan to write a blog post about the perfidy of this "doctor"

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: professionalism, attitudes, personal characteristics,

First published: Laugardagr, 26th February, 2011

Last edited: Saturday, 26th February, 2011

Post No. 204 - Professionalism, fear of end of life and reading

This topic is one that I have very clear in my mind, but the words are not quite what I want (ah for universal telepathy, eh? [1] ).Basically, I want to post about being better in what one does psychically.

Now, a lot of my psychic work is directed at clearing negativity [2]. I know, however, that there are many people who reject any acknowledgement of, or discussion about, or possibility of looking at, negative psychic energy. I personally consider much of that is probably due to simple fear ("will I be contaminated by that energy?"), but some of it could be ideological ("we're meant to be positive so I'll having nothing to do with that negativity stuff!" [3] )

To divert into another field to allow an example, professional health care could involve things like identifying the specific type of health problem you have (maybe even testing to identify specific pathogens), so that THE BEST CURE can be selected.

In the same way, if one wishes to be nice and balanced-positive, it may be necessary (in my opinion) for you to look at WHAT SPECIFIC NEGATIVE ENERGIES, OBJECTS, LINKS, ENTITIES, ETC are affecting you, so you can select THE BEST WAY to deal with them.

Worth a thought, perhaps ...

Notes:

1. It is possible to shut down any psychic ability, once one has learned how to develop and use it, so this would not preclude having privacy.
2. For instance, see here and here.
3. Actually, I prefer the point of view expressed in "Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth", which is that we are meant to be "balanced positive".

Now, after all that, I recently came across a specific point in "Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth" which resonated with me this time when I read it this time round.

In that book, one of the characters, the healer and group's initial medium "Bobby", had a fear of dying on a particular date, at a particular place, when he was in his 30s. This fear, and other factors, eventually lead to him leaving that role and Phyllis taking over the role of medium. However, "The Nine" explain that his fear of death is wrong, as what will occur at that time is that Bobby would complete his preparations for his planned role in this life.

Well, I've had a feeling for much of my life that I would die somewhere between my 50th and 52nd birthdays. But maybe - particularly given all that I've been through in the last couple of decades (or three) - what I am picking up on is that I will have simply completed my preparations to accomplish my life task at around that time.

Hmm. I like that - might be wrong, of course, and doesn't mean I won't keep learning and growing, but I like it :)

(I also like the comments in "The Only Planet of Choice" to the effect that it is important to exercise as we get older [I've had a theory for many years that at least part of the alleged effects of ageing are due to decreased activity - possibly in response to family, work and other demands on our time], and that social conditioning has some very profound effects - including on length of life.)

Now, as a final part to this post, here are a few links to some reading which might be of some interest:

• http://www.crystalinks.com/angryatgod.html;
• http://www.crystalinks.com/crystalball.html;
• http://www.crystalinks.com/yourpredictions2011.html
• Modern Knighthood, by Kerr Cuhulain http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=cabc&c=words&id=14383;
• Ritual Exists To Express Philosophy, by James Bulls http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=caon&c=words&id=14365;
• The Great Escape, by Crick http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uspa&c=words&id=14384
• Pagan Apologetics: Why We Believe, Nepthys Agrippa http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usoh&c=words&id=14336 ( and re "Apologetics" see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apologetics);
• Completing Evolution, by Stewart Bitkoff http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uspa&c=words&id=14113

Enjoy :)

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: energy, energy work, negative energy, fear, professionalism, health, death, mediumship, purpose, deities, crystals, evolution, Pagan,

First published: Odinsdagr, 5th January, 2011

Last edited: Wednesday, 5th January, 2011