Post No. 3,398 - Some interesting reaading/viewing

I recently found the following interesting and/or useful, and am posting them here in case anyone else does as well. 

I’m going to change the order of this, and begin with my Substack post this week: 

• “Gnwmythr’s News – Edition No. 7 - Transitions and changes”   https://musingsofgnwmythr.substack.com/p/gnwmythrs-news-edition-no-7-transitions   “For this life and the next   My poem “Pieces of Me” reflects my recent challenges, particularly due to summer heatwaves and family illnesses, marking a difficult time. In response, I plan to adjust my schedule next summer by resting during afternoons and evenings. Though my planned "lived experience" presentations are less appealing to corporations, I've shifted focus to my books and online courses. Some paid work helps supports me financially (a little) but detracts from my writing. I'm also exploring opportunities through Ethical Jobs. While I haven’t enjoyed these transitions, positive feedback on my storytelling brings some comfort. Recent reflections on the Diné Blessing Way ceremony have revitalised my energy practices. Simplifying my life has reduced my reliance on physical tools like electric candles, suggesting a shift towards astral techniques, possibly as part of preparing for transition. These changes accompany my ongoing writing, including a political blog compilation and autobiography, which may be commercially more successful due to my community activism. In that, I’ve structured my life into narrative "arcs" with accompanying short stories for added depth.”     

• “Cult Leavers and The Reckoning that Never Comes”   https://youtu.be/8kQ4qOIbq-8   

• “‘Profoundly moving’: Netflix’s posthumous celebrity interview series is a marvel | Television | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/feb/23/famous-last-words-netflix-eric-dane   

 

 

• “I’m 44. I'm Autistic, I Should Be DEAD?!”   https://youtu.be/0NI-u9pWXN4   This is an EXCELLENT correction of scientific miscommunication that started a “chain of misinterpretation”, and a more accurate perspective on relevant data together with problems and solutions   

• Wow - after watching this video I am going to rethink relationships through most of my entire life:   “Why Autistic Adults Miss Relationship Red Flags”   https://youtu.be/Pp7qfR83yjA   “Relationships are often described as a matter of judgement.   As if people choose what’s good for them, or ignore what isn’t.   But when autistic adults talk about their relationship histories, a different pattern tends to appear.   Not chaotic or dramatic relationships.   But ones that felt stabilising at first.   Predictable. Structured. Safe.   Until something slowly shifted.   This episode looks at why some autistic adults end up in relationships that are difficult to leave, even when they recognise that something isn’t working.   Not from a moral perspective.   But from a neurological and psychological one.   Because research on autistic romantic experiences consistently shows: (i) Higher emotional exhaustion within long-term relationships; (ii) difficulty asserting personal needs or boundaries; and (iii) staying in environments that are psychologically draining, but externally functional.   In many cases, the relationship doesn’t begin with excitement.   It begins with relief. Relief from ambiguity. From social instability. From not knowing where you belong.   And when belonging has been uncertain for years, the priority can quietly shift from: “Is this right for me? to Can I afford to lose this?   This video breaks down: • Why masking often continues inside intimate relationships;  • How subtle relational strain can go unnoticed;  • Why leaving can feel like destabilisation, not empowerment;  • and how chronic relational stress contributes to burnout.   For many autistic adults, staying isn’t about misunderstanding what’s happening.   It’s about predictability, feeling safer than rupture.”   

 

 

• “Why people are angry – and why the far-right can't fix it”   https://youtu.be/q5hAIr1cgZI   “People in the UK are angry, and they have good reasons. Stagnant wages, housing costs, collapsing public services and growing inequality are real. But the far-right exploits that anger instead of solving it.   In this video, I explain: (i) The real economic causes of anger;  (ii) How neoliberal austerity created insecurity;  (iii) Why migrants are scapegoated;  (iv) Why a politics of care is the real solution.   This is Funding the Future in practice – an economics of hope, not hate.”   Chapters include:  The Failure of the “Single Transferable Party”;  Economic Insecurity and Falling Living Standards;  Inequality and the Rigged System;   Collapse of Public Services;  Loss of Dignity and Hollowed Communities;  Political Failure and Broken Promises;  Fear, Media Narratives and Misinformation;  and  Why the Far-Right Gains Support.   

• “We need more people like Hannah Spencer”   https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2026/02/24/we-need-more-people-like-hannah-spencer/   “If Hannah Spencer avoids that situation by using her knowledge that she always has a plan B, she will become much more powerful as a politician. The ability to take a stand, knowing you can walk away, is vital to anyone who wants to hold an ethical position. She can do that. Very few in Westminster really share that freedom. We need more people who can think freely in that way. We would have better politics if we did.”   and   “Thinking”   https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2026/02/24/thinking/   

• “Why Australia Can’t Fix Its Tax System | The West Report”   https://youtu.be/BYpf-GH6QUo   

• “Why the Democrats Keep Leaning Right”   https://youtu.be/cSLcd0LB8o4   

• ““The People” vs “All the People”: A National Election Emergency Is Already Here and It Has a History - YouTube”   by Tad Stoermer   https://youtu.be/YkYLQeD_0us   

• I have long held concerns about religious (overwhelmingly, predominantly neochristian) schools teaching their students to hate and discriminate in breach of anti-discrimination laws, but this is an additional, broader perspective on those (although, unlike the proponent of this view, I consider the Australian government should get out of funding religious schools):   “Increase in religious schools and home schooling could prevent ‘deeper social cohesion’, Julian Hill says | Australian education | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/24/increase-in-religious-schools-and-home-schooling-could-prevent-deeper-social-cohesion-julian-hill-says   

• “‘Tics are involuntary’: people with Tourette syndrome on Baftas outburst | Tourette syndrome | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/feb/24/baftas-outburst-tourette-syndrome   

• “I went to a place deep in the forest where Ukraine’s wounded soldiers go to heal. This is what they told me | Ksenia Savoskina | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/24/ukraine-wounded-soldiers-heal-stories-patients-war    

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider: 

• there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”;  
• I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
  

 

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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).

#PsychicABetterWorld   and  

Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here, and Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear  

Copyright © Kayleen White 2007-2026     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. 1,369 - Winter Reflections

When I started studying Paganism, one of the associations was that winter was a time for slowing down and introspection. As a winter baby and pluviophile, for most of my life I have not felt that - the oppressive Aussie summer, especially up north, where the humidity hits hard, was, for me at least, the time to take things more slowly. These last few years, however, as I've moved in to my 60s, I'm starting to view the thought of slowing down in winter with some favour.

Of course, I can't - very few of us can, owing to the pressure to keep producing and performing at so-called "peak" performance, which exacerbates how out of touch we wind up being with natural cycles.

That "out of touch-ness" is incredibly apparent during the winter (yes, those of you in the northern hemisphere: I'm well and truly south of the equator :) ) with people so rugged up their skin temperature probably exceeds anything they would feel on a hot summer day, giving them an excuse to complain more about the cold - and it is all because they are so out of touch they are conflating their emotional flat at grey, wintry days with supposed coldness.

As the adage admonishes: know thyself.

They would be better treating themselves to a few "mini-holidays", or treats such as listening to some favourite music, or even trying some of the treatment used for "SAD" (seasonally affective disorder, treated by sitting [with eye protection] - in front of a wall which has bright lights shining on it - incidentally, some of the temperature variables people should, in my opinion, know is whether they prefer back or front warmer/cooler, lower/upper warmer/cooler, and how all that varies depending on their immediate history of temperature - such as coming from heat/cold - and season of year).

Knowing oneself can make life in general more pleasant. As an example, at one stage I lived in a very cold house. Getting up in winter - even for me - was a challenge, so I had a series of 24 hour timers (I can't do this now, as the ones on the market are too noisy, but the cat wakes me up . . . often) set to turn on a heater about half an hour before I would get up, then a small light, at 20 minutes to go, and then a radio with 10 minutes to go. My body was slowly worked through the sort of prompts that tell us dawn is coming, and I found I had no problems waking and getting up.

The sequence of stimuli that would be best for others would, no doubt, differ.

All of this, of course, is something I can enjoy because I have a home. This is the time of year I am particularly aware that there are rough sleepers out there. I had a friend in the 80s who used to send her kids out to find other kids who might be rough sleeping in the neighbourhood and bring them to her house (one of them grew up to marry a friend of mine). I've not done that, but I bought food, handed out whatever help I could, offered to make phones calls, been in and donated to others in the Sleep Out, etc - and, above all else, I have lobbied politicians on this issue (and many others).

In fact, it was the response I got from one politician (sadly passed over, now) on this topic that was a key step in me joining a political party, and I was at a policy committee meeting tonight (and have another next week which may touch on this).

Decisions get made by those who turn up.

Looking back over my life, especially the lobbying - sorry, "community activism" - I was involved in during the 90s and 00s, that was certainly true.

It's true of politics, it's true of spirituality, and it's true of magic.

Turn up, and have a go.

I've known a few people who feel to intimidated to make that first step especially in magic - and I don't consider the issue is things like comparing oneself against an unreasonable standard (being those who have been doing something for years, and clearly are very good - which I certainly saw amongst those at tonight's meeting) as not knowing oneself properly - will you enjoy actually doing this next little bit, will you savour that morsel, or will you be like the macho driven characters in, say, sailing, who want a boat that is faster than all the other boats on the water, rather than a boat that will give them joy.

A catamaran is fast, but an old-style monohull dinghy can potentially be far more enjoyable - especially if you hanker after "the romance" of sailing - as the faster, more demanding, more expensive boat. (One of the best races I ever sailed was one where I came last - we;d had problem getting to the line on time, but we sailed well, and that was more pleasing than crossing the line first [which I had done in enough races to be able to make a comparison].)

It's about attitude, and knowing thyself. The mistakes are things like thinking one's miserableness in winter is due to temperature, or thinking that fastness or flashiness is what is giving pleasure; the better paths are turning up and having a go.

Don't focus on whether your meal is as good at the chef's in the next seat: focus on whether you will enjoy your next mouthful or not.

(And then lobby to get more people at the table :) )

I'm going to end this ramble - and it has been a ramble, for which I (sort of) apologise - with a couple of articles I found interesting:

• What Witches and Magicians Can Learn from Jewish People - https://www.patheos.com/blogs/starandsnake/2019/07/what-witches-and-magicians-can-learn-from-jewish-people/; 
• The Image of the Mermaid - https://www.patheos.com/blogs/adamantinemuse/2019/07/image-of-the-mermaid/.

And now I have some meditating to do on a bindrune to help reduce homelessness - across the entire globe, not just in Australia.

PS - bindrune, prepared on the basis of capturing people's attention, is below: 

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

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/