Post No. 409 - Magickal rules

I've been reading more Dresden Files [2] novels - it's my current favourite way of winding down, and has the bonus of occasionally getting me to to think a bit more. At the moment, I just read a comment that Jim Butcher has included in a few of his novels, and which has also been alluded to by Katherine Kerr in the Deverry series. That comment is to the effect that running water can be a barrier to magic.

Twaddle.

Yes, the energy of water, particularly of moving water, just as with any other energy, can have an impact on energy that passes through it, but that effect depends on:

• how connected the levels of energy are - e.g., etheric energy is unlikely to have a major impact on higher astral or above energies; 
• whether the energies are antagonistic, harmonious or neutral - i.e., the water could HELP if you're doing something like a cleansing spell;
• how strong the energies are, relative to each other.

That last point is one I wish to talk about.

Let's begin with an analogy. If I've got a baby lion, a few hours old, trying to threaten a full grown adult gazelle, I'm going to put my money on the gazelle. Going from that, if I've got a new fledged magickal practitioner trying to cast a spell at a distance, with lots of other energies to get through (because they don't know about taking short cuts through dimensions, but that's a topic for another post :) ), they're probably going to struggle. If they're keen to learn and grow and develop, they might try to work out why the spell was difficult, and, at that point, their humanness may lead to a fatal flaw - which is that, rather than admitting to a lack of skill and strength in their practice of the craft, they look outside themselves for things to blame. Hence, they may notice strong energy associated with flowing water - particularly if they were working in Europe (I am including the UK in that) a few centuries ago - and say "Aha! Magick can't cross running water!" And it - the mythology of magick and running water - all got built up from there ...

Now, why did I mention the issue of working in Europe a few centuries ago? Because they were times of desperation, and lots of pollution around settlements - physical AND emotional, owing to the struggle to survive that most people experienced at that time. Running water was a cleansing influence - until things like overpopulation and the Industrial Revolution stuffed up rivers and streams, but that happened after the mythology around running water had developed. Before then, I would suspect that running water was probably the strongest energetic influence on the locality, and if you've got a half-starved, quarter-taught practitioner trying to overcome that, it's going to be difficult for her/hir/him.

Not only, but in other pathways, such as shamanism, water can actively be used energetically  as in, merge into it and use the water to go on a journey or convey or receive a message.

The other thing about the Dresden series that I enjoy is its simplicity: there are a few, relatively distinct villains, whereas real life is far more complicated. In that series the lead character does some spectacular work to keep Chicago safe, whereas in my neighbourhood, I have to do lots of work to balance out the disharmonies and negativity that get projected out into the realms - what you might call "public psychic space" - and affect other people, stuff that comes from the modern struggle to survive, small-mindedness and lack of psychic knowledge and discipline. The simplicity of fighting a few demons and vampires, as compared to the exhausting complexities of real life magick, and a wonderful escapism for me ...

And on escapism, a link for lighter relief.

[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. 

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 ...
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.
Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
The only prejudice should be against prejudice. 
"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]." JOHN F. KENNEDY 
One size does NOT fit all ...  


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: about me, Dresden Files, energy, energy flows, energy work, environment, history, magic, rules, society, speculation, strength, stress, water,

First published: Sunnudagr, 14th October, 2012

Last edited: Surday, 14th October, 2012

Post No. 408 - The Fear of Organisation

I've just been flicking through Starhawk's [2] "Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex and Politics", and, as is usual with her writings that I've read or skimmed, I found much that is good in it. However, it crystallised something that has been playing around the edges of my mind, which I will, for want of a better term, call "the fear of organisation".

Now, I have to begin by emphasising that there is a massive amount that is wrong with how "things" are organised in society - as an engineer, I see both the best and the worst of organisation. I see people working together in teams, utilising highly developed skills to deliver advanced, complicated projects that are of genuine benefit to people, society and the environment (I work in wastewater treatment - and am proud to be a specialist in lagoon design - and ignore the rubbish on Wikipeia on that topic!). I also see teams that are barely functional, or injure many people because of the inhuman way they are run, or the inhumane context - such as the tyranny of time deadlines that have largely been created to enable some politician to claim kudos. (I would like to see the time value of money removed, but that's just the radical in me speaking out ... :) ) I am also well aware of the evil that some corporations and other forms of companies commit, given their somewhat unbridled legal status. (I was once told ny a law student that the Directors of corporations are COMPELLED to only consider financial matters when making decisions by sections of the relevant Act: if that so, that section is evil, and needs to be changed!) [4]

In fact, group dynamics is something I have been interested in for decades - I had some basic training in this as a Priestess, but I've also gained benefits from meditating on both good and bad aspects of this, all the way back to when I was the "handicapper" in a sailing club as a teenager, and witnessed some ... staggering politics and interpersonal clashes - as well as some exceptional working together. I don't claim to be an expert in the topic - for instance, I know little of intersectionality beyond vaguely understanding what the word means (and my personal life experience :) ).


However, I'm going to dare to express a view here, which is that too many people in the pagan movement seem to be afraid of organisation as a concept.

By that, I mean people I've come across in paganism tend towards favouring small scale solutions and approaches to issues, and have considerable skill at working with small groups, but metaphorically shudder at the notion of organising anything larger - such as designing and building the treatment plant for a city. Now, I'm aware that there are effective small scale solutions to wastewater treatment, but NONE of them have a realistic way of managing the volumes of wastewater generated by things like flats and units on small parcels of land, let alone skyscraper apartment blocks. That won't happen until we can recycle wastewater to potable standard within a household, which is around 30 to 50 years away, in my estimation (the techniques are being developed in some labs right now, actually - and are also being developed as processes for the Space Station). In the meantime, we as a society actually need things like wastewater treatments, roads, etc, etc, etc. We could cut back on this by all moving out to living on the land, but in many places there isn't enough land for the population - and population control - in the sense of fertility control - is another topic that many people shy away from. (Interestingly, I recently read an article on the reduced birth rate in Brazil, which credited the change to a combination of (a) the widespread popularity of soap operas, and (b) those same soap operas starting to feature strong women with only one or two children, rather than the large family that largely Catholic nation had experienced till then.)

Moving away from my field of expertise, I'm vaguely aware of how, through open source software, the computing world tends to be able to develop somewhat free of large-scale organisation, but I suspect that the original development of the PC may not have happened without the resources of large organisations. I don't know enough to be categoric or even confident about that, but I am more confident that none of the claimed benefits of humanity's exploration of space would not have happened without large scale organisation. (I am aware of the view that the resources would be better committed to the fight against poverty, etc, but I consider that Gaea actually wanted this to evolve as a way of defending life against planetary catastrophes such as large asteroid impacts. I still do work almost every single day for the fight against poverty, and for clean drinking water and adequate food, and consider that a noble and essential task, but I also find the developments in space exploration intellectually interesting, and know some people who find it inspiring. I wouldn't go so far myself, but I would suggest that, if you are speaking to someone you think may find the exploration of space inspiring, you DON'T ask "But don't you find the fight against poverty inspiring?", because that leaves the person concerned with the options of either (a) admitting to being "a bad person", or (b) reluctantly agreeing with you, unless they have the word skills - and many don't - to point out what I am going to [provocatively [3] ] call "the verbal violence" of such a loaded question.)

OK, so let's look at the smaller scale, and, in particular, the psychic arena.

I work in some fairly heavy-duty areas - clearing, rescue, including rescue of uncooperatives. The work is not easy, and does come with a certain amount of danger. The larger scale work against more powerful uncooperatives who I choose to describe as evil, who have been actively working to cause misery for many people on a planetary basis, requires the organised work of highly trained people. To all intents and purposes, it has to be organised as a paramilitary undertaking - as an analogy, consider sailing a yacht: you can't stop for a group discussion about whether to go to port or starboard when you're about to hit a reef, one person, the skipper, makes the decision. This style of organisation has many inherent risks and flaws, but being disorganised has far more risks and flaws - including the major catastrophe of potentially strengthening the very uncooperative that you are seeking to remove or at least to weaken, in order to free people from the psychic control being exerted by the uncooperative.

I'm also aware that many people find the concept of such uncooperative disturbing, or will deny their existence. I consider such views to be dangerously naive, akin to views that Hitler did not exist, or was somehow "misunderstood".

Now, going back to the larger scale, my life experience tells me that there are large forces at play in the world - some from both higher BPF [1] sources, some - including large, complex, effectively organised groups or networks - from negative influences, and many created by the various threads of emotion and thought that 7 billion humans can energise. I believe in trying to make the world a better place, and therefore I try to help the "good" and hinder the "bad". I do that not only on a small scale (i.e. the people, places, etc in my life) but on a large scale as well - on a global scale (which is something else I have noticed scare a few pagans - I certainly HOPE it is fear, and not just small-mindedness, as the broader care for the world in general is one of the things that attracted me to paganism).

I think that could probably best be exemplified by the sort of struggle which was outlined in Dion Fortune's book "The Magical Battle of Britain", which I wrote about here. I won't go into that much more now, other than to point out that is was organising people across a widely spread network that enabled that work to be done.

Organising is something that can be done so badly is actively harmful - I know that from my everyday life as an engineer. It can also be incredibly effective, helpful and beneficial to the world, especially when not limited by small-mindedness.

But that is just my opinion. As always, you be the judge.

[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. 

[3] This is my code word to you, Dear Reader, for "please feel free to disagree with me, as this is only my opinion". :)  

[4] There is an interesting discussion in the Dresden Files novel "Turncoat" (Pub. ROC, an imprint of New American Library, division of Penguin, 2010, first pub, 2009, ISBN 978-0-451-46281-7) that is relevant to this. In it, Harry Dresden and another character, an Italian "wizardess" are discussing the (fictional) "Laws of Magic" created for this series of novels by the (fictional) "White Council". I don't have to permission to quote the three paragraphs near the bottom of that page (and can't be bothered trying to get it), but they are to the effect that the US Government has commited great evils as well as other countries, against the original inhabitants of the land. 

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr,Sometimes Heretical Pagan :)
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")
My "blogiography" is here. I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ...
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.
Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
The only prejudice should be against prejudice. 
"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. 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: about me, attitudes, Dion Fortune, emotions, environmental, fear, paganism, society, uncooperative, values, violence,

First published:Laugadagr, 13th October, 2012

Last edited: Saturday, 13th October, 2012

Post No. 407 - Our cats

One of the things which led to both my partner and I moving away from Christianity is the idiotic notion that animals don't have souls [2]. Now, I'm aware that they are simpler beings than humans (for instance, most cats have evolved only four or five chakras), but they have astrals, and that effectively means they have a "soul". I don't want to get into that debate particularly in this post, but I would like to put down some thoughts on the cats that we specifically have now.

I'll begin with Willow. Willow is a long haired explosion of fur, with white on his hind legs that make him look like he has pantaloons on - and hence one of his nicknames, M'sier Le Pantaloons. He also runs like a squirrel, so we call him Skeorr - which is my attempt at phonetic spelling for the Armenian word for squirrel - and he still likes to curl upon my pillow beside me, get into bags and go exploring. Still? Oh, he has been my cat once before, when he was Hazel.

Very hard for a creature without a soul to reincarnate, no?

Now, recognising past life connections is something that I have developed over the past three decades of that sort of work - it started when my BPF [1] Guides were showing me my past lives, and I had to learn to recognise myself. It includes checking with BPF Guides, but doing the sort of checks that are done when recognising a Tulku are not generally possible. I've also been on the receiving end of this, when one of my former night fighter pilot colleagues from the Second World War gave me a flight in a glider in the 80s, and recognised who I had been (I wasn't ready to acknowledge that, at the time, which is a shame).

When Willow was Hazel, he, then she, had come to me as a "second chance" cat, taken to a vet to be put down by a former owner, and saved by someone I knew at the time who worked at that vet, and who decided to find her a home. She was adventurous, affectionate, and had a sense of dignity. Now, he can still be very dignified at times (even looks like an owl, at times, when his Elizabethan ruffle sits just so) and tends to be "Mr Mum", looks after the other cats - plays boisterously with "Max", for instance. His arch-nemeis is Luna, but we'll get to her in due course.

I've posted photos of Willow on this blog. Here, for your convenience, is the Old Soul known now as Willow, formerly as Hazel, a soul with similarities but who has evolved since he was Hazel to become more compassionate.

In one of those photos you can see a short-haired orange cat: that is Willow's brother, from the same litter, Saffron. Saffron originally went to one of my nieces (both cats came from one of my sisters, who had around a dozen - maybe 13? - cats at the time), but when she became pregnant he was moved on to us. He is affectionate, addicted to pleasure, and has the horrible habit of eating so much so quickly (probably from having had so many lives as a stray) that he will throw up.

Saffron has made a few attempts at getting in to my life since I first met him, which was after I had been in a car accident in my late teens, and he came to sit on my lap to comfort me. His head was hanging off one end, and his back end off the other, and he had an enormous purr - still does, and has had every time I've met him. The next time he tried to get into my life was when I moved to Frankston in the late 80s. The neighbours cat, Zack, used to come over to visit, and would make himself quite at home, even during healing groups that I ran there, and then would race off home as soon as his owners called for him. I made a point of never feeding him, as I didn't want to confuse the issue of where his home was - more on that later. Saffron somehow pursuaded Zack to let him in to my house (yes, I know Zack didn't live with me, but it was "his" space), and he tried to persuade me to adopt him. I took him to a cat home for someone to find a home for. The same thing happened when I had Hazel, now Willow, in the early 90s, so I suspect Saffron from the 80s had been put down. It seems he found a home that time in the 90s, though - for at least a few years.

There hasn't been much change in his basically affectionate character, but he is very emotionally clingy - especially if he gets anywhere near my solar plexus chakra, where he tends to draw a lot of emotional energy. I can understand that, given the trauma he has been through in the past. Now, he is with me until he passes away naturally. Hopefully, that will heal him enough that he can start evolving in his next lives.

Now, we come to Honey B. She is disdainful, imperious, and has such a tendency to be overactive that I often greet her with "Hello Miss, how's the Mad Cat Business?" She is also a long haired cat, and at first I thought she might have been a friend's cat, Purrasia, but I've now recognised her as Susie.

Susie was a tough little grey fluff-ball who was adopted by a friend of mine who died of suicide in the early 2000s. She had a notable addiction to icecream, and when I ate an ice cream she would sit on my chest, purring, and slowly and inexorably getting closer and closer. She had also learned to master my firiend's German Shepherd, a much bigger creature, so she was tough. (A big part of that was her getting up higher than the dog, and she still likes to get up onto higher things.) Unfortunately, she was picked up by the Council, and, as my now ex-partner from that time wasn't really comfortable with having the cat, I let her go.

She's been quite standoffish with me in this life, until I'd done enough to heal her of the hurt that my decision had caused her. As a tough little hard case, she can be a bit standoffish with the others - and can be quite antagonistic towards Luna. Still, she is learning to co-exist with others, and is opening up emotionally, so the process my now-deceased fiend had started with her is continuing.

She also still has a VERY notable addiction to dairy foods (mostly yoghurt now, though, although that might be more a case of a healthier diet now).

Now, Luna.

Luna is Honey B's litter-sister. The idea of getting a couple of litter mates for company had worked so well with Willow and Saffron that we thought we would try that with a couple of female cats, and it worked out to be a disaster.

Luna came to us extremely timid. I suspect that could be damage from the people who originally had her, who allegedly blew dope at her (that could explain some of Honey B's behaviour as well), but whatever the cause, we had to spend quite a bit of effort building her confidence. Actually, that is "massive", not "quite a bit". As part of that process, her formal name has grown, and is now

"Missy Princess Luna Scallopini Fish and Chips with the Nice New Collar, Amazing Tail and"
- drop your voice a couple of octaves here, and pretend to be a late night TV announcer -
"Braaaand New Attitude".

She has grown to realise that she can ask for attention, that such a fundamental thing is actually OK and not something she will be punished for, and grew to be strong enough to get into trouble and not fall to pieces when she is told off. When that happened, it was both annoying (because of whatever it was she had done) and rewarding, as she had grown and healed.

This short haired cat has the habit of sitting on the top of our lounge and grooming the top of my head - which is what she used to do as Gremlin, a few years ago in the mid 2000s, when she was someone else's cat. Those people had two cats, one was a lovely, serene long haired black cat, and the other was a tortoiseshell, nicknamed Gremlin (I can't recall her proper name - I think I only heard that a couple of times). She wasn't happy there, wasn't loved, and I was asked if I would take her, but I knew my then, now ex-, partner (see above comments about Susie) had a problem with cats, so said no. As a result, she was put to sleep - and I think that contributed to her lack of confidence now (note that this did NOT have an impact on Saffron).

Luna was good practice for us, for when "Max" adopted us."Max" and Honey B are actually my partner's daughter's cats: Max walked up our driveway, diverted into a tree when our dog Sebastion chased him, was rescued and then meowed loudly, demanding to be fed and adopted. "Max" is basically a "street kid", or a feral cat. He had obviously been doing it tough for a while, was injured, and came to us when personal circumstances meant we couldn't say no. Because of his rough start to life, we had to do quite a bit of work to get him settled, and he tends to be rougher, or at least more boisterous, with the other cats than they like - particularly Saffron, who is a big cat, probably seen as a rival by "Max", but is a softie. Honey B is the exception: having had practice at seing off dogs around 30 times bigger than her, she is the only other cat who can terrorise "Max".

When we were discussing getting cats, I made a condition that they would be indoor cvats - partly for their safety, but mostly so they couldn't hunt. Willow in particular, as Hazel, used to be a quite ferocious hunter, and was annoyed when I took any surviving birds away from her. If they went outside, they would be on harnesses - which is OK for Explorer Cat Willow, but Saffron flops and has to be dragged, Honey B has never stayed still long enough to be put into a harness, and Luna used to be an indoor cat as Gremlin anyway, so doesn't particularly care to go outside.

"Max" has broken down that rule. As part of keeping him settled, he gets to go outside without a lead, but he won't go far - he knows where home is, and doesn't want to lose it again.

Now we come to who "Max" used to be. At first I didn't think I'd known him before, but now we've worked out who he was: Zack, the neighbours cat who I never fed. In this life, if food is about when I approach, he waddles over to it, and purrs his head off as he wolfs it down - probably making up for all the times I wouldn't feed him back in the 80s. He's more intelligent than he was then, and has become an at times almost serene cat, and that may be as a result of the reaction to the sequence of being homeless and then finding love that he went through in this life, rather than as a long term thing. I don't know enough about what he has been through in the meantime to judge this from the point of view of sequence of lives.

They're all recognisable from one life to the next, but they all have changed, and continue to change. Thanks be to the Goddess I have a partner who works with me at consciously making sure we have as constructive an impact on these cats as we can.

We've just been informed that the elderly gentleman who lived beside us, Danny, has passed away. I've checked, and he is aware of what has happened, and that he will be with friends when he moves over, but he is waiting until someone finds and adopts his cat, Sylvester, before he does move on, and I've talked to him about ways he can help that to happen, as well as lighting a candle for his cat. (I broke a cup while I was talking to him and making cuppas too, so must remember to stay focused on this world a bit more while doing other worldly stuff.)

As a final note, I would suggest you might like to think about the impact you have on people, animals, places, and how that will affect their ongoing evolution.

As a final, final note, I now have to go and clean up some cat up-chuck that I am presuming is as up-chuck of approval for this article ...

[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.

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 ...
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.
Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
The only prejudice should be against prejudice. 
"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. 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: about me, animals, cats, evolution, past life regression, past lives, reincarnation, 

First published: Wodansdagr, 10th October, 2012

Last edited: Wednesday, 10th October, 2012

Post No. 406 - What do I do next?

I've posted on this blog about basic exercises that are important (here, here, and here), but I haven't posted anything further in terms of development. Largely that was because I thought I would have finished one of my books by now (ha! life ...), but, obviously, I haven't. So .. what would I recommend to someone who has been rigorously practising the techniques I have previously outlined.

Well, in an ideal world, I would be sitting opposite the person, and both my BPF [1] Guides and I would make an assessment of the person and their aura, consult with THEIR BPF Guides, and come up with something that was tailored appropriately.

Hmmm. I can't do that, but what would I recommend next?

Well, I think breathing is vital, so the second set of exercises would be around breathing exercises, with a third set around meditation.

So ... breathing.

The first thing here is what is termed the "Complete Breath". The idea of this (which I got initially from Lobsang Rampa's [2] books - specifically, Wisdom of the Ancients [Pub. Corgi, 1972 {first pub. 1965}, ISBN 552 07 6] ) is to use as much of the lungs as is possible. Begin each inhalation (i.e. breathe in) by using your diaphragm (i.e., push your stomach out), then use your rubs, then, finally, lift your shoulders. To exhale (i.e. breathe out), do that in reverse: let your shoulders fall, then let your ribs come in, then relax your diaphragm.
This is the basic step. You will be practised at being self disciplined by now, so I can tell you to do this 5 times per week for at least one week, 11 breaths each time, and then move on to the next exercise, secure in the knowledge that you won't try to cheat and that you are aware that doing this for longer will often be helpful. Of course, you could already be proficient at this, so move on to the next exercise :)

The next step is to get use to practising counting, and breathing in particular ratios. For that, we will suggest you use what is called the "Four Fold Breath". As you breathe in (using the sequence of diaphragm-ribs-shoulders, which I will assume from here on is being done by you for every breathe in), count (in your mind), and try to time this so you count to four when you complete your inhalation.

Then hold your breathe for a count of four, and exhale for a count of four (again, using the sequence of shoulders-ribs-diaphragm, which I will assume from here on is being done by you for every breathe out). The next step is to pause, with emptied lungs, for a further count of four.

Do NOT do these to the extent that ANY distress is caused, and seek medical advice if you have any health problems or are unfit - BEFORE you begin.

Assuming you have no problems with these, do 1 repetititions five times per week, for at least two weeks. If you can, I recommend you combine doing this with flaming - i.e., you use whatever visualisation or other technique you have developed for flaming.

If all is well with that, we now move on to developing the ability to do "alternate nostril breathing". The idea here is that you breathe in one nostril, then breathe out the opposite. You then breathe in that nostril which was the opposite, and out the first. The way I often describe this is "close the 2nd nostril with a finger (pressing on the side of the nose), breathe in the 1st nostril, then swap finger, breathe out (pause) and then in the 2nd nostril, swap finger again & breathe out the 1st nostril".

Every time you breathe in the 1st nostril, you are starting a new repetition.

One day I'll have time and draw a few diagrams to make that clearer, but for now, if it is confusing read it a few times and think about it, and maybe get a copy of Rampa's "Wisdom of the Ancients".

In terms of repetitions and ratios, what is required is this:

- alternate nostril breathing (progressive development:
            (c) close one nostril, in and out the other using four fold Complete Breath (CB):
                                    11 repetitions x 5 times per week for at least two weeks,
            (d) close 2^nd nostril, in the 1^st, then
                        swap finger, out and in 2^nd,
                        swap finger again & out 1^st,
                        using 4 fold CB:
                                    11 repetitions x 5 times per week for at least two weeks,
            (e) close 2^nd nostril, in the 1^st, then
                        swap finger, out and in 2^nd,
                        swap finger again & out 1^st,
                        lengthening each out breath until it is twice the in-breath:
                                    11 repetitions x 5 times per week for at least three weeks,
            (f) close 2^nd nostril, in the 1^st, then
                        swap finger, out and in 2^nd,
                        swap finger again & out 1^st,
                        lengthening the hold period until it is also twice the in-breath:
                                    11 repetitions x 5 times per week for at least four weeks,
            (g) close 2^nd nostril, in the 1^st, then
                        swap finger, out and in 2^nd,
                        swap finger again & out 1^st,
                        lengthening the hold period until it is as long as comfortable
                        (up to a maximum of 4 times the in-breath:
                                    11 repetitions x 5 times per week for at least five weeks)
Ongoing 11sets x 3-4 repetitions per week.

OK, so now ... meditation.

I'd like you, Dear Reader, to begin this by looking at my previous posts here, here and here, and then have a look at this part of my regression-rescue manual.

As far as I am concerned, meditation is not about feeling good or becoming relaxed - that is relaxation therapy. Meditation is about accessing a state of greater awareness, accessing one's BPF Guides and Higher Self, and discovering information or new perspectives, or integrating knowledge into one's being. It's about learning and/or development.

For what I am aiming to do here, you need to learn to do this yourself, not as part of a guided meditation where you are taking orders from someone else. You need to develop the skill to meditate under your own direction, or you are going to be limited to following other people's lines of development, and that may not be what is best for you.

I'll leave that topic for now. It needs more, I know, but I'm pretty exhausted, so I'm going to call it quites there :)

But, I would like to end this post with a few reading links and quotation.

• This is one of the most inspiring stories I have come across is a long time: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/26/balpreet-kaur-dignified-sikh-woman-deflects-bullying-taunts-facial-hair-pictures_n_1915674.html;

• http://www.care2.com/causes/spaniards-ditch-money-in-favor-of-time-with-new-barter-systems.html;

• http://www.care2.com/causes/when-planned-parenthood-leaves-who-provides-the-care.html;

• http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/08/24/3575360.htm;

• "Telling A Ward", by Alayne Owlcraft: http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usca&c=words&id=15021;

• "Live Your Life: Never Be Afraid", by Alaysa Thane: http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usil&c=teen&id=14873;

• "Religion and sexuality: Uncomfortable bedfellows", by Michael Kirby [2]: http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/09/19/3593803.htm;

• An interesting article: "Solving Gen Y's passion problem": http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/09/solving_gen_ys_passion_problem.html;

• http://www.dailylife.com.au/life-and-love/parenting-and-families/the-girlification-of-lego-20120913-25tnf.html;

• Some good news: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/5991/un-hails-25-year-ozone-treaty-preventing-disaster;

• "Europe's Oldest Religion", by Kafir: http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=nzxx&c=words&id=15097;

• "Growing From the Inside", by Oracle: http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=words&id=15189;

• "Pagan Lite: Being A Non-Magical Witch in A Magical World", by Charmed Boy: http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usar&c=words&id=15190;

• "Free spirits rule in this family affair", 17th September, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/free-spirits-rule-in-this-family-affair-20120914-25x5h.html;

• "How intuitive morality has challenged the rationalists", 3rd October, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/how-intuitive-morality-has-challenged-the-rationalists-20121002-26xak.html;

• "Noise Pollution Affects Plants, Too", Emily Sohn, Tue 20th March, 2012: http://apesma.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT01MDg3NDMmcD0xJnU9NTAxMzgwNjgxJmxpPTI2MTQ0ODQ/index.html;

• "'Have no shame': Gaga launches body image revolution", 26th September, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/have-no-shame-gaga-launches-body-image-revolution-20120926-26k8u.html;

• Hmmm - interesting! "Was Jesus married? New papyrus fragment fuels debate", 19th September, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/world/was-jesus-married-new-papyrus-fragment-fuels-debate-20120919-265av.html;

• "Former leaders join as peacemakers in Asia", 11th September, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/world/former-leaders-join-as-peacemakers-in-asia-20120910-25ofp.html;

• "Step off the 'burnout' express", 10th September, 2012: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/executive-style/management/step-off-the-burnout-express-20120726-22u24.html;

• This is not, in my opinion, actully about morality as much as it is about socialisation -and it is definitely NOT about good or evil!: "The hormone that makes us good or evil", 6th September, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci-tech/the-hormone-that-makes-us-good-or-evil-20120905-25eyx.html;

• This story is what they call a "human interest" story: I call it a human, personal tragedy and triumph. It would be easy to comment about possession influencing people in a way that looks like schizoprenia, but the truth is it can often be just schizoprenia. In any case, I think there is some value in being aware of this issue, and I commend the author of this extract from a book for his openness and courage: "Edge of the abyss", 27th August, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/edge-of-the-abyss-20120827-24v8d.html;

• A small-scale rebuttal of consumerism: "Fix the world, piece by piece", 12th August, 2012: http://www.theage.com.au/domain/green/fix-the-world-piece-by-piece-20120811-240wi.html;

• 20th September, 2011: http://www.theage.com.au/national/honesty-cuts-medical-suits-20110919-1khy5.html.

Next, a quote that is very simplistic - so much so that I have reservations about agreeing with it, but nevertheless I tend to agree with the basic thought behind it.

"Young people sometimes come to speak to me about their plans for the future. They hope to study this or that, so that later they can have a job that will bring in a lot of money. And they add that it will allow them to help others. And do you think I am convinced and think how wonderful that is? No, not at all, for I can always see the highly personal element behind these seemingly generous intentions. Those who speak in this way do not know what  they are about to get involved in or that, once they are involved, the whole of them will gradually be drawn in. When earning a lot of money begins to be your goal, be aware that you are moving deeper into matter, and one day you will be so immersed in it, not only will you very soon forget that you wanted to help others but you will become selfish and hardened as well. True, people are full of good intentions, but matter is a trap for the children of God. You will say, 'So, what should we do?  Give up earning money?' No, but first you should spend years strengthening yourself spiritually; that is the only way to become the master of money and not its slave.  "

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov [2]

My last quote is from Alan Moore [2], on the topic of conspiracy theories:

"Yes, there is a conspiracy, indeed there are a great number of conspiracies, all tripping each other up… the main thing that I learned about conspiracy theories is that conspiracy theorists actually believe in the conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is chaotic. The truth is, that it is not the Jewish banking conspiracy, or the grey aliens, or the twelve-foot reptiloids from another dimension that are in control, the truth is far more frightening; no-one is in control, the world is rudderless." 

Hmmm. Interesting ...

[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.



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 ...
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.
Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
The only prejudice should be against prejudice. 
"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. 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:about me, breathing, colour, exercises, meditation, Lobsang Rampa, psychic development,

First published: Tysdagr, 9th October, 2012

Last edited: Tuesday, 9th October, 2012

Post No. 405 - The challenge of time

Nothing metaphysical in this post, I'm afraid. No, I've just been exercising, and thinking about the challenges of fitting everything in that we're meant to, in our daily life.

Now, there are people who cannot exercise, or must exercise carefully, for very valid reasons (e.g. health reasons such as arthritis or heart complaints, or the parents of young children). For those who can exercise, the time required to exercise properly becomes a problem.

The standard advice we've been hearing for many years is that three 20 minutes periods of aerobic activity will get people fit. I've been fit (for competitive dinghy and small boat sailing), and consider that utter  nonsense. For a start, it makes no allowance for proper warm up and cool down (I refuse to use the fashionable term of "warm down", out of cantankerousness, nor the term "resistance training" for weight training, as it is so stupid and inappropriate [such a term should be used for isometric exercises!!!] as to be work of a cretin), and that becomes more and more essential as one ages. My experience, as a 50+ age person, based on the training I did for competing in the sailing in the Sydney 2002 Gay Games as a 40+ age person, is that training properly and effectively requires between one and two hours, including the preliminaries and afters, at least 4 or 5 times a week. In fact, I have long considered that a good part of what gets written off as the inevitable effects of ageing, is actually simple lack of exercise/physical activity.

As an example, I do a lot of joint circling (I was started on that by a Chinese doctor - a GP - I saw when I injured my back as a 20 year old, and developed that further when I started working with Tai Chi), and I find it is very good at combating stiffness - as is stretching, even just simple things like the now more fashionable idea of officeworkers getting up and stretching, which I have been doing for years.

And now is where the issue of time starts to become a problem.

If I do:

• 2 hours of physical exercise
  (the best guide to exercise for most people that I have come across is the 10,000 steps per day notion: I normally do around 2,000 steps in the course of daily living, so 8,000 steps at 1 step per second is just over two hours [1 step = two paces, i.e. right foot, then left foot, that's one, you don't count for paces with both feet], or, at 1 step [4 paces] per second, which is close to running, that's 4,000 seconds, which is still a touch over an hour, which has 3,600 seconds; parents of young children probably do in excess of 20,000 steps per day - often at a frantic pace ... ); 
• 1 hour of psychic exercise
  (colour visualisation, practice techniques such as flaming, do breathing exercises - which take at least 30 minutes on their own, and meditation); 
• work 8 hours, plus lunch and a minimum of 1 hour commuting each way; and 
• sleep for 8 hours;

then I am left with 3 hours for house work, showering, cooking and cleaning, and spending time with my family.

Given that, I think it is no wonder that people seek to minimise the time they spend exercising to three 20 minutes sessions each week ... and art of the myth of ageing continues, because it is easier. Mind you, some of it is not - I take longer to recover, and am slower, etc, but I still consider exercise - particularly exercise aimed at keeping muscle bulk - will help offset those effects.

I like Jim Butcher's inclusion of this aspect in the Dresden Files [1] , which is set in a version of reality where wizards can live for several hundred years, but I've also observed family members as they've aged, particularly my father. The effects of inactivity and being looked after is one reason I fight tooth and nail NOT to be looked after by others :)

PS - this issue of time constraints is why I personally consider homes should be set up so that housework can be done with minimum time / effort / cost - for instance, I personally prefer sofas that are raised, so they can be swept or vacuumed underneath without having to make a big production of things by moving them whenever you clean the floor. Of course, the vision of such sofas causes me no grief whatsoever: it does to some others, I know, but maybe they need - ESPECIALLY if they are trying to do serious spiritual / psychic work - to learn to accept such minor constraints (and they are minor, in many cases) so they will have more time and energy for such work. I also believe in minimal effort cooking, but that is not a minor matter - many people see good nutrition and other meal aspects as being important, and also being part of their spirituality. That's quite alright for them, but it does not hold the same importance for me. That leads me to two of my biggest gripes: assuming others will have the same tastes and preferences as oneself, and lack of respect for other people's possessions, especially their books and tools.

I can remember one young person from around ten or so years ago breaking the back of one my paperbacks, and then arguing with me about the fact that the cretin had damaged my property (I physically took the book back, and refused to allow him access to any of my books thereafter). I've had a lot of my possessions damaged or destroyed by others in this life, and, as a result, am no longer anywhere near as generous as I used to be - I simply cannot afford, for financial reasons, to be as generous as I used to be. Then there is the issue of idiots thinking they can touch other people's working tools (crystals, wands, robes, etc). In one temple I was in a few years ago, this was so bad that we actually had to issue a formal warning against handling other people's working tools - and this was a Temple, a place Where people were learning about energy, and should either know better - never mind having at least enough basic MANNERS not to do so!

I found out recently that, when I was a herbwoman in Portugal in the 1500s, I wound up being killed when one young woman who had been sent to look after and help me, tried to grab some energetically sensitive bags and, in trying to save them from being ruined by her touch, I fell (over a moderate cliff face) and was fatally injured. So the topic is one of particular sensitivity to me personally, but it applies to everyone. As the old guide says, if it isn't yours, don't touch it. (And as I would add to that, people have the right to do with their stuff as they wish: hence if you borrow something, you (a) are quite possibly unwise at best, and (b) maintain it as they tell you, even if they treat it differently - it is THEIRS, NOT yours, and you have no right to even have an opinion about that, in my view.)

Actually, it is the being ignored when I speak up that is most aggravating in such situations. For many decades I refused to make a song and dance about strong views, and the people I was speaking to at such times were unfortunately too stupid to notice that what I was saying was important - such as the idiot who ruined my book. (There is another idiot who comes to mind as I write this, and that is someone who used a boat of mine without my permission: I warned him that I would have him charged if he ever touched my boat again, and the club committee backed me up on this, but he was so untrustworthy that I literally had to chain my boat to the rack, and I have never ever stored a small boat in a sailing club since then: if I can't trail it behind or on my car, I won't have it.)


[1] Please see my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia.

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

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 ...
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.
Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
The only prejudice should be against prejudice. 

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: about me, ageing, attitudes, exercises, health, society,

First published: Frysdagr, 28th September, 2012

Last edited: Wednesday, 23rd Jabuary, 2013