Crystal Help

Crystals make good Christmas presents, I think, when you can’t come up with any other ideas.

Yes, I do participate in Christmas. Society at large makes a big deal out of it, and I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. The grandchildren would be disappointed if we didn’t send presents; friends who invite us to Christmas dinner might feel unappreciated if we refused. In any case, we like giving — and receiving — presents, and we like sharing feasts! If we lived in the Northern Hemisphere, we might do these things at Yule, a few days earlier, or else celebrate Yule on the 25th (which is sort of what the early Church did, tying the celebration of Christ’s birth to a seasonal festival already widely celebrated) but Yule is Midwinter which, in the Southern Hemisphere, falls in June.

So, as I was saying, when you don’t know what else to get, crystals can make good gifts.

I needed something for my Younger Stepson, who arrived on the 24th to visit us for a few days. And I needed something for the brother of the woman who claims us as her surrogate parents and always invites us to her Christmas dinners. This year the brother said he didn’t want lots of people, ‘just family‘ — which, it went without saying, included us!

Younger Stepson travelled interstate to visit us, and was going from us to an old family friend further north. Surrogate Daughter’s brother works overseas and only comes home to visit family at Christmas. Some kind of crystal that would be good for travellers, I thought, for both of them. So I went to see Ev.

Ev has a shop called Crystal Treasures. She also does psychic readings and healing treatments there, and sells esoteric books. I first met Ev a number of years ago, when I was doing psychic readings at George’s shop. George was a friend who had a vegetarian cafe in town. All the seats and tables for customers were outdoors, and so was my reading table. Ev came and had a reading from me. She told me she did readings too, but felt the need to consult someone else at that time. We had a wonderful conversation and I never quite forgot her.

Fast forward several years: I’m semi-retired and only do the occasional reading at home if someone tracks me down. Ev opens Crystal Treasures; I go in to check it out, and find her behind the counter. We’re delighted to reconnect, and we swap some readings for each other. From time to time I buy books or crystals from her shop.

Where else would I go to find my crystals for travellers? She recommended smoky quartz and hematite, both very grounding. I got some handsome tumbled stones of each kind for both the men, and on Christmas Day they were well received. While I was there, my eye was caught by a lump of raw emerald — not of precious gem quality, I hasten to add, but pale green, grey and black. It had a gentle look. I read the description of its qualities:

Known as the stone of successful love. It brings domestic bliss & loyalty. Enhances unity, unconditional love, & partnership & promotes balance. Emerald keeps a partnership in balance. It eliminates negativity & brings in positive actions.

That was enough for me! I had been very stressed, trying to deal with my husband’s symptoms of early Alzheimer’s. I wanted to be patient and understanding but often found that hard to maintain. I confided in Ev what was going on and she agreed the emerald would be perfect. She hugged me and said, ‘It’s your journey too, isn’t it?’ Her eyes widened at the thought of the adventure my husband and I were both embarking on. 'Stay in the moment,' she advised.

I bought a pouch for the emerald too. I have been wearing it around my neck every day since, and keeping it by the bed at night. We have undoubtedly been more loving, and I find itt easier to be patient with him. Is that because of the crystal, or is it acting as a placebo and working because I think it will? I don’t know or care — so long as it’s working, the how and why are beside the point.

The confusion he could get into troubled me for his sake too. I went back to Crystal Treasures. My old friend Priya works for Ev some days; it was one of her days in the shop. I told her the situation and asked what crystal would help his clarity of mind. Without hesitation, she said, ‘Fluorite!’ I found a thick point, like the end of a wand. She looked for a longer wand they had had, but couldn’t find it; meanwhile I was holding the short piece and it felt ‘right’. He is very thrilled with it and keeps it by the bed. (It’s a bit big for a pouch around the neck.) It certainly seems to be the right stone, judging by these qualities listed:

A stone of mental enhancement and clarity, improved decision making &memorization. Brings structure & focus to incoherent energies. Assists balancing the brain chemistry. Enhances concentration, study and learning. Quiets anxiety.

Yes, he does seem considerably less confused at present, his mind more stable. Mind you, he has also started taking tablets to stop the condition getting any worse. It may be that they are beginning to kick in. I’m certainly not saying it’s all down to the fluorite. I would have to have a lot more anecdotal evidence from a lot more people, to be able to argue for that. Meanwhile, though, every time he sees the stone, I think it must reinforce in him the idea of mental clarity.

Personally I think crystals do have a positive effect. But I don’t neglect the obvious. If I'm bleeding, I use a bandage; if I'm sneezing, I blow your nose; if I were to have a heart attack, I'd call an ambulance — and only then look for a suitable crystal.

While not substitutes for medical treatment, crystals could give extra help. If you don’t know the specific stone for your needs, remember that rose quartz is an all-purpose healing stone, and that clear quartz, as well as having its own qualities, can be substituted for any other crystal.

It's not enough to be kind

One must also be thoughtful, not quite the same thing.

I respect spiders, even though some of them creep me out a bit as they do most people. They are such sentient creatures! I find them very responsive to telepathic contact. And when I first self-initiated as a witch, I was guided by both spontaneous mental imagery and sightings of actual, physical spiders to put myself under the protection of the Goddess in her form as Spider-Creator archetype; therefore I feel a moral obligation to treat spiders with respect.

So in my house no-one is allowed to kill them. I would make an exception in the case of a venomous spider that posed a potential threat to people and/or pets, but the Goddess knows that and keeps them away. I do, however, communicate with any spiders I see in the house, to tell them that the cats or any visiting humans might do them harm if they saw them. 'Keep out of sight for your own safety,' I tell them. And for the most part they do, or scurry to get hidden if they happen to be spotted.

So I did the usual when I saw a small Huntsman in the loo about a week ago. (No, not right IN it: on the wall near the mirror over the hand basin.) I didn't think to take a photo, but it was about half the size of the one pictured at the above link.

It had probably come inside to escape the rain; they do that. I suggested it stay behind the mirror as much as possible, and so it did, sometimes coming out just a little. I would greet it in a friendly way and then forget about it.

Once it was on the windowsill, and ran like mad to try and get out of sight, until I told it to calm down, it was only me; just not to let anyone else see it. It stopped running, and thereafterI didn't see it for a while — until the day I pulled on the end of the roll of toilet paper, to discover 'my' spider clinging to the paper further up. I did let out a small squeal at that — but bear in mind, it was a very small Huntsman, so thenI just shook it off as gently as possible.

Again it disapeared for a day or so. Then I noticed a spot of fluff or dust in a corner. An insect, perhaps? Oh no! Could it be ...? Yes it was, all dried and dead with its legs curled in. As I disposed of the body I realised that we live in a house fairly devoid of insects. We have flywire screens; I have an arrangement with the local insects, along the lines of 'Stay outside or you're fair game'; and if any that count as pests do come in, I do indeed kill them.

My poor spider must have starved to death. What was the point of my making it welcome (albeit with provisos)? I'd have done better to put it right back outside again!

When Things Go Wrong

It’s a bad internet day today. Wireless is the only kind of connection available where I live, and the network can get very overloaded. I was kicked off several times this morning for long periods, and I can’t get access at all this afternoon.

As I cannot change this circumstance, I have been working on changing my response. In a moment of rare intelligence, the first time I lost access this morning I asked myself, ‘What is the opportunity here?’ I decided it was an opportunity to go back to bed and read or doze. I did both. Spouse and cats joined me. Such luxury! I was surprised how soon it was lunch time.

This afternoon may encompass many things. First of all it is an opportunity to write this blog post!

Of course this is not just a light-hearted look at my internet problems. When I catch myself doing something intelligent, I really ought to share it. When things go wrong, it’s always useful to ask oneself: ‘What is the opportunity here?’ Trust me, you’ll find one — at least one.

(And now that I have shared the learning, behold, I have access again, if only long enough to post.)

The Reluctant Gardener

I miss the smell of my freshly watered mint! I took such pleasure in it every morning, out there early with the hose before the day got too hot. But my mint is gone.

Now that we are settled in the home we expect to inhabit for the rest of our lives, I have at last been making some small progress in gardening. Witches should surely have that connection with the earth, I tell myself. But it doesn’t come naturally. When I was very young — maybe four — my Dad and my Grandma (his mother) thought to instill in me their own love of gardening. They selected a garden bed that could be mine, gave me a little trowel and watched encouragingly as I dug into the earth, turning it over in the way they showed me.

Out of that black dirt came a long, thick, moving thing, the length of my hand and half the width. Its huge, round, segmented body was a white so pale that it was almost transparent — like slime. It nosed about blindly as it encountered the light. I had never seen anything so repulsive. I shrieked, dropped the trowel and ran.‘It’s only a grub,’ they said, but I could not be persuaded back.

I didn’t try again until I was in my late fifties, in my third (and present) marriage. We moved from Melbourne to the Northern Rivers region of NSW, and eventually decided to try growing our own food. It wasn’t a great success. Our pumpkins proliferated, threatening to take over the planet. We simply couldn’t keep up with them, no matter how many we used and gave away. Our lettuces grew high stalks instead of bushy heads, with tiny, separate leaves like miniature branches. We were absolved from dealing with it all when the landlord decided he wanted to live in his house himself.

In our next house, I decided to grow some herbs and was quite proud of my efforts — until the landlady very soon dug them all up, thinking she was getting rid of weeds. After that, I grew geraniums. Nice, hardy, cheerful plants, they’ll grow pretty much anywhere and thrive even for me. But you can’t eat them.

In this present home, I discovered that the previous tenant had planted mint and cherry tomatoes, They both appeared suddenly, under the frangipanni tree out the front. I mulched the ground and built it up, to make a separate area from the lawn. I didn’t want my lawnmower man mowing my edible garden flat! The tomatoes grew in all seasons and we ate them for a year. Then they died.

The mint kept on, but some bug attacked it. It developed holes and brown spots. ‘Soapy water,’ said our handyman, so I put some in a spray and went to work. The holes and the discolouration stopped getting any worse. New mint grew up clean and whole.

The weeds grew up too, thick and strong. A ground cover with small, round leaves interspersed itself among the mint plants. Tough grasses pushed their way in under the tree. It all seemed far too much for me to tackle. Our friend up the end of the street had his 16-year-old grandson staying with him before going off to begin an apprenticeship as a gardener. I thought the lad might like to earn a few dollars, and asked if he would weed my mint bed for me. He would.

And so yesterday he did. I had already shown him the job, and he brought his own tools, so I left him to it. I told him to put all the weeds he dug up into the green bin, as there was a collection of garden refuse scheduled this morning. When he knocked on the door an hour later to say he’d finished, he looked endearingly proud of himself. I went to see. He’d taken everything — mint and all!

What could I do? I thanked him and paid him. Later I looked in the green bin, thinking to find some of the good sprigs of mint and replant them. They were buried deep, not visible. I gave up. The ground under the frangipanni can go back to lawn — which in many ways will be easier. Well, it’s the dark of the moon, a time for endings ... and a time for new beginnings.

Round the back I’ve got some herbs which are trying hard to survive the heat, and a single broccoli from the three seedlings I planted some months ago. The back yard might the place to plant new mint and tomatoes. I miss the smell of freshly watered mint!

Of energy balance, missing books, and finder gnomes.

Energy balance

Magick takes many forms. I view it basically as moving energy, and there are many ways to do that.

Sometimes it’s about restoring balance. If someone owes you money and won’t pay, have a look and see if YOU have outstanding debts you’ve forgotten, and pay them. If your marital relationship is breaking down, by all means try and fix it, and also look at your other relationships (family, friends, work colleagues) and do whatever it takes to restore vitality to any of those which are flagging. 

In other words, you shift the whole energy around relationships, or money, or whatever it may be. You treat the presenting problem as a symptom of imbalance in that aspect of life, and set about putting to rights whatever you can. Which is what I’m up to now, with regard to some particular treasures.


Missing books

Since we’ve been in this home, nearly two years now, every so often I find myself missing books  — special books, books important to me, and interestingly enough quite large books physically. They didn’t get lost in the move; they have been here, and were put on the shelves in the right places. In some cases — not all — I have even found gaps on the shelves where they were.

This being a smaller unit than we had, with one less room, most of our bookshelves are in the garage. This garage will never house our car — as well as library, it is consulting room, classroom and temple. It is where I give psychic readings or Reiki treatments, or teach Reiki, and it’s where I do my more formal magickal rituals when, for some reason, the outdoors doesn’t work. In other words, I’m in there on my own, or with clients or students who are only there in my company.

Even if any of these students or clients would steal my books, which frankly beggars belief considering the kind of people they are, I don’t see how they could possibly manage it. It seems even more improbable that someone on this quiet street watches to see when we go out, checks in case we have left the garage unlocked, and then unerringly selects my favourite (and largest!) poetry anthologies or magickal tomes to make off with. Yet there aren’t many nooks or crannies in the unit where such large items could stay concealed. 

Energy imbalance

A mystery. And, as I don’t want to lose any more books, time for action! It’s not hard to see where things are out of balance. I am very bad at returning books I’ve borrowed. I do, and I look after them meanwhile, but it can take ... years! This is not from malice or greed, just that I am a terrible procrastinator and don’t get around to it. I decided this week that if I want my books to turn up, I had better stop hanging onto others that don’t belong here.

I had been carrying two parcels of books around in my car, waiting for the opportune moment, but never bumped into the people, and passing their houses would have taken me out of my way. One is a lady whose energy I no longer like to be around, so I guess I was putting it off for that reason too. (Never mind that hanging onto her books might keep her energy present in my space — duh!) So, on the way home from the writers’ group on Friday, with for once a bit of time to spare, I took a slight detour and dropped her books off at last. Luckily for me she wasn’t even there, but had someone staying to whom I gave books and message.

Next came a sudden opportune moment. Dear Spouse landed up in hospital yesterday after some worrying symptoms, and is being kept in for observation. I’m glad to say he doesn’t seem too sick, and is in excellent spirits. When I was visiting yesterday, he was being nursed by the wife of the man whose book I still had in my car. I raced down to the car park, got it, wrote a note for her husband, and gave her the package.

Now I have one more to attend to. The owner has moved around over the years and no longer lives within coo-ee, but I can still reach him by email. Every so often I request his latest postal address, which he gives me, then I do nothing more. The reason is that it’s a huge tome which will be expensive to post, and I always run out of money before I get it away. But at the moment I have enough to cover it, and it WILL go tomorrow (Monday).


Finder gnomes

Perhaps that will shift the energy enough to allow my books to turn up. But I do have another little witchy trick up my sleeve. These are our finder gnomes (standing in front of a postcard of the Mt Warning Caldera):

Whenever we lose something, we ask the gnomes to find it for us. It always turns up promptly, and we show our gratitude by giving the gnomes another stone to enjoy, which we pile in front of them in a big abalone shell. (Gnomes like stones. So do I, so it’s no trouble to find wonderful stones to give them.) With the books, I felt I must re-balance the energy before asking the gnomes. 

Aha! You see — I have been feeling guilty about these books which I borrowed and hung onto so long. Guilt is a severe energy drain. Best to clear it. Also we have a tendency to start subconsciously punishing ourselves for our guilt — an attempt to restore the balance, but not a useful or healthy one. It wouldn’t surprise me to discover that I have misplaced my own books. We shall see.

Does the psychological interpretation invalidate the magickal one? I don’t think so. It’s all energy.

Storm Busting

As I write we are having a huge thunderstorm straight overhead, and rain is pouring down fit to flood. Only we are too high to flood — but places nearby could well be getting water over the roads.  

I have unplugged the phones and switched off the internet, even though we have surge protectors. They are guaranteed against failure, but we don’t need replacement machines; we need the nice, relatively new ones we’ve got. 

The other thing I have done is put protection over the house. My Beloved Spouse suggested earlier that we should go around telling everyone how to do it — ‘But they’d probably think we were nuts,’ he said. I agreed that they probably would. The readers of this blog, though, might be in different category.

So here’s how you do it. You put a dome of blue light over your house — or any other building or area you wish to protect from storm damage. You visualise and intend very hard! And you have it be there as long as needed — that is, for the duration of the storm. (Make a new one for the next storm that comes along.) 

This was devised by an energy worker called Penny Chesney, who lives not far from me. She is on a high hill overlooking the ocean, vulnerable to wild weather. There have been occasions when fierce storms have damaged places around her, but not her property. I know; I’ve seen the evidence afterwards.

You can do this from afar too, if you’re away and hear that storms are threatening your home. It follows that you can also do it for other people’s places. I’ve done it for friends who were away, and their houses have remained intact. So, of course, have other houses in the area; this is yet another unprovable technique. (Yes, the salt keeps away elephants. You don’t see any elephants here, do you?)

I do it anyway, and it makes me feel more secure. Which in itself puts out good energy around my pace; maybe that’s the answer and not the blue light? Maybe. But you should know that blue light has many magical and healing uses. Be game to try it, set your intention and enjoy the results ... and no, don’t go around telling all and sundry. They’d probably think you were nuts.

Message from Gaia

This is not one that came through me, but it is one I think well worth sharing. The following is an email just received from a close friend whom I know to be very 'tuned in'. I think we must heed it, friends!

was woken at 1.30 in the night with the half moon striking my face, it showed me the grandcross of the knights templar equally across its brightness and also a moonbow (rainbow of light with the 7 colours) surrounding it.

was directed to go to the beach early, an hour walk there and back....

a huge starfish exquisite in its death was lying directly in front of the spot where I access the beach.  I have never seen such a big star, so beautiful in colouring, it had 7 legs...and the message came that the next 7 days are critical for gaia.

we of the lightforce must focus on joy and love to release the duality of pain and distortion from this planet...for me this means just to focus on being me and to not get involved with this incessant need to heal everybody....must release that.

Your Relationship with the Moon

What is it, I wonder?

I wonder about my own, too — and this lunar month, starting now, I have the opportunity to find out.  On facebook a woman has started a group for people to journal their relationship with the moon daily (or nightly!) during this period.

To tell the truth, my relationship with the moon has lapsed considerably, so this exercise actually gives me an opportunity to renew it. Naturally, being me, I am doing my journalling in verse. You'll find it over at my Passionate Crone blog.

Healing Miracles or Medical Mysteries?

1)

My Beloved has had severe leg pains for days; can barely move sometimes. When things I tried gave only temporary relief, I invited a spiritual healer friend to come and give him a session. By the time of her appointment yesterday, he was also wandering in his mind and his blood sugar was up a bit high — so I booked a doctor’s visit for him later the same day. As he was in such pain that he wasn’t sure he could even get to the doctor’s, I didn’t cancel the healer. 

She gave him a lot of time. ‘They [the spirits] were working a lot on his lower back,’ she told me afterwards. He didn’t immediately notice great improvement, but by the time we saw the doctor, his pain was greatly reduced — so much so that the doctor said, ‘How often can your friend come and do this for you? It’s better than any medication I could give you!’ (He is on so much medication for his diabetes and artificial heart valve that what else he can safely be prescribed is limited to things which would have undesirable side-effects anyway.)

I had assumed his pain was caused by peripheral neuropathy, a painful condition of the nerve ends which is a side effect of diabetes, but the doctor explained that that affects feet and ankles, whereas this pain was in the thighs and calves. He thought it might be from the severe arthritis in the lower back. I thought so too, considering what the healer had said. But the high blood sugar could also suggest an infection. As there were no signs of chest infection, it could be urinary. ‘If he’s not better tomorrow, take a sample and bring it to the clinic.’

Today is Saturday. Only one doctor is on duty Saturday mornings, so it’s first come first served. His pain had returned, his blood sugar was high; he got the sample and we fronted up as early as we could manage. She found some signs of infection, prescribed an antibiotic and sent the urine to the lab for further tests. She also expressed the opinion that the burning pain in his legs is caused by another side effect of diabetes — with such a long and unfamiliar Latin name that I don’t remember it. We go back to our own doctor on Monday.

So in this case the miracle was not a cure. However, some relief is better than none, and it encourages me to continue with my own energy healing methods too.

2) 

Some weeks ago I started experiencing extreme shortness of breath after very little exertion. I had some chest pain too. The doctor originally thought it might be either pleurisy or emphysema. I’d recently had (mild) pneumonia; pleurisy could be a lingering after-effect. Also I smoked for 32 years, and even though I’ve been stopped for 23 years, emphysema can take that long to show up! A couple of my psychic friends got the impression it was pleurisy, and my chiropractor said it couldn’t be emphysema or he’d have picked it up long ago. (Whew!) 

An x-ray suggested a hernia instead: part of the abdomen pushing up into the left lung. The doctor ordered ‘a more sensitive scan’ to make quite sure of the diagnosis. In the interim I used both Reiki and Genome Healing. The breathlessness reduced to almost nothing, and the pain stopped completely. For good measure, the chiropractor attempted to push the hernia back down into the abdominal cavity.

So a week later I had the next scan, which showed no hernia. The doctor explained that we all have a fatty shield around the heart, and that mine must have been casting a shadow on the lung in the first x-ray. 

I told him I’d done some Reiki, and described the Genome Healing as ‘a guided process of talking to my organs.’ He didn’t scoff — he’s fairly open-minded — but he didn’t comment.

‘So what was causing the shortness of breath?’ I asked.

‘I can’t explain,’ he said.

I asked, ‘Could it have been partly stress-related?’ I had noticed that, although it followed physical exertion, stress seemed to exacerbate it.

He became animated. ‘Yes that’s possible. And that might be why you’ve been feeling better. Talking to the organs is a form of relaxation exercise. It’s like the progressive relaxation technique of going through each organ in turn.’ 

He was obviously happy to have found a way to explain it to himself, so I didn’t say what I was thinking: ‘Hey mate, remember it wasn't only breathlessness, there was also pain. That’s a hell of a powerful relaxation exercise if it does the trick for a week and more!’ 

The jury’s still out on this one, too. Was it a mild pleurisy that gradually got better? Did a hernia reverse itself? Watch this space.

Just Put Pagan

OK, I've decided! (On my dilemma in previous post.) This census I'm not going to put 'Pagan - Wiccan' but just 'Pagan'.

This [edited] comment on facebook, from Linda Ward, at the group 'Pagan and the Australian Census 2011', is what decided me:

'On speaking (yes, actual conversation) with the chief statistician we were told that after the data is put in ASCRG code the raw data is destroyed and there is no way to tell if Pagan- was the precursor of the entry. [A particular faith] would not be counted as Pagan if it came after the dash. The most efficient way of getting true Pagan numbers is to Just Put Pagan. This is straight from the census horse's mouth. Why not get the basic Pagan numbers first, and then have the solid data to argue effectively with ABS for changes to the next census? Also from the ABS website they are very clear that they will not negotiate with one association on any changes - only a concerted multi-organisational process will have any chance of bringing about changes. It should also be noted that Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus do NOT seek to fracture their numbers into various schools but keep to the unified umbrella term for their faiths to maximise their census figures - and they have a greater population than we do. My advice to all (and this coming from one who was part of the original Pagan dash campaign committee) is Just Put Pagan.'

Pagan or what? Australian census.

The census will be taken in August.  On the question of religion, members of the Pagan community are trying to figure out what to put that will accurately convey how many of us there are. The trouble is that on the census form we are listed under Nature Religions, as follows (an excerpt from a letter to a friend from the Australian Bureau of Statistics):

Thank you for your enquiry concerning the religion question in the 2011 Census.

Paganism is included in the Australian Standard Classification of Religious Groups (ASCRG), as a separate output category in the Classification Counts produced for Religious Affiliation from the 2006 Census. It forms part of the broader Nature Religions group.

The classification structure of this group is:

613 Nature Religions

6130 Nature Religions, nfd (not further defined)

6131 Animism

6132 Druidism

6133 Paganism

6134 Pantheism

6135 Wiccan/Witchcraft

6139 Nature Religions, nec (not elsewhere classified)

If a response of Pagan is qualified with additional information such as Druid or Wiccan, this additional information will be used in classifying the response. For example, Pagan Wiccan would be classified as 6135 and Pagan Celtic would be 6133. Pagan alone would be classified as 6133.

Obviously this is wrong in a number of ways. For instance most Wiccans, Druids and others see ourselves as coming under the broader umbrella of Paganism and regard it as synonymous with Nature Religions, not a subordinate category. There are also various strands of Paganism not listed.

For some years there has been a big push for Wiccans, Druids, Ceremonial Magicians, Voodoun practitioners and so on and others to list themselves as ‘Pagan dash’ i.e. ‘Pagan — Wiccan’, ‘Pagan — Druid’, etc. in the hope that this would swell the official numbers of Pagans and give us some weight as a body of people to be taken seriously by Governments. In the light of the last paragraph of the letter above, that is obviously not the case. Now we are being asked, instead, to put just ‘Pagan’ on the census form so as to have the desired effect. The idea is that once we have got that message across, then we can work towards further educating the statisticians. We see the various kinds of Paganism as being not unlike the various denominations of Christianity, and we’d like the census form to reflect this.

Others in the Pagan community think we should continue to use ‘Pagan dash’, so that we don’t rob the various sub-groups of Paganism of their true numbers. Apparently, if the numbers get big enough, they may rate upgrading to a primary category. (Come to think of it, there are various ‘denominations’ of both Wicca and Druidry too.) These people also argue that after the census we might be able to analyse the data and make a case for changes to the listing — but that won’t work if we don’t stick to our specific designations. 

Some, like me, are still in confusion. I’ll probably end up putting ‘Pagan’ without further qualification. After all, my background and practices are highly eclectic. I could truthfully claim to be a Wiccan, a Druid, a ceremonial magician and a shaman. Just to complicate matters, I am sometimes invited to speak at the local Spiritualist Church, and I have no problem accepting. (Nor do they have any problem with me as a Goddess worshipper.) But the truth is I identify as a witch, albeit one who has been influenced by other paths. I tend to call myself a ‘contemporary eclectic Wiccan’. I’d like to at least put Wiccan. If I were to put ‘Pagan — Wiccan’ that’s where I’d be placed, so why not be direct about it?  On the other hand, if ‘Pagan dash’ achieves nothing, it might be worth opting for ‘Pagan’ alone this time.

In the end we’ll all make up our own minds. Pagans are much inclined to think for themselves! In any case, I thought it would be remiss of me not to address the question in this blog. The least I can do is lay out the issues before you, so that you may come to your own conclusions.

Safety

Mark Hepworth of PAN  (Pagan Awareness Network) points out that some people have in the past been afraid to admit to any of the Pagan faiths for fear of repercussions. It’s sad but true that marriages, jobs and friendships can be lost because of our spiritual paths — but not via the census. The information is highly confidential and very well guarded. So, Aussie Pagans, put something truthful!

Clairvoyance and Cold Calling

Sometimes the local Spiritualist Church invites me to be a guest speaker, on any topic I’m guided by Spirit to address. They are Christian, but open-minded enough to understand and respect my focus on Deity as Goddess and to pray, themselves, to ‘Father and Mother’, knowing that God is either or both (as well as beyond all categories). Afterwards I usually do some quick, public psychic readings for individuals in the congregation. I don’t normally attend the church on other occasions, but yesterday Spouse and I went along because Joan, a locally famous clairvoyant, was going to be there giving brief messages for people. A psychic medium myself, I seldom have the opportunity to be on the receiving end.

Due to time constraints, the messages were indeed brief and not for every person present, so I was thrilled when she stopped in front of me and asked, ‘Who’s Florence?’ I told her, ‘That’s my Nana.’ Then she asked, ‘Who was it who learned piano?’ and I said, ‘That’s Mum.’

‘They’re both here,’ she said, ‘Sending you lots of love.’ She asked who loved fishing, and who was a member of a Masonic Lodge (she could see him dressed up in the costume). They were my stepfather and my Dad, respectively. She then said she was getting the name ‘Keith or Kath’. I hesitantly suggested my Aunty Kathleen, but added that she never called herself Kath, in fact hated that abbreviation of her name. It was much later that I realised it was more likely a close family friend called Keith, who boarded with us for years when I was a schoolgirl and died shortly before my Mum did.

The spirits told her that I love reading, that I read lots and lots of books, and mentioned the word ‘library’. I was always a bookworm, and I was a librarian for 18 years.

She mentioned someone called Bill. Spouse and I both knew it had to be my previous husband, who died in 1995. ‘What’s he got to say for himself?’ I asked. She said, ‘He’s saying he likes your new curtains.’ Yes, we have recently got new curtains. I laughed, ‘That’d be Bill.’ I recognised it as his way of making a little joke to confirm that he’s the one who pops in now and again when I feel a presence.  He’s not the only one who does that, but there are times when I get a strong feeling it’s him. Now I know for sure. I could just hear him saying something like that, with a cheeky chuckle.

She didn’t get so much for Spouse, but did ask if he had a daughter. (Yes, he has.) She said, ‘I’m seeing a woman who’s connected to your daughter. I can see her holding the little girl’s hand. Again, both Spouse and I knew this must be his first wife, who died last year. ‘She is sending lots of love to you and your daughter,’ Joan told him.

None of this was particularly dramatic. Mostly it was simply a message that these people who have passed on were sending their love. Yet it was exciting in a way to be told so, and certainly warming. With hindsight I notice that in each case she was given either a name or some very specific information that would identify the person exactly.  For instance, his love of fly-fishing was one of the defining things about my stepfather, the thing that would of course be included if anyone told you about him.

She knew nothing about me or my circumstances, and the messages were delivered very quickly; she wasn’t probing or anything — yet she was correct about the new curtains, the love of reading, and the library connection, all very specific things that you wouldn’t get if you were faking.

Not that I suspected her of faking. Her reputation is excellent. But a few months ago one of my writers’ group said she has trouble believing in psychics because she has read how easy it is to do ‘cold calling’, a technique for faking the ability by being sufficiently vague to start with and watching the client’s body language. She tried it on me in front of the group for a few minutes to demonstrate, and was jubilant when my facial expression confirmed one of her guesses. 

The rest of the group wanted to get on with writing, so I cut short the experiment there. Afterwards, as at least one other person there had had a reading from me, I wished I‘d said, ‘Tell her how I do it‘ — because I use Tarot cards and a crystal ball, and when I use the crystal ball I don’t scry, I touch it and close my eyes. In other words, I’m not watching the client’s body language at all. When I use the cards, they are pre-shuffled and spread in an untidy heap from which clients are invited to let themselves be drawn to the right ones. That is, they themselves select the cards. And, although the cards have room for interpretation, they do have particular meanings which can’t be too far departed from.

The sceptical writer did assure me she wasn’t alleging that I did cold calling; she was just saying it made it hard for her to trust psychics. It hurt a little all the same. It was very, very close to saying she thought I might be doing that (or else that I must be fooling myself). Hard to justify what I do, though, when I’m the one doing it. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, i.e. it’s the clients who can verify my ability — or not. That’s why it was good to notice that Joan could not have been faking. She didn’t fish around, she jumped straight in with details that weren’t a bit vague and couldn’t have been guessed. They were accurate for the people she was talking to, in very specific ways. And, like me, she had her eyes shut a lot of the time whilst tuning in. 

Yes, there are fakes out there. Don’t let that blind you to the fact that some of us are genuine.

Healing Course: a Personal Perspective

My certificate says, Soul, Mind and Consciousness Technologies for the New Age.

This course derives from Russia. It consists of amazing methods and is full of useful information. Our teacher, having learnt some parts of it from here (Australia), went to Russia with a group of her friends/colleagues, to train more fully with its originators. 

I didn’t know these specific techniques before. I did, however, know others somewhat like them. They are basically visualisation and intention exercises, in very specific and thorough detail. What is startling is that in Russia these techniques are developed by scientists! In the West we are more used to scientists pooh-poohing such notions. 

It was three long days. 

The Beloved Spouse was the one who was mad keen to do this course; he’d heard about its many wonderful, documented results and Carol, our teacher, had shown him some of the methods already. It was she who urged me to do it with him. We’ve done a lot of work with her over the years, and she said it wouldn’t feel right if I wasn’t there. Fine with me; I was interested to learn, and had time to get the money together.

Spouse didn’t last past the first day! He is 82, has severe arthritis in his legs, habitually uses a wheely walker, and takes a couple of longish naps every day. Being ready at 8am to be picked up to drive to Coolangatta, participating all day in energy work that finished at 5.30, then the long trip home ... I was surprised he managed it at all. He had help from some lovely ladies from Adelaide, spiritual/energetic healers, who asked during the lunch break if they could give him some hands-on. That must be what kept him going through the afternoon — that and the techniques we were practising. He was very tired, mentally and physically, by the time we got home.

Next morning it was clear he wouldn’t be coming.

‘I’ll do it for both of us,’ I said, leaving him happily in bed reading the morning paper.

I phoned him at lunch time. He took a while to answer, but I’m used to him moving slowly. He said he’d been having a shower. He sounded well, and delighted to hear from me. 

Fall

When I came home that night, I saw one of our dining chairs lying on its side, and just beyond that a wet towel on my desk chair near the phone. I could picture him grabbing the back of the dining chair in haste to get to the phone, and it giving way under him.

‘Did you fall over today?’ I asked. He said he had, when he was running to answer the phone. He hadn’t been going to tell me, and asked how I knew. 

I was upset with him. ‘Don’t run!’ I told him. He has become somewhat prone to falls. He assured me he wasn’t hurt. I know his bone density is excellent, and obviously nothing was broken, but I examined him for new bruises. None. OK.

Next day, the final one of the course, I decided not to phone! When I came home he was showered and dressed, waiting at the open door for me all smiles. 

The TV was on, and it looked as if crowds of people were having a street party. 

‘What’s all this?’ I asked. He told me about the capture and death of Osama Bin Laden. At lunch time he had come out to watch the news, and because it was that particular news he hadn’t stopped watching all day. He confessed he’d had no lunch. Well, I had a good dinner planned.

Lump

After dinner, he noticed a lump on the back of his head, undoubtedly the result of his fall the previous day. I felt it too. Pretty big! I got upset again. But it was after dark: too late to see the doctor. He was due to get a blood test next day and see the doctor a couple of days later. 

Should I take him to hospital? We don’t have a car just now; it would mean taxi or ambulance. He said his head didn’t hurt, and seemed otherwise fine. I gave him some Reiki and also used one of the techniques I’d just learned.

Today the lump is much smaller. He hasn’t had a temperature. He is quite vague, but that’s nothing new.

Legs

On the second afternoon of the course, not knowing about his fall, I focused on his arthritis when we learned a technique for getting rid of pain. We were working on ourselves but, because he and I have such a strong energetic link, I was able to include him. As we were going to bed that night, I asked about his legs. 

‘There’s no pain,’ he said. This was the first time for months that he had been without pain in his legs!  (If only I had known about his fall, and the lump on his head, as soon as it happened! Well, what’s done is done and at least I’ve been working on it since.)

Resurrection

One thing the course taught was a technique which can even bring back those who have died. (It needs to be fairly soon after death, while the soul is still with the body.) The ladies from Adelaide said they too had an absent healing technique which could do that, and with Carol’s permission — she was only too thrilled — taught it to the rest of us. They told us details of two cases where they’d used it successfully, and because the cases were well documented, they knew from the time of the revivals that it was their work that made the difference. 

There is also plenty of documentation by the Russian scientists for their methods. 

Cancer

There was a technique which was presented as particularly suitable for cancers. One woman who accompanied Carol to Russia told us that, just before she went, she developed symptoms that suggested bowel cancer. Her doctor wanted to get her into hospital for an exploratory. But she was off to Russsia almost immediately, so she figured she’d have to do something herself. When she learned this particular technique, she applied it assiduously, and within the week her symptoms ceased and have not returned. I can only say she looked radiantly healthy, and a lot younger than she did last time I saw her, a couple of years ago!

Why was I there? / What did I get out of it?

I made a strong connection with one of the Adelaide ladies, Mary. She is very psychic, and was spontaneously given an important message for me. 

It seemed ironic that Spouse was the one who’d wanted to do the course, while I was lukewarm, yet I ended up being the one to complete it while he dropped out. Perhaps that was so I could meet Mary, I thought. Or perhaps because the Universe knew my Beloved wouldn’t last the distance and arranged that I would be in a position to teach him at a more leisurely pace.  Or both.

I certainly met some lovely people I was glad to connect with. On the first day I had to face my judgmental attitudes towards some who irritated me in various ways. (Luckily I didn’t have to reveal this publicly; it was just a thing I noticed.) By the end of the third day I had shifted a lot.

If the methods I learned were variations on things I’d already come across, still it is good to be reminded of ways of working which I had let slide, and to find out some new approaches within those ways. 

My understanding of the mind-body-spirit connection was deepened.

On the  other hand ...

I have some regrets, too. If I had stayed at home the second and third days, there wouldn’t have been a fall or a lump! I had already received my message from Mary, so that would have made no difference. I already had all the course notes, and could have taught myself.

Spouse had some recurrence of pain in his legs for a short time, but I’ve been doing some of the new techniques with him, and it’s not there now. His legs are very weak though, and he has trouble standing unsupported. He is childlike in some of his thoughts and reactions, but that comes and goes. He has little appetite, which is unusual for him, but he’s not getting much exercise to work up an appetite. I don’t know if the knock on the head has done serious damage. He was already deteriorating in some of these ways in recent weeks. By the time I found out about his lump, it was a bit late anyhow — but I’ll be glad to see our doctor tomorrow. I’ll also be very interested to see how my Beloved is in a few more weeks or months.

Meanwhile 

There are things I learned which I am using to help my own energy levels, and they’re working amazingly well. I had been feeing so tired and burdened; now I’m not at all. Yet my circumstances haven’t changed. 


P.S. The doctor’s receptionist has just phoned to say he wants to see us this afternoon, which pleases me enormously. Energy works in mysterious ways! (Spouse’s blood sugar’s high, which could explain a thing or two.)

Spirit Timing

My husband came across some automatic writing I did in 1995 (a form of channelling I explored for a while). We were asking our guides questions, and the answers came in the writing.

One practical question my husband asked was: 'Should I start a vegetable garden and where should I put it?' He received a practical answer:

'You need it near the house, not too far away. Yes you should start it. A good aspect will be below the clothesline, where there is sun, and moisture in the earth. It will be bigger than you think. You should make it a long plot, not a square one. You will have help.'

We did have help. A neighbour who knew a lot about gardening came and chose the place for us — on the opposite side of the house from the clothesline — and dug the earth. We grew cos lettuces that looked like small trees with long, straight stems, and pumpkins that proliferated so fast that we thought they were about to take over the earth!

We've had a number of moves since then, and gave up trying to grow veggies.  Finally we have arrived in our permanent home. Due to the recent floods, produce has risen high in price — a good time and place to think of growing our own again.

I found a convenient garden bed in a good location for sunlight and water. We're a bit old for digging now, so I asked our wonderful, all-purpose handyman. He dug it over, put down mulch, made sure some vents low in the wall woud not get blocked by dirt, and advised that starter kits would be easier than seedlings.

Then this piece of automatic writing turned up. It's eleven years old — and it describes exactly what has happened here and now. Our new vegetable garden is below the clothesline, near the house, where there is sun, and moisture in the earth. It's a long plot, not a square one. We had help. At this moment it's not bigger than we thought; we'll have to wait and see about that bit. There is room for it to extend; that's all I can say. But everything else fits.

It seems that our guides might have been referring to our present situation!

Eleven years ... an infinitesimal period for Spirit.

Can You Heal Without Reiki?

Actually we all have healing hands. Some people have them noticeably and naturally; others can feel this immediately when those hands touch them. But if you weren't born with this obvious gift, and you never did a Reiki course either, you can still do hands-on healing. We all have healing energy within us, and the hands are the natural tool with which to use it. You just have to dig a bit deeper to find it.

The thing to do is to rub your hands together to bring the healing energy up into them. When they're warm or tingling, place them on whoever needs the healing, yourself or another person. Trust that it will work, and let your intuition tell you where to put them and how long to leave them there.

Be careful not to deplete your energy. This will happen if you do too many healings in a short space of time. You might have to experiment to find out how many you can comfortably handle in a day. If you're not setting up as a practitioner, you probably won't get that many anyway.

Depletion is not a problem with Reiki, because we're not using our own electro-magnetic energy fields; we tap into the Universal energy, which never runs out. The smart answer to the question is, if you've never learned Reiki, learn it! But you might have your own rasons for not wanting to, or for not wanting to yet. Don't let that stop you in a case of emergency, if you can't get medical help or while waiting for it to arrive. There IS something you can do to  help.

Also, of course, there are many other good modalities around, and one of them might suit you better. Again, many of them don't tap into the Universal energy, so you would have to use commonsense in looking after yourself as well as your clients. But you could always add Reiki later, which would enhance whatever else you might do. And if not — they are still good modalities.

Reiki etcetera

I started a blog with that name a few months ago.

But I've got so many blogs it's ridiculous. I've decided to incorporate that one under the CRONEWYZE label, which covers energy, magick, and any esoteric or even practical wisdom I think I may have acquired.

Reiki, and other forms of healing which I do, are all about energy really; so is the practice of magick. I have even been known to express the opinion that Reiki is an Order of Magick — though I expect few if any other Reiki Masters would agree. Depends on your definition of magick, perhaps. Mine is: Magick is just science for which we haven't yet found the scientific explanation. Also, Reiki traditionally has three Degrees. Certainly it can seem magickal in its effects!

Anyway, look for the 'Reiki' and 'HEALING' labels for posts on those subjects. Some of them will show up on dates earlier than this, when they were first written, so you may have to hunt for them. Just click on the appropriate label. ('HEALING' is a broader category than 'Reiki', hence the capitals.)

Esbat and Sabbat

For those who don’t know, Esbats are our full moon celebrations, and Sabbats are the eight seasonal festivals on the Wheel of the Year.

The night of the Supermoon on the 19^th was wet and overcast here; there was never a chance of seeing that full moon, which was so unusually close to the earth. Yet the rain was timely, as that night had been designated worldwide, by an environmentally conscious online group, as a time to honour water and perform rituals to bless the world’s water. We were advised to go and fill bottles with water from a river or lake, then put the full bottles on our altars to receive blessings ongoingly.

I’m too old to go traipsing around the countryside looking for the nearest accessible body of water! Instead I stood out in the rain, cast circle, spoke a blessing, and held out a small blue glass bottle for the rain to fall into it.

It was very fine rain that night, so the bottle didn’t fill up. I stood it upright in the garden against the wooden boundary of a herb bed, resting securely in a little hollow in the soil.  We have had several sharp showers since then, but they have been brief; the bottle is only about one-sixteenth full — and it’s a tiny bottle. This is going to take time. Never mind; I can bless it where it stands. The herb garden, private and enclosed, protected by the neighbours’ trees, has become my favourite place for ritual. That corner of it can be a special altar to water for the time being.

The night of the full moon was closely followed by Mabon (we being in the Southern Hemisphere). The loosely-knit group of Pagans we’ve been celebrating Sabbats with this last year has gone into temporary hiatus, as we and others have found ourselves dealing with pressing personal matters all at the same time.  We think of each other at such times, and send greetings, but for those without easy access to other gatherings, our celebrations at present are solitary or in couples.

LightStar and I kept things simple. It being Mabon, a harvest festival, we each made a list of the things we were glad to have harvested in the last little while. Most but not all of them were intangibles. We have arrived at much enjoyment of life on a day-to-day basis.

Mabon takes place at the Autumn Equinox, when the light and dark are evenly balanced. After that, the lengthening of the darkness into Winter begins. Darkness is a time for spells of banishment, so it was also appropriate to list the things we wanted to release and be rid of.

Then we went out into the herb garden, again in very fine rain, cast circle, and declared to the elements our thanks for our harvest and our intention to release the unwanted items. My cast iron cauldron, which lives outside, had a little water in the bottom even though it had been under shelter. I tried to burn the harvest lists; it was difficult as they got wet. So I made a virtue of necessity, thanking the fire and water which had already touched the paper, then crumpling what was left of it into a tight ball and throwing it into the air, finally burying it in the earth, thanking air and earth too.

My cauldron is an old Dutch oven with a lid. The lid was dry, so I inverted it and burnt on it the lists of items to be released. I wanted just fire for that, to release them without delay. Fire is the quickest energy. They burnt right down to ash. Two tiny bits of paper took more time to burn after the rest had gone. I looked, and saw that they were the single items from each list which the person concerned had most trouble letting go of! But burn they did, all the way, taking only a little longer than the rest.

LightStar thought of another thing to release, so he shouted it confidently into the air, arms outstretched in the appropriate gesture.

Then we opened the circle, came inside and made love. No, it wasn’t Beltane, but lovemaking is always an appropriate conclusion to magickal work. ‘All acts of love and pleasure,’ says the Goddess, ‘are My rituals.’

Just now I brought the cauldron inside, scrubbed it, coated it inside and out with olive oil, and put it in a slow oven to re-season.  It shall live indoors in future, when it’s not in use.

Are We Helpless in the Face of Disasters

Not entirely.

Once the flood, fire, earthquake or tsunami has happened, we can't undo it. But it's always useful to send Love energy to such situations, and to the people in them and the places where they occur.  If you're a Reiki practitioner, Reiki is one of the easiest ways to do that. Beam it at the TV screen when you're watching the news footage — either to the general scene or to individuals who are shown, or both. When you see those scenes in your head later, as you're bound to, again visualise and intend to 'zap' them with that energy or surround them in it.

This is a huge act of faith, as you will never know if it did any good. It is a time to recall the many instances when you have been able to get feedback and to know that Reiki helped a person or situation. Knowing that, trust that it will help in the large-scale disasters also, and remember that some Reiki is better than none.

Sometimes weather magick can prevent threatened disasters. Witches would probably just light a candle. In his book Urban Shaman, Serge Kahili King recounts instances of shamans banding together to successfully turn away destructive weather from population areas. Group energy is very powerful; for that reason it is also effective to take part in such events as world-wide meditations at specific times.

For people who aren't shamans or witches and don't know how to use Reiki, heartfelt prayer is also powerful. So are 'Love projections' where you get into a semi-meditative state and focus Love towards the person / place / situation. You can visualise it as white light if that makes it easier — or rainbow light, or pink light, or green, or gold — so long as you hold the understanding that this light is an expression of Love energy.

Humanity has been told by many teachers over the centuries that Love is the essential for making our lives work, having ourselves and our planet be healthy. It's a very difficult thing to do, to stay always in that state. Most of us have to catch ourselves —eventually! — when we fall out of it, pick ourselves up and start again. It is worth persevering. There is nothing that is so much worth doing.

I am now in my 'senior' years, with a great deal of life experience behind me. It becomes more and more apparent to me that Love is indeed the only thing that really matters. It's vital.

Drama and Discord; Entities and Groups

What if there were energies which fed off human emotion? What if they were particularly nourished by drama, discord, fear, self-doubt and denial? What if , therefore, they sought to destabilise human societies, and also small groups and  individuals?

What if a group of friendly Pagans of different backgrounds were to come together regularly to share fellowship and ideas? Wouldn’t this group be an obvious magnet for the destabilising energies? All the more so because such a group of Pagans would have the potential to be a force for peace and harmony in the world — which any destabilising entities would have a vested interest in preventing.

There are such entities, as many healers, psychics and energy clearers can attest.  Whether you think they are conscious, sentient beings or some kind of unthinking force; whether you believe they come from ‘out there’ or are products of our own psyches — the effect is what counts, and that can be devastating. As humans, we need eternal vigilance to stay in our strength as beings of radiant energy, and not be undermined. It’s all too easy to get lax and not notice. In fact, the majority of human beings don’t even realise there is any such danger.

For those of us who do, it’s important to maintain whatever practices keep our own energy clear — meditation, the Middle Pillar exercise, Reiki or whatever. (These are not mutually exclusive, by the way.)

Then there is the energy space we inhabit and move around in. It’s easy to get into blame and self-justification in our interactions with people. I do it too — don’t we all! But what if the real problem is something in the space between us? For instance, at times when my husband and I get testy with each other, if we remember to have a look at what’s between us instead of just getting caught up in the emotions, we always find some extraneous energy needing to be cleared. This is not a function of the subject of dissension. (It’s possible to disagree calmly, even about cherished principles.) When things get heated, it’s worth being aware of the possibility that something else is stirring up the violent emotions.

If you can’t see or sense energy, and if you don’t have a clearing technique, you can simply ask the angels to clear whatever there may be in your space that is promoting doubt, denial or discord.  They will respond and help!

I don't mean to excuse bad behaviour; I do mean to say it's important to minimise it.

It would be inhuman to go through life with no anger, worry, doubt, etc. It’s useless to try and be saintly by suppressing such things. But it’s also harmful to give vent to them in a way that draws to us the very entities that escalate them. It is true that, if we have a genuine grievance with another person, the best thing to do is to talk it out with them (rather than bitch about them to others). However it would be good to clear one’s own energy first and not be speaking from the agitated emotions.

Sad things recently happened in a group I belong to, where tensions and misunderstandings escalated until some permanent divisions resulted. I’m remiss, in that I too got caught up in the ‘he said, she said’ even while trying to promote peace.

It starts with me. I too easily let my practices slip. Time to re-institute them on a daily basis.  If I slip again, as humans can, I’ll hope to catch myself fast and resume.  (Maybe a post-it note on the bathroom mirror would save me from forgetting!)

And I do think, for everyone involved in a group, it’s important to use whatever techniques we have to keep the group energy clear. If you have no special techniques, it’s effective to send love to the group as whole (visualised as white light if you find that helps) or to pray for its collective peace and wellbeing.

The facilitator of one online healing group I belong to sends out regular reminders for each of us to send healing to the whole group and to the extended families of all members. This is a lovely habit, which takes only a few minutes and would be good for any group.

Let’s not forget our interactions on the practical, everyday level, including those in group contexts. How good it would be if in all circumstances we could give the highest priority to taking tender care of each other.

P.S. My friend Ursula posted a comment in another forum, making a very important point which is something I wish I'd also said in this post — so I am quoting her here:

It's true, I believe they do exist AND still, the drama, discord, fear, self-doubt and denial must be in us first for them to find food for their energies.....still we must be responsible for what we put out there and who and what it attracts......which by its presence tells us what's inside us........if we were all love they'd never find us!!!

Harvest

Lughnasadh yesterday (in the Southern Hemisphere): a harvest festival, a time to be grateful for what we have reaped.

What, we asked ourselves, was sown six months ago, of which we now reap the harvest?

Then we remembered — six months ago he was in hospital with an infection that galloped out of control. It was a very distressing time for both of us. ‘If you weren’t knocking on the Pearly Gates,’ said our doctor afterwards, ‘You were at least standing in line.’

By now that’s far behind him.

His life — that’s a harvest we’re both grateful for!

Car Spells

Several witchy friends have had car trouble lately. Maybe it's because we all drive old cars, lol.  One of the group put out a request for car spells, and another promptly replied saying that she always carries a piece of turquoise in her car as it is a stone for travel protection. She's sure it has helped stave off imminent breakdown!

I had never thought of doing spells for that purpose. I suppose that's because I, and others who can, tend to use Reiki. But not everyone is qualified to do that. Why not spells?

I do use both magick and Reiki for safety when driving — thinking more of accidents than mechanical disfunction.

I like quick and easy magick that doesn't need physical ingredients; in other words, I use my mind — my intention and visualisation. I wash both my vehicle and myself through with light: the white light that is the energy of the Universe, the rainbow colours of the Universe, and gold for Universal protection. Then I put around both car and me an egg-shaped cocoon of blue-white light as a shield.

(It's not enough just to 'white-light' your car. I remember a girl who did that once when she was illegally parked, hoping to protect it from the eyes of parking inspectors. She got a heavy fine! If you don't specify what the light is for, it can act as a beacon, making your car more noticeable to either cops or robbers. You need to be precise in your intention.

In any case, I think it's a very grey area to be using magick to help you get away with breaking the law, when your reason for breaking it is mere selfishness or laziness. Perhaps it's not surprising that didn't work for her.)

Does anyone out there have any good car spells they're willing to share?