F is for (Janet and Stewart) Farrar!

This instantly piqued my interest when I read it on the prompts for The Pagan Blog Project! I thought I'd just swing by and see what the prompts were, as I again felt like writing something - the spiders in my house always remind me to 'write creatively without limitation' so here I go!!

I was first directed to these authors when my questions about Deity were deeper than 'who does what and in which era or country/continent?' Unfortunately, I purchased my editions of The Witches' God and The Witches Goddess via kindle, which does not mean I enjoyed it any less, it just means that it was more difficult to take notes etc!!

Anyway, my questions about deity had become of a more serious nature, as I have said. I wanted to know where they came from, if and how they were real. I had purchased both the God and Goddess book, but for some reason I chose the God one first, even though it was written second and referred to the Goddess one in the introduction - for a split second I thought I had made the wrong choice. I decided to read ahead, as I had chosen to do it this way for a reason... well, let's just say all of my questions were answered shortly after!! I realised that, yes they are real, they too come from the creation source and my current understanding (although I am well aware it may change any day now) is that they are manifestations of the creation energy out of it's own desire to see itself objectively through the eyes of another. Carl Jung mentions the collective consciousness in his works, and I feel it applies here. To me, the Gods and Goddesses are just ONE manifestation of the creation source. It does not mean that we created the Gods, I would never be so bold, all it means is that there are a variety of ways to get to deity, and none are any less valid than any other (excepting those that use force, coercion, murder or general lies in order to reach deity - but this is just my opinion!). And this was all before I had finished the introduction!

These books also provided a logical (and I am a ruling number 4, I need some level of logic and rationality in my studies!) explanation of the development of both the God and Goddess through time, which helped me to deepen my understanding of the various aspects of deity in it's male/female aspect. I also loved the list of the Gods and Goddesses throughout the world and I have come back to it time and time again to introduce myself to certain deities! I would have liked a deeper description of them, however, the scope of the books just did not allow for this - it would after all have to be larger than an encyclopedia in order to meet this need of mine! It is a good introduction though, to both the concept of the God and Goddess and provides some examples of deities to turn to or to research deeper for your own spiritual nourishment!

Definitely a book for the beginner and expert alike!!!

Random Ramblings - Emotions

Emotions have been a hot topic for me of late. It seems that a lot of people around me, including myself, are dealing with the continued suppression of our tears, angry outbursts, and possibly even excessive happiness. It got me thinking that this country has done it's citizens a great disservice.

You may be wondering what I mean? Well, it is this simple - who has ever heard their parents utter (or in most cases yell) the phrase 'what are you blubbering about', or 'Stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about', or even when you were making too much noise playing, 'Keep the noise down'? It seems that every time a child in this country, probably since the arrival of the First Fleet, has been conditioned to suppress their feelings! Perhaps it has something to do with the stereotypical stoicism of the English, or the firmness of the men and their inability to cope with excessive noise (for whatever valid or invalid reason), or the mother's wish for a moment's peace and quiet, or more likely the parent's wish to not have unnecessary attention drawn to them with overly loud children. It could be a multitude of things!

Either way, the result appears to be a generation of emotionally repressed individuals who find other ways to release their emotions - angry bar fights, nervous breakdowns, anxiety disorders, higher than average divorce rates, increased suicide rates, higher instances of bipolar, ADD, ODD and CD in young people etc etc etc... I am not in anyway saying that things like bipolar can be prevented or cured through adequate expression of one's feelings - I am not a doctor or any kind of health care professional - it just seems that as the stresses of living in the later 20th and early 21st century get higher, so too do instances of these events... I know from personal experience what continued suppression of feelings can do to a person!

Perhaps it is time to stop telling people to be quiet, allow them time to cry, yell and scream (in a controlled environment so they do not do themselves any harm) and let our children know it is OK to feel what they are feeling and see what the next 200 years brings??

E is for Etheric Cords

Not that I have submitted anything to it yet, but the Pagan Blog Project has got me thinking about all the different aspects of living a spiritual life. One of these is etheric cords. Most of my experience and teachings have been that they are bad, they drain your energy and leave you exhausted. While all of this is true, I feel there is also a positive side to these cords that I think needs to be approached.

Psychic work required you to create a connection with your client, a spiritual link between you both so that you can receive psychic information about said client. This link is also necessary to some extent when doing any form of divination, tarot, psychometry etc, even though the information you are receiving is usually from your own guides (who speak to your client's guides and give the information to you). In this case you still need to be spiritually linked to your client in order to acknowledge who you are getting information for, to create a limit as to who and what you are tuning in to. How can you do this if you are not connected to them, even for a short while?

Many people I know fear these cords, approach them like they are something bad to be avoided, if not outright feared! To me, these cords are just connections to loved ones or people who you have interacted with. Sure, if you have too many cords and too many of the bad kind (unfortunately people will subconsciously use these connections even when they are not physically around you) you can find that your energy stores are quickly depleted and you become lethargic all the time. These ones are not recommended, however, the positive ones that are created out of love and sharing would only serve to bolster your energy, right?

Obviously the bad ones, created out of a need to find energy from someone or to remain connected to a past event or possibly an ex-partner, need to be severed, I am not arguing against this. It is easy to do, you can just ask Archangel Michael to sever them with his sword, do a chopping motion down the body to cut them (which my friend calls the 'chop and zip', the zip is to prevent reattachment), another friend of mine even performed a scissoring motion with her hand in front of her body to cut an especially strong one - and it did take a while, but it worked! I just think that forming no connections or keeping none is probably worse than having only bad ones... if there are no positive cords attached to you, does this mean that you have no positive relationships?

I guess what I am putting forward is, that with the right intention, even those things most feared by people in the spiritual/psychic world can be good?

(I decided after publishing this that I would in fact submit it to the Project, so wish me luck!!!)

Discovering the Inner Self through Numbers? AB501U731Y!!

Warning! Frequent brain explosions occur if you proceed... hehe

Complete Book of Numerology

I have always been fascinated with numbers. Not mathematically, or scientifically - I couldn't multiply anything to save my life! - but just in general. I have always had a knack for remembering phone numbers, ID numbers, licence plate numbers and any other sequence of numbers I needed to remember (and some I did not!). I have even been able to tell when a loved was in front of me at the traffic lights based on the numbers of their licence plate! What I did not realise was that numbers had a specific vibration, or meaning, to them. I just thought they were used to add stuff up or subtract stuff, the 'If Johnny had 8 apples' kind of thing. I now realise there is so much more to them! 

My birthday was always just another day, my favourite day where I got awesome presents, but a day nonetheless. I love birthdays in general, where you get to celebrate that you made it out of your mother's womb in tact and continue to be in a somewhat similar degree! It is the day a person just happened to be born into this world - as we all know there is no such thing as 'just happened'! 

I had also been interested in numerology for a while, from the all too brief discussions at psychic development groups and with friends who were a little more versed than me on the subject, but I had never gotten around to actually doing something about it. Until recently that is...

I used to work in a book shop (yes, it was as awesome as it sounds!) and was familiar with a variety of titles, so when David A Phillips came up on my Kindle (Blasphemy! I hear you all shout...) search I immediately bought it. Well, was I in for a surprise!! 

I am also now a teacher of high school students, partly because I love teaching History, and partly because I love to torment children and watch as their heads explode every time they have an epiphany. Well, let's just say Karma visited me and came with a vengeance! Every 'page' of this book revealed new information that did exactly that - BLEW MY MIND!!!! On a daily basis there were little bits of my brain, skull and skin littered all over the floor! Obviously not literally, as that would be completely crazy, but you get the picture! 

I was somewhat aware that our birth dates could tell us a bit about ourselves, but I was not prepared for it to EXPLAIN ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!! It told me why I am so easily frustrated with things, why I am overly sensitive to people and situations, why I have a very hyperactive personality and why I liked numbers so much in the first place!

The best part of this book is that it is easy to follow and you can do the activities while you read through, gaining insight into your life and personality as you go along. Another awesome thing is that you can start doing the charts of other people (at least in part) before you have even finished the book! I have an equally hyperactive friend and we discovered that she too has the same numbers as I do - now we just blame it on the numbers and go about our merry day!! I found that looking at the charts of others bit by bit helped me to better understand what Phillips meant by certain things and to solidify each aspect - and there are a few! - of numerology as I progressed through the book. 

I think the truly best part (I know, let's just say it is an awesome book and leave it at that ok?) is that it will help me to tune in to my intuition and to help build the trust in it more. Once you have the basics down, you can easily look at a chart and intuitively provide information to your client about themselves by looking at the numerous links between each aspect. It is all just so very awesome! I have also found from recent conversations that doing the charts of children, their parents get a better understanding of how they work and why, and most importantly what to do about it!

I feel this book was an excellent first look at numerology; comprehensive, well written and easy to follow! If anyone was ever interested in studying numerology - and I quickly found out it is a 'study' not just a 'read' - this would be the perfect place to start!! 

Feel free to post your own insights below, or links to other awesome numerology books. I think my passion has awakened with force!!!!