Perfume Part Three

In India, resins, woods, spices and fragrant flowers are used for ritual, medicine and personal adnornment. Many wonderful aromatics grow there, including frangipani, hibiscus, sandlewood, jasmin, patchouli, gum benzoin, vetiver, aloewood, pepper, cardoman and connamon, and the sellers from the main centre for perfumery, Ghazipore, near Benares, are called 'gandhika'. The art of distilling the essential oils was brought from Arabia by the Moghuls.  The Indian book of sacred love, the Kama Sutra, prescribed fragrant oils to enhance allure and sandlewood and musk was rubbed on the body as an aphrodisiac. Indian cashmere shawls were steeped in patchouli, a heady scent, which had the added effect of keeping out moths. Its shredded leaves preserved the cloth during the long voyage to the west. 

Wendy Rule

Wendy Rule is an award winning Australian singer-songwriter. She has carved a special niche with her exceptional album compositions. 

A few track titles: Flowers, Thanatos, Dark Shadow, Above and Below, In Life is Death - In Death is Life, The Dark Earth Opened, The Curse, The Temple, All Is As It Must Be, The Ascent. 

Wendy Rule has been a practicing witch for the past twenty years and her music reflects the cycles of nature, tarot, astrology, and pagan/polytheistic beliefs. She tours extensively playing live at conferences and festivals.    

Psychic Post Bag

Q: I’m recovering from a minor stroke and my clairvoyance has dimmed. Will it return as my health improves?

Wendy's reply: Any illness that affects our ability to think clearly will also affect our contact Spirit, so headaches, influenza, mental illness or strokes will be in this category. If we usually can easily deliver messages, we might find we are slower, have less depth or be more confused in delivering messages than usual. As we recover from the illness, our capacity for mediumship will return. This reduction only applies to illnesses that affect our brain. Our delivery can also be affected by tiredness, worry, alcohol and drugs and the best mediums have clear thought in their lives in general. If the illness affects our physical body only, our mediumship will not be affected by incapacity.   

Church Visits

When you visit a church, take a compass. When you arrive at a church look up to see a weather vane if there is one. This was for pilgrims who needed to know the direction and weather for their next walk. 

Walk around the outside of the building. You may see a covered lychgate some 40 paces from the church door. When the coffin arrived on the carriage, the coffin was removed here and placed on the shoulders of the pallbearers. Take a walk around the graveyard if there is one. In the past, Christians were buried with their feet to the East. On the last day, when Jesus comes in majesty, the Christians will stand to face the rising sun. Priests were buried with their feet to the West so that, when they stand, they will face their flock. The northern side of the church is a cold and dark spot where the unbaptised were often buried. Because of limited space, this is sometimes not possible. 

Ark of the Covenant

What does the container contain? The value was within! 

When the Temple was built on Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the altar, placed in the Holy of Holies, contained a piece of furniture referred to as the Ark of  the Covenant (ark meaning container, such as a coffin, chest or box). Precise instructions were given as to how it was to have been constructed. It was to be built of shittim (acacia wood), which is still growing in Sinai and widely used today. It was to be an oblong box 2.5 cubits by 1.5 cubits, (3’9” x 2’3”) that within and without was to be overlaid, and inlaid on the lid with gold, and edged all around with gold. 2 golden cherubim were to kneel on the cover facing each other with their wings outstretched to overshadow the throne of mercy which was the top of the Ark. It was to be fitted with rings at each of the four corners, through which staves could be passed for carriage. These were also to be acacia and inlaid with gold.

”You place the throne of mercy on top of the Ark... there I shall come to meet you: there from above the throne of mercy, from between the two cherubim”.  

Ghosts and Hauntings

The Gilgamesh poem is 4,000 years old - the oldest story ever told. It contains the earliest written account about a ghost. It was written on an Assyrian clay tablet dating from around 650BCE. It was found in Nineveh during archeological excavations. It is inscribed with an appeal from a man who is possessed by a tyrannical ghost. The ancient Hindu scriptures, Atharva Veda, also detail demonic possession. We are familiar with the cases described in the New Testament where Jesus meets a possessed man on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and directly addresses the spirit by asking “What is your name?” and is told, “My name is Legion” (that is an entire invading and occupying Roman army). The man pleads with Jesus not to command the spirits to depart but Jesus saw a large herd of cows nearby and directed the demons out of the man and into the swine herd who charged to the cliff edge and threw themselves into the sea and were drowned.  

Halloween

Past times

The blooms of high summer had faded and cold winds had caused the first leaves to fall. After the cereal crops and hay were cut and stored, and the jams and pickles made, any animals that were unlikely to survive the winter were slaughtered.

In times past, as winter approached, many people were out of work and, because life was precarious, many of the community’s elderly and infirm wondered whether they would live to see another year.

Since ancient times, the farming year was divided into “quarter” days of the solstices and equinoxes, and the “cross quarter days” of which Halloween is the most important.

Message 4/ from Mandy

 

While listening to Joan Armatrading singing 'Love and Affection' some of her lyrics inspired me to put pen to paper.

I am not in love but I'm open to persuasion... What a beautiful and honest sentiment by Joan Armatrading!

Being open to persuasion while not feeling in love can lead to some fun and unexpected adventures.

Love is so often a complex and multifaceted emotion. Sometimes, it creeps up on you when you least expect it, often when you're busy doing something else, like nurturing friendships or pursuing your passions. And sometimes, it takes a little nudge, an invitation to explore deeper feelings, or perhaps an unexpected moment that catches you off guard.

Being open to persuasion means you're receptive to new ideas and experiences. Maybe it’s a friend encouraging you to go on a date, or a chance encounter with someone who shares your interests. It can also be about exploring your feelings in a safe and comfortable way, where you can allow yourself to feel without the pressure of expectations.

Spirit Attachment

What is spirit attachment? Spirit attachment is an influencing energy from another soul - people see spirit attachment as being an energy from a lost or passed spirit, this initially is not a visual experience but more a change in behaviours whereby you do things you would not normally do or be - attachments are usually attracted to the energy of the recipient. In order for entities to attach to a person that person is more than likely open or in a vulnerable space in some way. Earthbound spirits have also been known to attach during a trauma, anesthesia, a blow to the head, when drunk, under severe stress, exhaustion, grief, anger, fear, guilt the list is endless. To understand this and relate to something that is known, living people that are closely attached in a relationship whereby the partner becomes so energetically attuned to the significant other that they respond and possibly begin to adopt their habits, expressions, words and body language. It is like an overlay, sometimes these living energetic influences are positive and sometimes negative, such as in abusive relationships, unrequited love, where the power of another personality influences another but also impinges in their life in such a way that is detrimental.

The Bee Blessing - A Tradition

 In the distant past, country people had a tradition...

Whenever there was a death in the family, someone had to go out to the bee hives and tell the bees of the terrible loss that had befallen the family.

The bees were kept abreast of all important family matters including births, marriages, and long absence due to journeys. This peculiar custom is known as “telling the bees”.

The practice of "telling the bees" may have its origins in Celtic mythology that held that bees were the link between us and the spirit world. So if you had any message that you wished to pass to someone who was dead, you needed to tell the bees and they would pass along the message.

The typical way to tell the bees was for the head of the household, or “goodwife of the house” to go out to the hives, knock gently to get the attention of the bees, and then softly murmur in a doleful tune the solemn news. 

The Gathering of the Tribe - A Story

By Charles Eisenstein.

‘Once upon a time a great tribe of people lived in a world far away from ours. Whether far away in space, or in time, or even outside of time, we do not know. They lived in a state of enchantment and joy that few of us today dare to believe could exist, except in those exceptional peak experiences when we glimpse the true potential of life and mind.

One day the shaman of the tribe called a meeting. They gathered around him, and he spoke very solemnly. "My friends," he said, "there is a world that needs our help. It is called earth, and its fate hangs in the balance. Its humans have reached a critical point in their collective birthing, and they will be stillborn without our help. Who would like to volunteer for a mission to this time and place, and render service to humanity?"

"Tell us more about his mission," they asked.

Leisure - A Poem

Leisure by W H Davies

I am choosing poems I remember from my childhood...

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

Cathars

Cathars existed in France, especially Orleans, Provence and Languedoc areas and in Northern Italy and honoured the Gospel of St John. Raymond VI of Toulouse was especially lenient towards religious people and there was a medical school at Narbonne where Jews taught and practiced. These liberal values allowed women to own property in their own right. Cathars were ascetics, often holding high positions, such as artisans and tradespeople, within the community, especially the priesthood (the Parfaits). They were vegetarian - though ate fish, and were non violent. They regularly fasted and believed in sexual chastity, they also believed in reincarnation, and were dualists where the world was based on good and evil. They believed that the god of the Old Testament, Jehovah, created the world, but he was an evil god and the world was an evil place. Women were liberated and able to become priests. Many great philosophers of the distant past, followers of Mithras (who practiced in secret in the Languedoc caves) and the Persian Zoroasterians had many similar dualistic beliefs to Cathars. Manes (Manichaeism) persecuted in the same area was flayed alive for his Dualist beliefs. 9th century Paulicians, who followed St Paul’s writing were outlawed and sent to Bulgaria and Macedonia, and were the forerunners of Bogomils. 

The Holy Grail - Part Two

The Grail Knight chosen for the Grail challenge must be of the most sincere integrity. Merlin reserved seat at Arthur’s table, known as the Siege Perilous, for the knight who would seek the Grail. In Chretien de Troyes, Percival was to take that seat (Galahad in Thomas Mallory’s poem Le Morte D’Arthur). It was Wolfram von Eschenbach took his story from Chretien de Troyes, and write the poem Parsival. He placed Grail Castle in Jerusalem with Templars as its guardians of the Grail, here described as lapsit exillis, a stone. 

 

The fictional story of the Holy Grail was first written at the end of the 12th century by poet, Chretien (whose name means Christian). His patron was Mary of Champagne, the daughter of Louis VII and his queen, the illustrious Eleanor of Aquitaine. The Champagne Court loved music, poetry and entertainments. This story features a young knight, Percival, who stops for the night at an extraordinary castle. The owner is a disabled king. That evening, at dinner, a strange pageant takes place. Blood flows down the blade of a lance onto the hand of the man carrying it. Two boy servants follow him with a tray of candles. Then in walks a beautiful girl carrying a gold cup emblazoned with gems as another other girl follows her with a silver platter. A single communion wafer provides sustenance. Percival is told it is rude to ask questions! In the morning after the pageant, he learns that if he had asked questions, an important healing would have taken place. 

Melody Beattie - A Story

Once upon a time, a woman moved to a cave in the mountains to study with a guru. She wanted, she said, to learn everything there was to know. The guru supplied her with stacks of books and left her alone so that she could study. Every morning, the Guru returned to the cave to monitor her progress. In his hand, he carried heavy wooden stick. Each morning he asked her the same question. Have you learned everything there is to know yet? Each morning, her answer was the same. No, she said “I haven’t”. The Guru would then strike her over the head with a cane. This scenario repeated itself for months. 

One day, when the guru went to the cave, he asked the same question. He received the same answer, and raised his came to hit her in the same way, but the woman grabbed the cane from his hand, stopping the attack.  Relieved that the daily battering had been prevented, but fearing reprisal, the woman looked up at the guru. To her surprise, he smiled and gave his congratulations.  He said “you have graduated. You now know everything you need to know”. “What do you mean?” said the woman. “You have learned that you never learn everything there is to know… but you have learned how to stop the pain”.