Gipsy Vans by Rudyard Kipling
Unless you come of the gipsy stock
That steals by night and day,
Lock your heart with a double lock
And throw the key away.
Bury it under the blackest stone
Beneath your father's hearth,
And keep your eyes on your lawful own
And your feet to the proper path.
Then you can stand at your door and mock
When the gipsy vans come through...
For it isn't right that the Gorgio stock
Should live as the Romany do.
Trees remove the dangerous levels of carbon dioxide from our air, and make wood from it. They give out helpful oxygen! This huge synthesising work takes place in addition to supporting wildlife and providing beauty free of charge!
Pollution affects trees, the climate change causing them distress. They find hot summers, cold winters, floods and droughts difficult to cope with. Many infections and pests, especially from abroad are killing them. We all need to think of planting a suitable tree that will help wildlife and the planet. The oak, for instance, supports over 2000 species and 300 of those only live on the oak tree!
Card number 12 Experience Rebirth page number 33
This current era signposts a path of inner transformation. Over the next few weeks you are offered an opportunity to review your life, and find out what is missing, and what is needed. You will find the time to be involved in this inner awakening process so you can delve deeper into your inner being and learn more about who you are, and where you are going with your life. You are asked to choose a new and slower path that involves the development of sensitivity and empathy, kindness and openness. This requires a level of inner growth that you have been yearning for and is an opportunity to review your life to remove old ideas, beliefs and ways of being that do not serve you. When you replace them with meaning, purpose and service to others, the old, irrelevant ways disappear from your life and you will embrace the new path of awakened faculties within yourself that you never thought existed. You might up chanting, walking in nature, find new friendships, take up a new course or new reading uplifting or challenging books or watch podcasts from thought leaders that will expand your mind and awaken your abilities.
In the Serbian concentration camps of the early 1990s, the women prisoners were raped, over and over, many times a day, often with broken bottles, often together with their daughters. The men, if they were lucky, were beaten to death as the Serbian guards sang national anthems. If they were not so fortunate, they were castrated or, at gunpoint, forced to castrate their fellow prisoners, sometimes with their own teeth. In all, thousands were tortured and executed.
In Rwanda in 1994, ordinary Hutus killed 800,000 Tutsis over a period of three months, typically hacking them to death with machetes. Young children would come home to find their mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers, on the living room floor, in piles of severed heads and limbs.
In Jakarta in 1998, screaming Indonesian mobs torched, smashed, and looted hundreds of Chinese shops and homes, leaving over 2000 dead. One who survived - a 14-year-old Chinese girl - later committed suicide by taking rat poison. She had been gang raped and genitally mutilated in front of her parents.
In Israel in 1998, a suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives rammed into a school bus filled with 34 Jewish children between the ages of six and eight. Over the next few years, such incidents intensified, becoming daily occurrences and a powerful collective expression of Palestinian hatred. “We hate you” a senior Arafat official elaborated in April 2002 “and the air hates you the land hates you the trees hate you there is no purpose in your staying on this land.”
Legend of the Lady in the Forest by Jo Gregory
Healing is the art of transference of power. It is extremely ancient, and existed in all ancient cultures and societies. The healer is a person who links to this power through a variety of means, sometimes through touch, sometimes through the mind alone. Animals and children and those who are in a coma can receive healing and anyone, even non believers can receive it. During the healing time, you might feel something, or you might not. If your don't feel anything it does not mean that the healing hasn't worked. The experience is usually relaxing and requires nothing of you. You could even be elsewhere or might not even know that healing is being sent to you. Sometimes, only one session is required, sometimes many sessions. No one can guarantee that healing works, or how it might work. Often results are not what are expected. Healing is not an 'instead of' treatment your doctor will provide, but a 'complimentary' treatment which is in addition to your doctor's advice and recommendations. Many healers do not charge money for their healing expertise and time. You can discontinue your healing sessions whenever you wish. Many healers are trained and registered and abide by particular conditions and codes of conduct.
One of the best books on the subject of healing is ‘Healing Into Life and Death’ by Stephen Levine. Stephen has many years of experience working with people with many types of illness. He is a counsellor and meditation teacher, and has worked extensively with terminally ill patients in the Hanuman Foundation Dying Project where he is a director, and has also worked with prominent specialists, such as Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.
The first known deck of 1450 is called ‘Visconti-Sforza which was owned by the son of the Duke of Milan, Francesco Sforza and his wife who is thought to have commissioned the deck, Duchess Bianca Maria Visconti. One of the cards found in this deck is titled La Papessa and shows a woman wearing the three tiered crown of the Papacy. Some say her name is Pope Joan who pretended to be male to become Pope but had a child during a popular outdoor event. However, the true story is as follows:
An Umiliati noblewoman and nun similar to the Beguines, Maifreda da Pirovano lived in Italy in 1300. She was the head of a sect who worshipped high born, possibly Princess, Guglielma of Bohemia, who died in 1281 and believed that Guglielma's resurrection would herald a new religion of women leaders. Guglielma had many followers (Guglielmites) who believed she was the incarnation of the Holy Spirit. Maifreda was elected Pope and
The Essenes are thought to predate the Judaism which emerged out of the Babylonian exile in about 540BC. They were sun worshipping, bowing to the East on sunrise. The Jewish Encyclopaedia describes the Essenes as a branch of the Hasidim, from the Maccabean times. It is a name of great holiness, ascetic, pious and devout, and consecrated to God. They were Therapeutai or an offshoot of these healers, the novices wore blue, the adepts wore white. They sought to restore the rites of the First Temple of Solomon. They were Christian in theory and practice before the time Christ.
Croes Gwenhwyfar. This is situated just off the Llangollen canal towpath where the remains of a base for a stone cross is situated. Croes Gwenhwyfar is Welsh for Guinevere’s Cross. She was the wife of Arthur, and she is also linked to the area through folklore. This is the only site with her name in Britain.
Ffynnon Arthur. On the south side of the Dee river on the old road over the hills to Chirk is the spring known locally as Ffynnon Arthur. The origin of this name is obscure but it overlooks the site of Croes Gwenhwyfar.
From Moon Magic by Marie Bruce - An Element Book
“ Setting up a lunar alter in your home is a great way to connect with the moons power. Having a special place dedicated to the moon and your magical practice is one way you can begin to invite the magical light of the moon into your life. Begin by collecting items which depict all represent the moon, so postcards, pictures, ornaments, candleholders, crystals, mirrors, and so on. Find a place in your home to use as a moon alter. This could be a windowsill, a countertop small to side table. You might like to cover it with a white or silver cloth, but this is optional. Next arrange all your items in a pleasing way, ensuring that you have a couple of candles ready to burn, place towards the back of the water. I don’t incense burner and alter is ready for medical use. You can use the space to cast spells, perform rituals, lay out divination card spreads and lights in the sense in honour of any Luna dirties you are working with. Add a statue of the loan a totem animals you connect with and make the space that is personal to you and your magical moon journey Finally, that’s the space by sprinkling a little spring water over the altar, and saying the following words. I dedicate the sacred space to the loaner light and to the moon is magical grace.”
I met her through a school friend because she worked near my home so we met for lunch, then my old friend wasn’t available but we kept up our twosome lunch dates. We also met socially sometimes. Her partner was very suave, French, a guitarist, well dressed, his hair always amazingly stylish, and he had an import and export business, said with a grin and a strong wink of the eye! They took their holidays in hot exotic places, always returning with a heavy sun tan despite her white skin and full freckles. She was depressed, not a good timekeeper, and would fight me to pay my part of the bill in the restaurant! Oh! Please just let’s keep it equal without a fuss! I have no time for attention seekers. Each time I thought would be the last time we met.
Then one afternoon, we were alone in the restaurant, and she said, “Can I tell you something”, I looked and said nothing. “Do you mind if I tell you something private?” Lots of things came to mind. Her partner was a likely philanderer, was he involved with drugs I wondered? I knew he played in a band that probably took drugs. I wasn’t really wanting any kind of confession, and she blurted put “I’ve been diagnosed with melanoma! It’s quite serious” I felt sad for her. She was impossible to give up work since they needed the money to pay for a buy-to-let property that caused them considerable expense at a time when he was not bringing in much money. They were moving to be near her mother 90 minutes drive from her work station and the long commute strained her low energy levels. She decided she wanted to get married, having been with him for decades, her first love. She went to France to stay with his mother to receive treatment that was said to be better than the NHS but the appointments required considerable time off work. She was too unwell to travel. She got married in a wheelchair. His best friend’s sister was there at the wedding.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats
I am remembering poems from my childhood:
Ah, what can ail thee, knight at arms,
Alone and palely loitering;
The sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
Ah, what can ail thee, knight at arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.
I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever dew;
And on thy cheek a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I met a lady in the meads
Full beautiful, a faery's child;
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long;
For sideways would she lean, and sing
A faery's song.
Pilgrimages in mediaeval times were encouraged by the church and many ordinary people took to the countryside to walk from one holy site to another, staying in inns and abbeys along the routes. They were often very unprepared, without suitable clothing or shoes, or even had good health to start with. But this was the religious holiday of the time. People would hear sermons, speak with all kinds of tradespeople, artisans, paupers and intellectuals. They would learn about healing herbs, poultices, how to mend broken bones, how to heal fever and exhaustion, as well as learning about veterinary care of the animals along many of the drovers routes that ran alongside the pilgrims way.
I was born in a place of mediaeval pilgrimage. Each day as a young child I walked twice through the ancient churchyard. To me it was not spooky but more romantic as my mother said that people were remembered for hundreds of years because they were good people buried there. My father said my relatives, with my surname, had their tomb stones on the floor of the ancient church of St Mary. The area was an early compass, as pilgrims would go from one site to another; listening for church bells and watching for church towers and spires. Weather vanes also provided useful advice when setting out.
We will celebrate International Women’s Day on 8th March. This year’s theme is ‘Embrace Equality’. Some readers will ask whether those that 'think' like a woman, 'feel' like a woman, or have the 'physical' attributes of a woman, can be included in this category! We hope by sharing our ideas and knowledge, that we can shed some light on this - or will we perhaps make the topic even more confusing!
Women collectively come together for mutual support every International Women’s Day. Women across the world have needed to fight hard for equality and despite legal equality in many modern countries, women are still not equal to men in many ways. They still suffer discrimination and have poorer life choices. They don’t earn equal pay, and they don’t reach positions of power as easily, or as often, as men. Their life is sometimes arduous, their health not taken so seriously, and they can be at major risk of being a victim of crime from those who they have loved. They usually accept caring duties that involve looking after their partner, their children and their elderly or disabled relatives.
Martin Buber retells a story of a Rabbi, who on his deathbed is asked if he’s ready for the world to come. The Rabbi replies with a hearty yes! as he will not be asked “Why were you not Moses?” he will only be asked “Why were you not yourself?”
The epitaph on the gravestone of Howard Carter reads: May your spirit live, may you spend millions of years, you who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, your eyes beholding happiness”. This is a quotation from the Wishing Cup of Tutankhamen, and “O Night, spread your wings over me as the imperishable stars.”
For everything there is a season, A time for action and a time to be passive, a time to be together and a time to be alone, a time to fight and a time to love, a time to work and a time to play, a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to confront and a time to withdraw, a time to speak and a time to be silent, a time to hurry and have time to wait.
From Sacred Sites Oracle Cards
Scrying Ritual: Prepare for the scrying ritual by watching a film or reading about the Round Table. You may wish to dress in flowing robes or a cloak, and walk through nature at dusk. When you are ready to begin the scrying, put on some mediaeval music, or some Arthurian inspired contemporary music. Pray over a bowl of water. Take a beautiful goblet or glass vessel and fill it with the prayed over water. Then gaze into it as you awaken your scrying skills.What do you see? Avalon is calling you. Let ancient memories of that time stir within you and give you glimpses of your past life.
"Only our Jim and me were left at home. Alfred had volunteered for the Navy. Dad had died after a month and us boys struggling to stop him getting out of bed – at 92 – to go and hove the allotment. He be fit up to that last month. He talked a bit wayward at the end. He couldn’t place our mam, his Mary Ann, but he know we old boys. Thomas Horton made dad‘s coffin in his old workshop adjoining the churchyard at Enstone. The old pump is still there in the yard. Thomas made dad‘s coffin of polished brass furniture in real brass, pillow lined, he dug the grave extra deep so mum could join dad one day, tolled the bell, paid the Vicar all in 1940, for the princely sum of £7. I still have the receipt.
Keridwen (has part of my name included in hers) is the example provided by the course and her mysterious myths leave me puzzled as to their possible meanings. A cauldron of nourishment, a pot for hot soups and stews, this is still my favourite dish. It could be a symbol of a woman's pregnancy, or of a pot of plenty of any kind, of riches, resources, a family united together, a progressive society, a world of caring, beauty and wellbeing for all people and other species.If Tomorrow Starts Without Me by David Romero
When tomorrow starts without me, And I’m not there to see,
His mystery name is 'Sabbathiel' He is credited as the author of the Psalm 85 and he is also credited with preventing Abraham from slaying his son, Isaac. The fire that Moses saw in the burning bush is said to be like Michael. Sarah and her husband Abraham were entertained unaware that they were, in fact, in the company of angels, not men.
The Chinese farmer said, "Maybe, or maybe not, we will see. Personally, I am in a 'wait and see' mode.
Using Science and Celtic Wisdom to Save Trees (and Souls) from NY TimesPart I MERRICKVILLE, Ontario — There aren’t many scientists raised in the ways of druids by Celtic medicine women, but there is at least one. She lives in the woods of Canada, in a forest she helped grow. From there, wielding just a pencil, she has been working to save some of the oldest life-forms on Earth by bewitching its humans.
At 77, Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a medical biochemist, botanist, organic chemist, poet, author and developer of artificial blood. But her main focus for decades now has been to telegraph to the world, in prose that is scientifically exacting yet startlingly affecting, the wondrous capabilities of trees.
How do we know that we are loved and how can we best express our love to those closest to us? Because love and loving, in all its many forms, is not taught in schools while we are growing up. We imbibe from our parents and extended family many ideas about love which might not be healthy and usually we don’t have good role models. Romantic films, books and popular songs do not help our understanding either. When two complex people come together to communicate their love for each other, there is often a mismatch. In life partnerships, one might want move to the country, the other might want to stay in the city; one might want a busy social life, the other might be more solitary; one might be very ambitious, the other laid back. How are these conflicts to be resolved? Does one partner always get their own way and the other acquiesces? Does one manipulate while the other becomes angry? Does one partner have staying power while the other is prepared to leave? Many of these questions are hard to answer but talking about needs for affection, attention, caring and thoughtful consideration and co-operation are part of a good and wholesome loving relationship. Negotiation is usually the answer, where both parties receive some of what they want whilst honouring the equality of the needs of the other person.
Our lives have changed significantly since the pandemic. Many people have lost jobs, homes, friendships, some have lost their health, others are suffering from bereavements or think their futures have radically changed. We are spending long hours at home, working or caring for family members, some are caring for and educating children, many are alone and missing social occasions. Love is even more important now than ever before!
Counsellors are frequently asked questions about love and partnerships and these are not easy to answer! We need to concentrate on giving love in order to receive it and that is usually achieved through empathy (which is being able to feel what others can feel), to laugh with them when they laugh and grieve with them when they grieve. Love gives us a wonderfully energising feeling of connection, wonder and excitement. Love boosts our confidence and has been found to be exceptionally good for our mental and physical health. Yet, it is full of difficulties because human beings are complex and we need to listen and become aware of how the other is feeling and understand and be sympathetic.
Clues to ego states:
Controlling Parent: should, must, always, ridiculous, being critical, condescending, disgusted, firm, pointing finger, frowning, angry, posture hands on hips, attitude judgemental, moralistic, authoritarian.
Nurturing Parent: good, nice, I love you, splendid. Loving, comforting, concerned. Accepting, smiling. Leaning forward, understanding, caring and giving.
The Casterot family lived in the Boly Mill in the poor town of Lourdes which lies in the foothills of the Pyrenees. When Father Casterot died, he left his wife and daughters with their home within this working flour mill. Mother Casterot was keen to marry her eldest daughter to a man who would maintain the family wealth by taking care of the mill, home and entire family - including her - and take her husband's place as head of the household. Francois Soubirous, a local mill worker was chosen to wed the eldest Casterot daughter, Bernarde. However, he refused her in favour of her younger sister, Louise, and despite the large age gap of 18 years, Mother Casterot agreed to the marriage though Bernarde had been groomed to be the matriarch of the family was slighted to be refused by this illiterate workman which lost her inheritance and power base. Bernarde owned a tavern and lived with Francois, who had rejected her, and her youngest sister, Louise, who had been chosen over her, and her mother, who had endorsed the marriage! Within an exact year, in 1843, a little girl was born, named Marie Bernarde, known as Bernardette. Within a few months of her birth, Louise burned herself so Bernadette was sent to a wet nurse in Bartres, a considerable journey from Lourdes.
Love....
Our lives changed significantly due to the pandemic. Many people lost jobs, homes, friendships, some lost their health, others suffered from bereavements or think their futures were radically changed. We spent long hours at home, working or caring for family members, some were caring for and educating children, many were alone and missed social occasions.
Love is even more important now than ever before! We need to concentrate on giving love in order to receive it. This is achieved through empathy, which is being able to feel what others can feel, to laugh with them when they laugh and grieve with them when they grieve. Love gives us a wonderfully energising feeling of connection, wonder and excitement. Love boosts our confidence and it has been found to be exceptionally good for our mental and physical health. Yet, it is full of difficulties because human beings are complex and we need to listen carefully and become aware of how the other is feeling, and be understanding.
‘Love, soft as an easy chair, love, fresh as the morning air; One love that is shared by two, I have found with you. Like a rose under the April snow, I was always certain love would grow; Love, ageless and evergreen, seldom seen by two. You and I will make each night a first, every day a beginning; Spirits rise and their dance is unrehearsed, they warm and excite us, 'cause we have the brightest love.’ ‘Evergreen’ song lyrics by Paul Williams and Barbra Streisand:
I was watching Joan Fletcher’s The Story of Egypt, enjoying my memories of visiting the major tourist sites 45 years ago. It inspired a dream of shopping in a souk and seeing a beautiful gold embroidered cape, eating in a restaurant and then realising I had lost my shopping bag. In my dream I returned to the area but had difficulty finding the place. I kept asking if anyone had seen it. Eventually, a man threw this cape over the table I was sitting at. I still was asking for my shopping bag. He showed me a black one. No, mine was canvas. I woke up thinking I had lost my purse, cards and phone!
Once, I ran from fear...
