World on Fire - An Extract

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.”

The Hierophant - The High Priest

From The Star Tarot - The Hierophant. The Inner Teacher/Spiritual Advisor. There are times in your life when you may feel lost, and disconnected, uncertain how to get back to your true self. This is the time to seek the wisdom of the Hierophant. He is the revealer of sacred information and he helps you to reconnect to your soul self. The Hierophant instructs you to listen. He symbolises the mediator between the spiritual world and the material world. He shows you the path how to live a spiritual life on Earth. The number is five – the number of spiritual self which struggles to learn how to express itself. The Hierophant is the Enlightened One who gives spiritual guidance. This is the bridge between the spirit and human form. He shines spiritual knowledge and divine love into your heart, awakening your soul purpose. The Hierophant  is your inner voice that inspires you to practice spiritual values in your everyday life. If you listen, you can learn the lessons. This card indicates a need or desire to discover the Divine being within. The Hierophant inspires you to walk your talk and practice your brand of spirituality with integrity and authenticity. You are encouraged to trust your intuition and to see the Divine in all things. You will channel cosmic knowledge, and blend and balance your inner self with your outer world, understanding how all things are connected. He gives you the courage and desire to look at your beliefs and values to see if they align with the Divine Plan. This will rebalance your life. Does drawing this card show you that you are ready to take on this role or that you still need further training?  Is your spirituality a true commitment? Use this time to re-evaluate where you have come and where you are going! You true destine path awaits - choices are required. By Cathy McClelland.

The Turin Shroud Photograph

The veil cloth that Veronica gave to Jesus on his walk to Calvary, and upon which his face left an imprint, is immortalised in every Roman Catholic Church in  6th station of the cross, but this event is not mentioned in the New Testament. There are crudely painted cloths but they are not original. However, the Turin Shroud is not a painting, but a photograph on cloth, and it has blood on it! So it is a very strange item indeed! 

During the massive cathedral building programme of the 12th - 14th centuries, relics were demanded by the papacy to bring pilgrimages to these expensive places of worship. The Turin Shroud has been carbon dated to 1260-1390, just the date of the required relics. However, it is obviously not the winding sheet of the corpse of Jesus. An early Roman Catholic Bishop recognised this. However, it is the image of a crucified man of this date, so therefore who might this be? 

Description of the Shroud:  It is a long length of cloth that comprises of an unusual herringbone flaxen twill fabric. The threads were bleached prior to weaving and hand spun. It is 14 feet 3 inches in length and 3 feet 7 inches wide. It has no mildew despite being in damp conditions for centuries. It has no brush strokes, no pigments or dyes. It shows two full length images, one of the front and one of the back of a naked and bearded man, with a moustache and shoulder length hair. It shows the body bore lacerations that are consistent with flogging. There are small puncture holes in the forehead consistent with a crown of thorns having been placed there. Also shown is a knife wound to his side. His wrists, and his feet are pierced in a way that is consistent with Roman crucifixion. He has his hands folded over his groin. Many measurements have been taken of the subject and some researchers have stated his strange physicality is that of a man who has also been, not only crucified, but wracked. 

Legend of the Lady in the Forest - A Story

Legend of the Lady in the Forest by Jo Gregory

Deep in a woodland glade, sunbeams filtered through the branches of the ancient oak, ash and thorn. A path woven by deer was well worn and threaded through the undergrowth. The only clue that someone lived there was the small curl of wood smoke and the tip of a small chimney within the leaves. It was an ancient dwelling with worn walls, clambering roses and small windows under ragged thatch and ivy. The roof gave a haven to many creatures including sickled swallows diving for insects to feed their young. No one came here. Legends and folklore passed across generations had warned of a woman, elusive and strange sometimes seen wandering the woods with a basket and muttering. In local hostels word would pass of her ability to vanish with a swirl of her old cloak.

The girl was desperate. Her chest heaved and her breath was ragged. Her dress was torn through running in blackthorn thickets and brambles, her hair tangled in a halo around her head. She had run like the wind from the village, morning dew soaking her clothes. Her face showed her determination as she paused and then opened the old gate to the cottage beyond. Eyes fixed on the door to calm he nerves she knocked and waited. No sound came from within but the door eased open slowly and after a moment she crossed the threshold.

Healing

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.  

We Have Come - A Poem

We Have Come to Be Danced —by Jewel Mathieson

We have come to be danced, not the pretty dance -

not the pretty, pretty, 'pick me, pick me' dance, but the claw our way back into the belly

of the sacred, sensual animal dance, the unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box dance,

the holding the precious moment in the palms of our hands and feet dance.

We have come to be danced, not the jiffy, booby, shake your booty for him dance

but the wring the sadness from our skin dance, the blow the chip off our shoulder dance,

the slap the apology from our posture dance. 

Primary and Secondary Gains

La Papessa

Tarot (tarrochi) was a thirteenth century card game and it developed into a card deck used for divination in early 1500s. The word 'tarot' derives from the Italian word, 'tarroco' which means 'trump'. Both words come from the Latin, 'triumphi', or triumph. 

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

Your Spirit Guide Meditation

 

With thanks to Sherry Wakeman for the voiceover and video creation

The Essene Brotherhood

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. 

Arthurian Llangollen

In Llangollen in North Wales we find some of the earliest references to the origins of King Arthur - not the knight and shining armour, but the dark age warrior who fought against the Saxons to protect his homeland. The Welsh traditions of King Arthur are the oldest in the world and in this area, we have place names and traditions attached to him and his companions.

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.