Counting Blessings

Ocean Beach, Whangarei Heads, Northland, New Zealand

We have been up North again looking for a block of land to create a retreat centre. Thanks to Greg and his beautiful cottage at Parua Bay we had a tranquil place to return to at the end of the day.

There is some beautiful country around the Whangarei Heads. Climbing up the cliffs at Ocean Beach on a clear day we were treated to something awe inspiring. A deep swell was rolling in against the rough hewn black rocks. From our feet to the horizon lay a tone poem – at least seven shades of blue on green, while heat clouds massed behind us, banking blue-grey across the bush covered hills.

Sometimes in our daily routine it is hard to find a moment to stop and appreciate how rich life really is. It takes a shift in our point of view to see the good things all around us. Yet those momentsof gratitude support our life. By placing our attention on what we appreciate we attract more good things to us. This is a Universal Law at work and is found expressed in all religions world wide. He who expresses gratitude for what he has, be it money, love, health or whatever, he will attract to himself more of it. What you put your attention on grows in other words. So if we ignore our good, complain often about lack of time, or money, we will certainly attract more of that too.

Sitting up on the cliff surrounded by such incredible beauty I was reminded to count my blessings.

What do you appreciate in your life right now?

Realising the Theme

Poppies in Cornwall Park

August is a month of promise in the Southern Hemisphere. We are at the end of winter and on the count down to Ostara, the Spring Equinox in September. Things are stirring outside.

Walking in Cornwall Park this morning I watched twin lambs being born. I stood to one side as soft-spoken stockmen moved cows and calves with practised calm. This year the climate has been kind to new lives.  On my return later, the lambs were out of their orange birth-coats and on their legs. Dappled grey and white baby fleece dries quickly in the morning sun.

The Homestead Project is gathering pace too. We have been sowing seeds of food crops and flowering plants- kale, chard and carrots. Peas are just emerging, along with ambitious plans for big plantings of tomato and basil. We negotiated with the aged house cat Violet. She had first option on the sunniest garden spot. By way of compromise the raised bed has room for a blue/grey lady to warm herself in the morning. We benefit twice really – there is no better bird deterrent system than a feline one.

Inside there is just as much evidence of the Wheel turning. It is the Full Moon time when the vision and enthusiasm to start this Project is beginning to be realised. We are all feeling the benefits of a new approach. In our relationships and in our spiritual lives a new richness is emerging. Every decision is a group one. Every conscious action is a community action. Sometimes the results are hilarious and others achingly poignant. Unseen hands are lightening our life and we are grateful for their presence and assistance.

It takes practice at first, to shift from a mind set of separateness to one of inclusion but the results are outstandingly positive. It takes only a moment to stop and ask: Where is the flow here? What do I sense as I move through this space? Will this action support our project or diminish it? - and these techniques can be applied to all of life - it is all interconnected anyway.

Settling In

The Spirit Lamp for our new House

Once we understand that humanity is not the only intelligent life on the planet it is easier to intuit  the life in other forms around us. All forms have life and all manifest an Idea - a thought form - which lies at the back of their material structure.
Gardeners are used to relating to plants in this way. They see a tree living its life through the wheel of the year from a dormant winter frame to a form resplendent with fruit in late summer. They also see that same tree supporting other life while it lives - birds, insects, animals and people.  A house is very much like a tree. It too has a life, supports life, and so adds its particular quality to the activity carried on within and around it.

This week I am settling in to my new home and establishing a framework for the activity of the household. While sorting out belongings and getting to know the space better is an important part of the process, there are other things going on. I am establishing a relationship with the place.

This house, and the land it sits on, is new to me. Like any new acquaintance, it will reveal its personality to me if I pay attention. In order to understand I am required to listen as I explore the possibilities here. By merging my own life with this house, in an attitude of respect and commitment, I am asking to establish an intimate connection with the spirit of the place. Together with other occupants, seen and unseen, I am creating a Home in which all who cross the threshold will feel they Belong.

This opportunity is open to everyone and all of us instinctively seek that sense of belonging we call Home. The problem for many is the way our lifestyle and upbringing has served to disconnect us from the very means of finding that sense of place.
If we rush our attention is scattered and we cannot relate to any one. So the first step is to Slow Down.

Our second step on the Path Home is to take the opportunity to be in a park, or to notice street trees and urban birds - the creatures who live around us. Seek out these other lives and appreciate their presence. If we have no access to growing things, no place for a potted plant even, we lose our connection to the cycles of the seasons, to the source of the life force which sustains our bodies. We also disconnect ourselves from the spirit of Life itself.

The third step Home is to establish a rhythmic pattern to our day. When our world is filled with light and sound, both day and night, we miss the opportunity to pace our lives in tune with the rest of Life. We are unsettled then, and rootless.
No two people have the same requirements, so this too requires us to stop and to listen within. What meal times and waking hours support your life best?
What foods and activities enhance a sense of health and pleasure in life? What balance of work, play and rest meets your needs best?

The fourth and final step is to keep the mind as quiet as possible. Constant inner dialogue and noise drowns out the inner voice and closes down intuition.
No relationship can survive without clear communication. To develop a sound relationship with your Self, with the Soul and with all life we must learn to be still and to listen. In that stillness we get our sense of Home.
There a lantern shines at the window and we feel the warmth of the Hearth.
From the place of that peace we relate easily and effortlessly, knowing we are alive - that we Belong.

Exploring new localities

I have been out walking. My new neighbourhood is small residential oasis in a light industrial area.
The district is not so very new to me. As a child I went to intermediate school here. I have even lived here before - a long time ago when my eldest daughter was an infant- only the place was different then. I see the changes made here as a very healthy sign.
Like my neighbourhood, we all grow with change.  We see things differently. Just like any part of town does, we have our quirks and our issues. Getting on with doing the best we can with what we have is the flavour of most adult days, as it is with most districts.
Only things change fast sometimes and we feel differently about ourselves. That is just as well. Those unsettled feelings that float to the surface and drive change are keeping us healthy and on track.
A major part of our life purpose is to come to know ourselves well. A second major part of our  purpose is to connect with others meaningfully.
All we really have to do is take the risk of engaging with life around us - right where we are - at home, at uni', at work. Also, I discovered its OK to be  your Self while you do it.
Both neighbourhoods and the people in them are more interesting when they show their character.

Here's some of what I saw on my walk:

The Homestead Project

Today is Monday and the day of New Moon- the start of a new lunar cycle, a new week.
It's the perfect time to learn some fresh moves in the dance of our days.

Life has wrought some phenomenal changes over the last six months. Now I find I have fetched up in a wondrous place of light, love and warmth. From this place I express my gratitude to all lives who have contributed to its creation. From this place too, a new project and way of life begins.

Several years ago I began to look into the history of a district. By means of conventional research and channelling I began to uncover a story concerning a property there which I refer to as Homestead. Employing the old ways, I connected directly with the personalities involved in the events which took place during the 1870’s. Through them I unearthed their connection with my own life.

With the assistance of other guides and teachers I was introduced to the healing potential of collaboration across the boundary of form life. The goal of this combined effort is to create a new co-operative centre where a different process for living can be explored. By combining old ways with new, practical skills with intuitive ones, the Homestead Project will establish another centre to demonstrate the interconnectedness of all.

Commitment to this project has produced some significant upheavals for me, and a raft of astonishing new experiences. The most noticeable are the external changes: a profound love connection; a shift to more authentic, creative work and a reorganisation of my living arrangements. None of these changes could be lightly undertaken. All of them affected my closest relationships with family and friends, whose continued support and acceptance has encouraged me to carry on. Their love has provided the medium of exchange, allowing the dissolution of established, known ways of operating and the coagulation of new experiences into a recognisable pattern for my days. That loving support is still the greatest blessing in life and one for which I am ever grateful.

At its most fundamental level the Homestead Project is about treating all life as loving, close family and friends. This attitude acknowledges the scientific and occult truth: All Life is interconnected Energy.

Try the approach in your own life and see how it feels to you- and Please do comment or email me about your experiences.

Love mwb

What is a Shaman anyway?

Today I received mail in which my correspondent asked a question: What does it mean to be a Shaman?
Good question. I will do my best to answer it here.
In so far as the word "shaman" has associations with ancient traditions of spirituality it is a useful term to describe a modern day healer who walks between worlds.

One sphere of activity is the world seen by everyone. Here the shaman is witness to a way of life which honours the spirit of all things, and the interconnectedness of all things, as expressions of the One Life.
The other sphere of activity is a world which is sensed intuitively and approached by trained use of the higher mind. This is the world of Spirit. In this world the shaman travels to assist in the maintenance of health and balance, and to engage with aspects of the collective spirit.

The well springs of shamanistic practises are as many and varied as the cultural origins of humanity. In my case western Paganism forms the basis for activity. Others practise in the ways traditional to their areas of origin, be it the Americas, the Pacific or the Australian outback. All share a common understanding of the interconnectedness of all life, whether seen or unseen.

I take this opportunity to honour with thanks all my teachers and mentors who provided me with the understanding and training which allows me to serve in this way. There is one in particular who has always been with me, encouraging tenacity and perseverance, and guiding me lovingly around hazards. Bless you Gudryn.

Song of Gudryn

White waves and bracken

Blue woad and heather

Scree and kree of wave and wind

North Man

Grey hound, blue feather

Round house and granite

Seal and peel of air dried skin

Isle Man

Green paste, white mortar

Smoke, ember’s flare

Grease and grind of new-set limb

Heal Man

Violet eye and totem

Star, whorl on land

Guide and sage in my life time

Spirit Man

Channelling

Selenite in tower form

I bought myself a desk and have taken a few weeks leave from work. Today I sat down to begin a new writing project – or recording project really.

There is an experiment under way to utilise channelling in more areas of my life. This is a procedure of linking telepathically with another mind for the purposes of exchange.

Up until now I have used this process to seek information for myself or another. It is also a useful way to engage with other life forms such as animals, plants and minerals. This time I have a set timetable with allocated time slots during which I shall turn up at the desk – to act as stenographer only.

In one session earlier today I had the opportunity to engage with the Life that is Selenite. I have a crystal tower form of it on my desk beside me.  This information came mostly in impressions or images which were then registered in language with the help of one of my regular guides.

I share that interaction here for all those whose interest and enjoyment brings them into contact with these mineral light workers:

The Selenite Diva

Our endeavour at this time is to assist grounding the new light into the Earth. One of the earth forms we work with is Humanity. We create a bridge, if you like, between the planetary soul and the Universal soul, of which humanity shares as a group. You could say we provide a Light road of access for the Spirit that is Life to travel upon – a joining of Lord and Lady.

In terms of quality our note is high and clear, well out of human range. Working with the tower form will enhance inner hearing. Be aware some may experience neuralgia type symptoms around the physical ear at first exposure, as the form life tends to resist such a degree of influence as we are able to assert. There is no cause for alarm, as this will pass.

We also assist with channelling, not just between objective and subjective life but between kingdoms also. Ours is the stone of En-Lightenment then, working at a high vibratory rate and affecting all aspects- whether space or matter. This energy is active, easily focused but not easily manipulated, as ours is the stronger ray pathway. 

We are unusual in the mineral kingdom, being composed predominantly of water and chalk. Calcium is the basic building block of the bony structure of animals and an essential mineral for life in form.

Our structure compiles itself on linear “strands” which easily shatter with impact. A commonly available form is the tower, such as you have with you now. Note the significant weight relative to other minerals.

Wands of power have been created from these linear structures which, though fragile, are used effectively for the directive work of healing at etheric level.

Through the emotional body you will sense those qualities of care and facilitation – as by one who relates by Doing for the loved one. This characteristic could be defined as masculine/out going in its expression, creating new enhanced activity by altering conditions and environment.

Our influence on the mental body is to give clarity, to facilitate an efficient lift into Higher Mind and to assist in holding that state thereafter. We facilitate clear transmission.

There is more that we do for form life on the physical/etheric level. In the case of humanity, along with other life, we act to strengthen and heal all aspects of the bony structure. We do this by vibrational rate, calibrating on the level of the etheric template for the optimum density and composition of bone primarily, though we also affect numerous other structure on a molecular level.

There is no danger of overuse, except perhaps in times of emotional distress – remember our natural structure will tend to direct and enhance energy. For example depressive feelings experienced as over stimulated mental activity – thoughts of despair and so forth will tend to crystallise under our influence and organise into a higher expression.

Note that our nature is not to change the character, or to protect, but to accelerate and refine energy by our contact. For this reason it is best to avoid placing large selenite structures within the field of unstable persons. 

Our healing functions act by “raising the tone” or enlightening environments – only aware discernment is required to intuitively gauge what is appropriate for any given space.

We would also suggest the smaller structures be carried on the bodies of the very young and elderly. The larger ones are not suited to those with a less rigorous connection to form life.

In respect of the block or slab formations available: avoid placement below chair height as most find the energy effect destabilising unless they too are on the ground in a kneeling, sitting or lying position. Our tendency is to increase the light carrying capacity of the spine and its associated centres. Thus, use below the solar plexus may lead to a disoriented “floating” sensation which is unhelpful in the majority of cases.

 Our advice throughout relates equally to other forms, not specifically the human.

Males may find it beneficial to use the rounded and polished form available, as there is already a strong masculine polarity.

In summary: Our presence then has the effect of Stimulation to Activity.

We lift the vibrational rate of the form, strengthen and heal the bony structure, give determination and strength to the emotional experience and clarity to the mind – all with the ultimate purpose to aid development of soul.