Apropos of absolutely nothing. But this is hilarious.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 6:58 PM | Comments (2)

After a lovely weekend in the country, I'm back in the city, sitting in my office at my computer, listening to the birds chirping. Sounds strangely the same as when I was sitting on the deck overlooking the lake. Well, except for the sirens and the neighbors enjoying their back decks and various other city sounds that remind me where I am.

The pretty female cardinal came to visit a few minutes ago. It's nice to be home.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 6:30 PM | Comments (0)

Yesterday, when I built my avatar, it was knowing that soon I would be at the Strongville flea market and I thought a gnome would be as good a symbol as any for the kitchy stuff one usually finds. Little did I know I would actually find a gnome! And here he is, with me.

Technically billed as the biggest yard sale in the world, the Strongville flea market is held on a grass airstrip four times a year. The Memorial Day Weekend one is the biggest and most well attended. It's mostly aisles and aisles of junk, but you find a few rare gems. At one booth they had a bunch of old apothecary bottles that would have made wonderful potion bottles. If I were searching hard enough, I'm sure I could have found any number of altar-appropriate items. The best find of the day was an old armchair - fussy in a vague, Louis-the-something style - with it's gold leaf flaking and upholstered in sheepskin. It was over the top kitsch in the very best sort of way. Would that I had had the means to get that think home, I would be blogging from its furry seat at this very minute.

This morning, it's off to another flea market, called The Elephant's Trunk. I've been to this one before. It's smaller than the one at Strongville and held every weekend, but has a better variety and quality of fleas.

If I find anything good, I'll be sure to report.

Enjoy this beautiful weekend! Love and blessings.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:06 AM | Comments (1)

I love Mark Morford. Well, I love his writing. Though I'm sure if I met him I would develop an instant crush and want to hang out with him all the time. Another reason to move back to San Francisco. He is smart, irreverent, insightful, soulful, funny.

This week, Mark wrote about a recent study that shows that meditation stimulates the parts of the brain where compassion and empathy originate and generally makes the meditator a more positive person.

This is my favorite part:

Did you already know of such benefits? I'm guessing you did. Hell, here in NorCal meditation is so widespread and normalized it's actually available in the Whole Foods bulk aisle. I do believe over in Berkeley and parts of Marin County you are actually required by law to meditate at least twice a week atop your handmade zafu cushion in your Zen rock garden next to your carefully restored BMW 2002 as you listen to slightly cheesy wind chime music on an iPod-enabled Bang & Olufsen 5.1 home theater system just before you pour yourself a nice glass of Sonoma chard, or the police come and politely take away your Tibetan Nag Champa incense holder for a month.

Ah, but I suppose this is not the case nationwide. I imagine the practice is still widely considered, even after all these millennia and all these studies and teachers and perky New Age bookstores and all the obvious proof that meditating has little, really, to do with religious belief, it's still thought of as some sort of hippie cultish pagan anti-Christian Satanic frou-frou thing more aligned with monks and bells and Hindu wackiness than with everyday gul-dang gun-smokin' 'Merkin life.

And hence I guess we actually still need studies like this to lend validation to a timeless wisdom which, if disseminated more widely, could actually improve the health of the nation. Hey, every little bit helps, right? Enough studies and enough serious medical journals bring alternative ideas like meditation to the fore and maybe, just maybe, we could nudge the culture away from mania and obsession and road rage and a zillion Prozac prescriptions as the only means of coping with the trudging maelstrom of daily existence. You think?

Read the article, I implore you. It will make you laugh, it will make you grab your iPod and start meditating immediately. It will make you think that finally you have found the column that you would write if the San Francisco Chronicle would let you. It will make you want to read more of Mark Morford. And that may just make you fall a little bit in love with him too.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:25 AM | Comments (2)

While I was busy freaking out about Scorpio's sting, Starweaver had some lovely things to say about the Full Moon Magic of the Second Scorpio Moon.

The theme of April’s Full Moon in Scorpio was “drawing from your well of power”. Having drawn from those depths, we are ready to use our emotional energy to create transformation. The other planets are in a very positive, benevolent placement at this time. Venus is near the Sun in Taurus (the sign of her rulership) during this Full Moon, teaching us how to manifest our desires and live richly in our emotions. She is trine with Jupiter now too, adding even greater energy to this Moon. This Moon can amplify our emotions, our sensuality, and our depth of feeling. There is a real possibility of manifesting your desires now, with help from Venus and Jupiter in earth signs.

Thank you, Starweaver, for a positive spin on the Scorpio Full Moon. This will affect my working tonight. Blessed be!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:49 PM | Comments (0)

I've been feeling very odd and moody lately. I've been having strange dreams and bizarre sleep patterns. Out of the blue, someone I haven't heard from in ages started sending me stupid and offensive text messages - WTF? After watching a silly movie on television I went on a twenty-minute crying jag. Just yesterday I had this impulse to sell everything I own and move away to some foreign country where no one knows me and no one who does could ever find me. What is up with that? That does not seem like something a sane and happy person would do. And then I figured it out. Today is a Full Moon in Scorpio. More precisely, it will be Full at 10:11 pm EDT. Apparently, this is the second Full Moon in Scorpio this year. Oh lucky me!

This Taurus had not been paying attention to her ephemeris or I would have braced myself. We all know how a Full Moon can make things feel a little wonky. For a Taurus, having Scorpio as my opposite, its effects can sometimes feel complementary but often feel scary or even threatening. No wonder I'm feeling a bit undone.

Scorpio is ruled by Mars and Pluto. These influences bring out strong desires and passions. People tend to get moody, with heightened sensitivity to everything, especially to personal offenses and insults. It's easy to get aggressive, critical and impatient. Scorpio has a suspicious and secretive nature, which can lead to feelings of jealousy, making social interactions, especially with the opposite sex, extremely tricky. Watch out for the Scorpion's sting!

According to Cafe Astrology:

The Taurus-Scorpio polarity deals with the balance between all that is mine (Taurus) and all that is yours (Scorpio). It also emphasizes the concept of form (Taurus) versus transformation (Scorpio). While Taurus deals with matter, personal values, material goods, possessions, and security, Scorpio rules the destruction of form, shared possessions, change, and transformation. The Sun in Taurus wants us to be happy with the simple, tangible things in life, while the Scorpio Moon draws our attention to complexities, intangibles, and mysteries. Neglecting either end of the axis will surely backfire on us. Ideally, a balance should be found between the two energies, and this is what the Full Moon invites us to do. This Full Moon is about emotional declarations. Something has been building inside of us, likely of an intimate nature, and now is the time when the energy of the cosmos fairly demands that we let it out. Over the next two weeks, we will discover what this declaration means for us. For now, we can't sit on our feelings. We need to express them. The Full Moon illuminates this conflict between collecting and sharing.

With the Moon full and bright in the sky, symbolic "illumination" occurs in our own lives. However, these new feelings and revelations are emotional ones, as emotions burst forth into our consciousness. It's time to express ourselves, and to let things out of our systems. Of course, we might want to exercise some care while doing so, knowing that what is coming out of us is new and not particularly rational as yet. Full Moons are about exposing or illuminating issues that are already there, but that have not yet been dealt with.

This explains so much about the agitation I've been feeling lately over having to make a decision about my living situation and trying to make heads and tails about what's going on with a romantic relationship. Being a Taurus, the thought of uprooting my life is stressful enough as it is. Part of what I've been thinking through is exactly how to make things simple and happy and whether my current living situation will support me in that. And there are plenty of complexities, intangibles and mysteries involved since I'm trying to factor a relationship and whether it has any bearing on my decision about where to live. Thanks Moon, for popping into Scorpio today to add a monkey wrench into the already mixed up soup that is my emotional state at the moment. You couldn't have settled nicely into Libra? I would have taken Virgo!

When given an astrological wallop, what's a witch to do?

In this particular case, given that it's Scorpio we're talking about, I'd say I need a little astrological anti-venum. Not enough to kill the critter, just enough to take the sting out of his, well, sting so that he can't incapacitate me. I want to benefit from the Scorpio energy that can serve me at this time, but I need to feel that the kinder, gentler Taurus energy has half a chance. Instinct tells me that in addition to taking general protective action, I should try to boost the energy that will offset the one I'm trying to overcome. In this case that means Taurus, my own Sun sign, which is Scorpio's opposite on the wheel of the zodiac. Taurus is ruled by Venus, so it might be a good idea to appeal to her for help.

Since I am not one of those witches with a cupboard fully stocked with herbs and oils and other magickal ingredients (although I always wish I could become one of those witches), I rarely have ingredients on hand to whip up a specific potion or spell. So, in a pinch, I tend to turn to candle magick. You just need to find a candle in an appropriate color, inscribe it with something to represent your desired outcome, light the sucker, et voila! (Intention goes without saying.) For today, I'm going to use a black candle for protection and to absorb negative energy and a green candle to represent Taurus, Venus, Earth, healing and balance. When inscribing candles for magickal purposes, remember to carve images and words from the wick downward for things you want to bring to you; for things you want to banish or remove, carve from the bottom of the candle upward.

While there are many, many references for color correspondences for candle magick, I used details on the properties of black and green candles from a website on candle colors and magickal properties:

BLACK: Burned for positive purposes, this colour opens up the deeper levels of the unconscious. Black is used in rituals to induce a deep meditational state and is good for banishing evil or negativity. Connects to self control, quiet power, and resilience, as it absorbs negativity and destroys it; offers strength and support in spells; protects from retribution and is also an aid during loss.

GREEN:
The colour that connects to nature, fertility, and rejuvenation. Stimulates work involving financial issues and money; aids good fortune, prosperity, luck; ambition and success. Bringer of love and renewal, it is an emotional soother and balancer, used to counteract greed and jealousy. A good colour for treating headaches, colds and nervousness. Green is the colour of the Earth element and is a Goddess Symbol.

I will spend some time today considering the best things for me to inscribe on my black and green candles, given my particular situation and how I need some help to deal with the upset caused by this Full Moon in Scorpio. Once I've settled on what I want to use, I'll carve my candles and get my altar ready. Around 10 pm I'll sit at my altar, create a sacred space, fill my candles with intent, and, at the moment the Moon is completely Full - 10:11 - I will light my candles. I'll keep them burning until I go to bed and then I'll blow them out. It would certainly be one hell of a Scorpion sting if I let my house burn down!

Sweet Venus, please come to hold my hand and help me hold my tongue. No venom here! Let sweet Taurus rule the day. I'd like some change and transformation, just as long as it's toward happiness and security in my new love. Blessed be!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:46 PM | Comments (3)

When I was writing the other day about polar bears and the qualities and medicine they possess as spirit guides, a question came to me. People experience and, if properly trained, deliberately seek and work with the magick and medicine of other animals. Shamans work with their allies - the animal spirits - as part of the oldest healing tradition on this planet. But do we humans, as a species, have our own medicine? Are we animal spirits, in the shamanic sense?

In the shamanic belief every thing is alive and carries with it power and wisdom. Power animals are an essential component of shamanic practice. They are the helping spirit which add to the power of the shaman and are essential for success in any venture undertaken by the shaman.

Shamans believe that everyone has power animals - animal spirits which reside with each individual adding to their power and protecting them from illness, acting similarly to a guardian angel. Each power animal that you have increases your power so that illnesses or negative energy cannot enter your body. The spirit also lends you the wisdom of its kind. A hawk spirit will give you hawk wisdom, and lend you some of the attributes of hawk.

Everyone is thought to have a few of these guardian power animals or it is thought that the individual could not survive childhood. Over the course of her or his life the person may have several. If a power animal leaves and one does not come to take its place the individual is considered, by the shaman, to be disempowered and therefore vulnerable to illness and bad luck.

This quote comes from the website Shaman Links, one of many, many websites about shamanism, power animals, and animal wisdom and medicine. Google as I might, I could not find a reference to humans as spirit animals rather than as shamans or as beneficiaries of animal guides.

Some people believe that humans are "better" than animals. Christians certainly believe that their God gave humans dominion over all of the animals on Earth. If you followed this belief, then it would be easy to come to the conclusion that humans might become spiritual allies with animals to benefit from the medicine they have to offer us, but that we, as higher beings, don't actually have this kind of medicine ourselves. I have a hard time buying into this way of thinking. Shamans do believe that animals serve people, in a sense, but in the same way that an angel or some other divine being comes to a person's aid when help is needed. Christians don't believe that people are "better" than angels. I don't believe that humans are "better" than animals.

Pagans, for the most part, believe in the immanence of the divine, that it can be found everywhere, including within ourselves. We also tend to believe in the concept that everything is interconnected, that we are all part of a large, singular spiritual whole. Following a belief system like this it is much more likely that humans are placed right along side all other beings, as opposed to being put on the top of some spiritual hierarchy. Anti-Darwinists aside, human beings are animals. Isn't it conceivable, then, that human beings do, in fact, possess our own unique medicine as animal spirits?

Imagine a shaman from another world who comes to Earth either literally or on a shamanic journey through different dimensions to find healing allies from whom he can bring medicine back to his ailing people. There are lots of beings on this planet, of every variety imaginable, animal, vegetable and mineral. There are lots of humans. What wisdom, what medicine, would this visiting shaman find if he turned to one of us? What is human medicine, shamanically speaking?

When I was studying the philosophy of aesthetics, we addressed the question of "what is art?" It's an unanswerable question, you see, so to get as close to an answer as possible, you have to ask lots of other questions whose answers spiral closer and closer to the core of what it is to be art. If we apply this methodology to the search for human medicine, then there are a number of ways to approach the problem.

I suppose one could argue that we humans developed our own medicine. Throughout the millennia of our existence we have worked to perfect it to a literal science. But the thing we call medicine today - that vast industry of machines and drugs and hospitals and insurance companies and paper pushers - leaves very little room in the end for true healing. Yes, people are cured of many things through the application of modern medicine, but in the shamanic sense, this feels as far away from medicine of the spiritual and magickal varieties as you can get.

What else then?

Animal magick or medicine is thought to come from physical and behavioral characteristics particular to that animal. We could look at what shamans have traditionally considered to be the spirit and medicine from our closest genetic relatives: apes. Animal Spirits, one of my usual resources for information on animal spirit medicine because they truly have the most exhaustive list of animals I've found - yes, even a dung beetle is important to the shaman - says that the gorilla's wisdom includes intelligence, gentleness, maternal instinct, use of speech, and benevolence. I can accept absolutely that these are the things that the gorilla has to teach us, and humans (well some of them anyway) do possess these qualities, but are they the first things that you think of when you think of humans? I'm not so sure.

What are the singularly human characteristics that could be the source of human medicine? As I make a list of the ones I can think of and I look at my shamanic references, it's difficult to identify a quality that can't be explained through association with a particular animal spirit. Yet I'm not willing to concede that humans can't be spirit animals in our own right.

One distinction between humans and other animals that is fairly universally accepted is our ability to reason. True, scientists have done studies and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that other animals do apply reason and logic to problem solving, but the enormous capacity and functionality of our brain is a remarkable and uniquely human characteristic. Think of all of the things that are a product of human thought, ingenuity, creativity and industry. True, not all of them are beautiful and good, but they still came about because some human being had an idea and turned it into a reality. This ability seems like a good place to start if we are looking for a human characteristic that could be the source of human medicine.

There is so much more to consider, so many more questions to explore. I see a stack of books in my future. A phone call to my friend who is a professor of philosophy. A shamanic journey. Right now, my head hurts from all this thinking. I'm off for coffee and to enjoy the beautiful Sunday morning sunshine while it lasts.

There will be more . . .

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 11:20 AM | Comments (2)

I like it! I think I will use it this weekend on anyone who gets in my way.

Thanks to Luna for a bit of Friday fun.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 3:31 PM | Comments (1)

Jane Kay, Environment Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, reported yesterday : U.S. to list polar bears as threatened species.

We've all known for some time that each year increasing numbers of polar bears drown because there is not enough ice for them to travel from place to place as they used to. What is significant about this addition to the Endangered Species list is that it is the first time global warming has been the cause. Ironically, while environmental groups hoped that this would spur the U.S. government to pass restrictions on emissions that are having the harshest effects on climate change, the Bush administration is actually passing a special rule that allows petroleum exploration and extraction to continue - in some cases in prime polar bear habitat - and that the Interior Department has announced plans to limit protections against oil and gas activities.

While some applaud this long-awaited addition of the polar bear to the Endangered Species list, it seems that opposition makes it unlikely that any real relief will come.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, called the listing "long overdue" and said it "underscores how important it is for the Senate to pass national legislation to cut global warming pollution and avert the dangerous effects of climate change." Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, called the rule allowing oil development to continue as "a gift to Big Oil."

In Alaska, a state that had opposed the listing, Republican Rep. Don Young called the decision "an assault on sound science and common sense." He praised [Interior Secretary Dirk] Kempthorne for allowing exploration and drilling to continue but feared that the listing would open the door to "frivolous lawsuits" by environmental groups.

As someone who has been trained to view animals as spirit guides and sources of shamanic energy and medicine, I can't help but wonder what sort of magick animals that become extinct take with them when they vanish from our planet. In the case of the polar bear, we would lose a truly majestic and powerful helper whose wisdom, strength and fearlessness are particularly revered by the shaman.

Bears in general are believed to have strong medicine magick and, of all animals, are most often spirit guides and helpers to humans. They signify leadership, family values and lunar magick. Polar bears, because of their white fur, are said to represent purity of spirit. A creature of dreams, shamans, mystics and visionaries, the polar bear can help to communicate with the spirit realm and the transformative process of death and rebirth. The polar bear is an excellent guide, helping us swim through emotional waters and finding our way back from the brink. He gives us strength in adversity and the ability to find sustenance in barren landscapes. The polar bear can help in overcoming problems with flexibility, change and stubbornness. He knows when to use his energy and when to save it, and can teach this ability to us.

All of this beautiful magick will be lost if we allow the polar bear to perish.

It is, of course, the way of nature for some animals to die out and others to take prominence in the web of life, but we humans - in our greed and carelessness - have caused the premature and unnatural extinction of so many species and irrevocable change to our environment, the effects of which we are only beginning to see. While we in the U.S. are not the only culprits, our government has been particularly pernicious in its denial of this truth and in its refusal to take any real steps to effect lasting change. What can we do to change this? Will it be in time to save the polar bear?

Some groups that are working to save the polar bear:

World Wildlife Federation

Greenpeace

Free The Bears

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:48 AM | Comments (0)

Vera Nadine is one of those lovely people whom I've met only in cyberspace. We discovered each other's blogs, became regular mutual commenters, and occasionally ran across each other on other sites that share our passion for spiritual writing and clever observations about leading the life of a "lightworker." When I was having some technical difficulties with my site at one point, Vera even offered the help of her webmaster for troubleshooting. Who says you can't have true friends you've never met in the third dimension? And that, I guess, is the point.

Having devoted herself a few years ago to being a spiritual counselor to others, Vera has put her naturally-given gift as an intuitive psychic channeling guides from other dimensions, using her "connection to the divine and understanding of the magic of Universal Love in order to assist others in this realm who wish to find their own Higher Self." When you ask Vera to do a reading, she will eagerly help with any issue you feel the need to address but she especially likes guiding people to their truth, their Will with a capital W.

No one can tell you what is true (and never trust anyone who thinks that they can). Only YOU can KNOW if a truth is true for you. I share my truths in the hopes of bringing you closer to finding your own.

My wish is simply to guide you to your own inner light, to better your understanding of the energy of love that is within you so that you may use that love light to better the lives of others and the energies of this world.

A few weeks ago, I was approaching my birthday and feeling like I needed some insight into the direction my life was heading. My own meditative practice and communication with my spirit guides had become rather stuck and I thought I needed some help to get to the information I was seeking. I turned to Vera for help and she did a reading for me.

The way Vera works is that she asks you to send her a question pertaining to your spiritual path that gets to the crux of what you want to know. She also asks for a photo of yourself and brief background information on your situation, life, etc. Then she sits down to rewrite the question in several forms; this helps to elicit a good response from the guides. She schedules a time in an evening and sits down to channel guides, recording the session while she's working. Sometimes the guides that come through are Vera's guides who come to her with information about the person on whose behalf she is working. Sometimes those who choose to speak to her are angels or ascended beings who have something helpful to offer the querent. Often, since Vera is channeling guides for someone specific, that person's guides actually come to her with messages for their guidee. The result is truly fascinating.

In her reading for me, two guides appeared who identified themselves by name - way cool, I thought. I'm not entirely sure, but I think that the guide who did most of the talking was an ancestor who has come to me as an unidentified woman in many of my own meditations and shamanic journeys. The other guide, who appeared more briefly, Vera identified as a Goddess-type being - perhaps an ascended soul.

One of the things that's very satisfying about having a reading with Vera is that she provides MP3 files of her channeling session so you can actually hear her speaking with the guides. This is followed by another audio file of commentary that she records later explaining her experience during the reading and other impressions that she as the psychic took away from it.

If you have never done shamanic or meditative work that teaches you how to connect with spirit guides, or like me your spiritual phone line isn't giving you a dial tone, then I would definitely recommend working with Vera. She is smart and compassionate and very good at creating an experience that will help put you on the right path toward self discovery and positive change. My witchcraft teacher believes that everyone has guides, it's just that those who are not taught how don't know how to access them. Working with Vera would be a great way to make an introduction!

Vera also has a great blog wherein she writes of her experiences and wisdom that comes from her spiritual work.

Ever the fan of Blogickal, Vera kindly offered to give my readers a 40% discount on readings. This offer is good for the next two weeks. Just enter this code when you are ordering a reading on Vera's website: BGCKL08.

I interviewed Vera about her psychic gifts and how she came to be a spiritual counselor. The contents of that interview are below.

When did you first realize that you had your gift? How did it first occur? How did you respond?
 
I have had some abilities (ie. strangeness) since I was a child.  Check out this post here for some brief info: Do You Have the Sight?
 
My first knowledge of my first guide began in 2001 after the breakup of a relatively short but emotionally scarring romantic relationship. I was sitting at my desk, lost in some useless online escapism and just feeling very low, crying and shaking and wondering what would become of my life now.  I was scribbling on some paper about how any man that came into my life from now on needed to know that I was an untamable spirit and would not bend to his will. And I just began automatic writing.
 
The first energy that came through had a definite chaotic and selfish feeling to it, it did not seem to be of good intent.  So I thanked it for its input and asked it to go.  What came after that was my guide.  She began writing about timeless wisdoms.  (All of which seemed related to the Kybalion, which I had just finished reading the day before.)
 
My guide is a past incarnation of myself and also a facet of my higher self.  At first I was in amazement at this turn of events.  I had never even entertained the possibility of me chatting with my higher self, automatic writing or having a psychic gift of any kind.  In other words, where I knew many people who DEEPLY desired these skills, I had never given them much thought and had always chalked any semblance of them that I might experience up to intuition.
 
What did you do to nurture your skills? Did you seek out a teacher? How did you "train" to do the work you do?
 
My training on the spiritual path began as my own dabbling in my teenage years.  I was told by my father that after my confirmation (New England Protestant) I could choose my own religion.  At fourteen I started looking into Paganism.  The first three books that I read were Marian Green, Natural Magic, Sybil Leek, The Complete Art of Witchcraft, and Scott Cunningham’s A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.
 
By age 19 I had found a High Priestess of a Wiccan Goddess Tradition who agreed to be my teacher.  Being a neophyte and a college student at the same time was difficult.  But the challenges were worth it for the amount of growth and awakening that I experienced within myself.  I stayed with that group for more than ten years, and only decided for good that I was to walk a solitary path within the last year or two.
 
By the time that the automatic writing started I had already been an ordained Witch for more than three years.  I had already incorporated ritual, mindfulness and the power of one’s word into who I was.  I had seen magic and ghostly activity many times before and had become rather proficient at meditation and the power of intention.  What I am saying is that the concept of spirit contact and channeling was not foreign to me, it seemed quite natural.  Still, it was an unexpected turn of events.
 
As for how I nurtured the skills after I first found them, I would say that I had no one in my circle of loved ones or acquaintances who could help me with that.  I felt the urge to assist my fellow spiritual seekers using my connection, but early attempts to do this were misguided.  I was groping in the dark as to what these gifts were or how they were meant to be utilized.
 
I mostly kept them to myself and used them only occasionally for the first 2 years.
 
It was through much trial and error, as well as sometimes embarrassing flippancy, that I realized the best use of these gifts was whatever I most wanted to do with them.  I did not need someone else to tell me what was best, especially as the people I had queried were people who did not possess these abilities.  I would use my own inner compass (DUH!) to guide me in the implementation of these wisdoms.

Describe your channeling process. How does it differ when you are working for yourself or when you are working for a client?
 
Well, honestly, it doesn’t differ all that much.  Aside from the fact that when channeling for someone else I take an extra second to call out for their guides and ancestors.  Sometimes they come through, sometimes it is my own guides that answer their questions.
 
I used to say that I don’t have a process. But I only thought that because the process occurs so rapidly that it seems instantaneous.
 
What I do when someone orders a reading…
 
The Preparation:
 
I read their accompanying info and look at their photo.
 
I ask myself intuitively what it is that they most want and need answered at this point in their life.
 
I take their one question and make four or five questions out of it.  This helps to get the most detail and guidance about the subject as possible and to address any related issues as well.
 
The Channeling:
 
I sit in a dark room.  Doesn’t matter if it’s dark really, but it helps me see their glowing energy better.  I light one or two candles.
 
My meditation room at present is filled with tapestries, cushions, crystals and candles.
 
My partner turns on the digital recorder.
 
I sit cross-legged on the floor and close my eyes.  I take a minute to visualize my energy growing down into the Earth as roots and up into the universe as leaves.  I feel these energies coming into me and creating balance. 
 
I check that my two guides are standing by and ask them to aid me and to bar anything that seems negative from coming through.
 
Then I state the person’s name and the subject of their concerns (in my mind.)  I ask any guides, deities and ancestors of that person to come forth.  If some come, I choose the one whose energy feels most attuned to the person and situation.
 
If no personal guides come through for them I open it up to my own guides and random helper spirits.  These are ascended energies that chose to remain and help us all with spiritual development.  (ie. Buddhist monks, Mayan Priests, Egyptian Priestesses etc…)
 
Once they are firmly connected to my consciousness I give a nod and my partner asks their name.  He then reads the questions as written, between which these spirits speak very firmly and emotionally and wisely, giving guidance that we cannot always seem to access from our own spirit consciousness.
 
The whole process of a reading lasts from 5-45 minutes, generally 25-30.

What made you decide to devote yourself to being a spiritual counselor?
 
Hmmm…that is a difficult question.  I feel kind of like it decided for me.  The universe has a way of putting us right in the path of our own life purpose so that we cannot help but run into it. ;)
 
Two things that have always been a part of who I am: writing and counseling.  People would turn to me for advice and guidance, again and again, even when I was a child.  There is always the “wise” counselor in any group of friends, I suppose.  In mine, I was it.
 
I did try to do my undergraduate in psychology.  I aced it in high school and I loved studying it.  But, truth be told, I could not pass statistics class and you HAD to pass statistics to become a psychiatrist.  Why? I don’t know, I was gonna be talking to people not running epidemiological tests on them.  So after the third semester of withdrawing from that darned class I switched to a self-designed major in my other love…history and museums.  My masters was in a history-related field.
 
Oddly enough, after five YEARS of trying to get a job in the field I realized that something was blocking me. Should I go on and get a PhD?  Well, my guides had a good long primal scream about that.  “What you are meant to be doing cannot be found in a classroom!”
 
Ahhh, so I am meant to be DOING something?  And I guess it does not involve conserving 17th century furniture then? Right?
 
What then?  What is so unique about me? What do I have to offer?
 
Then it hit me.  What has everyone always complimented you on? Your writing.  And do you love doing that?  YES I DO!!!  And what do people seek you out for?  Guidance and an objective opinion.  And are you good at that? Yes I am, I think. (LOL Not very objective of me.)   Then what is unique about you that you can use as a tool for implementing these gifts in a new and exciting way?  My spiritual faith, my beliefs and experiences in spiritual development and psychic abilities, as well as my knowledge about natural healing etc... 
 
Well then, go do it!!!
 
So that is sort of how it came about.  Some days I see myself more as a spirit channel and counselor, some days I see myself more as a professional writer and (potential) public speaker.  I am still working out how they can be combined as a sole career path.  (I guess that is more of an “in my head” issue than a “material world” issue)
 
I can say that I believe I have helped many people see their own spiritual path and become more confident in the wisdom that is already within them.  That alone is reward enough for one’s efforts.
 
I am cultivating an approach of compassionate service and I work to contribute to mankind’s positive transformation in any way that I am capable.
 
We all live in light and are oneness.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:28 AM | Comments (1)

A while ago, I wrote a post discussing scientists' claims that a world without bees is a world without chocolate. So I found it incredibly synchronistic when recently Luna introduced me to Help the Honey Bees within a couple of weeks of my most favorite chocolate company promoting special bee chocolates for Mother's Day. Mother Earth. Bees. Chocolate. It all connects.

Available only for another few days, Burdick Chocolates is offering Chocolate Honey Bee Rounds:

These beautiful gold rounds are filled with our limited selection of chocolates celebrating the sweet themes of honey and roses. They feature our scrumptious Honey Bee, piped from a honey ganache and finished with dark chocolate, almond almond wings and white stripes. Our Bee Truffle is a rich honey, sauternes wine & dark chocolate truffle, hand-piped and finished with an edible gold bee. Scattered throughout are Rosehip Tea bonbons topped with candied rose petals.

I can scarcely imagine anything that sounds more delicious! And the lucky person who finds one of two Prize White Honey Bees will win a monthly delivery of Burdick Chocolate for a full year.

Let's hope that the honey bees stay around longer than these chocolates.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:16 AM | Comments (1)

Luna turned me on to this honey of a site: Help the Honey Bees.

Here you can learn all about the plight of our honey bees, how to save them, and even create a honey bee avatar for yourself. You can make bee portraits of your friends and send them via email, which in turn alerts them to the plight of the honey bees. See how nicely that works?

When your friends receive their Bee-mail, they will learn:

1. Honey bees are responsible for pollinating one-third of all the foods we eat, including many of our favorite fruits, nuts and vegetables.

2. Alarmingly, more than 25 percent of the Western honey bee population has disappeared over the last several winters, threatening our food supply and our way of life.



3. Many of the honey bee deaths are being attributed to a mysterious threat called Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes bees to suddenly leave their hive and die. Unfortunately, not much is known about this new threat.

4. Researchers are working to find a solution to Colony Collapse Disorder, but there are ways that we can all help the honey bees today. Learn more about bees and what you can do to help at helpthehoneybees.com.

I've seen lots of websites about bees and how we need to save them, but never before has one been so much fun. This site so appeals to my sense of aesthetics - I love everything about it - from the pretty graphics to the cheerful tune playing in the background (and I usually hate music on websites). And, of course, the adorable bees! You can download the homepage graphics as a screensaver and listen to the gently blowing breeze and the buzz of the bees right from your own computer. I'm such a geek for this kind of stuff.

So, have some fun. And help the honey bees!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 11:06 AM | Comments (1)

Our community mourns the crossing over of one of modern witchcraft's most treasured elders, Cora Anderson, co-founder of the Feri Tradition, who died on Beltane.

Thorn Coyle says: "Sex and death, the cycle continues. What is remembered, lives."

While it turned out that now was not the right time for me to begin training in the Feri Tradition, my own feelings about spirituality have definitely taken a turn in that direction. As is often the case with those of us who are young or simply new to our practice, we come to it without the honor of knowing some of the great teachers who have come and gone before us, yet whose work and wisdom guide us as we travel our path.

As part of a three-day vigil planned for her, everyone is asked to light a candle to aid her spirit and in her memory. Even from this place so far removed from her in person, I hope it honors Cora Anderson that I add my own blessings to those being offered by those who knew and loved her.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 11:54 AM | Comments (1)

I found this photo at SFGate.com's Day in Pictures.

"Naked pagans of the Beltane Fire Society celebrate warmer days and nights on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group's procession marking the end of winter, a revival of the ancient Celtic festival of Beltane, draws about 12,000 spectators."

Wow, that's some party!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:27 AM | Comments (1)

Today is Beltane. I could go on about the symbolic and spiritual significance of the turn of the wheel of the year, when Spring turns into Summer and the land turns green as plants begin to grow and everything reveals its fecundity. I'm more interested in the fire aspect, frankly. What my body and spirit are calling to me to do is revel in the red hot passion of a day that tells us that not only is it okay but it is encouraged for us to go out and boink our brains out and celebrate the beauty of unashamed human sexuality and fertility. If ever there were going to be a time when making passionate love could transcend the merely carnal to become a sacred act, today is it.

Where my head - and seemingly every other part of me - is today is making me feel very Red, the Sera Beak sort of Red, celebrating "The Golden Age of divine booty calls." In addition to her delicious Red Book, Sera has lots to say about getting your spiritual groove on at her blog, Spiritual Cowgirl. If you need some inspiration to make your day Red, turn to her.

What potent blood hath modest May.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Indeed.

Wishing you many Beltane blessings!

~~~~~

And elsewhere in the Beltane blogosphere:

Luna finds a number of ways to celebrate a Happy Beltane

Anne Johnson writes a poem full of Beltane Blessings

Jason Pitzi-Waters wishes us A Merry Beltane at The Wild Hunt

Hecate has a few posts on Beltane

A decent overview of the history and customs of Beltane: link

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:07 AM | Comments (1)

What would the world look like if everyone lived like me? Consumer Consequences is an interactive web game designed to answer that question precisely.

Part of American Public Media's special series, Consumed, which explores whether the modern American lifestyle is sustainable in the long run, Consumer Consequences asks as series of questions about your lifestyle. As you play, it shows you how many "Earths" of natural resources it would take to sustain the 6.6 billion people on this planet if they all lived like you. The graphics that appear onscreen as you play reflect the waste you produce, the infrastructure you require, the energy you consume, and how your lifestyle impinges on forests and other undeveloped land. The program calculates your ecological footprint based on the information your provide, lets you compare your lifestyle with other players, and gives you a chance to modify your choices and reduce your footprint.

How did I fare? Terribly!

Look at that - it would take 4.2 Earths to sustain everyone if they lived my lifestyle. Yikes! For someone who lives in the city, doesn't own a car, walks everywhere for the most part and buys organic food, I certainly leave a big footprint. So what is this city witch to do?

Well, to start I found this article on How to green your life. I also searched for books on the subject and among the many available found these that appealed to me:

Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World

Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day

Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying

The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time

And coming this summer: Llewellyn's 2009 Green Living Guide

It looks like I have some reading to do and some changes to make in my lifestyle! Kermit was right - it's not easy being green!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:13 AM | Comments (0)