Lockdown posts – Page 2 – Mine Quick Voice of Aquarius

If at first you don’t succeed….

As I write this blog the UK news and in many countries around the world is focussing upon vaccination programmes -seen as the first line of defence to defeat the virus and put an end to the pandemic. In the UK the programme is geared to treat front line workers and the vulnerable first. The vulnerable are classified as having underlying health conditions.

So, what is meant by an underlying health condition?

It’s a medical definition that applies to any person, irrespective of age, who has an illness which weakens the immune system. The vast majority of people who contract an illness will go to their GP for diagnosis and treatment if it persists and over counter medications do not relieve it. In some cases where the nature of illness attacks the immune system, such as Immune system disorders, Rheumatoid arthritis, Type 1 diabetes, Multiple sclerosis, and Psoriasis, will be treated with immune suppressing drugs that include steroids in order to ward off the illness. Unfortunately such treatments are more apt to develop complications of COVID-19 compared to those who don’t use these drugs.

Generally speaking older people have weaker immune systems, but that doesn’t mean it applies to everyone over the age of 60.

A weakened immune system, which makes you vulnerable to COVID-19 can be caused by a number of factors besides certain medications treating illness as already mentioned. Lack of sleep, anxiety, low vitamin D, too few fruits and veggies, high-fat diets, too little time outdoors, lack of exercise, too much alcohol, grief, and of course, nicotine. You’ve only got to scan this list to realise current restrictions on movements, inability to work, loss of face-to-face contact, can develop discontent, destroy your sense of purpose, and cause overindulgence and inactivity.

Over time the human immune system will develop antibodies that will neutralise viral infection, as was the case in the 1918 flu epidemic. And one has to be reminded the superpowers of the 18th and 18th century globalising their influence wrought havoc amongst indigenous peoples whose immune systems had been environmentally protected before invasion. And people who have little or no interaction with allopathic medicine can have adverse effects from being introduced to it.

It is recognised the majority of people who get the virus are in the under sixties age groups.

The majority of these age groups are people who work for a living -many who now are furloughed or have lost their means to earn income. So, the difficulty we face is whilst restricting peoples movements reduces transmission of the virus -at the same time these restrictions are having unhealthy effects.

So, what can we do about it?

In my mail last week I pointed to ways in which we could strengthen our immune systems and actions we should take to minimise the risk of getting the virus. This week, I would like to add something about foods and lifestyle.

We need to shop more discerningly!

Some foods are loaded with nutrients called antioxidants -look for these; Elderberry, button mushrooms, Acai Berry, oysters, watermelon, wheat germ, low-fat yogurt, spinach, sweet potato, broccoli, garlic, chicken soup, pomegranate, ginger, and tea (choose your favourite)!

Every time a sheep baa’s he loses a bite!

The old saying also applies to us when we talk whilst eating -the damning difference is we unconsciously eat whilst we do that. Feel what you eat and drink -the emotional nature of our body system will then capitalise on the nutrient value of what we ingest. Eat and drink for its own sake -if you do so watching TV some part of the nutrient value will be wasted.

What else can you do?

And talking about TV, as most people are watching more, or playing games -tune in to programmes which benefit both mind and body. Laughter is a good medicine -helps stimulate, try for comedic films and shows. A bit of romance does you good as well! Try to avoid programmes that portray violence, health problems -and, dare I say it; news. Particularly news about the virus! Oh, and by the way whilst games stimulate grey matter they also shut you off from body awareness -not to mention being addictive.

So, the message is if you are still struggling -try, try, and try again!

The poem I’ve written for this post is:

The Reassuring Voice

Ah, winsome love what aches your heart
breaks the rhythm of mentor’s rhyme;
stuns you into silence?
Does the world debase, sully your native innocence,
trade on gentleness, draw on the giving Self?
Do you fear the well has gone dry,
your effort a hoist of cold rocks?
Brain tired of strictures, of duty
and of duty denying the Self?

Fear binds good with bad
Gives security cutting edge.

Let go, let go.

Give your mind a rest,
pulse your heart in Nature’s way.
Feel the moment,
Rebirth your innocence…

And know
this is a better way.

The Eye of the Storm

This is my first blog mail of 2021 and I wish you all a happy new year, though I guess you will not be champing at the bit, wanting to get moving and doing stuff you’ve promised yourself. The start of a new year usually means re-establishing or generating want or needful actions, but not this year. Instead we must carry on where we left off -restricted to only necessary actions out and about, and indoors doing our best to keep in contact with loved ones and friends.

As I write the UK powers that be are informing us we are in the eye of the storm with grim statistics to back up the statement. What they don’t want to say is it’ll get worse before it gets better. And given the plan to vaccinate the entire population over the age of 18 before the autumn are still promoting the expectation of social distancing measures next winter! We need to pause and think this through. 30 odd percent of the population is asymptomatic according to research -if you (and that includes children) are in that category it’s not unreasonable to suggest you wouldn’t want the vaccine. Data available, but not widely circulated, advises the vast majority of people who have sadly passed away, suffer from underlying health conditions, or whose immune systems have been weakened by their lifestyle.

And why is the virus now ‘out of control’? We have a new variant which infects us more easily -and that despite the fact lockdown measures have been heightened in the last month to include the entire UK. So -does that mean more people than hitherto are flouting the restrictions? Maybe not -and here’s the reasons why. We’ve just had Christmas, or sort of, a period of time when mostly drink and eat more than we normally do. How many, for example, fall asleep in front of the TV, not because they have been sleeping in bed less, but because the body is in overload and needs to shut down. Add to that generous helpings of wine and spirits, and the evitable chocolates and you get a mix which will cause the body to labour. The net result is a weakening of the immune system. This problem was further exacerbated by the expectation of family mixing -which at the last moment was banned. Result? People shopped for more than themselves -but you don’t throw it out do you? So -Christmas and New Year fare has lasted longer than it might otherwise have done -and the body system overloaded for longer.

And what happens when you are restricted from seeing and socialising with other people? We lose the emotional and mental interaction, feelings we share outwardly and experience a rise of inner emotional and mental frustration. And what do we do to counter negative thinking? We tend to eat more or/and more and at different times. The body’s cycle of input and output is impacted. It struggles to manage itself. Result? Weakening of the immune system. It is well known if you exercise the body overall (and I don’t mean hard) the action will develop lactic acid to the muscles and in turn reduce your feelings of appetite, not to mention giving the brain mind a rest from viewing itself. A walk before you eat is helpful to controlling your appetite.

We also know the majority of drugs used to treat underlying health conditions, including antibiotics and antidepressants weaken the immune system. If you must take them do everything you can to eat sensibly and exercise regularly. Another big help is to drink plenty of non-stimulative beverages, and that ideally includes plain water.

Now regarding this new variant of the virus we must be mindful of often used surfaces we touch when out in supermarkets and other food stores. The number of supermarket employees going down with the virus has increased dramatically in the last month, and be aware that reusable face masks do need to be sanitised regularly. As I’ve mentioned a number of times before use coconut oil on your hands and face and in the very least up the nostrils and on the lips. Studies carried out in the Philippines have shown the oil does break down the contact connection the virus makes to attach itself to you.

The poem I’ve written for this post is:

Great Isis Breathes

The shortest day has breathed its last
and now the leaf gowned evergreen
silhouettes the moon cream night;
and an eerie coldness starts to bite.

Snails have long since curled in shells
unforgiving winter reigns supreme;
now the ruffled Robin sleeps
and nocturnal foxes roam the streets.

Migrating birds have long since flown
the bare branched trees bend voiceless
to the ice gloved wind; their boles
and root claws shelter scavengers.

Warm-blooded folk close their doors
and shell like dream of foreign sun
church and chapel toll their bells
the great and good go volunteer.

And all the while great Isis breathes
incarnate; giving, taking, birthing
trees and birds, moles and men
power greater than our human ken.

A Shepherd’s Tale

I do hope my post this week finds you well If you are locked down like I am, markets falling, pandemic raging, loved ones distanced from you -I urge you to read this extra long mail before the new year looms on the horizon. Whether you are religious or not the message of love is universal.

You may or may not know there are two Bethlehem’s in Israel; one in the South near Jerusalem and the other in the North near Nazareth. Gospel accounts of the Jesus’s birthplace are only found in Matthew and Luke –not mentioned in Mark or John, or in the Gospel of Hebrews, otherwise known as the Aramaic Matthew. It is Bethlehem in Judea that is referred to in Matthew and Luke. The other Bethlehem is in Galilee, known as Bethlehem of Zebulun, approximately six miles outside of Nazareth, whereas the Judean Bethlehem is some 68 miles away. One has to question why Joseph, who lived in Nazareth, would have taken a pregnant woman on such a long journey to comply with a census demand in the South when the Roman administrative centre for the North was Sepphoris -less than five miles away?

For that matter why would he need to take Mary, since the registration of wife, siblings, and other dependants was made by men, or otherwise by women in powerful positions who owned land. The purpose of the Roman census was to establish who could be taxed. We are told by the gospels that Joseph was betrothed to Mary and they both lived in, or in the proximity of Nazareth. If that were true at the time of the birth, or nine months before -they would have been breaking Jewish law and living in sin. Joseph, we are told was a carpenter, yet his work would have included building or repairing dwellings, making agricultural tools, and have required skills to work metal, make drains and culverts. And we must not assume he worked on his own but had or was part of a business employing others. And according to Apocrypha writings Joseph had sons older than Jesus.

How come Jesus’s birth took place in or near Bethlehem?

It is well documented a riot took place in Sepphoris around 4 – 5 BC. The Jewish population rebelled against Roman & Herodian authority which resulted in the city being burned and 2000 Jews crucified. Tenable reasons for Joseph and Mary not being in Nazareth when Jesus’s birth took place are (1) they were on their way to Mary’s family who lived in Sepphoris and Jesus was born prematurely (Anne the mother of Mary and Joachim her father, according to New Testament Apocrypha Gospel of James, lived there), or (2) they were fleeing from Sepphoris to escape the conflagration and birth took place before they could reach home. There is no evidence of a census during that period of time.

Mount Carmel is but a few miles from Bethlehem and dotted with caves, as also are the Galilean Hills at the top of which is Bethlehem, and in those days Bethlehem was a large town, not a village. The Essenes had a community on Mount Carmel and some of their calling lived in villages and towns of Galilee –this branch of the Essenes, by far the largest, were known as Nazorean’s. there is reason to suppose Joseph was a Nazorean -his son James the Just became leader of the Essene community in Jerusalem in later years.

The Way of the Sea was a coastal plain that extended the length of Israel, from Judea, Samaria to Galilee and beyond. Shepherds at that time were regarded socially as the lowest of the low and were of two kinds; those who lived and tended flocks close to villages and towns and the more nomadic groups who moved up and down the Way of the Sea. The nomadic shepherds were mostly of mixed blood, hailing from the desert regions East of Israel, and those with roots in Galilee and Samaria. The Samaritans were at odds with the Judeans and had been so for some 400 years as they believed their Pentateuch bible was the authentic word of Moses and Abraham. They were also more liberal than the Judeans and allowed intermarriage with non-Jews.

I’ve provided this background so you may better understand the scenes described in my poem, ‘A Shepherd’s Tale’.

Consider, discuss, decide as you must. A boy
of nine I was, given to play? Yes-
but impatient to grow. A minder of sheep
and goat, not quite a shepherd, you understand.
Arab Jewish Samaritans, lowborn we were
under Roman rule in the land of Moses.

Tent dwellers; nomadic in the Way of the Sea
we moved our flocks from pasture to fold
over plain, hill slope, through mountain pass.
Self-sufficient, our mixed blood had no ties
in towns and we were shunned in cities.
At that time there was much disquiet,

camel borne travellers would hail us
seeking safe passage to Damascus
anxious for news, telling of homes destroyed
of livestock lost. Herod by the sea of salt
in hope of cure, still covetous of power.
Riots and Roman soldiers everywhere.

It was the hottest time of year -too hot.
My father the elder shepherd of our band
decreed we leave the plain of Armageddon
skirt the Galilean hills and drive
to Mount Carmel and fold there in cool caves
the pasture good, the Kishon river close.

Unusual for time of year it rained unexpectedly.
Wet and freshened I explored cave and gully
gaping at rock paintings, sling shooting
hawk foolish enough to target our flock.
When night fell there was talk about events
on the highway, riots in Sepphoris.

Mahmud was our Rabbi, a Samaritan
Who taught us boys by rote from a scroll.
He would disappear for days on end,
reappear warning of wolves, thieves in hiding,
bringing herbs, fruits, figs, salt preserved fish,
feet, hands, and body bruised and bleeding.

But not this time -from the tomb of Rachel
he had seen columns of soldiers, pillars of smoke,
people fleeing carnage, a forest of crosses.
He arrived much distressed. Nearby, he said,
there is a camel camp of Persian men,
star diviners, here for some special event.

So deep the dreamless sleep I slept, when roused
I complained of being woken. My father’s
command to dress was brusque and impatient.
Mother soothingly said be quick no time to rest.
Sheep and goat were want to break the folds
and strange lights had appeared in the heavens.

Girding mantle, grasping staff, sling, and pipe
I joined the men grouped around a fireside
where Mahmud, repeated yet again
to disbelieving ears, of a vision given
in prayer, how an angel of the lord appeared
announcing birth of a messiah to all men.

How he had run to the Kishon River
to impart this news to the Persian men,
and they, exclaiming in response said this
was the proof, the final proof they sought.
And without delay broke camp and headed east.
The river shining phosphorus in the night.

Did I hear a voice as we knelt in prayer?
For when Mahmud said follow me, I knew
the angel would want us shepherds go!
Find the birthplace, give tribute to the child.
More in fear I think, of unearthly things,
Claiming protection of the women folk,

some herders stayed with the folded flock.
For me this was adventure, side by side
my father leading with Mahmud we trod
the Magi’s tracks. An uphill beaten track
Nazorean’s often trod beyond Bethlehem
to Elijah’s tomb. In silent awe we came

to where the light was strongest; there halted
by a well-dressed Jew, then let pass. Mahmud
having yet again spoken of his vision.
We entered a cave, two donkeys tethered
looked at us curiously –and there
in a lamp lit area no bigger than a tent

a babe in swaddling clothes lay in the arms
of a woman and before them, three Magi.
Also, an Arab woman, an older sage-like
Jew and a fearsome looking man whose smile
belied his looks. The air perfumed –a scent
so strong my head whirled with feelings.

We knelt on the hard stone in a presence
of many persons unseen; God’s angels
I know them now to be. We presented
lamb and kid –the best of the litters
we had, and in turn were given sweet wine.
Yet I was not allowed, and she, seeing this

beckoned me to drink from a leather gourd
that hung from the cradle bed, a sweet
warming juice. I drank gazing as I did upon
the new-born baby’s face. Then not asked
but sure of rightness I began to play my
shepherd’s pipe. With eyes closed he smiled,

as if somehow, he had heard me play before.
The tune was new to me and full of majesty,
my fingers moving my brain asleep
I lost all sense of time, only just aware
of his mother’s happy face; the attention
of all that were in that holy place.

As dawn began to show we took our leave.
My father with pride made much of my tune.
There was curious talk about the older man,
was he her husband? Why birth in a cave?
They were not poor, and the Magi had
given gold! There had been talk of Herod,

more so the riots and of Rome’s steel hand.
Yet for all this talk as we returned, the paths
aglow, I sensed my nomadic life would never
be the same again. We had gained in status
been received as equals –us lowborn
shepherds; and feted at a godlike event!
Yet despite this, seeds of doubt took root.

The holy book lost its magic -I questioned
why Jews and Gentiles warred, sacrificial lambs,
the militancy of God. Instead, I dreamed of union
in remembrance of the child, believing
he would one day share our daily bread
forever hopeful that our souls might wed.

Consider, discuss, decide as you must
the burden of proof is a human need.
My shepherd’s tale, straightforwardly said
is to you a plea -that in the body’s Keep
your soul should no longer groan and weep
but celebrate the Love that is Heavens Bread.

Breath of Life

In the current environment where restrictions on movements and socialising, repress our need to share interests and concerns with loved ones, we turn inward, the Self seemingly less knowable. In last week’s blog I said evolutionary consciousness is a state of awareness ‘outwardly’ born. I probably left you wondering how to achieve that -I also advised the practice of being PRESENT, as the child is, but it’s easier said than done. So, today I will advise how you can get started -practices easily carried out in any given waking state.

The root to all forms of consciousness is Breath

Dictionary definitions are not helpful, they only refer to air taken in and expelled from the lungs, or given the appellation of life force. Breath is not only a function of forces in lung bearing creatures -it’s a function of forces in all forms of life -yes I did say that, all forms of life. So, what is happening for example in a plant or a mineral? It’s the same process that happens in you. A movement of energy takes place when we breathe causing a reaction of energy movement in the bloodstream and lungs. What follows is a movement of energy that accounts for the energy reaction initially made -in humans we breathe out carbon dioxide. Ultimately we know breathing keeps us alive, directly and indirectly causing the continuation of life in every cell of our body. A plant and a mineral has the same function -the difference is they don’t breathe air as we do, they breathe in terms of energy, seen and unseen. Oh, and by the way, so do we, but we consciously don’t know it

We tend to view breath only as an intake of need, whereas the movement of energy is a causative process that operates from without to within and vice-versa. The efficiency of that process is determined by the body of energy we can call the Self. Plants and minerals do this very efficiently, but like everything else life is qualitative, in accordance to its design, a measure of what it takes to change and evolve. You can say the same about animals -but no you can’t say that about us humans! We are very poor processors. When we breathe wrongly the nervous system maintains a level of unnecessary stress. As a result we get ill from internal mismanagement and shorten our lives. If we breathe correctly our health, both physically and mentally, is much better.

This is how to breathe correctly

Breathe in and out of the gut -that’s what babies naturally do. Observe animals -they also do it naturally. Now -why is that so hard to do? I mean how do you keep it up -do it all the time? You may notice even as you are reading this your thought processes are reacting, whether supportive of this guidance or not, the result of thinking will move the centre of breath intake and expression upward toward the chest. Two things are happening here when you are in thinking mode. The brain in your head in particular the cerebrum, is biased to produce alpha rhythms, i.e. the inward management of thought processes. When this is happening the brain in your gut (oh yes -there is a brain in your gut!) is being suppressed. You probably know the brain in your head represents the largest part of your central nervous system, and the brain stem is regarded by science as the lowest most primitive part of the CNS -it controls basic survival functions such as heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, digestion, taste, hearing, and sight. The stimulus for these functions comes from the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system. The instinctual mind centre is in the gut from where our breath naturally cycles -if we allow it to operate as our body design intended we maintain good physical and mental health.

The way you breathe directly affects the function of the brain in the head!

Naturally, the breath cycle is a wave like motion -now you may fine tune it by time measures of inward, still, and outward breath, but that’s not essential to get the balance right between the brain in your head and the instinctual brain of the body. When you initially practice wave breathing from the gut you will complain it doesn’t allow you to think -so sitting or standing still is not the right way to get the function back -the right way to re-introduce it, is to walk. When you walk your senses must remain alert for obvious reasons -your thoughts will be focussed on getting from A to B. Just one other thing to do -you need to walk in a balanced way, i.e. with your weight centred between the ball and the heel. If you revert to thinking on other things, or you might say ‘unconsciously walking’, the body balance will shift to your heel, if you are in a hurry and your thoughts are biased to future expectations, their expressions become shortened and pithy in character, and the body balance will shift forward to the ball of the foot.

Give it a try!

Don’t expect perfection. It’s not possible in today’s information pressured world to get this right 24-7, but the more and longer you persist -the better the benefits. The brain in your head becomes more like a processor, which is what it was designed to be, and less like a storage if information and access alternatives. Your energy levels will improve because food requirements are less governed by appetite -are more instinctively managed, and dare I say it you may even look younger as your health improves!

Next week it’s Christmas and I plan to give you a bit of unwritten history of arguably the most influential man who ever lived! The poem I’ve written for today has echoes of breathing….

The Rook

In the stone-hard furrows
of a winter fallow field
head down
pecking the ground
the rook -knows a lean meal
when he sees one.

With a non-stop brain
in the belly unlike you
-‘I’ brain conscious,
his beak keeps pecking
burning calories
getting little and less.

Until slowly
little is no more
and weakness halts him.
Observer and naturalist
take note
the rook has no name.

This bare faced
creation of feather and bone
constant host
of protozoa
is an avatar
not found in your books.

His smallest parts
are self-known
unicellular kingdoms
unbounded by form and time.
He knew that before
his face was feathered.

The half-closed eyes
have no regrets
as he caws
the one last time.
What does
your looking tell you?

Do you suppose learning
comes from observing,
dissecting, magnifying?
Can you rise above sympathy?
If so, why can you not
reveal the mystery?

He caws not for bread
or his mate
long since dead
he caws for his life
that bounds
from his head.

See –now
the wings
no longer lift
the legs do not move.
The order to rest
is final.

Perfect.

Learn from that
if you can.
The rook who didn’t need name
whose belly forever guided his brain
shows you life’s three-fold harmony
how life transforms without pain.

Wheeling as you do
caged between
Earth and Heaven,
what release
does your harmony bring
self-appointed surrogate King?

The Knowable Self

You could say that knowing yourself is taking notice of whom you are and for most that will mean ‘looking’ at the self through the thoughts and actions we have. Some people devote their lives to this analysis in the belief they improve themselves and perhaps others also by the record of effort. Have you noticed how time and all its attendant reflections of thought cease to matter when we are able to DO the right thing in the right place with the right people for the right purpose? In the aftermath of such experiences we are hard put to describe exactly what happened simply because we were living the moment in present consciousness.

If analysis and reflection is the answer to all our actions, why are we not getting consistently wiser? We don’t -we continue making the same errors as before. The history books tell us how Hitler made a fundamental error attacking Russia, because when less than 200 years earlier Napoleon had clearly demonstrated how it should not be done! How many times have you said to yourself ‘here we go again!’ or kick yourself for not seeing the obvious… meaning we’ve been here before?

This merry-go-round of error and reminder continues to wind us up because we are not consciously efficient. If you take a modest view of life’s knowing journey you realise soon enough that most of what constitutes knowing comes from the experiences we subjectively develop. In relationships for example, doing involves many different kinds of experience – self-knowing comes from the big picture, a ‘subjective overview’ which escapes analysis and reflection. So, what are we experiencing unconsciously which can from time to time be felt in present forms of consciousness? To answer this question we need to understand the instinctual nature; the process of being we inherit physically, emotionally and mentally.

After birth we take food instinctively, our thoughts are not reflective, language is not yet learnt. As our persona develops we culture the habit of eating -consciously think about what we eat because our sensorial reactions indicate delight, disgust or disinterest. The instinctive action of fuelling the body however, does not change – the effect is so deeply subconscious we are able to engage our consciousness to other matters almost entirely, confident the actions of our body mind are in our best interests. The body and its functions, quite apart from its impressive chemistry, is a remarkable example of inherited knowledge – it’s always in a doing mode… only when the alarm bells ring do we, ‘the masters’, take notice.

Many situations in our lives are ‘managed’ subconsciously. Housewives will tell you they have routines – some parts are automatic and never brought to present consciousness, other interests can be thought about, as they carry out their routines. The accounting clerk, familiar with doing arithmetic calculations in the work environment, can finger-tap out statistical solutions whilst the conscious mind is paying attention elsewhere. The machine minder after a period of consciously attentive training, knows the sequence of operations -actions becoming so familiar the conscious mind ceases to prepare for them -it consigns operations to the unconscious, and time awareness alone triggers instinctual conscious acts to stops and starts the regulative actions required of the job in the right order. Consciously the minder can think about something else- read a book perhaps. And subsequently acts to service the machine as an interruption to this other activity. No doubt you can think of activities that you perform that fall into this category of ‘secondary action’.

These examples serve to show how our consciousness develops and the more we want to do the more we rely upon this ‘reminder’ mentality. Education as taught in our world means to remember values that can be drawn upon to enrich life’s experience, but clearly it is not a faultless process -if it were mankind could show progression -gains from efforts and the mass of knowledge, harmonise his entire self.

If you were to become the pupil of an Hindu guru, he might in due time give you a mantra to aid development. The mantra, a word or phrase, needed to be intoned during your meditative practice. The key to mantra usage is REMAIN FULLY CONSCIOUS OF THE MEANINGS IT GIVES YOU. The guru knows when giving the mantra it is a key to PRESENT KNOWLEDGE -if the pupil consigns awareness to the “secondary action” of their mind – the purpose and power of the mantra will not be realised.

The examples of the minder, accounts clerk and housewife show our earth born mind’s work on more than one level -a dichotomy of differences; consciously doing, unconsciously proposing. The example of mantra usage advises the way of instrumental consciousness -living and learning in the flow of consciousness. If you stop and think about it, you will realise states of acute awareness when time, place and purpose are consciously experienced in totality. They create harmony in body and mind. We may have moments of acute perception, like in dreams and inspirational thought from time to time -but invariably we retrogressively value them.

Some people think that meditation means looking inward, sorting and ordering consciousness, and some think it means being changed by what they inwardly experience. Observe the child and how we are all drawn to acknowledge the power of its life – the child experiences present consciousness, momentary awareness taking place before our eyes. We can love animals for the very same reason. The path of self-knowing demands present consciousness; it requires developing the instrumental mentality you are born with. What is senile dementia but the collapse of ‘reminder’ consciousness and a reversion to child mentality? Present consciousness is forever doing, changing, non-judgemental and expressive of harmonising actions. Consider the esoteric meaning of the Narcissus myth – this beautiful young man is arrested by his reflection in a pool and thereafter remains a prisoner of his own image. The message is simple; if you look at and admire the reflection of conscious Self, the evolutionary actions of the entire Self are blocked.

So the points to remember are these:

1. Evolutionary consciousness is a state of awareness ‘outwardly’ born and varies with individuals according to their state of awakening.
2. Nothing (essentially) is new, there are no forgetting real values – we awake to what is present.
3. Consciousness evolves harmonically by outworking the change of awareness through our conscious being.

What we need to do is this:

a. Practise being PRESENT as the child is, truly aware of every moment.
b. BE what you DO as often as you can.
c. Give everything your complete attention, don’t let time-based conditions control you.
d. Meditate on this mantra Awareness is not perception. Awareness is – perception was.

Our consciousness as we truly KNOW it, is extremely limited, not only do we remember little; our present consciousness is but a small part of the entire Self. The DEPTH of what we consciously experience is largely unknown. All control is based on self-awareness. The first and last commandment of life is….. “KNOW YOURSELF”, said to have been inscribed above the gates of the Delphic Oracle.

In the coming weeks I’ll continue to advise ways and means by which the bottom line of all our needs can be met. The poem I’ve written for today’s blog is an expression of that maxim ‘know yourself. I hope it reaches into the depths of your mind.

Oracle

Time brokers these intentions of mine,
some become deeds and some
scatter like seed in the winds.
My instrumental hand is a forge of cause,
heating, hammering, casting Love.

Deeds are doings of my better born seeds
some grow like trees and some
gently perfume moments of privacy.
My instrumental voice is a flute love shapes,
healing, reassuring, divining Love’s song:

Time will forget the music of my rhyme
words like works will transform
and return to the wheel forming heavens.
Yet this Instrument Self will stay fused into One
Love’s emissary burning bright as the Sun.

Are you looking for a way forward?

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In last week’s blog ‘Old as the Hills’, I spoke about day-to-day life being on two levels, adhering to directions promoted by the factual world for our material needs, and on the other hand inwardly defining our present and future on a ‘what if’ basis. I posed this question; should our must have needs be driven by the ‘truths’ of the objective world, or should they manifest from our higher nature -that state of consciousness which is not governed by the time/form expression of knowledge? And in answer I said you needed to be conscious of the ‘driver’, which in essence is day-to-day awareness of your inner self. Unlike the ego we necessarily develop our higher nature is eternally present, it’s not judgemental, doesn’t demand, or compare you to others. What it does do when you allow it to be present -is give awareness of self-purpose.

In the current environment self-purpose is taking some pretty hard knocks, even non-communicative, unsocial, people can’t avoid restrictions -they have to eat and a shop or supermarket visit will have them feel defensive, judgemental, not to mention the emotional feeling aftermath, which for some will bring on depression. On the bright side those of us who have pets know just how supportive they can be -and would you believe, know when we are down and need cheering up. Thank God for the animal world! They can teach us a thing or two.

We all have a natural instinct to protect ourselves when our day-to-day self-awareness is threatened; a reaction born of our animal nature. We call it the self-preservation instinct. If it’s not governed by our higher nature it only achieves to defensively underwrite the objectively important needs of life. However, when you respond with the awareness of your higher self, actions are promoted which not only protect present needs, they also strengthen your real character; building knowledge of your true Self. How so you might ask?

Conceptually Man is no different from all other forms of life, he is an open system of consciousness at all levels. The time honoured phrase, ‘I am what I am’ denoting self-consciousness has encouraged Man to develop a hierarchical knowledge of life where in Earth terms he regards himself as the evolutionary head. We go so far as saying self-consciousness is soul and other conceptions, for example trees and plants, don’t have souls. Believing, as we do, in our autonomous nature creates barriers between ourselves and other forms of life, and worse still, because we have ‘our heads in the sand’ develop blockages within our Self.

If you look carefully at the people around you, it is noticeable the sensitive types get most problems – They may also get the “better rewards”, but nonetheless can, and do get burdened by mental and emotional down drafts which disrupt their natural harmonies. The satisfaction you have in life is a direct result of the control you manifest in character, both to the world outside and the universe inside. We have natural methods of control which we are oblivious of – my aim to have you recognise these means in yourself.

Has it ever occurred to you what the first musical instruments were? They were the drum and the pipe -it tells us something we need to acknowledge. The drum can be anything which vibrates sound on impact. The first of our species recognised was sound is carried by vibrations, not only did the sound carry beyond his vision, it also enhanced awareness of himself. And the pipe which came in as a close second, developed awareness of himself. We call this process of awareness -instrumental. Our ancient forebears had much simpler ego’s than we do today -they didn’t question the process -they accepted the benefits.

We cause a great many actions in our lives without awareness of their effects – you may not think you do, and perhaps only afterwards think on what you did. The wisdom of hindsight has very little value if our thinking practises do not evolve. If control is developed only by the ego it will be repressive and restrictive of our naturally born instrumental Self. You can be efficient, capable of starts and stops, and protective of yourself without awareness of the higher self, but if you want the ability to recognise good and bad conditions, be progressive and evolutionary, be creatively stimulated -then you must engage the instrumental nature of your consciousness.

In the coming weeks I’ll advise the ways and means by which the bottom line of all our needs can be met. The poem I’ve written for today is an echo of freedom, an event that really did happen, and I hope it will instill you with thoughts of positive outcomes.

Somewhere in Time

We’ll go east, west, wherever’s best
down garlanded leaf shaded lanes.
Mortals without plan, purpose, or price
heading for the green untrammelled earth.
Who knows what gems we will find
when the email and phone are left behind?

Curious, in want of some old-fashioned tea
off the beaten track, we drove
past cows on road, Sheep on verges,
turning; where to now? there’s a cottage café
thatched and worse for wear; an open door.
Our taste buds anticipate, we stop to explore.

A low beam ceiling gives a closed in feeling,
the windows are small the chairs worn
and the counter displays farm eggs.
Beyond is a kitchen of sorts, and a kettle sings.
A tousled head with long sideburns pops up.
‘It’s coming on twelve –be you wanting a cup?’

‘You’ll have some tea, cakes maybe?
Sit yourself down the rooms’ all yours.’
We look at the bare boarded floor
the unpainted oak blackened door, and then
at this bent great hulk of man, and say
‘Tea for two please, apple pies and cream.’

Strangely, he makes no sound moving around.
His eyes purr ‘my pleasure, he says -come far?’
‘Portsmouth’ I say. ‘Is that so?’ he replies,
ambling off with a shake of the head. ‘Well, I be.’
All is silent –what can he be doing back there?
The silence is deafening, like a church at prayer.

The mustiness of wood makes us feel good,
the smells of coal ash and oiled table cloth,
the sight of a clock that silently ticks
all fits -when the room darkened by cloud
starts doing something and opens our minds,
slipping and sliding into past times.

Serge and coarse vests jostle and rest
starched collars and crinolines appear,
chained Albert’s and hatpins sparkle with light.
We hear pipes tapped, the snorting of snuff,
feel the smell of leather and tangy felt hat.
The growl of a dog facing a cat.

‘Now here’s a rose fresh cut –somebody knows!’
And he gives me a nod and a wink.
I swear I didn’t ask this tousled grey head!
Awake as from sleep, smilingly secret
we toast adventure, a day to remember
you, me, and the apple pie vendor.

Old as the Hills

In this world where all truths must have objective criteria, in other words -seen to be believed, day to day life functions on two levels. On the one hand we must adhere to directions promoted by the factual world for our material needs, on the other -inwardly define our present and future on a ‘what if’ basis. Invariably our ‘what if’ mind is a subjective narrative which is stimulated by our desires -more of, or less of, reacting to the strictures of our must have needs.

Now, the question is this -should our must have needs be driven by the ‘truths’ of the objective world, or should they manifest from our higher nature -that state of consciousness which is not governed by the time/form expression of knowledge?

The question is as old as the hills. In good times when our relationships are secure, daily needs equitably met, and futures holding no fears, it rarely bugged the mind for answer -in fact the question isn’t formulated. In our present world where needs at all levels have become insecure by an unseen enemy and fear underwrites all enquiry, many are running around like headless chickens because their state of consciousness is not governed by their higher nature.

If you type into Google the word Soul, Wikipedia has the top spot describing it as a computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney pictures, if you refine the search to ask what is the soul of a person, you get this; ‘Soul or psyche (Ancient Greek: ψυχή psykhḗ, of ψύχειν psýkhein, “to breathe”) comprises the mental abilities of a living being: reason, character, feeling, consciousness, qualia, memory, perception, thinking, etc. Depending on the philosophical system, a soul can either be mortal or immortal.’

The hanger is in the last sentence -either or! As I said to begin with, ‘all truths must have objective criteria’. To state the Soul can be mortal or immortal is frankly, nonsense! It gets worse! If you Google the word Spirit, top of the list you get a dictionary definition, to whit; ‘the non-physical part of a person which is the seat of emotions and character; the soul.’

Clearly, the information world, the governor of our daily needs, not only doesn’t know the difference between Soul and Spirit, neither can it make up its mind if its mortal or immortal. This is why my question is as ‘old as the hills’ -and why I’ve had to formulate it today. We seem to have forgotten what the ‘driver’ is!

I guess the next qualifying question is; ‘How do I know if the ‘driver’ is present?’ You can’t even begin to know if your mind is constantly cluttered with day-to-day wants and fretting about relationships. The start point requires SPACE -yes, space -periods of time when you are consciously clear of your concerns, when the moment is not an avenue to receive or give out, but a moment that allows all thought and feeling to be acknowledged -accepted, and released, in other words when you don’t try to OWN anything. You don’t have to be sitting cross-legged on the floor invoking a deity, or mentally intoning positive thoughts. There’s nothing wrong about such actions but they don’t create space.

To achieve space -walk, preferably unencumbered by bags with your phone switched off. The movement at walking pace, around 2-3 mph, enables you to observe by a process of acknowledgement and acceptance of what you see, hear, or smell, and the act of movement causes release. Provided it’s not your own back garden, nothing you are sensorily aware of belongs to you, so you can accept without conditions. If you do that, truly observing, your own possessive thoughts, no matter how positive or negative they might be, will not intrude, and the result will be a calmer feel better state of overall health on completing the exercise than it was before you started.

When you do this the ‘driver’ will be present. No -it’s not evidenced by a discarnate voice or the sudden arousal of a positive sense of wellbeing. The evidence is in how you subsequently deal with day-to-day events, and the needs thereof. The higher nature we all have is eternally present, it is not judgemental, neither does it demand, or relate to your own or others assessment of your worth. What it does do is give you awareness of self-purpose

Practise, and I can assure you life will have better meaning. Headless chickens will not disturb you!

The poem I’ve written for today is a herald of summer but it has just as much meaning in November & December!

Seeking Winds of May

Down the winding lane I walk
hid by hedge and under bough
that skirl their leafy sounds anyhow
in the seeking winds of May.

Going nowhere with a purpose
talking secrets with my feet
marching to the cyclic beat
of natural worlds at play.

Pausing at the path smooth head
over which the white clouds scud
stopping, watching cows chew cud
hear the dark horse neigh.

Ambition-less, I am asexual
just conscious of my nose
down I go where the river flows
to greet the end of day.

Not wanting less than everything
I sit rod-less on its banks
eyeing the silver fishes’ shanks
oblivious of time.

Then someone overshadows me
Bow in hand, feminine and fey
and about me SHE draws a line

in the seeking winds of May.

Evidential Messages

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If you have belief in the After Life you will know what is meant by the title of my blog this week -in short such messages can give proof loved ones are alive and well beyond the grave. Individually we will have different demands of proof as they relate to our personal relationship histories -and more dependent upon the balance of our mental and emotional health at that time. Guilt or anger can block reception, and of course feelings of grief following a loss can numb the mind to any form of evidence.

In the current environment the normal concerns we have for the health of our loved ones has intensified and we endeavour to follow whatever advice is promoted by politicians who are adamant they follow the science. At present vaccine trials providing positive results is having more air time than the daily negative statistics of positive covid tests and recorded deaths. Everyone involved to produce a viral-free environment is doing their best to make it happen.

If you are looking for evidential messages -trying to gain comfort and reassurance in the welter of information streaming abroad through all and every media method of communication, and not yet satisfied, you are one of many. Ultimately the goodness of your health, physical and mental well being, is based upon what you personally do to promote it -actions that are evidential.

During the earlier lockdown phase that began in March I published advice on how to care for yourself and your loved ones -in addition to the sensible public advice on washing hands, social distancing etc. One of the first things I mentioned was using coconut oil on hands and face (in particular nose and lips). A clinically conducted trial in the Philippines on taking it internally positively recorded preventative benefits, which is interesting because the population uses the oil more so than we do in Britain, and their death rate due to Covid is less than 2.0% -and that in a less socially controlled environment. If it interests you to read more about this study, click here https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2020/10/19/scientists-in-the-philippines-claim-coconut-oil-destroys-coronavirus/

Unless a mask is close fitting to the skin and has a ventilator it cannot be a 100% form of protection, though it will guard you against the coughs and splutters of covid positive people. On wearing any other type of mask or shield will generate a moist atmosphere from your breath and the air breathed will mix with that before ingested to the lungs -hence why I recommended coconut oil which breaks up the outer coating of the virus -which is its means of attaching itself to you.

What can you do to maintain good health, or otherwise fight off cold and flu like symptoms?

Take vitamin D -why D? Because naturally you would get that from sunlight, and we don’t get much of that this time of year. What does it do? Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body. These nutrients are needed to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy. It also helps lift depression and mood changes. Take Zinc -why Zinc? It helps the immune system fight off invading bacteria and viruses. The body also needs zinc to make proteins and DNA, the genetic material in all cells. And if you have a stuffy nose and mucous in the throat -have a warm water and salt gargle, works wonders.

Given most of us have to get our food from supermarkets detoxification is an insurance against build up of toxins in the body caused by the ‘preservative’ elements in food. Drink herbal tea, or just green tea, ginger, or rooibos tea. Got a sweet tooth then add honey, don’t go down the sugar route! And what can you include to your menu to further help? Fresh garlic, cloves, ginger, and if you are spicing things up -turmeric. And if you are not spicing things up -take turmeric as a supplement, you don’t have to be suffering aches and pains to get benefit from turmeric.

We are spending much more time indoors, not only because of the time of year, but because we are restricted on outdoor activities. Most of us have central heating -it dries up the atmosphere and that facilitates the spread of viruses. If you don’t have a humidifier -drape damp towels over the rads or place containers of water in the direct emanation of their heat. Have some essential oils? If so, any one of these have natural antibiotic antiviral properties -cinnamon, peppermint, eucalyptus, geranium, lemon, thyme, or oregano oil. Put a few drops in the water.

Given all the right things you do ingesting food and drink, it won’t have much effect if your BodyMind ‘clock’ is too slow or too fast. What does that mean? If you eat after 7.00 p.m. the body takes longer to process it and not so efficiently and you tend to sleep later, or you sleep when the body is still dealing with your food. If you comfort eat that also will upset the ‘clock’. All this means you get up later and again alter the body ‘clock’. So, quite simply develop a routine of eating and sleeping -and stick with it. Ideally get up by 8.00 a.m. breakfast before 9.00 a.m. Lunch 12.30 -1.30, Evening meal between 6 and 7. A warm non-alcoholic, non-caffeine drink late evening is fine.

Now lastly, what are the evidential messages that show you are maintaining good health?

You sleep well
You get up feeling refreshed
Bowel movement should be at least once a day
Mentally your mind should be clear
Emotionally you are not moody
Physically movements do not fatigue you (you can get tired from over exertion, but that’s not the same thing).
And most of all -you feel good in yourself; not worrying or cooking concerns.

Poem I’ve written for this week is:

The reassuring Voice

Ah, winsome love, what aches your heart, breaks
the rhythm of your mentor’s rhyme, stuns you into silence?
Does the world debase and sully your native innocence
trade on your gentleness, draw on the giving Self?
Do you fear the well has gone dry and life’s effort
a hoist of cold rocks, the brain tired of strictures,
Of duty -duty denying the Self?

Let your fears flee to the winds
Let go memories that haunt you
Have them find oblivion in the shifting sands of time.
The healer’s hands cup your face
The power of love turns back the clock
Years vanish and youth smiles
The mystery deepens
wordless expressive
timeless love

©TonyAshenden

Childish Things

Last week I wrote about our greatest enemy -fear. And fear is the No. 1 stress maker. The effect of stress upon relationships can cause breaks, in any event it will affect how we express and change the nature of the bond we share. It can turn the emotional mind inward -at best needless self-reflection, at worst causing anxiety. When a child sucks its thumb we are inclined to believe it is reverting to the emotional bond with its mother -comforted by the breast, in retreat from an insecure world. When we are adult we ‘put away childish things’ (to quote 1 Corinthians 13:11), instead we revert to our smartphones, computers, and TV’s.

I know, I hear what you say, smartphones are essential. In our present world of restricted social and work interaction the mobile phone has become a lifeline; a means of staying in touch with loved ones we cannot see, to shop, manage the business of making a living, monitor and make decisions on how we spend -but it’s more than that, isn’t it? It’s a comfort -if you leave the house without it, you are not dressed right, or if it’s mislaid, everything stops until you find it. We may not like to admit it but we are addicted to the damn things. And for many social media is a mental and emotional environment that begins before breakfast and doesn’t cease until they fall asleep -for them it has become a compulsion -without it, they don’t feel connected, feel unwanted, unappreciated, lacking purpose. That innocent looking wad of metal and plastic in your pocket or handbag can ruin real-life relationships, suppress the ability to be conscious of real time, change the nature of your BodyMind energies, fill the heads with useless information, and determine what is done next.

We don’t initiate -we react. A Brave New World scenario where the elite govern by suggestion, where freedom of choice is the mantra of power, refusal is not smart, and people without phones and computers don’t count.

IT gurus hire people they call attention engineers. Experts in usage statistics from which they develop advertising strategies and give birth to new applications designed in such a way people stay connected for longer. Whenever we upload a picture or update our status on social media, we wait to see how many people will like the picture. How much like has gone to us? How many social shares and comments our post has got. According to research, when you use a cell phone, a chemical continuously discharges from your brain, which is called “Dopamine”. This Hormone is called the “Feel Good Hormone”. According to studies, this hormone is released if you drink or smoke. It means we can be addicted to our cell phones or a soap on TV as we can be slave to drugs. There are restrictions over the usage of drugs and cost alone can limit how much you drink or smoke, but cell phones, computers and TV’s are made easy to buy and there are no restrictions on usage. Whenever we feel uneasy or lonely, more often than not, we think about using our cell phone, laptop, or switching on the TV.

And how often do some people represent themselves on social and business media not as they are -instead how they would like to be known? You know it happens a lot, so in turn you become cautious on how you represent yourself to them. They fake you and you fake them. Not good is it? It is a fact that the way some people represent themselves on social media is not the real way they show a fake lifestyle. As much as they seem to be happier on social media in real life they aren’t as happy.

Stress, anxiety and depression are the outcomes of reactive lifestyles. We are constantly being addressed by the media 24-7, even when we are asleep, so to speak ‘dead to the world’, the subconscious mind is mulling over concerns and needs, and though you might not realise it also open to ultra-high frequencies that propagate like to like communications. So, how do you deal with it?

To start with we must accept that the world of IT is here to stay -the need of phones, computers and TV’s won’t go away. What we must do is reduce the level of reactiveness in our lives and regain our true identities. The way to do that is to uniquely create -it can be as simple as doing something with your hands, making, repairing, gardening -even cleaning. Any activity requiring focus and attention which provides a pleasing result. It can be artistic if you are so minded, and if you’re not, crafting is a capability open to all -again simple does the trick as well as a more skilled person does. And if you can’t engage in a practical way -give a service to another person. Why creative -why do I call it a game-changer?

Before you had the ability to speak and interact consciously with the world you had a very clear idea of what made you happy. Consciously that was comfort from eating, sleeping, and knowing you were cared for -feelings that arose from the instinctual urge to live. That urge is a maker, a creator born of a higher Self. When we get older and ‘put away childish things’, see in a mirror darkly, know only in part, we forget who we are, take comforts to assuage anxieties. Giving rebirth to your creative nature is the road to regaining your true identity -love of oneself.

I hope you like the poem I’ve written today -it beats like the heart, remind us of our true self.

Love Chant

Who moves my hand tapping the keys,
whirls my head, weakens my knees,
fingers my heart, turns works into art?

Who is the voice stopping all fears,
providing true rest, drying all tears,
shaking my head, raising the dead?

Am I the puppet in a God like play
centre stage on a Summer’s day
pulled by strings any which way?

How am I able make gold from waste,
hold the tongue and check its haste,
cause this poem chant like a heart?

Feel the force that heals by hand,
Instantly causing the lame to stand,
Or know how I’m able to speak?

It can only be Love that truth of old
Creation’s cause made to one mould
Power to all to prevent Man’s fall.

©TonyAshenden

Avoiding the Plague!

Hey ho -here we go -again! I last wrote to you in July, ‘Actions to blend Body & Soul’ with the expectation, as us all, restrictions easing would mean a gradual return to normal life, but no, it’s been anything but normal and now we have our fingers crossed Christmas will be sort of normal. No doubt like myself you’ve been doing your best to avoid the plague -no I’m not talking about the virus; I’m talking about fear.

The news, when we feel we must listen, is continually advising statistics that are skewed to promote the ‘stay safe’ message, as if we need reminding. There will always be some whose idea of common-sense only applies to their own wants and needs, congregating in socialising groups at indoor venues. What makes such people act so selfishly?

It’s fear -fear of losing their sense of freedom, an instinctual fear of oppression which would erode their sense of identity. Am I suggesting it should be condoned in the current environment? No, I am not. Why? Because if the herd instinct were to prevail many more people would get seriously ill and some lose their lives. Conversely, those of us who adhere to the lockdown restrictions and strictly follow all stay safe rules can also instinctually fear a loss of security as this virus can be transmitted asymptomatically.

All governments are in a cleft stick -they must listen and be guided by the science and necessarily promote blanket controls. Ok, so they don’t get it always right, or advise timely enough, but hey, don’t shoot the pianist! Instead ask yourself how best are you able to maintain and develop your sense of identity and be of good health.

The product of fear is unnecessary stress, if you are stressed beyond the need to actively engage body and soul it builds into a foundation of ill health. The root protection each of us have is our immune system, if that gets weakened by the effects of stress we are susceptible to illness, a physically recognisable malady or disease, and/or a mental and emotional disorder, and suffer from anxiety. And needless stress can work tops down as well as bottoms up. If you get depressed or mentally lethargic, eat and drink wrongly, indulge in fast foods and E-rated goodies, the immune system suffers.

So, today I’m just going to remind you how to deal with stress.

What are the Causes of STRESS?

There is no universally recognized set of causes for STRESS -triggering situations that are not in themselves favourable or unfavourable for everyone in general. The truth is they are irremediably related to different spheres of life personally. Fundamentally therefore we individually manage stress differently -how we do that determines whether we succeed. However, it is valid to highlight the undeniable negative natured situations we each may face, such as -loss of a loved one, inadequate emotional expression (passive or aggressive), loss or diminution of social interaction, lack of interesting activity or change in life, adoption of harmful lifestyles.

How to Deal with STRESS?

Firstly- we must not put our heads in the sand -acknowledge tensions are part of life’s trajectory. Secondly, acknowledge we cannot eliminate them completely, and accept we must learn to master them. Personal growth will always help us bear burdens -so, how can you achieve a healthy activity and a balance in life?

It is not astute to allow negativity. Events, circumstances, and unmanageable situations will cause an imbalance in your mental, emotional, and physical state proportional to your adjustment or adaptation effort. Just thinking badly weakens you, makes you more vulnerable, leads to a forced accumulation of emotions, and harmful feelings. This makes you lose objectivity while affecting your stability and quality of life. Your sensory nature will govern the BodyMind if you positively tune it. Do not self-inject poison!

Although it sounds scary to deal with STRESS, you can do it! An advantageous position in this sense is to perceive it as a challenge -positively assert likeable feelings in yourself, don’t focus on ideas that minimize or make you feel incapable of coping. People, especially those close to you, will offload to your listening mind -acknowledge and accept they are doing it (don’t judge them) and release it from your mind immediately. This way you can be positively helpful to them in response. It will raise your self-esteem, self-belief, and authenticity.

Prolonged stress leads to distress -inability to cope, when this happens the production of certain hormones affect the immune systems functions, making you vulnerable to health problems mentally, emotionally, and physically. Symptoms can be palpitations, tremors, sweating, rapid breathing, digestion problems, sleep disorders, and other physiological changes. In the emotional order, it is associated with nervousness, irrational fear, sensitivity, lack of appetite, and demotivation. Behavioural changes can take place -reducing the capacity for attention, and decision making. To prevent damaging stress here are a few pointers.

Establish your priorities. What are they? They are needs which make you feel good!
Don’t push yourself to hard. Pushing too hard is you trying to bolster self-belief.
Delegate and share. Allow others to take part and give back.
Be creative. In essence it’s any expression of giving. Will always refresh the mind.
Eat regularly and try not to after 7.00 p.m. Your BodyMind will ‘lose the plot’ if you refuel out of hours and keep changing eating times.
Sleep when your brain mind is rested -if you have to bludgeon it to sleep, the curative restorative powers of BodyMind will not generate. Have pleasurable thoughts prior to sleep.
Believe in yourself -you are unique! Never compare yourself with others.
Breathe with your tummy -not with your chest. Both body and mind will benefit. Proper breathing increases the power of concentration and builds stamina.
Match the exercise of mind with exercise of the body. Take a walk first thing in the morning. If your brain slows down in the afternoon -take a walk.
Don’t give up activities that give you pleasure -make the most of what you can do.
Home might be your ‘castle’ -don’t live in it all the time. The atmosphere needs to change to remain healthy. You are the major contributor to the character of home environment -get out for a while, makes all the difference

It is never too late to modify lifestyles; undue stress ages you!

Today’s positive vibe poem I’ve written for you is – ‘The Pulse of Love’

What mystery love is, what thief of time?
Robber of sense, enemy of law
and destroyer of judges it is?
Think not only of youth’s embrace
or the old crones’ lament,
feel the pulse in your voice.

Do not look for the clock to slow,
or dread each quarter chime,
love is not absent
or in your acceptance arbitrary.
It is as Will said, an ever fixéd mark
the DNA cannot be changed.

Love grows the shape you are known by
and change it must,
patterned unkindly by time.
Lest you forget,
remember mirrors are for walking through,
hesitate and be mystified.

Love is forever painting pictures,
stop to admire, enthuse,
but do not hold your breath.
Seek to possess
and loves’ mystery deepens the more.
Celebrate the changing tapestry of life!

Love has many faces -its heart
is the pulse in your voice.

News behind the Covid-19 News

Check this out -you might say it’s ‘a voice crying in the Wilderness’. It’s a must read….

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/covid-19-grand-solar-minimum-alex-mott/

Actions to blend Body & Soul

There’s two kinds of good news we should talk about. Firstly, for those who fear for their children and grandchildren, antibodies are on their way. If you look back in history at the many health scourges decimating communities you will see we have, in the main, developed immunity from those viral problems. There’s no reason to suggest Covid-19 is any different, over one or two generations immunity will be significantly higher. The other bit of good news is you can prevent it becoming a serious problem NOW.

Greetings! This is the last of my weekly emails sent since lockdown began, and it’s week 16. Who would have believed that when all this kicked off in the UK in March? The numerology number 16 resonates with wisdom, independence, and family, is also a number of introspection. It’s wise, intuitive, and tends to be independent, is both spiritual and analytical, a philosopher with sound arguments. Values which I’m sure you would aspire to and quite possibly claim as practise. The news gives us some heads up reports of good sense and inspirational works, but as you would expect not everyone is being sensible or caring for others -so nationally it can’t be said we are living up to all the values the number 16 promotes. The difficulties we are contending with as the lockdown eases can be broadly described as two kinds; people who feel the current restrictions should be lifted, and those who remain fearful viral contamination will continue to spread.
There’s no getting away from the fact Covid-19 is a devastating illness for some with long term effects if they survive it. Whilst we are learning by the day about this virus and work to produce vaccines is intense we still do not have controls we can be sure will eliminate contamination. Some people, perhaps even the majority of population, are asymptomatic, which can mean some are presymptomatic, others don’t show any symptoms at all, and some are immune to the virus. What this means the reported number of cases (which can never represent accurately all who are positive at any one time) is misleading causing people to believe it’s a greater health risk than it actually is, and the recognizable symptoms in elderly and vulnerable who sadly have lost their lives doesn’t necessarily mean they did die of the virus. And given the production of effective vaccines can you expect anyone to stand up and proclaim the death of this virus? I doubt it -I very much doubt it. Why? Covid-19 is a living organism, its predecessors are SARS and MERS, both respiratory infections, the former originating in China and the latter in the Middle East.
Currently 11.6 million people have been confirmed Covid-19 worldwide, of which less than 5% have reportedly died from it. In the UK deaths are estimated at 15%. This makes uncomfortable reading but the percentage of deaths is derived from confirmed positive readings -do not include the asymptomatic or presymptomatic population that haven’t been tested or tested unconfirmed. As pandemics go we are way short of the devastating 1918 influenza pandemic, known as Spanish Flu (said to be transmitted to humans from birds) of which an estimated 500 million people, one third of the world population, had it and from which 10% died.
You must know me by now -I don’t paint dark depressing pictures without suggesting to you where there is light. There’s two kinds of good news we should talk about. Firstly, for those who fear for their children and grandchildren, antibodies are on their way. If you look back in history at the many health scourges decimating communities you will see we have, in the main, developed immunity from those viral problems. There’s no reason to suggest Covid-19 is any different, over one or two generations immunity will be significantly higher. The other bit of good news is you can prevent it becoming a serious problem NOW.
This is not new news from me, but it’s worth repeating as this is my last email on the lockdown phenomenon. Strengthen your immune system! The powers-that-be and any business coercing you to part with cash who promote practices and products to strengthen the immune system will caveat their statements and claims by denying they can protect you from developing Covid-19. This protect your backside attitude weakens the vital importance of good practise and healthy intake of foods and supplements. As you get older the immune system is said to weaken -and yes it does for the vast majority, but tell that to the 100 year old who is still having a daily dram, smokes occasionally and can still appreciate the difference between the sexes, and they will tell you to stop stressing about it! Of course some people are genetically stronger than others, can abuse their body and still not suffer as others might. What has to be understood here is immunity is not managed and strengthened only by what you eat or the frequency of physical exercise, or by medicines -it is directed by the mind.
Take the man or woman who works routinely the adult period of life. They will undergo all kinds of stresses and changes and they overcome them because they have reason to get up and work the following day. No longer wanted? Physically no longer strong enough? Bright, eager younger people ready to do better than you? They retire (wanting to or not) and major changes begin to take place. They have a choice when to get up in the morning and soon find that life now if full of choices. Sounds good doesn’t it -but no its not all good. The physical body is very adaptable, not only can it make changes in a relatively short period of time, it can also turn nasty stuff into good stuff or get rid of it without affecting its functions, but what it must be able to do is cycle and reinvent itself on a daily basis. People who have purpose to get up in the morning, have desire to accomplish, improve and develop their interests will routinely afford the body the cyclical order of change it requires to reinvent itself. And that is the bottom line to building immunity strength and responsiveness.
In my blog I invite you to follow I’ll give tricks and tips on how to build immunity strength -it’s not enough to protest and stubbornly refuse giving in to illness, positive do’s are what strengthen, the feel-good factor. The use of face masks has had a mixed press, but currently the Government is ruling they must be worn in clinical and care environs and also on public transport and whenever one metre distancing cannot be maintained, and there’s serious talk about increased use of masks in shops. Whilst there are practices in environs where wearing masks is the only option available to protect against the virus, unless the mask is close fitting and breathing is through a filter, masks are not 100% effective. Breath enters the nose and mouth from the sides as well as through the porous nature of the mask material and the enclosure becomes humid, thereby attracting airborne viral infections when you breathe. The use of oil on hands and face, including up the nostrils is in my view much more effective. I personally use coconut oil because research shows it breaks up the virus envelope and inhibits the maturation stage of development -this has the same effect as soapy water, but do keep in mind that some soaps aren’t oily, which is also true of many hand sanitizers. As a matter of course when it is necessary to put on protection, on returning to a safe environment wash thoroughly. It may surprise you to see how dirty the water is after washing -just goes to show the oil does protect the skin and how unclean the air is!

The poem I’ve included for this last week is an echo of purpose and work, actions that blend the body with the soul -I hope you like it.

Love’s Weaver

The weaver bending arms of twisted knotted yarns
serves the loom and the loom a pattern makes.
And bent upon the stool, his eyes direct upon the thread
between weft and weave, his vision skips.

The shuttle smooth moves through the shed
to the clack of treadles pressed;
feeling more than seeing, every bone reactive
To the rise and falling weaving shafts.

The sun arcs through the window overhead
dying unnoticed in the west and in the cool
unseen light of night, clouds arise to hide the stars.
Bobbins twirling empty are replaced.

He labours not for kudos or for rates.
As every yarn entwines it speaks;
heddle and treadle selecting straighten out
and the loom alive a drumming music makes.

Star and sun dance light within his bobbing head;
the weavers’ needs are met and the soul unfurls.
Love that has a thousand-silent sounding ee’s
Spins on to weave for all eternity.

Independence of a kind….

Now let me see… how can I interpret these rules, feel my freedom, but not break them?

Here we are in week 15 of the lockdown with independence day approaching. The number 15 creates its own rules to accomplish harmony, and I guess you can acknowledge some are already creating their own rules, if crowded beaches, street parties, and football supporters celebrations are anything to go by. This number is also about personal responsibility, home and family, and many are now meeting up for the first time since restrictions were imposed. The 15 essence includes health, healing, and domestic activity. Love, beauty, and comfort are important, but the family is most important of all. 15’s energy contains a maternalism that extends beyond the immediate family to neighbors and visitors -it’s a caretaker. The number also has a sense of adventure and a versatile wit. And there’s a determination to express all of one’s own existence, which leads me to question what we mean by the ‘new normal’.
Outwardly, the new normal will be recognizable by the wearing of masks, social distancing, and meeting restrictions on the one hand, and increasing traffic and noise on the other. Inwardly it’s a different ball game. Last week I was talking about habits and how the loss of routines have affected our we are functioning on a day to day level and fearful of change as the lockdown eases. The UK is about to get its own version of Independence day celebrations -and lets be fair, some positively good vibrations being released into our communities. Anticipation to regenerate some of those habits and routines…. But what has been happening inwardly to change our expectations, desires, and needs?
We’ve had more time on our hands, and whilst it’s true to have caused a process of rethinking priorities, it has more positively created ‘spaces’ in the personality mind, which in turn have been filled by desires (and hopefully needs), we haven’t allowed focus on in our otherwise busy lives. For some that will be creative expressions -anything from garden care, home décor, to expressions of crafts and arts. For others, the so-called rethink will be looking at interests, personal or work, in a different way than hitherto. Many people have been remembering their dreams, which can be a mix of unsettling ‘events’ and strange inexplicable images that stimulate or make one fearful. Then there is the lack of practice fear -can you do the same or better than before, or will your nerves jangle with a feeling of emptiness as you prepare to get back to some kind of normality?
If we look closer at the number 15, we see that it’s associated with the 15th card of the Tarot, which many believe to be the most negative card in the deck. The Devil is associated primarily with sensuality and ego (remember Lucifer wanted the other angels to worship him instead of God). However the card is more about change -karmic change. The antidote to excessive ego characteristics is inherent in the 15th number of the I Ching, usually translated as Humility or Modesty. Commenting on this oracle, Confucius says: “The Superior Person takes from where there is too much and augments what is too little. That way all things are apportioned correctly.” This refers to keeping a sense of mindfulness and balance over all of life’s situations.
So, given we have inwardly changed, no matter how the new normal looks like a return to the previously known ways -it won’t be. Our priorities will be different, subtly so in many instances but there will be moments when we herald change and show a new face to the world, be they in personal or workaday living.
History shows us there have been numerous pandemics, some very recent which have not consciously intruded into your day to day life, others of such magnitude and loss of life, to make Covid-19 look minor. What happens as a result of these traumatic changes, and that also includes the horrors of war, is the psyche in all of us individually undergoes fundamental changes. These changes will not consciously manifest overnight, but they will surface nonetheless. We can expect even in the local environment of our lives changes that will be embedded into our futures.
The poem I’ve written for you this week is about time sort of standing still, and how that can make us inwardly aware we cannot truly possess or determine how life and love shapes our souls.

The Seize of Time

Walk with me through the green gate
past the ivy clad barn, the rusted plough,
there let us take shade from the sun
under the spread of the sycamore tree.
Nearby, the gnats cloud the sedge pond

buzz in harmony, chicken’s coop,
geese cackle, and the farm dog barks.
The clack of a hand-turned butter churn
can be heard from the house, the smell
of baking bread wafts in the breeze.

In the far wet-field, revs of a tractor
sound as we sit midst forget-me-not’s,
coriander, dandelion, thistles, and
milkwort, mosses, and warm grass.
Laughing, and making daisy chains.

Out of sight beyond the fields
a distant bell toll seizes time.
Moments that will never age
forever live –of love’s breath
that never shall or can possess.

My thanks to replies I receive -and everyone I reply too. The intention to recover and make a better world is a theme most often central to emails I receive. Stay healthy and you will stay safe. As always I include a link for the self-healing recording, feel free to pass it around to whomever you wish. https://www.holistichealthuk.co.uk/guided_self_healing_cd.php

This is the UK lockdown profile of weeks. First published on email 300620

Something is happening here and you don’t know what it is, do you….. ?

Age is said rightly to be a state of mind and how that affects a person depends on a number of factors. The word currently in fashion linked to age during this viral pandemic is the word vulnerable -mostly applied to people of 70 or over, and as you know people can’t be ‘boxed’ like that. If like myself you don’t have any underlying health conditions you will reject the label. You will also know some people seem to age more noticeably than others. Traumatic events can age a person as can underlying health conditions and long term illnesses, but the issue that dominates the rate of aging is not physical impairment, it is -in a word; need. By and large when we are children we are wanted and loved, and even when sadly that is not the case our mental and emotional nature is stimulated by the newness of environment -the rate of change. As adults we get to be more selective of what we want and how we are loved. So far so good -the rate of change may be characterised differently but ambition and desires still engage with others who reciprocate and fulfil what we are pleased to call need, ‘but something is happening here and you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?’

That’s the refrain in Bob Dylan’s song ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’, is a question which I think succinctly encapsulates the state of mind that causes ageing. We confuse want with need -think they are the same, or to put it another way, when you get what you want you satisfy need. People suffer physically and mentally, and expire before their allotted lifespan runs its course when they are not needed. For example, a person sees their worth in the employment they have and when retirement is forced upon them, they don’t feel needed anymore. Result? Health problems etc. etcetera. A marriage gets into difficulties -maybe they part, maybe not, but the outcome is need-less. Problems ensue, depression, anxiety, anger, suppression of feelings. At the other end of the ‘scale’, after a long happy marriage one partner dies, the surviving spouse doesn’t feel there is anything to live for -they no longer feel wanted. A mother sees her son grow up and the woman he marries doesn’t like her -she copes with that, but when a grandchild arrives its mother refuses access -all of a sudden the grandmother feels unwanted -feels that her purpose has come to an end.

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I’ve no doubt you could frame a few examples that have these kinds of outcomes. Let me be clear I’m not saying you shouldn’t develop satisfaction from an employment or business, or that you shouldn’t put value to human relationships -what I am saying is that wants are the cause of all and every kind of attachment we have in this life and sometimes (as per my examples) these attachments are broken or cease to manifest. Need is the opposite of want -it is caused by giving unconditionally -and that is only possible when the higher mind is harmoniously linked with the lower mind. If you ask Simple Simon why it is that so many healers practise at their own expense or for a pittance, he will simply say, ‘because they feel needed’. And the word feel means our personality self (the lower mind) benefits from that harmony. In last week’s post I said, ‘How do you tap into the source of higher wisdom to receive guidance? I answered that rhetorical question by saying it’s an act of faith. An act of faith is an act that promotes need. Is it easy? No -it’s not because we are educated to foster our survival instincts, and competitively to boot. To give without wanting something in return is an act of faith in the higher nature of yourself -it’s a self-healing action.

The world we are living in right now is obstructing people’s wants wholesale, giving rise to fear on the one hand and frustration on the other, but it does have one redeeming virtue; it is causing people to re-examine their values. The outcomes won’t all be needful -you can be sure of that, but those who do get to the root of the problem will engage with life hereafter in a completely different way. Developing the feel of need is not just about aiding other people, however it is done, it is to any form of life you are drawn to express yourself to. The practise doesn’t require you to sign up to any given set of values, it’s not something you are required to confess to, it is materially zero cost, and doesn’t benefit from advertising. In short it is everything that is not expected of you.

We are in week 12 of the lockdown -this number 12 is an important one when it comes to numerology since it signifies completion. It also belongs to the star sign Pisces known to be connected with the psychically aware. The number also represents the educational process on all soul levels, the submission of the will required and the sacrifice necessary to achieve knowledge and wisdom on both Spiritual and Intellectual levels. When the intellect is sacrificed to the feelings, the mind will be illuminated with the answers it seeks. In the Tarot the number 12 card is the Hanged Man, symbolic of self-sacrifice and meditation -when reversed it represents selfishness.

Hopefully you will see the poem I have written for this week’s mail relates to what I have been saying.

https://www.holistichealthuk.co.uk/guided_self_healing_cd.php

On being certain

To be certain, to know despite illusions’ evidence
the uniqueness of your border-less being,
is to love and know you are loved.
Inspiration-wise, is to be a love sword drawn,
a light cutting crystal, thrusting stars,
bursting dark loveless creations.

To be fatigued, to feel pain, to be angry with the world,
is to be instrument of an awesome force;
sensitive, naked, premature, and creative.
To know, what the have-nots seek to possess
is to be patient, responsive to the endless request,
knowing that love is an ever-open house.

To be certain, is to be without voice;
a timeless lover, the servant of causes; eunuch.
Is to have authority and no writ to prove it.
To love and be loved is magic much stronger than Man,
yet, it gently entreats pressing a rose in your hand.
And when you are certain, possessed of the force,

all Earth and life therein, constellations and universal sky,
shall become spoke and rim to your love of things,
of life in all its forms. And so, it is designed to be,
all hearts have their soul, in you.
And if this be not true,
then show me if you can, a better way.

This post refers to week 12 in the UK lockdown, first published on email 100620

Number 8 is the symbol of regeneration -repost

Escaping the lockdown perhaps? Definitely not a resident in this garden!

‘there’s none so blind as those who do not want to see’

It’s not by accident or by coincidence (if there be such a thing) restrictions are beginning to be lifted. The number 8 is the symbol of regeneration. If you’ve been reading the news this past week of Covid-19 cases detected as early as December last year, you are perhaps wondering how the world managed to get itself in such a mess. That old saying, ‘there’s none so blind as those who do not want to see’ comes to mind. Some of my own family were in the Maldives in January and were struck down by a mystery illness with much the same symptoms as Covid-19. After three days they recovered, and you will perhaps know the Maldives did have an ‘outbreak’ in March. And given the nervousness of the UK government about easing lockdown restrictions you can take it as read neither they or the scientific community advising them can rely on statistics alone. It would appear the world, unusually united, is pinning its hopes on a vaccine projected to be available anywhere between six and 12 months’ time. Fingers crossed! They said the same about the SARS virus and today -18 months later they still don’t have an effective vaccine.

So, it’s perfectly understandable why so many people remain fearful. The doctor that works with me, Heinrich Schroeder has advised and given pointers, much of which I’ve passed on. As to why some have passed away whilst others recovered, he says, the immunity response is not strong enough to resist the spread of the virus for those who are ‘slow burners’ of energy. It is well known many forms of medication given to stabilise underlying health conditions and otherwise treat infections have a suppressive effect on the immune system, but what is not so well publicised is the relationship between types of food, how much we eat and the form of exercise and the time we do it. You have to ask yourself how it is that some 90 plus aged people have recovered from the virus and some very young people (without underlying health conditions) have died. Slow and fast burning metabolisms are influenced, not just by lifestyle, but also by genetic makeup. The genes are understood by science only from their physically developing attributes. I am advised by Spirit our genetic structures are ethereal as well as physical forms, and movements of ethnic populations, not to mention intermarriage, in the last hundred years has radically changed the ethnicity patterns of the world’s population.

Whatever might be your own genetic structure it’s not something you can consciously change but it isn’t the cause alone to make some more susceptible to the virus than others -there are things we can do to protect ourselves according to Heinrich. These are the pointers he gives; aerobic exercise (e.g. walking) taken in the morning is ten times more beneficial than exercise taken later in the day. Reason? With the sun rising the body metabolises energy more naturally, i.e. it functions more systematically, whereas later in the day it naturally slows and doesn’t react well to being ‘pushed’ by exercise. Example; shift workers who work at variance with the natural cycle can often suffer health issues from prolonging that kind of lifestyle. Some foods/drinks we consume are slower to metabolise than others and processed foods/drinks may speed or slow but can be less nourishing than their natural alternatives. The problem here is that most people eat too much at the wrong time. In times past when hunger could be the cause of overeating -the need was at its highest first thing in the morning, so fats created would have a time burning cycle that began in the morning of following days. In today’s world most people eat most after 6 p.m. and given the body’s natural metabolic cycle means it is more than required. Unlike our ancestors we don’t need to ‘fuel up’ in the morning for a physical day’s work ahead, our lifestyle is much different -so the way to deal with this issue of burning is to eat smaller meals more often, this will encourage more physical movements generally, which in turn will stimulate the production of lactic acid that will help to quell appetite.

It is well known when we are anxious, emotionally upset or stressed, we tend to eat more, whereas what we need is a change of atmosphere. Now we are given permission to be out and about more that should help on that score. If when out you wear a mask be aware they have a limited value as they will cause a more humid air to be drawn in when breathing -as mentioned before your nasal passages are the most susceptible to ingesting the virus. A few drops of essential oil, like tea tree, lavender or rosemary will create a barrier, as will any oil on exposed skin.

I am getting some very positive responses from my correspondents, which is good to know -I’ve no idea how many people are reading my weekly missives, but I continue to write if only for the few. The poem I have written for this week has echoes of the messages in this mail. And if you wondered where the peacock picture was in my last mail -it didn’t get sent, so here it is!

Stay healthy and you will stay safe.

As always I include a link for the self-healing recording, feel free to pass it around to whomever you wish. https://www.holistichealthuk.co.uk/guided_self_healing_cd.php

The Darling Buds of May

Oh, for the darling buds of May, how they tease the senses
have us think hazy lazy days, the summer to come.
Yet always the winds blow cold soon after
rain clouds darken blue promise skies
and we will look back fearful of winter.

Have faith, rise like the butterfly
embrace the season of colour!

Are we victim of the virus?
Have we not become stronger -overcome
darkening days, urged our self when weary
shocked the soul, produced new energies
rebirthed beyond expectation, certain of Summers’ solstice?

Look out from the envious shadows and whisper to one another
Oh, for the darling buds of May, the heralds of Summer!

This post refers to week 8 in the UK lockdown, first published on email 120520

Comforting habits are on hold -security is threatened

We are all habitual by nature, they help strengthen our sense of security -so what happens when routines are prevented from happening?

Here we are in week 10 of the lockdown -and still some weeks to go! The number 10 is known as a symbol of the authority of God and his government on this Earth, the symbol of responsibility, law and completeness. It is also regarded as a karmic number -payback time!

By and large people are creatures of habit. Routines with highlights, activities promoting new relationships, absorbing into character whatever legal, political, and social changes as the years unfold. It comes as no surprise during this lockdown the loners have managed to retain their habits better than most. The majority is doing its best to prevent head spinning, depression, and sometimes anger. You are no doubt aware some people are breaking and bending the lockdown rules and will have views about that. We are not all related by our habits -the habit of our character is uniquely born of various sources, not only the example of parents, elders, influential friends, dislikes and likes, also work and social influences. You could call it a brew that never comes the boil, subtlety changing 24-7.

In essence it is the practise of our personality self-seeking self-awareness.

And there’s the rub, as Shakespeare might say, because our personalities are ‘man-made’ self-expressions born with the instinct to survive, propagate and stimulate conflict to make or break. The irony of our present situation is our habitual natures normally maintained to provide personal security of Self has been upended by a security imposed upon us.

And whilst you might say -for good reason, it is having traumatic effects. Mentally and emotionally many are feeling insecure and fearful of the future. There are rumblings about the emergency powers having political emphases in tomorrow’s world. Track and trace, wholesale vaccinations, the stay save messaging mantras are for some advent of mind control, the shadow of George Orwell’s Big Brother.

Of course, you might not think the present powers are so Machiavellian in character and take the view that some people will always think the worse and see the dark side, but something is happening to cause a sense of insecurity to dominate peoples thoughts. The lockdown will end -be sure about that; governments intent is sooner rather than later; their survival depends on it. I suggest the colour of the political landscape is not prime cause of your feelings of insecurity, rather it is what’s happening in your own street, with family and friends.

Job security has for some time been largely contractually based and we are learning to live with that, but now with businesses large and small going to the wall, futures for many is becoming more and more uncertain. The ‘office’ world will never be the same again. Working from home most days demands less space to lease or rent -phone and computing demands will grow exponentially; new skills will need to be learnt. Personal relationships will be under new kinds of pressures. Taxation will rise -money has to come from somewhere to pay national debts and support changing economies.

The irony I mentioned earlier is even more profound when you realise the instrumental nature of life, essential for continuing propagation and soul development by its very nature demands insecurity to function! Intuition is not a rational process! Man has never been good at recognising this, and still doesn’t acknowledge the essential benefits have come from the few who have opened their minds beyond the personality’s borders.

Can we truly learn from the number 10? Hope springs eternal….

My thanks to replies I receive -and everyone I reply too. Email this week is only later as I’ve had other ‘jobs’ to do! The intention to recover and make a better world is a theme most often central to emails I receive. My poem for you today is about the conflict between the rational man ( the stone man) and his higher counterpart. Stay healthy and you will stay safe. As always I include a link for the self-healing recording, feel free to pass it around to whomever you wish. https://www.holistichealthuk.co.uk/guided_self_healing_cd.php

Song of the Sea

Beyond the Stone Man lives a psychic sea
wherein thespian arts are founded,
on the whisperings of immortality.

Earth genius, maker of machinery
hear before claiming, my invocation
beyond the Stone Man lives a psychic sea,

thesaurus more precious than history,
an interlocking alien kingdom:
the whisperings of immortality.

Stone Man, creator of insanity
repeat after me this incantation,
beyond the Stone Man lives a psychic sea,

where sceptres and crowns were facsimile
long before Archimedes heard in song,
the whisperings of immortality.

Knights and Bishops, guardians of the Tree,
Knowledge, and Faith, have you now forgotten
beyond the Stone Man lives a psychic sea,

of mistakes made in your liturgy
by making your God of wisdom, to wrong
the whisperings of immortality?

I wait the last act of this tragedy

powerless to prevent consummation.
Beyond the Stone Man lives a psychic sea

where his soul sits under the Bodhi tree
ever present awaiting earthly union,
to share the whisperings of immortality.

This post refers to week 10 in the UK lockdown, first published on email 280520

Awareness of a wider World

A feeling of expectation perhaps, awareness of a wider world?

Have you noticed a change in the atmosphere, not just the increasing movements of people as restrictions are being eased? A feeling of expectation perhaps, awareness of a wider world? the big picture is increasingly the main topic on news broadcasts as governments watch each other, accounting for other’s mistakes and trying to learn from successes. The competitive pharmaceutical industry is sitting in the same room working together for the first time in history. The money-men of power have licked their wounds and are once again on the march. Anger and resentment is beginning to show in the UK at perceived failures to act in a timely manner, with the care home tragedy a central focus. And I daresay, that despite good intentions, you are thinking the behaviour of peoples is once again becoming normal -but I don’t think so.

The number 9 is the number of completion. When you multiply any number by 9, then add the resulting digits and reduce them to a single digit, it always becomes a 9. For example, 6 x 9 = 54, reduce 54 to a single digit by adding them together: 5 + 4 = 9. Any number, no matter how large, multiplied by 9 reduces to 9. A different, but no less distinctive and revealing, attribute of the 9 is that when you add (as opposed to multiply) it to any other number, then reduce that number to a single digit, it always comes back to itself, as if nothing was added at all. For example, 5 + 9 = 14, 1 + 4 = 5. Or 7 + 9 = 16, 1 + 6 = 7. 24 (which reduces to 6). The last of the cardinal numbers, the 9 is the most worldly and sophisticated of all numbers. The 9 has some similarities with the 6. However, whereas the 6 as a symbol of motherly (or fatherly) love, giving its love and care to friends, family and the immediate community, the 9 offers it to the world at large; the 9, more than any other number, has global consciousness! As with any number, the 9 has a dark side. It can be condescending, arrogant, cold and apathetic towards the suffering of others, egotistic, cruel, immoral and completely untouchable. And unfortunately, it is easy for a 9 to fall into the dark side, like when she perceives herself to have been the victim of an injustice, then she can be vindictive, unforgiving and malicious. When the 9 appears as a cycle (and that is how, given the current pandemic, it is most tellingly interpreted), it often denotes a finality, the completion of an era. The 9 as a cycle is frequently seen as an indicator of death. This is simplistic and wrong. What one or more 9 cycles does suggest is that you are in the final stages of a period or endeavour, that you need to empty your bucket and prepare for the new and that there are opportunities to make a difference.

This incursion into Numerology is not given to blind you with ‘clever maths’ but to remind you that beyond the Man’s cycle of 0-7 death there is always a bigger picture we don’t have control over; influences that will shape our destiny. Wise men of the past have likened our consciousness to a grain of sand, and whilst that should always be a lesson in humility, it is also telling us that we part of the moving face of universal consciousness. Size and position do not determine worth, potentiality or power -what does is harmonic understanding. And how is that achieved you might reasonably ask? When your back is up against the wall, survival is threatened, and the power to resist is swept away, the higher nature gains entry into your earthly made consciousness and the essence of universal love becomes the engine of change.

Every ‘grain of sand’ has a part to play.

My thanks to replies I receive -and everyone I reply too. The intention to recover and make a better world is a theme most often central to emails I receive. My poem for you today is about transformation -that’s what is now taking place. Stay healthy and you will stay safe. As always I include a link for the self-healing recording, feel free to pass it around to whomever you wish. https://www.holistichealthuk.co.uk/guided_self_healing_cd.php

Gilda’s Valley

Cold winds blow in Gilda’s valley;
Pine trees bare their branches bowing
to the valley sweep, snow drifts
in every recess, closing up
the cave mouth and the foxes hole.

And when the orbit of the wind
dies screaming at the funnels mouth,
eerie stillness clings to every pine.
The valley has the emptiness
of absent birds. Each wind struck

tendril savaged from the bough
lies black upon the drifted snow,
more alive than dead –waiting change;
dissolution in the spring thaw.
And for the thrush who fell asleep

cradled in the pine root mosses
gently held in the bedding snow,
Spring has met the summer sun.
Pine trees have spread their branches,
Birds sing heavenly, and warm
winds blow in Gilda’s valley.

This post refers to week 9 in the UK lockdown, first published on email 190520

How do you tap into the source of higher wisdom to receive guidance?

How do you tap into the source of higher wisdom to receive guidance? To put it simply -it’s an act of faith. However, we (the population at large) have a problem with that.

I’m writing this week’s email after having watched the BBC news, never edifying at the best of times, today headlining the riots in America, criticism of the governments number crunching slants, further fears of mass unemployment, lockdown breaches -and on a lighter note Parisians eating their lunch outside of restaurants. The number 11 is one of three master numbers (the others being 22 and 33) and is the higher vibratory meanings of single digits 1 and 2. The number 1 is innovative and motivated, open to new things and eager to make a difference. The number 2 promotes harmony, empathy, and sensitivity. In short the number 11 utilises these attributes in much deeper, more profound ways as the bringer of spiritual awareness and wisdom. It is a channel for truth and answers to help us achieve justice.

As always numerology presents the potential of numbers so we can see the riots in America as demand for justice, the need for more transparency from our own government as a call to credit the man in the street with intuitional sense. At the same time awareness of the higher nature potential needs tapping into to alleviate the fears people have, which brings me to the theme of this week’s mail.

How do you tap into the source of higher wisdom to receive guidance? To put it simply -it’s an act of faith. However, we (the population at large) have a problem with that. We have been schooled to adjoin the understanding of faith with outcomes familiar to us. On the job front, given we are diligent and focussed, we have jobs, good personal relationships can be expected if we care, show tolerance, and actively give and take. On the religious front provided we sign up to the dogmas and creeds we can feel ‘protected’. So, the problem is this; you can be diligent and focussed and still not have a job, you can do all to foster good relationships but you can’t control worldly influences causing fear and anxiety. And whilst religious faith can give ultimate ‘protection’ it will not blanket protect you from day to day influences. There have been many pandemics in world history, and it can be argued, plagues that compare our current viral concerns as ‘a walk in the park’. Whole city populations virtually wiped out, as for example Antioch (Turkey) in the 6^th century and the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantinople (Istanbul) suffered greatly during the reign of the emperor Justinian. Both Eastern and Western Roman Empires at that time were religiously Christian, and it can be argued their faith was stronger then than it is now -but to no avail.

The problem is Faith is not an insurance policy, events show the truth of that, whether it be faith in temporal matters or religious faith. We appear to have lost the meaning. Allow me to suggest what it really is. It is the ability of the lower soul to act instrumentally to receive of the higher soul. The parable of the Sower aptly shows how this is practised. We all have the capability but some will be unable to recognise it in themselves (the seed fell on the path and birds ate it up), others will only be channel as children (the soil was shallow and the plants were scorched and withered by the sun), still more others will acknowledge the higher self but they allow the lower soul to rule (seed fell among thorns which grew up and choked the plants). The seed that did find good soil increased an hundred fold. The harvest feeds all in need.

How, you might ask, do you become the good seed? True faith has the virtue of guiding our earthly passage, of instilling harmony when all else is in conflict with itself. I’m fully aware many of my correspondents either regard themselves as practising psychics or have engaged in psychic and spiritual development -and you might be thinking I’m about to teach you how to suck eggs.

Perhaps. As from next week I will show you how to regain the faith -or if you are one of the fortunate few, lessons you can advise to others. The poem I have written for this week may seem to be a bit of a tease, but I promise all will be revealed in time to come. This Master Number’s vision is crystal clear and it sees with a breadth that others cannot. It is creative and magnetic, a beacon of wisdom and hope for others to follow.

The Key

In the dawn light
on a black beach waiting the white
of the eye of the Sun,
I seek the sparse
sprawl of the tundra; mind of myself.
Waiting for the hand over hand
thought of their wanting cease
and their chains stop a-jingling.

What of them?
They still cleansing
re-marking the way?
Intent on darkening
the path to Damascus?
The people’s sleeping hands
reach for my throat
all as one intent
to imbue me
with the stuff of darkness.

Our Father – is their pitying cry
even higher beseeching
save us!
Tears….
that communise
comes crooning to me
from land
Out of the sea.

This post refers to week 11 in the UK lockdown, first published on email 020620

Lucky for some….

We are now in week 13 of the lockdown and restrictions are being eased and if today’s pictures of shoppers queuing to get into Primark is a sign of the times, then for many the two metres distancing rule is no longer valid. Although the number 13 is able to express itself creatively, practicality is more important to it. It tends to determine the way to accomplish something without relying on others to make its decisions. That explanation should strike a bell -the ‘bubble’ as advised by the government is in practice being liberally interpreted. The number 13 is regarded by many as an unlucky number -a number to avoid if at all possible. The meanings that we associate with 13 being unlucky generally come from the symbolic and mystical associations that have come down from the ancient world. In the Major Arcana of the Tarot, the 13th card is called Death or The Reaper depending on which deck you use, though it should be said the correct way to read the Death card in the Tarot is as a process of transformation and rebirth. Another prominent explanation for the fear of the number 13, is that it came from the biblical Last Supper, when there were 13 people at the table. And again if you add in black cats on Friday 13th for many that means don’t leave the house.
Positively (and we must be that) the numerology number 13 resonates with pragmatism and building a secure foundation. What we see in this week of the lockdown are people intent on restoring their practical work-a-day lives. How can we be guided to do this safely? The short answer is -be guided by your impressions, but that does need some explanation. As many of you know I teach BodyMind meditation -a process to awaken and develop the powers of impression. It has two levels of capability which work in harmony. The first level is a development of the chakra system with its centre on the sacral (Svadhisthana) chakra. Our energy management is rooted in this chakra -it is the gut brain. On an average, the brain (in our head) has 100 billion neurons; it is the seat of thinking. The gut or the digestive system has close to 500 million nerve cells and 100 million neurons and is almost the size of a cat’s brain. Not only does the gut ‘talk’ with the brain by releasing chemicals which are transported to the brain but also by sending electrical signals via the Vagus nerve, one of the longest nerves in the body whose purpose is to relay the information of internal organs to the brain. It starts from the head and ends near the anus. Whilst many gut neurons are used in the daily grind of digestion and work independently of the brain in your head, overall they function as a kind of radar on the one hand and as a transmitting system on the other. At a physiological level it can advise what’s good and what’s not good -and if we are as ‘switched on’ as cats are we don’t eat foods which could harm us. Even the most de-tuned of people can feel something wrong about atmospheres, though they might not do anything about it. At a mental emotional level this is where we can get impressions. when we learn to act upon them, rather than regarding them as stray thoughts, we will be able to move about in this new normal world we have in safety.

We need to get better at listening -which I hope you will agree is the message of my poem this week.

Rhyme Chapter Time

In the noising babble born brook
here in the dell of this unkempt wood
under the sky torn kingfisher blue,
I watch the water boatman swim great strides
forward and back in a mirror brown pool.
And all the insects I cannot give name
clamber across the wetted breast of curving stone
seeking warm rock under Junes’ creaming sun.

All for my eyes moist and ear muffled mind
this paradise, this pageantry, this rhyme chapter time.

The warble, deep throat, high pitch sing’un of bird
flashing from tree, fern and bracken bower’d bush,
appear from beyond the V of this hollow’s high shelf
where nettles wave their tear dropping heads
and the spring born rivulet breathing wet
rushes lemming like into a mirror faced lake.

I can just hear the moor hens chirp, more silence than sound,
a chorus no doubt to a wordless symphonic hymn.
But wait! I cannot yet understand the boatman or me.
Perhaps I should listen, look more intently, or just simply be.

All for my eyes moist and ear muffled mind
this paradise, this pageantry, this rhyme chapter time.

This post refers to week 13 in the UK lockdown, first published on email 160620

Freedom is the number this week

Here we are in week 14 of the lockdown (who would have thought it would last this long?). The number 14 is a number of expressing personal freedom, including independence and self-determination, the number also symbolizes the process of moving. … yet, the number generally has one or several self-assigned goals, it’s easily distracted by other, generally fleeting, interests. The charisma of 1 with the work ethic of the number 4 suggests the ability to achieve in the worlds of business or politics. It can be a message for you to go after what you want in life without a fear of what other people are going to think. In the Tarot this number is symbolized by Temperance or The Angel of Time. Karmically this is about the need to learn independence, self-initiative, unity and justice. We are about to get a relaxation of the two-metre rule, an expectation of more businesses able to restart, more inclusive connections of family groups, and outlook for public socializing in clubs, pubs and restaurants. It will no doubt be fearful for some, whilst others will be eager to ‘bend the rules’ in their march to normality.
And talking of ‘bending the rules’, the Black Lives Matter movement rallies in the UK have been doing that congregating in less than one metre spaces. Do black people matter? Of course they do -and should there be equality between all people -of course there should! Prejudice has many levels and can be expressed in many different ways, but the bottom line is fear of displacement -loss of self-identity. The world’s history is full of such examples, of peoples who have been subjugated -the cause to control and suppress them not abhorrence of ethnically different peoples, but desire for power and self-aggrandisement . It’s the voices of those we cannot hear who are disenfranchised, whatever their colour or ethnic background, we should be reaching out too -they can be members of family, friends, acquaintances, and the neighbour we rarely speak to. As it happens the major influence in my life has been the life and teachings of a black man -Joseph Carey. Joey was born in Louisiana in 1834 and passed into Spirit in 1901. There is no recorded history of him on this side of life -he was sibling to freed slave parents, who married had children, did a variety of jobs in a confederacy state -and during the war followed the army of Robert E Lee, where there were jobs to be had. As the main guide of my teacher Len Burden I got to speak with him often, when Len was in deep trance. He never spoke about prejudice, or did he ever talk about his earthly life’s regrets. And I’ve no doubt plenty could have been said -instead he taught as we common folk like to think we could become, unconditionally loving all and everyone. One of his favourite phrases when endeavoring to have listeners think for themselves, was –‘the answer is under your nose’, which leads me to advise the second part of how to awaken and develop the powers of impression.
As I advised last week the power of impression has two levels that work in harmony. Harmony however you characterise it is a state of balance -the first level physiological, emotional, and mental, as described in detail in last week’s post, is centered having its fulcrum in the sacral (Svadhisthana) chakra, and is the root of our instinctual nature. It has two poles commonly described as flight and fear -the former is activated by the needs of self-preservation, the latter is the unknowable fear of ‘God’. To realise this level the entire chakra system has to be balanced about the sacral chakra -when it is active a person has the ability to sense their present environment and know what is ‘friendly’ and what is not, they also have the ability to engage their energies as a positive helpful influence to others, and other forms of life. When the chakra system is in balance with the fulcrum sacral chakra the brain mind has little influence over reception and action. The second level is more complex as it involves three forms of focus, but cannot be effective, and let me repeat that -cannot be effective unless the harmony required of the first level is not in practise. Whereas the first level can be named instinctual the second level is named intuitional. For most people, and I include psychics as well, the intuitional level is only apparent as a ‘bluebird’ or by event that causes its function. Developed correctly it is a 24-7 functional ability. It requires the heart (Anahata) chakra to be balanced with all chakras, and the balance configuration of the first level to be balanced with heart chakra configuration. When this is achieved a seesaw of actionable abilities is achieved of which the fulcrum is the solar plexus (Manipura) chakra. I know of no other meditation practices designed to achieve this other than the BodyMind meditations I teach.
You will appreciate I can’t give you A to Z on the how’s and what’ in a weekly mail, though if sufficient interest is shown I’ll talk more about it in future posts. We need to get better -do more than listen well, -we need to actively harmonise ourselves, and by so doing attract others to the cause. The message in my poem this week does reflect what I’ve been talking about -bit on the deep side I know. The only line in it I feel it would be helpful to explain is ‘Fair light of Africa ‘- that’s where it all began for us humanoids…. Many, many moons ago…

Fellowship Farm

Cobbled pathways of shiny stone
remind me of barefoot masters,
wine that never tasted sweet
or gave itself to keep;
steps that ever up make different sounds
track that turns and doubles back
too wise to part, sensing to what end Fellowship Farm;
where morning meets a lark in willow park
where the wind chimes.

To go part of the way what traveller gains?

Cold night, this echo of my sister’s will
whose breast of porcelain white
is the beacon to my closing eye,
Bursar to the treasure of this traveller’s ship
fair light of Africa.

There from its ports tethered angels fly
to wind their purpose in the sky,
here mortals sleep,
to God’s apprentice souls of unsure shape
enter seeds as daffodils, and become
as the kiss upon a parting rosebud.

Lady night that stretches out these sails in flight
my home is there in the stranded black
endless track amid the stars.

This post refers to week 14 in the UK lockdown, first published on email 230620