Mind Body & Soul Ezine
Philosophy Psychology Personal Growth
Monday, October 14, 2024
Drew Ryder
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Rolfing
Thursday, October 10, 2024
John O'Donoghue
"When you cease to fear your solitude, a new creativity awakens in you. Your forgotten or neglected wealth begins to reveal itself. You come home to yourself and learn to rest within. Thoughts are our inner senses. Infused with silence and solitude, they bring out the mystery of inner landscape."
- - Anam Cara, p. 17
By Karen Tate
My gateway into Goddess Spirituality was via the teachings of Dianic women immersed in Women's Mysteries and Goddess herstory. I owe them a debt of gratitude for introducing me to Goddess but this relationship wasn’t without many challenges. Like a “cafeteria catholic” moving down the food line of spiritual beliefs, choosing what ideas resonated with me, I put some of their ideas on my tray of life and rejected others leaving them to dry out on the sterno.
I was interested in a Feminine Face of God and not a male God so much. Christianity and patriarchy turned me off to institutional man-made dogma, religion and Jesus for a long time. For me, the male God could be a consort of Goddess, perhaps her equal, provided she maintained her full autonomy and authority. Think of the Super Couple of Isis and Osiris for example. The feminist aspects of Dianics also appealed to me. Coming from a lower-middle-class family, growing up without a lot, I understood the importance of feminism to lift us all up to achieve equality. So the female empowerment aspect, the primary deity as female, feminism and herstory were really attractive concepts of Dianic Spirituality.What I had real problems with among Dianics was the female superiority, lack of inclusion and the idea for many that Goddess Spirituality was based on a woman’s body and cycles. And so many women I knew, hetero and lesbian alike, could have cared less if men dropped off the face of the earth - as if parthogenesis (conceiving without male sperm) was still a thing. Today it seems within the ranks of Dianics discrimination falls perhaps less on men and more heavily on trans people because of the Right-Wing theocratic Heritage Foundation propaganda against people questioning their sex/gender and the fear mongering about the erasure of women. But that's a topic for another newsletter.
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Rainer Maria Rilke
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Richard Rohr
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Do You Have Allure?
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Requiems - Poetry Choice
Requiems by Christina Rossetti
When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.
Monday, September 23, 2024
Kabbalah Spring Cleaning
We are hoarding anger on a daily basis, and if we do not remove it from our system on time (when still young ...), we may develop animosity towards anyone and anything that exist in our environment, act furiously, and our judgment and decision-making abilities may be ruined. Sometimes we may suffer bad mood and mental/emotional restlessness that are originated in our internal imbalance.
Alexandra David-Neel
Born Paris 24 October 1868, she was the only daughter of a Hugenot Freemason teacher, and in her early years, she played piano and sang, and was precociously interested in ascetic practices. Travelling widely and compulsively, she was fascinated with secret societies, studying with Annie Besant and Madame Blavatsky. She converted to Buddhism when she was 20 years old, and due to an inherited personal fortune, she became an intrepid explorer, visiting Mongolia, Korea, Japan and India, much of the time disguised as a beggar or monk. She was fascinated with secret societies, studying with Annie Besant and Madame Blavatsky. She became a member of a mixed Scottish Rite Freemasonry society where she reached a high status.
Sunday, September 22, 2024
Toxic Masculinity
Toxic masculinity is a set of self serving, judgemental behaviours. These destructive values and attitudes are dominant and aggressive and are fuelled by hatred of those whom the toxic male considers to be inferior. The major target is women who are seen as submissive, subservient, passive, and weak - these qualities are seen as traits to exploit. Women are objectified, used and discredited.
Toxic men like to surround themselves with caring, empathic people, but they only care about themselves, not anyone else. They believe there are winners and losers in life, and they must win through any means possible. Of course, some people are good at maths, others singing, some have excellent memories, some tell jokes well, however, to the toxic male, to consider a variety of skills is too complex, so they focus on one thing that is easily identified - money! Who has the most money is of intense interest, and they will get it by hook or by crook to prove they are best at everything, because money encompasses everything in their estimation.
Saturday, September 21, 2024
The Political New Age Toxicity
What do our politicians want from the electorate?…. They want us to be compliant! How do they get it? By dumbing down the ability of the ordinary person to think critically!
We all make important political decisions based on news headlines. The more a politician is in the news, for whatever reason - even for bad publicity - the greater their popularity and the more they are worth. When they lose their MP seat, they get a well paid sinecure on the board of a lucrative bank, big pharma, a chemical, industrial, or armaments manufacturer, in the media, in construction, tech company, etc.
Politicians who have taken us to war, sell books, after dinner talks, they invite their supportive friends to sit in the House of Lords and they can enter royal privilege as a Garter Knight, as did Tony Blair.
How has the New Age been infiltrated by the political agenda to disempower you and to make you dependent on their desires. You will be told by spiritual teachers to be self serving, to want and get more and more, as greed becomes fashionable and desirable, not think of altruism as spirituality has told you is the foundation of a spiritual life for thousands of years. There is no right or wrong any more.
Monday, September 16, 2024
Chris Street asks ‘Is London the City of Revelation?’
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Books on herbs
A fully illustrated herbal in full colour, ideal for identification and for information on how to select, grow, create medicines on a wide variety of common and easily available herbs. Beginning with the use of herbs in the distant past, in countries across the world, we have profiled Yarrow, Lady's Mantle, Garlic, Aloe, Marshmallow, Angelica, Celery, Burdock, Borage, Tea, Cayenne, Chamomile, Cinnamon, Hawthorn, Yam, Eucalyptus, Meadowsweet, Fennel, Cleavers, Gentian, Hops, St John's Wort, Hyssop, Juniper, Lavender, Motherwort, Honeysuckle, Lemon Balm, Mint, Basil, Rose, Rosemary, Sage, Comfrey, Feverfew, Dandelion, Thyme, Stinging Nettle, and many more.
Tune in for Serenity
Friday, September 13, 2024
Clean Language Questions
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
A New World View!
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Gestalt Introjection
Save our Bees!
Despite the US and the UK resisting, bee campaigners are celebrating the European Union prohibition on the use of systemic pesticides which have been demonstrated to be toxic to bees. A total of 15 of the 27 European member states voted for a 2 year ban on neonicotinoids and 300,000 people in the UK signed a petition to bring in a ban. Most bumblebee species are declining and 6 species have suffered an 80% reduction in numbers in recent years. In the past 100 years, 20 British bee species have become extinct and 35 British bees are currently at risk of extinction. This is due to several factors, not just the chemicals which reduce their immune system capabilities, but loss of habitat plays a large role as does the removal of honey from hives and replacing it with sugar water which provides none of the valuable nutrients for bees throughout the winter, and does not provide the antibacterial that is needed for them to fight diseases. With 98% of wild flower meadows vanishing since 1950, we need to plant flowers that will help bees to thrive. They play a crucial role in plant pollination.
Thursday, September 5, 2024
E. F. Schumacher
A New Age style philosopher, Fritz Schumacher (1911-1977) was a exponent of pacifism, monetary advisor to governments, and he created a new economics of material reductionism which cares for the planet and for people, especially those most in need in society. He was influenced by Buddhism and by Gandhi. His book 'Small is Beautiful' (1973) is based on the reasoning that less is more in a society which is generally unhappy despite its material wealth and 'A Guide for the Perplexed' is a best selling explanation of capitalism.
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Sunday, September 1, 2024
Ikigai
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Brain Waves
Electrical instruments (electroencephalographs) are commonly used by medical people to evaluate mental states. These instruments measure the neuron firing rates of groups of brain cells. These firing rates are commonly thought to control mental states. Beta, alpha, theta and delta are terms that medicine uses to indicate the rates of brain cell firing and the corresponding mental states associated with them.
Pagans and Ecology
One of the causes for the differences you might find in Pagan traditions is the very landscape they originally emerged in, because, in different landscapes, with diverse ecological conditions, the way people perceive and interact with that landscape will vary.
It is fair to say that a great many traditions see the sacred in the landscape, which means that interacting with that landscape equates to interaction with the sacred. As the sacred is very important, a great many Pagans will be keen to see and work for a more sustainable way of living- a way of living that is less likely to damage the local environment and more likely to honour it. This may take the form of activities to clean up rubbish left in waterways, forests and open land, by others. It may take the form of protesting against business that could be considered to damage the landscape- hydraulic fracturing (fracking), building on greenbelt land or destruction of ancient woodland. It could take the form of guerrilla gardening activities, permaculture or simply in tending to their own gardens. But running through all those activities is an understanding that the land is sacred, that we do not inherit the land from our ancestors, but borrow it from our children. Of course, these kinds of activities are not the sole province of Pagans. But a key motivator for Pagans to engage in them is that recognition of the sacred in nature.
Friday, August 30, 2024
The art of storytelling by Eli Anderson
I am a master of the art of storytelling, a poet and coach with 'eAkan'. I have arranged a variety of lectures and workshops which include performance craft, musical theory, eldership, healthcare, storytelling, community education, mindfulness and poetry therapy and I arrange and deliver a variety of workshops where I mentor performers and musicians.
Ibn Arabi
Who was Ibn Arabi?
Ibn Arabi was a Sufi spiritual love poet (an interpreter of longing poetry) and writer who was inspired by the divine spirit. He is known as The Meccan Revelator who studied astrology, letters, numbers, symbolic geometry, and esoteric sciences. The Wisdom of the Prophets was revealed to him in a single night. He was born in 1165 in SE Spain and tutored by an aged woman. In 1198, when he was 33, Ibn Arabi had a vision and a Divine Command to visit Cairo and Jerusalem. In 120, he arrived in Mecca where he stayed for 2 years. He then travelled to Baghdad and Mosul, and lived in Eastern Turkey where he met the son of Saladin in Aleppo. He spent his last years in Damascus, dying in 1240. He is most well known for his One es of being - a doctrine that espouses that only God exists, all else is illusion.
Thank you!
Even if you don't like what you're being told say "hmm, thanks for telling me that, now what about etc.". Say Thank you first. It means that the first thing you say isn't negative.