July - Deborah Blake’s Moon Garden

 The planting of a moon garden. 

There are a number of flowers that bloom at night, some of them are blessed with spectacular scent. If you can find seeds, plant early in the gardening year or find them at your local garden centre.

Moonflower is a white climbing flower with a lemony aroma, also known as Moonvine. Evening Primrose and night blooming Jasmine, white cosmos, and evening stock are examples. Lady of the Night is an evergreen shrub with white flowers that bloom during the day as well, and are highly scented at night. Make sure that no matter which plants you use, you place them where the moonlight will fall on them. You might use your moon garden to inspire communication with the goddess, especially on the night of the full moons. Goddesses are associated with flowers in particular include Flora, her Roman counterpart chlorous, and Thea and the Celtic goddess Blooddenwidd. Of course you could also just speak to one of the moon goddesses such as Diana, Selena or Luna to take advantage of the moon in June or July to stand outside and ask for a blessing of abundance and growth during this time when both are in full force in the natural world around us. 

Self Actualisation Qualities

 According to Maslow, self-actualizing people share the following qualities:

• Truth: honest, reality, beauty, pure, clean and unadulterated completeness
• Goodness: rightness, desirability, uprightness, benevolence, honesty
• Beauty: rightness, form, aliveness, simplicity, richness, wholeness, perfection, completion,
• Wholeness: unity, integration, tendency to oneness, interconnectedness, simplicity, organization, structure, order, not dissociated, synergy
• Dichotomy: transcendence, acceptance, resolution, integration, polarities, opposites, contradictions
• Aliveness: process, not-deadness, spontaneity, self-regulation, full-functioning
• Uniqueness: idiosyncrasy, individuality, non comparability, novelty
• Perfection: nothing superfluous, nothing lacking, everything in its right place, just-rightness, suitability, justice
• Necessity: inevitability: it must be just that way, not changed in any slightest way
• Completion: ending, justice, fulfillment
• Justice: fairness, suitability, disinterestedness, non partiality,
• Order: lawfulness, rightness, perfectly arranged
• Simplicity: abstract, essential skeletal, bluntness
• Richness: differentiation, complexity, intricacy, totality
• Effortlessness: ease; lack of strain, striving, or difficulty
• Playfulness: fun, joy, amusement
• Self-sufficiency: autonomy, independence, self-determining.

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.

Cognitive Analytic Therapy

 Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) is conducted by qualified psychotherapists, to assist patients to gain a greater understanding of their own process. 

Chronic Fatigue

 

What is Chronic Fatigue? 

Myalgic Encephalomylitis is abbreviated to ME and has all the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome. Tiredness, muscle aches, brain fog, depression, are part of a syndrome that has baffled doctors. It has now been accepted by the medical world as being a genuine illness and not one that has been imagined by the patient. Many treatments are available, from diet, sleep treatment, physical therapies, etc. It is best to avoid medications if they can be avoided. 

Ikigai

 

Japanese formula for happiness - a reason for being - a purpose! 

All 4 components detailed here

Tai Chi Ch'uan

This is a form of ancient graceful exercise, yoga and it is also a martial art which is performed as a strengthening for the body and meditation for the mind. It also helps deportment and eases joints and strengthens muscles. Slow, purposeful moves increase energy, chi, and is popular throughout the world, especially in China where it is used as a community exercise, often performed in public. To assist wellbeing, reduce stress and provide grace and poise.

Low Self Esteem?

 

There are many causes of low self esteem. It is a largely unrecognised condition that controls your life, reduces your enjoyment of life, causes you to not succeed in life, either in the work environment or in personal relationships. Especially, you might allow yourself to be badly treated by other people - or treat other people badly - and you might not be ambitious for yourself or your children. You might not realise just how low your self esteem is. Working to improve your self worth is something you can do for yourself. 

Laurel Woodward - June

The month of June and the summer solstice! The sun is rising at its northernmost declination. In the northern hemisphere this is the longest day of the year. Also known as midsummer. The solstice is an ancient solar celebration and fire festival celebrating light and the power of the Sun. In places like Iceland, the night is so short that the sky does not become fully dark on Midsummer night. In Finland, bonfires were lit to ensure good luck and drive out evil spirits. In Latvia Midsummer Eve is known as herb evening, for just as the Sun is at its zenith, the energy of the many plants are very potent and are gathered at this time. 

Gather handfuls of fresh chamomile, lavender, and lemon balm on this day or night to make your own feel-good herbal blend. Stuff the herbs into a pouch and carry it in your left pocket to guard against negative words, or brew the herbs into an infusion and drink it to elevate thought and bolster a good mood. 

Ho'oponopono

'I love you' 'I am sorry' 'please forgive me' 'thank you'

These four exclamations are the basis of Ho'oponopono, an ancient Polynesian Kahuna method of healing. The belief that mistakes, errors, stress, anger, guilt, resentment, grief break the Kapu spiritual laws and create ill health is the basis of this practice. The answer is to be open about our faults, seek forgiveness and forgive others. Defining the transgression, prayer and restitution forbwrongdoing is the answer. Parents who are unhappy can make their children unwell, can cause social disorder and other difficulties. Ho'oponopono is a mental cleansing, providing restitution; the words mean correct, good, upright,  oral, just, virtuous, fair, restoration, righteous, amend, release, rectify, adjust, tidy up, make orderly, ought, should, must.

Book Review

Book Review: Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them by Dr Susan Forward and Joan Torres. 

We each choose the best way we can to deal with difficulties in our lives, and these patterns are often unconscious because they begin in childhood, either inherited from our significant others, or from ways we develop through books, films and other influences. Many are maladaptions, that is, not the best way to deal with situations. Take for instance, when someone is angry with us, whether we escalate that anger, or manage to reduce it so we can get through the impasse to an improvement. 

Many of us in childhood, have to be the prettiest, cleverest, richest, most intelligent, most caring, most desirable, funniest, hardworking, the one who wants attention, the one who is the quietest, etcetera. In our adult life, we still might be playing those old stressful recordings, with some being vain, jealous, greedy, hurtful, needing to be the exception, to be a good provider, to duck and dive, the highest achiever, to get more than their share of life’s securities and comforts and flashy gizmos, and to be the most entitled, in the demand to achieve what once their parents desired or expected of them. We live life under huge stresses to achieve these things. 

Weight Loss Hypnosis

 

This is a weight-loss hypnosis video created by Zoe Featherstone with text by Wendy Stokes for salt, sugar and fat reduction. 

Join the Wildlife Campaign

You can get involved with saving the wonderful species of animals and plants that have graced our planet for millennia. Many species have inspired humans in inventions, such as radar from bats, and aerodynamics from birds. Many plant and animal species have provided potent medicines and more research is ongoing to use plant and animal chemicals for health. 

The two major threats to our planet’s animal species are loss of territory and slaughtering for body parts. We can support their protection by challenging the fashion industry, confronting the lies presented as ‘traditional’ medicine, stop the decorative uses of body parts of hunted species, and by campaigning against taking animals from the wild to keep as pets in extremely poor and unhealthy conditions. 

All species on our planet are interdependent, when we lose one species, the loss has a knock on effect where others also become extinct. 60% of the planet’s mammals, birds, reptiles and fish are endangered and on the verge of extinction. Goodwill Ambassadors are coming forward, such as Aiden Gallagher, Nadya Hutagalung, Wang Junkai and Dia Mirza. 

Jaime Girones - Ancestral Offer

 We honour our ancestors and dead loved ones, and their lives at this time of year, and we thank them for their blessing, as without it, our harvest would not have been possible. 

     We gather with our family and friends and talk about our ancestors. We visit their graveyards. We set up offerings for them. We cook special meals and share our food with them by setting plates for them. During this time we can take the opportunity to think, symbolically of our own harvests, of all that we have accomplished in the past year, and our successful projects, and all the things in our lives that have prospered. And at the same time, we think of those who came before us, and how their lives contributed to what we have today - and to our rich harvests. We have a great variety of ancestors. We have ancestors of blood and chosen family, and those who appear in our family tree. We also have ancestors of space, those who have lived where we live and their stories that shaped our history. And we have ancestors of spirit, and those lives that inspired or shaped our thoughts.

Chief Seattle

“Yonder sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my people for centuries untold, and which to us appears changeless and eternal, may change. Today is fair. Tomorrow it may be overcast with clouds. My words are like the stars that never change. Whatever Seattle says, the great chief at Washington can rely upon with as much certainty as he can upon the return of the sun or the seasons. The white chief says that Big Chief at Washington sends us greetings of friendship and goodwill. This is kind of him for we know he has little need of our friendship in return. His people are many. They are like the grass that covers vast prairies. My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain. The great, and I presume -- good, White Chief sends us word that he wishes to buy our land but is willing to allow us enough to live comfortably. This indeed appears just, even generous, for the Red Man no longer has rights that he need respect, and the offer may be wise, also, as we are no longer in need of an extensive country.

How To Breathe!

Why do singing lessons need to discuss the way to breathe properly? Isn't breathing just part of being alive and something that we do all the time without even thinking about it. While we all breathe, not everyone breathes properly, and one of the secrets to singing success is being able to breathe properly.

Proper breathing is one of the key aspects to learning to sing. Breathing correctly affects the quality of your voice tone and also helps you sing long notes when you need to. One of the most common mistakes made by people when they first sign up for singing lessons is that they think that breathing for singing is the same as breathing for, say, aerobics or regular activity.

Sound Healing

 Music as Medicine is an ancient art and is both enjoyable and life enhancing. By listening to healing sounds, we can realign our energy systems, reduce stress and increase health

Anxiety and Panic

Panic attacks are very common and are hugely disabling. People who experience a panic attack often feel that they are going to die. Going outside the house, meeting people, just waking up in the morning to face the day, can trigger an attack. Until a panic attack is defined and dealt with, it is a crushing and terrifying illness. It seems to run in families. Even some doctors do not understand, they hand out tablets which have side effects and can cause addiction. If this is happening to you or someone you know, there is a great deal this person can do to help themselves.

Interview with Aleesha Farhan of Safe Healing Centre

Good day friends! 

Here follows an interview with Aleesha Farhan, the Founder of the new Safe Healing Centre, a complimentary and alternative holistic wellness space which encourages people from all walks of life to visit for a chat, to try personal therapies and treatments, to attend a course or group meeting, or to buy some specially selected hand made, organic and plastic free items from the shop. The address is: Safe Healing Centre, 11 Brook Parade, Chigwell, Greater London. IG7 6PE. The centre is 5 mins walk from Chigwell station on the Central Line. Tel: 07425 577753 Visit the Website: https://safehealingcentre.com

     Aleesha is a trained psychologist and mental health advisor. She has an international private client base and she offers a range of treatment options for anxiety, depression, grief, and other common issues. As we know, our mental, emotional, and physical health are linked together and are therefore treated together instead of separately, as in allopathic medicine. Whereas a general practitioner would prescribe a pharmaceutical drug, at the Safe Healing Centre, other, more natural methods are used, such as yoga, plant based oils and tinctures, reflexology, massage, breathing techniques, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, talking and problem solving support. This might include exercises to perform, or homeopathy to take at home. 

     Aleesha is a Motivational Speaker and provides talks on confidence building, finding your purpose, and many health topics. In addition, Aleesha provides supportive events for the rearing and nurturing of children of all ages (parents and grandparents welcome). Aleesha opened this very special healing space from a sense of inner knowing that it was needed in this particular area. Many visitors come to the centre for relaxed conversation; many find the ambience is one of ease and caring where time stands still, and it is possible to experience boundless respect and affection in an exceptionally non-judgmental environment. The Mission Statement of the centre is to provide a calm sanctuary that rejuvenates the soul, strengthens physical health, empowers the mind, and through the knowledge that is shared freely, we work towards every person developing confidence and independence and achieving their full potential. 

      Aleesha says, “My source of joy is in witnessing people releasing negativity and restoring positivity to their lives. As soon as they enter our healing space, they feel accepted and appreciated. We love to connect everyone with nature, with ancient wisdom, and with an authentic human presence. We encourage our visitors to enjoy the present moment by giving them respectful attention, nurturing them with compassionate care, and through providing efficient and effective listening skills. We are proud to create a community space for everyone who visits us. We offer in-house light refreshments of freshly ground coffee or herbal teas. We also have a library with a wide range of books. We love to engage with our locality in out-reach and to offer consideration, respect and affection for all whom we meet.”

     “As we promote a fully holistic approach to healing, we recommend everyone should look after their body, mind and emotions, and of course, we do not forget spirituality, which is a very important aspect of our overall health. For those who would like a taster session, we might begin with opening and balancing their energy channels. This can be followed by a herbal treatment which is created to individual specifications by a professional herbalist and naturopath. These remedies are combined with advice for better nutrition, yoga, breath-work, sound healing, and many other traditional techniques which are suggested to recover from dis-ease and generalised health needs often seen in the modern world. Our full body massages focus on pain relief and increased relaxation, and are made with best quality oils that are specially made and formulated in-house. Our preparations are chemical free and are 100% natural plant extracts. All our services are created for each individual. We provide many prestigious and unique methods of support. Our clients feel at home in our healing space, which enables them to be themselves, and begin their journey of healing, renewal and restoration. 

     “If someone has experienced prolonged stress, for instance, we would suggest time spent in our safe zone which is a perfect place for those who are exhausted or who need a break from a heavy and demanding workload. We would suggest a massage with special herbal oils which relax muscles and calm the nervous system. Then we would invite the person to our chat room to release negativity and imbibe positivity, joy and gratitude. There may be many areas of our life that might require change, to delegate, to take regular rests, to improve sleep, to learn to unwind. We do not have trained counsellors but we have good listeners and a supportive environment and we use our own reliable methods to deal with emotional and/or mental needs.”

     The Safe Healing Centre supports an international charity called SAEED ALVI Memorial Welfare Foundation. Its projects include a free school activity in slums where marginalised garbage collectors reside and who are discriminated and unfairly treated by the government system. A free vocational residence for low income families is open where skills are taught through in-house workshops for 12 to 13 residing families. Within a year, they are equipped enough to live independently and leave the residence so that another group of families can step in to keep the cycle of progress going. The house will be fully sustainable with its own water, solar and gas system. They own a little farm for vegan milk and a supply of garden produce, with fruit and herb trees. There are so many other projects run by this charity that serves disabled, widowed, under privileged and low income families. The charity also relieves people from interest based loans and provides help with interest free financing to start new businesses.

The Grail - Relic of an Ancient Religion

Article written by the author, Simon Andrew Stirling: 

“The Grail” was written by me with an unspoken idea ever in mind – that paganism is the belief system of the future. Modern paganism is often a reaction to organised religion, with its intolerance and inconsistencies, and to the destructive materialism of a capitalist world.  The paganism practised by earlier societies was nothing less than a matter of survival.  Without water, for example, we die very quickly.  Along with those other elements – air, fire, earth – water, clean drinking water, is an absolute must.  And yet our attitudes to water are odd: we have commercialised it, privatised it, polluted it and treated it with chemicals.  Ever since shrines were de-sacralised during the Reformation, water has been nothing but a commodity.  An early pagan would be unable to comprehend our reckless behaviour towards the water we need to survive.

What is Focusing?

  

Eugene Gendlin developed this technique with other psychologists at the University of Chicago in the 1960s as a result of research that was conducted between therapists and their clients. They discovered that the clients who were in touch with their felt sense achieved greater and quicker recovery from distress. Focusing helps us to feel what is happening at the present time, creating a greater sense of truth and reality.  

The GROW Approach to Coaching

Craniosacral Specialist

 

Hugh Milne is Scottish and was born into a family of Osteopaths (his mother, father, grandfather and 2 uncles). Became a highly successful private specialist in Kensington early in his life but was hearing the voice of Spirit and became interested in psychodrama, gestalt, rolfing and other therapies and personal growth disciplines. Travelled to Bombay and met Bhagvan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) and spent seven years as the guru's bodyguard, in India and in Oregon. He returned to UK to become a writer, spiritual teacher and specialist practitioner.  

Ching Tso - Chinese Meditation

The Chinese term for meditation is 'Ching Tso', which translated means 'sitting still with a peaceful mind'. Meditation is the training of the inner senses of the body and mind. It is as rigorous as the training undertaken by an athlete or an artist. By helping us to think clearly and concentrate fully, Ching Tso enables us to commune totally with our God, without distracting or artifical thoughts. The highest and most advanced goal of meditation is to gain 'enlightenment'. We want to go beyond the limitations of our knowledge and our three-dimensional view of the world. 

Whirling Dervishes

     

This whirling dance of the dervishes is conducted to produce a trance state where the dancers gain meditation union with the Divine. The word 'dervish' is a 'holy man' of the Islamic faith who follows the mystic path of the Sufis. The dervish, Jalal al Din Rumi, was taught whirling by Shams of Tabriz. He was a Sufi poet from Persia was born in Northern Afghanistan in 1207 and wrote 25000 poems of great wisdom and profound spirituality, often based on love and transporting the reader to mystical states. Rashad Field travelled widely through the Himalayas and also studied Sufism in Turkey where he was initiated into the Mevlevi Order of Dervishes. He is the author of a series of esoteric books which are highly recommended for those interested in mysticism. 

Moon Goddess Diary Spring

Sound medicine. Sounds are powerful healers. They have a vibrational frequency that flows through your whole body when you listen to them and their medicinal properties help to clear, shift and transform your body mind and soul. Choose a sound that fills soothing to your soul. A classical music piece, a ballad, a meditation music, monks chanting, singing Bowls, whales singing, Waves crashing on the shore, wind chimes, rain on a tin roof, opera and so on. Use your sound medicine when you are craving some deep nurturing or a need to connect to your inner place of peace, joy and calm. Allow the music to soothe you with vibrations of love.

Tips To Live A Successful Life

Everyone seeks the secrets of success - and most have their own opinions of what fulfilment is. There is no clear-cut formula, although here are some tips on how to live a successful life: For example, Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own. All throughout life, we are educated and forced to learn things. Not all of these things will be useful. Take everything you know will be good for you. Then, discard the rest. One should note that the reason things are taught in school is because you and your classmates will have different roles in the future. The algebra might be useful to a future architect classmate, but absolutely useless to a newspaper writer. It is up to you to discern which information is good for you, and which are not.

India - Karuna

What is Karuna? 

This is an Indian Sanskrit concept and is based on 'compassion in action'. It is a concept in Hinduism and Buddhism. Compassion for others is used to reduce pain and suffering in the world. Karuna is experienced when a person becomes enlightened. This enlightenment is the feeling od empathy for those who are in need. It is used in a type of Reiki healing. 

The body scan - relaxation technique

Learn to relax anywhere, anytime with the body scan relaxation technique

Do you constantly feel the strain of tension in your head, jaw, neck, shoulders or abdomen and find it hard to unwind? Have you been advised to relax but nobody's really explained how you're supposed to do that, exactly?

Tension and stress can creep up on you unawares. As far as you know, you are just getting on with your life and dealing with stuff, and you may not even notice a fixed frown developing on your face. Or the permanent tightness across your shoulders. You might perhaps notice that you are not sleeping so well, but it may not occur to you to connect this with a lack of relaxation in your life. Many people don't realize that relaxing - taking it easy and doing nothing - is actually as essential to health as activity.

A Call to Greatness - Bruce Nixon

“The 21st Century Revolution - A Call to Greatness" by Bruce Nixon is book is for people all over the world who want to prevent the environmental catastrophe and create a happier, fairer, more peaceful world. It will help you make sense of the situation, find solutions and decide how you can participate in bringing about the radical changes that are needed.

 The greatest challenges in human history

• Climate Chaos and Destruction of the Eco-system
• Growing Economic Injustice
• Resolving Conflict without Violence and Valuing Difference
• Radical Reform of out-dated Democracy
• And, that key part, the need for “ordinary people” to inform and empower themselves.

All these are interrelated; everything is connected. For instance the tragedy of mass migration results from this mix. So this book offers whole system analysis and whole system solutions.

The Seven Karmic Paths

1. NO PATH: This path is best expressed in poet William Blake’s words: “The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” Those on this path eventually, through experience and pain, will perceive what has value and what doesn’t. Those on this path judge everything from a perspective of self, and often they have difficulty judging what action will result in harmony as opposed to disharmony. The No Path people appear to have little sense of balance and are usually unwilling to accept responsibility for their own lives. 

Message 1/ from Mandy

From my perspective, shifting from victimhood to self empowerment was a metamorphic journey. It was a powerful process that led to a more gratifying and joyful life. It was all about recognising my own strength and taking charge of my narrative. Here are some friendly tips to help you along the way -

1. Acknowledge Your Feelings: It’s okay to feel hurt, angry, or disappointed. Recognising and validating your emotions is the first step towards healing. Allow yourself to feel the feelings without judgment.

2. Reflect on Your Experiences - Take some time to think about what you've been through. Journaling can be a great tool here. Write about your experiences, but also focus on what you’ve learned from them. This enables you to shift your perspective from what happened before, to what happens now. It helps you to grow from your experience.

Martin Buber

Who was Martin Buber?
1878 - 1965  Born in Vienna, he was a direct descendant to a notable Jewish family. Carl Marx was a distant cousin. He read philosophy and questioned his religious beliefs. He retold many traditional tales, he supported a Jewish and Arab state, he rejected the terms 'philosopher' and 'theologian' though his life is hallmarked by both disciplines of study for which he received many awards. He was an existentialist and a story-teller who came from generations of Rabbis. and was nominated on 10 occasions for the Nobel Prize for Literature and for the Peace Prize on seven occasions. He contributed to many fields of study throughout his lifetime and his 'I' - 'Thou' was influenced by the therapeautic encounter work of Jacob L Moreno.