The ancient art of burning sage...

photo credit: Toast.co.uk

I love the smell of burning sage. From the first whiff I was hooked. It’s one of those powerful scents that immediately transports me to a place filled with warmth and peace.  I have no present life memory connected with its smell but on some deep inner level I find it very soothing.

I first learned about its cleansing properties from a Shaman named Bobby Sanchez. I was attending his class on Shamanism and one night he conducted an introduction to vision quests, starting the meditation by cleansing each of us with sage.  

Using sage to cleanse a space or person is known as Smudging. In a Native American smudging ritual sage is used to purify and balance the aura or energy of a person, place or object. When lit, a bundle of densely packed dried sage leaves produces a plume of smoke that can be fanned over the subject to help cleanse it of any unwanted negative energy.

I now make sure to always keep several bundles of sage on hand. When I’ve had a particularly frustrating week and feel the need for some deep relaxation or meditation I like to place some dried sage leaves in a porcelain bowl, light them and then let the smoke waft around me. The smell almost instantly calms my mind and releasing pent up frustration becomes quite easy.

Supernatural Science in Florida

In the heart of Miami is an amazing structure known as the Coral Castle. Ed Leedskalnin spent 28 years, 1923 – 1951, building this stone edifice out of 1,100 tons of coral stone. Working alone, and mostly at night, Ed built his castle using only simple homemade tools.

Like the pyramids of Egypt, scientists are still stumped at how Mr. Leedskalnin was able to accomplish this feat.

Coral Castle Musuem website

photo credit: Coralcastle.com

 

The Mozart Effect

From Wikipedia

The Mozart effect can refer to:

• A set of research results that indicate that listening to Mozart’s music may induce a short-term improvement on the performance of certain kinds of mental tasks known as “spatial-temporal reasoning;”
• Popularized versions of the hypothesis, which suggest that "listening to Mozart makes you smarter", or that early childhood exposure to classical music has a beneficial effect on mental development;
• A US trademark for a set of commercial recordings and related materials, which are claimed to harness the effect for a variety of purposes. The trademark owner, Don Campbell, Inc. claims benefits far beyond improving spatio-temporal reasoning or raising intelligence, defining the mark as "an inclusive term signifying the transformational powers of music in health, education, and well-being."

The term was first coined by Alfred A. Tomatis who used Mozart's music as the listening stimulus in his work attempting to cure a variety of disorders. The approach has been popularized in a book by Don Campbell, and is based on an experiment published in Nature suggesting that listening to Mozart temporarily boosted scores on one portion of the IQ test. As a result, the Governor of Georgia, Zell Miller, proposed a budget to provide every child born in Georgia with a CD of classical music.

Everyone knows that Mozart was a genius. But could his talent go beyond just writing beautiful music? Was he somehow guided to create music that is mathematically complex and that somehow triggers and inspires our brains in unseen ways?

Interesting uses for Mozart’s music:

Sewage plant plays Mozart to stimulate microbes

Improved maze learning through early music exposure in rats

The Mozart Effect and epilepsy

How the Wizard of Oz can assist you in warding off evil...

An easy way to protect yourself in your daily life is to ask to be surrounded by the white light of the Holy Spirit!

Envision the image of the Good Witch of the North from The Wizard of Oz. She traveled from one place to another inside a beautiful transparent bubble. Try traveling through your day and night that same way, inside a bubble made of the glowing, transparent white light of the Holy Spirit.

Here's another moment from the movie you can borrow that will help you keep dark or negative energy at bay... When Glenda is confronted by the Wicked Witch of the West, she waves at her dismissively and says, "You have no power here. Be gone with you." Project that thought to anyone or anything around you that you suspect is dark, negative or evil. You’ll be amazed at how effective it is in reminding you of your power.

Bless this space...

This simple home cleansing/blessing was given to me by a very kind and gifted man. It proved a powerful tool in dispelling my own demons.

Supplies:

• Course Kosher Salt (most grocery stores sell this)
• Holy Water (you can get this at a catholic church or use the method below)
• White Candle (any inexpensive small white candle is fine)
• St. Benedict Medal (you can get these online, from a catholic gift shop or Botanica)

Preparation:

• Before you start the cleansing say a simple blessing over the salt. Something like, “I Bless and Empower this salt from the earth to both Bless and Protect my home, my family and all whom I love. So It Is, Amen.”
• If you don’t have Holy Water you can make your own.  Just as you did the salt, take your water and say a simple blessing over it, "The Spirit of the Living GOD is within this Water, may it Nourish, Cleanse and Bless this Space."  Placing it in a spray bottle is a very easy way of using it.
• Protect yourself before you begin.  Make sure you have a St. Benedict medal with you, take a moment and surround yourself in the Light and Protection of SPIRIT and ask GOD to protect you with a Special Angelic Guard as you move through your home.
• Make sure to open as many doors and windows as you can.

Blessing:

• After your salt is Blessed simply sprinkle it around the exterior of your home. While doing this imagine the salt completely blocking and dispelling any evil that might try entering.
• From inside, make sure as many doors and windows as possible are open, start at one end of your home and work towards the open doors.  Light the candle, get the Holy Water and go to each corner of each room and say, “I Bless this Space in the name of the Living GOD, only those in Divine LOVE and LIGHT may stay, all others must go now!"  Hold up the candle and spray each area with Holy Water as you go.
• Continue this until you have Blessed each corner of each room.
• Closets, bathrooms and such are your call - if in doubt, ask GOD to lead you as needed.
• Once you have Blessed the final area, CLOSE the Doors and Windows.
• Blow out your candle, put it in a trash bag and take to a dumpster somewhere FAR away from you.

You can do this as often as you feel the need. When I first performed this cleansing I also put a small St. Benedict medal in each corner of my home.  If you still feel the presence of negativity you may need to seek the help of someone experienced in home blessings and cleansings.

If you fear something negative is present in your home it can be hard to hold a positive thought while doing the cleansing – but TRY! As you go through each room speak with authority and power, truly believing that you’re forcing out anything negative. It makes a difference in how you feel and helps you truly take back your space.

Years ago I signed up a past life regression class.  Growing up I was taught that when you died you just stopped being. That’s it. No white light, no gathering of loved ones, no angels, no heaven – just worms returning your remains to the earth.  Needless to say, I didn’t expect much from the class.

I was firmly convinced that I was incapable of being hypnotized so as I settled down with my blanket and pillow assuming the next 3 hours would be a total waste of time.  The teacher led us in a typical guided meditation and I soon lost track of her voice. The next thing I remember was hearing her say, “Three, two, one. You’re now awake and will easily be able to remember all the past lives you just visited.”

This is what I remember:

  

1. I was a boy around 4-5 years old and was sitting under a bid wooden table.  The floor was earthen and the surrounding room seemed to be made of large timbers. The table was surrounded by adults who were talking, laughing, and eating. From my vantage point I could see only their chairs and legs. Everyone was wearing large fur lined boots that went to their knees and were bound with leather laces. The entire atmosphere was very jovial and friendly. I sat calmly playing under the table feeling completely safe in my own enclosed “fort”.  Seemed very “Vikingesque”.
2. I was a young man, mid twenties. I was dressed in a ruffled shirt, black pants and black boots. My horse was also black and I was riding him at breakneck speed towards a sprawling estate that reminded me of Versailles, but on a smaller scale (maybe somewhere in France or Italy, late 1700’s). When I got to the estate I leaped off the horse and went storming into the main house. I was yelling and slapping my riding crop against my boot, obviously very angry with someone. I saw a man at the top of the massive curving staircase that dominated the entrance and went running up the stairs still yelling. When I reached the top of the stairs I realized the man was wearing a mask (much like the ones made in Venice).  With one great shove he pushed me backwards and I tumbled down the huge flight of stairs. As I lay dying at the bottom of the stairs the man in the mask leaned over me and started to laugh. In that moment I knew that I had been a very cruel person and that no one would be sad at my passing.
3. In the last “past life” that I remembered I was a young boy, around 9-10, and was living in London during the mid 1800’s. I sat on my bed looking out a window at the smoggy rooftops wishing I could go outside. As I looked down I saw that both my legs were encased in braces and a wicker wheel chair sat by the bed. I felt very alone and quite lonely.

It wasn't over...

Even though I felt better than I had in years, maybe forever, I still wasn’t convinced that what I’d experienced was “real”.  I kept going over it trying to force it to make sense. I couldn’t. There simply wasn’t a rational explanation. Period. And although I still wasn’t a believer, I couldn’t shake the fear that perhaps whatever I’d had would somehow come back.

It did.

The angry arguments crept back into my thoughts, I found it hard to focus, the actions of people I didn’t even know sent me into a mental rage. I panicked. I immediately started reciting the Lord’s Prayer and silently calling upon Jesus, Mary, the angels and any other benevolent forces (all beings I’d been raised to consider pure nonsense, funny what you’ll do when desperate) to help me dispel anything evil that resided within me. I had to be crazy. No other explanation.

Then the nightmares returned. Only now, instead of simply yelling at them while dreaming I found myself on my knees sobbing… yelling at the top of lungs for them to get the fuck out of my house, my head and my soul and literally begging God to help me.

The worst part: I had no one tell. No one to sit, listen, nod, and then tell me it would all be OK. Who in their right mind would believe me? No one, not even the UFO abductees and big foot researchers. Never in my life had I felt so utterly and completely desperate and alone. 

I knew I had to go back to the Spiritualist Meetup group.