Tag Archives: spirituality
Halloween
Since today is October 31st I thought it appropriate to write just a little about the origins of this holiday.
Samhain (Halloween), spoken or Anglicized as Sowin, is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the darker half of the year that we call winter. It is celebrated October 31 – November 1. It is halfway between Mabon (Fall Equinox) and Yule (Winter Solstice). Imbolc (Feb. 1), Beltane (May 1) and Lughnasadh (Aug.1) make up the other 3 Gaelic seasonal festivals.
In the Gaelic tradition many important events happened on Samhain. At this time the cattle were brought back down from the summer pastures and it is a time when livestock were slaughtered for the winter. Bonfires were created and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual. After the slaughter the bones of the animals were then cast into the fires.
It was believed that at Samhain the doorway between the worlds would open allowing passage from the world of the dead, and also other worlds such as the fairy kingdom, into this world.
Tables would be set with an extra plate as an invitation for loved ones who had passed to come and dine. It was a way to honor the dead. At this time people would take steps to protect themselves from harmful spirits and it is possible that this is what led to “guising” or dressing up in costume. Divination was also done at Samhain.
In the “Old Country”, Scotland and Ireland, children went door to door dressed in costumes, guising, and would only get a treat, and sometimes money, if they first preformed for the household. The children would sing, recite a poem or a funny joke and some would do things even more elaborate such as playing a mouth organ.
Since the 20th century Samhain has been celebrated as a religions holiday by the Celtic neopagans and Wiccan’s.
Have a safe and fun Samhain… And watch out for witches!
Janet Decker, C.Ht., Dean of Metaphysics
Can one Become Psychic?
by Deborah Lindsey
General sentiment seems to be that either one is born a psychic or not. And yet, many people feel a calling to do or be a psychic. So the question becomes, is it possible to learn how to be psychic?
I can tell you that I wasn’t “born” a psychic per se. I’m certainly no Edgar Cayce (probably the world’s most famous psychic.) Cayce had “imaginary friends” as a kid. He could also do things like set things on fire if he was mad or have fish just jump into his boat instead of using a fishing rod. He could go into trance and give people readings about their past lives or their health. He was known as “the sleeping prophet.”
No, I didn’t have any of that. But I was always fascinated and interested and WANTED to have those skills. It seemed like such an amazing skill to have.
So in college I was on the speech and debate team. One particular year I was scheduled to give an “informative speech.” For whatever reason, I decided to do a speech on palm reading. So I went to the local library and found a book. There was only one but that was enough. For the next semester I would renew that book over and over and over again as I studied the lines and looked at hands everywhere I went. Over time I began to really get a sense of it.
When the time came to actually give my speech, I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to say so I ended up giving the judge a palm reading instead. When all was said and done I came in last place in my division but the judge said it was one of the most fascinating “speeches” he ever saw. The problem was that I went so far over time that he had no choice but to put me in last place. 
Looking back now, I can see that it spawned the seeds of where I am today and the seeds of IMU.
For the next (cough) 30 years, I have continued to study and hone my skills as a palmist. Nowadays I can look at someone’s hands from across the room and know tons about them. Its quite a handy skill to have. (pun intended.) lol.
After that, I went into healing. Now one wouldn’t think that healing work is the same as psychic work, but for me it certainly is. I would find that when I was working on a client, I would start getting all sorts of information about them that I never knew before. This was especially true during EFT sessions where the information became clear as day. Kinesiology was the same way. As I did more and more muscle testing I would begin to know the answer in my head before I ever actually tested the muscle. This, by the way, is common among healers. I am by no means the only one.
So when I started my actual training as a reader, it came quite easily. I already knew how to meditate (a critical skill in development work) and I knew the energy field along with palmistry. Before long I could read tarot cards and use myriad other “development” tools. And eventually tapped into mediumship.
Nowadays, however, I find that I don’t even really need the tools. I’ll start out by reading the palms but then the information comes in so easily it surprises me. This is particularly notable because I was by no means “born a psychic.”
I have come to believe that everyone is born psychic. We all know when we meet someone who is special. We all know when we walk into a room if the energy is friendly or hostile. We’ve all had that experience that we thought about someone and then they called or we knew the phone was going to ring just before it happened. We ALL have it.
So I firmly believe that, with the proper training, ANYONE can become psychic. It is a muscle that you work and hone. And even those who are born with a natural skill need guidance and mentoring to become really great.
This is part of the reason that we developed the Intuitive Arts program at the International Metaphysical University. The program is filled with amazing classes that will allow YOU to hone your skills. These classes include everything from meditation to basic psychic development classes, tarot, and even mediumship. By the time you are done with this training, you will most certainly be able to take your skills out into the world and help people everywhere.
If you’d like to know more, we have lots of information at www.intermetu.com or click here to learn about the curriculum for the Intuitive Arts degree program.
Alchemia Remedies Instructor, Leslie Zehr, Teaching in New York
IMU’s very own Leslie Zehr is in the US teaching various classes. Leslie lives in Cairo, Egypt and she is the states for only a few more days. If you live in the New York City area this is your chance to meet Leslie and learn directly from her. Here is a listing of things that Leslie will be offering.
Tarot Readings
Saturday, September 8th
By appointment only
Tarot is an ancient tool illustrating the alchemical or transformational process. It represents the wheel of life. More than being a tool for reading the future it can give us great clarity on our present place on the wheel, how we got there and what we need to do to keep it turning.
Within the Tarot exist all the archetypes, by doing a reading we can determine which archetypes are active in the individual and how they are working at that moment in time. It is an excellent tool for self awareness.
Leslie’s ability to read Tarot unfolded during an initiation at Dendera temple in 2002. After that time she had access the collective unconscious and the world of symbols and archetypes.
During a reading you can expect to gain clarity on issues that might be not be presenting themselves to the conscious mind but exist in our experience.
Readings are $65 and last about an hour. Pay by Paypal
*By appointment only
For more information or an appointment contact info: Leslie; leslie@UniversalDancer.com
Celebrating the Divine Feminine: A Gathering for Women
Saturday, September 8th
6:30 PM
Join us in celebration!
We will gathering together in Central Park to honor the Divine Feminine. Most of our work this summer has been about reconnected to this ancient part of ourselves one that still lives deep within us. It has also been about coming together as women to build community. Now we have done the work, it is time to have fun!
We invite each of you to bring something to the gathering. Something you would like to share with other women. We will begin with a guided visualization and crystal bowls, that is what Maryanne and myself are bringing. You can offer a poem, a Dance, some food, a donation are always welcome, anything you like. Bring what you feel moved to bring and share with others.
Hope to see you then!.
Contact info: Maryannelomialoha8@yahoo.com
or Leslie; leslie@UniversalDancer.com for more information
The Alchemy of Dance Workshop
Sunday, September 9th
2:30PM-6:30 PM
Reconnect to the ancient secrets of the Divine Feminine through Sacred Dance
The last card of the Tarot, the Universe, is often referred to as the Universal Dancer. It is co-creation, the point where we are fully integrated with all of life and dance with the Universe. The Alchemy of Dance is the ancient dance of the Serpent Goddess. She teaches us the ancient ways of transmuting energy through our bodies using rhythm and primordial movements.
In this interactive workshop women will learn how to reconnect with the earth’s rhythm using dance as a spiritual practice. Various methods such as initiation, kinetics as well as transmission are used to achieve this connection. Because the movements themselves are very basic to our nature anyone can learn them, you need not be a dancer or have any dance experience.
*This class is only open to women.
Keystone Dance Studio
252 W. 30th St. (between 7th & 8th Ave.) #4B
New York, NY 10001
Fee: $60 paid in advance Paypal link
$75 at the door (cash) (includes a copy of Leslie’s book The Alchemy of Dance).
$40 for those repeating the workshop (does not include book) Repeat workshop Paypal link
Contact info: Leslie; leslie@UniversalDancer.com
Solar storms and pineal gland – riding the power wave
Adonai
– July 14, 2012Posted in: Cosmic evolution, Earth changes, Editors’ picks, Space Weather
According to study published in the New Scientist back in 1998, there is a direct connection between the Sun’s solar storms and human biological effects.
The conduit which facilitates the charged particles from the Sun to human disturbance — is the very same conduit which steers Earth’s weather —– the magnetic field. Animals and humans have a magnetic field which surrounds them — in the very same way the magnetic field surrounds the Earth as a protector.
From 1948 to 1997, the Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems in Russia found that geomagnetic activity showed three seasonal peaks each of those years (March to May, in July, and in October). Every peak matched an increased incidence of anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and suicide in the city Kirovsk.
Electromagnetic activity from the sun affects our electronic devices and human electromagnetic field. We are physically, mentally, and emotionally altered by electromagnetic charges from the sun, our body can feel sleepy but also become highly energized.
Psychological effects of CMEs (coronal mass ejections) are typically short lived and include headache, palpitations, mood swings, and feeling generally unwell. Chaotic or confused thinking, and erratic behaviors also increase. Solar storms can drive our emotions and maximize it to both good and bad side – the point here is to be aware of it.
Pineal gland in our brain is also affected by the electromagnetic activity which causes the gland to produce excess melatonin, a hormone which can cause sleepiness but it’s also known that some people have opposite side effects, usually those that are aware of the effects.
Read More… http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2012/07/14/solar-storms-and-pineal-gland-riding-the-power-wave/
Michael Moore: More Than a Victory, the Supreme Court Decision Today Was a Mandate for Us to Act
Note from Deborah
I have to say that I have been flabbergasted from the beginning as to why the whole healthcare debate has been so divisive. To me it seems obvious that something needs to be done. Maybe that’s just me, as someone who has had healthcare for only 2 years in her whole life and who is always aware that if something goes wrong I’m pretty much screwed, but I just sort of thought that everyone could see the need. Maybe if you’re one of the wealthy who can afford the $1,500 a month that seems to be the standard, the current system is working. I don’t know. But by and large, I think most of us can see that a healthcare system “for the rich and by the rich” isn’t serving the masses very well.
So while I don’t honestly know how this will play out, I’m really hopeful that something really good is about to happen. My great disappointment is that it is still in the old-world sick-care system that is based only in pharmaceuticals and allopathic medicine. But I can see how once we get a framework in place, it is possible that the program will eventually expand to include every American and that it will come to include natural options at some point in the near future. And I like what Michael Moore had to say so I thought I’d pass it on.
More Than a Victory, the Decision Today Was a Mandate for Us to Act …an end zone dance from Michael Moore
Thursday, June 28th, 2012
Dear Friends,
Even though it’s been a few hours now, I’m guessing you’re still pinching yourself to make sure you’re not dreaming. But yes, it happened. At 10:07 this morning, the conservative Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts, not only joined with the liberal justices to completely uphold almost every single part of the Obama health care law, he wrote the majority opinion himself! In fact, he went even further. When he realized that the government had poorly made its constitutional case to the court, he went searching for a clause in their argument and the constitution that would give him the justification he needed to back the administration and to insure that his decision would hold up legally. In other words, even though he is on the opposite side of the political fence, he wrote the Dems’ paper for them. Stunning.
The other four justices? They didn’t just vote to overturn the individual mandate part of the law, they all voted to kill the entire Act.
The media is already spending much time talking about the mandate being the “centerpiece of the law,” but the real news is that if you ever have a pre-existing condition, you cannot now be denied insurance. If you are a young adult without health insurance, you can now stay on your parents’ plan until age 26. The insurance company can no longer say there is a lifetime cap to your coverage. The insurance companies are now required to spend 85 cents out of every dollar they take in on actual reimbursement for your health care – not on profit or “administrative costs” (some companies have been taking over a 30% cut; Medicare’s total percentage of their budget for administrative costs: 2%).
I know that our side is not used to victories and so we’re not quite sure how to respond when we get one out of the blue. For some of us, the first inclination is to point out just how weak the Obama law actually is, that it doesn’t provide true universal health care (26 million will STILL be uninsured), and that it leaves control of the system in the hands of the vultures, otherwise known as the health insurance companies. The individual mandate was a huge gift to the private insurance companies, guaranteeing them billions more from millions of new customers. And many of the key provisions of this law don’t even take effect until 2014 – and if the Republicans win in November, you can kiss all of that goodbye.
So, yes, the bill is highly flawed and somewhat wrong-headed – but what it IS is a huge step in the right direction. And today’s court decision cements that. The right wing knows this and they are probably unraveling in some not-so-pretty ways right now. And that’s why today is a great day. The Right has been smacked down by one of their own! They know what we all know — that the path of history has been, and will continue to move toward the basic human right that all people are entitled to see a doctor and NOT have to worry about losing their home because they can’t afford to pay the medical bills. Those days are over, or will be soon, and that is where civilization is headed. It’s not headed back to the days of Oliver Twist. Today’s victory is momentum, it’s forward motion, and we WILL have true universal health care in this country in the not too distant future.
So take some time tonight to celebrate; this is a victory for the people. Actually, more than a victory, it is a mandate that all of us must now make sure that a second-term Obama continues to move the ball down the field, toward a system like they have in every other First World country on the planet. He simply has to improve Medicare and then expand it to every citizen in the country. The countries that do this, their people live an average of two to four years longer than we do. Is there a reason anyone doesn’t want an extra four years of their lives? Or that our babies would have a better chance of surviving their first year like they do in the 48 countries that have a better infant mortality rate than we do? Exactly who is opposed to this? You’d have to be a bit…crazy.
And that, I’ve come to believe, is the true divide in this country. It’s not blue state vs red state, liberal vs conservative, Democrat vs Republican. The split we have in America can be boiled down in its simplest form to this: On one side are the people who believe Adam and Eve rode on dinosaurs 6,000 years ago – and then there’s everyone else. On that first side are the people who’ve been fed a diet of fear and lies and hate. And who is feeding them? The 1%. The richest people in the country, the ones who aren’t done with us yet because they still don’t have enough wealth, have done their best to dumb down the population through destroying our educational system and using media to provide them with a vastly distorted sense of reality. The rich’s only obstacle is that they only hold 1% of the votes in the country. So they have to try to get a slim majority of Americans to vote their way. And fear, plus keeping them stupid, usually works.
So that’s the battle ahead of us: Organizing and mobilizing the majority of Americans to push for true universal health care, Medicare for All. At one time, back in Illinois, that was the position held by Barack Obama. He will not make this happen on his own. He will only be able to do it when the mass of American people rise up and demand it. Demand it. Why not start tonight?
Five years ago this week, my health care documentary, Sicko, opened in theaters across the country. I have spent the better part of the decade on this issue, and for me, personally, fully aware of the current law’s limitations, I am very happy with today’s news – not because of its specifics or nuances, but because it is a road sign, and that sign points in the correct, humane and sane direction. THAT makes this a great day.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@MichaelMoore.com
@MMFlint
MichaelMoore.com
Do Plants Think?
Scientist Daniel Chamovitz unveils the surprising world of plants that see, feel, smell—and remember
By Gareth Cook | June 5, 2012
Reposted from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-plants-think-daniel-chamovitz
How aware are plants? This is the central question behind a fascinating new book, “What a Plant Knows,” by Daniel Chamovitz, director of the Manna Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University. A plant, he argues, can see, smell and feel. It can mount a defense when under siege, and warn its neighbors of trouble on the way. A plant can even be said to have a memory. But does this mean that plants think — or that one can speak of a “neuroscience” of the flower? Chamovitz answered questions from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook.
1. How did you first get interested in this topic?
My interest in the parallels between plant and human senses got their start when I was a young postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Xing-Wang Deng at Yale University in the mid 1990s. I was interested in studying a biological process that would be specific to plants, and would not be connected to human biology (probably as a response to the six other “doctors” in my family, all of whom are physicians). So I was drawn to the question of how plants sense light to regulate their development.
It had been known for decades that plants use light not only for photosynthesis, but also as a signal that changes the way plants grow. In my research I discovered a unique group of genes necessary for a plant to determine if it’s in the light or in the dark. When we reported our findings, it appeared these genes were unique to the plant kingdom, which fit well with my desire to avoid any thing touching on human biology. But much to my surprise and against all of my plans, I later discovered that this same group of genes is also part of the human DNA.
This led to the obvious question as to what these seemingly “plant-specific” genes do in people. Many years later, we now know that these same genes are important in animals for the timing of cell division, the axonal growth of neurons, and the proper functioning of the immune system.
But most amazingly, these genes also regulate responses to light in animals! While we don’t change our form in response to light as plants do, we are affected by lab at the level of our internal clock. Our internal circadian clocks keep us on a 24 hour rhythm, which is why when we travel half way around the world we experience jet lag. But this clock can be reset by light. A few years ago I showed, in collaboration with Justin Blau at NYU, that mutant fruit flies that were missing some of these genes lost the ability to respond to light. In other words, if we changed their clocks, they remained in jetlag.
This led me to realize that the genetic difference between plants and animals is not as significant as I had once naively believed. So while not actively researching this field, I began to question the parallels between plant and human biology even as my own research evolved from studying plant responses to light to leukemia in fruit flies.
2. How do think people should change how they think about plants?
People have to realize that plants are complex organisms that live rich, sensual lives. You know many of us relate to plants as inanimate objects, not much different from stones. Even the fact that many people substitute silk flowers for real ones, or artificial Christmas trees for a live one, is exemplary at some level of how we relate to plants. You know, I don’t know anyone who keeps a stuffed dog in place of a real one!
But if we realize that all of plant biology arises from the evolutionary constriction of the “rootedness” that keep plants immobile, then we can start to appreciate the very sophisticated biology going on in leaves and flowers. If you think about it, rootedness is a huge evolutionary constraint. It means that plants can’t escape a bad environment, can’t migrate in the search of food or a mate. So plants had to develop incredibly sensitive and complex sensory mechanisms that would let them survive in ever changing environments. I mean if you’re hungry or thirsty, you can walk to the nearest watering hole (or bar). If you’re hot, you can move north, if you’re looking for a mate, you can go out to a party. But plants are immobile. They need to see where their food is. They need to feel the weather, and they need to smell danger. And then they need to be able to integrate all of this very dynamic and changing information. Just because we don’t see plants moving doesn’t mean that there’s not a very rich and dynamic world going on inside the plant.
