One of my very first feelings of another existence was when I was a young child. I'd evidently been ill and with a fever and had a recurring dream about being on a wooden ship that was being rocked to and fro mercilessly. I was frightened and clinging to a mast for dear life, when up from the depths of the sea arose a hideous face...a giant whose intention was to sink the ship. It was always at that time that I would waken from the nightmare, my flannel nightgown completely damp from a night sweat. This dream always seemed to take place when I was ill.

I never had more of a clue as to the culture or real time frame. It was just very frightening. I've never dreamed it again since the times during childhood. Could this be the reason that I've never ventured on the oceans and seas in this life time? I also have had deja vu when reading about, or seeing movies of the Titanic or the Lusitania. I love swimming in rivers and lakes but become easily frantic when swimming in the ocean...which hasn't been that often.

Didn't have time to add another 'possible' past life memory until now.

Whenever I am in the forest walking, or hiking I feel Indian memories, such as being at one with nature. Once when I was in my early teens I had gone on a walk and began to have the thought that I was a young, male Native American with long, dark hair and only a headband. The thought made me attempt to walk stealthly, avoiding twigs and anything that would make a noise. It had worked so well that I actually snuck up on a huge buck...who made a frightened snort when he realized I was there. We both froze for a moment then he went bounding off with a large white tail in the air. I'll never forget that moment because I never knew that deer could make that noise...I thought that I'd come upon a black bear. Whew! I don't know who was more scared me or the buck!  

The Roaring " 20 's" were given such a name for a good reason. For the first time in history women were voting and smoking cigarettes. Women also cut their long tresses into a short bob hairdo and began dancing the Charleston in the local Speakeasies! The name Charleston originated in "Charleston" South Carolina. This dance was considered scandalous and irreverent.

My introduction to reincarnation was sparked by a book that I'd read when I was in my early twenties called 'Romance of Atlantis' written by Taylor Caldwell at the age of twelve. How does a child write a book at such a young age? Could it perhaps be a memory from that existence? Her story was published in 1975 but in 1970 I was writing my own story about Atlantis at the age of 17. After reading Caldwell's book, I learned about Jess Stearn a journalist and author of more than thirty books, nine of which were bestsellers. He was a prize-winning reporter for the 'New York Daily News' for 17 years, and was later an Associate Editor at 'Newsweek'. He also wrote two autobiographies about Edgar Cayce. I just so happened to find a book about Edgar Cayce in my Mum's collection. And so, it happened that I first learned about the concept of reincarnation.

My feeling about Atlantis is one of being the daughter of a scientist who was in part responsible for creating a huge, earth drilling tool, which eventually caused the quaking and breaking of the Earth's inner plates. The scientists had realized the damage being done and finally foresaw the major upheaval, so had prepared a kind of submarine for their families. We ended up in the Amazon. Which ties into my feelings about the Amazon, and why the story of a race of women began. The women who had survived the ruin of the beautiful City of Atlantis grew to dislike and disrespect men and their lack of consideration for life on Earth. They saw man as dangerous and unfit to lead because of his continuous, grasping desire to control and change the world. The few sons of the scientists were kept somewhat as slaves and basically used for breeding purposes. (I think that they were pretty pleased about that, actually. )  Stay tuned for 'The Amazon Woman's Ex Slave'.

After reading about the Essenes philosophy I've decided that my own beliefs are so similar as to cause a definite feeling in me that it was at one time my own way of life. I have always held the deepest love and respect for Jesus and his words and teachings and when I read about the Essenes there was an immediate bond.

Teaching of Light occurred in groups during ceremonies; through songs, dances and movements; or even during work in the fields or the vineyards, or some other manual work or construction. It was also accomplished through individual work, in the solitude of one's personal temple.

I Have always loved to dance and to sing and enjoy my times of solitude.

 The law of silence and discernment was strictly imposed, an Essene never tried to convert another person to any belief.
"Do not give pearls to pigs for fear that they will trample them underfoot and turn towards you to devour you." (The words of Christ)

Gotta LOVE that one!  I've always felt that it's ones own choice and the truth will arrive at some point in time when the person is ready.

The Essenes practiced hospitality regularly, they learned very young to see the divine part of each person. And, thus, it was God who visited them in the guise of the individual.

I have always looked for the good in people and tried to understand the baser personalities state of being.

A large number of Essenes in the external circles of the order reincarnated and became the source for all of the great modern humanitarian organizations.

I believe in reincarnation. (Multidimensional Existence)

The Essenes recognized the equality of the sexes, and accorded to women, in the greatest secrecy, the place which was rightfully theirs. Thus, women were able to participate in all of the spiritual activities.
The Essenes studied an esoteric teaching on androgyny, which provided them with a perception of the soul beyond the dualistic conception of sex. The white-linen robe was a symbol of this vision of the soul's unity.

I LOVE this aspect and cannot understand how men could think otherwise, unless it's because they fear a loss of control. But look at Merry Old England and her Queens down through the ages, a country of exploration and conquer. (Not that I condone conquest, but, it's a fact isn't it?) 

I'm in total agreement with this tenet and also am a vegetarian. And refuse to be a slave to the animalistic nature for which I've worked very hard to evolve. My only sadness is that it's taking me so long to perfect my animal nature. But I will never give up on me or anyone else! Now learning to love unconditionally. Cleaning up my Tourettes Syndrome has not been easy.  No, I'm just kidding, it's just that my kids make me swear sometimes. And my job...and my dog, and the cat and...oh, nevermind. It's gotten much better. I'm evolving!

 In one of my lifetimes I had my head cut off. I was a belly dancer...a really good one...good enough to dance before a Prince. But....he had my head cut off because of my disrespectful mouth. He wanted my attentions and I simply asked him why would he want me when he had a harem full of beautiful women? He laughed, but...grabbed me by my long, black, silken hair and pulled me backward with my hair touching the floor and my neck stretched taut. I did not cry out...which angered him all the more. He whispered brusquely into my ear, that I had embarrassed him in front of his friends with my tartness and that I would lose my head for it. He told me to dance like I've never danced before because it would be my last. I remember feeling that a part of me wanted to spit in his face and scratch his eyes out, the other part of me knew that if I didn't dance I would be tortured and humiliated. So, I danced and I danced, and I danced until overwhelmed, and then I feinted. When I awoke, I was outside where my blood would flow into the earth and my spirit would not be contained.  

http://www.belly-dance.org/music/7-ayoubi.mp3

http://www.belly-dance.org/music/2-noura-noura.mp3

http://www.belly-dance.org/music/1-leylet-hob.mp3

http://www.shira.net/musicrvws/clips/AB-alflelah.mp3

...no, this hug is too small...here!

No, this hug isn't big enough, either...here!

A poem I wrote about 25 years ago...time has been flying, too!

                                          The Phoenix

From fiery ashes the Phoenix flies,

onward and upward into the skies.

Dying in a flame of glory only to be born again,

knowing that from deep within him his existence will not end.

The warmth of the fire drew him near,

the magic of the flame stilled his fear.

Before he knew what he had done,

he had burned to ashes and was gone.

As the dying embers cast its glow,

an apparition seems to grow.

The Phoenix bare of earthly form

is free to fly and does not mourn.

in Eliana speech...age 2.

                    http://www.do-not-zzz.com/

Resurrection; Christ consumed in the fires of Passion and rising again on the third day; triumph over death; faith; constancy; Christ's divine nature (as the Pelican was of his human nature).

In early Christian tradition the phoenix was adopted as being resurrection and immortality. Through Christian eyes, we are taught to believe in the resurrection, as Christ himself exhibited the character of the phoenix: "I have the power to lay down my life and to take it up again."

Using Christ's life as an example, one can live a similar learning life of rejuvenation.

The phoenix makes a coffin and fills it with fine smelling spices, then dies where the stink of corruption is (effaced) by (agreeable) smells.

Man may make a coffin of faith, faith being Christ, who sheathes and protects you in days of trouble. Your good spices are your virtues-chastity, compassion, and justice, being odors of noble deeds, sweet in life (as Christian doctrine dictates).

Depart from life with the clothing of this faith, and as St. Paul states, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith, the crown of justice is restored to me."

Thus, as with all other symbols, there is a cycle, a returning to something, as in many things of life. A symbol occurs because of its reflective association (the return) with the one viewing the symbol. It is lived through the interpretation of the viewer.

Totally and truly bummed! I'm going to use the little box for the loudest primal scream I can muster!

                     Someone POOPED on my party!

                 A big pile of sh!t in the shape of a W.

      W is such a stupid letter. So is G when I think about it. 

G stands for gargoyle...W stands for wigged out. B stands for blood.

           Bloody killing field. grumble grumble bah humbug!

        Thomas Jefferson said to write out your frustrations.

                     Think I'll hit the featherball early.      

She's going to expect us to start jumping over a fence, you know.

No way, not tonight...I've got a headache.

Get the flock out!

I spent one of my life times as a perpetual child. I had been brain damaged at birth and remained childlike around 8 or 9 years of age throughout my life. My parents who now happen to be two of my three children were somewhat burdened with my care although they did so lovingly. This is the picture that conjures up the ghost of that existence.

                      Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth

It's kind of funny when you just have the feeling...plus the fact that when I mentioned to them that I felt that they had been my parents...my youngest son said that he had been my mother, because he was the more motherly of the two. Which is very true. Matt has always been the loving, hugging child, and Micah the strong, silent, helper type.

The feeling came to me several years ago when people were asking...why don't they have serious careers/jobs, and I was asking it myself. It has just never been a problem with me. It's not just about being their mother. I feel that I owe them this, and by them taking it easy now is their reward for past kindness and diligence. Also, I've done their astro charts and numerology analysis, as well as my own.

That's really neat.  How old are you children?  If they don't have jobs yet, but people are asking about it, I am thinking they are in their twenties, which puts you in your 40s or 50s. Somehow I imagined you as in your 30s... That's wonderful if you can support your kids to give them that leeway in their lives.  So your son must also be intuitive like you, if he feels he was your Mother.  Does Micah also have this trait?  Being your kids, you likely raised them to be aware of these things.  That was the way in my family, although, in our small city, we could've been the only family like ours for all I knew.  Psychic knowledge, healing, energy work - it was all thought of as weird by most of the people I knew, including the kids at school!  I never talked openly about it there, except a couple times when poeple made fun of me for it, or were kindly confused. ...  Mom didn't like it either for a long time, but now she accepts that we are that way, my Dad and I, and is open to learning about it all.

Anyway, we have a friend named Paul whose dad was a Baptist minister and didnt' believe in reincarnation at all.  When Paul was small, his Dad used to scold Paul a lot and get after him about things.  One day, when Paul was 5, Paul had had enough, I guess.  He looked at his dad and said, "Don't you talk to me like that!  I was YOUR father once!"  And his dad stopped, turned around and walked away, and never talked to him like that again!  Peace, Mayleesa!  Thanks for the star.  Blessings, Rachel.

 That is so cute! Don't you just love how children can have such a profound effect on adults, and an indifference to age? I think that if we have this kind of thinking in the back of our minds we would always have more respect for others.

My son, Micah is a gentle giant...not overweight...very tall and very mild mannered. Most of the pictures that I have of Micah have orbs, or spherits as I like to call them, hovering about him. 

My Mum was against my path in some ways, she was unsure of her own. She would be surprised that I feel that it was HER religion that set the foundation for my belief in reincarnation, but...it's true. She was a very tolerant and loving mother, and I have a more positive approach to life because of her. My dad was a hard working, practical joker, dedicated to his family and who left the Catholic Church because of the corruption that he saw. His belief was that he could take a walk into the forest and be closer to God than from inside of a church. I agree with him.

I have experienced mental telepathy with my daughter and ex-hubby. And I can get my cousin to call me, just by thinking about him intensely for a few minutes. The more that you exercise this aspect of your mind the more that you develop it, don't you think?

Some people are strong thought senders and others are quick receivers. It has to do with innocence...the less wrongs that have been committed the more open you are to the universe. If you have something to hide...you build walls of guilt through self condemnation.

Listen to this music! Does it not put you away?

http://www.layneredmond.com/sounds/hymn.rm

If that link doesnt work then try the one below, click on the left side of the site where it says Hymn to the Muse...which will take you to a site where you can click on Hymn to the Muse in Real Media format. Download it! It's worth it!    

http://www.layneredmond.com/bee.htm

Chanting, overtone singing and humming sacred sounds to the rhythms of the frame drum is an ancient technique for directly synchronizing the mind/body, creating conditions for psychological, physical, and spiritual healing. The ancient Bee Priestesses, called the Melissa in Greek or the Deborahs in Hebrew, served the Bee Goddesses: Aphrodite, Artemis, Cybele, Demeter, Persephone, Rhea, Ariadne, Neith, even the Virgin Mary and all are associated with the frame drum!!

The ancient Mediterranean bee goddesses of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome are connected to Hindu Goddess, Bhramari Devi, the bee goddess and her connection to the teachings of the chakras. These seven realms of consciousness emanate from the first sound -- the pulse of the cosmic drum -- the heartbeat of the goddess. The Maha Devi or Great Goddess, Kundalini, manifests in sound form as a queen bee surrounded by bees, Bhramari Devi, who awakens in a buzz of ascending consciousness and descending spiritual grace. This ascending buzzing energy illuminates the chakras which are interconnected with areas of the brain that are silent in the unawakened state. The brain explodes into awareness as these dormant areas are activated.

One of the oldest techniques of awakening this energy within our minds and bodies is chanting to the frame drum. You can learn a synthesis of drumming techniques from India, the Middle East, and North Africa on the Middle Eastern Style tambourine. You can create a sacred space through ritual with the frame drum and sacred sounds and learn the correlation of the strokes to the elemental energies of earth, water, fire and air and how to invoke these energies through the drum and an invocation of the four directions with the drum.

You can concentrate on rhythms in three and six because of the link of these numbers to the hexagram, the ancient honey comb shaped symbol of the Bee Goddess and the heart chakra.

We will have a particular focus on the heart chakra to help bring balance to ourselves, our culture and the world. In the twelve pointed lotus mandala of this chakra is a six pointed star formed by two interlocking triangles in perfect equilibrium. The fourth chakra understanding, expands in all dimensions and directions as this six pointed star. This hexagram is the symbol of air and the ancient symbol of the bee goddess. The sacred bee, the Bhramari Devi, creates her honeycomb in hexagonal shapes and buzzes within her geometrically perfect hive. Within the hexagon is a downward pointing triangle interlocked with an upward pointing. This represents the perfect union of the macrocosm with microcosm, male and female, positive and negative and the interpenetration of the sacred with the material world. Within the hexagon is a downward pointing triangle. Inside this triangle burns the unflickering eternal flame of our individual soul. This is the All-Shining One, a pure light radiating from the heart chakra.

Besides the historical info from the ancient Mediterranean world one can learn the yogic practices of the bee goddess from India, Bhramari Devi. You can practice overtone singing and Bhramari, a pranayama practice derived from the buzzing of bees which vibrates and realigns the entire nervous system, brain and body by buzzing the vocal chords. These practices are also recommended for reproductive and endocrine health for men and women of all ages.

The frame drum is an archetypal idea that people all over the world and at all times have been compelled to create and play to transform their consciousness into higher states of awareness. It is a time tested, powerful trance-inducing instrument that gives us a means of creating peace and wisdom within ourselves. 

The frame drum is the world's oldest known drum and for thousands of years it was the primary trance inducing technology for religious and ecstatic rituals. Along with the rattle it is the oldest instrumental means for altering consciousness for spiritual purposes. When played with hand and finger techniques , the frame drum has a long, clear, ringing tone with many audible harmonics. These overtones create a chord of magical and alluring sounds with every stroke. Frame drums range in size from the 4 inch south Indian kanjira, on up through the tambourines, tars and bendirs.

  This is an awesome website! Absolutely, totally awesome!

         http://www.this-magic-sea.com/HIVEBRAN.HTM

No, no, you've got it right the wrong way round.

The bees make the hive, the hive doesn't make the bees. Although you'd be hard pressed to prove it if you began with the wrong viewpoint. Carefully dissecting the hive to determine how it makes bees, you'd come to the miraculous honey comb and within its octagonal sockets find the bees in their various stages of construction.

Ahh Ha! Here we are, the very heart of the industry. Here is where the hive constructs the bees, you can see it happening.

We could then become highly philosophical, perhaps over a few beers at the club, on the strange relationship between the animated little packets of energy (that behave so like particles zooming about) and the convoluted, complex anatomy of the hive that directs all the action. Further experiments would demonstrate that prodding the hive just here or over there results in even more animated action of the bees. We know, through dedicated beeing experiments that if we take a solitary bee from the hive it dies in a couple of days. Two bees can survive a week or two outside the hive. It takes at least 40 to maintain a small hive. But normally a hive has about 50,000 beecells zooming about, covering about 2.5 km² of territory.

The Living Hive

The Hive breathes, circulates, metabolizes, regulates it temperature, defends itself, eats, drinks, mates and procreates. The hive is clearly the living entity that constructs the bees.

The Hive communicates with other hives and thinks internally, for itself. Karl von Frisch, in the 1920's and 30's mentally adjusted his thinking until he became able to understand bee language. Scout bees discover nectar and return to the hive. There, the scout dances to tell the other bees exactly where the nectar is. It does a figure 8 on the honeycomb and the axis of the 8 points the direction of the yummy relative to the position of the sun. The tempo tells how far it is; near rates a fast tempo, far is less enthusiastic. The wings beat 250 cycles per second (the key of B, naturally) for a precise interval to explain how far the other bees must fly to get to the nectar.

Sex and food. Hives talk about them all the time. When the hive is ready to child itself, out go the scouts to check out prospective nest sites. Tentacles reaching out. These come back and the hive sits there mulling over the various possibilities. Wag dance, same dance lots of times if the scout really thinks it is a great spot. When the deliberations get down to a few places, out go the scouts again to check them out. Back again and hum, buzz, dance till the hive settles on a spot to swarm to.

One hive took two weeks to decide, couldn't make up its mind, said what the hell and built the hive in a terrible spot and froze to death the next winter.

Austrian hives have a different dialect to Italian hives. Indian hives different again. Put an Indian bee in an Austrian hive and it acts like a dumb immigrant, always heading off in the wrong direction.

Hopelessly wrong. The bees make the hive. And make more of themselves within the hive they have built. Just so.

And the mind makes the brain, not the other way around. The process of perception, memory, reaction constructs the brain from a single fertilized egg to its finished, operational stage. And the mind maintains the brain while happily making more thoughts, more memories, and more elaborate reactions all day and all night. The scout neurons bring info back into the brain, info on sex and food, and the whole mass of neurons hum and buzz and dance until they decide on what to do to get the food and the sex.

You can't fool me. The brain isn't the least bit a physical thing - it's a rapidly flowing dynamic of atoms and molecules dancing a whiz-dinger of a fandango.

How could anyone possibly suppose the physical brain produces the mind?(Click here to go to the solution of the hand experiment)?

Is it possible that once upon a lifetime I in-scripted the walls of the temples for Akhenaten? Pharaoh of the Sun, who worshipped one deity.

Hello sun-writer!  

It's entirely possible that you did something like that!  Why do you ask?  Do you remember doing it?  Do you have dreams about it?  Are you atracted to that part of history, or feel natural and at home when doing stuff with hieroglyphics?   If you THINK you did something so specific, I would imagine that you did. 

At any rate, it seems to me that even if we imagine these memories, or pick them up from someone who lived than, rather than did them ourselves, they are helping us become more understanding of ourselves and of the world.  The effect on our lives is more important to me than the mechanics of how we come to this knowledge. You are tapping into something beautiful that goes beyond the material world.  Fascinating, eh?

Hey Melissa!  I'm BAAACK!   How are things?  I have a comment on yours too!

Rachel.

You wrote this forever ago:  i HAVE COMMENTED IN CAPITALS.

"That is so cute! Don't you just love how children can have such a profound effect on adults, and an indifference to age? I think that if we have this kind of thinking in the back of our minds we would always have more respect for others.

My son, Micah is a gentle giant...not overweight...very tall and very mild mannered. Most of the pictures that I have of Micah have orbs, or spherits as I like to call them, hovering about him.  -- THAT IS EXCESSIVELY COOL THAT YOU PHOTOGRAPHED LIGHT ORBS.  WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY ARE?  eNERGY?  SPIRITS? ANGELS?  DO THEY MARK HIM AS A SPECIAL BEING? wHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT IT?

My Mum was against my path in some ways, she was unsure of her own. She would be surprised that I feel that it was HER religion that set the foundation for my belief in reincarnation, but...it's true.

wHAT WAS YOUR mOTHER'S RELIGION? WAS SHE cHRISTIAN?  sOME OF US WOULD SAY THAT jESUS ALSO BELIEVED IN REICNARNATION... wELL, i WOULD SAY SO, AND A BUNCH OF PEOPLE i KNOW   aND THE BUNCH MUST BE RIGHT, CAUSE THEY SAY SO   sERIOUSLY, THERE ARE ANALYSES OF BOOKS AND THERE ARE HIDDEN GOSPELS THAT SHOW JESUS TALKING ABOUT REINCARNATION.  sOME OF THE dEAD sEA sCROLLS AND OTHER BOOKS THAT WERE RECENTLY FOUND.  

mY DAD CHANNELLED/RECEIVED IN MEDITATION A BOOK CALLED aCCORDING TO tHOMAS.  iT'S AN ACCOUNT OF THE jESUS STORY BY THE SPIRIT OF THE APOSTLE tHOMAS, OR SO IT SEEMS TO US.  hE SPEAKS OF REINCARNATION THERE, AND OF FINDING OURSELVES AND gOD THROUGH THE PRACTICE OF THE pRAYER OF SILENCE, THAT jESUS TAUGHT THEM.  i CAN HOOK YOU UP IF YOU'D LIKE TO GET A COPY. 

She was a very tolerant and loving mother, and I have a more positive approach to life because of her. My dad was a hard working, practical joker, dedicated to his family and who left the Catholic Church because of the corruption that he saw. His belief was that he could take a walk into the forest and be closer to God than from inside of a church. I agree with him.

tHAT REMINDS ME OF A POEM i OFTEN THINK OF BY eMILY dICKINSON: sOME kEEP THE sABBATH.  sOME KEEP THE SABBATH GOING TO CHURCH, BUT i KEEP IT IN A CATHEDRAL OF PINES, WITH A [BIRD] FOR A CHORSITER... SOMETHING LIKE THAT.  iT'S QUITE BEAUTIFUL.

I have experienced mental telepathy with my daughter and ex-hubby. And I can get my cousin to call me, just by thinking about him intensely for a few minutes. The more that you exercise this aspect of your mind the more that you develop it, don't you think?

i DON'T KNOW, i'VE NEVER TRIED IT SERIOUSLY.  aLTHOUGH WHENEVER i'M PLANNING ON CALLING MY FRIEND aSTIER, SHE CALLSE ME FIRST!  sOMETIMES SHE GETS MAD AT ME FOR NOT CALLING, SO i KNOW IF i START TO THINK OF HER, i BETTER CALL HER RIGHT AWAY!!! 

lET'S TRY THIS, THEN.  wHAT IF i SEND YOU THE IMAGE AND NAME OF A COLOUR TONIGHT AT 5PM OUR TIME HERE... UMM, i'M IN sASKATCHEWAN, AND IT'S NOW 235PM, sUNDAY ... wHENEVER i THINK OF IT, i'LL KEEP ON SENDING YOU THIS COLOUR, AND WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE, WRITE BACK AND TELL ME WHAT COLOUR IT IS!   ok?  ok, HERE GOES... i'M SENDING ALREADY... i COULDN'T DECIDE, SO IT'S TWO COLOURS, A PRIMARY AND A SECONDARY, MIXED.  iT'S OK, THEY ARE BESIDE EACH OTHER, SO IT'S NOT HARD. 

dO YOU HEAR ME ALREADY?

Some people are strong thought senders and others are quick receivers. It has to do with innocence...the less wrongs that have been committed the more open you are to the universe. If you have something to hide...you build walls of guilt through self condemnation.

mMMM!  oR, IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU think YOU HAVE TO HIDE!  !!  hAVE A LOVELY dAY, AND LET ME KNOW WHAT COLOUR YOU IMAGINED.

pEACE, rACHEL.

 [ send green star]

I will open myself to your color message...send it before you go to sleep and I will gather it from the dream state.

Love and Blessings to you and yours.

I'm back! Thank you, Robert!

        It's great to be home...

Are you still around? The nonny-mouse was me, I was calling out from the nether world. When ever I think of you and what you might be sending...it's a turquoise green.

Wow, Margaretha!  That's pretty cool!  It was a yellowy green I was imagining, but that's pretty close!  

What's it like being a mouse in the nether worlds?   Is it cozy down there?   lol!

So... where is Melissa?   Are you there?  Do you have any other memories you want to mention?

Peace to you all.  Rachel.

That's great, I'm glad that I was at least close.

What's in a name? Margaretha is close enough, it's my tribute to her. Mata Hari had to have been a very dynamic and interesting person. She married a military man who I believe was a cheat and abusive to her, her two children had been poisoned by a disgruntled servant. Her daughter survived the ordeal but the son had died from it.

This traumatic event ruined their marriage and she sought comfort in the sacred Hindu texts until her husband left her, taking their daughter with him.

She went to Paris, France and started a new life as an exotic dancer. She was attracted to men in uniform and became involved in their manipulations. Finally she was found guilty of espionage by the French and set before a firing squad where she refused a blindfold and blew them a kiss before she was killed.

http://xrl.us/MataHari

             "Harlot yes, traitor, never!"

Maybe this is just a wishful thought, but it's something that I've always wondered. On the very morning that my son Micah was born, on December 8th, 1980...John Lennon was murdered. When I awoke the morning of the 9th with my baby boy in my arms, I watched in shock, the television news of Lennon's death. 

I looked down at my baby...wondering...could it be possible? Micah was a relatively easy birth...8lbs, 11oz. but he had to be monitored for a day or so, because the cord had been wrapped around his neck.

He's a decent singer and picks at the piano, a song that he always plays is Eleanor Rigby.

Eleanor Rigby Lyrics by Beatles

Artist: Beatles
Credit: Lennon/McCartney

Lyrics:

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from ?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong ?

Father McKenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near.
Look at him working. Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care ?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from ?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong ?

Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from ?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong ?

That's your son, eh?  He's pretty hot, if you don't mind me saying    But I always think musicians are sexy!  lol!  

Looks intense, and hmmm.  Maybe he is connected to John Lennon.  He certainly has something of the spirit of Lennon in him, doesn't he?  

Mata, I forget, are you Margaretha, and Melissa, all rolled into one?  Peace and light, your buddy, Rachel.  

Oh, Rachel! That's not a picture of my son...that's Lennon...you're kidding with me, I know! I tried and tried to post Micah's picture but it wouldn't let me use it from my old profile. I'm Melissa and Margaretha Zelle (Mata Hari) is my new profile.
I'm just going to post the link to my son. I told him about my silly fantasy and he laughed and said I'm crazy. Hey this picture works!

 My three kids, left to right Micah , Matt & Mariah. He doesn't really LOOK like John Lennon, he's much better looking! And tall! 6'4"

My father communicated to me right after he passed away through John Lennon's song 'Imagine'. So Lennon is special to me...although when he was alive, I couldn't stand his arrogance. Paul McCartney was always my favorite Beatle...and at one point Harrison. Oh, heck I loved them ALL!

Love & Peace

i am enjoying this group . Melissa i quite understand  you

 Thanks Sophia, I'm glad that someone understands!

I want to mention that I have always loved your name! If I'd had another daughter, my intentions were to name her Sophia. When I was young and watched Sophia Lorenz movies, she became my favorite actress...what a beautiful woman! You are, too!

Love & Peace

A few days ago, my granddaughter, my Collie, Zen and I went for a wonderful walk along the river...about a mile, then walked out onto the ice packs. I know it sounds dangerous...but where we walked is a very shallow area. Even if we did go through the ice it would only be knee deep.

On the way back, is a long up hill walk for a quarter of a mile and Elle asked me to carry her. I told her that she was to big for me to carry her, that an old woman like me could barely carry herself up the hill. A few steps later, she then complained of a tummy ache. I looked up the hill, I looked at my beautiful, little grand child...I looked up the hill again. She's 6 years old!

I asked her if her mother would carry her up the hill and she said, "No, because she's mean." Well...that did it. A grandmother has to look good in the eyes of her grandchild, so I said OK... and bent down so that she could climb up on my back. I carried her all the way to the top of the hill and could have gone further but she wanted down. I think that just looking at that long upward climb made her tired, but the downhill...she knew that she could manage. 

Afterward, we went to Subway and had subs...then went home where we settled on to the couch and watched TV. I had a nap then went to my PC, Elle followed me complaining about feeling sick. I held her until she fell asleep then laid her down on the love-seat while I checked my email.

 What does any of that have to do with reincarnation? 

Well, within the hour, Mariah...(believe it or not...she was up in her bedroom on her laptop...but, we communicate by our computers. ) my daughter, sent me a link to a website that had the Hare Krsna mantra being sung. Suddenly, Eliana's little eyes fluttered open and she started smiling and began to clap her hands to the music. Whatever ailed her was gone! She sat on my lap and we sang the words together.

You know what was going through MY mind, don't you? The girl was a Krsna devotee in another existence.

 http://www.iskconbangalore.org/

Love & Peace

 
Melissa K.

  Now you can see the difference a few years makes. I finally got my hair cut! Yay! It's feels great! Like I've lost ten pounds!

I yams what I yam! Until I have my spinach, then Katie bar the door!

Once upon a time, when I was reprimanding my oldest son, The mighty Micah, who was then about 4 or 5 years old...he told me that I was a mean old lady. I said to him, "Well, YOU'RE the one who chose ME as your mother."   (As Sapan would say.  ) That gave HIM something to chew on.  The ball was then in his court. From the time my children were very little they have grown up with a very unorthodox point of view. When my daughter was little, she saw a picture of the Earth and said it's a cell, and that we were all like cells. I honestly don't know where she got that, but I think that it's right on the mark! 

And now...the confessions of a pitiful parent...

My children probably chose me and their father as parents because we are relatively easy-going, although somewhat critical...but not in the sense of real ego-damage. Trivial things like plaids don't go with paisley. (on my part) And check the oil and tire pressure...and get a job, on their dad's part. (Who took early retirement. LOL) We were responsible, job-holding people, home builders who came from the same kind of people. (Yeah, so my dad was in jail for fishing without a license...hand-picking trout is an art that early man adapted. So, la-de-da...using a stick and string is more civilized! For cowards, maybe!)

Anyway...the ex and I were NOT church-goers, therefore my kids didn't get the Christian dogma banged into their heads, except whatever I transferred from my own up-bringing. Their dad is agnostic, but does believe in a Supreme Being. That probably comes from his grandmothers Native American heritage. (Cornplanter's Seneca Clan) And also the reason that my children were all basically told to leave the school system, due to either poor attendance or disruptive behavior.

They hated school, and so did I, but I graduated, so did their dad who even had a year of college and then joined the Air Force...but was discharged (honorably) because of an infraction with an Officer who was blathering in his face.

Freedom to be...is the issue with my family. If we are a family of hellions and rebellions...what can I say? We ARE trying to fit into society.  

The story my children might tell could be slightly different...they might portray me as that mean, ol lady. Like my dad always told me...just wait until you have kids. Paybacks a...a...surprise.   Everything I've DONE for them! The sacrifices! My life could have been one big party! Ah, well...it's been interesting to say the least. 

Freedom IS the issue for people who are born in the USA. And little by little, those freedoms are being scarfed by wannabe royalty and tyrants, and as one of my Kiowa friends aptly calls us...the 'Euro-borgs' is so true. Even MY ancestors left a land that was full of parasitic, blood-sucking, slave-making, Kings, Queens and Lords...to come over here, and what happens? The Euro-borgs laid waste to the indigenous peoples, and now history has come full circle. Where do we go from here?

Doesn't history teach anyone anything? I'm talking REAL history, that is...not the history that the government hands out. The government is no longer an organization for the people. It's ORGANIZING people to be its slave.

So, when it's all said and done...what makes any sense?

There is only ONE thing that makes any sense.

The enlightened Masters who have come to show the way out of  reality? The Masters who teach love and compassion. The Masters who DIE telling people the truth about reality. The Masters who see death as a springboard to infinity. They teach of many mansions...in a realm where imagination knows no bounds. Heaven, Nirvana, the Highest Abode. The Enlightened Masters are ridiculed, demonized and sacrificed...why?

How can governments control the masses if the masses are aware of the truth? Religions were created to aid governments in the control. It's mind over matter...and if you don't mind...it doesn't matter. 

Drat! My time off work has been cut short. Hey ho, hey ho, it's back to work you go! Earn that money and pay your bills and taxes. The whip cracks...the slave pulls the chain that keeps the cogs in the time machine running. She smiles and thinks to herself...freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose.

Karma means action...action means work. Don't forget to whistle while you work, or at least sing... Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Or... Om Mani Padme Hum.........because, the only way that you can be happy here...is to be thinking about THERE!

Praise God, and make a joyful noise!

Love & Peace 

Anything that you ever needed to know is within, but it doesn't hurt to have scriptures or an old (or young! Male or female...)enlightened soul to provide food for thought.

The point of power is THIS moment. We can choose to dwell on something that caused a deep spiritual wound, or ask the Supreme Consciousness to help you get beyond it. The farther that thought is...the easier it is to give it up and forget the experience entirely. But, you must WANT to forget it.

I can say it until the cows come home...that I will love my enemies...(and Cal, I did NOT say enema, although the words are sooo similar.)  Anyway, if I don't put into action to give up any darkness that pains my soul...I will carry it for a long time. Forgiveness is needed, first for you...for any part that you feel that you were to blame for, then...forgive the other person involved. See that person as someone who may have been lost because of his/her own karmic actions and just forgive. We're all Children Of God! Some of have a long way to go and some have the lights on!

There is a saying that time heals all wounds...but it isn't so much time, as it is...your time. Your time to be strong and to have faith in yourself to go beyond it. If you don't feel confident, that is where the Supreme Consciousness will help you...just ask for help. It's ALWAYS there!

I wanted to try what I'm learning from the channeled gospel 'According to Thomas' about the Prayer of Silence...which IS meditation. It's very exciting...because it works! After three nights...I asked to be introduced to one of my fears that might be slowing my spiritual development...and out of the swirling colors in the darkness behind closed eyes, a huge purple eye looked into my soul. I was totally in awe! It was an EYE!

I remember when I was a teen making these things called a Gods Eye, and I thought to myself...it's TRUE! It's GOD'S EYE!

It looked into my soul and then I had a dream-like picture...and it was a fear. Even though, I've lost precious family members to various diseases, but, my fear was not like theirs. It was different, but still a disease...it was a confrontation of a deep fear that I had buried. Evidently, it was THE biggy...(had to do with being anal...  ) so now, because healing has to do with the will to BE healed, I can either act on it, or...succumb to it. With God' help...I will not be afraid because...after all it's just a body that is reacting to the whims of my soul.

I do not need to experience suffering. Plain and simple. Change your thought and change your world.

Chant and be happy...

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, kiss fears...goodbye

Oh, funny, funny!  This is the first time I've read this thread since the last time I posted, where you were saying that is not your son!  I really DID think it was your son!  haha!  Well, your son is good looking, I must say.  But, I still think John Lennon is better looking   But, you know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and, if Lennon was arrogant as you say, then that is not very beatuiful in my books.   Hehe.

Anywho, that is cool that you are praying the Prayer of Silence!  Did you ask your Guide to be with you?  Me, I ask Christ, myself.  Then he'll shine light on the darkness of your soul and look with you, and then you can see it clearly, and ask for it to be healed and taken away.  How did you do it?

I like all the stuff you wrote just now.

Must go rest now.  Stayed in bed ALL day, and I want to be able to go to work in the morning, so don't want to get tired.

Peace and Peace.  (yes, twice!)   Rachel.

Rachel!

Yes, Jesus is my main man...and if you want to know why, HE tells it in terms that I can easily understand.

But I think that your Dad can also be considered a guide, because his book is so easy to understand exactly where Jesus was coming from with meditation. I've finished his book and just like you, I WILL be using it as a reference.

You know what I think is sooo cool? Thomas has redeemed the disciples and himself by explaining what happened and I can can crawl right into their brains, psychologically speaking and see why they did what they did.  But Jesus fixed that situation. That was even more amazing!

And something else! Because of that I am completely healed from holding humanity responsible for the death of the Son. I do feel sorry for Saul, but it was obviously a karmic situation.

I wonder if Saul was like a twin soul to Jesus...does your Dad have any more info about that?

Love & Peace 

 I feel really honored to know the spirit of Thomas AND John! Both disciples of Jesus! The spirits must be gathering for a purpose.

Is your son's name Andrew? Or do you just know that he is the spirit of Andrew? Wasn't the disciple John one of two brother's to Jesus?

My children all have names from the Bible...Micah, Matthew and Mariah. Mariah was the name of the mountain that may have been the place where Abraham was to sacrifice his son Isaac. It's now called Mt. Zion, I believe. And sometimes, Mariah can be a real pain in my Kush tush...and sometimes, I'd like to sacrifice her to God.    But, I know that God would just say OY! Leave the 'kid' alone! I'm a vegetarian, now.  

As a parent, I thought that I chose their names...but, I've read that the collective consciousness  passes the name that the soul chooses to the vehicle. So, in actuality...I had nothing to do with picking their names.

Love & Peace

Hey Melissa, Dad also says that no, Saul was not Jesus' brother, but his cousin.  

That is neat, Amy.  What do you remember about being John the Disciple?  You could start your own scrapbook thread! 

Blessings, Rachel.

Doing time...doesn't necessarily HAVE to be done with a suffering attitude. If you are in prison, isn't it better to have a positive attitude than one of moaning and groaning? You can look at everything as if it were a blessing...or you can piss about complaining of whatever is on your plate, or what you THINK is on your plate.

Making a joyous noise unto the lord is great, dancing in joy over blessings is wonderful, and communing with similar spirits can be very beneficial. But even though we are together in the Earthly experience, it doesn't mean that we will experience the same thing, or even need to...chanting the Holy Name isn't as important, as giving a bowl of rice to a soul experiencing hunger. Or putting clothing on someone who has nothing...but these souls are IN that position because of a lesson that is needed for that soul and the soul who is presented to them for service. Priorities are easily confused by the concern to better ones own spiritual path...what we need to KNOW...is that by feeding the hungry...we feed ourselves. What you do for yourself means nothing. It's all for one...and one for all.

You have on your plate what YOU put there with your actions. If you don't like the menu, you go to the Super Consciousness. You can either struggle with your demons...or school them. Learning your lessons, may require discipline, and repetition, but it does NOT have to be suffering.

Walking about in the darkness will inevitably cause pain, walking into things stubbing toes and such things. But it only takes faith the size of a mustard seed to turn your dark thoughts into a luminous torch. Inside the darkness of the mind IS a light, but you do have to focus on the light to see it. How can you hear God speak if you are constantly chanting? Listen to it...it sounds similar to the buzz of restless thoughts. Where is the silence? Can you hear God speak with all that ecstasy going on?

I know that the Earth is going to change...and with it, there will be hardships for many, but this will be like a cleansing, it's not to be feared...and it WILL effect ALL of the Earth, not just America...so don't think that you can hide in a safe place from your actions...and don't think that what you do to save yourself will work unless you are doing it to save your enemy too.  

And when we think that we are the only one with the corner market on spirituality...that's when we have lost our mind.

re. chanting... Thich Naht Hanh wrote a story in his book, Being Peace, I am not sure that it is true, but it illustrated his point anyway.  

It seems that there was a monk who knew an old, devout Buddhist woman, who we will call Mrs. Jiang.  She meditated all day, chanting loudly, "Namo Amithabha Buddha!"  over and Over again. One day, the monk in question was fed up with this.   He went to her gate and started calling out, "Mrs. Jiang, Mrs. Jiang, Mrs. Jiang!"  Finally Mrs. Jiang, greatly upset by the disturbance, came to the gate and said, "What do you want!  Why are you calling my name endlessly like that?!"  The monk replied, "Ah, so you don't like that!  How do you think the Buddha likes that you call her name so often like that!"   After that, the lady stopped chanting so loudly and wildly.

  Peace and happy New Year!!! Blessings and Joy!  Rachel

Ally, I'd love to hear about other ones, including the one where you wrote Revelation.  It always seemed so scary to me, and the God in there seems unlike the God I know, no offense I hope.   Hope you can have some time to let us know about it. 

Two of you in one family!  Well that is quite something!  I think it's the way They do it, though.  I would not be alive and/or sane if my father hadn't been my father, and able to help me with the amount of spiritual truths and experience going on for me.  God sees to it that we have what and who we need, I believe, and maybe we agree to come in pairs or groups, to learn and to teach.

 Peace and light, Rachel.

Hi Rachel, I started a thread for Ally so I'll move your comment over there, and I absolutely LOVE that story about the chanting, and I'm going to post it over at Sarvo's chanting thread...if you don't mind.

It reminds me of my Mum...she was always irritated by the chanting of the Rosary. It is odd the way the Catholics made it seem like it was punishment, and then the priest, after hearing your confession would tell you to pray so many Hail Mary's depending on the sin. 

Thanks for that little story! Mum's doin' a little jig in the heavenly realms...if she hasn't been reborn into Bob Vila's family yet. That's all she talked about before she died...and according to Sarvo...what you focus on is what you'll come back as... being an angel wouldn't be so bad.

Love & Peace

I posted this somewhere else and I want to leave it here for a moment until I figure out where I want it.

Death has been made to seem appalling, the real problem is when people who are leaving the world experience pain...but if you are thinking about God, the pain becomes less. If you think about others the pain becomes less. That means that the only other problem is with the mourning people who are left behind...the one who departs always has it better...unless they are a confused soul who fears life as well as death. Loved ones experience the loss in such diverse ways! My mother actually watched my father leave his body, and said that it was so strange...it appeared to sink to the floor like a piece of clothing. The spiritual umbelical cord that held him to the Earth gave way. An untethered soul goes up as high as his burdens allow. If burdens are a heavy weight...get rid of them as soon as possible. God has forgiven you everything...now you must forgive yourself. That's why the two sit together in the heart...one knows all...the other learns through experience.

Love & Peace

This is the picture that disappeared from an above post.

It's by Andrew Wyeth.

No Surprise... January 18, 2006 11:33 AM

When I first saw this picture, I felt that the girl was crippled. The more that I looked at it, the more the feeling that I had been there and done that...or at least something like the picture inspires. I seriously feel that I spent one of my life times as a perpetual child. I had been brain damaged at birth and remained childlike around 8 or 9 years of age throughout my life. My parents who now happen to be two of my three children were somewhat burdened with my care although they did so lovingly. This is the picture that conjures up the ghost of that existence.

To reserect this thread, I wanted to say that I am reading Catastrophobia, a book by Barbara Hand Clow.  It has a lot of explanations of how the racial memory was tortured and is kept tortured by the Global Elite, who think they are in charge of the world. But that many are learning the forbidden arts and the realities of what has occurred. Try it you'll like it!

Love and Peace, Genelda

I KNOW I've lived before.  Many times.  Last one was I was a swarthy Czech man who worked in the steel industry when the nazis invaded our country in 1939.  As I was being taken somewhere on a train, I suddenly bolted knowing they would gun me down, which they did.  I certainly didn't want to work for them and I also wanted to show my fellow countrymen what animals these 'great' nazis were.  For I was a completely innocent man being murdered.

I've also fought against my brother in the Civil War.  It frequently turned brother against brother simply because of differing ideologies.

I was a thin, sickly woman (probably had tuberculosis aka consumption) and loved playing the piano in our big old white clapboard house.  I never married or went out because of my sickness, then died from it.

I was a young girl dressed in a white dress/garment who took poison because of some unrequited love thing.

I was a highwayman who was hanged under a big old tree.  I always had a fear and strange emotions when I would see or think of places underneath big, old, dark trees.  Got rid of those feelings thank god.

I had an affair with another man's wife and he challenged me to a knife fight in front of the whole town, saying God will protect the right.  Whoever is right will win, that sort of thing.  Unknown to me at the time though was just before we fought we both drank a toast of wine or something, and he had secretly poisoned mine!  So as the poison started to take effect I got weaker, disoriented, and couldn't fight very well of course, so he was able to easily kill me.  He then put his foot on my chest as I was dying shouting how God showed he was right and just because he had won the fight!  Of course nobody knew the truth except him and me.  He then followed me (in another body this lifetime) after this just to sort of 'make sure' I never told anyone else this. 

I was a fish floating upside down once, dying.

I was sort of the governor of an entire planet, inhabited by really stupid sort of 'stick people', though sort of endearing.  We used them to work for us.  They liked me and vice-versa.  Unfortunately their planet started breaking up in some cataclysm and I remember having to look down on all of them running around in confusion while I lifted off in my spacecraft and feeling very sorry for them, that I couldn't help them.

I was sort of a 'keeper of the king's forest' in one area in europe in the 1600's or so.

I either was George Frederic Handel, the composer who wrote Messiah with the famous 'Hallelujuah' chorus, or someone very close to him at the time.  He is my favorite composer hands down of all time this life.

I was one of a 'tribunal' of judges on some other planet who would make life or death decisions on various poor souls who had committed some crime and came before us for judgement.  It drove me insane because I knew damn well I and every other judge on that tribunal was guilty of our own crimes, and here we were able to go on living while condemning others.  So wrong and such a joke.

And there are others.

Anarchist and feminist Emma Goldman who died May 14th, in 1940 obviously had a thing about feet though she never did say ‘If I can’t dance I don’t want to be part of your revolution.’

Here’s what she did say:

 
‘At the dances I was one of the most untiring and gayest. One evening a cousin of Sasha [Alexander Berkman], a young boy, took me aside. With a grave face, as if he were about to announce the death of a dear comrade, he whispered to me that it did not behoove an agitator to dance. Certainly not with such reckless abandon, anyway. It was undignified for one who was on the way to become a force in the anarchist movement. My frivolity would only hurt the Cause.

I grew furious at the impudent interference of the boy. I told him to mind his own business, I was tired of having the Cause constantly thrown into my face. I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from conventions and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement should not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody’s right to beautiful, radiant things." Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world - prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own comrades I would live my beautiful ideal.’
Living My Life (Knopf, 1934 p. 56)

Emma Goldman was born in 1869 in a Jewish ghetto in Russia where her family ran a small inn. When she was 13 the family moved to St Petersburg. It was just after the assassination of Alexander II and so was a time of political repression. The Jewish community suffered a wave of pogroms. The severe economic hardship of the time meant that Emma Goldman had to leave school after six months in St Petersburg and work in a factory.

It was here that Goldman secured a copy of Cherychevsky's 'What is to be done' in which the heroine Vera is converted to nihilism and lives in a world of equality between sexes and co-operative work. The book offered an embryonic sketch of Goldman's later anarchism and also strengthened her determination to live her life in her own way.

At 15 her father tried to marry her off but she refused. It was eventually agreed that the rebellious child should go to America with a half sister to join another sister in Rochester. Goldman quickly realised that for a Jewish immigrant, America was not the land of opportunity that had been promised. America, for Goldman meant slums and sweatshops where she earned her living as a seamstress.

What initially drew Goldman to anarchism was the outcry that followed the Haymarket Square tragedy in 1886 in Chicago. After a bomb had been thrown into a crowd of police during a workers' rally for the 8 hour day. Four anarchists were eventually hanged. Convicted on the flimsiest evidence; the judge at the trial openly declared; Not because you caused the Haymarket bomb, but because you are Anarchists, you are on trial.

This is in the Washington D.C. museum. I think it's a portion of the Atlantis Crystal.  

This info is an excerpt from...

http://www.jillsjewelry.net/topaz-information.html

The name 'topaz' is may have been derived from the ancient Sanskrit word tapas meaning fire. In ancient times, the name 'topaz' refered to any yellow stone. Topaz was one of the stones in the 'Breastplate of Judgement' of Aaron, described in the bible (Exodus: xxviii, 15-30). Topaz is associated with the planet of Jupiter in Vedic astrology. Historically, topaz has been believed to bestow a long life, good looks and intelligence. It was also believed to offer protection from poison, disease and sorcery. Blue topaz is said to enhance one's communicative abilities, helping to more easily and clearly express oneself.
Although topaz is a very hard gemstone, an 8 on the Mohs scale of hardness, it can be split with a single blow and should be protected from hard knocks.

Egyptians thought the Imperial Topaz was the captured light of the Sun God Ra. It was worn in amulets for protection from accident or attacks. Greeks and Romans also associated the golden crystals with their Sun God, Jupiter. They believed the stone increased their strength and could neutralize enchantments.

Bushmen in Africa used Topaz in healing ceremonies and rituals to connect with ancestral spirits. In medieval courts, Kings, Judges and other noble persons were often presented with an engraved Topaz to win favor and cultivate positive relationships. Falcons were a favorite carving subject. A powder ground into wine was believed to relieve asthma. Leaving a crystal in wine for three days produced an elixir that was used on the eyes to improve vision. Some beliefs held the stone could make you invisible during moments of danger.

If you are on a journey of spiritual change, Topaz makes an excellent companion. It teaches you to trust in the Universe to guide and provide. Aiding you in fully recognizing the magical laws of attraction and manifestation and your ability to manipulate them. Meditations with a stone will help awaken your sleeping gifts and illuminate your co-creative energies.

The crystal helps you become more aware of your personal world, and the power you have to bring about positive changes. It strengthens your confidence to make decisions that are correct for you, giving you the fire and motivation you need to follow through on your choices. Work with Topaz to make your dreams your reality.

Artists may be attracted to the gemstone because it promotes your individual creativity. Stimulating you creative energies like a Muse, lifting your art to new levels. The crystal can be used as an energy battery when your demanding schedule threatens to overwhelm your day. Carrying a stone during those crazy days will help you stay mentally alert, while protecting you from unseen dangers that could thwart more than just your next appointment.

The color of your crystal has some impact on the energies it can bring. Here is a brief list of additional qualities you'll find in different Topaz. Always be open to what you feel or hear from your own stones as well. You may find Topaz assists you in ways not mentioned in this or any other article. Honor and accept that. Clear Topaz: This is a stone of confidence. Giving extra strength to be yourself, unafraid to creatively express the beautiful voice the Universe gave you. Helps stimulate natural gifts.

Blue Topaz: Works with your Throat Chakra allowing you to voice the perfect words for bringing your desires and dreams into reality. Unites body, mind and spirit with the Universal All.

Imperial Topaz: A stone of Fire, burning with the energies of Grandfather Sun. This is the stone that will see your goals through, never allowing your confidence to waver, your motivation to fail. Use the crystal for a quick charge when your battery is low. Stimulates the first three Chakra, opens the Crown.

Rose Topaz: Opening the base Chakra and stimulating the Kundalini - this crystal is great for balancing the exhausting energies of passion and power. If you are quick to anger, carrying a rosey gemstone may help you temper and channel your anger into productive resolutions instead of fights.

Healing traditions for Topaz still recommend the crystal for relief from asthma and digestive problems. Patients undergoing long convalescence may use the stone to improve stamina, helping the body recover from its inactivity. It should help with insomnia by warding off nightmares, unproductive thoughts and allowing you to relax. It may promote the healing of wounds, strengthen your back and spinal cord and possibly aid in weight loss by raising your metabolism.

Another good website...

http://healing.about.com/od/gemstonesaz/p/p_topaz.htm

I was mentioned in a book about Cayce prophecy. My name was Ammelle of Atlantis. I was responsible for encouraging the preservation of art, and the early attempt to create a written language and these records were transported to and kept safe in Egypt, because of the awareness of the Earth changes, and that what would happen to Atlantis, would not effect Egypt.

It also was mentioned that many of the inner shrines have inscriptions by me as Isssi in a different lifetime.

The teachings of Hasidism are founded on two theoretical conceptions: (1) religious panentheism, *(not the same as pantheism) or the omnipresence of God, and (2) the idea of Devekus, communion between God and man. "Man," says the Besht, "must always bear in mind that God is omnipresent and is always with him; that God is, so to speak, the most subtle matter everywhere diffused... Let man realize that when he is looking at material things he is in reality gazing at the image of the Deity which is present in all things. With this in mind man will always serve God even in small matters."

( *Panentheism is essentially a unifying combination of theism (God is the supreme being) and pantheism (God is everything). While pantheism says that God and the universe are coextensive, panentheism claims the God is greater than the universe and that the universe is contained within God. Panentheism holds that God is the “supreme affect and effect” of the universe.) 

Hasidism gave a ready response to the burning desire of the common people in its simple, stimulating, and comforting faith. In contradistinction to other sectarian teaching, early Hasidism aimed not at dogmatic or ritual reform, but at a deeper psychological one. It aimed to change not the belief, but the believer. By means of psychological suggestion it created a new type of religious man, a type that placed emotion above reason and rites, and religious exaltation above knowledge.

The founder of Hasidism, Israel ben Eliezer, also became known under the title of the "Master of the Good Name" (the Ba'al Shem Tov, abbreviated as the Besht). His fame as a healer spread not only among the Jews, but also among the non-Jewish peasants and the Polish nobles. He allegedly could successfully predict the future.

To the common people, the Besht appeared wholly admirable. Characterized by an extraordinary sincerity and simplicity, he knew how to gain an insight into the spiritual needs of the masses. He taught them that true religion consisted not only of religious scholarship, but also of a sincere love of God combined with warm faith and belief in the efficacy of prayer; that the ordinary person filled with a sincere belief in God, and whose prayers come from the heart, is more acceptable to God than someone versed in and fully observant of Jewish law who lacks inspiration in his divine service. This democratization of Judaism attracted to the teachings of the Besht not only the common people, but also the scholars whom the rabbinical scholastisism and ascetic Kabbalah failed to satisfy.

About 1740 the Besht established himself in the Podolian town of Mezhbizh. He gathered about him numerous disciples and followers, whom he initiated into the secrets of his teachings not by systematic exposition, but by means of sayings and parables that contained both easily graspable insights, for the laymen, and profound Kabbalistic depth, for the great scholars. These sayings spread by oral transmission; later the founder's disciples set them in writing, developing the thoughts of their master into a system. The Besht himself did not write anything.

There’s this fellow who lives in a house in a flood plain and unfortunately the flood water enveloped his home. The fellow ended up on the top of his house. Since he was a faithful man and he prayed, he knew that God would rescue him. Pretty soon, a guy in a boat came by and offered him rescue, but he said, “No, God will rescue me.”

Soon a helicopter came over and offered him rescue and again, he said, “No, God will rescue me.” Not long after, a man came floating by on a log and invited him to jump on with him and yet the man said, “No, God will rescue me.” And the flood waters continued to rise and before long the man passed over, and coming before God, he said, “God, I prayed. Why didn’t you rescue me?” And God said, “What did you expect? I gave you three chances!”

What is it that you expect? I mean...really!