The Christian & The Witch

One of my friends has just said goodbye to the UK for four years in order to fulfill a lifelong ambition doing missionary work abroad. With the aid of her local Christian centre she raised enough funds to allow her and her family to move to Tanzania where they will work full-time in community projects set up by her church. I shall miss my friend – she taught me a lot.

We’re a strange friendship mix – her, the Christian and me 'the witch' as she occasionally called me. During our conversations we often came to an impasse over our beliefs. I remember one time, many years ago, we went camping together and got talking about the weather. She told me that the forecast was for rain and so I said I’d cast a spell for sunshine. She very quickly replied that she would say a prayer instead. I rather glibly came back with, “It’s the same thing”, to which she retorted that it was no such thing, and that not only would she send a prayer to God to change the weather, but that she’d also pray for me, as well!

We also disagreed on healing methods too. I recall our last time was just a few months back. It was on a Monday morning just as we were getting ready for our swimming lesson. I was moaning that I was feeling a little delicate and generally trying to get out of going for a swim (she was my swimming teacher). After telling me that I looked like shit and then inquiring as to why I was feeling so rough I explained that I’d had a particularly heavy crystal healing session. She immediately told me I should stop all my mumbo jumbo therapies and to come to her church to get some proper faith healing.

Oh yes, we certainly had some interesting discussions! But the way I see is this…

All spiritual belief systems and religions are pretty much doing the same thing. Their methodologies, while perhaps appearing to differ on the surface, share common features. Even their teachings are similar. As soon as more people begin to recognise and acknowledge this, there will be more tolerance and understanding. Maybe then we can share the best of what we know and we will all benefit instead of seeing differences and division. My friend taught me about the power of faith, of facing your fears, of never giving up on your dreams and also about making time to play. I shall miss her laughter.

I’m not really a witch by the way, but I can see why people might think I am. Alongside my many wacky interests and ideas, I dowse, make the odd concoction from herbs if the kids get ill, do a bit of healing, hug trees and also request sunny days and parking spaces from the universe when I need them. I guess in the past I may have been burned for my activities (maybe I was!), but I wouldn’t go as far as calling myself a witch. My mum though still has the dreadful habit of telling everyone I am, especially at her parties where there seems to be a prominence of Christians. It makes for an interesting atmosphere I can tell you! I have to keep one eye on the matches and an ear open for the cry of, ‘Burn the witch!’… Only joking ;-) … Blessed Be! Txx

Discussing religion and people’s spiritual beliefs is contentious ground to tread, but if you feel up to it, why not share your thoughts below. Maybe you think it's a totally subjective experiential topic that shouldn’t be shared?

Crystal Clear!

Up until a few months ago I’d never even considered having crystal healing, but as my friend Richard was training to be a crystal healer and needed guinea pigs to experiment on I thought I’d help out.

Right from my first session I knew this wasn’t some airy-fairy therapy. As soon as Richard started laying crystals around me I was racked with the shakes as energy started to shift through my body. I flipped between being hot one minute and cold the next, and as stagnant energy was released from my system, I sighed, yawned and burped! And then, as if that wasn’t enough to convince me that something real was happening, for the next two days following the treatment I was totally exhausted and felt as if I’d been run over by a truck! These were exactly the same symptoms I was used to experiencing after having a full-blown chiropractic session, and definitely not something I expected to have happen from a few crystals being placed on my body!

Now the cynical of you out there will probably be thinking “what a load of crock!” and that it’s all in my head – that I want to believe something is happening, and so it is a kind of placebo effect - but I’m not the only one who feels the effects. If anyone were qualified to say it’s just a ‘mind thing’, it would have to be my anally retentive psychoanalytical therapist husband, but now having tried crystal healing for himself he’s equally convinced, as I am, that crystal healing shifts something and works. In fact, my husband normally needs up to three days recovering in bed after his sessions!

It’s after we’ve passed the period of healing crisis though that we experience the most exciting part of crystal healing – we both have a very sudden and marked increase of energy and also a greater sense of well-being. There are physical changes, too. After just two sessions my husband’s knees, which he damaged through years in the building game, are starting to feel stronger and I’ve found that I no longer suffer with chronic back pain. Even a long-term injury I gained while working on the farm has all but disappeared. The best change of all is our mental outlook; my husband is calmer, I’m more creative and we have both have regained a zest for life.

My last crystal session was particularly exciting though. As soon as Richard put the first stone down, even he knew something had occurred. “Are you meditating again, Theresa?” he asked as he placed a crystal by my Crown chakra. “Yes”, I replied. “I thought so”, he said, “Your energy has changed”. (In the previous session, Richard had cleared a blockage in my brow chakra as I was having trouble meditating.) As he got to my heart chakra he muttered, “This is interesting…”

By the time he reached my feet, he exclaimed, “Well, Theresa, I don’t know what else you’ve been up to, but it’s working. All your centres (chakras) are open and balanced and your energy field is the correct egg shape.” (The first time in 10 years!) “I can’t find any blockages at all. You truly are Crystal Clear!”

Richard then went on to put high vibration crystals on and around my body sending me off onto another phase of my spiritual development. And as I felt myself drifting out of my body up into the higher planes, Richard made some joke about me being so vibrationally clear, that I’d soon become invisible…

… don’t worry, I’ll float back here soon! Txx

Richard trained with The Rose School. If you’d like to know about the courses they offer, please visit: http://www.crystaltherapycourses.com/

Are you a practitioner, or do you have any healing? If so, share your experiences below. I'd love to hear from you!

More Haste, Less Speed!

“Have you got a busy day ahead?” my friend asked me yesterday morning.

“How did you guess?” I answered.

“Your aura has a rather busy look about it” she replied.

Busy? Busy is the understatement of the week, hence my lack of blog posts! As well as my usual weekly juggle of learning activities with the kids (we home educate), my own studying and writing, household chores (never my strong point), cleaning out the chickens and mowing our massive lawn, I had the task of completing and posting a long overdue quarterly newsletter for the MBS group I help organize.

The production of the newsletter began ever so calmly a few weeks ago, but very swiftly gained momentum this week, resulting into rushing mode. One of the speakers changed some details at the last minute, resulting in my needing to redo massive sections of text and condensing other sections so I could cram it all into it’s allotted small space which seemed to take me forever. And then just as I thought I was on the home straight I ran out of ink half way through printing!

So off to town we trotted (a journey I could really have done without) destination Staples photocopier swiftly followed by BB’s coffee shop to compile the finished article. In between slurps of coffee and mouthfuls of muffin, my husband folded the newsletters, I stuffed them into envelopes, my son stuck on the stamps and my daughter popped them into a box ready for posting. We finally got them into the post box yesterday evening with a huge sigh of relief. It wasn’t until I was lying in bed at the end of the day running through the newsletter in my head that I suddenly realised that I’d made a major error. I’d written down a meeting date incorrectly… Argh! In my efforts to get the newsletter out, I’d made a blunder. I could hear my dad’s words echoing in my ears, coming back to haunt me from my childhood – “more haste, less speed”.

So what did I do? Well, I rolled over and went to sleep, full in the knowledge that sitting up all night worrying would not solve anything and that I could at least amend the email version before sending it in the morning. (The godsend of electronic mail – you can always amend your cock-ups immediately and hit ‘resend’ if you need to!)

In the past I would have been up half the night fretting. So what’s changed? My mind state. On the flipside of my chaotic week I had an amazing crystal healing session (which I’ll share with you in my next post), joined a fabulous meditation group for children (that my kids absolutely loved), did yoga every morning and a minimum of 20 minutes meditation every evening. That's the secret to my altered state of mind.

It's taken me years to combat my neurotic personality, but at last the accumulation of all my mind-freeing activities have started to make real noticeable effects in my life. To top the week I had my 'date with the artist' at the Buddhist centre and you’ll never guess what the meditation and teaching was about…'busyness' (yes, the teacher used that word!) and how meditation helps find peace of mind. They’re right, it does! Good job too as I’ve got an even busier week coming up next week! Txx

Do you naturally cope with life and have everything in control? Or are you exploring different methods to find peace of mind? If so, which ways work for you and which ways don’t? Share your experiences by leaving a comment – I’d love to know what works for you.