The lady who came to see you sounds pretty "amateur" to me. Probably someone from one of the local churches trying to "get the goods" on you and sully your reputation.

Right. I was kind of thinking that also that she may have just been some old bitty from the church who was trying to run you out of town with threats that she had recorded you asking for money or something questionable and since you didnt, then she had nothing and just wanted to get the hell out of there. It sounded very haphazard and not very well planned out.

She may have been involved with law enforcement and Im not ruling that out but just from this description and the fact that its a small town with heavy church influence leads me to agree with Ruth on this. Too bad the battery in her wire didnt start to fizzle and arc and burn a hole in her side during the reading.

Krimsa I like your thought pattern there at the end.

Yes I took her as some adventuresome church lady. She may have had some help from some amateur detective or devices she got on the Internet.

I wish I had been more alert and more experienced and nailed her operation on the spot ..or gone to her van and looked in.

Because of my tarot advertising (and some of it was on my website) about Springfield, two local churches sent me a letter asking that I take their church listing off of my site.

They had concerns about "associating" with me.

I had a page for all the churches, so I just took them all off. It is too bad for people moving here who want to know what churches are available.... but oh well. Why should I give them free advertising.

Not all of the churches were that radical.

I had a wild day today.

I started out to pay my property taxes. The office was closed. I think because tomorrow's election day if that makes any sense. So that was a wasted trip. Then I went over to town to by a mat so I too can start doing the 5 rites exercises, by I couldn't find a suitable mat.

So to avoid a totally wasted trip I went back into the cool hardware store where I had previously bought the wind chimes. I found a lot more cool stuff there including a couple candle burners. You put a candle inside of them and put the cover back on. It's all ceramic and it has openings in it carved like dolphins. So I imagine these dolphin shapes get projected onto the wall if the room is dark. They are really cool looking, like they came out of an Egyptian tomb or something, yet they were only about 3 bucks a piece so I bought two. Owl use these for mediation.

I also bought a an indoor waterfall that's pretty cool, for water mediation.

Then I stopped in a thrift store and found a whole bunch of cool stuff in there. All sorts of small little bowls that have really cool shapes and I can use on various altars for different purposes. I also found a candle projector there too. This one is made out of metal and has stars cut out to project the light.

I found a waterfall there too that's is really cool. It's a ceramic old house completely with bushes and scrubs and a little mill attached. The mill has a water wheel on the side of it and there is a trough above it and a pond below it. You fill the pond with water and a battery operated pump pumps the water up through the trough and it falls down to make the water wheel spin.

I filled my cart with this kind of junk.

I was letting my inner child shop today and he bought some things that remind him of his childhood. He bought a little square tin that has a teddy bear, a goose, and a stuffed rabbit sitting on a rocking chair with a cat sitting in a basket on the floor beneath them. He'll probably use it to store incense and things like that.

When I got to the check out counter I realized that I probably bought too much stuff, but I had been very careful about what I picked out and I didn't want to give up any of it.

I was truly amazed when the whole bill only came to $12. I thought it was going to be more like $30 because I wasn't really keeping track of the prices. I got some really cool offering plates and a salt bowl and some other things that were on my list of things to get.

Some people might think I'm getting too involved with "things". I can hear Jess Lee, saying, "Just Be!"

But these little trinkets serve to conjure up moods and thoughts. They inspire the subconscious mind. They have their value in the spiritual realm.

This reminds me too,...

I also stopped in the town library to look up books on Wicca and Shamanism. To my disappointment they had nothing!

Well, actually they had three books that came up under the keyword "Witch".

1. Why Witchcraft is Evil
2. The Dangers and Peril of Witchcraft
3. The Witch Burnings; A Historical Account.

Ironically those three books were placed in the "Religion Section" with a ton of Christian books.

Some other books that came up with the keywords of "witch" or "Shaman" were:

1. Celtic Folklore and Myths
2. The Primitive ways is Indigenous Tribes.
3. Voodoo, Curses and Demons

Those were all placed in the "Mythology Fiction Section"

I also found a couple of books on Eastern Mysticism by Alan Watts. These were placed under "Philosophy". I didn't take them out, but they reminded me of the days when I used to read a lot of Alan Watts books.

The whole way home I chanted, "Oooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmm"

It brought back good memories of olden days when I used to mediate a lot.

I must confess that it's rather disappointing though to see that the library is so biased. They only recognize Christianity as a valid religion, and everything else is listed under mythology or mere philosophy, and even then only books that portray it in a negative light are available. No wonder the public is brainwashed. Their information services are clearly biased. Any young child that goes to this library is going to get the impression that only books on Christianity are considered to be "real religion" and all other ideas of spirituality are not only just myth, but they are even evil and destructive myths to avoid!

That's the impression this library is painting by the very way that they organize and present their materials.

It was clearly driven by Christian-minded management.

"Why Witchcraft is Evil"



Are you kidding?

I would have brought it up to the front desk and wacked the clerk over the head with it and said, there, that's why its evil.

Just something I found on a website of interest.

This is the best known (i.e., the most infamous) of the witch-hunt manuals. Written in Latin, the Malleus was first submitted to the University of Cologne on May 9th, 1487. The title is translated as "The Hammer of Witches". Written by James Sprenger and Henry Kramer (of which little is known), the Malleus remained in use for three hundred years. It had tremendous influence in the witch trials in England and on the continent. This translation is in the public domain.

The Malleus was used as a judicial case-book for the detection and persecution of witches, specifying rules of evidence and the canonical procedures by which suspected witches were tortured and put to death. Thousands of people (primarily women) were judically murdered as a result of the procedures described in this book, for no reason than a strange birthmark, living alone, mental illness, cultivation of medicinal herbs, or simply because they were falsely accused (often for financial gain by the accuser). The Malleus serves as a horrible warning about what happens when intolerence takes over a society.

Although the Malleus is manifestly a document which displays the cruelty, barbarism, and ignorance of the Inquisition, it has also been interpreted as evidence of a wide-spread subterranean pagan tradition which worshiped a pre-Christian horned deity, particularly by Margaret Murray.
The source version of this text, with notes and additional material, can be found at MalleusMaleficarum.org [External Site].

I bet they would not carry a book that was titled "Why religion is evil" or even "The book your Church does not want you to read."

Guess I wouldn't have stood a chance!

Thanks for the link. I have always wanted to look at this document. And, while Margaret Murray did a lot of good with her writings, I believe many of her theories were discredited. Not sure on that.

cultivation of medicinal herbs, ????

Sounds like the FDA's secret service ...

a strange birthmark, living alone, mental illness,??

I'm doomed if that kind of witch hunt resumes.

Okay....worst case scenario we can move into together, use makeup on the birthmarks and I'll vouch for your sanity if you'll vouch for mine.

They would think we were a coven.

You guys are already a cyber coven, and your witchy deeds are being recorded in the World Wide Web hall of flame.

We're screwed.

Did someone say screw?

you have a one track mind.

I was thinking today about how wonderful it is to live in the modern world, and a modern nation that supports free speech, and freedom of religion.

Of course, I guess it has more to do with a free nation than a free world. That's truly sad.

But the mere fact that I am freely able to order witchcraft supplies and books from the Internet and practice witchcraft without any need to hide it is truly nice.

The library might not have good materials but because of the Internet they are readily available. I also can't wait to get my athames and quartz wand tip.

I love things and I make no apologies for it.

I am a little upset about the library crap though. This means that I have to buy the books I want to read.

I'm looking at one that Scott suggested in the back of his book. It's called "The Way of the Shaman".

Did I already post this?

Scott says that in this book methods of entering into altered states of mind are exlained. He also say that this book explain how to contact your power animal. That sounds interesting too. And finally the book supposedly focuses on healing techniques.

That was the book I was hoping to find at the library. I should have made them to an inter-library loan for me.

It's only a $10 book and would be well worth the price, IF it's any good. By that, I mean that if I like it I'll probably want it around for reference.

Scott not only recommended it, but he also put an asterisk next to it to indicate that he highly recommends it.

I could buy it from a used book store on the web, but by the time I get shipping in with that I may as well buy it new at Amazon and get free shipping.

So off to fill out an order form.

Any more book recommendations Ruth? Or anyone?

How about "Living Wicca" by Scott. Is that a continuation of the one I just read?

Also any silent thread readers out there?

H-E-L-L-O !!!!

I'm specifically interested in shamanism now, in particular learning altered states of consciousness (non-drug induced) and contacting spirits.

Or I guess I could just drink some spirits and contact unconsciousness.

Actually herbal induced altered states would be fine as long as the herbs are legally accessible in the USA.

Any potion recipes?

(I'm not plucking any eyes out of any newts though)

I recently met a wicker here. I usto think people who practiced witchcraft wore mostly lowlifes, But she seems more spiritual and interseted in the real truth things than any ----------(whatever name brand religion) Iv ever known.

However, some have told me that wicca has turned into a namebrand label also.(?)

You started it.