Books I Have Loved

Just some of the books I've read

I've loved the journey, and the people I've met, and had great joy in my children and loves. There even are so many pleasures I have had, art, and film, and food :) among many. But what comes back to me now, is the books I have read.

I was reminded of this because the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird came up. I read it when I was 12, and it inspired me in so many ways. It was a book about America, not just the racism that permeated it but all the good that existed side by side with it. It had great characters, Scout, and Jem, and Boo, and humanity and decency were characters in the book too.

Scout was the main character, or so I thought at first. She's a tomboy growing up in the old South, and as she matures, you see that the South was changing too. There's a rape, and a black man falsely accused, and there's her father, Atticus Finch, a lawyer reluctantly agreeing to defend him, because he knows it will cause his neighbors to react, but also, because it's the right thing to do. Scout listens to him talking to people saying this was wrong, and one day it would come back to haunt them.

And the movie has the greatest role ever played, Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, for which he won an Oscar. He inspired me to want to defend people, and, in seeing his relationship with his children, he was the sort of man and father I wanted to be. I just ordered the book and movie to pass on to my children.

There is no list of best books I have read, of course. I've read thousands, I've got many more still to go.

But there's Orwell. 1984 was a dystopian view of the world, and I recommend that, and Animal Farm, and that you read this: http://antiwar.com/reese/?articleid=8661"The Value of George Orwell"

Along with Orwell I hope you'll read Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Two writers, one who said we would be manipulated by propaganda and lies and torture, and the other who said we would be controlled through pleasure, sex and drugs.

P.G. Wodehouse was one of the finest, and funniest writers I have known. I think I've read more than 80 of his books,. Laughing Gas and Pigs Have Wings still makes me smile 50 years after I read them.

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, and The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, and Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, covers my gloomy Russians, I have not read Pushkin, alas. There is a part in The Brothers Karamazov where the village whore tells the priest a story. In it, a woman gives an onion to a poor person. That was all she had, but because of that one act of kindness, she is granted salvation. I think of it when reminded of the spirituality of the Russian people.

Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms and lastly, The Old Man and the Sea, which taught me the endurance of the human spirit.

Leslie Charteris' The Saint Novels. Read the first, Enter the Saint, and you'll be hooked. I've read them all, about a gentleman thief and Robin Hood type character. There's a limerick of his I still remember:

"When Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden did sin,
Adam, instead of confessing to his deed like a man,
Cried "the woman tempted me"
And tried to hide behind the snake"

The Wheel of Time Novels by Robert Jordan. It is my ultimate fantasy series about the battle between good and evil. The writer passed away, but left notes to complete the series. The new writer's book, The Gathering Storm is quite good, and I look forward to the 13th of the series in November.

Cheiro's books on Palmistry and Numerology inspired me more than one could imagine, and I shall always be grateful.

Historical biographies and fiction; I've read ALL of Dorothy Dunnett, who is both literate and captures some very interesting characters and historical periods.

Harry Potter, and the Stephenie Meyer's Bella the Vampire books for not guilty at all pleasures.

Too many books on Science, Astrology, Maps, Art, Language, Music and Kabballah to mention.

The Gita, for its poetry.

I met a man in a bookstore once and we talked about the books we had in our libraries that we never had time to read and he said, "that's ok, I just sit and Breathe them in".

May you always breathe books.

Are We There Yet?

No

Here we are, again, and it isn't the beginning of the end, or even, a new beginning. We're always on this journey, because we're immortal. We're all at some point of our own journeys, but, right now, we're all at this stage of incompletion, of karma, of seeking.

So, it's a life of hard work for us right now, and, in spite of all the obstacles, we have to hang in there. And the only thing I can promise you is peace. Oh, and whatever you fear, will be fine.

So is it heaven you seek? That's only a stage, and heaven can also exist here on earth, and you can find it if you find your connection to God. And the fastest way for that is to feel love and compassion, and then, you will find peace.

Oh, I could be angry a hundred times over, and when I am, it really is something. But what you see right now, the imbalance and nature's way of trying to correct it, is your doing. And only you can correct it.

But in the end, you will have to find your way back to me.

When God Created Humanity

We were given free will

And if we were truly given free will, is it possible that all of what we are going through is, unplanned? Yes, it's possible to see a possible outcome. But what if we must also accept that there's no Plan behind all this, and we truly are responsible for whatever happens?

Exactly one year ago I wrote several blog posts here. For those who found my last post too, er, bleak, I suggest you go back to the July 2009 archives and see if I didn't explain my thoughts well enough, and didn't I say there would always be hope, for those who could change?

For now, it's enough to say that if things are unfolding, then it's not as they should, or could have done, but as to what we've created over several millennia of Earth's history.

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  First, we lost sight of God. And for that we can't blame God, or the man made religions. We had the ability to see they were temporary structures passed through all too human beings, and they were meant to evolve as we were meant to evolve. That we were meant to one day look for a direct connection without having a whole lot of tribal rules imposed on us.


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  And if God out of should try to teach us certain lessons about karma and we missed that, then whose fault is that?


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  And when teachers came, who rejected the teachers because they weren't perfect, or wouldn't fit our preconceptions? At least they, however flawed, tried to help us. All you had to do was learn the lesson, and move on.


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  Ultimately, who made the choice to shut off the spiritual so we could pursue the material? Humanity did. And the fear and scepticism, hoo hah! So don't complain when you're told it's too late.

So Humanity had a choice, and even if free will had been eroded over thousands of years, yet, it still had a choice. And if you now must accept that whatever must be, that's not punishment, it's an opportunity.

Is That All There Is?

What keeps us going is hope

So what if that's all there is? Things have been pretty fucked up, so what if I said, what you've got is what you've got? Mass riots and depression I guess.

Apologies first for using this dark picture of Scotland, which we loved very much. It was on the ferry, which is about journeys, and the rains had stopped as soon as we left Kendal, and by the time we left Nairn and then reached Iona, a brilliant sun came out.

Which illustrates my point:

What if? What if your marriage is what you've got, and your home is what you've got, and your children, loved ones, parents, jobs, whatever were the way they were? I know I'd keep going on, that I wouldn't give up trying, that I would keep plugging away at people and helping them to change. I would still be a healer, I would still be their kind friend.

And that's it really. Things might change, but they'll be difficult changes. People might remain the same, and give up. Today a woman told Chloe her husband wanted to leave her and their three children, and one of them is a thirteen yr. old autistic child.

What is it with people, with men that evade their responsibilities and run away? What is it with people that give up?

Oh, people might say they'll hang in there and things will change.

But, what if things won't change and you know that? You can always change the way you look at things, but you'll still, live with something or someone for the rest of your life. And, matters may get worse. So, one may ask, is that all there is/Is that how it's going to be?

So yes, things might only possibly go downhill from here. Suffering may increase exponentially and natural disasters and illnesses increase. And chances are, the person you're with might not change.

But.

You accept that this is what you've got, and you'll make a nourishing soup, heck, an omelette out of what you've got.

And I'll create a safe harbour where all can shelter and wait till the storm passes away, and I'll keep building these refuges around the world, but I'll tell those who know who I am: The safest refuge is the one inside yourself.

The Sacred Marriage

The Lovers

Here's where we went wrong: the split between male and female energies, and the ensuing split within our spirituality that brought pain to this planet. And because we are not in balance, our actions are not in balance, and all the wars, pollution, and corruption are a direct result of that imbalance.

Here's how we can heal that: The Sacred Marriage. And the sacred marriage is not a tool that heals us, though it starts the process of healing, and the process of healing, I should say, is not the easiest thing in the world, but it certainly brings change!

There was a sacred marriage in Canaa, where water was turned into wine, and that was a miracle to show how one element could become another, and one person could become another.

I was married to Chloe in 1996 and even though we were together before that it was the ceremony itself, with our close personal friends, that brought a lot of healing to Canada. This continued into our magical journey to the U.K. and mainland Europe that year.

I returned to the U.K in 1999 to follow an eclipse, and there, conducted another sacred marriage for my friends Heather and Mars. It poured all day, then the sun came out for the marriage, then it poured again. We were swarmed by a cloud of bees and wasps, yet none of us were bitten. Symbolic, significant; I still have a photo of a wasp resting on my hand. The eclipse path went from New York to SE England to Turkey and India, and there were floods and earthquakes almost immediately after that, and two years later, the world changed with 9/11 in New York.

I held a sacred marriage ceremony for Chaieomie and Neil in 2002, and that too was magical, I hope to dig up the pictures so I can post that instead of this generic thingy I have up here. It was held in a provincial park. An eagle (I think) was sick and caught in a tree, but when we approached it became very frantic. So I released it from a distance and it flew away. Me, and birds :)

Isis and Patrick's marriage in Hawaii was accompanied by similar weather changes.

Chloe and I renewed our sacred marriage in England in 2007, with our dear friends around us, and England had its worst flooding that year, but wherever we went, the rains, that had been pouring for three months, stopped, and our healing energies helped normalize things.. for a while, but I left healers and healing centres behind.

So I teach my students to perform the ceremony, and in many cases they meet the person they are meant to marry (note I do not say it is the perfect person, just, the right person) and when they do the healing it creates very powerful energies. Does the marriage last? If they choose, if they work together and adjust, sure. But the energies created! Years later, miracles happen in that area of Devon, and Hamilton, and Toronto where I did my work. And the people who were there had huge changes. Even when my niece then my nephew got married and all I did was be there to bless them, then that was enough to bring healing protection.

This is the sacred marriage that will heal the world. It is not a ceremony between two individuals, though if done in good faith then yes it will bless and help you. But what it is is a union of two energies, the male and female, and it will bring about not a new religion, but the Way of Atlan that will heal the planet.

But first, there will be great change.

Suffer the Children

I was abused as a child

About time I said it. I was molested.

When I was living in the U.K the lady in the neighbouring flat was a secretary in the Crown Prosecution Service. She told me the number of cases of child abuse she had to type every day were so horrifying and traumatic she could hardly believe it herself. This was in the 70's, and it's only gotten worse.

Now there's emotional and psychological abuse, which can actually be worse than physical abuse. God knows, that seems to exist in every family, and it's a wonder anyone survives that to become a decent human being. That's because we have that aspect of God within ourselves that protects us, though of course there also is our choices, and our karma.

One could blame parents, as one could blame God. One could also try to understand, and only then can we learn to forgive, and find peace.

What we are going through now is a reflection of a reflection of the imbalance that exists within all of us. So if our parents, teachers, spouses and loved ones should be abusive, that comes from the lack of balance within all of us. I don't need to judge that. Why should I, when all that happens is part of a cycle we repeat, over and over again? Moral lectures and psychological exercises seem not to make a difference any way. I do feel, though, the pain we all carry inside ourselves.

So I was sexually molested when I was 7 years old. All the other stuff that happened before or after, when adults would grope and fumble in that furtive little way, was no big deal. It was like, what the hell are you up to? But the one time when I could have been hurt for the rest of my life, well, I went...elsewhere, and when I returned, I was fine.

Both the victims and the perpetrators I have seen since; no, they are not fine, and their need for healing is reflected in the planet's need for healing.

Religion is a human failing that focuses on the male or female aspects, none of which are in balance. So, those who follow that can make war, and hurt others, and abuse, because what they believe in is itself not in balance. But bring the child into the equation, and heal and protect the child, and then and only then, can we begin to heal.

What Next?

This has been a horrible year

As all the changes we spoke of have to pass, with so much devastation and suffering, thoughts turn to the people out there, as well as the ones closer to home. Yes, it has been a horrible year for so many of us. The Haiti earthquake was so terrible, the mind could not possibly believe a greater one could come. Yet it did, in the BP oil spill.

And now I say this, that more terrible things will come. Yet, they were so preventable, and all that human beings have to do is change. Yet, change is what we fear. And I have hope, but know how difficult that change will be.

So once again, in a year of turmoil, and after so many people close to me went through their own change, I am once again going through changes of my own. And it may be I will finally move out of Toronto, and the change will not be easy, not because of my own discomfort, but that my family must go through this as well.

But I also see hope for this planet, and for the people that I love. Be strong, you are protected and loved more than you realize.