Choosing a Talisman

People have worn amulets and talismans for protection and good health for centuries, whether for protection from ill fortune or bad spirits ot to provide a little boost to their health and well being. So what makes a pendant a talisman?

Any pendant can be used as a talisman or amulet for any purpose you feel necessary, however to add potency to the talisman it would be wise to chose a symbol or image that carries power within its form.

For example, it your fascination lies in ancient Egypt and were looking for a pendant to assist you with personal power and confidence then a pendant in the form of ‘The Eye of Horus’ would be a good choice, whereas if you are in need of direction you would be wise to choose a pendant depicting Anubis.

Eye of Horus - Health Strength & Protection

Anubis - Guidance on Lifes Journey

Artistic people, who rely on the imagination for their impulsive creativity will find that The Pegasus of the Stars will serve them well. Whereas those who battle ill health will find respite in ‘The Cross of St Manchin’.

Pegasus of the Stars - Creativity & Quick Thinking

Cross of St Manchin - Healing

Power is related to belief, if you have a belief in a deity or a symbol then by your own admission you are allowing its energy to be amplified to suit your needs. So when you choose your pendant select an image that you are not only comfortable wearing, but also one that you have a genuine belief in or a respect for, and you may find that it really does assist you on life’s journey.

An Official Insomniac?

I think that I am now quite correct in saying I have insomnia and its driving me mad.

I decide its time for bed as I am dead on my feet, then as soon as I lie down I am suddenly wide awake and laying there telling myself I should be asleep. If I do happen do doze of its not for very long and then I end up clock watching until its a reasonable time in the morning to get up.

I have tried all of the usual things to get some sleep from warm drinks to ’strong’ drinks, lavender scented baths, reading a book etc etc.. I have even resorted to some less that traditional methods to exhaust me before bed (snigger). I still lie there awake.  I have always been a light sleeper, my partner has always said that if a mouse walked past the house through the night and broke wind, I’d wake up!

So this has got me thinking. Do I have anything in the shop that I haven’t tried for myself yet?

I have tried hypnotherapy cd’s in the past and they have worked, after a fashion, but I have not tried this one yet. So I’m putting this on my shopping list.

I like ambient, relaxing music too, so I’m also going to add this one to the list. Llewellyn really does produce some beauitiful music so I know this is going to be relaxing.

As far as using some herbs – which I tend not to for myself, no idea why, I tend to prefer crystals. I think I am best off with Valerian and Lavender, I just need to come up with a suitable mix, which I will probably use for a pillow sachet.

Wish me luck!

I was a what????

One of those things that I accept and but don’t really understand or question for that matter, is how I have been blessed with the ability to look into someones past lives. Yes I do consider it a blessing as it has allowed me to help people understand why, in some cases they behave a certain way in their present life. Exploring a past incarnation can also help to locate the root of any ‘unfounded’ fears or phobias that we are struggling with in the here and now.

I have met read for people who have turned out to be ancient warriors, Nubian royalty, citizens of the French Revolution and even an actress and gangsters moll. Sometimes their tales are heart breaking and I weep as I write them down, other times I feel as though I am writing out a screen play as the events are so detailed and colourful. I have been taken all over the world during these readings to places I would never give a second thought to in daily life and have been provided with a privileged glimpse into the lives of the people in that moment in time. I feel honored that I am able to do this for those that ask.

I do not need to meet the client that requires the reading, only a photograph, as it is by looking into the image that the history is revealed. Please be assured that whatever is revealed to you is given for a reason. It may be that you have walked this way many times but only the life with the most relevance to your struggles or needs in this life will be revealed to you, and always with love.

Stop the world I want to get off!

This past couple of weeks I have felt stressed to the extreme, family upsets, friends going through difficult times, neighbours being hell, all topped off by a four year old who will not, under any circumstances stop talking. It doesn’t help that my partner works away from home and adult company through the day is scarce either. I think last weekend I reached meltdown.

So this weekend when my other half was home we decided an escape was necessary, my dad was signed up as a babysitter and we went out for the evening. Not an expensive night out by any means, a pub meal a couple of drinks and a walk on the beach.

Sitting amongst the sand dunes watching the last remaining people on the beach I was literally stunned by the silence. Only the sound of the occasional car, voices carried on the breeze and the whispering of the long dune grasses were all that could be heard above the rolling of the sea. Bearing in mind this is the North East coast and the North Sea it was practically idyllic.

As the son went down the sea changed from a beautiful blue to a deep petrol colour, the light houses came to life and the lights from the docks blazed out across the water. At the same time my shoulders dropped, tension slipped away and my breathing slowed, and I started to feel like myself again. They say a change is as good as a rest and in this instance it is certainly one adage I can vouch for.

With meditation at any level being so difficult for me right now I’ve decided that the sound of the waves will definitely help, but i can’t always get in the car and head to the beach so I’m cheating with a Natural Sounds CD, it really does help. So if you find the sound of waves relaxing try it out for yourself its done wonders for me.

Need help remembering your dreams?

We’ve all been there, having woken up in the early hours of the morning, our hearts firmly lodged in our throats and a feeling of…what?

Well that’s just it isn’t it? Once we are awake we generally forget the images and emotions that roused us. This is why its a good idea to keep a dream journal. It doesn’t need to be a special book or magically embellished journal, a simple notebook will suffice, just the right size to fit onto your bedside table or to keep on the floor near your bed, somewhere where it can always be within easy reach.

When you reach that point of waking, reach for your journal and pen. There is no need to waste time trying to form sentences or keeping things grammatically correct, just jot down quickly the things that you remember. It may be nothing more than a few words to start with, perhaps tunnel, chased and scared are all that come to mind, once you have regained some of that composure that seems to vanish from us when we wake up with a jolt, look at the words that you have written, or perhaps the images that you have drawn, and focus on them a little more.

So, you wrote down tunnel. What can you remember about the tunnel, was it dark or light, was it stone or brick? You may remember you touched the side of the tunnel wall and it felt damp, whatever springs to mind write it all down and do the same for each of the original words. For example chased, were you running or in a vehicle? What did the ground feel like beneath your feet? Why did you feel scared? Did you know what or who was chasing you? You will find that for each question you ask, your answers will provoke a further question until you get to the point where you have reconstructed your dream in it’s entirety.

You may now have pages of disjointed words and scribbled images, but take them all and place them into a time line so that you can follow your dream through, like a short story from start to finish. Are you still scared or do you know what your dream was representing and now have a clearer idea of why you had the reaction that you did?

An exercise like this may seem difficult to work through at first, but its a skill that comes with practice and repetition, you will find eventually that you will be able to use this restructuring process in other areas in your life as a general aid to memory, as well as ending up with books full of weird and wonderful short stories.

Why did I have kids?

Considering the hundreds of child rearing books out there on the shelves just waiting to be purchased by eager parents to be, I doubt that any of them can truly prepare you for parenthood, at least not for any of the events that have encountered.

As a mum of three and a step-mum to another four, both my partner and I have lost count of the amounts of times we have uttered ‘They don’t tell you that in those damn books!”

Until you have been sat in the emergency room trying to explain why your young son has one of his sister’s beads firmly lodged up his nose you haven’t truly lived. Nothing can prepare you for the looks you will receive from the hospital staff, from the receptionist to the triage nurse looks have ranged from disbelief to the; “Just what kind of a mother are you?” scathing type of look. I refuse to believe that I am the only mother who has turned up for help when all home based efforts of poking, squeezing and attempted nose blowing have failed? And yes, thank you, I know he is only two years old and yes I know these types of toys are inappropriate for his age group, no they are not his they belong to his older sister, yes they are normally out of his reach, yes I do think it was intentional his sister said she wanted to see how far up it would go.

Looking back I think perhaps that my daughter looked upon her younger brother as some kind of interactive toy. When he was around four years old I once found her pinning him to the ground, her knees on his arms so that he couldn’t move around, lipstick firmly grasped in her six year old hand and well, you can imagine the rest, he looked like a twisted little clown from someones nightmare.

Those two little horrors are now teenagers, and I am going through it all again with my four year old son, only this one is more vocal than the other two ever were.”Why has that man got no hair?” and “Why is that lady fat?” or the best one so far, whilst I was in the supermarket; “Are you a lady or a man because you have prickles on your face like my daddy but you are wearing a ladies dress?”

No matter how many times you wish for it, the ground never does open up beneath you and swallow you whole, neither do the comments go unnoticed, no matter how hard you wish for people to be deaf. Children will go on embarrassing their parents and creating events that will stretch you to your limits for as long as they are able, but isn’t that one of the things we love them for, their sheer unpredictability?

Not so ‘airy fairies’

Well it seems like the days of pastel pink fairies and gossamer wings are being left behind these days, as a new style of fairy giftware takes the stage. I have to say I like it, its bold and colourful with an almost cartoon like cuteness and its definmately funky – with not a hint of glitter in sight.

I have this afternoon uploaded some new fairy giftware into the store, by the wonderfully talented Nemesis Now designer Jasmine Beckett-Griffiths. these outrageous little fairies have the widest, most appealing eyes and all look as though they may have some dirty little secret hidden away – perhaps stored in the casket upon which each of them sits?

Out of the pieces I have uploded I have two firm favourites, The Sectret of Notredame, and the Tribal Fairy. I would like to be able to come up with an excuse that would allow me to keep one of each for myself, but whichwever way i try to word it, I can’t seem to be able to justify it. But, if I was still a teenager or at least still able to carry off the appearance of the closet goth buried deep within me, I’d have a house filled to the brim with all of the stuff I love, rather than the sensible grown up home I have!

A Snail Did It!

I have never been a fan of gardening, unless of course, that means sitting in a patio with a glass of wine tugging at stray pieces of grass! This is why, when I bought my house the gardens featured quite heavily in the decision. Call it naive, but I assumed that the garden I saw when viewing the house, would be the same garden I would have when I moved in. It’s a simple mistake to make, you’d think that a garden would be a stationary thing, not something that would ‘move out’ when the seller moved house. I was wrong.

I thought I was moving into house that had a lovely cottage style rear garden, complete with flowers, shrubs and rustic garden bench. When I moved in the flowers had disappeared, the shrubs were gone and there wasn’t a bench in sight, rustic or otherwise. What I did have was a large expanse of bare earth, a drain cover and some broken tubs and containers. I was not amused. Rather than having a wonderfully colourful and fragrant outside space to relax in, I was looking at an eyesore.

I have tried many times to try and get the garden to look pretty, I have dug, weeded, planted, watered and done all of things that I am supposed to do but all that grows are weeds, I can’t even identify them, no one can tell me what they are, but boy are they rampant. They have strangled everything I have tried to grow, they practically grow overnight and they are a haven for snails, slugs and all manner of horrid squirmy things.

The snails are another issue, at certain times of the year, the windows at the rear of the house look like they have been used overnight as a race circuit, the garden path shines with a silvery lattice work and occasionally there is the sickening sound of shell crunching underfoot, it turns my stomach. But, the snails have had their uses.

I have a young son, who like any child accumulated a lot of different sized balls all over the garden. In another half hearted attempt to remove my unidentified fast growing plant life, I attacked the garden with some shiny new shears, only to get so far along before the sound of a puncture and the whoosh of escaping air was heard. I’d sliced right through his red ‘Postman Pat’ football, which had been completely hidden by large green leaves. Not knowing what to say, I tried to move the casualty without him seeing, but as eagle eyed as ever he spotted the remains and let out a cry of dismay. Thinking on her feet my teenage daughter jumped in and said ‘The snails did it!’ Sounds ridiculous, but at three years old, he believes it and still blames the snails for all of the balls that go missing. If you ask him, he will tell you that snails are nasty and like to bite footballs with their sharp teeth. Perhaps this will stop him from teasing girls with snails and slugs when he’s a little older, who knows? But for now, I still have an eyesore of a garden, but unlike many others, mine is inhabited by snails with sharp gnashing teeth.

As much use as a chocolate teapot?

I’m sure you have heard the phrase; ‘You’re about as much use as a chocolate teapot!’ it is one of my best remembered ‘insults’ from childhood, along with the ‘as much use as a chocolate fireguard’ or ‘an ashtray on a motorbike’. Hmm…thinking about it is seems I was insulted a lot! But one of the funniest ones that were ever directed at me and my friends, by my parents of course, was that between us all they couldn’t even make a decent pair of book ends out of us!

Maybe that has something to do with why I have a love of ‘book ends’ now? Who knows, but everytime I see a pair, or a new set arrives in the shop, I always thing of my and my friends, complaining that we were bored and getting under our parent’s feet.

I am particularly fond of the ‘Libris Draconis’ set, and it seems I am not the only one, as they sell out regularly! There are an awful lot of dragon fans out there. But I am also very taken with the ‘Reaper’s Rest’ set, they have so much detail in them that although they may be classed as Gothic horror, they have a beauty all of their own.

Anyway, without me persuading my other half to finally put up a book shelf, I mean, its only been what? Seven years? I’ll never have the excuse of buying a set for myself, sigh.

Love Thy Neighbour? – I Think Not!!

One of the pleasures of working from home is that I can start and finish working when I choose to, and not have to spend my day ruled by the clock, well other than for school runs. I was all set for a quiet night last night, it was warm with a subtle breeze and I was just pottering around finishing a few jobs, when I noticed a new sound was appearing between the bird song and the sound of cars driving past the end of the street. It was the sound of glass meeting glass.

I’m not sure if you have ever noticed this, or if its just bit of writers imagination, but the sound of beer bottles hitting each other has a very distinctive sound. It could not be mistaken for any other type of bottle, it can only be a beer bottle. As I listened the interval between these new noises appearing became shorter and shorter, and I found myself letting out a resigned groan.  It could mean only one thing, the neighbours from hell were out in the garden, and had settled themselves in for a full night of it.

I would have loved to have been proved wrong, but no, they were there for the long haul. They were out there making an acceptable level of noise at around 7pm when I put my little boy to bed, at 10pm I had to close all of the windows to block out the noise they were making, which made it unbearably stuffy in the house, and at midnight I reached my limit.

I would never want to stop anyone having fun, but in a relatively quiet residential area, on a Monday night when kids have to be up for school the next day and adults need to be fit for work, I would hope that people would have enough respect for those around them to keep the noise level down, I know I do. It wasn’t just the music (if that’s what it was) or the singing, or the clattering of glasses and cans, the crudeness of the language or the volume of the voices, it was just the whole combined cacophony. They are far too intimidating to confront outright, so I made a complaint to the local authority.

I doubt if anything will come from it, but I can’t believe I was the only person who was disturbed last night. Even with the windows shut tight they managed to wake my son up three times, and they were still out there at 2am thismorning. I am at a loss as to just what we are supposed to do when people like this, with no regard for anyone else make our lives a living nightmare.