Category: Odds & Ends

Ground & Center | Witchery Wednesday

Ground & Center

groundandcenter_edit

Whether you’re practicing magic or yoga, in many spiritually aware circles you will hear the term “ground and center” thrown about a lot.  Or maybe you’ve heard the phrases “live in the moment” or “be present in the now”?  This practice is essential to a successful casting, and can also help us deal with stressful moments in the more mundane parts of our lives. But rarely do we talk about what that actually means, and how to get there.  While the concept is simple, sometimes we struggle with how to accomplish it.  Especially if the traditional methods don’t work for you.  By understanding the goal of “ground and center” it’s easier to go off the beaten path when searching for a way to get there.  Remember, there is no “wrong” way to do this, there is only what works for you personally and what doesn’t.  Centering is all about connecting within yourself; finding that space of calmness within the chaos (as we wrote about here in our article The Importance of Keeping Balance).  Grounding is about connecting with the life flow outside of yourself.  By reaching for those connections, both internal and external, and strengthening them, we can reach a state of mind that makes casting easier.

Here are some of our favorite methods for grounding and centering.

Meditation:  This is probably the most widely practiced method.  It’s what everyone is familiar with, and as we’ve talked about before, Everything Is Meditation.  Even the rest of the methods we talk about for grounding and centering are essentially forms of meditation.

Visualization:  For many of us, especially those of us who are creative, visualization is a key part of any casting, and we can use it to ground and center as well.  Everyone generally finds their own image that resonates with them, but I am partial to the Tree.  If you’ve never tried visualization before, this is a good way to start as it’s an easy image to hold.  Relax your body and your breath, and imagine you are a tree.  With your first breath in, imagine you are drawing strength up from the Earth through your roots.  With your next breath out, “push” your roots down, deeper into the Earth.  Next breath in, reach towards the sky, drawing in sunlight through your leaves.  Breath out, and release any tension you’re holding out through your leaves.  Repeat this as needed until you feel calm and centered.

Chants:  Sometimes a spoken element can help us focus our minds on the task at hand.  Simple chants are often used in tandem with meditation for that reason.  It can be a soft sound that has no real meaning, like the traditional “ohm” you may have heard, or something more akin to a positive affirmation, like repeating “I am grounded.  I am centered.”  Or if you want to be a bit more poetic try “Earth below, sky above, I am still, and I am one.”

Physical connection with Nature:  Do you enjoy hiking, nature walks, kayaking or just being outdoors?  This method might be for you.  While most people find it easiest to ground and center while being still and calm, this isn’t always the right approach for everyone.  Sometimes activity can also be a kind of calmness.  However, we can’t always take the time to go on a 10 mile hike before a casting, so some quicker ways to achieve this would be standing barefoot in the grass, dipping your hands or feet in running water, or hugging a tree. (Yup, we went there!  But it works!)

Rituals:  Let me guess; you just pictured someone in a hooded robe, surrounded by candles and chalk pentagrams?  (Thanks, Hollywood!)  Often we already have small rituals in our every day lives and don’t realize it.  For example, do you find vacuuming soothing?  Maybe organizing your junk drawer brings you a sense of peace and order?  Or maybe you drink your first cup of coffee on your porch every morning, listening to the sound of the neighborhood waking up and enjoying the silence before you have to wake your monsters  … er… wonderful children for school?  All of these things could be considered rituals.

Worry Stones:  Worry stones, or similar devices such as stress balls or sensory toys, can serve to help you ground and center.  We’re partial to using actual stones ourselves, but again, choose what works best for you.

Repetitive Tasks:  We personally believe that this is one reason that knitting, and many other crafts, have such positive effects on mental health.  Remember, everything is magic! (Or at least, it has the potential to be magic.)  Knitting, crocheting, coloring, embroidery, macrame… all of these can be used to ground and center.

Do you have a favorite method not mentioned here?  Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page!

Source: Ground & Center | Witchery Wednesday

Bill Gates: the new Pavlov « Jon Rappoport’s Blog

“Under the surface of this global civilization, a great and secret war is taking place. The two opponents hold different conceptions of Reality. On one side, those who claim that humans operate purely on the basis of stimulus-response, like machines; on the other side, those who believe there is a gigantic thing called freedom. Phase One of the war is already over. The stimulus-response people have won. In Phase Two, people are waking up to the far-reaching and devastating consequences of the Pavlovian program.” (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)

“From the moment the first leader of the first clan in human history took charge, he busied himself with this question: ‘What can I say and do that will make my people react the way I want them to.’ He was the first Pavlov. He was the first psychologist, the first propagandist, the first mind-control boss. His was the first little empire. Since then, only the means and methods have changed.” (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)

A thought-form is a picture-plus concept in the mind that tends to guide behavior.

A dominant thought-form in Earth civilization today is: universal rule through gigantic, highly organized structures; e.g., mega-corporations that owe no allegiance to any nation.

Imagine a few thousand such corporations with interlocking boards and directorates; colluding with super-regional governments and their honeycombed bureaucracies; combined with regional armies, intelligence agencies and technological elites; hooked to a global surveillance operation; in control of media; cooperating with the largest organized religions on Earth.

Imagine all this as essentially one organization—and you see the thought-form in its wide-screen version.

Top-down as top-down has never been before.

Functions and compartments defined and specialized at every level, and coordinated in order to carry out policy decisions.

As to why such a thought-form should come to dominate human affairs, the simplest explanation is: because it works.

But beneath that answer, for those who can see, there is much, much more.

Individuals come to think that “effective” and “instrumental” and “efficient” are more important than any other issues.

Keep building, keep expanding, keep consolidating gains—and above all else, keep organizing.

Such notions and thought-forms replace life itself.

The Machine has come to the fore. All questions are now about how the individual sees himself fitting into the structure and function of The Machine.

Are human beings becoming social constructs?

Populations are undergoing a quiet revolution. We can cite some of the reasons: television; education; job training and employment requirements; the Surveillance State; government organizations who follow a “zero tolerance” policy; inundation with advertising.

Yes, it’s all geared to produce people who are artificial constructs.

And this is just the beginning. There are a number of companies (see, for example, affectiva.com) who are dedicated to measuring “audience response” to ads and other public messages. I’m talking about electronic measuring. The use of bracelets, for instance, that record students’ emotional responses to teachers in classrooms, in real time. (Bill Gates shoveled grant money into several of these studies.)

Then there is facial recognition geared to the task of revealing how people are reacting when they sit at their computers and view websites.

Push-pull, ring the bell, watch the dog drool for his food. Stimulus-response.

It’s not much of a stretch to envision, up the road a few years, whole populations more than willing to volunteer for this kind of mass experimentation. But further than that, we could see society itself embrace, culturally, the ongoing measurement of stimuli and responses.

“Yes, I want to live like this. I want to be inside the system. I want to be analyzed. I want to be evaluated. I want to accept the results. I want to be part of the new culture. Put bracelets on me. Measure my eye movements, my throat twitches that indicate what I’m thinking, and my brain waves. Going to a movie should include the experience of wearing electrodes that record my second-to-second reactions to what’s happening on the screen. I like that. I look forward to it…”

In such a culture, “Surveillance State” would take on a whole new dimension.

“Sir, I want to report a malfunction in my television set. I notice the monitoring equipment that tracks my responses to programs has gone on the blink. I want it reattached as soon as possible. Can you fix it remotely, or do you need to send a repair person out to the house? I’ll be here all day…”

People will take pride in their ongoing role as social constructs, just as they now take pride in owning a quality brand of car.

The thought process behind this, in so far as any thought at all takes place, goes something like: “If I’m really a bundle of responses to stimuli and nothing more, then I want to be inside a system that champions that fact and records it…I don’t want to be left out in the cold.”

Here is a sample school situation of the near future: for six months, Mr. Jones, the teacher, has been videotaped, moment by moment, as he instructs his class in English. All the students have been wearing electronic bracelets, and their real time emotional responses (interest, boredom, aversion) have also been recorded. A team of specialists has analyzed the six months of video, matching it up, second by second, to the students’ responses. The teacher is called in for a conference.

“Mr. Jones, we now know what you’re doing that works and what you’re doing that doesn’t work. We know exactly what students are positively reacting to, and what bores them. Therefore, we’re going to put you into a re-ed seminar, where you’ll learn precisely how to teach your classes from now on, to maximize your effectiveness. We’ll show you how to move your hands, what tone of voice to use, how to stand, when to make eye contact, and so on…”

Mr. Jones is now a quacking duck. He will be trained how to quack “for the greater good.” He is now a machine toy. Whatever is left of his passion, his intelligence, his free will, his spontaneous insights, his drive to make students actually understand what they’re learning…all subordinated for the sake of supposed efficiency.

Think this is an extreme fantasy? See the Chicago Tribune, June 12, 2012, “Biosensors to monitor students’ attentiveness”:

“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has poured more than $4 billion into efforts to transform public education in the U.S., is pushing to develop an ‘engagement pedometer.’ Biometric devices wrapped around the wrists of students would identify which classroom moments excite and interest them — and which fall flat.”

“The foundation has given $1.4 million in grants to several university researchers to begin testing the devices in middle-school classrooms this fall.”

“The biometric bracelets, produced by a Massachusetts startup company, Affectiva Inc, send a small current across the skin and then measure subtle changes in electrical charges as the sympathetic nervous system responds to stimuli. The wireless devices have been used in pilot tests to gauge consumers’ emotional response to advertising.”

“Gates officials hope the devices, known as Q Sensors, can become a common classroom tool, enabling teachers to see, in real time, which kids are tuned in and which are zoned out.”

“Existing measures of student engagement, such as videotaping classes for expert review or simply asking kids what they liked in a lesson, ‘only get us so far,’ said Debbie Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Gates Foundation. To truly improve teaching and learning, she said, ‘we need universal, valid, reliable and practical instruments’ such as the biosensors.”

“The Gates Foundation has spent two years videotaping 20,000 classroom lessons and breaking them down, minute by minute, to analyze how each teacher presents material and how those techniques affect student test scores.”

“Clemson received about $500,000 in Gates funding. Another $620,000 will support an MIT scientist, John Gabrieli, who aims to develop a scale to measure degrees of student engagement by comparing biosensor data to functional MRI brain scans [!] (using college students as subjects).”

When you boil it down, the world-view represented here has nothing to do with “caring about students.”

It has everything to do with the Pavlovian view of humans as biological machines.

What input yields what response? How can people be shaped into predictable constructs?

As far as Gates is concerned, the underlying theme, as always, is: control.

In this new world, the process of thinking and comparing and independently judging, and the freedom to make individual choices…well, for whatever that was worth, we can’t encourage it for a whole society. It’s too unpredictable. We don’t have time for that sort of thing. No, we have to achieve reduction. We have to seek out lowest common denominators.”

This is what universal surveillance is all about. The observation of those denominators and the variances from them—the outlying and therefore dangerous departures from the norm.

“Well, we’ve tracked Mr. Jones’ classroom for a year now, and we’ve collated all the measurements of reactions from the students. It was a wonderful study. But we did notice one thing. All the students showed similar patterns of reactions over time…except two students. We couldn’t fit them into the algorithms. They seemed to be responding oppositely. It was almost as if they were intentionally defecting from the group. This signals some kind of disorder. We need a name for it. Is it Oppositional Defiance Disorder, or is it new? We recommend attaching electrodes to those two students’ skulls, so we can get a better readout of their brain activity in real time.”

You see, everything must be analyzed on the basis of stimulus response. Those two students are suffering from a brain problem. They must be. Because if they aren’t, if they have the ability to choose and decide how to respond, then they have free will, and that can’t be measured. Much deeper, that also suggests an X-factor in humans, wherein the flow of chemicals and atoms and quarks and mesons and photons don’t tell the whole story. The rest of the story would imply the existence of something that is…non-material…above and beyond push-pull cause and effect.

The gatekeepers of this world are obsessed with ruling that out. They guard Reality itself, which is to say, their conception of Reality. They are willing to spend untold amounts of money to make that Pavlovian conception universally accepted and universally loved.

Because they own that conception. They are the self-appointed title holders. They are the kings of that domain.

I feel obligated to inform them that their domain is much, much smaller than they think it is. And in the fullness of time, which is very long, the domain is going to fall and crack and collapse and disintegrate. And all their horses and all their men won’t be able to put it back together again.

Perhaps populations will have to endure a hundred years of stimulus-response society, to understand what it means. But eventually, a man like Bill Gates will be forgotten. He’ll be a small footnote on a dusty page in a crumbling book in a dark room on a remote island of one unworkable computer.

A morbid venal fool who chased, for a brief moment, fool’s gold.

There is an irreducible thing. It’s called freedom. It is native to every individual.

Sometimes it rears its head in the middle of the night, and the dreamer awakes.

And he asks himself: what is my freedom for?

And then he begins a voyage that no device can record, measure, or analyze.

If he pursues it long enough, it takes him out of the labyrinth.

Pavlov wrote: “Mankind will possess incalculable advantages and extraordinary control over human behavior when the scientific investigator will be able to subject his fellow men to the same external analysis he would employ for any natural object, and when the human mind will contemplate itself not from within but from without.”

Basically, Pavlov was promoting the idea that whatever an individual perceives and feels about his own experience is a confused mess and an obstruction.

Rather, the individual should ignore all that tripe, and instead, allow himself to be a “natural object,” see himself as a clean and simple response mechanism, as planned inputs cause him to behave in various ways. Then, he’ll be contemplating himself “not from within, but from without.”

In other words, then he will have no life.

Bill Gates and other elite planners are working toward this end.

(To read about Jon’s mega-collection, Exit From The Matrix, click here.)

When Ray Kurzweil talks about hooking brains up to super-computers, he is envisioning a process of downloading that goes beyond choice. Somehow, automatically, the brain and the individual (he apparently believes they are the same thing) will receive inputs that translate into knowledge and even talent. This is another fatuous version of Pavlov.

In Brave New World, Huxley wrote: “Hot tunnels alternated with cool tunnels. Coolness was wedded to discomfort in the form of hard X-rays. By the time they were decanted the embryos had a horror of cold. They were predestined to emigrate to the tropics, to be miner[s] and acetate silk spinners and steel workers. Later on their minds would be made to endorse the judgment of their bodies. ‘We condition them to thrive on heat’, concluded Mr. Foster. ‘Our colleagues upstairs will teach them to love it’.”

Stimulus-response.

If researchers developed this technology, who could doubt that elite planners would push it forward? It would be the culmination of their dream.

The freedom of the individual, his innate capacity to make wide-ranging choices, is the monkey wrench in the program. It is anti-stimulus-response.

This is why you would have to search far and wide to find, in one school, anywhere, on any level, a course that examines and promotes individual freedom.

It is anathema to the plan.

It is the silver bullet for the vampire.

Freedom comes from Within the individual, not from Without.

On the level of political control, freedom emerged and broke through during centuries of struggle.

Now, and in the future, every individual carries that torch.

So it is incumbent on the individual to understand the scope and meaning and power of his own freedom, and to decide for himself what his freedom is FOR.

What will he choose to launch from that great pasture?

Jon Rappoport

Source: Bill Gates: the new Pavlov « Jon Rappoport’s Blog

 

Amethyst ~ February Stone – Good Witches Homestead

Amethyst ~ February Stone

amethyst-meaning

Meaning and Uses of Amethyst

Purple Amethyst has been highly esteemed throughout the ages for its stunning beauty and legendary powers to stimulate, and soothe, the mind and emotions. It is a semi-precious stone in today’s classifications, but to the ancients, it was a “Gem of Fire,” a Precious Stone worth, at times in history, as much as a Diamond. It has always been associated with February, the month the Romans dedicated to Neptune, their water-god, and is the traditional birthstone for that month. It is the stone of St. Valentine and faithful love and signifies ecclesiastical dignity as the Bishop’s Stone. It carries the energy of fire and passion, creativity and spirituality, yet bears the logic of temperance and sobriety.

Whether its crystals are left natural, polished as tumbled stones, or faceted into magnificent jewels, Amethyst is a gem whose beauty transcends its commonality. It is a variety of Quartz found in many locations around the world, and forms as transparent, terminated crystals of all sizes in geodes, clusters and as long single terminations. It is also found in vitreous masses and polished into wonderful specimens and personal talismans. The presence of manganese in clear Quartz produces Amethyst, while additional amounts of iron vary the purple coloration. Amethyst ranges in hue from pale red-violet to deep violet and may be transparent or opaque. It is sometimes layered with white Quartz as Chevron Amethyst, found in combination with Cacoxenite, mixed with Citrine as Ametrine, or in rare cases, “rutilated” with Goethite.

The name Amethyst derives from the Greek word ametusthos, meaning “not intoxicated,” and comes from an ancient legend. The wine god Bacchus, angry over an insult and determined to avenge himself decreed the first person he should meet would be devoured by his tigers. The unfortunate mortal happened to be a beautiful maiden named Amethyst on her way to worship at the shrine of Diana. As the ferocious beasts sprang, she sought the protection of the goddess and was saved by being turned into a clear, white crystal. Bacchus, regretting his cruelty, poured the juice of his grapes over the stone as an offering, giving the gem its lovely purple hue.

Throughout history, the special virtue of Amethyst has been that of preventing drunkenness and overindulgence. Ancient Greeks and Romans routinely studded their goblets with Amethyst believing wine drunk from an Amethyst cup was powerless to intoxicate, and a stone worn on the body, especially at the navel, had a sobering effect, not only for inebriation but in over-zealousness in passion. Catholic bishops also wore Amethyst in a ring to protect from mystical intoxication. Kissing the ring kept others from similar mystical intoxication and kept them grounded in spiritual thought.

Amethyst was also reputed to control evil thoughts, increase intelligence and render men shrewd in business matters. For travelers, it was worn as a protection from treachery and surprise attacks, kept soldiers from harm and gave them victory over their enemies. It lent assistance to hunters in the capture of wild beasts and fowl and was considered to be a powerful psychic stone of protection against witchcraft and black magic. Like other royal stones, it protected its wearer from disease and contagion.

In the spiritual world, Amethyst provided a connection to the Divine. To the Hebrews, it was Ahlamah, the ninth stone in the breastplate of the High Priest, engraved with the tribe of Dan, as well as the twelfth foundation stone for the New Jerusalem. To the Egyptians, it was Hemag, listed in the Book of the Dead to be carved into heart-shaped amulets for burial. In Eastern cultures, it was listed in descriptions of sacred “gem-cities,” “trees of life,” and used in temple offerings for worship, and to align planetary and astrological influences. It was popular in rosaries and prayer beads, credited with creating an atmosphere of pious calm, imbuing a sense of mental peace and quietude.

In today’s world, Amethyst is still a remarkable stone of spirituality and contentment, known for its metaphysical abilities to still the mind and inspire an enhanced meditative state. Its inherent high frequency purifies the aura of any negative energy or attachments, and creates a protective shield of Light around the body, allowing one to remain clear and centered while opening to spiritual direction. Amethyst stimulates the Third Eye, Crown, and Etheric Chakras enhancing cognitive perception as well as accelerating the development of intuitive and psychic ability. It initiates wisdom and greater understanding and is a stone of comfort for those grieving the loss of a loved one.

Amethyst’s ability to expand the higher mind also enhances one’s creativity and passion. It strengthens the imagination and intuition and refines the thinking processes. It helps in the assimilation of new ideas, putting thought into action, and brings projects to fruition. It is a talisman of focus and success.

In nature, Amethyst at times forms in combination with other minerals. In addition to the properties of Amethyst outlined in this article, the following varieties possess additional qualities.

Brandberg Amethyst is a unique and extraordinary blend of Amethyst, Clear and Smoky Quartz together in one exceedingly high-vibrational crystal. It is found only in Namibia, Africa, and is imbued with remarkable phantoms, enhydros, and other rare formations and inclusions. It attunes to pure consciousness and is a potent talisman of healing and perfection with the capacity to restore one back to their etheric blueprint in order to realign with the Divine Source.

Chevron Amethyst displays v-shaped chevrons of deep purple and white Quartz that “seep” into beautiful layers. It is one of the finest Third-Eye stones for stimulating vision within the self as well as the physical world, filtering the life force from the cosmos via the Crown in its white layers and opening up spiritual and psychic channels through the purple. It has a strong, focused energy for dissipating and repelling negativity, and is the perfect crystal for learning any form of spiritual healing. Hold one in each hand for powerful but safe out-of-body travel, shamanic journeying or pathworking, and between the hands while praying or reciting mantras.

Cacoxenite in Amethyst mingles dark brown to yellow tufts of Cacoxenite, a phosphate mineral and major component in the Super Seven crystal, with the host crystal Amethyst. This combination brings a high level of creativity and new ideas to humanity by fostering thoughts that have never been thought of before. It is a calming stone, good in times of upheaval, and raises spiritual awareness of the creator essence in the beauty of nature and the kindness of people. Carry on the night of the crescent and full moon to transfer healing energy to the Earth and create an ethereal connection between all of the universe.

Ametrine is a combination of Amethyst and Citrine within the same crystal, a harmonious blend of the two energies. It brings spirituality into harmony with the intellect and inspires a profound flow of creativity, new ideas and insights. It is a remarkable healing stone, removing pain and tension while bringing energy and a sense of well-being to the mind and body. It brings the greater focus in meditation, protection in astral travel and is a gateway crystal for opening angelic or spirit guide contact. Leave in natural light from noon on the day of a full moon and through the night to catch lunar rays then carry on the person to bring luck in money ventures.

“Rutilated” Amethyst is a rare form of Amethyst which appears to contain Rutile, but actually, contains brownish crystals of Goethite, an iron hydroxide mineral also found in the Super Seven crystal. Goethite is a stone for finding the link between the deep self and Earth, and together with Amethyst clears the Earth and Base Chakras, aligning the whole chakra system to the higher mind. It purifies the emotional body and is particularly helpful in grief work. It facilitates clairaudience, communion with angels, and connections with other worlds. To program as a wishing stone or with intentions, messages, and prayers, simply hold the stone with the intent in mind.

Amethyst is an exceptional crystal for wearing on the body, for use in healing rituals, and for enhancing one’s environment. It has been known to fade in direct sunlight and care should be taken. It is also good to clear its energies from time to time by holding the stone under running water for a short period while affirming that the stone be cleared. Keep unpolished Amethyst near other crystals to recharge them.

Amethyst Uses and Purposes

Amethyst is a wonderful talisman for use in the creative arts, especially in darker shades. It assists endeavors where new, original results need to be created using tools and methods of the past. It is often used as the Artist’s Stone, the Composer’s Stone, the Inventor’s, Poet’s and Painter’s Stones. Keep an Amethyst crystal or cluster in the area to focus and amplify the creative elements of the Universal Life Force.

Called the “All-healer,” Amethyst is one of the most effective crystals for healing people, plants, and animals. Natural unpolished Amethysts or geodes are particularly helpful placed where plants will not grow or animals refuse to sit. It also counteracts negative earth energies beneath buildings or anywhere that feels hostile.

Amethyst protects against psychic attack, paranormal harm or ill-wishing, and returns the energy back to the universe after being transformed into positive, loving energy. To increase this power and attract good luck, draw an image of the sun and the crescent moon over an Amethyst in lavender incense smoke.

Referred to as “nature’s tranquilizer,” Amethyst calms and soothes, assisting the transmission of neural signals through the brain. It relieves obsessive compulsive disorder and hyperactivity in children and animals. Place under the pillow or mattress, or rub the center of the forehead counter-clockwise to cure insomnia and stimulate pleasant dreams. It is especially effective for children’s recurring nightmares and fears of the dark and may help alleviate homesickness.

Amethyst is an excellent stone for diplomats, negotiators, and business people. It calms angry temperaments and gives a distinct advantage in situations where debating is required. Wear or hold Amethyst to bring in spiritual insights coupled with intellectual reasoning. As a luck and prosperity crystal, Amethyst is good for reducing the tendency to overspend, gambling addictions or unwise investments.

Amethyst is connected to the Temperance card in the tarot, representing balance. It is a stone dedicated to curbing overindulgence and bad habits and is an excellent aid to quitting smoking, drinking, and drug use, as well as unhealthy physical passion. It also provides the strength needed to obtain freedom from addictive personalities, one’s own or another’s. Placing an Amethyst on the navel is believed to protect a person from intoxication, and in conjunction with other treatments such as counseling, helps cure addictions. A naval piercing makes it possible to always keep an Amethyst in this spot.

Amethyst is the stone of St. Valentine and of faithful lovers because St. Valentine was thought to have worn an Amethyst ring engraved with the image of Cupid. It is also referred to as the “couple’s stone” and gives meaning to relationships that over time, transcends the carnal union and gives way to deeper connection and a more soulful communion. Wear as an engagement or eternity ring for fidelity, or as a locket to call back lost love.

amethyst-healing-properties-1050x700Amethyst Healing Therapies

Amethyst has healing powers to help with physical ailments, emotional issues, and in Energy Healing and Chakra balancing. Amethyst crystal therapies are primarily associated with physical ailments of the nervous system, the curing of nightmares and insomnia, and balancing the crown chakra. The therapeutic uses of Amethyst have a long and well-documented history.

Amethyst Physical Healing Energy

Amethyst boosts the production of hormones and stimulates the sympathetic nervous system and endocrine glands to optimum performance. It supports oxygenation in the blood, and aids in treatments of the digestive tract, heart, stomach, and skin. Amethyst also strengthens the immune system and reduces bruising, pain and swellings. It has been used with excellent results as an elixir in the treatment of arthritis.

Amethyst is thought to relieve the symptoms of tinnitus and other hearing disorders and is highly beneficial in treating insomnia, especially when caused by an overactive mind. It is calming and soothing to the neural impulses in the brain. Its energy ameliorates the pain of headaches and migraines and reduces stress and nervous tension. It may be used to treat psychic disturbances and to stabilize brain imbalances, but should not be used in cases of paranoia or schizophrenia.

Amethyst Emotional Healing Energy

Amethyst is especially supportive of the emotional body, bringing those who are overworked, overstressed or overwhelmed back to center. It eases the mental anxieties that lead to physical tension and headaches and is a great crystal to calm those who tend to be hot-headed and easily angered.

Amethyst helps in identifying the root causes behind one’s negative behaviors, habits and emotional patterns that create imbalance and disease. It also helps one understand the reality of cause and effect in behavior and assists in better decision making. Amethyst is a marvelous aid in overcoming addictions by counteracting the effects of drugs and alcohol on brain function while imparting its own peaceful sustaining energy. 

Because Amethyst initiates wisdom and greater understanding, it is a comforting crystal for those grieving the loss of a loved one. Its presence communicates that there is no death, only transitioning and changing of forms. It encourages the release of sorrow and rejoicing in a loved one’s spirit being freed from the confinement of the physical body. Called “the soul stone,” Amethyst assists in understanding and connecting to the eternal existence of the soul and initiates one’s own deep soul experiences. It is an ideal crystal to hold or meditate upon during the death experience, of another or oneself, allowing the release of the temporal physical body with more ease, assuredness, and peace. It is a perfect stone to gift to those with terminal illnesses or to use in preparation for a conscious death experience.

amethyst-1Amethyst Chakra Healing and Balancing Energy

Amethyst carries a high, sweet energy, particularly stimulating to the Third Eye, Crown, and Etheric Chakras.

The Brow Chakra, also called the Third Eye, is the center of our perception and command. It directs our sight and everyday awareness of the world. Our consciousness is located here, and we relate to ourselves through this chakra. When the Brow Chakra is in balance our thoughts and internal communications within ourselves are healthy and vibrant. We are open to new ideas, dreams, and visions, and can control the flow of energy within all the chakras. The dark blue/purple crystals of indigo are used to treat imbalances of the Brow Chakra. It is a quiet color, one of mystery and wisdom and judgment.

The Crown Chakra is located at the top of the head and is our gateway to the expanded universe beyond our bodies. It controls how we think, and how we respond to the world around us. It is the fountainhead of our beliefs and the source of our spirituality. It connects us to the higher planes of existence and is the source of universal energy and truth. When the Crown is in balance, our energies are in balance. We know our place in the universe and see things as they are. We are unruffled by setbacks, knowing they are an essential part of life. Imbalances of the Crown Chakra are treated with Light Violet crystals. Their violet rays have the universal life force of magic, dreams, inspiration, and destiny.

The higher vibrational White and Lavender/White crystals are associated with the Higher Crown, Soul Star, and Stellar Gateway Chakras. They are attuned to higher, more spiritually enlightened things, and embody true humility. They provide a soul connection and the highest self-illumination, as well as a cosmic doorway to other worlds. They represent personal identification with the Infinite, and oneness with God, peace, and wisdom. 

Amethyst Spiritual Energy

Amethyst carries a high spiritual vibration of humility and devotion to the Divine. It is highly conducive to stilling one’s thoughts in prayer and meditation and surrendering to that which is greater than the self. Amethyst also stimulates the higher mind to receive one’s spiritual power as a creation of the Divine being and to open to the insights, wisdom, and guidance that is offered.

Amethyst is a stone of spiritual protection and purification, cleansing one’s energy field of negative influences and attachments, and creating a resonant shield of spiritual Light around the body. It acts as a barrier against lower energies, psychic attack, geopathic stress and unhealthy environments. It is a valuable protection for those doing psychic or intuitive work and enhances personal environments with a healing and protective circle of Light.

Amethyst Color Energy

Amethyst embodies the red-violet ray that connects both time and color, of beginnings and endings, as the old year wanes and the new is about to arrive. It tempers the fiery red ray with the intuition of the violet ray, bringing passion and imagination, emotion and logic. It stimulates creativity and is particularly helpful in artistic endeavors. Light Amethyst helps us peer into our souls and see ourselves as others see us. It is the ray of self-esteem and self-knowledge. Dark Amethyst gives us the deep vision needed to see the future. It gives us powerful insight and enhances our perception of the potential effects of our decisions.

Meditation with Amethyst

Amethyst is one of the best crystals for meditation. The amethyst color stimulates the highest vibration of the Third Eye and placing an Amethyst stone directly over this area ushers in a serene meditative state that stills conscious thought and guides the mind toward deeper understanding. Amethyst energy encourages the mind to be humble and surrender to that which is greater than itself in order to gain some understanding of how the powers of the universe can direct and guide one’s life.

To relax the system and increase awareness, hold single Amethyst crystals or small clusters in the left hand (termination towards the arm) during meditation to draw Amethyst energy into the body. Large clusters of Amethyst are ideal for meditation altars or as concentration objects to train the mind to be centered and calm while awareness is focused on the objective world. 

Amethyst may be used to occupy the North-East point on a crystal medicine wheel, used for healing and balancing one’s life. The north-east is the place of choices and meditating in this direction facilitates the decision-making process, bringing in spiritual guidance, common sense, and realistic goals. It encourages new ideas and relates cause with effect. It also balances out highs and lows for emotional and spiritual centering.

Amethyst Divination

The Divinatory meaning of Amethyst: I do not need to reward myself any excesses of any kind to feel good. 

Dreaming of Amethyst signifies freedom from harm. 

Amethyst and the Angelic Realm

The beautiful purple Light of Amethyst is particularly conducive to communion with angels. [Ahsian, 29] It ranges in color from pale red-violet (amethyst color) to deep violet. If your birthday falls in any of the following periods, an Amethyst of the color listed can be a valuable conduit to your Guardian Angel. The table also provides the name of the Guardian Angel of those born in the time period.

Date Crystal Color Name of Guardian Angel
January 16 – Jan 20 Dark Amethyst Mitzrael
February 15 – February 19 Amethyst Manake
February 25 – February 29 Amethyst Habuhian
April 26 – April 30 Amethyst Cahatel
July 17 – July 22 Dark Amethyst Hahaiah
Sept 18 – Sept 23 Violet Menadel
Oct 29 – Nov 2 Lt Amethyst Ielahiah
Nov 23 – Nov 27 Amethyst Vahuel

 

There are other Angels that are partial to Amethyst. The table below gives you the information about them.

Purpose Crystal Color Name of Angel
Guardian of the Twenty-Sixth Mansion of the Moon Amethyst Tagriel
Master of the 3rd Tarot Card “The Empress” Dark Amethyst Hagiel
Guardian of the Thirteenth Mansion of the Moon Dark Amethyst Jazeriel
Master of the 6th Tarot Card “The Lovers” Light Amethyst Ambriel
Guardian of the Twenty-Seventh Mansion of the Moon Light Amethyst Atheniel
Guardian of the Twenty-Fifth Mansion of the Moon Light Amethyst Aziel
Angel of Saturday and Ruler of Saturn. Cassiel is the Master of the 21st Tarot Card “The World”. Cassiel is also the Angel of Temperance, the Angel of Solitude, and the Angel of Tears Light Amethyst Cassiel
Master of the 20th Tarot Card “Judgment” Light Amethyst Nuriel
Master of the 21st Tarot Card “The World” Light Amethyst Phorlach
Guardian of the Twenty-Eighth Mansion of the Moon Violet Amnixiel
Healing Emotions Violet Jeremiel
Dealing with Adversity Violet Mastema
Michael is the Beauty Angel, Tree of Life. He is the Ruler of Sunday and the Sun. Michael is also the Master of the 19th Tarot Card “The Sun” and the 20th Tarot Card “Judgement”. He also helps you Heal Fear and Nervousness as well as being the aster of the East wind and the Angel of Sound Sleep, Repentance, and Truth Violet Michael
Guardian of the Seventh Mansion of the Moon Violet Scheliel
Master of the 8th Tarot Card “Strength” Violet Sheratiel
Master of the 13th Tarot Card “Death” Light Violet Barachiel
Master of the 12th Tarot Card “The Hanged Man” Light Violet Taliahad

 

Amethyst Goddess Crystals

Amethyst honors Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the Hunt, and Childbirth. She represents the love of the mountains and the forests where she chooses to spend her life. Her comfort is sought by women in labor.

Amethyst also honors Diana, the Roman Goddess of the Moon, and Protector of Animals.

Birthstones

There are several ways to find an appropriate birthstone. The traditional one is listed first. These are from the popular lists that most people are familiar with. The second way is to find your natural birthstone by the color wheel of life. You can click on the Natural Birthstone graphic below to learn more. Finally, many people use the traditional stones of the Zodiac.

In this section, you will find information on all three approaches.

 Amethyst Traditional Birthstone

Amethyst is the traditional birthstone of those born in the month of February.

 

Amethyst Natural Birthstone

Amethyst is one of the natural birthstones of those born as the old year wanes and the new is about to arrive at the winter solstice (November 21 – December 20). Amethyst crystals bring you creativity, perception, self-knowledge, and insight.

Amethyst – Zodiac Stone of Pisces

Amethyst is the zodiac stone for those born under the sign of Pisces as winter makes way for spring, from February 19 to March 20. Pisces’ symbol is two fish swimming in the opposite directions of each other and illustrates the problem of dealing with conflicting emotions and goals. Pisceans love making friends and being around them, and often put their friends’ interests and needs before their own. They are very empathetic and enjoy giving gifts. They are quite resilient in life and are successful in the businesses of art, music, marketing and drama.

Amethyst Talismans and Amulets

In the ancient world, Amethyst was an amulet of protection worn around the neck of Egyptian dignitaries when they traveled outside their major cities. They believed it safeguarded them from personal treachery and ambush.

A talisman of ecclesiastical dignity and spiritual protection, Amethyst is the Bishop’s Stone, still worn on the second finger of the right hand of a Catholic bishop.

Amethyst is a talisman of focus and success, used in meditation, to enhance creativity and refine thinking skills.

Amethyst is a Seeker Transformer crystal. Seekers contain a crystal energy structure that aligns the natural energy of the crystal to the natural power of the human mind in finding the way to new horizons and new capabilities. They’re pointers, directors, and compasses; the fresh start crystals. These are talismans of the scientist, the adventurer, the hunter, wanderer, and explorer. They’re also crystals of the student and the researcher.

Transformer crystals enhance efforts to change our situations, prospects, health, outlook or relationships. By transforming ourselves we transform our lives. We learn to dance, speak a new language, grow stronger, or become a better spouse or child. Seeker crystals with the earth power of the Transformer are excellent talismans to aid our efforts to grow, develop new capabilities and change our lives.

Amethyst Feng Shui

Amethyst utilizes Fire Energy. Fire energy is the energy of enthusiasm, warmth, brightness, illumination and activity. It is Yang in nature. It is the energy of heat, action, emotion and passion – of ideas, of concepts, and sex. It is traditionally associated with the south area of a home or room, and with the fame and reputation area of your dwelling. Use its energy to give your life the boost it needs to enhance your standing in the community and within your family

Amethyst in Ancient Lore and Legend

According to Ovid, the Roman poet, Amethyst was a nymph pursued by Bacchus. Desperate to escape him, she called on the goddess Diana who rescued her by transforming her into a shiny stone of “pure, cold crystal.” Furious, Bacchus threw his glass filled with wine on the stone giving it its purple color. There are various stories and sources for this legend, sometimes with Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, sometimes with Dionysus, the Greek god of intoxication. All credit wine as the reason for the crystal’s hue.

The use of Amethyst can be traced as far back as 25,000 B.C. to the Neolithic people in Europe. It’s spiritual and legendary energies made it popular for beads and amulets in many cultures, and later as a stone of royalty, it was utilized in crowns, scepters, and jewelry. Ancient Egyptians used Amethyst as a healing stone to ease fears and guilt, and as a strong protector while traveling. Greeks and Romans used it constantly to protect themselves from excesses of overindulgence with food and drink, and its powerful healing effect upon the mind made it valuable for placement under the pillow at bedtime to cure insomnia and induce pleasant dreams. For headaches, it was warmed and placed on the forehead or temples to reduce throbbing.

Amethyst was considered a powerful psychic stone of protection against witchcraft and black magic and was said to lose its color and turn pale when placed near an angry attacker.

The Peruvians held a belief that if the names of the sun and the moon were engraved on an Amethyst and hung around one’s neck with a baboon’s hair or a swallow’s feather, it would act as a spell against witchcraft. The ancient philosopher Pliny the Elder claimed an Amethyst engraved with figures of the sun and the moon immunized people against poisons.

A bear engraved on an Amethyst had the virtue of putting demons to flight and defended and preserved the wearer from drunkenness.

In folklore, Amethyst was thought to deter animal fleas.

It was once believed a person could summon any love by speaking his or her name in an Amethyst, even if the person was committed to another.

Amethyst, listed as the twelfth foundation stone of the New Jerusalem, was considered by some to be inscribed with the name of the apostle Matthew and was emblematic of his conversion and sobriety. Andreas, bishop of Caesarea, in the tenth century believed the Amethyst, with its fiery aspect, signified Matthias, who in the gift of tongues was so filled with celestial fire and zeal to please God who had chosen him, that he was found worthy to take the place of Judas. 

The Rosicrucian society, who combined pagan with Christian types and figures, saw Amethyst and its color as a symbol of the divine male sacrifice since the stone and color were typical of love, truth, passion, suffering and hope. The love of Christ led him to make the ultimate sacrifice and suffer the agony of the cross, and the crucifixion was followed by the resurrection; thus came the hope of mankind to enjoy eternal happiness in heaven.

Amethyst, the stone of February, should also be worn on Thursdays, “Thor’s Day.” It is considered a Gem of Spring, and though historically given as a gift on the seventeenth wedding anniversary, it is now listed as the official anniversary gemstone for the sixth anniversary.

Source: Amethyst ~ February Stone – Good Witches Homestead

~ The government’s real war on natural health ~

by Jon Rappoport

February 6, 2017

In 1994, after a lifelong aversion to politics, I ran for a seat in the US Congress out of the 29th District in Los Angeles. My platform was Health Freedom.

At the time, the FDA was raiding offices of natural practitioners, and threatening to cut off citizens’ access to a full range of nutritional supplements.

I watched a trial, if you can call it that, in downtown Los Angeles, in which the federal government was prosecuting a young man for selling, and making health claims about, a substance that occurs naturally in the body.

The defendant told the Judge he was prepared to present extensive evidence that the substance was safe and effective. The Judge refused, saying the only issue was: did the defendant violate an FDA rule? If so, he was guilty. At that point, the trial was over, and indeed, the Judge soon pronounced a verdict and the young man was led away to serve a prison sentence in a federal lockup.

At that moment, I began to construct my case against the State, and consider what Health Freedom was all about.

Let’s start here. The FDA, the CDC, and several other federal agencies have blood on their hands. This blood doesn’t wash away. On July 26, 2000, Dr. Barbara Starfield, a revered public health expert at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, published a review in the Journal of the American Medical Association: “Is US Health Really the Best in the World?”

Starfield concluded that that US medical system kills 225,000 Americans a year. That would extrapolate to 2.25 MILLION deaths per decade. I subsequently interviewed Starfield (2009), and she told me the US government has never made a significant effort to end this ongoing holocaust.

So, when the government talks about FDA rules governing safety and efficacy of treatments, they should be referring to their own crimes, since, for example, FDA-approved medicines are responsible for roughly half the 2.25 million deaths per decade.

On the other hand, natural health treatments kill virtually no one.

And here is where the situation becomes basic. The decision by a responsible adult, to manage his own health, by his own measure, and to seek out any other person to help him in that regard, is not the business of the State.

The State can license anyone it chooses to, as a health practitioner. Who cares? But there is no exclusive monopoly on healing. There is no monopoly on recovery from illness. There is no monopoly on the quality of a life.

The legal aspect of this is clear: contracts vs. licenses. The State has no Constitutional right to turn its licensing procedures into monopolies. On the other hand, two consenting adults can designate each other “patient” and “healer,” accepting full responsibility, with no future liability attached, for the outcome of their treatment-arrangement (contract).

The State has no Constitutional right to stick its nose into this business.

The State needs to clean up its own act, which is a euphemistic way of saying the State needs to stop killing 2.25 million Americans per decade. Obviously, the government front of “we can’t let people try to heal themselves apart from licensed practitioners, we must protect the people” is a piece of phony propaganda.

It’s a piece of Nanny-Mommy-Daddy State bullshit. This country wasn’t founded on the premise of the government protecting everyone everywhere all the time.

The State has no right to presume it knows, in advance, what will happen when two responsible citizens decide to engage in their own healing contract.

There’s more. If one state in the Union decided to allow this form of responsible contract in the field of healing, people from all over the country would move there—seeking freedom. As a result, the economy of that State would bloom. Other States, seeing this, would follow suit. There would be a genuine Health Freedom revolution…

And the government of the country could focus on an effort to stop killing people through medical interventions.

As for the people of America, their job is to stop giving in to a reflex- reaction of fear when they contemplate health freedom. “Oh, we can’t just let people decide, on their terms, which health treatments to choose. That could lead to terrible consequences.”

The terrible consequences are right in front of your face. They’re already here. They stem from the federal government’s attempt to run a monopoly on healing, which turns out to be a killing field.

That’s the result of rules and regulations set by the experts.

People either have freedom to choose or they don’t. They have a right to be right or wrong in those choices, or they don’t.

There is no State Mommy or Daddy decreed by some higher power.

Source: The government’s real war on natural health « Jon Rappoport’s Blog

Drink to Your Health – Long Winter Months Ahead – Good Witches Homestead

During the long, chilly winter months, our bodies need all the help they can get to fight infection.
Colds, viruses, and the flu lurk at the door and a simple handshake can lay one out for weeks. To build up the immune system and stave off bugs that run rampant in winter, try incorporating herbs like rosemary, sage, and lemon balm to your morning tea or coffee. All three of these herbs promote longevity and aid in strengthening the body’s defenses. Add them directly to the basket of your coffee pot for full infusion. Remember to gently crush the herbs in your hands first to release all of their essential oils. If you’re lucky enough to have a coffee grinder, that works even better. Simply add the sprigs or dried leaves to the beans and grind away. Then dress the drink as you normally would.
Don’t forget to consume fresh juices for more immunity-building in the darker months Reach for 100-percent juice varieties of blueberry, orange, pomegranate, and goji, which ward may ward off everything from the common cold to cancer. Juices are also a great option for flavoring teas, coffee, and punch.
For instance, you might add a shot of noni juice to coffee every morning for an antioxidant boost. Noni fruit is derived from trees found across the Polynesian islands and shows promise in fighting fatigue and combating aging.

Drink to Your Health – Ten Best Winter Drinks.

Beat winter’s cold bite and warm up with these cozy brews.
winter drinks
What better way to celebrate the colder, restful months than with a hot beverage?
Whether you’re looking to cozy up to the fire with a mug of herbal tea or entertain guests with spiced cider, there are dozens of recipes to choose from. For those special occasions with family and friends, reach for ancient recipes like mead or glogg to toast the season. You can enhance a bottle of wine with rich, earthy spices like cinnamon, cloves, star anise, or licorice root. For a warm punch that pleases a crowd, mix wine with liquors like brandy, Schnapps, Cointreau, Grand Mariner, or Galliano. Then jazz it up with stevia, fennel, basil, or woodruff. Most of the recipes found here are non-alcoholic, but suggest a liquor if you want to add a little “spirit.” Double the recipes for a larger crowd and keep the brews warm on the stove or in a crockpot. Garnish with pretty herbal flowers like chamomile, lavender, pineapple sage, and mint. Or use edible stir sticks like licorice root, chicory, cinnamon, or rosemary bark.

Peppermint Patty

 
The Aztecs considered chocolate a food of the gods. Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, purportedly indulged in the drink known as cacahuatl more than 50 times a day. Often, chiles, cinnamon, or anise seeds were added to cut the bitterness of this cocoa-based beverage. It wasn’t until Cortez brought the recipe back to Spain that sugar was included. The addition of peppermint adds a refreshing bite and promotes circulation.
1 tablespoon dried peppermint in a tea ball or cheesecloth
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups {1 quart} milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
Suggested liquor: peppermint Schnapps.
In a medium saucepan, combine peppermint and water. Simmer over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil; stir for two minutes. Remove peppermint bundle. Add sugar and cocoa, stirring constantly, and continue boiling. Remove from heat, add milk, and stir. Serves 5.

Hot Buttered Cider

 
Originally, apple cider was a fermented alcoholic beverage manufactured across the world in countries like Spain, France, and England. Early American settlers began making the drink almost as soon as they arrived and it was quite popular in most households. In pagan cultures, the apple was a symbol of immortality and used in many love spells. {For a simple love charm, cut an apple in half, remove the seeds, and share it with the one you adore. Then bury the seeds beneath a full moon for a long and prosperous relationship!}
1 gallon of apple cider
6 whole allspice berries
Half of a nutmeg seed
3 cinnamon sticks
8 cloves
4 pats of butter
Chamomile flowers
Suggested liquor: spiced rum
To a large pot, add cider and spices. Simmer for 20 minutes. Strain into a pretty punch bowl and dot with butter. Garnish with chamomile flowers and serve warm. Serves 12.

Warm Mead

 
Thought to have originated in Ireland, mead dates back to ancient times. Brides and grooms toasted with the drink for a month after their wedding. Traditional mead is an ancient fermented beverage made from honey, water, yeast, and spices. The original process is very complicated; this is a simpler, heated version.
1 bottle Chardonnay
6 sprigs of sweet woodruff, washed and dried
1 vanilla bean
1/4 cup honey
In a medium saucepan, combine wine, woodruff, vanilla, and honey. Gently heat until honey dissolves. Remove woodruff and vanilla and serve in goblets. Serves 4.

Rosemary Coffee

 
This recipe might seem strange, but if you love rosemary, you’ll enjoy it. And because rosemary stimulates the mind, this caffeinated drink provides a double pick-me-up.
1/4 cup fresh coffee beans or ground coffee
1 sprig rosemary
Water
Grind coffee beans with rosemary sprig and brew. If you don’t have a grinder, chop the sprig first; then add it to the coffee basket before brewing. Serves 10.

Hot Toddy

 
My Irish grandmother used to make this for me when I wasn’t feeling well. It’s great for colds and sore throats and I make it for my husband and myself when we’re under the weather. The honey is soothing while the lemon detoxifies. Add the whiskey to help you sleep.
1 tea bag of orange pekoe, green, or black tea
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon honey
1 wedge of lemon
Suggested liquor: whiskey
Brew tea in water. Remove tea bag and pour into a mug and add honey and lemon. Serves 1.

Winter’s Nap Tea

 
This tea has all the makings to send you to dreamland. Lavender soothes and relaxes while valerian and chamomile promote sleepiness.
1 tablespoon loose-leaf chamomile tea
1 tablespoon dried lavender buds
1 tablespoon dried valerian
Water
Add all ingredients to a coffee basket and brew with water. Or heat in a saucepan and strain before serving. Add honey if desired. Serves 6.

After-Dinner Tea

 
After a big meal, sipping on this tea can help aid digestion and, as a bonus, it tastes great!
1 licorice root grated
1-star anise
1 tablespoon dried orange peel
Small handful anise seeds
Water
Muddle all ingredients together, and place in a tea ball or muslin bag. Gently heat in a medium saucepan filled with water. Remove herbs and spice and pour the liquid into mugs. Serves 2.

Swedish Glogg

 
A mulled wine that originated in the Scandinavian countries, glogg is enjoyed around the holidays and includes warm spices, nuts, and dried fruit. While many recipes call for a sweet wine like port or even sherry, you may find that the drier varieties better complement these ingredients. You can substitute the brandy for a fruity Schnapps like the peach.
1 whole orange
Handful of cloves
1 bottle dry red wine
1 cup blackberry brandy
6 cinnamon sticks
1 handful raisins
1 handful slivered almonds
Wash the orange and pierce it with the cloves. Add all ingredients to a large pot. Gently simmer until warm. Do not strain. Pour into a crock pot to keep warm. Serve in mugs. Serves 6.

N’Orleans-style Latte

 
Cafe Du Monde is a coffee and pastry shop located in the French Quarter of New Orleans. They serve pots of chicory-flavored coffee alongside tasty Beignets, fluffy triangle-shaped fried donuts dusted with powdered sugar. Chicory has been used for centuries as a coffee substitute. Is earthy flavor adds a rich, smokey taste to the hot beverage?
1/4 cup coffee beans, or ground coffee
1 chicory root
Milk
stevia powder
Grind coffee beans with chicory root, or grate root and add to the coffee basket. Brew with water. Add milk and stevia to taste. Serves 10.

Morning Power Tonic

 
There has been much chatter in the news lately regarding “power fruits.” Pomegranate, blueberry, goji, and acai berries are said to do everything from boost immunity to combat chronic illnesses. Packed with antioxidants, vitamins, phytochemicals, and anthocyanins, these fruits are the new wave of healthy eating. But age-old lemon balm here is also known to promote longevity. In A Modern Herbal, author Mrs. M. Grieve claims that John Hussey of Sydenham, who lived to the age of 116, drank lemon balm tea daily for 50 years!
1 cup purified water
2 tablespoons dried lemon balm
1/4 cup cranberry juice
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
1/4 cup blueberry juice
1/4 cup acai juice
1/4 cup goji juice
Add lemon balm to a tea ball and gently simmer in water for 10 minutes. Remove lemon balm and add juices, simmering for 5 more minutes. Enjoy at the start of your day for an energy boost. Serves 2.

Source: Drink to Your Health – Long Winter Months Ahead – Good Witches Homestead

Japan Declare Crisis As Fukushima Reactor Falls Into Ocean

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Sean Adl-Tabatabai in News, US // 18 Comments

Japan declare state of emergency as Fukushima reactor 2 falls into the ocean

Scientists at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan have declared a state of emergency as one of the reactors is on the verge of falling into the ocean. 

Lethal levels of radiation have been detected around the site which scientists say stems from a hole caused by melted nuclear fuel.

Rt.com reports:Radiation levels of up to 530 Sieverts per hour were detected inside an inactive Reactor 2 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex damaged during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami catastrophe, Japanese media reported on Thursday citing the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).

A dose of about 8 Sieverts is considered incurable and fatal.

A hole of no less than one square meter in size has also been discovered beneath the reactor’s pressure vessel, TEPCO said. According to researchers, the apparent opening in the metal grating of one of three reactors that had melted down in 2011, is believed to be have been caused by melted nuclear fuel that fell through the vessel.

The iron scaffolding has a melting point of 1500 degrees, TEPCO said, explaining that there is a possibility the fuel debris has fallen onto it and burnt the hole. Such fuel debris have been discovered on equipment at the bottom of the pressure vessel just above the hole, it added.

The latest findings were released after a recent camera probe inside the reactor, TEPCO said. Using a remote-controlled camera fitted on a long pipe, scientists managed to get images of hard-to-reach places where residual nuclear material remained. The substance there is so toxic that even specially-made robots designed to probe the underwater depths beneath the power plant have previously crumbled and shut down.

However, TEPCO still plans to launch further more detailed assessments at the damaged nuclear facility with the help of self-propelled robots.

Earlier this week, hopes for a more efficient cleanup at Fukushima were high, as the plant operator announced a portion of nuclear fuel debris responsible for a lot of the lingering contamination from six years ago may have finally been found.

Source: Japan Declare Crisis As Fukushima Reactor Falls Into Ocean

Jefferson Was Correct – The Road Less Traveled

Jefferson’s Final Warnings (He was right)

In his last years – after a lifetime of learning and experience, Jefferson had one thing preeminently on his mind: the principle of decentralized government.

Rather than saying “centralization,” Jefferson used the word “consolidation,” but they mean the same thing. Here’s his core statement on the subject, from his autobiography, written in 1821:

It is not by the consolidation, or concentration, of powers, but by their distribution, that good government is effected.

This statement put Jefferson at odds with the political leaders of his time and raised difficulties for him, as he writes in a letter to Judge William Johnson in 1823:

I have been blamed for saying, that a prevalence of the doctrines of consolidation would one day call for reformation or revolution.

For the following passage – a letter to William Johnson, written in 1822 – Jefferson’s words are set in italics and explanation/commentary in plain text:

They [a political party] rally to the point which they think next best, a consolidated government.

Here he points out that political parties tend to favor centralization, which they certainly have since.

Their aim is now, therefore, to break down the rights reserved by the Constitution to the States as a bulwark against that consolidation.

This party is trying to steal the power of the individual States and centralize it in one city, and they are willing to alter or bypass the Constitution to do so. The fear of which produced the whole of the opposition to the Constitution at its birth….

Here Jefferson is saying the Anti-Federalists were right and that the Constitution could not prevent the theft of liberties by the national government.

I trust…that the friends of the real Constitution and Union will prevail against consolidation, as they have done against monarchism.

Notice his phrase, “the real Constitution.” Already in 1822, he needed to make this distinction, because the Constitution was already being twisted, overridden, and bypassed. Alternately, he may have been referring to the original Articles of Confederation.

In a letter to William T. Barry in 1822, Jefferson writes this:

The foundations are already deeply laid by their [the Supreme Court Justices’] decisions for the annihilation of constitutional State rights, and the removal of every check, every counterpoise to the engulfing power of which themselves are to make a sovereign part.

Jefferson is likely referring to the Marbury v. Madison decision of 1803, a decision that American schoolchildren are taught to revere. Jefferson, however, considered it a disaster, as he explained in the following:

The question whether the judges are invested with exclusive authority to decide on the constitutionality of a law has been heretofore a subject of consideration with me in the exercise of official duties. Certainly there is not a word in the Constitution which has given that power to them more than to the Executive or Legislative branches.

—Thomas Jefferson to W. H. Torrance, 1815. ME 14:303

But the Chief Justice says, ‘There must be an ultimate arbiter somewhere.’ True, there must; but does that prove it is either party? The ultimate arbiter is the people of the Union, assembled by their deputies in convention, at the call of Congress or of two-thirds of the States. Let them decide to which they mean to give an authority claimed by two of their organs. And it has been the peculiar wisdom and felicity of our Constitution, to have provided this peaceable appeal, where that of other nations is at once to force.

—Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823. ME 15:451

But, you may ask, if the two departments [i.e., federal and state] should claim each the same subject of power, where is the common umpire to decide ultimately between them? In cases of little importance or urgency, the prudence of both parties will keep them aloof from the questionable ground; but if it can neither be avoided nor compromised, a convention of the States must be called to ascribe the doubtful power to that department which they may think best.

—Thomas Jefferson to John Cartwright, 1824. ME 16:47

This member of the Government (the Supreme Court) was at first considered as the most harmless and helpless of all its organs. But it has proved that the power of declaring what the law is, ad libitum (at one’s pleasure), by sapping and mining slyly and without alarm the foundations of the Constitution, can do what open force would not dare to attempt.

—Thomas Jefferson to Edward Livingston, 1825. ME 16:114

Clearly, this action by the early Supreme Court was extremely alarming and vexatious to Jefferson. Though, what he couldn’t foresee was the plethora of Supreme Court decisions extending and expanding the unitary power contributing to the destruction of state rights.

Jefferson continues:

If ever this vast country is brought under a single government, it will be one of the most extensive corruption, indifferent and incapable of a wholesome care over so wide a spread of surface.

Lincoln’s Civil War (which enslaved the states to the national government) brought the states under a single government. Washington DC is the seat of the American Empire, and the individual states are minor players. It was supposed to be the other way around. Unfortunately, most people have no real appreciation for the treason of this action. This is precisely where the precipitous decline of this federation of independent states began. This action was immediately reinforced by the passage of the 14th Amendment (Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868), which, among other things, created the heretofore unheard of “United States Citizenship.” It’s instructive to note that this amendment was issued and ratified over a two year period where only a few of the southern states had been readmitted to congress, these re-admissions occurring between 1866 and 1870.

Here is a fragment from Jefferson’s letter to C.W. Gooch in 1826:

…I have little hope that the torrent of consolidation can be withstood….

Finally, a passage from his letter to William B. Giles, in 1825:

I see…with the deepest affliction, the rapid strides with which the federal branch of our government is advancing towards the usurpation of all the rights reserved to the States, and the consolidation in itself of all powers, foreign and domestic; and that too, by constructions which, if legitimate, leave no limits to their power.

(Adapted and expanded from Jefferson’s Final Warnings http://www.freemansperspective.com/author/freemansperspective/)

Source: Jefferson Was Correct – The Road Less Traveled

196 wild horses died at BLM’s Scott City feedlot (a BLM Aushwitz for wild horses)

IMG_20140823_132107_665

Wild horses next to bison at the Beef Belt Feedyard in Scott City, Kansas in 2014

By Debbie Coffey, V.P. and Dir. of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Copyright 2017   All Rights Reserved.

In the middle of June, 2014, the BLM moved 1,493 wild horses from the Teterville Long Term Holding pastures in Oklahoma to the Beef Belt Feedyard in Scott City, Kansas.  Over 13% of these wild horses died at this feedlot.

191 of the wild horses died in less than a year (7/7/14 – 6/30/15).

In a BLM “news” release dated 8/15/14 (over two years ago), the BLM announced that 57 wild horses had died at the BLM’s Scott City, Kansas “corral.”  In this news release, the BLM stated that it had “launched an investigation” into the cause of deaths, and promised that “Once the investigation is concluded, the team will complete a report that will be made publicly available.”

To date, over two years later, the BLM has not made any report available to the public about the Scott City feedlot deaths.

Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, and found out that 196 horses died at the Scott City feedlot from 6/17/14 – 8/2/16.

87 of the 196 wild horses were euthanized.

41 wild horses died of colic.  Many of these deaths were from sand colic.  As late as 4/13/15 (10 months after the wild horses were shipped to this feedlot), local veterinarian Corbin Stevens wrote to BLM’s Joe Stratton “Be sure hay and bunk is free of sand and rocks (try to only throw hay from feed alley into the bunk eliminating road material)” and “A necropsy was performed on one dead horse from pen 2 today and was diagnosed as a colic with small pebbles and sand present in the large colon and cecum.”  However, BLM’s FOIA did not provide WHFF with a necropsy report dated 4/13/15.

14 wild horses died of fractures of the spinal cord (neck and back).  6 horses died of leg or pelvis fractures.  On just one day, 4/3/15, 3 horses died of a brain/head injury and 2 of a broken leg/pelvis.  With the comment “Inspected by Dr. Stevens.  Result of windstorm – ran into fence.”

Timeline:

March 24, 2014 – Long Term Pasture contractor for Teterville in Oklahoma (Robert Hughes), gives short notice to the BLM by informing them he decided to renew his existing 5 year contract, but only for a reduced number of horses.  He informed the BLM that he wanted to remove 1,900 wild horses (about 1,400 mares and 500 geldings) by June 1, 2014.

(The BLM seems to have never thought of or planned for an emergency, so they begin to scramble for a place to put 1,900 wild horses on short notice.  The BLM was able to find space on other Long Term Pastures for the geldings, but not for the wild mares.)

May 28 (or 27) 2014 – Pat Williams, the WH& B State Lead for New Mexico inspected the Scott City, KS, feedlot for NEPA analysis.  Although a working facility with a squeeze (“tilt”) chute was required,  the contractor for Scott City, Phil Jennings, didn’t want to install that infrastructure until the contract was signed.  Phil Jennings, who was going to lease the Beef Belt feedlot for this emergency contract worth over $2 million, is the contractor for the BLM’s Pauls Valley facility in Oklahoma.

June 4, 2014 – BLM signed the contract.  BLM’s Zach Reichold was designated as the COR (Contracting Officer’s Representative).

June 14, 2014 – BLM began moving wild horses from Teterville Off Range Pasture (long term holding) to Scott City, KS.   The BLM crew at Teterville LTH was Scott Fluer, Bea Wade, Richard Williams, Jimmy Galloway and Pat Williams.  3 horses were euthanized before leaving Teterville.  The BLM crew at Scott City was Jerome Fox.

June 22, 2014 – BLM concluded the transfer of mares to Scott City.

July 7, 2014 – Local veterinarian, Dr. Corbin Stevens, states 3 times in a report that less than 2% of horses have a body condition score of 3 or lower.

July 17, 2014 – Dean Bolstad discovered there was no squeeze chute or BLM Project Inspector onsite and discussed the need for this with Zach Reichold (the COR).

July 25, 2014 – Dean Bolstad informed Greg Shoop that there was no squeeze chute or BLM project inspector onsite at Scott City.

July 2014 – 35 wild horses died during this month.

August 5, 2014 – after veterinarian Dr. Stevens met with BLM’s Joe Stratton, Stevens states in a report that 5% of horses were in poor body condition when they arrived at the feedyard. (this differs substantially from the 2% that Stevens claimed several times in his July 7 report)

August 8, 2014 – BLM issues it’s news release.

Aug. 11, 2014 – BLM began “transitioning” Joe Stratton as the COR of Scott City.

Aug. 12, 2014 – BLM’s Pat Williams and Al Kane (USDA APHIS veterinarian) arrive at Scott City to perform an inspection.

Aug. 13, 2014 – Joe Stratton was “to go onsite.”   The squeeze chute was to finally arrive and plans were made for working facilities to start to be made and installed.  (almost 2 months after the horses arrived)

Aug. 28, 2014 – In a KMUW news article, BLM’s Paul McGuire stated “The first full-month report we had from the facilitator operator came at the end of July.  And it was at that time that we saw numbers on the order of about 47 horses had either died or had to be put down during that time.”  (However, the records WHFF received indicate that 35 wild horses died at Scott City during July, 2014, and only 3 horses died the month before.  That totals 38 at the end of July, not 47.  WHFF found several instances of mortality numbers not matching on BLM records in connection with Scott City.)

August 2014 – Another 46 wild horses die by the end of this month.  (total 81)

September 2014 – another 25 horses die by the end of this month.  (total 106)

June 19, 2015 – Dr. Stevens informs Joe Stratton that there is a mare with a vaginal growth that appears to be infected and that Naxcel and surgery may be warranted.  No freezemark number or description was given.

Feb. 2, 16 – Dr. Stevens informs Joe Stratton that a mare with a tumor extruding from vulva needed to be euthanized.  (It is not apparent from any records if this palomino mare was the same mare with the vaginal growth from 6/19/15, that may not have received needed surgery, but since this was the only mention of a vaginal growth, it could be likely.)

May 17, 2016 and May 19, 2016 – About 2 years after horses were shipped to Scott City, even though the Teterville contractor had given the short notice that lead to this crisis, the BLM ships 5 truckloads of horses BACK TO TETERVILLE.  (The BLM started shipping horses out of Scott City after April 25, 2016 (1,311 were there end of month).  By end of May, 2016, 576 were there.  Shipping records from June 2016 show that more horses from Scott City were shipped to other long term holding pastures.  Per BLM’s Dec. 2016 Off Range Facility Reports, Scott City is no longer listed as warehousing any wild horses.

Oct. 14, 2016 – AP reporter Dave Philipps writes an article (that reads like a propoganda piece for the BLM), titled “Success Spoils a U.S. Program to Round Up Wild Horses.”  This article, filled with misinformation, included a photo of Teterville contractor Robert Hughes,  a video of wild horses at Teterville, a quote from BLM’s National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board member, Ben Masters (who voted to kill all the wild horses in holding), and a quote from Dean Bolstad, the Wild Horse & Burro Division Chief, stating that “We’re in a real pickle…”  (No, Dean, the BLM isn’t “in a real pickle,” the wild horses and burros are “in a real pickle.”)  There was no mention in Philipps’ article about what happened to the wild horses from Teterville at Scott City.

There were necropsy reports for 24 horses sent in response to our FOIA request for all necropsy reports.  One of the necropsy reports did not have a date or time on it, and a couple of them didn’t identify the freezemark numbers of the horses.

Excerpts from necropsy reports of wild horses at Scott City:

8/6/14, 5 p.m. – #4805 – atrophy of fat around heart.  Natural causes/old age.  Collected blood prior to euthanasia.

8/6/14, 5 p.m. – #2687 – old age.  Liver failure.

8/6/14, 5 p.m. – #6404 – natural causes/old age.

8/12/14, 5 p.m. – #020937 – small intestine hemorrhage.  Cecum torsion.  Colon enlarged and full of feed.  Died of colic.

8/12/14, 5 p.m. – #945088 – natural causes.  Old age.

8/16/14, 5 p.m. – #6940.  Natural causes.  Collected blood prior to euthanasia.

8/27/14, 6 p.m. – #8737 – cecum enlarged, displaced.  Colic.

9/6/14, 12 p.m. – #05180369 – inflammation around pericardial sac.  Died of heart disease/failure.

9/6/14, 12 p.m. – very large, infected coronary arteries.  Heart failure.

9/12/14, 6 a.m. – #3675 – small intestine inflamed.  Cecum inflamed.  Feed material in abdomen.  Colic.  Ruptured gut.

9/18/14, 5 a.m. – #0041 – colic.

10/20/14, 4:30 p.m. – #7435 – cecum enlarged & hemorrhage (sand).  Colic.  Twisted gut.

10/21/14, 4:30 p.m. – #1062 – cecum enlarged/hemorrhagic/full of sand.  Sand colic.

10/21/14, 4:30 p.m. – #9240 – cecum enlarged/hemorrhagic/full offals.  Colic.  Impaction.

11/12/14, 5 a.m. – #6761 – bloated.  Cecum ½ full of sand.  Died of sand colic.

12/15/14, 6 p.m. – #97175205 – bloated, cecum & colon full of feed.  Colic.  Impaction.

1/13/15, 6 p.m. – “mustang mare” (no ID) – bloated.  Colic.

3/11/15, 6 p.m. – #19964528 – ulcers.  Bleeding ulcer.

4/17/15, 9:30 a.m. – “grey mare” – bloated.  Cecum hemorrhage & inflammation, colon hemorrhage & inflammation – sand.  Died of colic.  Sand in large intestine.

5/11/15, 12:30 p.m. – #2074 – bcs<3.  Unable to maintain weight due to age.

5/18/15, 6 p.m. – #8724 – ulcerations & hemorrhage, bleeding ulcer

5/20/15, 5:20 a.m. – #8513 –  Bloated and cecum full of sand.  Died of sand colic.

5/20/??, 6 p.m. – #6532 – bcs<3.  Unable to maintain condition.

No date or time listed for this necropsy – #3756 – heart enlarged and infarcts.  Heart failure.

By not issuing a report regarding Scott City to the public as promised, or in a timely manner, the BLM seems to just want to sweep what happened at the Scott City feedlot under the rug.  Wild Horse Freedom Federation will not ever forget even one horse that has suffered at the hands of the BLM’s mismanagement.

WILD HORSE FREEDOM FEDERATION HAS POSTED FOIA DOCUMENTATION ON SCOTT CITY ON OUR WHFF WEBSITE DOCUMENTS PAGE – CLICK HERE.

SOURCES:

BLM news release (8/15/14) :  https://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2014/august/NR_08_15_2014.html

KMUV news article:  http://kmuw.org/post/80-mustangs-die-after-move-scott-city

Source: 196 wild horses died at BLM’s Scott City feedlot (a BLM Aushwitz for wild horses) | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

~ Oya – Orisha Of Wind and Change ~

Oya-by-James-C-Lewis

SYNCRETISM: Our Lady of Candlemas, St. Therese, Our Lady of Mount Carmel

PALO COUNTERPART: Centella

AREAS OF INFLUENCE: Storms, wind, lightning, tornadoes, death and the cemetery, the marketplace and business, change, witchcraft, athletics

ATTRIBUTES
The thunderbold, the iruke, cemeteries, a skirt made of nine colors, a rainbow, the flamboyan tree, purple fruits and vegetables, such as eggpants and plums: flowery prints also belong to her and masks.  Her main symbol is a copper crown with nine points, from which hang the working impliments of several of the orishas, especially Oggun and Ochosi. Among her other attributes are an ox cart, a machete and a hammer.

BEVERAGES: Aguardiente, red wine, beer.

COLORS: All colors except black, her main color is wine, she likes flowery prints which her initiates must never wear.

DAYS OF THE WEEK: Friday, which is chosen by the Orishas to inflict punishments on those who have broken the law.

FAVORABLE NUMBERS: 646 387 421

FEAST DAY: February 2

FOODS: White rice with eggplant and small balls made of pigeon peas. Rice with fish, rice with corn, rice with sesame seeds and rice with black beans are also among the favorites food of Oya, as are yams and chocolate pudding.

FRUIT: Papaya, legumes, plums and purple grapes

GARMENTS: Crimson and multi-colored prints

HERBS: Altamisa, cambia voz, yanten, vergonzoza, tamerindo, verbena, espanta muerto, caimito, maravilla, palo rayo, marpacifico, cimarron, palo hacha, palo caja, granada, baria, guasimilla and meloncillo.

MINERALS: Amethyst, Black Opals, Bloodstone, Bronze, Garnet, Labradorite, Tourmaline, Smokey Quartz (red stones)

NECKLACE: Her main necklace is made of red and brown beads with white and black stripes. Among her other necklaces there is one made of violet beads with yellow stripes and another alternating white beads with nine black beads.

NUMBERS: 9

ORIGIN: Celestial

SACRIFICES: She-goats, pigeons, black hens and guiena hens.

SYMBOLS: Graves, Lighting Bolts, Masks, Tornadoes

TABOOS: Rams, Palm Oil, Her initiates wearing floral prints.

TRADITIONAL COLORS: Black, Oranges, Purples and Reds

Oya is the orisha or storms and changes. She is a much feared orisha due to her powers as she can create a storm so powerful that she can destroy towns upon towns. The winds, tornadoes and lighting are at her every command. Oya also known as Xansa, Oya Yansa (Mother of Nine) was the wife of Ogun before Chango took her away from him. Oya is said to be a lovely tall amazonic woman who is dressed in a wine color dress with a belt that holds a grass skirt with 9 different color cloths. Oya is also the owner of the market place where she would go and sell her goods to maintain her children. Oya’s main home or domain is the cemetery. Now a lot of people say or believe that she is the owner of the cemetery. That’s all not true. Oya is the gatekeeper. She stands at the cemetery gates and she lets the dead into the cemetery where her sisters Obba and Yewa tends to the body.

Oya is a great warrior who loves to go to battle alongside her husband Chango. Stories say the Oya would put on a pair of pants and grow a beard just to fight like a man at war. Oya has a younger sister named Ayao who is the orisha that resides in the clouds in the sky. It is Ayao that gives her sister Oya the ability to take the spirits of the dead to go fight alongside her which makes up her powerful army.

Oya has brought down many men, many towns and many lands. But as a warrior she protects her children with a strong look and with her destruction she brings changes. Whenever there is a storm that brings destruction, change is needed to rebuild. Sometimes the land is expanded for new homes or new business. That’s Oya. She has helped all the orishas in one time or another. As well she has feuded with the orishas at one time or another. Oya is the one that convinced Obba to cut her ear to feed to Chango. Oya is the one that brought down Osain’s gourd where he kept most of his secrets of the herbs.

She also had a feud with her sister Yemaya in which she does not eat ram anymore. At one time she did but due to that disagreement she doesn’t anymore. Let me clear something. Oya and Yemaya are not enemies. The only dilemma between them is the ram. It is said that one day Chango was eating with his mother Yemaya and Oya and with his court and Oya saw that he was giving all of his attention to his mother and Oya became very jealous. Oya saw that Chango gave his mother Yemaya first bite of the ram and since that day, Oya said she will never eat it again. One of Oya’s characteristics is the wind that causes hurricanes. Hurricanes come off the coast of Africa where her town is and logically, a hurricane needs the assistance and strength of the ocean to come on shore to bring change.

Pataki of Oya 

Chango was at a party one day having the time of his life. Chango was drinking and dancing like no ever. He was swaying his hips and showing all his sexual masculinity. His crown was kept firm on his head as every moment he did, it did not move. That was to show all that he is truly Chango, a king. Everyone in the party was enjoying Chango and was cheering him on. The great king of Oyo kept on drinking and did not realize that some of his enemies were outside of the party noticing Chango.
The party was dying out and Chango decided to leave the function. He went around the room giving his good bye to everyone. He was eyeing some of his mistresses that were there to see if they would go home with him. Chango staggered to one of the corners of the party where his enemies were hiding. Within a minute, his enemies grabbed him and tied him up. No one in the party saw and Chango was taken to a cell where his enemies kept him.
Days passed by and Chango was no where to be found. Oya who was married to Ogun already had left Ogun and had a fling with Chango. Oya also did not hear anything from Chango. She did notice that Chango had left his pilon (a wooden pillar that Chango sits on) and his mortar (where Chango hides his secrets) in her house. Oya grew very weary and was worried about Chango. But besides her worries Oya was very inquisitive and wondered what was so special about Chango’s pilon and mortar. She moved the red cloth that was covering his pilon and mortar and saw nothing special about it. When she touched the mortar she noticed that it had a gleam to it. Inside the mortar there was some kind of clear liquid that vibrated. She looked closer and an image started to form in the liquid.
In the image in the mortar was the face and body of Chango. Oya saw that Chango was being held captive by his enemies. She saw that he was locked in a cage fit for a dog and his enemies were surrounding the cage making mockery of him. Oya looked harder into the mortar and saw that Chango was in a rage but he couldn’t do anything because he didn’t have his oshé and his powers. Oya grew upset and lighting sparks started to form in her hair. She yelled up in the sky and called for a centella (lighting) to come and help her and she would ride it to find Chango. With that the image of Chango’s face reflected in the liquid and Oya grabbed the liquid and put it to her lips, as in to kiss the face of her loved Chango.
In that instant Oya’s lips and mouth started to burn her furiously. She staggered back and forth wondering where the heat was coming from. She ran outside of her house to where she had a well to grab some water. The water did not do anything to ease the pain. She finally opened her mouth as she could not stand the burning sensation and when she did a huge fireball came from her mouth. Everywhere she turned and screamed out, fire was released from her mouth and everything was burned on fire. At this moment a centella crackled in the sky and fell right to her feet. Oya screamed and stepped onto the centella. The centella rose to the sky and Oya was standing on it and the centella proceeded to take her to where Chango was held captive.

In a second the centella was above the place where Chango was kept and when the centella started to come down, Oya who was riding it screamed a war cry and fire was released from her mouth. Another centella came from the sky that broke the locks that were holding Chango. When Chango’s enemies saw Oya coming down on a centella breathing fire they all ran for cover.
Chango was wondering how was he released and when he ran outside he grabbed his oshé and he saw his mistress Oya standing in the fields surrounded by centellas that crackled around her and that she was breathing fire. Chango was reluctant to run the other way because he never saw Oya in this state. Oya sent another centella to grab Chango and he to was standing on a centella alongside with Oya. Chango started to throw thunderbolts with the help of his oshé while Oya was throwing lighting and fire upon the enemies of Chango as they rose into the sky together.

They both arrived at Oya’s place safe and Chango was still in amazement of Oya’s actions. He told her that the only one who knew the secret of him throwing aiña (fire) was him and that secret was kept with his pilon and mortar. Oya turned to her lover and told him that she looked into his mortar and tasted the secret that he had there. Chango was upset that she discovered his secret but he was grateful that she saved him. From that day when Chango goes into battle, his mistress Oya goes in alongside him fighting.
Oya’s feast day is February 2nd. She is associated with Our Lady Teresa and Our Lady of Candelaria. Her number is 9 and all its association. Her color is maroon or a dark wine. Oya also takes 9 other colors that are her children. Those children make up the rainbow and they live in the skies making the crown of the orisha Ochumare. She is the queen of the dead. Oya is the official secretary of Olofi. She knows when life is being born and when life is dying. She is the air we breathe everyday. Oya stands at the cemetery gates and she marks down every body that comes through the gates of ile iku (cemetery). In the house of the priest, Oya lives in a brown or wine color tureen where her secrets and mysteries are kept. Some houses have her with water and some do not. I believe she shouldn’t be with water. The only time I put water on her is to calm her down when she is upset and to refresh her. She also takes an iruke that she uses to clean the dead and clean new paths.
Her crown is made up of copper in which that is her main metal. All of her tools and weapons are made up of copper. Oya’s sacrificial animals are black female goats, hens, pigeons and guinea hens. Oya’s children are very outgoing and strong willed people. There are very spiritual individuals at they have the gift if used correctly, to communicate with the dead. She is initiated on the heads of her followers in which is a lengthy and mysterious procedure. Her ceremonies are one of the most gorgeous due to all of the many colors that are used. Her zarasa (the throne of the dead) is made up of multiple plates that are placed for the dead. These plates range from 29 all the way to 209 plates of different offerings to the dead of her initiate and the spirits that her initiate collects to walk alongside her.
Oya is the owner of the mask as she at times is wearing one. Some people say that no one can stand to look at the face of Oya because it is too horrific to look at. I don’t believe so. I believe that she is a beautiful woman; she just doesn’t like to be messed with or fooled with. She is good to use to take masks off of people who you believe that are being two faced with you. She is also good to use when one wants change in their lives. She is a good healer but she loves to defend and be at war when war is present.

Ayao 

Ayao is the younger sister of the orisha Oya. Ayao is said to reside high in the clouds of the sky or at the top of the cieba tree. She is said to sit there and help guard the spirits that pass through her clouds to reside at the kingdom of Olofi. Ayao is an orisha that is given to the children of Oya. Now any priest or priestess can receive Ayao. Her secrets are kept in a tureen that is kept high in the house of the priest. This orisha can never touch the ground as her ceremonies are done on top of a table. It is said that when an initiate of Oya is performing their consecrating birth, the spirits that they pick up are tended by Ayao. When Oya is getting ready for battle she calls her sister Ayao who releases those spirits to aide Oya in battle. She is not initiated on the heads of anyone.

 

Source: ~ Oya – Orisha Of Wind and Change ~ – Ye Olde Dark Arts

Ancient ‘lost continent’ found lurking under Indian Ocean

A complex splintering took place with fragments of continental crust of variable sizes left adrift within the evolving Indian Ocean basin.

Scientists have confirmed the existence of a “lost continent” under the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius that was left-over by the break-up of the super-continent, Gondwana, which started about 200 million years ago.

The piece of crust, which was subsequently covered by young lava during volcanic eruptions on the island, seems to be a tiny piece of ancient continent, which broke off from the island of Madagascar, when Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica split up and formed the Indian Ocean.

“We are studying the break-up process of the continents, in order to understand the geological history of the planet,” said Professor Lewis Ashwal from University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

By studying the mineral, zircon, found in rocks spewed up by lava during volcanic eruptions, Ashwal and his colleagues have found that remnants of this mineral were far too old to belong on the island of Mauritius.

“Earth is made up of two parts – continents, which are old, and oceans, which are “young”. On the continents you find rocks that are over four billion years old, but you find nothing like that in the oceans, as this is where new rocks are formed,” said Ashwal.

“Mauritius is an island, and there is no rock older than nine million years old on the island. However, by studying the rocks on the island, we have found zircons that are as old as three billion years,” he said.

Zircons are minerals that occur mainly in granites from the continents. They contain trace amounts of uranium, thorium and lead, and due to the fact that they survive geological process very well, they contain a rich record of geological processes and can be dated extremely accurately.

“The fact that we have found zircons of this age proves that there are much older crystal materials under Mauritius that could only have originated from a continent,” said Ashwal.

This is not the first time that zircons that are billions of years old have been found on the island. A study done in 2013 has found traces of the mineral in beach sand.

However, this study received some criticism, including that the mineral could have been either blown in by the wind, or carried in on vehicle tyres or scientists’ shoes.

“The fact that we found the ancient zircons in rock (six-million-year-old trachyte), corroborates the previous study and refutes any suggestion of wind-blown, wave-transported or pumice-rafted zircons for explaining the earlier results,” said Ashwal.

Ashwal suggests that there are many pieces of various sizes of “undiscovered continent”, collectively called “Mauritia”, spread over the Indian Ocean, left over by the breakup of Gondwanaland.

“According to the new results, this break-up did not involve a simple splitting of the ancient super-continent of Gondwana, but rather, a complex splintering took place with fragments of continental crust of variable sizes left adrift within the evolving Indian Ocean basin,” Ashwal added.

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Source: Ancient ‘lost continent’ found lurking under Indian Ocean