by David F. Vennells
Llewellyn, 2001 $9.95 US
ISBN 0-7387-0098-3

Review by Daven

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Please understand something, this book has NOTHING to do with Wicca, Witchcraft, Magick or any esoteric practices that have been part of the occult in the past. This is a book on health, like a book on aromatherapy, massage, or a book of herbs. You must keep this in mind as you read this book.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Reflexology, it is a preventative application of direct stimulus to the nerve endings in the feet and hands. Still confused? The theory of Reflexology states that by massaging nerve endings in the feet and hands a healthier body can be achieved and maintained, since all nerve terminate in the feet and hands. It is anecdotally proven over the years that it can aid the healing process.

Reflexology has migrated to America along with Acupuncture, Acupressure, Chiropractic treatment, bowel health, warmed stones, Shiatsu massage and other forms of good Eastern pathways to good health. Herbal supplements have nothing on some of these disciplines.

This is a book for beginners of this discipline. It has a lot more information than just “how to”, but those critical instructions are there.

I have been practicing this for a while as an amateur on my wife and myself. I had one little card in my wallet that showed me the regions of the foot that related to the different parts of the body. It’s one reason I was interested in this book.

I can find little to criticize about this book. From what I observed as I went through this book, it is complete and whole in and of itself. This is exactly the book I would write and there is little information that I would remove if I could. The ONLY criticism I have is that the information after the “how to” is geared toward someone setting up a practice in this field, which apparently is much easier than it was several years ago.

Going through the chapters: The first chapter discusses theory and history. It is always a good idea to give a person a basis to start from in this field. The second chapter is dedicated to how and what the regions of the foot relate to and where to rub to affect regions of the body. The third chapter is “how to” rub the feet, what kind of massages to use, which order to rub the feet in, and techniques that will affect a specific cure.

Chapter four is how to more in depth, how to be a clinician with regards to the treatments you need to practice, and special cases you have to pay attention to like pediatric treatments. Chapter five is more in depth exposition in the treatment of patients, and this is where it implies that you could set up a medical practice in this field. Chapter six is practical advice and more theory. Seven is case studies from other practitioners of Reflexology and how they did what they did. Chapters 8, 9 and 10 are dedicated to further study in preparing yourself for practical practice on others, like where disease comes from, how to meditate to clear your mind, and where reflexology is going now.

The appendixes take some of the information that was mentioned but not explored in depth, like core concepts of Buddhism and how that affects reflexology and the history of reflexology and gives more information on those topics only. I assume that the student can take these sections more slowly and delve into them as their interest is piqued.

The author does state multiple times that the person who reads this book does not have to create a medical practice if they choose not to do so. He makes sure that this concept is clear for the reader. Then throughout the text he speaks as though the reader was indeed going to begin a practice. I don’t understand why, but I can assume that it may be because practice on anyone but oneself is technically a practice. I could wish that one of the appendixes contained more detail on how to go about finding a suitable building, acquiring medical insurance as well as a certificate to practice legally, and some of the downfalls of doing so.

There should probably be a comprehensive chart of the feet and what areas correspond with which region of the body. It is covered in chapter 2, but it’s piecemeal. One page deals with just the reproductive areas, one page is just the digestive tract, and another page covers the heart/lungs. It would help to have all those merged into one page, clearly labeled and broken out. Even an advertisement in the back for a wall chart soon to come from Llewellyn would be helpful.

I have to give this book 4 1/2 stars out of 5. The parts I object to are minor, and this is one of those books that are a must have for anyone who is interested in this kind of medicine. I believe that this is a good book for a new person to start with, and I highly recommend it to all.

Originally posted 2009-11-15 17:29:27.

I really appreciate you taking the time to write to me.  Thanks so much.  In thanks, why don’t you grab this banner for your site?  I’ll even throw in the code for you…  This is 272 by 82 pixels

This is the HTML code:

<a href=”http://davensjournal.com/index.htm”><img src=”JourBanner.gif” border=0 alt=”Daven’s Journal.  Pagan information freely available on the Internet!”></a>

Here’s another one just in case you didn’t particularly like the first one.

This one is 427 by 113 pixels.  The code for this one is:

<a href=”http://davensjournal.com/index.htm”><img src=”JourBan.gif” border=0 alt=”Daven’s Journal.  Pagan information freely available on the Internet!”></a>

And this is a “standard banner” size.  It’s 486 by 60.

<a href=”http://davensjournal.com/index.htm”><img src=”468-banner.gif” border=0 alt=”Daven’s Journal.  Pagan information freely available on the Internet!”></a>

And finally I have a button for those with limited space:

<a href=”http://davensjournal.com/index.htm”><img src=”DJButton.jpg” border=0 alt=”Daven’s Journal.  Pagan information freely available on the Internet!”></a>

I’m no good at saying “thank you” to a whole bunch of people.  Your emails let me know that I’m doing a good job and that I matter.  I’m very glad that you all are communicating with me.  It helps when I get down that I’m not reaching anyone.  I know it’s silly, but hey, I’m human too.

Anyhow, thank you very much for taking the time to drop me a line.

Originally posted 2009-10-30 09:55:49.

From time to time the topic of Pagans and Sacrifice comes up in various forums online. Unfortunately, the majority of people (including pagans) who talk about Sacrifice don’t seem to understand about sacrifice. Most think of sacrifice (in the connotation of Pagan religions) as dealing with human sacrifice or animal sacrifice. While those are ancient practices and valid forms of sacrifice, they are not all that is.

First we need to understand the definition of sacrifice. Sacrifice means simply “to make sacred”. It is from the Latin root and in modern times it is defined as giving up something of value to gain something you wish.

Pretty cut and dried, but when it is translated into Pagan Religion, all anyone can see is things like the Wicker Men of legend, bog drownings, burning bodies and cattle dropping dead.

Because of this persistent vision of what sacrifice is, the act of sacrificing something to the Gods has a VERY bad reputation.

But let’s think about this for a few moments. Sacrifice does not have to be bad, since it’s done all the time by most Pagans.

Ever think of the act of consecration? Cleansing it and going over it with the salted water and so on or whatever ritual you do to make that item sacred sacrifices it to the Gods. You just gave something to Them. Granted you still get to USE it in your rituals, but taking that special goblet that your grandparents drank their wedding toast out of and consecrating it to use in ritual has taken it from the realm of the mundane and special into the realm of the sacred. So that sacrifices it.

You have, in effect, given it to the Gods.

You can do this with any object; a knife, a harp, a person, a steer, a mouse, an owl, a candle, a poppet, a stuffed animal or anything else. Heck, you can even take food, already prepared and cooked food and sacrifice it to the Gods.

Time is another sacrificial object. Most people don’t realize that it can be sacrificed until someone points it out to them blatantly like this, but time, effort and energy can all be sacrificed. It takes time to do something, to make something, to create something of your own. That is a sacrificial act. Creating candles and dedicating them to the Gods is sacrificing them to those Gods, even if you go out and use them to burn on the altar or to light up the chapel or circle.

Creating a poem is a sacrifice. I wrote an article on Lugh and on Tailtu at one point and sacrificed them to them during a ritual to get a new job. It’s perfectly valid to do so and a good and original sacrifice as well. It represented my willingness to sacrifice something that I spent time creating for Them.

In my opinion these original sacrifices are worth more than all the gold and food in the world. They show that one was thinking and that you actually took the tastes of the deity you are sacrificing to into consideration. If it were up to me, I would be more inclined to look favorably upon someone who was sacrificing something that was original than something that everyone gave.

In some cultures and deity sets, the more valuable a sacrifice is to the giver, the more acceptable it is to the Gods in question. One story I remember hearing as I grew up is of a ritual where the Gods would bless this town with health, wealth and prosperity if a sacrifice made to them was valuable enough. The Gods favor would be shown by the bell in the main cathedral ringing with no hand touching it. There had been ten years straight of famine so it was very important that this ritual come about and please the Gods. So the entire town gathered to make their sacrifices to the Gods, and as time passed things became more and more worrisome. Hundreds of people paraded past the altar and made their sacrifice with no result. From the poor to the rich, each gave what they considered to be a proper sacrifice to the Gods, but nothing happened. Finally the King himself knelt before the altar and placed his crown on the altar, sacrificing it to the Gods. Still no bells. The people were crushingly depressed. Finally, the last person to make an offering was this little beggar boy. He approached the altar with a silver coin he had begged from passers by. With this coin he could eat for a month. He placed it on the altar and when he moved away, the bells rang out for hours. The Gods were pleased with the monumental size of the sacrifice the beggar gave.

The beggar boy had given his entire worldly goods and in the process directly harmed himself to please the Gods, so his town could prosper. It showed a willingness to give that is the core of sacrifice.

The ritual of Cakes and Ale is a sacrificial ritual. Yes, it is also a ritual of Thanksgiving, one of sharing the bounty of the Earth with the Gods, but it is a Sacrificial rite.

Most people have this idea that sacrifice has to involve a living thing. But what about burning herbs in honor of the Gods? Is that a sacrifice? I say it is.

You worked to find those herbs. You dried them, and now you are giving them to the Gods in a ritual of honor. It takes energy and time to do all that, plus the herb you grew/found is now not usable by you for any reason. It is therefore a sacrifice. It may look like it is not since the Gods grew the plant and all you did was harvest it, but you fussed over it too. Even if you wild-crafted the herb (meaning you went and searched for it in the wild), you still had to do the work to find the herb if nothing else.

This point I have spent many hours in debate with the Gods about. It basically comes down to this; if you feel the Gods would enjoy something, if it is something you enjoy or that is valuable to you, then sacrifice it to Them.

I didn’t believe this, so I tried it once. I baked a loaf of bread for the Dagda for a spell I needed to come to pass. He loves bread and porridge, and I thought it was appropriate since it was something that looked to me as though it would be of little importance. I mean, bread is bread.

My wife and I made a big deal of it, grinding the meal (we added oats to the bread), pounding and rolling it out, braiding it and putting it in the oven. And I offered it to Him. He was very pleased and even more so when I gave it all to the Birds who would be hungry for it. But it was such a little thing and it gave so much joy to many people around us. And the Gods were pleased.

Which brings up the point of what about the Voodoo custom of bringing cakes and alcohol to celebrations and giving them to the spirits? Well, understand that I’m not a practitioner of Voodoo, but I have learned (despite everything) from some of the specials on voodoo on channels like Discovery. What I remember one mambo saying about that was that the loa eat the spirit or the essence of the food offerings, leaving the physical behind. It is only natural at that point for the celebrants to have that to share in the bounty with the loa. It’s like a partnership where one animal eats only the forequarters, and another eats only the hindquarters. It makes sense for them to hunt together at that point so there is no waste.

Now, what I have talked about are the other forms of sacrifice. Your time, your energy, items you made, your attention, spells, poems, service and so on can all be sacrificed to the Gods. Let’s grasp the nettle here and talk about Human, Animal and Blood sacrifice.

Any discussion of these three topics needs to start with the disclaimer of these are special case sacrifices, and the people participating in them HAVE to know what they are doing. Those who have no clue are letting themselves in for a world of hurt and are going to spoil what is a sacred rite.

Here’s the point of these sacrifices; there should be no pain. The goal of these sacrifices is the energy bleed off.

When a life ends, there is a rush of energy that is released by that death. This is true for ANY living thing, plant, animal, human or whatever. It happens when a bacteria dies (but it’s so miniscule that most people don’t sense it). This life energy is exactly like the “Force” of Star Wars fame, and it can be channeled into the same purposes. That energy is simply lost when something dies, but those that know what they are doing can gather that energy and force it into spells or into other uses to boost it. BUT pain and anger and hatred and fear “taints” that energy. Just like using a paint stick that has mixed red paint to mix white paint without cleaning it first will result in a bucket full of pink paint, so too will fear and anger make this energy useless.

Blood sacrifice is exactly that, spilling your blood and offering that to the Gods. For some there is a mystic use for blood. Like Lugh (the Celtic God) had to store his spear (which had a flaming head) in a bucket of puppy blood to keep it from burning down everything from an unquenchable fire. For others, there is no greater essence of life than blood. Plus, it is nutritional all on it’s own. You can eat blood and live off it. Granted it’s very hard to do so and you will get sick, but what do you think Blood Sausage is? It’s mostly cooked blood.

But those that have been analyzing the attraction of Vampires have done a better job than I could do in telling you about the mystic use of blood. It is a primordial substance and an essential one. Because of CENTURIES of association with life, spilling blood voluntarily becomes a huge sacrifice for others.

Now, I’m not saying that every deity out there will enjoy a sacrifice of blood. Far from that, most will be repelled. However, there are some that do demand blood sacrifice and have demanded it in the past, therefore sacrificing blood to them will help your cause with that deity. Should you do this lightly? Not at all. It should be done only when there is little else that can be done and when there is great need.

Are there other solutions besides just letting it drip out of your hand/arm? Certainly. One of the most original blood sacrifices is dealt with in this article.

As to animal sacrifice. This one is a lot more problematic. There are traditions out there who practice it currently as part of their holy rites. There are some versions of Santeria, Voodoo and some pagan beliefs that do so as well. In EVERY case, the animal is treated with respect and honor. It is fed the best of the best, it is praised and sung to and the death it experiences is quick and painless. Great care is taken to ensure that the animal does not suffer during the actual sacrificial process. For the object of the sacrifice to suffer and to have a torturous experience is a terrible omen and will destroy the sanctity of the rite like nothing else will.

This is not about pain. This is about an offering to the Gods. The best animal in the herd is offered to the Gods, the energy is taken to fuel the ritual or spell the animal was sacrificed for, the soul of that animal is sent to the Gods for THEIR feast, and the flesh of that animal is eaten in a mirror feast among the practitioners. It’s not discarded or thrown into the ditch as some believe (that is an act of sacrilege and wasteful. Why praise and take care of the animal, thanking it for sacrificing itself and then throw it aside casually like day old bread?) but it is eaten and partaken of in a sacred rite. It also occurs to me that this act can have the same effect as other eating rituals.  Eating the heart of a deer one has hunted and killed ritualistically takes the power of the deer into oneself.  Ritually eating the body of a sacrificed animal takes the purity and those blessings of the Gods into oneself.

Human sacrifice is a different order of magnitude. Let me state that this is NOT practiced by any sect or religion that I know of currently. It may be done illegally, but if it is, the participants would be charged with murder under most laws of Western Nations. However, it was a valid form of worship back in the day.

Basically it’s the same as animal sacrifice with two differences: The first was that the sacrifice went to plead the case of those committing the sacrifice directly to the Gods themselves and second, the flesh was (normally) not eaten afterward. I say “normally” because some cannibal tribes probably did eat it.

Once again the sacrifice themselves was the best of the best, someone who was pampered and praised and made to feel special, then they were killed in a ritual that did the least amount of pain to them. When the soul got to the afterlife, they were normally under orders by the priests to plead whatever case they had to the Gods directly. This showed the Gods that the situation was very serious and that immediate help was needed. I mean, if you are willing to give up your life to talk to the Gods about a problem the tribe is having….

One special note on Human sacrifice; the people who were the sacrifices were volunteers. It may have been a case of “I can sacrifice you in a ritual, or we can starve/torture you to death, but either way you are going to die” kind of a choice, but they could trade a potentially painful death for one that would allow you to die at peace. But they were volunteers.

There are some who may still practice this, but it is not a matter of someone else doing it to them, but more along the lines of self-sacrifice in the form of suicide. Groups like the Heaven’s Gate cult can be seen as practicing self-sacrifice to bring about a specific end. It is simultaneously a form of protest and channeling their lives into a greater goal. Buddhists used to do this all the time.

Some notes on sacrifice: There are those who believe that sacrifice, especially willing human sacrifice, has the power to change the world. Not the extreme cults either, but Judeo-Christianity believes this. Let’s look at the biggest sacrifice in history, Jesus’ crucifixion. According to the belief of the followers of Christ, his sacrifice saved the entire world, past, present and future from the fires of Hell so long as they believe that he sacrificed himself for their sins. And that is a hugely powerful magickal act.

Scapegoating has been known for centuries by many peoples. It is basically a cleansing ritual in which the purest animal in the village is ritually “loaded down” with all the evilness, pettiness and sins of the people of the village, then it’s sacrificed to the Gods. That takes all the sins of that village to the Gods and the people are clean again. This allows for closure on many things that could fester and get worse and worse over time for those people.

And if you look at it, the sacrifice of Jesus was just another form of scapegoating. Ritually cleansing the whole planet so long as they buy into the ritual in the first place.

Now, all that said, I know of very few groups who still practice Blood or Animal sacrifice and I know of no groups who actively practice Human sacrifice. But this is not to say that those who do are wrong. It is saying that their practices are not my practices and may not be YOUR practices. It makes them different, not wrong.

If you think of it, there are mainstream practices of Animal sacrifice all the time. Kosher law (in which the blood is removed and the rabbi checks to make sure the animal is clean) is a sacrifice of a kind, and saying prayers before dining CERTAINLY is an animal sacrifice. In case you don’t get it, the animal is killed and made into hamburger patties. Then you bless and thank the animal for sharing its body with you. That is one definition of a sacrifice, since the food is now blessed and sacred. This happens every day. So don’t jump to conclusions too quickly about the need or evils of sacrifice. And this holds true for any meal you eat, it was a living thing that has given its life for you and you have thanked it, therefore it is now a sacrifice.

I mean, if you base an entire religion around a human sacrifice, it can’t be THAT bad, can it?

Let me add a personal observation here.  Sacrifice is not bad.  It simply is.  Animal sacrifice may not have any place in Wiccan practices, but that does not mean it is not a valid form of worship for others.  Human sacrifice isn’t bad either, so long as it is not done casually and care is taken for the person to be sacrificed, but unfortunately most law enforcement agencies aren’t going to see it that way.  Thankfully this is not that big of a problem, no matter what the fanatics try to convince you of otherwise.

Update March 3, 2006

I was contacted by a lady who read this article and had some things to add to it.  I’ll share her comments with you here:

By Cassi Dixon

Thoughts on Sacrifice, in specific animal sacrifice:

Animal sacrifice in which the animal is eaten afterwards also serves the purpose of connecting the participants with the cycle of life/death.  In industrial society most people get their meat prepackaged and are very removed from the actual process of animal husbandry and slaughter.  There’s little relationship between the cellophane wrapped bundles in the store and the animal that gave up its life to bring you dinner.  Most people have no idea of their place in the lifecycle because they have no relationship to their food.

You cannot have an functional acknowledgment of the cyclic nature of life without seeing yourself in that lifecycle.  Animal sacrifice serves to drive home “something dies, you eat – you die, something else eats”.  This of course has even broader implications for most practitioners of Pagan religions because our gods are not only gods of life, but gods of death as well.  In many cases our gods have even died in order to keep the lifecycle moving.  Bringing our awareness to our place in the divine order brings us into unity with the Divine itself.  Sacrifice not only makes the food sacred and consecrated to the Gods, it makes the person who consumes the food sacred as well.

You can do this of course with plant products, but most people are not capable of easily making the leap that plants are also alive until we kill them for food.  Many sacred stories and practices were created in the past to try to illustrate the point to us, the God of the grain dies at harvest time and is consumed by the followers in a ritual manner, but even in modern day Paganism such practices and stories are rarely observed.

Sounds good to me.  I wish I had thought of this.

Originally posted 2009-12-24 03:02:58.

So, you want to create a website to tell the world about your new found spirituality and how happy you are about it? Fantastic.

Let me offer some pointers for you to think about before you start coding the HTML.

First off, think about what you want your website to be about. I mean this. It may seem obvious, but there are facets of your spirituality that are reflected in your website, and all of them are going to affect how your website looks.

Things to consider:

1. Is it going to sell products you make and dedicate to the Gods? Some possibilities are candles, oils, incenses, food, tools and many other things.
2. Is it going to talk about things you learned?
3. Is it going to educate those who find your website?
4. Is it going to deal with problems you have and how you over came them?
5. Is it going to be filled with all the things you find cool and neato about your spirituality?

Each of those questions are going to mandate a different style of website, and in some cases it may require you to buy some software to help you make the site.

For instance, an education website can be maintained by a couple different ways. You can do the coding by hand in something like Dreamweaver or Front Page, but you can do the same thing in what is called a CMS or Content Management System.

A CMS is basically just a program that comes with a lot of functions and a lot of features along with templates for different pages. All you have to do is plug the appropriate information into the correct places, and BINGO! you have a website. If you aren’t really concerned with how it looks, you can do this in under an hour or so. But you have to know what you are doing with a website to get it set up that fast. I have a friend who can create a whole new look and feel for a website using a CMS program called Mambo in about 2 hours. She sets up the asthetics, and you fill in the content. She also charges about $300 to do that.

I would make some recommendations to the above list.  (Please note that this list follows the above list. Each number corresponds to the same number above.)

1. Use a shopping cart software
2. You may wish to consider putting it in a blog
3. This one may be best if it is simply a series of pages that a visitor can click around in
4. Another blog is a possibility, but you may wish to put this on your own server instead of something like blogger or livejournal
5. This can be anything.

Any sales oriented site has to have a shopping cart. It’s the easiest thing to do and it offers the most choices for your customers and the most versatility for you. It reduces the PITA factor by about 500. Most of the work is already done, and similar to a CMS, a shopping cart will have blank areas for your content. They will also have a healthy community of users to help you with your problems. I have used ZenCart in the past and it’s free and very easy to set up.

Blogs: There are a number of websites out there who will allow you to make journal posts to them and then repost those posts to a page you can have display someplace else. The ones like Blogger and Blogspot are very versatile and customizable. I have known a lot of people to use those exclusively and make VERY good looking websites from them. But those sites have one major problem; versatility. They are limited in how some of the information is given to the web browser and sometimes they won’t let you do something that is very simple or necessary for you to do. So another option is to go with a Blogging Software set up, like TypeKey or WordPress.

Both of these are programs you buy, like the shopping cart software and the CMS software, which you upload to your webserver and then configure for your use. They also have theme capabilities. Once again, once you have the software in place and configured the way you want it to look, all you do is plug in your content.

I have seen simply AMAZING sites made on nothing but one blog. Some examples are WilWheaton [dot] net and Websnark. Both these sites are nothing but one blog running where the author can comment on whatever, and the readers can comment themselves.

But blogs function best when used as a Journal type thing. You think of a point you wish to make, you make an entry. It’s useful for keeping an electronic diary of information, kind of hard to do other things with it.

CMS work in that there is some incredible versatility in the components you add to the base part. But blogs are not generally part of it, and frankly everyone is using some type of CMS these days. The main reason for that is because it is EASY. You don’t really have to think much to plug content into a CMS simply because it is designed for Cut and Paste operations.

But with CMSs you get one HUGE drawback; gewgaws. Look the base term up. Go to Google and type define: gewgaw. I’ll wait.

Okay, what has that to do with online content? It is simply something that is useless but looks pretty. It adds nothing to what is there.

Look around the Journal. Notice anything missing? No forum. Want to know why? It’s a gewgaw. I don’t need one. At one point I had considered putting one up for those who wanted to talk to me, but then I realized that I had five other ways for that to happen. I had my email. I had my ICQ and other IM programs, I had three different Yahoo! groups that I ran, and I had a mailing list from the Journal itself for updates. Any of those venues would allow people to talk to me, to discuss things with me. But NONE of them were getting traffic and none of them were being utilized as they should be. So I closed them all, redesigned the functions I had for them to other things. When I closed the Journal Yahoo! Group, I had been using it for announcements of things on the Journal, such as new articles and updates. So I changed it so that the RSS feed for the blog which I DID use a lot took over in that capacity. It’s more versatile and does all that I want it to do AND it allows me to tell users who are signed up as well as those who just visit that I have a new article up.

But a forum would be useless. All it would do is take up space. If I need a teaching spot, I have some programs available and I have a LARGE forum available on other servers. Traditionally, however, forums fail when I get involved with them. I’m a pontificator, a preacher, a teacher, not one that does Socratic Method and I generally don’t talk unless I have something of substance to add to the conversation. So mostly I don’t talk. Which means that others would have to do all the chit-chat talks that keep a forum alive, or I would have to get 400+ members immediately. I’m popular, but not that popular.

So avoid useless programs and functionality on your site. CMSs, however, tend to make adding those features as easy as clicking a link and putting it in position. It becomes a matter of about 20 seconds work to add a fourm to a website that probably doesn’t need one.

This point I’m making is that just because something looks cool and pretty, that does not mean that your website will be helped by having it. Yes, there are a lot of things I would love to have on this site, mainly because my reaction is “Ohhh shiny!” but I resist because the Journal won’t be helped by them, and it just may drive my readers away.

That’s something you have to continually consider, the website visitor. The goal here is to make it as accessible to them as possible. Not everyone uses Internet Explorer, so creating a site that has a lot of coding that only Internet Explorer can use is counterproductive. Not all of them have T1 broadband connections to the internet where they can download the 2 MB movie on your site in under 10 seconds, and not all of them are healthy enough to keep from having a seizure when the flashy blinkie things on your website start playing. Heck, some of them may not even have vision, so they will have to have their text reader read your site to them. That means they won’t be able to turn off the MIDI you put on your site in the background since they have to have the sound on to hear the content of your site.

Also remember that thin code is preferable to code bloat. If you create a page in Microsoft Word, it puts all these extraneous formatting tags in there that only Internet Explorer can read. If you go and take them all out, you wind up with a page that is generally 1/10th the size you started out with. So a 240 KB page goes to 24 KB, and it loads up in 1/10th the time, from 20 seconds to 2 seconds or so. This gives you three advantages.

First off, it takes less space on your webserver, which means you can have more content there. When it’s loaded by a websurfer, it takes less bandwidth of yours, and it is more likely that the other people who requested the page will stay to read it, rather than get bored waiting for it to load up and surf to some other site.

These are the kinds of questions that professional web designers ask themselves all the time.

• Lean code?
• Cross browser/platform compatibility? (Can someone on Windows 98 see it the same way a UNIX box can?)
• Handicapped accessible?
• Is there useless functions incorporated?
• Can I get rid of the silly stuff that doesn’t add anything?
• Is this component I need already part of what I have there, or do I need to get another program?

Seems like a lot of things to consider when all you want to do is tell the world that you found Wicca and you are really happy, right? I’m glad I got that across to you.

I want to offer this advice: If you just want to talk about how wonderful you feel because of Wicca and you, do so on a site like LiveJournal, GreatestJournal or one of several other blogs that are already out there. Your page is not really needed. It’s not that you and your thoughts aren’t needed, it’s simply that there are five or six thousand pages out there that give basics of Wicca to those who don’t know about it, and many of them are probably better than you will be able to put together. Consider sending people you care about to those pages instead of repeating the same information that is already out there. Heck, consider sending them to a book.

If, however, you have something to say, perhaps the teen view of what Wicca is, then by all means, put up a website and say it. Just remember what I have said previously. They are as basic as saying “please” and “thank you”. It’s Internet Courtesy and it’s very important to the success of your site. Don’t simply duplicate what is already out there.

When I surf the Internet, I’m looking for what YOU have to say. If I wanted to know what Silver Ravenwolf had to say, I’d buy her books. If I wanted to hear what Fritz Jung was saying about Wicca, I’d ask him directly, and I’d go to his site. So you may reference their statements, but say what you want to say. Don’t cop out and have others saying it for you. That’s lazy.

Ten years ago, you didn’t need to know anything to put up a website, and these days you need to know even less. Tons of sites went up over night (almost) and most of them sucked. It seems that the intervening years not much more has been learned by new users, for the same mistakes are being made.

When I first put up the Journal, I had a cool site navigation. It was on the left, just where it is now, but it had buttons. Each button was a plain one, until you put your mouse over it, then it showed a pentagram on the far left, showing that you were looking at the “Articles” sub section. When you actually clicked on it, you got a sound that was a page turning. I was so proud of that.

Time passed, I took it off. I had a lot of people complaining about the sound screwing up their music, and the navigation not showing up properly and the JavaScript being disabled on their site so it wouldn’t let them get to other pages of my site. I had other pages they could use, just without the cool effect, and finally I decided to just get rid of it all together. It was taking up space and sucking up my bandwidth.

It was for a similar reason that I finally moved to paid webhosting. I had my site on Crosswinds, Homestead, Geocities, and a couple other “free” sites. I found out that those sites were only free if I permitted thousands of advertisements to be placed on my site, or if I allowed the “free” site host to keep my property. When I read the agreements, I was stating by hosting there that the people who owned that server could reprint my work as much as they wanted without asking or even telling me. That’s why it was free.

When I saw an advertisement on my site (in the form of a pop-up which I despise) advertising a lock picking set to instantly jimmy any car open, I got a paid host. I don’t advocate illegal actions and I won’t allow the people I host with to say that I do by putting that ad on my site.

Those free sites are good for personal pages. They are decent for telling grandma that you got an A in Honors Physics. They are okay for hosting the picture you want to put into an email to dear mom on her grandchildren. But for information sites, unless you are destitute, put them on a paid host. I am chronically short of money, most times I have to scrape to feed my family, but I can afford the less than $20 a month to pay for this website. With that I get probably 80 times the space of a free host, 50 different email addresses I can use, a domain name that is MINE, listings on various search engines, the capability to do a heck of a lot of neat things with my site (like keeping people from linking my images without my permission), the ability to save my files in a secure place so I can transfer them between my PC at work and the one at home. Then there is the free software I get along with it. Better than $8000 worth of software that is provided to me by my webhost simply because I host with them.

Please note, that I’m not USING it all, but I have it available should I need it, like for my blog. AND if something goes wrong, the paying customers get the attention first, not the free hosters. Last time I had a problem, it was fixed in a few minutes, not two or three days.

All these combine to make the Journal and many other sites like it the examples many people cite, and why most people tend to dismiss those sites that are on Homestead and so on. The basic point here is to help you design a good site to tell people what you learned and what you are not believing.

After all, you want people to read what you have to say, not click out of your website because it took so long to load up, right?

Originally posted 2009-10-27 16:08:33.

AE: this is the abreveiation for “American Eclectic” in which elements of many different traditions are taken and mixed to form a new kind of spirituality, while respecting the cultures those elements were taken from. Has a strong sense of history and a seeking of continuity. See this article for an excellent discussion of the various flavors of Wicca.

BTW: this is the “short term” for British Traditional Wicca. Normally this is typified by Gardnerian and Alexandrian, but it can be any group that is a lineaged mystery tradition. See this article for an excellent discussion of the various flavors of Wicca.

Emo (an abbreviation of “emotional”) is a term now broadly used to describe almost any form of guitar-driven alternative rock that expresses emotions beyond traditional punk’s limited emotional palette of alienation and rage. It is also used to describe fans of this genre, most commonly teenagers. (e.g., emo kid). The actual term “emo” originated in the mid-1980s D.C. scene, with the band Rites of Spring. The term addressed both the way the band connected with its audience, as well as its tendency to deal more with topics of personal and relationship politics than with the standard themes of rock music.

Evoke: To ask a being/emotion or other noun to mainfest outside of ourselves to be with us, as another person would be. To evoke an emotion is to bring that emotion forth. To cause to occur.

Fluffy Bunny: A full explanation of this condition would take too long. A short definition is one who insisits that their view of Wicca or Paganism is the correct one, despite reams of evidence being presented to the contrary. A person who is willfully ignorant. For further explanations, see What Makes a Fluffy Bunny and Standard Fluffy Statements

Godiots: Defined as a God Idiot or a God Zealot. Basically a Fundamental Religious person who makes it their business to shove their beliefs in everyone else’s faces. Most notably refers to Christian Zealots, but can and does apply to Pagan, Muslims and other religious practices.

Invoke: To invoke something is to bring that something to being inside ourselves. To invoke a deity to to ask that deity to manifest within us and within our lives, as reflected by ourselves. It is literally to bring something from outside ourselves within, to invite it in.

Karma: Religious doctrine that each rebirth in the cycle of lives is based on the sum of the merit accumulated by an individual during his previous lives. Karma establishes the general tendency of a life but does not determine specific actions. In each life, the interaction between individual character and previously established karma forms the karma of succeeding lives.

Polyamory: participation in multiple and simultaneous loving or sexual relationships DOES NOT IMPLY PROMISCUITY.

Sheeple: People sheep. A person who just follows the crowd with whatever they are told, who never questions or wonders or tries. They simply do what they are told to do like good little sheep.

Spitball or Spitballing: to toss ideas around with no expectation of them coming to pass, to brainstorm.

Straw Man: A straw man or man of straw is a dummy in the shape of a human created by stuffing straw into clothes. Straw men are used as scarecrows, combat-training targets, effigies to be burned, and as rodeo dummies to distract bulls. In otherwords, a disposable target. In the context of an argument, it is a distraction, a target presented to sidetrack the discussion from one area onto it with the purpose of derailing the discussion/debate/argument. A target intended to be destroyed.

Vanity Search: A Websearch where you enter your name, handle, or website, to see who mentions or links to you. Normally used as an ego boost.

Wictim: A Wiccan Victim or one who believes that you are persecuting them right now. Generally a trait of the Fluffy Bunny.

Yahoogroup: A group run and hosted by Yahoo! Groups which is based on the email list format. Emailing an address as a member will post that email to the entire group, as well as all responses. MajorDomo is a form of this, but it is a bit more clunky to use.

Originally posted 2005-05-31 10:37:59.

When the discussion topic of “can I charge for the reading I did” comes up in most forums, it really turns into a free for all fight. There are the proponents of “yes you may” and the opponents who say “no you may not”. I can see both sides of this discussion and I offer my own humble thoughts here.

First, the side that opposes payment.

Most often they point out that you are using a gift from the deities and that, as such, you will “contaminate” it by having money change hands for using it. They point out that since the future is always in flux and you could be wrong, that it is impossible to guarantee that you are accurate or that what you state will happen. They also (if they know their craft history) might point to the “ardanes” and show that Gardner didn’t want the Arte being sold, meaning that by his rules that one could not take money in exchange for the casting of a spell. They also point out that it’s traditional.

Next the side that proposes payment.

The proponents will point out that it’s only fair to exchange money for the work of readings or spells. I mean, they worked for the money; therefore it’s an energy exchange, them giving their energy (money) for yours (spell). That in those who have used their spells or their readings to make a living, that it didn’t corrupt them or make them less of a priest or priestess. There are assertions that you can exchange service for service, mowing a lawn, cooking a meal or what have you.

My opinion?

I will accept money for my service. I may not do it for religious services, like a Handfasting or a Wiccaning, definitely not for a Sabbat or Esbat, but I will take money for a Tarot reading (as shown by the ads I have for just that service). My reasoning is simple.

One goes to a lawyer to have legal documents drafted. It is his skills that create a binding legal document that says what you want done after you die, or that you have now set up a trust fund and so on. You pay him. You go to a doctor for medical treatment. You give your money to him, he gives you medicine and he tells you if you need to lose weight. You take your car to a mechanic. You give them money, they repair your car and give it back to you. You buy food from the grocer who takes your money and gives it to a farmer who gives him the fruits of his land, which the grocer gives to you so you may eat.

Where is it mandated that these professions must give away their skills or their knowledge or their components? Why should the doctor fix you for free? Should the mechanic expend several hours of work on your car and use many, many parts to correct a problem in your car for free?

It would be nice to have a communistic society where that happened, but it’s not reasonable. Greed and sloth, many human failings as well as the need to acquire all conspire to make most communistic groups fall apart fairly quickly. But this is neither here nor there.

Selling professional skills is a normal part of society. An author would count it theft if you took their words and republished them without his permission and without royalties being paid to him, after all, he wrote those words. The Music Industry has a long history of going after people who take their work and who don’t pay for it. So why should I, as a Tarot reader, be expected to give away MY professional skill?

It is a skill. I may have a talent for reading the cards, but there still has to be a connection to the Universe, an intuitive link, that will help me interpret the card correctly when they come up in a reading. I also must study and learn not only surface meaning of cards, but their deeper symbolism, expending my time and energy, something of value to me at least. I have to be aware of the cards, I have to be aware of the client, I have to be aware of the connection to everything, and I have to know when to depart from the “book standard” reading. I also have to supply my cards, replace those cards when necessary and invest in books to give nuances in meaning and so on. This is a pursuit that could take quite some time and significant amounts of energy and money.

Shouldn’t I be reimbursed for all that?

Gypsies certainly were. They would refuse to do a spell or a Tarot reading without an exchange of money first. Temples did this also. There were some temples in the past that would do oracular readings for money (or other service) for the clients. The Witches of the past did this too, taking their “payment” in many forms, just one of them being cash.

It is true that in a village, one can do a reading for someone in need and let the community take care of you in exchange, that the reading would be your contribution to the whole. I can see this happening in a coven situation where there are only a few members and each of them contributes to the health and welfare of the whole. I can see the one who is talented with the Tarot cards giving readings to the rest of the members of the coven, just as the High Priestess gives her home for the Covenstead, the High Priest supplies the candles and other alter items, the Maiden prepares the feast for everyone. I can see that and understand it totally.

I can also see in the “brotherhood of card readers” one that is skilled at doing readings being generous and allowing another who has a similar set of skills to do a reading for them. I exchange my Tarot readings for a rune reading or a dowsing. That is an equal exchange of effort and energy.

Those special cases are fine, but to believe that because I am Wiccan I must give my skills (which have taken me a lifetime to learn) to whoever asks, for nothing more than a smile, is asking me to bastardize my skills as nothing more than a sideshow trick.

Part of human nature is to value little what comes for no cost. The car that Mommy and Daddy gave to their child has little intrinsic value to a teen; therefore it is of no consequence when it is wrecked. But the car you bought for yourself is taken care of, it is pampered, it is treated like it was a one of a kind vehicle. Because YOU paid for it. It was your talents, your skills and labor that gained you the money to purchase that vehicle and therefore you prize it. That is the way it should be.

A reading or a spell is one of the most personal things one can do. A spell to protect, a spell to bring revenge, a spell to help someone over come an inhibition are all very personal and the person requesting them MUST hold them in value, pamper them and so on. But more often than not, if the spell is cast for free without the expectation of return, then they will go “Oh, pretty lights” and do nothing more with it, negating the spell in its entirety and thus “discovering” that magick is nothing more than mystic passes with the hand and chanted phrases.

But if you ask money for it, then they pay attention. They have ritually infused themselves into the spell or the reading. They have taken their labor and their effort, their sweat and blood, made physical by the money, and they are now completely and totally tied into that reading. They pay attention to each word, each hesitation and they hold onto that reading. They invest their soul and their energy into the spell, and by god they want it to WORK, therefore they believe in it. After all, they gave MONEY for that, they can’t buy that carton of cigarettes or that tank of gas. That’s a valuable reading now.

Because of this personality infusion in the process, because of this energy exchange, I believe that more people should charge for readings and spells. That any time a Tarot card is turned or a prophesy is spoken or that a stick of incense is lit, there should be an energy exchange of SOME sort, be it in labor, food, or cash.

If Priests, Monks and ministers in the churches (including Buddhist and Hindu) are willing to take money for prayer (through the medium of tithing or donations, which pay for their upkeep), then why can’t we for the same reason? It doesn’t make sense.

Oh, you can say that it cheapens the gift that by charging and that the person will feel ripped off. To that I say the only person who can cheapen it is the person who refused the money. When you are giving it away, you are inclined to do less than you may normally do, simply because you are getting no reward. So, asking for and receiving money is a way to make you work harder to give good value to others.

I know when I started Tarot readings, I gave them away. I did readings and I didn’t take any money. It was easy for me and my talents to do so. I did the minimum I could to answer the question, never really delving into the problem the person came to me with. And I did regret it.

When I started taking money, I knew the value of a dollar. I know what *I* would expect were it me paying for the reading, and I make sure I give value for that money. One reading I do costs $90 and takes about an hour. I had one lady purchase one from me, and I didn’t feel that I had given her full value for her money since one HUGE question went unanswered in my mind. So I did another reading for her while she sat there, answered that question and did some more explaining. That I felt was good value and I performed to my best. She commented later that she was satisfied with the first reading, and that the rest was icing on the cake, unnecessary but really good.

This philosophy can be applied to any discipline, not just to Tarot or divination or even spells. It can be applied to writing, singing, playing an instrument, teaching, computer work, secretarial work or anything. ANY professional skill and manual skills can be seen in this light. Paying for something makes it valuable, if SOLELY for the fact that one has given money for it. That is the textbook definition of value. That which has value is treated differently and is treasured. That which is free is treated as less and with no value, thus is treated with contempt.

I know that when I get done with a reading, I feel a sense of satisfaction in the reading, that I did my best. I want the other person to value that reading as well since I worked my backside off. To see my effort and energy treated with contempt makes me mad. To see them take what I have said to heart and believe it, to see them put what I advised into practice, well, it makes me very proud.

And if I have to take a few shekels or tuppence for that, so be it. I’ll take it gladly and use that money without shame.

Originally posted 2009-11-11 22:21:07.

I follow a lot of people here (on Tumblr), and most apparently don’t understand that it’s not just the outside package that is beautiful, but the internal personality, attitude, love and joy that shine out that combine to make someone beautiful.

Yes, the outside package is what people react to first.  Yes, it is the one that most will judge you on first.  But just like a Christmas Present, sparkly gold paper and nice ribbons do not make the Popeil Pocket Fisherman any better.  Just like wrapping an iPad in the comic section of the newspaper doesn’t detract from the present.

However, since humans are visual oriented, presenting an attractive outer casing is what seems to be important in the very short term.  Yes, beautiful people are more desirable to be around, they are more envied, but that is ONLY because people who look at them ONLY see them as the outer casing.  Just as if you only saw the gold wrapped package or the comics wrapped package.  The casing would be what you would judge on first.

And we are even warned against this.  ”Don’t judge a book by its cover.”  ”Beauty is only skin deep…” and many other such sayings warn us that it’s not the casing, the package, the wrapping that is important, but the contents of the mind, soul and spirit.

So I see people worried about their appearance to the exclusion of all else, and I get very sad.  I get upset when I see someone who only thinks that attractive appearance is what is important.  Hey, I like looking at pretty things around me too, but to stay around those pretty things there has to be more than just pretty appearance.  Because beauty fades, the nicest flower in the world will whither, and the most gorgeous gown will rot with time.  But the personality and the internal qualities are what will last.

I’ve known many girls in my life.  The beautiful ones are very rarely the ones who stay “beautiful” and “thin” and “tanned” and “fit” and “skinny” three or more years after I come to know them.  There are a few like that, but most understand that while their looks may have initially turned my head and had me look at them, the contents of their character are what kept me around.

And I’ll tell you something else.  It’s the “sad, weird” people I enjoy spending time around.  Cookie cutter personalities like are shown on Mean Girls or Bring it On are not anything that interests me.  But the girl with an armful of books, the one who wears spiked hair or a collar, the girl with the black makeup and the pale complexion, THOSE people are interesting.  They have a persona they want to show, and they apparently are willing to show it and be contrary to society rather than trying to conform and blend in.

Those people are worth the time to get to know.

So, ladies and gentlemen, no matter who you are, please revel in yourself.  Yes, put on an attractive appearance but understand it is not the appearance that will keep someone around.  The gestalt of you is what keeps someone.  And understand that even if this person over here left you, it is their loss due to you being a beautiful creature.  Someone else will be with you and the others, well, they have to content themselves with the Pocket Fisherman.

The Witches’ Almanac LTD., 2010 $11.95 US
ISBN 978-0-9824323-0-3

Review by Daven

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

I honestly thought this was a mistake when it was sent to me. I hadn’t requested this book, and I tend to avoid reviewing things like calendars and date books, since their usefulness is very limited. But I am glad to have the opportunity to review this book.

Like all almanacs that I have ever seen, this has a calendar in it. It has articles and also information on planting cycles. The required articles and mentions of astrology are also present. But as the title implies, this also is a book packed with information for Witches.

No, there are no recipes for making your own wormwood flying ointment, but there is an article on the use of Cauldrons in Celtic Myth. There is an article on the Mexican Day of the Dead. The Holidays for most Pagans are listed in the calendar accurately. There are moon phases in the calendar as well.

One thing that I noticed for this book, and it is the first time I have seen it, is that the calendar, instead of being broken down into January, February and such months on the Gregorian calendar, is instead broken into Zodiac Signs. So the “year” of the calendar starts with Capricorn, and then goes to Aquarius and on until the entire cycle has been covered, and then it continues for three more signs to give you time to pick up a new copy to continue the cycle.

There are full length articles in the front and back of this book, and there are little snippets of articles on the pages facing the month that you are dealing with. A glance at the calendar is enough to show you what the moon phase is, as it is printed graphically on the days it occurs. I was a bit confused by the days having the signs of the zodiac on them until I read the planting suggestions that are just before the section of the calendars. There it tells me that the zodiac names are qualities in effect as the Moon moves through the houses, and what you should be planting on those days.

ON the calendar pages are little snippets of information on the zodialogical attachment to what stone or metal. They call come from the “ABC of Magic Charms” and I’d bet you that it is another book published by this publisher.

I have to say that like most almanacs that I have read, I like this a lot. There is useful information in there instead of the information that I have to ignore because it’s not for me, like the times of tides and so on. The articles are informative (if in some cases short), but I did find myself reading those articles and learning something from them each time.

All in all, I’m giving this 4 out of 5 stars. The reason it’s not higher is the limited usefulness that it will have after the Spring of 2012. But don’t let that stop you if you find a copy in a used book store, the facts contained in these articles won’t change, and it can be used for reference later.

Who knows, maybe next year’s edition will have the date of the End of the Fifth world in it.

Originally posted 2010-11-13 20:51:08.

Alister Crowley said that one’s True Will is one of the crucial things a magician should know, since the True Will is the basis of the being.

He goes on to talk at length about how True Will is the culmination of the basic core of the person. It is the most selfish part and is most concerned with the success and survival of the person – the part that is most likely to reflect what the person truly wants and needs.

It’s important to realize that just Knowing how to accomplish a goal or that Knowing yourself is not enough. You must also actively make the decision to do what you want, or all the training, all the experience is useless.

This is the essence of “To Will”. This is the actual decision point in the spell-casting process; it is when the magical process, the spell, actually begins. The training and study are the lead-in, the preparation to do the spell. Will is the stage where the decision that the spell is needed is made. It is when all the options are considered and the spell becomes one part of the overall process to cause the desired change to occur.

Many experienced magicians say that this point is when the spell is actually starting to be cast. This decision begins the Consciousness Shift to the altered states that are key to manipulating magic and successful ritual.

This act of deciding to cast the spell takes the process to the level of a goal instead of allowing it to remain as a simple desire like wanting to get a cola for lunch. It becomes a true desire, such as finding a job that will allow the caster to support their family better, one that motivates the caster to attain their goals no matter the cost or the obstacles placed in the way.

“To Will” also implies that the first leg of this pyramid has been attained. Knowing implies that you know what you really want, to the bottom of your soul. That is where your “True Will,” as Crowley put it, resides. Understanding your own Will, your own mind and desires, is paramount. How can you do a spell to bring success if you believe in the bottom of your soul that success of the spell means you will become something you despise? The ends are counter productive to your True Will.

Therefore knowing your True Will is another critical part of this whole process.

The True Will is one part of every Magician that should always be examined. Willing something into existence, as the Magician of the Tarot deck does, is a hard skill to master; you better be sure that this is what you want. There are no “take backs”, no “do-overs” when you create something out of nothing.

Remember the advice “be careful what you wish for, you might just get it”? That’s a heck of a double edged sword.

Human beings are essentially “wish generators” with no off switch. Think of how many times you say “I wish” in a typical day, without even meaning to. Once you start paying attention to that statement, you find that you say it a high number of times. You think it more than you actually say that phrase. And each of those thoughts and statements go out into the æther and have an effect there, even if we don’t see it.

Exactly like dropping a pebble into a pool of water, those ripples spread and start affecting other things and people. Eventually it does get reflected back, warped and diminished, but those reflections are still the original wish that was Willed into being.

So while a trained metaphysician and magician can create a situation that didn’t exist by will alone, they should always be cognizant of what can happen if they don’t watch what they think.

This discipline of the mind, of basic thought processes, should be one of the first goals for any training program of those who are psychically aware. Unfortunately, many of those who begin studying those who wish to begin immediately using power, to start casting spells without first understanding the discipline that is part and parcel of this path.

This series of articles is starting to show that there is a method to the Pyramid’s quick mnemonic, a level of depth that many don’t see. We can already see how “To Know” and “To Will” are fitting together and interlacing. It is becoming rapidly apparent that one cannot have just “To Know” without also having “To Will” and the other two legs of the Pyramid.

All this discussion on the Will may make you ask, “where do I train my Will into a razor-honed weapon?” I can’t help you with that because most of training the Will is about practice.

First you have to decide on a goal, preferably a goal that is difficult and which others say can’t be done. Then start on the journey to attain that goal. Along the way you must not despair and you must keep trying, believing even when it’s hard. Perseverance here is the key, although outsiders may see you and call you stubborn.

Keep doing that, over and over, keep ‘out-stubborning’ the nay-sayers and keep attaining your goals, even if the effort may not be worth it in the end. That is a good primer for a strong Will. When problems appear, decide immediately that you will overcome them instead of denying the problem or capitulating to the problem. Your first reaction to a problem should be “okay, how do I overcome this” instead of “no, this can’t be happening.”

Choose goals that are attainable and reasonable. Don’t pick ones that are easily attainable, for that defeats the purpose of training. Pick ones that are difficult to gain, and then keep going at it until you gain that goal.

For example, one of the proudest moments I have had in my life was in Martial Arts when I severely hurt my hip in the dojo. I kept going anyhow with the night’s exercises for kicks, especially side kicks, which work the hips strenuously. I kept going even though I was in a lot of pain, I would not quit. I saw a lot of admiration in the eyes of my teachers that night.

There are all kinds of opportunities that present themselves. Just watch out for them, and understand that when you are training your mind you can’t give in even once, for that tells the Subconscious that it’s okay to give in occasionally. It is the Subconscious that really needs to know that you have a strong Will. If you choose to give up occasionally, this action destroys all the headway you have made during your training..

When you decide to out-Will a situation that could defeat you, you must carry through to the end, no matter where that decision leads.

Humanity is the only species I know of that can create simply with their thoughts. It is a huge gift and an awesome responsibility. This ability must be tempered with experience and wisdom. Knowing when to use Will is as important as knowing how or why.

The Will then becomes the paintbrush of Creation, and like all tools, it should be kept in good working order and put away safely, so it is not used inadvertently or carelessly.

Originally posted 2009-11-10 02:53:28.

by Janell Moon
Red Wheel/Weiser 2004 $24.95 US
ISBN 1-59003-058-3

Review by Daven

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Apparently I’m now getting advanced copies of books that aren’t available for purchase yet. For example, “The Prayer Box” is due out in April of 2004, according to Amazon.com and is an interesting release.

It’s not a book that’s difficult to review, as there is not a whole lot of content. Let me give you my impressions in the order I experienced them.

When I opened the envelope, I instinctively questioned the appropriateness of the request for review. The title on the box suggested that it would make a better offering to a Christian someplace, as Pagans as a general rule aren’t into prayer. But I resolved to open it and give this a fair review.

I pulled out two books and a whole bunch of notepaper with a background feather imprinted on it. The feather matched the feather graphic on the box and books. I first looked in the actual prayer book. The second book is a prayer journal, and it’s blank. So, 100 sheets of blank paper, one book of blank paper, one book of information regarding the use of the blank paper, and a box made of paper. It’s an environmentalist’s nightmare.

I delved into the actual book of instruction on paper use. It is 85 pages of information on prayer. Stories about prayer, how other faiths pray, what prayer means to the author. She shares inspirational stories about her life as a child and those in her family who prayed. She talks about her desire to pray and how prayer changed her life.

There is information in this book about the technique you should use to make the best use of the prayer box. She suggests that you write your prayers down on the papers after writing thoughts out in the journal and isolating key elements of what is needed in your life based on what you just wrote. Depending on what you have written, you can burn the papers or put the prayers into the box and then putting the box on your altar.

All in all, it’s not a bad book in and of itself. Reading it is like reading a self-help book and there is good advice throughout. The stories are very good and uplifting. I think that this could have been done as a stand-alone book, instead of a boxed kit. This smacks too much of the “Teen Witch Kit” for my taste. Had this been published simply as a book, with suggestions for purchasing a journal and some stationary for the other needed components, I would rate this higher. As it is, you are paying nearly $25 for things that could be bought for $3 at a stationary store and the book to go with it.

I’m reluctantly giving this work 3 stars out of 5. This is ONLY because I think the book is worth it as a guide to meditation and as a starting point for your own growth in spirituality. I don’t think the papers and blank journal are worth this. I’d suggest that if you don’t have the money don’t worry about purchasing this particular volume. The book is well written and is a reasonably good addition to those libraries where massive spiritual change is needed.

Originally posted 2009-11-15 18:21:12.