Search A Light In The Darkness

Friday, 26 December 2008

A Word on Gematria


In Hebrew, each letter possesses a numerical value. Gematria is the calculation of the numerical equivalence of letters, words, or phrases, and, on that basis, gaining, insight into interrelation of different concepts and exploring the interrelationship between words and ideas.

Here is a basic introduction to Gematria that discusses different systems for identifying the numerical equivalence of individual letters, how these letters can be calculated according to the implicit word-value of their names. The assumption behind this technique is that numerical equivalence is not coincidental. Since the world was created through God's "speech," each letter represents a different creative force. Thus, the numerical equivalence of two words reveals an internal connection between the creative potentials of each one.

There are four ways to calculate equivalence of individual letters:
Absolute Value
Ordinal Value
Reduced Value
Integral Reduced value

No Xmas Wouldn't Be Complete Without ....

ABBA singing 'I Have A Dream' ...

Image of the Day

Arisaig, Scotland
Original image by GAH.
A favourite place ... happy memories of a family together.

Satsang

Satsang is a Sanskrit word combining "satya" meaning "truth" and "sangha" meaning "group." It describes a gathering of people for the purpose of spiritual truth. Satsang is often used when referring to a meeting with a guru or a spiritual mentor. During Satsang, participants read inspiring words, discuss its teachings, meditate, and find ways to bring this awareness into daily life. While attending services or spiritual study groups can be thought of as participating in Satsangs, this practice can also apply to any group of people that are gathered to inspire one another and express the truth free from judgment.

A Satsang can be a group of people that are gathered to sing, play, or listen to music. All that needs to be there is the intention to inspire one another and tell the truth. A Satsang can also be a support group, book club, yoga class, or meeting between friends for coffee or conversation. We don’t need to be in a place of worship or supervised by appointed leaders to experience the truth. The truth can be found in every moment and it can be experienced with anyone. Spending time with someone who enlightens us can be as simple as visiting with a grandmother or talking to a best friend. There is wisdom to be gleaned from being with people even when the gatherings are not specifically intended for personal improvement or spiritual transformation.

Any occasion we are gathered with people who understand and support us can be a spiritual experience. While gatherings with the intention of communing with spirit are undoubtedly powerful and inspiring, getting together with people that uplift us by their presence alone is also vital to our well-being. When we recognize all the people we know that support and enrich us, our lives can become an extended Satsang.

Thursday, 25 December 2008

Merry Christmas

To everyone, hope you have a great day, and all the best for 2009.
May all your dreams come true.

Wednesday, 24 December 2008

Tarot Card of the Day

What has traditionally been known as the Judgement card, sometimes entitled Resurrection, represents the great reunion that the ancients believed would happen once in every age. This was the time when souls are harvested and taken Home to their place of origin, outside the solar system. Then the World is seeded with a batch of new souls and the process starts over.

From a modern point of view, this great reunion -- which includes every personality that you have ever been and every soul that you have done deep work with -- reunites to consciously complete the process. In a way, we symbolically celebrate this returning to center every year on our birthday.

In personal terms, the Judgment cards points to freedom from inner conflicts, and so clear a channel, that the buried talents and gifts of past incarnations can come through an individual in this lifetime. This card counsels you to trust the process of opening yourself, because what emerges is of consistently high quality. You can effortlessly manifest as a multi-dimensional being, and assist in evoking that response from others. (Source: Tarot.com)

Prominent Scientist Fired By Gore Says Warming Alarm ‘Mistaken’

Award winning Princeton University Physicist Dr. Will Happer, who was reportedly fired by former Vice President Al Gore in 1993 for failing to adhere to Gore’s scientific views, has now declared man-made global warming fears “mistaken.”

“I am convinced that the current alarm over carbon dioxide is mistaken,” Happer, who has published over 200 scientific papers, told EPW on December 22, 2008.

I had the privilege of being fired by Al Gore, since I refused to go along with his alarmism. I did not need the job that badly,” Happer said this week.

Senator Inhofe said that the continued outpouring of prominent scientists like Happer -- who are willing to publicly dissent from climate fears -- are yet another strike to the UN, Gore and the media’s claims about global warming. “The endless claims of a 'consensus' about man-made global warming grow less-and-less credible every day," Inhofe said.

“I have spent a long research career studying physics that is closely related to the greenhouse effect, for example, absorption and emission of visible and infrared radiation, and fluid flow,” Happer said this week. “Fears about man-made global warming are unwarranted and are not based on good science. The earth's climate is changing now, as it always has. There is no evidence that the changes differ in any qualitative way from those of the past,” he added.

“Over the past 500 million years since the Cambrian, when fossils of multicellular life first became abundant, the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been much higher than current levels, about 3 times higher on average. Life on earth flourished with these higher levels of carbon dioxide,” he explained. “Computer models used to generate frightening scenarios from increasing levels of carbon dioxide have scant credibility,” Happer added. (Source: epw.sente.gov)

Around Canberra



Original Graphics by Matthew James

The Music of This World

The tool most commonly used to focus our minds in meditation is the breath. When we sit down to meditate, drawing our attention inward counteracts our habitual tendency to be scattered. Meditation on the breath helps us gather our energy into our bodies, centering and grounding us in the present moment. Almost as readily available as our breath are the sounds of the natural world. From rain to wind to the ocean and birds, meditating on these aural manifestations brings us not only a sense of peace, but also an experience of connection to the physical world.

It is easy to get stuck inside our own heads and our individual lives. We get caught up in our goals and plans and almost forget that we live in a world that is always there, humming away in the background. There is an internal shift that occurs when we tune into that background and really give it our attention. It’s as if we are discovering a more expansive world, because we are. We are also experiencing ourselves in relation to something larger. This discovery makes us feel rejuvenated and more expansive.

The vast and ceaselessly churning ocean is an ideal place for meditating on the sounds of nature. Sit quietly and surrender to the sounds of the thundering, crashing waves. Let go of your ambitions and listen. Rivers and lakes also sing their own songs. Even if you live in the middle of a city, the wind howls and whistles and the rain taps out a variety of sounds depending on where it falls—on the sidewalk, a tin roof, a car window, or a muddy slope. Tune into these sounds next time you hear them instead of letting them fade into the background. Stop and listen as if you are hearing a sublime piece of music. Let the music of this world take you on a journey of natural sounds.

Quote for the Day

When the voices of children are heard on the green
And laughing is heard on the hill,
My heart is at rest within my breast
And everything else is still.

(William Blake (1757-1827), British poet, painter, mystic.

A Christmas Ghost Story

South of the Line, inland from far Durban,
A mouldering soldier lies--your countryman.
Awry and doubled up are his gray bones,
And on the breeze his puzzled phantom moans
Nightly to clear Canopus: "I would know
By whom and when the All-Earth-gladdening Law
Of Peace, brought in by that Man Crucified,
Was ruled to be inept, and set aside?

And what of logic or of truth appears
In tacking 'Anno Domini' to the years?
Near twenty-hundred livened thus have hied,
But tarries yet the Cause for which He died."

Thomas Hardy

Tuesday, 23 December 2008

Image of the Day

Canberra
Original graphic by Matthew James

A Brief Word

Mystic Insights for 23rd December 2008

The hawk flies free once more; 'gobbledygook' to some ... but the signal to indicate my intuition is freed from restraints once more. Flying free of the human fields into a state of mind which is timeless. That abides no rules. Intuition. Clairvoyancy. Remote Viewing ... balderdash the belittling would say. But in response to their numbskull, armchair critique of something they have never experienced ... passed to them from someone with an entire life experience of the matter (35+ years) ... it is time to say the B word ... bollocks to those who write this space off.

As I float free I hear the minds that criticise and condemn. They say I write only AFTER a new's story. That's funny they must have missed the weeks and weeks in mid-2007 when Daily Merlins appeared a day or two before, and even a week before anything was said in the news. There was the field in Portugal where 'evidence' was found ... an imaginative drawing appeared perhaps a week before which bore the striking resemblance to a press photo of the field.

I care not. I have never once been concerned. I've had sufficient proof and feedback to know I've been on the trail. That this trail is still being flown along by the Hawk.

It gazes now at a symbolic wall in the field. A significant marker in the proceedings. A number of faces seen like balloon faces upon the wall. Put there to be shot at and condemned ... whilst the true faces of the heist slip by un-noticed. This is around the time of the great event. It is at this time my focus once more returns. There was something very significant occurring in that part of Europe at that time. The gathering appears the clue to all which is now unwrapping. Like the golf ball with many skins until the central core is reached ...

There will be more ... DMI's attentive to this moment in time. Faces there not what they seem abound as the Hawk hovers once more above that ground ... but word on that will come later.

MJ

Crystal Energy


Crystals can be very powerful and are very sensitive. Crystals, like all things, have an energy field - aura - and their different energies can be used to balance/enhance our own body's energies. As with many natural therapies, crystals have been used as a healing aid for centuries.


Crystal energy, as colour energy, can help to awaken our awareness, not just of the physical imbalance / dis-ease, but awareness of the psychological, spiritual and emotional aspects of ourselves.

Some crystals suit some people better or in different ways than others, but this simply emphasizes our uniqueness and our different needs. As with many forms of healing, we take what we need. The choice of a crystal can be simply your body knowing what it needs without the 'interference' of the intellect. This is often apparent when someone who has no experience in crystal healing will instinctively choose a crystal which happens to be the very type which their body requires.

There are many ways of using crystals and they can be obtained in different forms; the natural unpolished pieces, tumbled stones, cut points, essences, and pieces of jewellery set with crystals. Essences are similar, in a way, to solarized water in that the crystal is placed in water for a period of time and the specific energy of that crystal is transmitted to the water which is subsequently used for drinking or bathing.

There is no right and wrong with crystals - trust your intuition.

Tarot Card of the Day

What do you want to be when you grow up? This card is about your profession, your life and what you desire to do about them. Are you happy in your choice of career and in the job you currently hold?

The up side of this card is that you have control over your own growth. You create all that happens and if you are not happy with the way it has turned out, you have the power to change things. (You might want to look at yesterday’s card once again). With that kind of information, it means that you know what you want, where you are going and how to make it work.The down side to this card is that you feel like someone else is in control. You fell into your current job/occupation and you stay there because it’s "safe, or worse, you have a fear that you can’t leave. You married the right person, do the right kind of work, live in the right neighborhood, etc.

This is a good day to contemplate where your passions lie. Recognize that if you follow your passion, then you will be in control of your own personal growth at all times. No one will have the power over you unless you grant them that power. Keep your power to yourself and recognize how much you can do when you set your mind to it! (Source: Sue Yarmey)

From The Ridiculous To The Downright Crazy

The Hokey Cokey is an old novelty song which has been sung in music halls, at children's parties and a sherry-fuelled family gatherings for many years.

But according to the Catholic Church and some Scottish politicians, singing the popular tune that begins with the words "You put your right hand in, your right hand out," may constitute an act of religious hatred. A spokesman for the leader of the church in Scotland said the song had disturbing origins.

Critics claim that Puritans composed the song in the 18th century in an attempt to mock the actions and language of priests leading the Latin mass. Now politicians have urged police to arrest anyone using the song to "taunt" Catholics under legislation designed to prevent incitement to religious hatred.

Supporters of Rangers FC have been banned from singing anti-Catholic songs at Ibrox stadium to taunt their rivals Celtic, a club with Catholic roots. But fans of the club are said to be discussing on internet forums the possibility of getting round the ban by singing the Hokey Cokey at next week's Old Firm derby between the clubs.

Five Actions

"Panchakarma," a sanskrit word meaning "five actions," describes a series of gentle, natural therapies that boost the body’s ability to detoxify and rejuvenate.

As an essential part of Ayurveda, India’s ancient holistic system of medicine, it is used to maintain the body’s balance to prevent illness or as the first step in holistic treatment. Panchakarma’s incredible purification improves healing throughout the body, mind, and spirit, clearing the way for the body’s healing intelligence to flow freely.

Today, an oil massage, steam baths, and a special diet prepare your body for several days of relaxing, healing therapies at a spa-like medical clinic. A precise sequence of soothing treatments is then applied in such a way that brainwaves are stimulated and synchronized, creating deep relaxation and an expanded state of consciousness. At the same time, herbal therapies help flush toxins from the body’s systems and tissues while massage soothes the body and balances its energy. Profoundly rejuvenating, Panchakarma can increase energy and mental clarity. It has even been known to slow the aging process and heal diseases previously thought to be incurable according to Western medicine.

Depending on the needs of the particular individual, a series of five basic therapies are used: Vaman purges toxins from the sinuses, lungs, and stomach; Virechan flushes toxins from the small intestine; Vasti removes toxins from the colon; Nasyam is herbal therapy applied through the nose for head and sinus conditions. The fifth therapy can be one of three methods: Rakta Moksham removes the excess toxins in the bloodstream, while Shiro Dhara uses a hot-oil head massage. A second form of Vasti can also be applied. Along with a relief of symptoms and improvements in physical disorders, many people, after experiencing Panchakarma, feel lighter, more energized, and look younger. The body’s ability to heal itself is deeply enhanced with the techniques of Panchakarma. By embracing its methods, we eliminate obstacles to complete balance in our bodies and allow the powerful flow of our healing energy to restore our health, our natural glow, and our zest for life.

Shock Success For Bush Shoe Game

A hastily-made online game for throwing shoes at President Bush has become a surprise hit - and made thousands for its creator when he sold it on eBay.

Alex Tew thought up "Sock and Awe" a week ago and within days 45 million shoes had been thrown by 4.5 million unique users.

The 24-year-old from London has now sold the game he made late at night over pizza and beer on the online auction site.

The game has been mentioned on US television shows and inspired fans to post YouTube videos of themselves playing.

"It went explosively viral around the world and we didn't really expect it to do that," he explained.

He decided to sell when maintaining the game began taking time and energy away from his real day job of preparing to launch a humour website. (Source: Sky News)

Monday, 22 December 2008

Electrocrystal Systems

Hippocrates, the father of medicine said “First do no harm.”

ElectroCrystals system is a gentle and non-invasive method of balancing the human energy field. It uses the pulsed high-frequency electromagnetic stimulation of crystals to induce rebalancing in human and animal subjects.

Electromagnetism has been used by conventional medicine for many years eg X-rays in diagnosis and pulsed frequencies to aid bone healing. Crystals have been used to aid natural healing for thousands of years. The innovation in ElectroCrystals method is the synergistic combination of the two and their specific application on the chakras and meridians of the human energy field. This method works on a subtle energy level.

Inventor Harry Oldfield has likened it to a molecular massage. ElectroCrystals involves placing crystals in tubes on certain points around the body. These tubes are then attached to an electromagnetic generator which administers the balancing and normalizing energy frequencies that the human or animal energy system needs.

Harry’s research has shown that different crystals are beneficial in certain ‘zones’ of the body to bring about a balancing effect on the subject. The energy field has long been referred to as the aura and has been charted for thousands of years. Energy configuration points or zones were described by the ancient people of India as chakras, in China as the acupuncture points and meridians.

Chakra is the Sanskrit word for wheel and a spinning wheel is perhaps how the chakra would look to someone who could see it. These ‘whirlpools’ of energy were often depicted as flowers with different numbers of petals. The number of petals is thought by modern researchers to be evidence that these ancient people knew something about the harmonic frequencies of the chakras.

Harry Oldfield suggests that the human energy field is like a template or network of energy points with which the physical molecules of the body are aligned. When Harry first began measuring the energetic fluctuations around the body with the Electro-Scanning Method (ESM) he always found energy concentrations at seven places. He was mystified as to the cause of this until a professor suggested that he may have ‘discovered’, that is, rediscovered, the chakra system of ancient Ayurvedic medicine.

Both animals and plants benefit from ElectroCrystal systems. (Source: Harry Oldfield)

Introducing: Crystal Sound

Crystal Sound by Harry Oldfield

Crystal Sound is a system by which sound is generated from crystals. This process uses highly tuned electromagnetic waves to excite individual crystals so that they emit audible sound waves; each crystal has an individual note at which it resonates, that is vibrates and gives off sound energy.

"The larger the crystal, the lower the frequency and the smaller the crystal, the higher the frequency.” The sound effect is a practical form of crystal experience.

“The sound itself has had a beneficial effect on many who have heard it, depending on the attributes of the crystal being used. Even deaf people, or people with hearing difficulties, have received benefit, proving that the harmonic vibrations which have been set up are bringing about an effect in the body, and not simply the sound through the ears.”

There is a crystal sound CD – referred to by all involved as ‘Harry and the Crystals’ – enabled by rock group ‘Current 93’.

The sounds were taken from individual crystals and from some of the electrode tubes used in ElectroCrystal Therapy. The crystals were used in varying combinations and selected frequencies were pulsed into them from an ElectroCrystal Therapy generator.

The crystals themselves were the sole source of all the sounds on this recording.

Source: Oldfield Research & Development


There Is No 'Al Qaeda' - Ex UK Foreign Secretary

"The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the 'devil' only in order to drive the TV watcher to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US ..." -- Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook

The Future Is Not Secret

"The movement created by the Rothschilds to lay false claim to the land we call Israel or Palestine is known as Zionism. The term is often used as a synonym for Jewish people, when it is actually a political movement devised, funded and promoted through the House of Rothschild and (is) opposed by many Jews.

The most visible Zionist front in the US today are the so-called 'Neo- Conservatives' or 'Neo-Cons,' who were behind 911 and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq." ~ "The invasion and subversion of an entire Arab nation has been based upon texts in the Bible, written by who knows who, who knows when, thousands of years ago after the Jewish captivity in Babylon. It gets even more bizarre when you realize that the overwhelming majority of Jewish people have no historical or genetic connection to Israel, and the claim that there is such a connection is a gigantic hoax, on both Jewish people and the wider world. The whole thing was orchestrated by the Rothschild dynasty ~" *
Part of this orchestrated tyrannical occupation and brutalization was done to see just how much the world might actually care about a population that differs from themselves. This has been carried out with an ever-intensifying Apartheid-like segregation, supported by vast numbers of arrests, torture and recriminations against anyone that dares oppose the Zionist state. Israeli military forces have been executing so called 'wanted' individuals using aerial drones armed with rockets to annihilate any number of potential trouble-makers: yet the world still fails to even notice. (Read More ...........)

An Interesting Notion

"The clinic was easily established, and women came to me, mysteriously, from everywhere in the world - all of them of their own accord. Using DNA materials taken from a dozen of the most likely relics, I created an immaculate conception for each of eighteen patients"

P413 "The Genesis Code" By John Case ISBN 0 09 918412 5

Conditioned Response

Our experiences colour everything. The events of the past can have a profound effect on how we see our lives now and what we choose to believe about our world. Our past experiences can also influence our emotional reactions and responses to present events.

Each of us reacts to stimulus based on what we have learned in life. There is no right or wrong to it; it is simply the result of past experience. Later, when our strong feelings have passed, we may be surprised at our reactions. Yet when we face a similar situation, again our reactions may be the same. When we understand those experiences, we can come that much closer to understanding our reactions and consciously change them.

Between stimulus and reaction exists a fleeting moment of thought. Often, that thought is based on something that has happened to you in the past. When presented with a similar situation later on, your natural impulse is to unconsciously regard it in a similar light. For example, if you survived a traumatic automobile accident as a youngster, the first thing you might feel upon witnessing even a minor collision between vehicles may be intense panic. If you harbor unpleasant associations with death from a past experience, you may find yourself unable to think about death as a gentle release or the next step toward a new kind of existence. You can, however, minimize the intensity of your reactions by identifying the momentary thought that inspires your reaction. Then, next time, replace that thought with a more positive one.

Modifying your reaction by modifying your thoughts is difficult, but it can help you to see and experience formerly unpleasant situations in a whole new light. It allows you to stop reacting unconsciously. Learning the reason of your reactions may also help you put aside a negative reaction long enough to respond in more positive and empowered ways. Your reactions and responses then become about what’s happening in the present moment rather than about the past. As time passes, your negative thoughts may lose strength, leaving only your positive thoughts to inform your healthy reactions.

Couple to have Britain's first baby genetically modified to be free of breast cancer gene

The first British baby designed to be free of breast cancer is due to be born next week.

The child's parents opted for genetic screening tests in the hope of freeing their children from the disease which has blighted the lives of their relatives for generations.

Without screening, any girl they had would have been likely to develop a fast spreading, hard-to-treat form of breast cancer.

Doctors at University College Hospital, London, created embryos through IVF then screened them for the deadly gene before transferring only healthy ones into the womb. The sex of the baby is not known.

Paul Serhal, medical director of the hospital's assisted conception unit, said the pioneering treatment, which was carried out on the NHS, allowed the parents the chance of a healthy family. Many more couples could benefit from pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD.

But pro-life campaigners claim it is morally wrong to weed out imperfect babies and describe the technique, in which unhealthy embryos are left to perish, as a 'tool for search and kill'. (Source: Daily Mail)

World faces total financial meltdown

The governor of the Bank of Spain on Sunday issued a bleak assessment of the economic crisis, warning that the world faces a 'total' financial meltdown unseen since the Great Depression.

'The lack of confidence is total,' Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said in an interview with Spain's El Pais daily.

'The inter-bank (lending) market is not functioning and this is generating vicious cycles: consumers are not consuming, businessmen are not taking on workers, investors are not investing and the banks are not lending.

'There is an almost total paralysis from which no-one is escaping,' he said, adding that any recovery -- pencilled in by optimists for the end of 2009 and the start of 2010 -- could be delayed if confidence is not restored.

Ordonez recognised that falling oil prices and lower taxes could kick-start a faster-than-anticipated recovery, but warned that a deepening cycle of falling consumer demand, rising unemployment and an ongoing lending squeeze cannot be ruled out.

'This is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression' of 1929, he added. (Source: Big Pond)

Sunday, 21 December 2008

Image of the Day

Next door Neighbours Aussie-style
Original photo by Matthew James

Tarot Card of the Day

What has traditionally been known as the Star card is about reconnecting one's Soul with the Divine -- the transcending of personality, family, community and reputation. It has to do ultimately with the freedom to be one's Self. The Soul is responding to celestial influences -- forces that can provide the personality with a stronger sense of purpose. The Star card helps us to remember our exalted origins and our attraction to a Higher Union.

This card could also be called the "Celestial Mandate" -- that which refers us back to our reason for being, our mission in this lifetime. The Star reminds us that, in a sense, we are agents of Divine Will in our day-to-day lives. If we let go of the idea that we are supposed to be in control, we can more easily notice and appreciate the synchronicities that are nudging us along. In this way, we become more conscious of the invisible Helping Hand, and we better understand our place within -- and value to -- the larger Cosmos.

Liga de Quito 0-1 Man Utd

Source: BBC Sport

Wayne Rooney clinched victory for Manchester United in the Club World Cup final with a late goal against Liga de Quito after Nemanja Vidic was sent off.

Quito goalkeeper Jose Cevallos made a series of superb stops to deny Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Park Ji Sung in the first half as United dominated.

United's hopes were hit when Vidic saw red after 49 minutes for lashing out with an elbow at Claudio Bieler.

But Rooney won it with a neat finish into the bottom corner on 73 minutes.

There has been plenty of debate over the significance of this competition and the consequences that United's trip to the Far East will have on their domestic hopes and Champions League ambitions this season. The immediate after-effects of their sojourn to Japan will be seen when they return to the Premier League action, and the less glamorous surroundings of Stoke City's Britannia Stadium, on Boxing Day.

But for now, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson can celebrate collecting the world crown to go with his side's Premier League and European titles secured earlier in 2008 - becoming the first English club to win the global event in its current format.

Heard for the first time, the excited voice of Madeleine enjoying her last family Christmas

Source: Daily Mail

The parents of Madeleine McCann are due to release a video featuring the missing toddler’s voice for the first time.

Maddie is heard in a touching home movie, filmed as she enjoyed her last family Christmas.

The video shows her, dressed in her favourite pink, sitting on the stairs of her Leicestershire home with younger twin siblings Sean and Amelie, encouraging them: ‘Clap your hands together and one, two, three.’

Delighted at her new pair of slip-ons, Madeleine looks into the camera, smiles and says: ‘These are my shoes.’

Her father Gerry, who is filming her, asks what colour they are and she replies: ‘Pink!’
Madeleine, then three, leaps up from the stairs and dances around the wooden floor, waving her shoes and looking up at the light streaming in from a window.

The short film also shows her dancing in a fairy costume and jokingly hitting Gerry with a soft toy. Then in a montage she is seen turning over a present and pointing at the camera as her smiling mother Kate holds her.

Thursday, 18 December 2008

Gamba Osaka 3-5 Man Utd

Manchester United eased through to the Fifa Club World Cup final despite a spirited late effort from Gamba Osaka.

Nemanja Vidic and Cristiano Ronaldo easily converted first-half headers but Masato Yamazaki pulled a classy goal back for the plucky Japanese side. Substitute Wayne Rooney bustled through to score with his first touch seconds later before Darren Fletcher nodded in. Rooney added a fifth though a late flurry saw Yasuhito Endo convert a penalty and Hideo Hashimoto fire home.

Sir Alex Ferguson's side now face Liga de Quito in Sunday's final, while Osaka will meet Pachuca in the match for third place.

Critics question the credibility of a tournament where the gap in the team's ability appears vast - New Zealand's Waitakere United are only part-timers - but a thrilling end to this match, with six goals in the last 16 minutes, will at least arm Fifa with some positive ammunition.

Beforehand, Ferguson insisted his Champions League holders are determined to become the first British side to win it and the evidence was there in a strong starting line-up, though Dimitar Berbatov was absent through illness and Rooney started on the bench.

Yet reigning Asian Champions League winners Gamba Osaka gave as good as they got in a lively start, not looking like a side who had lost four of their past five games.

Source: BBC Sport

Two Old Dears and Another ...

Magical Journal for 18th December 2008

As perhaps a follow on to a recent Daily Merlin Insight, the Two Old Dears, are eager for me to repeat the words which they have been whispering in my ear from the Other Side. Briefly, they say the place they are in is more real than the earth plane. We are the delusional ones. Delusional for believing in the BS tales which are banded about in newspapers and on silver screens. Like sheep we believe all the suggestions which are put before us without question. Life is not like that. Life is about freewill. There is no freewill with this type of situation. But that is beside the point.

The Old Dear who made it on the public stage, knows only too well the belittlement and scorn which the sceptical "so and so's" who read this, will give to this and other material placed here. She cared not. She knew from an early age what was real and what wasn't. These matters will only present themselves to those who accept they have the possibility of being real. Those who remain closed to these things, with their logical minds firmly focussed on the material sham ... will never accept these matters.

The other old dear is frantic to speak ... about these matters which should have been over before they started. They should never have been allowed to get this far. Her other half, who is there with her ... shrugs his shoulders, puffs on his pipe and bemoans those who've gotten involved in this. There are some real big names ... he says. Matters which are of great importance that should never have seen the light of day. A light in the darkness has certainly put light in those directions. Belittled at first but some are now more open minded ....

There is a great pressure building somewhere inside the hallowed halls of shadowy industries. Fingers pointed yes. In the direction of those once accused yes. There is much that should not come to light. Eyes dealing with matters of national importance gaze in the direction they did not want to even consider.

(Something odd ... just said ... MJ) ... "toads will jump off their stools and be mystified with revelations about to be spoken of around the debating chamber. The fallen will fall even further it seems before ever anything makes the news on these matters" ...

Back along the trail the merry dance will go. But not before the many brooms sweep more dust under carpets in the name of a spring clean. Come March it still goes on. Into April and perhaps it May just get somewhere by the 2nd year. But even then ... someone within the shadows is reluctant to let it go. Much progress is being made ... with so much more yet ot make.

Copyright Matthew James 18th December 2008 (with help from Dot and Alice)

Tarot Card of the Day

The Eight of Wands

The Lord of Swiftness is a bright active card which comes up to mark periods of rapid, clear communication. This card will often represent the type of cathartic discussion which resolves misunderstanding and ends confusion. When passing through an event which is sign-posted by the 8 of Wands, there's often a feeling of quick-moving energy, and a sense that obstacles are being swept out of your path.

There's an important aspect of this card that is often overlooked - its spiritual interpretation. It can indicate the kind of direct divine instructions that causes a complete transformation - like a bolt of celestial power striking and infusing you. It provokes a sudden opening of the ways, a new level of understanding and spiritual expansion. Look for cards like the Star, The Priestess or the Hierophant close by in order to identify this not-to-be-missed effect!

The 8 of Wands always brings a new surge of energy and freshness when it appears. And it often signals entry into a new phase or project, which stands a good chance of success. Confirm with good Disk cards nearby, or Fortune. This is a happy and generous card, promising a progressive phase which may herald success and satisfaction.

The nicest aspect of the Lord of Swiftness is the part which indicates rewarding communication where old enmities can be resolved, where we can blow away the cobwebs from our pain, and heal old wounds. Those thorny situations where somebody gets hold of the wrong end of the stick and takes offence will often yield to the clarity this card brings in.

There's just one warning - well didn't there have to be? This is big bursting energy. It's as well to keep your balance firmly in the centre of your being. That way you won't get swept away by it!

Source: Angelpaths

FULL-TIME: Man Utd 5-3 Gamba Osaka

1222 - FULL-TIME: Man Utd 5-3 Gamba Osaka. That's it. A breathless end to a brutally open match that ultimately sees United into Sunday's Club World Cup final against Liga de Quito of Ecuador.

1220 - GOAL! Man Utd 5-3 Gamba Osaka. Hideo Hashimoto strides onto the ball on the right-hand side and lashes a rocket past Van der Sar to further reduce Osaka's deficit and make it six goals in 17 minutes. The crowd go ballistic, Ferguson looks like someone's broken into his house at Christmas and spat on his kids.

1218: Shoot on sight appears to be the policy of both sides and the crowd are lapping it up like a thirsty dog drinking from a water bowl on a hot summer's day. Endo and Rooney try their luck from all of 30 yards at opposite ends of the pitch and, as we move into stoppage time, neither side shows any sign of letting up. Could there be more goals?


Source: BBC Sport Live Text

Ghost Of The Navigator

Iron Maiden live in Rio

Update: Man Utd v Gamba Osaka

1208 - GOAL! Man Utd 5-1 Gamba OsakaMake that four goals in five minutes, then, Wayne Rooney adding a second to his earlier strike with a fabulous finish from Ryan Giggs's through-ball. United scoring at will, now.

1207 - GOAL! Man Utd 4-1 Gamba OsakaThat should put it to bed nicely, Evra and Nani linking up well on the left and Darren Fletcher getting on the end of a fine cross to head home United's fourth.

1206: Blimey, this game has exploded back into life - Endo trying his luck from 25 yards and forcing Van der Sar into a clumsy save, Gary Neville desperately clearing from yards out under pressure from Hashimoto.

1204 - GOAL! Man Utd 3-1 Gamba OsakaWell it was nice while it lasted for Osaka as Wayne Rooney marks his introduction in emphatic style, the striker latching onto a long through-ball from Fletcher, turning the defender and clipping in with his first touches of the match.

1203 - GOAL! Man Utd 2-1 Gamba OsakaWell well well, United switch off completely and Osaka make the most of it to get themselves firmly back into the match and send their supporters into apoplectic bliss - Masato Yamazaki getting on the end of a sweeping move and curling past Van der Sar and into the corner from 20 yards. A fine strike.

Stargate: 2004-2012 Venus Transit

We have experienced an increasing number of large-scale natural disasters since 1950. This includes earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes and floods. While people are waiting for an explosive 2012 event to announce Armageddon, the signs these are indeed the ‘End Times’ appear to have already occurred.

According to the ancient Maya solar priests, the end of this age – the 5th Sun – would be precipitated by an era of increasing earthquakes. Seven of the ten biggest tremors of last century happened after 1950. In fact, there has been a sharp increase in the number of large-scale earthquakes and volcanic eruptions since 1960.

The frequency in occurrence of earthquakes analysed from data accumulated since 1900 shows there were 120 strong (6-6.9) tremors, 18 major (7-7.9) and 1 great quake (8-8.9) on average annually. A chart for the number of earthquakes worldwide from the last decade is more revealing of recent tremor activity. In 1994 there were 161 strong, 13 major and 2 great earthquakes. The next year there were 185 strong, 22 major and 3 great earthquakes. In 2000 we find 153 strong, 16 major and 4 great earthquakes.

The data makes it very clear that the latter half of the century diverged greatly from the first half in terms of Earth changes. From 1900 to 1960 there were few major volcanic eruptions. Over the past 43 years dormant volcanoes around the globe have become active again. The 1990s saw swarms of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions around the globe. At the same time weather patterns became more erratic and severe storms more potent.

The Long Count calendar, which marks the passage of a ‘Sun’ cycle, about 5,150 years, began for this age in 3013 BCE. This calendar cycle simply counts the number of days in a ‘Solar’ age. When that number has elapsed the age comes to an end. The previous, 4th Sun, was said to have ended in a deluge, and this 5th Sun is predicted to culminate in earthquakes and impacts from cosmic objects in 2012.

Venus Transits are much like lunar eclipses only the planet passes between the Earth and Sun. It is a fairly rare celestial phenomenon and they occur, in pairs separated by 8 years, in alternating cycles every 105 and 120 years. My first surprise came when I went back and discovered a Venus Transit took place in 1518-1526.

It was during this transit that Cortez invaded and conquered Mexico. The Aztec priests predicted this period would be fraught with danger and this is why Montezuma failed to meet the challenge the Conquistadors posed.

During this 8-year period many paranormal events occurred in Mexico. Strangely enough, “shields” appeared in the skies booming out dire warnings to the citizens of the Aztec Empire. Several temples were set afire by curious beams of light flashing down from the heavens. And the people also told the Spanish chronicler, Bernardino de Sahagun, that a “Pillar of Fire” had been seen hovering on the horizon for an entire year. Perhaps even more chilling, a decade before these events took place unexplained events accompanied a lunar eclipse. Just after the lunar eclipse occurred, Mt. Popocatepetl erupted. The volcano, which can be seen from the Valley of Mexico, had been dormant for many years so the eruption made the people apprehensive. In 1991, a similar sequence of events took place. As the residents of Mexico City lined the streets to watch a full lunar eclipse, a UFO appeared over the city at 1 pm.

Mount Popocatepetl and nearby Mount Colima began erupting shortly thereafter and they have remained active ever since. UFO sightings have become common throughout Mexico over the past decade. In fact, so numerous that local bishops petitioned the Vatican asking how they should handle the increasing inquiries about UFOs from their parishioners. The Vatican told them to simply accept the reports at face value. (Source: New Dawn Magazine)

Wheel in the sky wows local residents

Some people saw Jesus. Others blamed UFOs. Harkening to the popular Journey song, a wheel in the sky appeared over Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes early Saturday morning, a seemingly perfect hole punched though the sheet of clouds blanketing the sky. Locals who phoned and e-mailed the Daily Comet and The Courier this weekend about the strange cloud formation did agree on one thing: “It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Raceland resident Sandra Ledet, who shared some spectacular photos with the Daily Comet.

Shawn O’Neil, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Slidell, identified the phenomenon as a hole-punch cloud. “They don’t occur all that often, and they are usually caused when an aircraft intersects altocumulus or cirrocumulus clouds,” he said.

Altocumulus are high-altitude clouds, usually white or gray in color, that occur in sheets or patches. Cirrocumulus also are high-altitude clouds made up of supercooled liquid water droplets and ice crystals. An airplane passing through a mixed cloud layer while ascending or descending could disrupt the delicate coexistence between the ice crystals and the supercooled liquid water droplets, causing a hole to be punched in the sky like many residents saw Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

Small-scale atmospheric movements, both up and down, caused by the jet stream, could cause a similar phenomenon.

Some seemed doubtful, when the phenomenon was explained to them, that something like a jet could cause the mystical “hole in the sky” they saw Saturday.

“My daughter called me and she said, ‘Mom, look at the sky,’ and I went back in, got my camera, and started snapping,” Ledet said. “It completely circled my house and then disappeared. It was too big, too round and too low to be caused by a jet.” (Source: houmatoday.com)

Antikythera: A 2,000-year-old Greek Computer Comes Back To Life

Update: HALF-TIME: Man Utd 2-0 Gamba Osaka

1117 - HALF-TIME: Man Utd 2-0 Gamba Osaka. Just enough time for Osaka to restart and that'll be the break. Comfortable in the end that half for United, but as Steve Wyeth point out below, not the most passionate of celebrations to greet either goal from the United side. Still, Sunday's final beckons.

1116 - GOAL! Man Utd 2-0 Gamba Osaka. Easy as you like as Cristiano Ronaldo peels away from his marker to rise and head in Ryan Giggs's corner from 12 yards out. Poor marking but Ronaldo showed good movement and he had to get plenty on his header to send it past Fujigaya in the Osaka goal.

Inspiration for the Day

"All this talk and turmoil and noise and movement and desire is outside of the veil; within the veil is silence and calm and rest." -- Bayazid al-Bistami

We need to create space if we desire to change and grow. Only in emptiness can meaning, intuitive guidance and truth arise. Give yourself space by spending time in nature, taking an hour or day off, enjoying quiet moments for reflection. Take time to smell the roses. Breathe in the wonder of life and its bounty. Open so your deeper awareness and imagination can percolate through mundane thoughts and activities. Let go of both resistance and force to allow yourself to connect more deeply to life.

"I do only want to advise you to keep growing quietly and seriously throughout your whole development; you cannot disturb it more rudely than by looking outward and expecting from outside replies to questions that only your inmost feeling in your most hushed hour can perhaps answer." -- Rainer Maria Rilke

"I am glad that so much movement happens in this stillness." -- Richard Land

Club World Cup Semi-final Update

1058 - GOAL! Man Utd 1-0 Gamba Osaka. And there's the deadlock broken, Ryan Giggs's pinpoint corner headed in from six yards by a towering Nemanja Vidic. Sir Alex Ferguson breaks out the old-man-dancing-at-a-wedding body-popping and that should settle his side down nicely.

Man Utd Deny Real's Ronaldo Claim

Manchester United have vigorously dismissed suggestions they have agreed to sell winger Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid at the end of the season.

Real director Pedro Trapote reportedly told Spanish newspaper El Mundo a deal had been struck, but added "there are clauses keeping us from announcing it".
But BBC Manchester's Steve Wyeth said the news has been greeted with anger by United officials.

"It's been strongly dismissed, and with pretty colourful language," said Wyeth. Trapote, understood to be very close to club president Ramon Calderon, had gone on record to tell El Mundo: "We have already signed our top target for next summer.

"Is it Cristiano Ronaldo? It is Cristiano, there is no-one else. The thing is, it is better not to say anything right now."

But Wyeth, who is with the United team in Japan for their Fifa World Club Cup campaign, insists the claims have been met with disbelief by manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his team.

No official statement has yet emerged from the club, but the BBC has been told in no uncertain terms that Trapote's claims are inaccurate. (Source: BBC News)

Brave New World

Iron Maiden live in Rio

Recommended Books: The Genesis Code

The Genesis Code by John Case

Mysterious assassinations. Cutting-edge medical technology. A secret organization with an unholy agenda. John Case has combined these intriguing elements into an explosive novel that will keep you up all night.

Joe Lassiter awakens to the ring of the phone in the dead of the night. His sister Kathy and her young son Brandon have died in a blaze in their expensive home near Washington, D.C. Rushing to the scene, Lassiter learns the deaths were no accident: his sister and nephew were brutally murdered in their beds before the fire was set. The police are baffled. The man who set the fire clings to life in the burn ward, unable to answer any questions.

Lassiter heads a thriving high-tech investigative agency in the nation’s capital. If there’s a paper trail, he can follow it. A computer encryption, he can crack it. An identity to reveal, he will track it down. He throws all his energy into the investigation of Kathy and Brandon’s murders. He begins with the man languishing in the burn ward, a man who exploded, on fire, through Kathy Lassiter’s front bay window. But as Lassiter traces that man’s identity, the mystery only deepens. His name is Franco Grimaldi and he’s a known hit-man, with disturbing connections to Italian military intelligence and to the fanatical Catholic order Umbra Domini. The question is: Why would he even be in the same orbit with Kathy Lassiter---a researcher for NPR, a Sunday school teacher, a single mother with no known enemies? And then the man with the answers to Lassiter’s questions escapes from the hospital, killing a policeman in the process.

Lassiter’s leads take him on a dangerous international chase from London to Rome to Naples to Umbria to Switzerland to Maine. The more he unearths, the larger the web of conspiracy grows, yet every thread he pulls seems to tighten the knot of deception.

The Genesis Code is the story of a secret, a secret so powerful that if it becomes known, it will alter the course of civilization. When Joe Lassiter finally learns the truth, it will shock him --- and the reader --- to his very marrow.
Opinion: A riveting read in the same vein as Angels & Demons ....

Image of the Day - Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Flower associated with a 7th Wedding Anniversary
(Kristine - you did say I forgot the flowers)

Onyx: Stone of Self Mastery

This gemstone eliminates negative thinking, it is also believed to sharpen the wits of the wearer. Onyx is said to bring spiritual inspiration. It is a great assistance in holding emotions and passions under control. Black Onyx is used to help one change habits.

Enhances self mastery, steadfastness, and determination, setting ones mind to a task. It is grounding stone and can be used to deflect or absorb the negativity of others, and in that way is a good stone for protection from negative forces and influences.

Onyx helps you become the Master of your own Fate. Valuable in difficult or confusing times of our lives. Absorbs and flattens emotional intensity.

Helps to smooth out the "Roller Coaster Ride" of emotions. Protection: A good stone for Entrepreneurs and Inventors, to repel negative energy surrounding other peoples opinions or ideas.

Excellent stone for initiating the process of centering and alignment of the total person with a Higher Power. It helps us to absorb whatever energy we need from the Universe. Balances and grounds. Not a "healing stone", rather it repels (negative energy).

post script: this is another gemstone associated with a 7th wedding anniversary!

Happy Anniversary

To my other half, Nostradamus.

He likes puzzles, I can't be bothered to work them out! Keeps the brain active and young I suppose.

Maybe I should do more puzzles ....

HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TO MY OTHER HALF.

PS You forgot the flowers.

Today Is Thursday .... or "Thor's Day"

Thursday appeared dressed as a coppersmith, with a hammer and a copper kettle, as a symbol of his noble descent.

"I am of the highest birth," he said, "paganish, godlike! In the Northern countries I am named after Thor, and in the Southern countries after Jupiter, who both knew how to thunder and lighten, and that has remained in the family!"

Source: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheDaysOfTheWeek_e.html

7 Years and Counting

HAPPY 7TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY KRISTINE!!
It's seven years to the day that I said "I do" beneath the Oak Tree on Takapuna Beach in New Zealand. It was a very special day. It truly represented our commitment to each other. I may not have been truly that well at the time. But in the past seven years our marriage has proven to be as hardy and lasting as that old oak tree under which we tied the knot!

Traditionally a 7th Wedding Anniversary is awash with copper gifts. It's gemstone is Lapis Lazuli. Okay. A little puzzle for you Kristine. As you know I am a little 'obsessed' with symbolism .... there is a COPPER kettle and a LAPIS LAZULI elephant here on this post. You will probably suss the meaning of the elephant ... it is a revered animal in India etc. It is symbolic of the strength and the endurance of our commitment to each other. But what then is the meaning of the kettle?

Wednesday, 17 December 2008

Swinside Stone Circle

Swinside Stone Circle is one of the three most important stone circles in Cumbria, and consists of 55 stones set in a ninety foot diameter circle. Although the circle is located on private ground, it can easily be viewed from a nearby public footpath.

The walk from the nearest parking area to the circle, which is located on the eastern flank of Black Combe, takes around half an hour there and back, and passes through beautiful but rarely busy countryside.

Integrated Soul Personality

There is in every person the possibility of an "Integrated Soul Personality". However, normally the average person is split to a greater or lesser degree, dependent upon the amount of pain, trauma and undigested stress in their lives and dependent upon the amount of work they have done to integrate their personalities by means of therapy and meditation.

Therapy and psychology allow intellectual appreciation of the problem in ourselves and others. It takes meditation to heal the splits and integrate the separated selves.

In trance states, a Shaman would often deliberately become possessed by the souls of dead ancestors, who would impart advice and wisdom. Again, it takes a strong sense of the Higher Soul Infused Personality to be able to enter into the various unintegrated parts of the personality and then return as it is easy to get lost.

For thousands of years it was common knowledge that Personalities migrated from body to body, lifetime after lifetime. Only a Soul Integrated personality can remember their past lifetimes. It is fairly common for Split patients to have at least one alter who claims to be a dead ancestor and their access to this information shows that these people are in the process of integration, their amnesia is starting to slip.

So called normal people have no access or experience of this reality through deep amnesia and they are fearful of the tales of ghosts and ancestors because of their not wanting to face up to their painful memories which are the real cause of their amnesia.

However, there is no need for this fear. The real experiences we cannot face up to as children, once accessed in energy enhancement meditation are easily and painlessly digested and integrated by the adult.

However, the cure for split personality for everyone is integration of the splits by grounding all the negative energy created by traumatic experiences which sustains the splits. As we ground all the negative energy through meditation, so the splits disappear and one integrated soul personality becomes in charge..

Yankee Rose

Music Video by Dave Lee Roth

Defining 'Dreams'

Dreams are defined in Webster's Dictionary as a "sequence of sensations, images, thoughts, etc., passing through a sleeping person's mind". Dreams have been a topic of study dating back to 4000 B.C. One may say that dreams have been around as long as the first civilization came to be and are just a normal part of human existence.

In our dreams, we can go anywhere, we can be anybody, and we can do anything. When we dream, we are like passengers on a moving train, unable to control our actions and choose surroundings.

We let our mind take over. Sometimes, dreams can be understood in the context of repressed thoughts. Dreaming serves as an outlet for those thoughts and impulses we repress during the day. When we go to sleep at night and slip into our dream state, we feel liberated and behave and act in a manner that we do not allow ourselves in our waking life.

Visions and ideas can come from your dreams. Authors, screenwriters and poets turn to their dreams for stories. Artists and musicians explore dreams for their inspiration. Dreams can help us find solutions to our daily problems and see things from a different perspective.

Tarot Card of the Day

The Lord of Change is a card that indicates the necessity of constant change in life if we are not to stagnate. It often marks a turning point - a new job, a shift of fortune, a move of home.

Disks are an earthy suit, covering matters of material life, and the manifest Universe. If you look at the planet we live on, though in itself it seems solid and predictable (less so in recent years, mind you) it is in a constant state of change and movement. It turns in space, and if it did not, we'd all be very unhappy with the consequences. The cycle of seasons swings past us each and every year. The tides ebb and rise. Constant change is natural, normal and positive.

We do, though, often fear change in our lives. We will struggle against anything that appears to alter the pre-planned pattern we have applied to our future. But that's exactly what this card does - instigates change. Sometimes we think that the change is bad - and on the face of it, it may appear to be - yet whenever the 2 of Disks appears, it's warning us that change has become imperative. Something is stagnating, demanding to be broken down and made over.

It's worth remembering that if you resist the change advocated by the Lord of Change, you might find that life imposes it upon you anyway - and then you'll feel the effects either of the Death card, or the Tower. When this card appears, it demands a thorough re-assessment of your overall position and willingness to go with the chances that come your way.

The card is especially strengthened by cards like Fortune, and positive Disks and Wands. You can usually track down which area of life it applies to by looking at the cards that surround it - Cups would suggest you need to look at your emotional life. Disks would imply that it's either your working or financial area that needs attention. Swords would probably indicate conflict around whatever changes you need to make, and may point to a need for clear communication. Wands would be more connected with your own application of Will, and the way you are trying to build your life. Major Arcana cards would suggest an inner, more spiritual area needs to be looked at.

Source: Angelpaths